Do $50 Micro Amps Suck? | Marshall vs Fender vs Danelectro Shootout 

On the Honeytone, the reason the power light was flickering is because the battery was running out of juice. The battery that comes already inside is pretty crap. If you put in a fresh Duracell or other decent brand 9V, the tones are much cleaner and louder. You may want to give them all another shot with some fresh batteries!

Takes me back to the golden 60s rock sounds of listening through a clock radio.

The Boss Katana Mini is only a little larger and more expensive than those reviewed here, but it actually sounds really good!

There's no such thing as bad tone but to this day the Blackstar FLY 3 is the only "Mini" amp I've heard that sounds decent, much bigger than the speaker should allow.

I originally found out about these because I saw a post where someone used the red Marshall one as a prop in a miniature diorama, and so far that's the most practical use I have found for them lol

Good review, very informative. I like how you showed us the inside of the amps

I'm not sure I agree that "there's no such thing as bad tone" having owned the honey tone and having listened to the other two in the video. I own a boss katana mini and I love it. I also did the mod you shared, adding an output and have it running through a cheap Harley Benton cab that has a celestion Vintage 30 in it, and it sounds incredible for home use. Whilst it's a little bigger than the micro.amps features here, I would massively recommend the Katana Mini and the Harley Benton cab to all. Great video, as always.

There’s no such thing as bad tone but I'd be interested in taking that fender, pulling out the guts (not the speakers) and putting it in a pedal enclosure and trying it out as a fuzz :)

I got a Blackstar Fly a few years ago just for messing around at home, looks and sounds great.

Thanks mate. Interesting video and one that probably saved me a few quid as I was considering purchasing the Danelectrico mini amp. But! No longer, thanks to your performing a great service to the guitar playing community. Cheers, Brother!

I've got a Marshall MS2, which I've had for years. I, altered the wiring to put an extension speaker socket in it, which disconnects the internal speaker and put it through a cab with a 12" speaker in and it sounds really good, especially on the clean channel.

I think it might be the size of the box, which resonates. If you plug the speaker out into a bigger cab, it might sound a lot better. "There's no such thing as bad tone!" I love "bees in a jamjar!" Nice upload! 🎸👀🙂

Finding that close-micing my Orange mini amp comes across on tracks like it's a "real" amp has got me fascinated with mini amps now.

I have the Blackstar Fly3 amp (the Jared James Nichols version) and it's actually super useable. I can even plug it in to my amp through the AUX ports on each. The Fly3 has that speaker extender feature but it's basically and aux out and i can make the tones from it SUPER loud. There is no such thing as "bad tone" but.... I would suggest spending the extra 29 dollars and buying a Fly3 instead. :)

What a fun Video. I own two out of the three ( Marshall & Fender ) I think they are fun to "play" with for a short period of time. The noise will at least after a while hurt your ears. But I must say I do like to have some kind of fun with my little "Icons".

Can’t wait for my Marshall double stack & the Fender , wish I had ordered the Honeytone

There's no such thing as bad tone, but small speakers make for unlistenable guitar tones. Having said that, these small amps make for EXCELLENT dirt pedals. At least the Marshall one does. There are a few videos on RU-vid showing you how to do that. It's a pretty interesting RAT-esque distortion! Btw, the MS-4>MS-2.

I had a good chuckle when you said no close miking because no one ever puts their ears right up to one of those. I've made the same observation about youtube full-size amp demos that never use any room mics to demo the sound of the amps. With close mics and a little production, even a Champ can sound like a stack, so it makes gear demos pointless for anything other than showing how an amp can sound when recorded,... or if you put your ear right up to the speaker, lol

Fun video!(there’s no such thing as bad tone!) I have a Pignose which I can recommend for a fun alternative.

I practice with a fender deluxe mini, very similar to this. Usually with plexi pedal, and sounds surprisingly good

I'd love to hear one of those connected to a better speaker. I'd bet that you could build a cheep MDF cab with a 6" speaker and really step up the quality of those little buggers.

