JOYO MA 10B In Depth Review

In this episode we take a deep dive into the JOYO MA-10B Micro Bass Amp and attempt to provide you with enough information to decide if it's right for you.
This week's featured KZbin artist is "The Joeys" They are an awesome 3 piece rockabilly band from Phoenix Arizona. Check them out, subscribe to their channel, like their videos and leave them some comments.
/ @thejoeys
#joyofmusic #bass #bassamp #bassamplifier #busking

[@tomosheffski]

It's to let air in and help the speaker sound deeper , like on older stereo speakers, to allow the lower frequencies that often get trapped in the back to be enhanced. When speakers are working, the vibrations inside compress air in the front and back, which can become unbalanced. Bass reflex systems have them, so the bass sounds are not lost.

[@rockoutvideography91]

Thanks! several people here on the forums have explained this as being whats called a "Passive Radiator" You just explained HOW it works and what it's doing. Thanks, that was the missing piece. thanks for watching and commenting!

[@user-si9cp5wn4b]

Great idea testing it with a drum set. Definitely gives you an idea on how to use it and when NOT to use it.

[@rockoutvideography91]

Thanks for commenting and contributing. I'm glad the video helped!

[@douglasw.7864]

I bought one a couple of years ago. I think for quiet practice so as not to disturb others is it’s best selling point. For the cost point, I feel it’s a good little practice amp. I want to crank up the jam, I plug into my Ampeg. Good solid review!

[@rockoutvideography91]

Thank you so much for taking the time to watch and comment! This little amp has turned out to be super handy. I even use the heaphone output sometimes. I suspect the kids are going to get some more use for when school starts up in a couple weeks.

[@redbarron3695]

It’s perfect for bedside practice sessions without worry of shaking the house. I pretty much run the volume up and use the Gain control to adjust volume until right before it starts to break up especially if I am playing my BEAD tuned 4 string. I also have the aux headphone amp by the same company for late night private bedroom jams that have you on your feet. My take away from the practice amp is this little dude rocks for what it is. It will take all excuses away from playing your bass everyday. Leland Sklar says he needs to play daily or he starts to lose his chops so…. Eliminate the possibility of an excuse and you won’t have one- Red Barron

[@rockoutvideography91]

Great perspective. I have to pretty much agree with everything you said. My favorite part is the fact that it runs on batteries. Thanks for the view and the comment!

[@gwugluud]

The purpose of demos is to show how it sounds, and I think it’s refreshing that someone is demoing without the cheap ulterior purpose of showing off how many billionth-notes per second you can play in order to impress snobs with man-buns and beards with rubber bands in them.

[@rockoutvideography91]

Thanks! I'm just a simple country / blues/ classic rock bass player who's trying to stay in the pocket and hit those notes with the kick drum. Samuel has been making progress since we filmed the video and finally got a left handed p bass. We appreciate you taking the time to watch and comment!

[@CarlosCarranza]

Clever review,I think is perfect for a bass aprentice,conecting Soundcorsert metronome of the phone into de aux in,some dude in the office too,also,playing along some bass less backing tracks. Good video,

[@rockoutvideography91]

I'm glad you liked the video. The amp is super handy, especially since it runs on batteries. We used it to test our JOYO wireless system on the front porch. With this amp and the Snails rechargable pedal power supply, we can jam just about anywhere. Thanks for watching and commenting. I also noticed you subscribed, thanks!

[@nono-ny1vx]

thanks bro, i like how you deliver your thoughts. have a great one

[@rockoutvideography91]

I appreciate that! Thanks for taking the time to watch and comment. Sorry for the late response.

[@bottom4strings333]

The vertical rectangular thing to the right of the speaker is called a passive radiator. It's usually made of a hard plastic material suspended by a neoprene rubber surround. It acts like a cross between a tuned port, and a subwoofer, but it's non-powered. It takes the low frequencies that swirl around the inside of the cabinet, and it sympathetically gives you more low frequencies than is possible with just the small speaker.

[@rockoutvideography91]

Thanks for taking the time to watch the video and answer my question in the comment section. Although a couple of viewers have identified it as a passive radiator, you are the first to really provide a technical explanantion of how it works, VERY cool! I had never heard of a passive radiator before and obviously didn't know one when I saw it on this amp. I learn a lot of great stuff from the viewers. Your info is GREATLY appreciated!

