The 13 Best Mini Portable Guitar Amps (That'll Shock You!) | 2022
Looking for the best mini guitar amp for home, studio, or travel use? Here's 13 of the best wee beasties on the market today.
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Think mini portable guitar amps are toys? Think again. From battery-powered amps to mains powered amps, we've found 13 surprisingly great sounding little amps for you to check out.
The neat thing about all these combo amplifiers? They're inexpensive, portable and don't take up much room.
Beginner to advanced, every guitar player needs a mini amp in their set-up.
Who Needs A Small Mini Guitar Amp?
These small guitar amplifiers are perfect for you if you:
Are you looking for a convenient portable sized amp you can use on the go (and can sneak into your collection undetected?!)
Let's get straight to those reviews then...
1. Vox VX15 GT 15W Digital Modeling Amp
You can't deny that Vox are the granddaddy of epic amp tone. And when it comes to their Vox VX15 GT, they don't disappoint. This 15-watt modelling amp packs in a whopping 11 amp simulators and 8 effects, including delay, flanger and chorus.
The added tap button is handy to easily set your own delay time and let your inner Edge rip.
With impressive amp modelling, solid build quality, and the ability to plug in a microphone and external device such as your MP3 player or phone, the VX15 is a wee little beast.
You'll love: The lightweight combo amp's ability to be polite and quiet or brash and loud as you command.
Best Bits
- Wattage - 15 Watts
- Power - Power adaptor
- Controls - Volume, gain, tone, amp simulators, effects,
- Ins/Outs: Instrument, Mic, AUX jack
- Amp simulators - 11
- FX - 8
2. Fender Mini '57 Twin Amp
The Fender Mini '57 is a super-compact practice amp that would feel equally at home sitting on your desktop or practice room floor. The retro tweed finish makes this amp perfect for those players who love rocking that vintage Fender vibe.
Whilst the modest 2 by 2 inch 1-watt speakers won't give you earth-shattering power, the volume is plenty loud enough and perfect for not bothering others you live with when you're practising your chops at home.
One tip with this amp when using the distortion sound is to turn the tone knob low, and the result is less fuzz more pleasing rock n' roll growl. Users report that using the amp with headphones is a joy and has the desirable knock-on effect of making you want to pick up your guitar more than ever.
You'll love: The real vintage fabric and leather handle make this cheap as chips mini practice amp feel much more expensive than it actually is.
Best Bits
- Wattage -1 Watt
- Power - 1 x 9V battery or 9V power adaptor
- Controls - Power, volume, tone, drive
- Ins/Outs: Instrument, Mic
- Amp simulators - Non
- FX - Non
3. Boss Katana Mini Amplifier
You don't have to look hard online to find glowing reviews of the Katana Mini amp by Boss. It offers you a wide range of lush tones, and the 7 watts deliver a shockingly louder sound than you'd imagine from such a petite guy.
Whether you're sitting on the sofa at home, jamming with your band or getting a cheeky practice session in at work, both the clean and driven sounds are fantastic on the Katana. The choice of 'brown', crunch and clean tones means this amp not only sounds good, but it's bags of fun to play.
Rich, full tones with a warm ambient delay, this Boss micro amp offers you much more than you'd expect once you plug it in and let rip.
You'll love: Many users are singing the praises at the impressive battery life this mini amp gives you.
Best Bits
- Wattage -7 Watts
- Power - 6 x AA batteries and AC power adaptor
- Controls - Amp type, volume, gain, bass, middle, treble, delay time, delay level
- Ins/Outs: Instrument, Aux in
- Amp simulators - Non - 3 tone choices
- FX - 1: Delay
If you're a diehard Marshall fan and you're after a tiny portable amp, the MS4 Mini Micro Full Stack is going to be right up your street.
Ideal for on the go practice, the MS4 has an impressive amount of distortion when you crank up the gain, and balancing the volume level on your guitar will help produce a great clean sound to boot.
The Micro Stack has two speaker cabs, headphone output for rocking out in private, and is powered by either a 9V battery or AC power adapter.
You'll love: Great mini Marshall tone delivered by the uber-cool looking stack design.
