Portable Mini Speaker for Guitar, Drums, Keyboard & Microphone - Compact Carry-on Amplifier with Dual Input & Stereo Expansion - Perfect for Live Performances, Studio Recording & Outdoor Events

I’ve been looking for a small guitar amplifier for years. I have purchased most of the main contenders by all of the big brands, and returned most of them. Some were too expensive for the sound or features, some were thin-sounding and underwhelming. Some were too quiet. I ended up buying something larger that fit the bill, but is quite a bit larger than what I wanted. I even experimented with those small Bluetooth speakers that sport a line in, to no avail.Which brings me to the Carry-On. I requested this item immediately when I saw it. The specs on paper don’t seem mind blowing. There is no reverb. There is no distortion. No modeling.What you do get is a very compact, solidly-made portable guitar amplifier that defies physics and common sense. Sure, it’s a perfect little practice amp, but this thing sounds good enough to record. And for a tiny amp, it’s pretty loud! What’s more, the knobs only give you useable sounds, so it doesn’t easily overload and start to sound bad at as you turn the knob up or even at “10.”I should mention, I am mostly a clean player. I generally use overdrive or fuzz pedals for leads or crunch tones. I have tube amps I use for recording, but for day in day out playing and jamming, I like pedals. This amp takes pedals really well! I settled on a reverb pedal for now (and to have a smaller footprint), but fuzz, phaser, delay, and trek all sounded great with this. Tonally, this is a slightly mids-forward amp. Dense chords sound lush and punchy, belying the amp’s diminutive size. I can dig into clean chords and there’s headroom there! With the reverb pedal on, this sounds like a smaller version of my larger practice amp, balanced and tight. Turning the bass and treble knobs up, I got a nice mid scooped clean sound with more apparent volume. In short, it’s really good.There is an aux in so you can play along to other music , or some tracks you’ve made. It sounds like a cross between one of those folded tube/subwoofer mini Bluetooth speakers and a guitar amp. Highly effective! I would consider busking in a quiet space with this, no problem. Make no mistake - this doesn’t have earth shaking bass. But it is balanced, which is remarkable, really. I do wish it had a reverb, but no doubt that would increase the final price, and I’d rather use a pedal anyway so I can get the kind of reverb I like. A single multi-effect pedal would pair nicely with this. The headphone output sounded awesome as well, clean and detailed, plenty of low end, but lacking the “cabinet” sound since it is a direct out. I turned the table down and it was definitely enjoyable.There may be an extension cabinet available for this, and I’m interested in it. I noticed on the back of the amp there is a statement on the label which reads “Designed in partnership with Blackstar amplification LTD, Northampton, England.” This may help explain why this is so good for the size. Clearly someone knew what they were doing.This may or may not be your cup of tea, but for me, it’s a no brainer. I’d rather have three truly clean watts with headroom than a bunch of amp models and effects on an amp that distorts badly and can’t keep up. I can see this in my carry-on (ha!), checked luggage, backpack, green room, bedroom, apartment, bathroom, car - you name it. Highly recommend if you are looking at small practice amps. I think it’s priced fairly.