I Bought The Worst-Rated Guitar Amps

[@Bernthguitar]

Check out my new song 'Fuego' here: bit.ly/3ujOl7g

[@rockoutmichigan]

Added you to my Spotify list, really liked the top two songs! Lovely arrangements and dream-like tones.

[@GuitarHeroGuy550]

aight bet

[@kevmccarthy8311]

The material of the old amp you said was plastic is probably Bakelite … which is very 30s-50s

[@Dimanson91]

this mini amps its compatible with bass guitar or not?

[@mrnvgames666]

i wish you tried the katana air , great amp i think

[@gaberox1]

Just shows a great player can make anything sound good for the most part. For clean tones anyway cheap distortion appears to be a lost cause.

[@TylerJohnstonGuitar]

Clean channel + cheap pedals is the way to go. Much better than the amp distortion.

[@ichbrauchmehrkaffee5785]

@@TylerJohnstonGuitar Or, you know, just try hooking it up to a much larger speaker. That transformed my 15 W solitstate practice amp into something stage-ready

[@doknox]

​@@ichbrauchmehrkaffee5785you just gotta make sure the ohms of the speaker match the output of the amp. But really what's the point?

[@uxartmusicvideo-andphotogr2043]

Small amps don't do any good justice for guitar effect pedals.

[@cranklabexplosion-labcentr8245]

Black metal: *am I a joke to you*

[@dirtbikematt3128]

I had to pause this video so that I could go listen to Fuego. I've been on a Flamenco/Latin kick for the last year, and this one is definitely up my alley. Very awesome - keep 'em coming.

[@Bernthguitar]

Thanks for listening 🤘

[@dirtbikematt3128]

My nephew is moving on Wednesday from Chicago to Berlin. Please keep us posted on new tour dates.

[@andrejstojanovski5000]

when I first saw the blackstar I almost cried because it's the same one I have, but I'm glad you liked it because it's pretty good imo!!

[@AndJusticeForEl]

I actually liked the blackstar one. Loved the new hairstyle too.

[@shiftyhoot]

at first i want orange mini, but the local guitar store recomended that joyo amp (ma-10e) after try it i very impressed for a cheap amp (around 50$) in my country (indonesia) meanwhile the orange mini cost around $80, joyo is so underated brand, their pedal perfomance also kicking above their price,you should also try their pedals more over the vintage series.

[@faraday410]

Bruh, in Russia that joyo costs ~3000 rub (~30 usd)

[@dreibel]

Definitely the Joyo, with a strong second to the Blackstar. I tried out all the Fender battery-powered amps, and almost all of them sucked. The best one is actually the little Deluxe. I learned a couple of tricks to get it sounding relatively good. For distortion, turn the tone control completely to the right, it reduces the fartiness. Second, place the amp on its face on the floor or on the bed, sounds much better. For me the best practise amp hands down is the BOSS Katana Mini. Good clean, and the Brown setting can be dialed in to a great metal crunch sound.

[@Vercingetorix061983]

I got a Blackstar like that in your testing, and I really love it. I'm not a pro and I can't stand loud volumes so it's really great for me.

[@kennethmoureau5123]

Every one of these are PERFECT for a black metal album.

[@godchild69]

Hilariously, youtube decided to drop an ad right in the middle of the "sponsor" section. Way to go youtube...

[@silvergreylion]

Cool, now there just needs to be a website linking to YT vids and interrupting ads with other ads = true adception. I'm astounded that advertisers seem to think, that that is a good idea.

[@K4RN4GE911]

I used to have an Orange Mini amp and yeah, I wasn't that impressed, either. After seeing Jules Conroy and Tyler Larson both being sponsored by Positive Grid, I gave the Spark Mini a shot and it's been my go to ever since, especially since my Fender halfstack is starting to show its age. I will say, I was impressed by that Joyo. Wasn't expecting it to sound as big as it did.

[@crow_feather]

Haha! When I read that review someone posted about their amp catching fire, I kept holding my breath each time a new amp was tried, scared that one of them was going to burst into flames! Haha! Glad to see that didn't happen! 💖

[@Peyote1312]

So in other words. Clickbait.

[@crow_feather]

@@Peyote1312 No. All I'm saying is just simply that one of the speakers thankfully didn't catch on fire when he was filming. He posted that review to show what's happened to other people, and how bad the speakers can be. Nowhere, anywhere, did he say that's what happened to him. He puts out awesome music, and works his ass off to deliver amazing content! Don't be so negative towards him! He's a great guy, and deserves so much better than that!