[@bottom4strings333]

​@@rockoutvideography91You're very welcome! Thanks for the reply. When I was a kid, my dad had a Panasonic stereo system that had their "Thruster" speakers. They consisted of two 4" full-range speakers, and under those was an 8" passive radiator, all in a sealed (non-ported) cabinet. The speakers didn't have a very high wattage rating, but they sounded huge! Surprisingly punchy bass response! And, we're talking around 1980's technology. That's when I first heard of them. I think they are a brilliant, simple, and inexpensive way to design a small, not very powerful-but powerful sounding, punchy speaker cabinet. 🙂

[@angferg001]

Excellent, thorough review.

[@rockoutvideography91]

Thank you so much for taking the time to watch and comment!

[@chasbodaniels1744]

Really good demo and evaluation … to-the-point and covers all the details! My Fender Rumble 15 works well for apartment limitations, and up to jamming with electric guitars and laid back drummers, so the JOYO MA-10B is just a nice-to-have, or maybe an Xmas present to myself.

[@chasbodaniels1744]

*Rumble 25

[@rockoutvideography91]

Thanks for the comment! As I stated in the video, it's best feature is it's ability to run on batteries, something most other small practice amps cannot do.

[@Kikokaoss]

1:34 I think that hole is a kind of bass reflex port design to improve in some way the low frequencies response of the speaker. They are very common in studio monitors too.

[@rockoutvideography91]

Thanks for commenting! A couple of viewers have looked into this and determined that it is a "Passive radiator" One of them actually took the amp apart. I had never heard of this and had to look it up.

[@Kikokaoss]

@@rockoutvideography91 thanks for the info.

[@egbertsouse8487]

Excellent review even without all the shredding. I bought one to take out of town so I can teach my grandson to play bass. Great portability.

[@rockoutvideography91]

You bet!

[@rockoutvideography91]

You are welcome sir!

[@geomiezzi]

Well done guys. I use this ampli with Yamaha Silent guitar SL100. with external reverb pedal. For the little hole I believe that is a kind of bass reflex.

[@rockoutvideography91]

Thanks for watching and commenting! Thanks to multiple viewers leaving comments, we now know that port is a "Passive Radiator" I had never heard of this and had to look it up.

[@PHCR809]

Great review! Have recently ordered it with a Harley Benton JB-75MN NA Vintage Series bass!

[@rockoutvideography91]

Cool! How do you plan on using this amp? I would love to know what other people's experiences are with this amp.

[@PHCR809]

@@rockoutvideography91 mainly for my home practice or to play with my bud at his place

[@rockoutvideography91]

cool! It should be perfect for both of those scenarios!

[@hclyrics]

These small Joyo combos have been amazing for my kids who are just starting to learn guitar and bass.

[@rockoutvideography91]

I think their only real limitation is the lack of volume if you want to play with a drummer on a kit. It's possible it may work playing with a drummer on an e kit? The upside for me is being able to run it on batteries. Thanks for watching and commenting!

[@BTS-BangTanBoys1]

Thanks man! This really helped a lot. Im about buy this bass amp ( cuz its the cheapest one i could find😅). Ordered my bass, yet to come.

[@rockoutvideography91]

We're glad you found the video useful! We appreciate you taking the time to watch and comment. You should have a good time with amp.

[@damnronin]

thank you!

[@rockoutvideography91]

You're welcome! Thanks for watching and commenting!

[@mariorenderbro6370]

Great Review man!

[@rockoutvideography91]

Thanks! We appreciate you watching and taking time to comment!

[@lemonadedreams399]

​@@rockoutvideography91honest review. Keep it up we want the truth ! 🤟

[@xjmjmike3739]

I have this amp sitting next to my Fender Rumble 100. With my 14 month old often sleeping in the room above me, I practice on this amp most of the time.

[@rockoutvideography91]

That's a pretty good use for this amp. The 3.5mm input and the headphone amp can also be useful for silent practice, but I admit I prefer small headphone amps like the VOX Amplug for that. Thanks for taking the time to watch and comment!

[@convertkendo5224]

Fantastic review. Everything answered. Probably not for me as going for small / light ect but want a bit more power.

[@rockoutvideography91]

Thanks for watching and commenting. This amp is good for a few limited uses, but can't replace a real amp for most situations. As I stated, it's biggest plus is the ability to run on batteries, and the low price. I just saw an ad for the new 5w Spark amp last night. They do a lot more, but are also $130.00.

