AKARSH SHEKHAR
Best Portable Guitar Amps for
Your Rock n' Roll Journey
Orange Rocker 15
Blackstar Fly 3
Sporty 2-channel tube amp
with tube FX loop.
Two channels and a custom-voiced
10“ Orange speaker are equipped to
bring out the best of whatever guitar
you plug in — P-90s to humbuckers.
In addition to its extra-wide gain
range — which really does scream — on-board power
scaling, which dials back the output from the full 15 watts
to a more bedroom-friendly ½-watt with several stops in
between, allows you to engage in the heaviest hard rock
savagery without blowing out your family or neighbours.
Yamaha THR10 Standard
Stereo 10-watter — makes a great
study amp and audio interface.
Yamaha’s THR10 series outlines
a full range of 10-watt modelling
amps with on-board FX and 3″ stereo
speakers. Whether stereo-miked
for gigging out, connected to your
laptop for convenient USB recording, or filling your living room
or jam space with a compendium of classic guitar tones, the
THR10s are real workhorses for the home, stage, and studio.
Friedman Pink Taco Mini
1 x 10″ tube combo for some hot rockin'.
A fairly 20-watt, 1 x 10“ master-volume tube
combo derived from Friedman’s world-
class stage heads. This single-channeller’s
USA custom transformers and 12AX7/
EL84 tube complement handle verge-of-
breakup Goldilocks tones with the grace
and poise of a much larger amp, while still
giving you plenty of range to drive that front end well into
crunch territory. The Pink Taco Mini’s interactive 3-band
EQ section is well matched for the open-back 10“ Celestion
Greenback. But for those occasions when you need to fill an
aircraft hangar, additional speaker outs let you add more
speakers to push more air. Two features we really dig in the
Pink Taco Mini are its 3-way gain structure switch, which
goes a long way in appropriating vintage and modern tones.
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The
Score Magazine
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Battery powered. Heaps of
tones. Ultra-portable.
The smallest and most affordable option on
our list is the lunch pail–sized Blackstar
Fly 3. No, it won’t fill an auditorium,
but it can sure fill a bedroom, office, or
subway depot with a touch of Blackstar’s both-sides-of-the-
pond signature breakup. One of the Fly 3’s strengths is its
straightforward control set. Every function on this amp is
represented by a knob or switch right on top of the chassis.
Fender ’65 Princeton Reverb
A wonderful Tweed ’65
Princeton Reverb combo.
At 34 pounds, the ’65 Princeton Reverb
pushes the envelope for what most would
consider a “portable” amp. Its 15 watts
of high-headroom Blackface quack,
cluck, and spunk, driven by a septet of tubes and a highly
interactive tone stack through an upgraded 12″ Cannabis
Rex, make this amp the perfect platform for pedal lovers.
Roland JC-22 Jazz Chorus
Cool-as-ice 30-watt stereo amp
with twin 6.5″ drivers.
If Robert Smith could have dreamed his
beloved 60-pounder would one day be
available in a compact combo, he may have
gone on to write some cheerier music. The
Roland JC-22 drew its inspiration from that cult class8c.
The JC-22 is a true stereo combo, with twin 6.5“
speakers driven by two independent 15-watt power
amps, a stereo FX loop that’s perfect for taking on pedal
effects, and buckets of that famous Dimensional Space
Chorus on tap to create three-dimensional results.
BOSS Katana Air
Wireless operation and stereo
speakers in a mini-head format.
Inside, you’ll find two custom-tuned 3″ stereo
speakers, over 50 BOSS FX to stoke your
creativity, and five amp models spanning
American cleans to British high gain. USB connectivity and
recording-emulated output also make the Katana Air the ideal
centre-piece for your home studio. Thanks to its Bluetooth
media-streaming capability, the Katana Air also makes a sweet
little boom-box or theatre system for any room in your house.