[@101Volts]

Dunno what could possibly catch on fire these days. Back in the real early days when Dick Dale was pushing his amps hard, sure, it happened. But Fender gave him redesigned amps pretty shortly after that, so unless you have footage from his first few concerts at some time in the late 1950s or something like that, you're probably not going to see it.

[@AleArzMusic]

Hi have the Blackstar Fly 3. Not the best sounding ever, but super useful and very fun to play (and it doesn't catch on fire!)

[@ydin9]

For a while I was ampless so I used a multi fx box with a wire running through from it's headphones jack into a bluetooth speakers line in and it was a better option than lot of these.

[@sjaakvandervrande9414]

I love Joyo the most. It has for a small Amp this size a beautiful overdriven sound,something like my own Joyo Jackman.

[@imagitu6409]

the Chinese have really stepped up their quality game. It used to be you couldn't get any decent music gear from there. Now they are making decent guitars and electronics. You just gotta look around a little and see what other people have experienced before you buy.

[@ricksanchezito8972]

Connect that Orange mini to a 1x12 or 2x12 and watch it really come alive, especially if you boost it with a Boss SD1.

[@caerphoto]

I suspect most of them will sound infinitely better with a proper cab - it's almost always the tiny speakers that are holding these amps back.

[@Hizaraki_]

blackstar amp sounds good

[@Hobbs-1]

Yes! That was my favourite.

[@scottadams5858]

I have a blackstar and its great, very versatile

[@scamp7887]

Clean tone did at least

[@TheSavagederek]

I have the Orange . It's a handy practice tool , it's main benefit is that you can hook it up to a bigger cab , where it sounds pretty good . I used to own the Marshall with the double cab so like a mini full stack and it sounds much better than the half stack . My daughter has the red Marshall half stack . Ok none of them are great , but they are useful in their own right , for travel or just practice on the fly or in a limited space .

[@joshuaporterfield6774]

Best use for a tiny amp like this I ever heard was splitting your signal chain to go into your regular amp and one of these then using the tiny amp for more easily controlled feedback.

[@AwkwardHypernerd413]

I actually use the crush mini quite often. The biggest strength it has is the 8 ohm output jack. That’s where the REAL magic is as plugging into an external speaker cabinet makes it sound amazing. My main setup is the amp connected to a karaoke speaker right now lol

[@Poultongeist]

The harley benton amp at the end sounds way better than the marshall one in my opinion

[@WilDBeestMF]

It's a bit fizzy, but way more present. Definitely sounds better.

[@alexnicolas7]

I own a blackstar debut 15, yeah distorted tone isnt great, no small amp has been great on that for me, but I use it as a pedal platform and for me is super good, I really enjoy the clean tones and the more simple "Isf" kinda tone knob. Love the video!

[@chrisallen766]

Let me at those amps. I can make them sound terrible

[@SimulacronX]

Perfect thanks. I lost it at 5:20 ("if you have an underground black metal band")😄

[@DaedalusRaistlin]

I used to practice outside with my Honeytone amp, the same one you reviewed. I swear it was louder than my much bigger Vox Rhythm 5. Was on a farm, so it didn't annoy anyone. Got some positive responses from people driving by in their cars though. Thing was loud. That Joyo amp sounded really cool, I've enjoyed their other products, cheap but surprisingly good.

[@AdamsGuitarsAndCases]

I'm not sure if you've checked out the little tiny, spark go amp? It's smaller than my hand lol. But for what it is, wow!! It's loud, It's clear, it can be set up in absolutely amazing ways! It's an amp, a pedal, blue tooth speaker, I'm still discovering. And I'm not very tech savvy. If I can do it, anyone can! Lol. Thanks for your videos. Entertaining, educational, and you're a great guitarist!!

[@bdegree88]

I have a Spark Go as well and the app/interface to create your tones is awesome! I'm a pretty big tone snob and i'm dialing some tight balanced distortion with ease.

[@realBullrock]

Amazing input but the spark amp mini and go are worth a review so much 🤘🏻😎

[@bdegree88]

yup they are the best mini amps! I have the Spark (Go) and the tones are endless with the app/interface and I am an absolute tone snob when it comes to distortion.

[@wisteela]

The Blackstar looks and sounds great. The Flamma is very impressive. I used to have one of those Orange amps. It was the earlier version, and I don't know if they've changed it, but the headphone output was way too loud. I also used to have one of the Marshalls. I thought it was pretty good for what it is. I'm very surprised by the last one.