I’ve never played a mini amp before but you saved me from wasting my money and I appreciate that

Positive Grid Spark Mini. It has become a fav of mine to sit on the couch and practice with. Tone is amazing for such a small amp.

There’s no such thing as bad tone but I think the headphone output should have been tested. I have the NUX Mighty Lite, which sounds ok. When I run the headphone output into my Denon AV Receiver, coming out of my floor standing tower speakers, it sounds pretty good. I'd love to hear that Marshall output through a receiver. instead of using it's built in speaker. I'd also love to hear it with the cabinet output mod, driving a seperate speaker cabinet.

They do make a cool view piece on your shelf or fireplace.

My favorite in this vein is a Vox amPlug with the little amPlug cabinet. I bought a bunch of the amPlugs back in the day, but my favorite was the Lead. Also, there’s no such thing as bad tone but…

I fried my Honeytone amp cus they put a speaker that WILL fry it eventually, so I gutted the original circuit and put a tube amp inside it lmao The reason why I say it WILL fry is because, according to the datasheet for the audio power amplifier IC they used in the amp (TDA7052), an 8 ohms speaker should only be used for up to an 8v supply. For 9v and over, 16 ohms should be the appropriate impedance. This is because at 9v, an 8 ohms speaker will draw too much current for the chip to handle, especially with heavy playing.

The Vox Pathfinder, though a bit more $, of course, is really miles above any of these by far for a beginner's practice amp. I was using one of those about 17 years ago for just messing about at home, I could get a great clean chimey tone out of it, and even a great fuzz OD tone! No pedals. And it sounds great. I would stick with something like that for sure.

Love you brother and who doesn't dream of twin Marshall's behind them when they are playing!! Ryan already has the 2 Princetons!!

Please make a video where you use these as a preamp!

Thank you-i’d recommend anything you can rescue from a thrift store over those. Rescued a Suzuki 20 and an Acoustic 20, before finally getting in a Vox.

I have a tiny NuX that has bluetooth and built in metronome. It actually sounds decent through the speaker and better with good headphones. It’s called the Mighty Lite BT for anyone interested in a good small amp.

Got the marshall one from goodwill for a few bucks- sounds great.

There’s no such thing as bad tone but you realise that you need to make a Tonex/QC/Kemper capture of these 😂 I remember the cheap orange crush amps being ok… definitely better than this!

The only mini amp that’s currently on my radar is the Danelectro Bacon n Eggs. It’s a mini amp/distortion pedal that fits on your board. If I hate the amp, at least I might be able to use the distortion. Or vice versa.

Marshall also makes a mini Full stack. The MS4. I have one and I love it for what it is. If you're expecting "good sound" forget it. But if you want something that will "amplify" your guitar to a volume you can hear or you just think they're cool. I love mine. I bought it expecting it to sound like crap but be a fun novelty. And it is. I do think the MS4 sounds a touch better than the MS1. You can also use headphones with the MS4.

There's no such a thing as bad tone. I'm a complete beginner at guitar and playes the Boss Katana mini, it's awesome. But are now in the thinking of getting an Katana 50 mkII or so.. Maybe the new Catalyst 60 from Line 6.. So i get a fuller sound and so on.. To much to choose of it is haha 😅 By the way your content is awesome and so genuine, love it! 😎🙌

I have the honeytone did a small mod now it sounds awesome. I put a speaker out jack on it. Now I can use my 1×12 cab

In my experience... I think your recording made these sound better than i have experienced in person. 😂

'There's no such thing as bad tone, but'...I like the Fender. I have the Fender mini tweed 57 and very much enjoy playing around on it. I have other real and practice amps but the little Tweed mini is just fun. You can also learn a lot from it as it has a very basic amplifier circuit. You can really shape the tone coming from it. You use that in your other amps to shape the tone into what you like. A better understanding of how it works in other words. I used it in my guitar class to demonstrate that.

