What's the best micro amp?

[PowerTube]

A couple of years ago, I made the mistake of buying a Roland Micro Cube. It sounded okay in the store (don't they always?) but it just doesn't turn me on when compared to the old Flextone II. The cleans are actually okay but I'll give the overdrive a C+ at best. Thus, the Flextone II is my "travel" amp these days. I recently tried out the Line 6 Micro Spider and thought it was even worse than the Micro Cube. The Fender, Marshall, and Danelectro minis are as cute as a button (Awww.... ) but I think their tone sucks.

So is there anything in a micro that will actually give me tone on par with, say, a POD? I'm not asking for Vetta or Marshall JVM tone quality in the least, but is anything better than the above mentioned amps? Do you guys have a favorite?

[Robert Burns]

A couple of years ago, I made the mistake of buying a Roland Micro Cube. It sounded okay in the store (don't they always?) but it just doesn't turn me on when compared to the old Flextone II. The cleans are actually okay but I'll give the overdrive a C+ at best. Thus, the Flextone II is my "travel" amp these days. I recently tried out the Line 6 Micro Spider and thought it was even worse than the Micro Cube. The Fender, Marshall, and Danelectro minis are as cute as a button (Awww.... ) but I think their tone sucks.

So is there anything in a micro that will actually give me tone on par with, say, a POD? I'm not asking for Vetta or Marshall JVM tone quality in the least, but is anything better than the above mentioned amps? Do you guys have a favorite?

I played a Mesa "Subway Rocket" once... i think it had an 8" speaker..
It was a bad ass! Or i at least remember it that way..

[Grandturk]

Check out the little MG Kerry King Marshall. Guitar Center was blowing them out at $70. I think it sounds huge. Lots of gain, loud, decent clean.

[Dinky93]

Crap. I wish I could delete my post.

[AlexL]

I bought a Vox VT15 to keep in my office at work. Seems to do the job pretty well.

I like the fact that there is a fair amount of control over the built in effect parameters. You can save up to 8 preset sounds.

I wish it had an aux input, but that's really the only thing missing.

- E.

[RacerX]

Are all these able to be powered by batteries so you can take it to Venice Beach & rock out, like the Roland?

[FastJunkie]

I have a vox DA-5 I use for lessons, it's alright but getting a clean sound out of it is next to impossible because the volume needs to be turned up stupidly high to be usable. For some reason I found the clean channels to be much quieter than the dirty ones.

[markD]

a martin D28

[PowerTube]

a martin D28

[bombtek]

How about a Crate Taxi?

I think that takes batteries and you can also power via cigarrette lighter adapter for a vehicle if I remember correctly.

[Dreamland_Rebel]

i love my microcube.

[jgcable]

I was a big fan of the GK ML250. Heck.. I ran a full stack off of it in stereo live and my sound was pretty awesome.
For micro's.. I like the Microcube too.

[Larz]

I like my cube as well.

Seems a lot of the high end amp guys are making micro sizes....I saw a 7W Hiwatt micro sized amp in a magazine recently.

Or are you talking just in the $100-$150 range?

[DonP]

I bought a Vox VT15 to keep in my office at work. Seems to do the job pretty well.

I like the fact that there is a fair amount of control over the built in effect parameters. You can save up to 8 preset sounds.

I wish it had an aux input, but that's really the only thing missing.

- E.

+1. Great little practice amp with a lot of tones and quite a big thump for an 8" speaker.

The Cube 30x had a great sound as well, but it was just the lack of variety that made me choose the Vox over it.

[PowerTube]

Here's an update and a voice of dissent; I mean no offense to those of you who love the Vox, but I made a huge mistake on Thursday. I decided that the Flextone II was more bulk than I cared to lug to another state for Easter weekend (thus this thread), so I left it at home and stopped by Guitar Center on my way out of town. I briefly (very briefly) tried the Vox VT-15 and bought it.

In short, I hated it. Don't get me wrong, the cleans and the effects were actually pretty nice, but no matter what I tried, I couldn't get the "fizzy" out of any of the overdrive channels. That is, unless I wanted that half-distorted Jimmy Page/April Wine type of sound, which I don't really like. The amp actually sounds somewhat organic and pretty big for its size, which is also more compact than the Flextone, so I'll give credit where it's due.

Anyway, the first thing I did upon getting back into town today was to take it by GC and get a refund. I hated to do that, but I had spent three days wishing that I had brought the Flextone along.

As for the Micro Cube, it is indeed awesome for what it is and I'm keeping mine. Being battery powered isn't an issue because I didn't go camping or anything.

I suppose portability isn't really my main thing, after all, because I seriously regretted the VT-15 deal and missed the Flextone. Most of the micros I've tried have a toy-like overdrive quality. I didn't bother trying the Marshall Kerry King, which they had in stock, because it doesn't have reverb or delay. Those are deal-breakers for me.

So there probably isn't a micro that will satisfy my nit-picky ass, so never mind!