Battery Powered Amps

djangology

Just wanted to start a thread about battery powered amps. Not necessarily to review them, but just asking if anyone knows other good alternatives to these. Just thinking about finding a new busking amp to replace my Roland AC-33.

1. Acus Street - no bluetooth, 7kg: https://www.acus-sound.it/en/one-forstreet/23-oneforstreet-5.html
2. AER Mobile - no bluetooth, 60w, 14kg: https://www.aer-music.de/produkte/produktdetails/compact-mobile-2-15997314545f59f6fe64be55f59f6fe64bf2
3. Elite Acoustics - 65w, bluetooth, weight unknown: https://www.eliteacoustics.com/news/a6-55-acoustic-vocal-amplifier-available-now/
4. Roland AC-33 - 4.7kg : https://www.roland.com/us/products/ac-33/
5. JBL Eon One - 8kg/18lbs, w/bluetooth : https://jblpro.com/products/eon-one-compact
6. 
   

NOTE: For years , 2001 to 2012, I used a Crate Taxi 30, which was awesome. Battery lasted 6+ hours. Too tinty of a sound though.

Twang

I have an Ac33. If you’re just putting your guitar through it then I think you might struggle to find anything better in that price range. The AER is probably 3 times the price. But it will be better (and heavier).

Roland/Boss are constantly upgrading their Street amps. Maybe one of those would be a step up from the ac33.

Buco

Bose S1. About 16lbs, they don't list the power wattage but I'm sure it's plenty loud. $650.

MikeK

I used a Roland Street Cube busking in 2017 before I had steady gigs. It was extremely lightweight & I could get a pretty decent sound out of it with my Epiphone archtop. I think they're 5 watts, which was fine for my needs at the time. I'm not sure if they still make them. I bought it new for $350. I sold it for $200 a year later when I stopped busking. Not long ago, I came across some old recordings I made with it. I was surprised at how nice the tone was.

littlemark

Traynor makes some battery powered amps. I have the smaller one. It sounds decent.

littleknicky

I know this isn't what you asked about, but another option is to pick up a portable battery pack and use an existing amp:

https://paniquejazz.com/2019/03/20/use-any-guitar-amp-without-a-power-outlet/#more-421

Stringswinger

The portable battery pack lets you use your regular amp without compromising your sound. I had a few battery powered amps (Crate, Line 5 and Peavy) and never liked the tone. I took Vic's advice and got a portable battery pack and have not looked back.

djangology

Found these two:

6- QSC CP8 - 21lbs, no bluetooth : https://www.qsc.com/solutions-products/loudspeakers/portable/powered/portable-pa/cp-series/cp8/

7- Bose S1 - 15lbs, w/bluetooth, 120 degree dispersion : https://www.bose.com/en_us/products/speakers/portable_pa_speakers/s1_pro_system.html#ProductTabs_tab1

Leaning towards the JBL actually. My friend has one and the 2 can be linked as a PA system.

ChristopheCarington

8. Fishman Loudbox Mini Charge?

Been wondering about them myself. https://www.fishman.com/portfolio/loudbox-mini-charge-amplifier/

V-dub

My stance, as people have already mentioned, is to buy a lithium camping battery and power any number of amps I have. On full charge, I can run my AER through it for 2-3 gigs. The battery is smaller than a child's lunchbox and has utility beyond gigs (power outages, camping, charging laptops on the go, etc). The only drawback is due to lack of grounding inherent to batteries, single coil magnetic pickups hum a lot when you're not touching the strings, though I'll bet that's the case with dedicated batter powered amps.

This is the one I recommend:

https://amzn.to/2QCdouR

Otherwise, I have many friends that swear by the Bose S1. I've used them and I was pretty floored at how ridiculously loud for the small size. They sound pretty great for microphones, but my problem with it though is you really don't get much in the way of EQ and control and usually end up plugging in more preamps and stuff to it, all of which have their own power needs.

I've tried a previous generation of the JBL eons and found them to be lacking in power. They may have addressed it by now, but fair warning.

Bones

I have a Stage Mate S400D portable PA made by Carvin that has an internal battery. It has multiple inputs for mic, guitar cord etc so you can use it as a PA for voice and multiple instruments which is pretty cool. I have not used it in years since I dont gig anymore but my recollection is that the sound is pretty good for a PA.