Lunch Box Amp Review

Double

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Small Head Amp Review

I was in the market for a small amplifier mostly for recording and small venues. So I went down to my local music store and auditioned the Orange Tiny Terror, Vox Night Train, Mesa Transatlantic and a Traynor Night Train. All amps were auditioned through a 1x12 cabinet with a Vintage 30. But the way I have used my friends Blackheart Handsome Devil BH15H and an Egnater Rebel a couple of times so I knew what they were about.
Orange Tiny Terror: Great tone and volume, but only one type of sound, Rock and Roll, Good but limited.
Vox Night Train: Good sounding amp but just a little too bright and grainy for my tastes. Lots of Volume.
Mesa Transatlantic: Amazing Amp that has more switches than your new Ford Truck. What can I say; this amp tries to do it all and succeeds doing so most of the time. The overdrive and lead tones were Mesa all the way but the clean tone was lacking no matter how I tried to dial it in I could not get a clean tone that I liked. And the big kicker here is… it is Expensive.
Traynor DarkHorse: This is what I bought and here is why. First this was not the loudest of the amps I auditioned in fact it was probably had the least volume of all of them. For me this was not an issue because I would be using it for recording and small venues. I have other amps that I use for gigging. This amp had tone and more tone. I can switch between the USA and Brit setting for the desired preamp tone stack. These tone stacks sounded quite a bit better than the others and more closely resembled the sound of a good Fender and Marshall than the others. Then there is the “straight through” preamp setting, it bypass the tonestacks completely and increases the volume as well, very cool.
The Power section has two setting: first using the 6V6 power tubes you get 12 to 15 watts and second using the 12AU7 power tube for the 2 watt output. The 6V6 setting sounded quite a bit smother than say the Tiny Terror or the Vox Night Train. I know they both use different power tubes but this is just my observation. On the 2 watt setting using the 12AU7 this option is great for recording and late night playing. You get all the tone from pushing the power section into distortion but without the ear splitting volume, very cool.
The only thing I wish it had an effects loop, but you can’t have everything especially at this price.
 
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And this is called the "Lunch Box Amp Review" because....

I was interested in your impressions, since I contributed to a team evaluation of that amp.

So, think you can maybe mention it in your next post?
 
And this is called the "Lunch Box Amp Review" because....

I was interested in your impressions, since I contributed to a team evaluation of that amp.

So, think you can maybe mention it in your next post?

Sorry Man. Where I am from the reference "Lunch Box Amp" refers to the size and output of the head, not the make and model. I did not know there was an actual amp called the "Lunch Box". I will rename the Post.
 
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