There’s no such thing as bad tone but I have had the mini tone master for my entire life and if it’s not the only amp you have the fuzz tone you get out of it is honestly so much fun. I use it for a Queens of the Stone Age sound and again it’s genuinely so much fun in that aspect. I’d say definitely worth the $50

There’s no such thing as bad tone, but the Blackstar Fly 3 is a brilliant little amplifier with surprisingly long battery life.

you should try a Orange Crush Mini. They are great for the size.

perhaps they could be used with a mini cabinet that has like an 8 inch speaker or something..might not sound so tinny..just put in an extra jack that seperates the micros speaker from the amp section and rerouts the sound to the larger speaker..like in a tiny cab that you might want to sit on and play on the street corner for practice and a few handouts for beer..

I had the Marshall one ages ago... I feel that if they were anything BUT plastic, there might be a chance at them sounding good.. The plastic just makes it sound like, well, what it is; a speaker in a cheap hollow plastic box where everything is vibrating.. An interesting project would be to transplant them into, say, a wooden enclosure. But even then, I have doubts..

"Wish You Were Here" intro right there!

There’s no such thing as bad tone, but those little speakers are very limiting, I have a mini Fender twin, and I was rather impressed with the tone, all things taken into account. It is fine as a little headphone amp and looks cool on the shelf when not in use next to the mini Marshall.

I've started buying these mini amps as ornaments 😊

I suspect the honey tone has a power usage issue because you can put a brand new battery in it and it’ll be flashing like that after one song especially when it’s over driving and it’s always over driving the amp that fits in my case amp only

Those are probably good as decorations for the music room.

I picked up a Fender Twin mini amp while in the USA in 97. I actually was intending to buy a Pig Face, but the Twin won that shoot out & I still have it, even mic'd up on a big stage & made it sound massive. Maybe the missing glue was stopping the speaker in your fender from vibrating? My 1st serious guitar teacher would come to my house with the Marshall mini for lessons. It sounded like crap but got the message across. There's no such thing as bad tone, but.....

Micro Amps but a great review! Thank you for the video. Greetz from Amsterdam(n) 💙🙏

These things could be awesome using a microphone and PA on stage. If one has a setting they like for fuzz, could be a cool mood expression, small yet angry!

i have a blackstar micro that does sound decent, not great but alright. when i plugged the headphone into a stereo it sounded pretty good. maybe you should look at the headphone sound or plug them into a direct.

I wish they still sold those Pignose amps at various guitar shops, they seem hard to find nowadays, but I'm told they are fantastic little amps. Not toys, but a great portable amp.

fender mini tone master is nice just got one.

There is bad tone AND I am pretty happy with the Roland Micro Cube sitting on my desk. It never falls over and sounds pretty damn good!

If you were to close mic these with an sm57, you'd be getting proximity effect, which will fill in the sound and will be much more authentic-sounding. These mini amps aren't the type one would want to room-mic.

I've got an old honeytone headphone amplifier. It's similar to the honeytone you have there but is more slim and doesn't have a speaker in it. It does of course sound pretty crap.

Harmonica players love the honeytone.

I think the dano’s battery was dying. There's no such thing as bad tone, but you have to know the application. Andy’s right when talking about beginners, but if you know what you’re in for, these can be amazing little tools, I like to use these little fellas, to blend them with bigger, darker amps. I think the Orange micro amps are actually pretty good. I own a Orange CR6s the old stereo one and modded a speaker out, the new Orange has this already built in. I also own the Marshall MS-2 and removed a resistor, so i can use the headphone out for speakers instead and i made it heavier.

My fender twintone blew the speaker after a bit. My marshall small stack is still pushing. They do have their use like travel ans stuff like that. I would suggest the marshall. There is no such thing as bad tone, but then theres the way i play guitar.

