Tiny amplifiers for guitars
Tiny amps are best described as "cute". Definitely not that loud, but still cool to have. They make for good decoration more than anything else, so if you want something on your desk or shelf that says, "I'm a guitar player", the tiny amp is a must-have. Your friends may say, "I would never buy one of those", but that's not true. They totally would.
Here are a few tiny amps, most of which have a belt clip so you can actually wear the thing while playing through it. And yes, these are all real combo amplifiers, all mini-sized.
Click on any amp below to see the price, specs, color choices and so on.
The classic Fender silver-face amp look in a miniature size.
This is basically as close as you can get to a tweed look in a tiny-sized amp. The chrome and handlebar are a nice touch.
This one has the classic 1960s Fender amp look and actually separates the "head" from the "cab".
This is arguably the most popular mini-amp, and yes I actually did own one years ago when it was brand new at the time. The MS-2 basically hasn't changed at all, but that's okay because it still looks cool.
This one, I admit, is a bit ridiculous because it's basically two MS-2's stacked on top of each other. It is however a true full-stack. How much louder it is than the MS-2 I have no idea.
Danelectro has retro down to a science, and the DH-1 definitely delivers. There's just something about Danelectro style that's just plain cool.
I'll be honest here - I'm not exactly sure what the difference is between the DH-1 and DH-2, so I don't know whether it has more or less features/power/etc. But it does have that awesome aqua box look to it.
This is my opinion is the coolest-looking mini-amp in the list. It comes in 4 different colors (including cream), but the black one is so spot-on with its retro look, and nothing else in this list can touch it. And it's cheap!
If I'm not mistaken, this is the most expensive mini-amp in the list. Why? Because it's more than just an amp. It has 66 rhythm patterns in it and two 3-inch speakers for plenty of sound out of a small package.
Which is the best?
There's no real "best" amp here, because you can't really expect much from amps this small. However the ones that are the best bang for the buck both for style and functionality are the Fender '57 Mini, Marshall MS-2 and the Danelectro Honeytone N-10.
Published 2012 Jan 29