Best Bits
- Wattage -1 Watt
- Power - 9V battery
- Controls - Volume, gain, tone
- Ins/Outs: Instrument, headphones
- Amp simulators - Non
- FX - Non
There are an impressive amount of features packed into the Roland Micro Cube that put other small amplifiers to shame.
3 COSM amp models, 8 DSP effects, tuner, stereo aux input for external devices, carry strap, even a memory function for saving your favourite amp settings. You name it; the Micro Cube fits it in.
Regardless of if you're on the road or noodling about chilling at home, Roland's Micro Cube would be a smart purchase choice if you're the kind of player that likes fiddling around with different amp sounds and effects.
You'll love: The terrific sounding amp models for such a small price tag.
Best Bits
- Wattage - 10 Watts
- Power - AC power adaptor
- Controls - Gain, volume, amp type, effects, tuner, tone, master, memory function
- Ins/Outs: Instrument, Aux in
- Amp simulators - 8
- FX - 8
The Blackstar FLY 3 is a handy mini portable guitar amp. The two-channel 3-watt practice amp features tape delay, EQ and aux input for you to plug in your device of choice, such as an MP3 player or phone.
At first look, you might be concerned about the capabilities of this amp due to its tiny size, but once you plug in your guitar, any worries will instantly disappear. The Fly 3 gives you the grunt of a larger amp but at a small price. It's a no-brainer.
You'll love: The ability to connect to the Fly 103 cabinet to create a 6 watt stereo amp experience if the urge takes over you.
Best Bits
- Wattage - 3 Watts
- Power - 6 x AA batteries or 6.5V DC power supply
- Controls - Volume, gain, ISF EQ, overdrive switch, delay level
- Ins/Outs: Instrument, line in/Aux, headphones
- Amp simulators - Non
- FX - 1
The Pathfinder 10 gives you everything you'd expect from a Vox amp; growling crunch and crisp, rich, clean tones. From blues, jazz, rock, whatever your style of playing, this 10-watt combo amp will serve you well and deliver stellar sound.
One of the bigger mini amps on our list, the Vox Pathfinder 10 is still little enough to be portable. If you're looking to buy a no-frills just 'plug-and-play' great sounding amp, look no further.
All in all, the size and wattage of this twin-channel amp makes the Pathfinder 10 an excellent choice for both home practice and studio jamming.
You'll love: The super cool grill colour options including Union Jack, Classic and Denim.
Best Bits
- Wattage -10 Watts
- Power - AC Power Adaptor intergrated
- Controls - Gain, volume, treble, bass, clean/overdrive switch
- Ins/Outs: Instrument, headphones
- Amp simulators - Non - 2 channels
- FX - Non
The 10-watt THR5 portable Yamaha desktop guitar amp oozes quality and offers you multiple sound and effect combinations. With 5 amp sims to choose from, USB input, tuner and intuitive tone switches, the THR5 is a mighty versatile little amp.
The THR5 is solid-state, but Yamaha has modelled the internal signal paths from famous tube amps to give you a tone you'll fall in love with.
Whilst this amp isn't one of the cheapest on our list, the THR5 has added features you'll find helpful day-to-day.
Take the USB connection, for example. It gives you two channels of recording to your computer and two channels of playback from your computer. This is useful if you like to make your own music or simply record your guitar practice sessions.
In conclusion, if you're after a quality micro amp that's anything but a toy, the THR5 is worth looking at.
You'll love: The super durable rugged metal chassis design.
Best Bits
- Wattage -10 Watts
- Power - AC power adaptor (included) or 8 x AA batteries
- Controls - Amp Model, gain, master, tone, effect, delay/reverb, volume, tap tempo/Tuner
- Ins/Outs: Instrument, headphones, USB
- Amp simulators - 5
- FX - 8
Okay, so don't expect hair curling volumes or knock-out tones from this little guy, but do expect fun distortion and crunchy tones from the Orange Crush Mini amp.
With its 3" speaker, the tone control delivers a vintage boxy midrange tone, or you can tweak away for a brighter modern tone.
The Crush Mini has a built-in tuner, headphone output and even lets you jam along with your favourite tracks via the Aux-In. Just be careful not to knock this amp around too much; built like a tank; it ain't.
You'll love: Plugging it into your 4x12 cab, cranking the gain and letting your guitar scream like a Banshee on a full moon.