[@chrisradical2046]

I love the time travel stuff box

[@rockoutvideography91]

I wondered how long it would take someone to notice that... Thanks for watching and commenting.

[@dvircafri9811]

I've had this amp for over a year now. Its okay for low volume practices with acoustic instruments, but definitely not for anything else. I've also been using it exactly as suggested in the clip - via a DI splitter as a monitor and it worked just fine. Again, as long as the surrounding volume isn't too loud. So, its recommended for low volume practices and as a monitor for low volume gigs. But definitely not with a non-acoustic instrument that plays a bit loud. The amp sounds very nice with a passive bass. However, it overloads very quickly when I try to hook up an active bass to it.

[@rockoutvideography91]

Thanks for taking the time to watch and leave a comment with your experiences. This will greatly help others thinking about buying this little amp.

[@jmwhitt]

Nice little amp!

[@rockoutvideography91]

It sure is! Thanks for watching and commenting!

[@ronhammant7309]

Unless I'm mistaken, the other indent is a breather that allows the driver cone travel its optimal distance. Some stereo speaker cabs have this vent that is attached to an adjustable cylindrical cardboard tube inside the box. The cardboard tube length can be shortened or lengthened, which in turn varies the depth of bass frequency. These vent types are often used for achieving ultimate bass response for small enclosed cabs, unlike open-back guitar amps.

[@rockoutvideography91]

Thanks for watching and contributing to the discussion. Several viewers have commented that it is a "Passive radiator", although one viewer has his doubts due to the small size of it. I had never heard of this and had to look it up. I "Think" it is a passive radiator, or at least it is meant to be one. Perhaps the size is big enough or it's still partially doing it's job and that is the size they had to work with? Your description seems to be one of the features a passive radiator would provide to bass frequencies.

[@ronhammant7309]

@@rockoutvideography91 Quite right thanks for the update, I use a pretty big Cerwin Vega SUB with a matched powered monitor for Bass, the MA-10B looks okay for close range practice and it's cheap enough.👍

[@johnjoy76]

I bought this and It can be used as a practice amp for bass. I used an effects pedal with it works even better for guitar. In my opinion not loud enough to play with a drummer. Might be a good travel or camping amp.

[@rockoutvideography91]

I think you nailed it. Thanks for watching and commenting!

[@ruiner101]

Where can I order some of that time travel stuff? FYI, that thing on the side of the speaker is a passive "bass radiator" just like Bluetooth speakers have.

[@rockoutvideography91]

Thanks for watching and commenting. Several folks have posted about the passive radiator. I had never heard of this until getting responses from viewers like you, which is exactly the kind of interaction we are looking for. Information that helps everyone. The box of time travel stuff came from the garage of Rick Sanchez. I don't recommend trying to get a box of your own. The booby traps in the garage are quite sophisticated and not for the faint of heart.

[@ruiner101]

@@rockoutvideography91 😂😂 Ok then. Thank you, brother.

[@0bm31770]

Excellent review. I just ordered one to use with a Kala UBass while playing with 3 acoustic ukuleles. It should be fine for that application.

[@rockoutvideography91]

Thanks for watching and commenting, it's greatly appreciated. I think this amp is a very useful tool for acoustic type basses. They never seem to be able to keep up with steel string acoustic guitars without some kind of amplification. I'm glad you found the review useful.

[@gran86251]

Ordering one for caroling

[@rockoutvideography91]

That's a great idea! I never thought about that. With the strap knobs you could sling it over your shoulder and walk around with it while you play. Thanks for taking the time to watch the video and leave a comment!

[@frankvardeman7741]

Can you tell me what pedals you are using in this review? Thanks for the review!

[@rockoutvideography91]

During the demo, I had a JHS Pulp N Peel that combines compression with a tilt EQ, a preamp, and a modified RAT distortion pedal circuit. That's the orange pedal. We have a video review of it on the channel called "The Only Bass Pedal You Need?" The blue pedal is a FLAMMA FS21 looper and drum pedal. That's where the drum beat is coming from in the demo. We haven't reviewed this pedal yet, but it's a lot of fun and is on the list for future episodes. Thanks for taking the time to watch and comment!

[@Mirkomrmot]

Hi, thanks for a great review! How would you compare this vs Blackstar fly3 bass ? Both have battery power but soundwise/loudness/quallity?