[@genesis8809]

Hi Bernth, Cool video, great side by side comparisons... I am interested in your thought on the Positive Grid Spark and the Spark mini amps. You should do a review on those if you get the opportunity. Thx, Genesis

[@dw7704]

The mini Marshall & Fender, and even the Orange, are really more novelty items. When I first saw them they were more reasonably priced, but then they shot up in price where the novelty is not worth it to me, but I know some who are good with them for the novelty

[@andersjjensen]

I STILL SHRED! That said, my Harly Benton 10W open back practice amp sounds pretty good... probably because I don't use the built-in effects (didn't even try them) but run them through a Boss multi effect pedal.

[@gabrielledebourg2487]

That HB would be a great workbench amp! For the size and the prize it’s perfect for if you’re rewiring pickups or building a pedal board and you need to check that things work. Heck with the size, you could even bring it to gigs just to use for troubleshooting.

[@matdube3577]

Blackstar was kind of nice! Keep up the good work Bernth!! 😊 new hair style for your black metal project 😜

[@RuiDoPT]

Loved it! For cheap practice distortion, there's also the so called Amplugs that are basically amps without a speaker, that output to headphones... You should also give some of those a try... They're usually under 50$ I believe and that would make a nice video too!

[@csumme7]

I like the Fender. I have one (for about ten years now) and I would use it to teach with in my guitar class. It is a very simple amp circuit and the tone can be shaped very easily with the amp and guitar controls. Great review by the way. The Blackstar at the beginning and Joyo I think would be the best for a practice amp for someone starting out. They sound great.

[@wesmitchem825]

You should try the boss katana mini it's not the loudest amp but great sounding for both clean to metal and decent delay though I wish they had more delay in the mix

[@armand1m]

I got the fender one a long time ago. Disaster. Got a Spark GO a couple months later. Best thing ever.

[@finnadunk]

the Joyo surprised me the most, I think I might actually buy one. Ive heard a lot of those in person before and was expecting as much here. I will say for the Orange, I heard one of those being demoed (I worked at Guitar Center) and for what it is, it sounded killer across the store. I love Orange stuff.

[@ryanmowbray8385]

I'd be interested to hear your take on the gtrs ptnr using the gtrs guitar or pedal to use their built in effects, it handles the effects pretty well.

[@mvyper]

As an AliExpress afficionado yes, I've often heard about Flamma before. They make cool pedals.

[@vladgsound]

Orange Crush Mini can be run at 12V, in this case the clean tone is less hot. Also it has AUX line input. The guitar can be plugged there through a buffer or active bypass pedal to get the cleanest tone.

[@jupiterjames-reynolds2260]

The orange crush mini sounds like a proper amp if you use the speaker out and connect it to good quality cab. I put mine through a 12" speaker and it sounds great.

[@gibsonfan159]

That defeats the purpose of a mini practice amp though.

[@nikscozygaming]

11:08 My DreamTheater sence emerged instantly

[@burningwinx]

Completly off topic but I really like your new hair ❤

[@crow_feather]

I do, too! The half black/half white or bleached blonde is an awesome look! 🖤🤍

[@rafekeys]

Thanks for showing us this comparison. The Blackstar made it for me!

[@mybestfriendisamonkey173]

I bought the Boss Katana mini and i am so happy with it. With all the functions it has and being small. It sounds amazing for its price and size.

[@rudranshtank7650]

Got here after hearing it on spotify My first reaction was like what did he experiment with this time Just had to check it out immediately And once again we have another amazing single by bernth🔥🔥

[@BaronSenf]

Should be possible nowadays to have a small board with an amp sim and a small solid state amp to produce acceptable distortion sounds. Quite disappointing to see these amps having the same "quality" like 10 years ago.

[@PhoneGuy1024]

i ordered an electric guitar and as a begginer i bought with it the harley benton MA-5 miniamp bc my budget is low. thanks for the review i needed to see that

[@muskiet8687]

I never get all the negative reviews for these kind of cheap amps unless they're completely useless, and they clearly are not. They're not meant to be used to make professional recordings or play for a crowd, they're meant for practicing or just noodling around at home without pissing off the neighbors. And for that, any amp that you just showed off has a good enough tone. The one with the suction cup is awesome for taking a cheap guitar camping too. And I love it when they come with effects, so you don't have to mess around with pedals. Nowadays, if you don't have the funds for a high quality rig, it's awesome to see you can still get something decent for cheap. Because it's worse if you can't afford to get any rig at all.

[@przemoharp]

I use a Danelectro Honeytone as a amp for playing blues harmonica. It's very good amp, small and have warm, vintage tone.