Those would be great for on stage comedy routines, you could bring the house down,the whole band playing through these & the drummer with a little toy drum set

I have one of those cheap £10+/- marshall style mini amps and I don't think it sounds any worse than that marshall mini amp. It has the same controls on it but looks more like a combo amp than a head and speaker style. The only thing that gives it any sort of identity is MA 5 underneath the power led. I bought it knowing how crap it sounds, with the idea of using it to put my own amplifier circuits in it.

I think it's cute that the honey tone has an actual little leather handle 😅

For someone who doesnt quite have the 6k to get my home elctric fixed (old owner kept putting in boxes...i have 3 fuse boxes in the basement and only one room with grounding) battery power is the only way to go (becuase fighting electicty is hard)

There is no such as bad tone, but have you tried them from the headphone out into a bigger cab? I'm fairly sure that is possible: a friend used his smokie amp into a 4x12 and it was a usable sound. I have on several occasions used my old Gorilla 15 watt into my 4x12 and that sounds pretty good and actually really quite loud.

I have a Fender mini amp packed away, different than yours here. But either your Fender mini or the Honeytone, but more likely the Fender.

John Hornby Skewes owns the Vintage brand of guitars. Not sure where the Danelectro connection comes from.

Granted, none of these sounded great compared to a dedicated full size amp, but for the form factor of something small enough that you can clip or attach to yourself for mobility these are almost your only options. Recently I got a Spark GO which blows all of these out of the water, it almost sounds like a full size amp and is actually smaller, but also costs 3 times as much. Out of these I'd recommend the Honeytone; the sound clears up much better once you get a fresh 9volt in there and you can actually control the overdrive. Since they're so cheap, I got 4 of them to teach the kids at my middle school's guitar club as a simple solution to get everyone amped without having cables and cords laying all across the orchestra room.

Any chance the batteries are old and affecting the tone? The flickering light seemed odd. I know they won't ever sound good but I could have sworn my honeytone from a long time ago sounded slightly better.

Was wondering what it would sound like through something like a two notes cab m? I would imagine some of those mini amps have a headphone or line out, could be used to connect it to the cab m and hear it through a virtual power amp and cab sim.

The Honeytone is the real winner. With a fresh, alkaline battery, it can sound quite nice.

Correct Andy Honey tone Amps are owned by Dan electro hence the stylisation.

I have a double-stack Marshall mini and it sits on a shelf next to a guitar model, they are almost the same scale. I played it once, sounded terrible. There's no such thing as bad tone, but, the Danelectro was my favorite.

I have the HoneyTone! It's hilarious! It distorts amazingly no matter what you do. It would make a great pre-amp, LOL! My fave amp? An old Ampeg SVT and the 8/10 cabinet. There is no such thing as bad tone. Oops. Yes there is!

The Honeytone is amazing for the broke guitar player. I've never been able to afford a nicer amp but for 30 bucks I can get some pretty good clean tones and wild distortion. I highly recommend it for anyone who, like me, can't swing anything nicer at the moment. It's loveable junk.

i have the marshall and it can get the job done if u wanna play , clean tones sound decent but the od is.. not the best soundong but hey if ur in a hotel room and wanna jam or a similar situation ,camping,beach,etc BUT i just bought the EVH 5150 iii micro stack and there is nothing toyish about that thing its likev40% bigger then the ms2 it doesnt look as much like a gimmick as the marshall and sound pretty good ( wouldnt expect anything less from something with eds name on it tbh :D) and its in the price range of these guys i would reccomend the evh 5150 micro stack out of all these if you dont wanna spend boss katana or orange crush mini price on a amp like this

Bought a Honeytone as a benchtop amp. I need something accessible that didn't break the bank to test guitars during repair. After they come off the bench, they are plugged into a legit amp.

I would buy them and mod them with good speakers. Then they might sound okay. Just a fun experiment to try. J&M from Tucson makes great high quality mini speakers for motorcycles. I have a set that cost $500 (two 4" speakers) that are so loud they make my ears ring when riding my motorcycle. And they are super clean sounding. Judas Priest while riding is awesome.