[@rockoutvideography91]

Unfortunately, I have not had an opportunity to try out the Blackstar, so I have no idea which sounds better or is louder. Hopefully someone will see your question who has experience with both amps and will let us know what they think. Thanks for taking the time to leave a comment!

[@Mirkomrmot]

@@rockoutvideography91 thanks for reply :)

[@Taeodoestech]

What a cool Dad

[@rockoutvideography91]

Thanks! It's fun to have kids who are finally old enough to start taking music seriously. We appreciate you watching and commenting!

[@pitompung_kalabasa]

What about using it as a practice amp inside a 10ft x 10ft room while playing along with music from a separate speaker like a Sonos One (if you're familiar with that speaker)

[@rockoutvideography91]

I had to look up the Sonus One Speaker, very interesting! I think the Joyo Mini bass amp should work well with it. Both are 10 watts. A 10 foot room should be a good area for your proposed combo. Let us know how it works out. Thanks for watching and commenting !

[@pitompung_kalabasa]

@@rockoutvideography91 will do. Had to buy the Joyo amp first. 😁

[@Watersh3d]

Without knowing how it works or seeing spec sheets the secondary oval thing might be an attempt at a passive radiator to help increase the bass output? The size of the “driver” makes me think it may not be that though since generally a passive radiator has to be larger than the primary driver but maybe it does a decent amount at its size?

[@rockoutvideography91]

Thanks for watching and commenting. So far, several people have stated that they think it is a passive radiator, but no one has yet brought up how the size of the radiator would matter. Now I'm interested in learning more about passive radiators and how they work.

[@Watersh3d]

@@rockoutvideography91 I took a whole course in college on building speakers of all sorts of varieties, I can recommend some material but it’s mostly textbooks! Audio Engineering Society (AES) has a lot of great resources for this sort of thing and their publications are top notch

[@rockoutvideography91]

Thanks for the recommendations on resources!

[@almendratlilkouatl]

if i have very small feet, I don´t know if I know how far it is from the mic

[@rockoutvideography91]

Thanks for watching and commenting! There are several ways to approach the "Small feet" issue when measuring distance. One method that is accepted in most engineering and construction trades would be to use a "Tape measure" These handy little devices have distances marked on a long metallic tape that can be used to measure either metric or “American Freedom Unit” distances between two objects in a room. 6 feet is approximate to 1.83 meters in Rational Universal Metric. Another way would be to measure it in “Fender 65 Twin Reverb Units” A Fender 65 Twin Reverb guitar amplifier is 26.5 inches wide, so the distance between the JOYO mini bass amp and the camera mic was about 2.72 Fender 65 Twin Reverb Units. If You do not have access to a tape measure or a Fender amp, you could try laying on the floor. If you know how tall you are, you can estimate the difference and get fairly close to looking at “About 6 feet” for comparison. Hopefully this helped answer your question.

[@McFly-guitars-n-stuff]

I got the bass one in a trade. It was only good at VERY quiet practice, as it distorted alot. It was more toy like than amp like.

[@rockoutvideography91]

Thanks for watching and commenting. I have learned from other comments that the gain to output volume ratios matter a lot with this amp. Sounds like you don't own it anymore, and if so, you can't experiment with the settings. For me it's doing what I want. I can plug it in and play along with KZbin videos on my TV / stereo system. The kids also use it when jamming with other small battery powered amps like the one we showed. Although it's cool to be able to run it on batteries, it is limited in it's use and I wouldn't recomend it as the only amp to have for most people.

[@AnomieDomine]

Would it work for casual synth or e-drum use?

[@laurenceellis8311]

It works perfectly with my alesis and millennium sample pad units, for that alone it's worth the money...

[@rockoutvideography91]

Thanks for responding to the question from AnomieDomine! Much appreciated!

[@rockoutvideography91]

Apparently it does! Thanks for watching and commenting!

[@HarryAdee]

Using it along with an acoustic guitar with a small amp and a Cajon would be considered balance.

[@rockoutvideography91]

My cajon was trapped in the back corner of the studio with a kick pedal attached, so we didn't test it that way, but I suspect it would work really well with a cojon. Thanks for taking the time to watch and comment!

[@charlieburns1385]

Is there a line out to a pa? If so do you get the same sound?