[@uhdoi9508]

Joyo stuff is actually really nice for what you pay. Their mini heads are great cheap clones of other amps with surprising features

[@jahnreznov]

I used the Honeytone one for quite a while for on the go! It's a lot louder than what youd expected! I also used to have a Zoom 505II pedal that i ran with it. I 100% recommended it!

[@enifyako]

Some of these really tiny amps are actually quite popular with guitar techs because you can mount them to a work box and use to check that everything on a guitar works correctly, often on batteries. I see the Marshall one most of the time, but never used for overdrive. Any tiny battery-powered amp with a high-impedance input would work, it doesn't have to sound good. Certainly wish there was a low-pass filter on a couple of those amps though.

[@telecasterluva666]

I have a Yamaha THR-10. I can get some pretty good sounds out of that thing. I have it set up next to my bed, so it's handy when you get any ideas. I also have the Danelectro Honey and the Orange Crush. Neither row my boat, but as a few have said, the Orange sounds okay through a cab. Must give it a try.

[@brianburke808]

Thanks for the video! I remember when the blackstar fly first came out (the first good nano combo amp, though I didn't know it at the time). The other guitarist in the band I was in tried it as a joke...we both had wtf, this sounds pretty good faces on...I grabbed a mini crush and we A/B'd it in guitar center....we both walked out with a Fly.

[@robert9978]

I swear by the Spark Go with headphones or out to another amps return, as the 2 inch speaker can't cut it. Better tones than anything else in that price range, smaller, and 8 hour rechargeable battery. Need to try feeding it to my Homeytone now...

[@wolfmauler]

I love Joyo! 😊 Well, I love their line of pedal clones such as the Extreme Metal/Muff 👍🏻

[@catalystguitarguy]

I bought one of the Marshall MS4 full stack versions 20 years ago. sounds about the same, maybe a bit fuzzier. I like how it sounds running off 9v batteries that are almost dead, it starts to sag and drops high frequencies and has a bit more bass. i mean it's basically the same amp as the MS2 just with a second 2" speaker and kills the battery a little faster.

[@TommileeCashOConnor]

The fly 3 from blackstar is pretty sick I wish it was in this video

[@jot3461]

I have a Blackstar Fly 3 mini ampp. For this size of 3 watt and price i can honestly recommend it, especially for travel. Nice delay also and EQ

[@davidalbertov6568]

8:35 " I hope there is something inside " just killed me 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂

[@robertscotti7970]

The smaller the speaker the worse they are in my opinion. Especially as the volume is raised and gain is raised. They are practice amps so youll only get so much goodness out of them. But someone like yourself can make them all sound great!

[@markwsanders]

This was great and all... but the real question is, "how do they sound under water?" 😜

[@lejoskonejo7632]

i learned to play on an rg120 like that guitar. black body/maple fretboard. kinda like the old jeff loomis schecter sigs too. cool guitars

[@kdt85]

Wow! you got really good at guitar really fast! I hope you still play your harp in future videos though ❤

[@huntzzio]

5:14 This sounds EXACTLY like the Pagan Altar - Judgment of the Dead tone.

[@denniseldridge2936]

As long as the thing is reliable and has low noise, everything else is about artistic preference. Even a tone you consider unpleasant might be useful in a song which requires that the guitar sound cut through the mix. Or it just fits what you're trying to do for some unexplainable reason. But if it's noisy and prone to crapping out on you then it's a big fat no lol.

[@bradenjohn2671]

6:05 That’s 16 year old me thinking I just created the most badass tone ever

[@banakinskywalker4774]

i have the marshall ms-4 and fender tonemaster mini, they are good for on the go practice

[@ppmoscadebar]

I love this, and I love your hair man!!!!

[@BorisBidjanSaberi11]

Unrelated but cool sweater

[@abirbhabsengupta0007]

I really like the blackstar one.....

[@buckbreaker5185]

digging the 480p oldschool youtube vibe (unironically lol)

[@nym053]

I can recommend the Laney mini amps. At least for practice and line in usage. Haven't actually used mine through its speakers yet, so not sure how compares to others. But the overdrive do sound great imo. I think Laney and Blackstar might be making the best sounding mini amps. And Boss with their Katana mini of course.

[@radbradmusicartist]

That blackstar and the joyo were the ones that I liked the most!

[@RockingOnTwoWheels]

I am sorry for all these producers but as the Spark GO is available and is palm-sized, while producing a HUUUGE sound of any kind, there is just no excuses for those crap noises. Yes, Spark is much more advanced, but I am talking here only about the speaker part. Sorry, but at its volume, Spark GO is faultless in any genre or distortion level.... NO MORE SIZE-RELATED EXCUSES!!!

