Best Battery Amp?

**Patty Powers** · May-09-2011, 1:04pm

Hello~

I'm starting to do some outdoor playing and I need to get a battery powered amp.

Any suggestions??

Thanks for your ideas

Patty

**EdSherry** · May-09-2011, 2:26pm

The Roland "Street Cube" is pretty good.

http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/CubeStBlk/

So is the smaller / less powerful Roland Micro Cube.

http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/MicroCube

A lot of street performers around here use the Lectrosonics Maxi Mouse, but I understand it's been discontinued. Here are the reviews on Harmony Central:

http://www.harmonycentral.com/products/81038

**Tim2723** · May-09-2011, 3:09pm

The Crate Taxi series of amps used to be popular. Not sure if those are still around though. I have friends on another site who like the Roland Street Cube. I'm a Roland fan, but never used that model.

**EdSherry** · May-09-2011, 3:48pm

Tim -- you're right, I'd forgotten both the Taxi and its "big brother" the Limo. I have a TX-30 (apparently it's no longer in production). Current models are the TX-15 Taxi and TX-50 Limo.

And, of course, there's the classic Pignose.

**foldedpath** · May-09-2011, 3:56pm

The best cost-is-no-object battery amp is probably the AER Compact Mobile (PDF file). This is the battery version of the Compact 60, a great-sounding amp and it's still fairly lightweight even with the battery. I use the smaller AER Alpha (AC powered) for minimalist gigs. The Compact Mobile streets for somewhere around $1,600 USD here in the USA.

If that doesn't fit the budget, check out the Roland AC-33, which I think runs around $350 USD.

Another option is to find a standard acoustic amp you like, and then hook it up to a marine battery/inverter system when you play outdoors. It's more stuff to carry, but it widens the choice of available amps. It's also a good solution if you need to run it for more hours than the amps with built-in batteries can handle.

**Bill Burch** · May-09-2011, 4:38pm

+1 on the Roland AC-33

Bill

**i-vibe** · May-10-2011, 8:27am

battery powered amp??? let me be the first to say...that's NOT how bill monroe did it!

CARVIN offers a nice full range battery/AC amp that has some serious wallop. i don't believe it's very cheap and i know it isn't very lightweight.

that said..i am a fan of CARVIN...they make some fine stuff.

**Tim2723** · May-10-2011, 8:58am

I'm glad somebody said that. (I'm also glad it wasn't me.

)

Patty, note that the weight and cost have been mentioned. Battery amps are nice for what they are, but consider carefully. Are you quite sure you need one? Have you exhausted all the possibilities for supplying power to a standard amp outdoors? A long extension cord is cheaper and easier if you can do it. Several times a year the streets in my town are filled with sidewalk performers, yet not a battery-powered amp in sight.

**journeybear** · May-10-2011, 9:17am

I had a Mouse (probably still do, in deep storage) that served me well for years, but something happened to it, think it was the charger, and then didn't the company go under? But I am happy to have some recordings with it - it really had the right sound for me, just the right kind of warm distortion I like.

Now I have a Pignose, the big one ( not the belt-clip type), but The Hog 30, 30 amps of fun. Internal battery which I have yet to run down. Beats my Peavey Audition 20 by miles, though I do wish it had some sort of built-in distortion or overdrive, like the Peavey has. And the EQ buttons are backwards (treble is on the left, bass on the right) which is odd and makes me have to think - I hate having to do that!

It's pretty hefty, but the sound is too. Otherwise, real happy with it, though the price may have something to do with that. Cost me $20 at a yard sale, where the seller used it occasionally for "karoke," and threw in the mike and cord for good measure - turned out to be a Shure SM58. So yeah, no complaints here.

**wsugai** · May-10-2011, 3:00pm

I use a Phil Jones Briefcase bass amp with a couple of 5" speakers. Uses a motorcycle battery, so it seems to weigh a ton, and I use a cheap luggage roller to haul it around. It's got an equalizer and built-in compression and is well made, so it works for me. Very nice bass tone.

**eadg145** · May-10-2011, 7:48pm

I have a Pignose Hog 30 amp that I bought for park excursions with my Ashbory bass. This is a remarkably good sounding amp, and it has been reliable for several years now. I recommend it.

**journeybear** · May-10-2011, 7:55pm

I'll ask you, then, because you are playing a bass through it - what is the deal with the funk bass switch? I get a good bit of squeal when I turn that on, so I never do.

BTW, Patty, I don't know if weight is a consideration, but this is pretty heavy for portable, probably about 25 pounds / 11 kilos. It's quite something when I bungee it to my bike!

Well, actually, the whole rig in full regalia fits on my bike - mike shaft bungeed to the top bar of the frame, base in the milk crate cum cargo carrier over the rear wheel, tip bucket with cables and EQ/gain pedal also in crate, wah-wah pedal and effects unit slide around the bucket in the milk crate, amp bungees over that, aluminum stool on top of that, mandolin in gig bag strapped on my back, MandoBird in gig bag in front basket (slimmer profile permits this - and off I go. I must look a sight, very Third World, but most gigs are not very far, and this way I get to roll right up to the stage without fussing over a parking space, usually hard to find.

**mandroid** · May-10-2011, 10:13pm

the Carvin people makes a battery powered PA cabinet, speaker stand socket and all ..
[as said in #7]
runs off a couple Gel cell batteries, I think, anyhow ..

runs for quite a while.. Contains some Mixer channels on the back..

**pops1** · May-10-2011, 10:53pm

The Carvin is real nice with a ten inch speaker and horn, and solid enough to play bass thru ( a friend does this) 4 channels, just wish it had phantom power.

**mandroid** · May-10-2011, 11:05pm

Mics don't need much juice , theres several condensers that have a 9v battery in them to self power.

**eadg145** · May-11-2011, 3:22pm

Journeybear, the "Funk Bass" switch on the Pignose Hog 30 is supposed to change the EQ to something appropriate for slap bass. (Usually that means increased highs and lows, and suppressed midrange.) I have not found this switch to be useful with any instrument or playing style. I just think the EQ they used is somehow off, and it doesn't sound good to me at all. That being said, I really like the Hog 30 with the "Funk Bass" switch in the "OFF" position!