[@rockoutvideography91]

Thanks for taking the time to watch and comment! You could connect a 3.5mm - ¼ inch adapter to the 3.5mm headphone out of the amp. You could then connect a ¼ inch instrument cable to the adapter, and then connect the other end of the instrument cable to a 1/4” LINE IN on a mixer or audio interface. The important thing to remember is that a headphone out signal is slightly stronger than a LINE OUT signal, so you have to be careful with your volume out level on the amp so you don't overdrive the signal going to the LINE IN input. An instrument level signal, like from a guitar or passive bass, is weaker than a LINE OUT signal, closer to a microphone level signal, so if you are connecting to an instrument level input like a “High Z” input on a mixer or recorder, you will have to reduce your volume output even more to avoid over driving and clipping the input. We do this here in the studio when we connect the headphone out of our keyboards to the instrument input of an amp. It works fine as long as we keep the volume knob on the keyboard really low. This is all a VERY simplified explanation. You can look up the differences between the various types of audio signals and connectors for more detail. It's very handy knowledge to have. The sound coming from the small speaker on the amp, in YOUR room, is going to sound different than what people are going to hear from a large PA speaker or a studio monitor, after the signal from the headphone out goes to a mixer or audio interface, again, in a different room with different acoustic properties. I suspect it would actually sound better. You may also be able to add EQ and compression to your tone from the mixer. This leads me to MY question for YOU. Why would you want to use a small 10 watt amp to monitor yourself while your signal is going out through a PA system, and I assume, out through stage monitors? The only scenario I can think of would be in a really low volume situation like busking or a really small coffee house type of gig where there are no stage monitors and the volume of the amp is sufficient for monitoring. If you are trying to play next to a regular acoustic drum kit, you may have a hard time hearing the amp. You may have a scenario in mind that I haven't addressed. If so, we would love to hear about what you are doing. Samuel looked at your question and was also curious about what you are trying to do.

[@charlieburns1385]

@@rockoutvideography91 thank you so much for all that info I just purchased an inexpensive joyo American jf14 so l can get the sound thru a house pa and not need to carry an amp for my occasional harp playing Are you familiar with that pedal?

[@charlieburns1385]

I'm sorry l didn't explain, l am a bass player who also plays harmonica I was looking for a small amp that might give me the sound l needed to growl up my occasional harp sound The joyo American pedal will do that for me Im in a 7 piece w horns l use my rumble 100 and an XLR out to our pa for bass works fine and the rumbles only 22 lbs 100 watts

[@rockoutvideography91]

Are you talking about the "JOYO American Sound Pedal" we have that and California Sound. I really like them both and can make a portable battery powered guitar amp by pairing them with one of our CoolMusic speaker / amps. Have you tried the JOYO amp with the harp yet?

[@jakobmuire2355]

Think I’ll use it for distortion guitar 😅

[@rockoutvideography91]

I had not thought of that. It just might sound interesting. Thanks for watching and commenting!

[@joesiahdavefelicia2960]

1:45 I think that's a passive radiator

[@rockoutvideography91]

I had to look this up. Good call! thank's for sharing, I'll post your answer in my next Q&A

[@redbarron3695]

@@rockoutvideography91I took mine apart. It’s a rubber passive radiator.

[@rockoutvideography91]

Well that confirms it. Ill add your comment to the next Q&A. Thanks for contributing!

[@onkelpool]

The amp is actually loud enough. After all, not much signal reached the amplifier. The bass player marked the stroking of the bass strings, not the actual playing of the instrument.

[@rockoutvideography91]

I'm not actually sure what you are trying to say here. I couldn't find your comment in the video's past comments or relies. Perhaps if you were a bit more specific I could address your comment. Anyway, we do appreciate you taking the time to watch the video and leave a comment. Hopefully you were in some way entertained and informed.

[@ubermenschstream6765]

it's a passive radiator

[@rockoutvideography91]

Thanks! A couple of people posted in the comments about this. I had never heard of a passive radiator before viewers started telling us all about it. It's great to see that you folks are willing to help out and share information. We appreciate you taking the time to watch and comment!

[@fraggan753]

BATTERY

[@rockoutvideography91]

"AA" Thanks for watching and commenting!

[@GonzaloSherwin-dl6mo]

Thets for practice only

[@rockoutvideography91]

I agree that practice is it's best and probably most practical use, but it can be handy for other situations. One of the viewers commented that they plan to take it carolling, which is something I never thought of. It does have limited application for busking if you are playing with acoustics that are not amplified. Thanks for taking the time to comment on the video. Much appreciated!