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If you’re looking for the best travel electric guitar or the best travel acoustic guitar, you can check out these articles.
If you’re looking for the best travel guitar amp… read on.
Overall, I recommend the Line 6 Micro Spider 6-Watt Battery-Powered Guitar Amplifier. It’s the one I have used for a few years now. It takes 6 C batteries or you can plug it in with a power adapter (included). I like it because it pumps out a lot of power in a little package. It also has a TON of build in effects (even the presets work really well right out of the box). You can read the full review below, or check it out here.
If you want more details, read on….
So if you’re in the market here are some of your options:
Fender Mini Deluxe Electric Guitar Amp
I gotta be honest… when I first saw this little guy I fell in love with it. Check out this link for more photos and to read reviews on Amazon.
It produces about 1 watt of power (which isn’t much) in a tiny package.
Here are the specs:
Size: 5.5 x 4.5 x 2.5 inches
Weight: 1.1 lbs
Wattage: 1 Watt
It takes a 9Volt battery or you can plug it into a wall outlet with an adapter. And – like most amps that I recommend, it also includes an 1/8th inch headphone jack (so you can practice without bugging anyone else in the room).
Marshall MS2 Micro Guitar Amplifier
I remember this amp from years ago. I had a friend in elementary school who used to play guitar and bring this little amp around with him. It’s super portable. As far as the specs….
Size: 5.5 x 4.3 x 2.4 inches
Weight: 12 ounces
Wattage: 1 Watt
Just like the Fender Mini Deluxe it’s tiny and 1 watt of power. So why would you chose this over the Fender?
Portability.
It has a neat little belt clip on the back. You can throw in a 9 volt battery, plug in your guitar, and walk around and play on the go.
Practically speaking, if you busking and playing guitar on the street corner – this is the best small amplifier for you.
VOX AP2CR amPlug Classic Rock G2 Guitar Headphone Amp
If you want to go EVEN smaller. Check out this little plug in “amp”.
It’s essentially an adapter that allows you to plug your headphones directly into your guitar.
There are a few different models: Clean, Crunch, Metal, and Bass.
Each model has a few built-in variation to the effects.
I’m not totally sold on these. For around $35 they feel a little expensive for what you get.
They are tiny and portable though. Here are the specs:
Size: 3.30 x 3.15 x 1.22 inches
Weight: 1.5 ounces (excluding the 2 required AAA batteries)
Line 6 Micro Spider 6-Watt Battery-Powered Guitar Amplifier
This is my every-day go-t0 travel amplifier.
It’s not tiny, but it’s effective.
Here are the specs:
Size: 9.5 x 10 x 7 inches
Weight: 7 lbs (without the 6 C batteries… which add some weight)
Wattage: 6 Watts
Obviously it’s much bigger.
Obviously the 6 watts are much more powerful (and much louder) than the smaller options.
Even with the added weight of the batteries it’s remarkably portable. I like it for my in-home guitar lessons, I find that in a private home setting, the amp can easily compete with any amp that my students own. Granted, we’re not maxing out our volume here.
It’s also super durable. I can’t tell you the number of times I’ve dropped it out while loading things in the back of my small SUV. It’s help up great.
It’s got a ton of effects and presets.
The effects include:
- Phaser
- Chorus/Flanger
- Tremolo
- Sweep Echo (with Tap Tempo)
- Tape Echo (with Tap Tempo)
- Reverb
The controls include:
- Gain
- Bass, Mid, Treble
- Master
The presets are Acoustic, Clean, Metal, and Insane.
There is also an Aux/Mic input and separate volume control, as well as a built in tuner.
Batter life has been pretty good (though it comes with a wall adapter if you don’t want to use batteries).
I wish it had an 1/8″ headphone jack instead of the 1/4″ headphone jack (but adapters are easy and cheap to come by).
All in all – I love this little amp.
That’s it! A few little options to choose from. If you have recommendations or questions, please leave them in the comment section below. I’d love to hear from you!