Battery driven amps anyone?

Sascha Franck

Rock Star
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7,771
Hi,

as I'd like to get an additional and more flexible FR-ish monitor one day more or less soon (as in somewhen this year), so I thought it might be a neat idea to get something battery driven (there's also some vague plans of a doublebass player and me doing a little bit of busking).

Absolutely required functionality:
- Two separate channels with EQ, at least one of them suitable for mics.
- Fullrange operation.
- An onboard reverb.

What would be absolutely great would be if it had an onboard looper, but I have little hopes there'd be a useful looper, so I think I'd just keep using my trusty Zoom G3 (which runs for days on a decent powerbank, so that's just one little additional board and a second cable).

The important issues obviously being:
- Battery life.
- Sound (volume and quality).
- Price (I don't need the greatest stuff, just something that works).
- Weight.
- Ideally, it would be suitable-ish for bass as well (and no, I don't need any super low end), the idea being that my bass mate and me would have the shortest setup time ever when required).

What could I look for, any takers?
 

Friend of mine is over the moon with it, he does 100% acoustic though, frequent gigging pro.
 

Friend of mine is over the moon with it, he does 100% acoustic though, frequent gigging pro.

That's really looking great. I don't exactly fancy controling all mixing functions via app only, but other's than that it's simply got everything I may need, is very light and got tons of battery life as it seems.

Also looking at the "other people bought" Mackie Thumb Go (which is half the price) and the Alto Busker (yet cheaper). The Alto even allows for FX mix control straight on the unit, which I like.

Anyhow, by now there seem to be quite some offers doing pretty much exactly what I want. All of them doubling as a BT boombox certainly helps to massively annoy people in the middle of some wonderful nature spots. I mean, who needs to listen to birds anyway?
 
That's really looking great. I don't exactly fancy controling all mixing functions via app only, but other's than that it's simply got everything I may need, is very light and got tons of battery life as it seems.

Also looking at the "other people bought" Mackie Thumb Go (which is half the price) and the Alto Busker (yet cheaper). The Alto even allows for FX mix control straight on the unit, which I like.

Anyhow, by now there seem to be quite some offers doing pretty much exactly what I want. All of them doubling as a BT boombox certainly helps to massively annoy people in the middle of some wonderful nature spots. I mean, who needs to listen to birds anyway?
He also tried mackie and Alto…and to him it was night and day quality difference. (And I trust is ears tbh)
Maybe ACUS is also worth a look, I love those for acoustics, not sure how they handle other stuff. They also offer a battery powered version.
 
He also tried mackie and Alto…and to him it was night and day quality difference.

I tend to believe that without checking myself - but for the time being, this is supposed to be something additional and not to become a tool in my main arsenal. But then, why not?
Too bad there's no way I could check any of them out anywhere close to Hannover, so I'd have to order everything from Thomann and possibly send it back, something I hate doing all the time.
 
I tend to believe that without checking myself - but for the time being, this is supposed to be something additional and not to become a tool in my main arsenal. But then, why not?
Too bad there's no way I could check any of them out anywhere close to Hannover, so I'd have to order everything from Thomann and possibly send it back, something I hate doing all the time.
If my budget allows it, I always go for “the best”…A good sound potentially makes/breaks the experience of playing for me….and gear that feels like a compromise ussually collects dust or gets sold…So i stopped doing the math if I “need it”, or is a requirement to do the job. ;)…more so…does it bring me more joy playing..
 
If my budget allows it, I always go for “the best”…A good sound potentially makes/breaks the experience of playing for me….and gear that feels like a compromise ussually collects dust or gets sold…So i stopped doing the math if I “need it”, or is a requirement to do the job. ;)…more so…does it bring me more joy playing..

I usually agree, but in case of my "FRFR" monitor choice, I'm by now very happy with my Alto TS310 (which was a huge step forward from the previous model) for around 8 years (just the build quality isn't the best, but so far it works reliably), and I compared it directly (A/B) to monitors costing twice as much. I'm perfectly aware that I was a bit lucky, too, because their 8" and 12" offerings of the same series just suck IMO. And fwiw, the Mackie Thumb (10") I compared to as well just sucked the most out of all contestants.
 
I usually agree, but in case of my ""FRFR"" monitor choice, I'm by now very happy with my Alto TS310 (which was a huge step forward from the previous model) for around 8 years (just the build quality isn't the best, but so far it works reliably), and I compared it directly (A/B) to monitors costing twice as much. I'm perfectly aware that I was a bit lucky, too, because their 8" and 12" offerings of the same series just suck IMO. And fwiw, the Mackie Thumb (10") I compared to as well just sucked the most out of all contestants.
Well…if Alto works….makes sense to check out…half the price.
Did you consider to have whatever battery powered you get, to also be your “main”?…#combineusecasesinoneunit?
 
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