Tiedemies Posted April 8, 2014 Share Posted April 8, 2014 So, I got myself this: Smokey Amp, Made in USA. 1 watt(?) worth of sonic blaze, powered by a nine volt battery (included and not an almost empty one either) and ability to power any 4, 8 or 16 Ohm speakers. I have prior experience from Vox Amplug and its matching cabinet, but didn't like it at all. It sounded tinny (who would have guessed?) and buzzed the moment you put the power on. Surprisingly Smokey sounds better even though it has even smaller speaker at 2 inches (versus 3 in Vox). As I'm pretty soft handed player I can even some get decent cleans out of this thing, but that might not be the case for everyone. You really have to experiment with your volume and tone controls. I tried it quickly with P90s and got no humming, no buzzing, just the growling goodness of the pickups. Maybe the best sound I was able to get out of it was with the neck pickup and the tone rolled off. Pure fuzz craziness! I also quickly connected it to my Blackheart BH110 cab and have to say that I liked the sound alot. Now, this isn't your main everyday amp nor it tries to be, but the fun factor is unbelievably high and it pretty much forces you to experiment not only with your guitar, but with the amp itself (throw it in the bucket for reverb, open your mouth against it for talk-box effect, etc). I have to try it out with my other guitars as soon as I can, so I'll be reporting back with my findings. Again, as a lo-fi kind of guy this is just my alley, but might not be for everyone. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rct Posted April 8, 2014 Share Posted April 8, 2014 Holy Crap it's the 90's all over again! rct Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FuzzFace2 Posted April 9, 2014 Share Posted April 9, 2014 Is there a "How To" on something like this? Might be fun to give it a try someday. I should have Googled it Dave ---- Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aster1 Posted April 9, 2014 Share Posted April 9, 2014 I wonder of a pack of Cools or Camel straights would offer different timber than the Marlboro lights? I'm going to through myself into development stage sometime and see what I can create for a bass reflex guitar amp made from a toilet paper roll tube!! I'll also experiment on the bottom end I can create with a tuned port of a Christmas wrapping paper tube or a paper towel tube as well. All will be based on a small speaker & solar powered 1 watt amp that works in total darkness if Infrared light is present. Aster Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tiedemies Posted April 20, 2014 Author Share Posted April 20, 2014 Well it took a bit longer than expected, but now I've had the Smokey for what, maybe two weeks(?), and tested it out with my other guitars as well. I have to say I still like it. As an practice/warm-up tool it's great, but I've been mostly using it as an amp head. Since I like how it sounds, I've been eyeing the dedicated Smokey amp head as well. Anyone tried one? Supposedly they should be more suited for such use, whatever that means in practice. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Starpeve Posted July 4, 2014 Share Posted July 4, 2014 Try running an a/e through it with the smokie in a bucket, jar, whatever. Sounds great! Blew my mate out with it, he couldn't believe it. I've had mine for 4 years or so, put it in my gig bag pocket and promptly forgot about it( yes, I know I'm a candidate for Old Timer's Disease). This thread reminded me of it so I got it out, changed the battery, and been playing with it ever since. Have'nt tried it as a head or fuzz yet though- might do that today. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Starpeve Posted July 7, 2014 Share Posted July 7, 2014 Just tried the Smokie as a head for myV Junior combo- Well , I'm amazed! I wonder how long it'd take to chew up the battery? I saw an episode of Letterman(?) where a band did their performance using Smokies like this through big cabs, and didn't really understand at the time, and just blew it off. I'm about to try and hunt down that footage to re-watch it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CopperheadRD Posted February 3, 2015 Share Posted February 3, 2015 I built one of those and used a nice cedar finger jointed cigar box. I used a 6" car stereo speaker. I also added a jack on the side to plug in a 9 volt wall wart socket or inside was a hook-up for a 9 volt battery so you could use either. you could change the tone by opening or closing the box more or less. The version I built had a gain and a volume control. I gave it to a friend, he absolutely thought it wasawsome, as well as I actually. Amazing the stuff you can find on the internet lol. Who knows maybe this will give somebody else some ideas Have a good'un Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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