[@homestudioculture]

Black star, joyo & harley benton, but is me or did I miss the part where the amp bursts into flame on the cover? 😕

[@musemintsvloghaulreactions1460]

I'd like to know the battery life on the suction cup one. Very cool portable amp.

[@JMark4]

You should make a video on the Blackstar all by itself. You can get some insane clean tones as you mentioned.

[@tehubermarcus]

That's all well and good, but can we all just appreciate how nice your jumper is?

[@scottbutler233]

Omg! You need to try the pignose. The king of mini amps

[@thisistheway5343]

You just dropped the perfect slogan for HB. “Harley Benton - not that bad”

[@andersjjensen]

I happen to be very very happy with my HB Pro Series guitar. Granted, I had a friend who's the son af a luthier go over it setup-wise, but he was amazed at how little he had to do. HB was the only one willing to sell me a 24 fret HSH guitar within my budget, and having tried a lot of the entry level "proper name brand" guitars I think people who buy those are getting ripped off on the "brand tax". So compared to that kind of competition I would say "Haley Benton - You get 50% more than you pay for" :P

[@thisistheway5343]

Indeed! I just got a HB pedalboard with a built-in power supply and the quality is spot on. It handles my germanium transistor pedal like a boss =very good isolation.@@andersjjensen

[@liviajod7157]

I had the fender tweed really nice look. That’s it. Blackstar is not bad. Orange is disappointing I tried one at a guitar shop. The yoyo sounds pretty good. I have as mini amp a Boss Katana Mini. And never looked back

[@TheCSpang]

Very cool comparisons! However, "Fuego" probably would set these all on fuego...

[@rikash311]

When you are Using the ms2, you need to put the volume down because the little speaker can not handle the vibration that hard. Use it on a low volume for gain and it sounds a lot better...

[@MatthiasDiro]

To be honest, none of them sound bad for practicing, except Fender. The oddest and far best practice Amp is the Lekato Guitar Plug Amp Pa-1: Just a Plugin direct into the guitar with a headphone out, convolution(!) model amps (and YES you can upload your own models), USB and bluetooth connection (so you can play to your tracks on your smartphone).

[@KomboAndy]

The Orange is way better if you use the line outlet. I build an adapter for stereo for my headphones and the sound is very interesting

[@xanataph]

I'm pretty certain that the Marshall & Harley Benton mini-amps have the pretty much the exact same circuit inside them and in both cases there is no relationship *at all* with a proper Marshall's topology. I have had one like that Harley Benton one for years, but mine has a gold coloured front panel and was a made in the PRC no-brand job. Sounds better to use a distortion pedal with it. I was dare say that would be the case with most of those small amps.

[@Nightmare-iq9tb]

If you're just starting out and just want to practice by yourself and record , you may go for an audiointerface which is cheap and you can get many free amps with cool effects and features.

[@chriswilliams1096]

.. or, a Cube Baby and a pair of headphones. This will all (with your guitar) fit in a gig bag.

[@Nightmare-iq9tb]

@@chriswilliams1096 yeah

[@bassmasta9117]

I have the Joyo bass amp and it actually sounds really good for being so small. And you can plug aux into it!

[@robertsylvester3542]

The Marshall reminds me of the video with Dime, running around shredding with it clipped to his waist lol!

[@Michel-r6m]

Nice playing. When $100 amp does one good enough tone it could be just what you need, in particular with a headphone socket 😃 Got a badly reviewed Origin 5c that I find sounds a lot better than the higher regarded DSL-1 (same speaker 😅).

[@LuisFelipepg96]

the orange crush mini has a surprising sound when plugged on a bigger speaker

[@ronnielobosmith4870]

Can you do one on mini tube amps, guitar and bass?Maybe the joyo amps

[@michaellukas7267]

Now record a song where all these amps are used somewhere in the song! 🤘🏼😎🤘🏼 AMPLIFIED!!!

[@chriswalton3383]

I would love to see Bernth do some type of a collaboration with Max Ostro. That would be one amazing song, if not a song a jam would be amazing as well.

[@miguelrc3234]

Nice Video and interesting ! Thank / BTW I bought recently a Marshall 40 DSL ... still getting it

[@cjbc3po]

The first one is literally my exact same a,p and the whole band loves it

[@YTAliasJoeCool]

Plug an accousting / nylon guitar in the tiny Marshall and put it on overdrive: you will be amazed how good it sounds compared to using an electric guitar in overdrive.