Amped UP !

[Tonray's Ghost]

Firstly I'd like to thank @toomanycats for recommending the Blackstar Studio 10 6l6 (CV10 variant). Absolutely loving it. Playing more than ever and with the Valeton GP-200 LT can get all the tones I need from the combo.

BUT ...I often get a riff in my head (sometimes when watching TV some theme song just catches me and I need to grab the guitar). This inspiration usually doesn't last more than 5 or 10 minutes and I really don't want to be power cycling the tubes on and off for 5 minute bursts.

So..this baby is sittiing on my porch waiting for me to get back home today: review to follow

I'll also eventually move a guitar up to the bedroom and make this my bedroom setup. With Bluetooth, an audio interface, capable of running off USB power or batteries and an app with many effects options, this will be part of my 'upstairs' workstation. Play more for '24.



Only a cool $100 even too !

[Tonray's Ghost]

Ok.. playing with this thing for about 20 minutes right out of the box..this thing is the sizzle with Shizzel ! As a Bluetooth speaker it is below average but that's probably why it sounds so good as a guitar sound reproducer. One of the best $100 spent . Practice practice practice everywhere.

Update: actually not half bad as a Bluetooth speaker. Played some old vocal oriented stuff (Walking After Midnight) Patsy Cline..pretty darned good

[tonebender]

Cool little practice amp for sure. That is a lot of stuff packed into one small box.

[Tonray's Ghost]

Cool little practice amp for sure. That is a lot of stuff packed into one small box.

Also pretty neat is you get 7 presets that can be configured via the app that you then can access simply by cycling thru them via a button in the control panel..that's what I call user friendly.

[andrewsrea]

HNAD!

I auditioned this and I think its called a Spark Mini, with a friend of mine (who ened up with the Spark) and both were awesome. Enjoy!

[Tonray's Ghost]

HNAD!

I auditioned this and I think its called a Spark Mini, with a friend of mine (who ened up with the Spark) and both were awesome. Enjoy!

Yes I also considered the Sparc(k) ? But the tiny one (Go) was about $60 more and the slightly bigger one to this was about $145 more so value ruled the day

[tonebender]

I marvel at the things that are available today but I doubt I will ever be able to utilize the stuff. I am still amazed by an amp that has a drive channel and built in reverb. I fumble around with a Trio and a looper and never even got comfortable with it. My Boss Songwriter acoustic amp has a built in looper and harmonizer. Needless to say I do not use either. I am used to stepping on a pedal for playing a solo but I just cannot get used to doing it for harmonies and looping. It is distracting to me.

[dabbler]

I marvel at the things that are available today but I doubt I will ever be able to utilize the stuff. I am still amazed by an amp that has a drive channel and built in reverb. I fumble around with a Trio and a looper and never even got comfortable with it. My Boss Songwriter acoustic amp has a built in looper and harmonizer. Needless to say I do not use either. I am used to stepping on a pedal for playing a solo but I just cannot get used to doing it for harmonies and looping. It is distracting to me.

Yes, the things technology has enabled are amazing! I have a Spark 40, and added a portable ps that makes it totally portable. And for those times I need to noodle/practice while the wife is watching TV, I bought a cheapie dongle that plugs into the guitar/bass and powers headphones. It also does Bluetooth, so I can practice with YouTube through my cell phone and it even has 4 fixed effects!

[Tonray's Ghost]

I marvel at the things that are available today but I doubt I will ever be able to utilize the stuff. I am still amazed by an amp that has a drive channel and built in reverb. I fumble around with a Trio and a looper and never even got comfortable with it. My Boss Songwriter acoustic amp has a built in looper and harmonizer. Needless to say I do not use either. I am used to stepping on a pedal for playing a solo but I just cannot get used to doing it for harmonies and looping. It is distracting to me.

I have a love/hate relationship with loopers for sure. I do use the built in looper in the Valeton GP-200LT but not often enough to become proficient. They have come a long way in that now you can get them to autostart when it gets a guitar signal once armed and can synch the rythm patterns too. But still it's usually easier to alternate between a base/rythm line and solo when just noodlling around at home. But sometimes I get motivated and use the looper once I have mastered the beat without it (kind of reeverse of the way it should be...ha ha ha). I can see however a solo act or busker where a good looper (especially one that can pre-save backing loops) can be an indispensable tool for sure.

[tlarson58]

This is so much better than the Katana Mini I bought 3 years ago for $100 and sold for $50.

[Tonray's Ghost]

This is so much better than the Katana Mini I bought 3 years ago for $100 and sold for $50.

You know the 2 features that really standout for me are 1) having reverb -or- delay available from the control panel, and 2) the ability to power this with either batteries, a 9 V adapter -or- any Type C Phone cable/charger. That makes it portable so it can go anywhere in the house (we have type C cables in every room pretty much). The app just makes it so much more usefull too.

I was torn between the Valeton GP200 and the Nu-x multifunction unit too...so basically I get the Nu-x effects with this unit and app...I'm going to try the headhone output into the Blackstar CV10 amp to kind of use it as an effects box. I did that years ago with a Vox DA-5 into a big old Kustom Acoustic amp I got in a trade..sounded fabulous !

[Tonray's Ghost]

Update: sold the NUX mini amp.

What I liked:

Ease of use, nice app controls, decent tones available

What I didn't like:

a bit noisy, I found I had to turn off my wifi router and a few other items to stop the buzz at times.

Mediocre Bluetooth speaker functionality. No on board volume control and Bluetooth eats batteries like fat Elvis at a buffet dinner

Sometimes the presets and the onboard dials seemed to conflict. If preset had reverb, the delay was still on at times, had to fiddle with dials to reset.

All in all a fine little amp for a small room or apartment. But I am spoiled now with a 12 inch speaker and likely when I get a rental in the city, I'll pick up a Vox Cambridge 50 for city playing and keep the Blackstar CV10 at the weekend house.

But the Nux was ok if you are very mobile or just need something easy and cheap. Beats the Blackstar fly I had by a mile easily