I would loved to have heard them into an actual cab via the headphone out. I used to have an old Fender version of one of these and it was terrible back them too. There really is such thing as bad tone. :D

Perhaps with a bit of sand across the table, the HoneyTone could give you the full rotating Leslie effect. 🎯

There’s no such thing as bad tone... but bad is in the ear of the beholder so I'm not judging if people feel otherwise :) I find myself playing the Blackstar Fly 3 for fun when I need a bit of inspiration. It's great as it is, but with the extra cab it shoves a surprising amount of air, and it sounds like a real amp at all gain settings. Even works well with bass. It's got that immediate, punchy feel you get with small speakers and solid state, so it makes you think a little differently about what you play - always a good thing :)

I agree with the comment, just buy a decent amp and do not buy things that will discourage you from playing guitar. I have Vox Mini5 Rhythm, though I use it a lot, but even that I consider is too small. Unfortunately the next step up is BOSS MKII and Roland Jazz Master Chorus. Actually, I am thinking to buy Fender Champion or Roland Cube but at the moment I have to be happy with what I have. As you know it is rather difficult to convince my wife that I need another amp. 😀 I just wait until she decide to buy another handbag or shoes.

There’s no such thing as bad tone but…with a simple mod you can put these thru a big cab and wow! whole new world(perhaps uninhabited but nonetheless)

There's no such thing as bad tone but I just got a MS2 and was already using a NUX Mighty Air and although it sounds better in multiple effects and app support I am afuzz lover too so I am enjoying the Marshall. LOL

There's no such thing as bad tone.....BUT, I have a few others that I have that are awful as well. What I have and enjoy playing with are the Orange Crush Mini, the NU-X Mighty Lite and the Spark Go.

I actually love my honeytone.

there's no such thing as bad tone but them you get a Boss and realize you have almost every tone in one amp, well that's all I need. Side note, the Blackstar is very well made and can link two for stereo.

Danelectro honeytone has great-ish clean when plugged into 12v power source :)

Ibanez Mini Gio GA1G is the best one I've found so far.

I used to have the Marshall back in the mid-90s. I only used it through the headphones. The speaker was trash.

I am wondering if any of these have ant redeeming qualities through the headphones or line out depending upon which one.

If the marshall has 1/4" in and out, its a distortion pedal. Go in the marshall from guitar, and out of the marshal to another amp.

It's a fair point that most of these don't sound good..... compared to a 'real' amp. I think, though, too many people are too quick to dismiss them entirely for that reason, when they have their place, specifically having access to amplification on the go when you wouldn't have an option for an amp. E.g. hotel rooms on holiday and the likes... I'd rather see these compared not against a regular amp, but something like the (markedly more expensive) Positive Grid Spark Go. For myself, I'd love to have something that would be in the middle of these. I appreciate the simplicity of a miniamp like the Fender Mini 57 (and it does undeniably look cool). I don't need all the functionality of the likes of the Spark Go. OTOH, the quality of the latter is outstanding. I've *almost* talked myself into buying one of those in due course, but for two flaws - one, it looks kinda naff (not so important for a pocket-size tool), two if I've understood it right it doesn't have a 3.5mm input. A big part of the attraction of this for me would be to use it as an outboard speaker for my mp3 player and/or tablet when travelling. Blutooth could of course do that, but personally I much prefer to use a 3.5 to 3.5 cable and maximise the battery life. BT drains it far too quickly on all devices.

Honestly, that distorted tone was probably the best that Fender has ever produced.

I watched the head of Danelectro talk about the Honeytone at Sweetwater

It's fun to use these in a pedalboard setup. Send the output of these amps to your "real" amp. There is no such thing as bad tone, but I would get a Sunn Model T instead! Great mini amps! (teehee....)

Wouldn’t it have been worthwhile to plug them into an AMP and use them as a pedal?

There's no such thing as bad tone ...Might need to use mini amps like these as a curio...I think you should have compared these 3 amps to the Vox MV50 and Fender Mustang Micro for "a fair shootout"