Best Bits
- Wattage - 3 Watts
- Power - 9V battery or DC adapter
- Controls - Gain, tone, volume
- Ins/Outs: Instrument, headphones, aux in
Are you looking for an amp head that won't result in a trip to the chiropractor every time you pick it up? The Orange Micro Terror MT20 amp is your man.
The Micro Terror won't only surprise you by how small and light it is, but the hybrid design with 12AX7 preamp tube and 20-watt power amp combine to deliver a sound that'll knock your socks off.
Coupled with any speaker cabinet that's 8-16 Ohm, such as the Orange PPC-108 cab or even 4x12 cabinets, you get enough grunt for metal and plenty of bright sparkle for jazz.
Don't underestimate the power of this bitesize little dude; tweak away at the volume and gain and enjoy the ride.
You'll love: The distinctive Orange amp sound delivered at a pleasingly small price tag.
Best Bits
- Wattage -20 Watts
- Power - DC 15V Adapter (included)
- Controls - Gain, volume, tone, power
- Ins/Outs: Instrument, speaker, headphones, aux
- Amp simulators - Non
- FX - Non
If you're looking for a great starter guitar amp that's portable, simple to use and cheap, or if you're just after a second small amp that's convenient to practice with at home, the MG10 CF from Marshall is a stellar choice.
It is intuitive and easy for any player to get their head around. The two channels give you clean and crunch, volume control for each, and a tone contour control that allows you to dial in the sound to your taste.
You get that classic Marshall build quality at a fraction of the price of the big boys from the diddy MG10 CF. What's more, we think you'll find the amp strikingly loud for its size.
You'll love: The carbon fibre finish or classic Marshall black and gold colour options.
Best Bits
- Wattage -10 Watts
- Power - Integrated power lead
- Controls - Gain/volume, gain, volume, contour
- Ins/Outs: Instrument, Headphones, MP3
- Amp simulators - Non
- FX - Non
If you're the type of person who likes their guitar gear not just to sound good but look good, your search is over. Danelectro's Honeytone N-10 gives you a clean or overdriven sound that belies its stature. And this little fella looks undeniably cool too.
It has a clip so you can attach it to your belt, comes with a 9V battery, and features a headphone jack, volume, tone, and overdrive controls. The perfect amp to walk around with while you are practising or jamming.
It may be small, but this stylish retro micro amp packs a punch.
You'll love: The ease at which you'll be able to practice on your guitar with this tiny amp sat within arm's reach on your desk or coffee table.
Best Bits
- Wattage - 1 Watt
- Power - 9V battery (included)
- Controls - Volume, tone, overdrive
- Ins/Outs: Instrument, headphones
- Amp simulators - Non
- FX - Non
13. VOX amPlug 2 Guitar Headphone Amp
What's that? You want an even more tiny portable guitar amp solution? You couldn't get any more micro than the Vox amPlug 2 headphone amp then. The perfect no-fuss on-the-go practising aid, simply plug your guitar and headphones into this headphone amp, and you're good to go.
You can even plug in your metronome or MP3 into this funky gadget to play along with. With its gain, tone, volume and fx dials, the amPlug packs in a surprising amount of features into its teeny tiny body.
You'll love: The choice you get of different Vox amPlug 2 models including, Classic AC30, Blues, Clean, Lead and Metal. We just wish Vox would bring out a super amPlug with all these babies combined in one!
Best Bits
- Power - 2 x AAA batteries
- Controls - Gain, tone, volume, fx
- Ins/Outs: Instrument, Headphones, Aux
- Amp simulators - 3
- FX - 3
Summing it Up
If you want a surefire way of increasing your enjoyment of playing the guitar, it's all about making your practice time convenient and fun. The best way to achieve this is to get yourself a mini portable amplifier.
As you've just discovered in our list of the top 13 micro guitar amps for beginners, intermediates and beyond, you have the choice of getting either a basic or feature-packed amp.
Both types have their advantages;
The benefit of a no-frills small guitar amp is their ease of use. This makes practice painless as they eliminate you having to get too involved in the controls. Conversely, the benefit of an singing all dancing feature rich micro amp is that they give you a choice of settings. This can make your practice time more interesting, creative and fun.
The choice is yours. But whichever type of small amp you go for, plug in and have hours of playing fun.
