Lyon AMP3, the plot thickens.

So I took my AMP3 apart to see how difficult it would be to tolex it and the spare speaker when I noticed a url printed on the circuit board for the amp. It says artecsound.com, so I promptly headed over to see what they were about. It seems they are a small South Korean company that makes amps and effects, as well as a mini amp by the name of "MA3T Mini Amp".

The MA3T looks exactly the same as the Lyon AMP3, same controls, same tuner and even the exact same design of the shell. But they offer their's in wood and tolex! ORANGE TOLEX! Oh, how I wish I could have found one of these instead of the AMP3. Don't get me wrong, I like the AMP3, but when its cranked for high gain it gets farty and the speaker is pretty weak, tonally.

I still wonder if there is a simple modification or speaker swap to get a little bit sweeter high gain tone out of this thing. I know small amps aren't meant to be tone beasts, because I've owned all kinds including a Marshall MS2, but there has to be a way to make it sound a little better than it does. I don't know how good the Orange Crush Mini sounds, nor do I know how good the MA3T sounds, they may sound the exact same or better, or worse!

So if you have an AMP3 and wonder what it could look like, or want to give the ArtecSound version a try here is the url to their page: http://artecsound.com/amps/ma3t.htm. I would love to get my hands on one simply because my favorite color is orange and I think they look significantly better than the AMP3. Regardless of their tonal difference, if any, at least I would have a cool little amp to sit down with and enjoy, if nothing more than for its cool orange tolex.

Guitar Micro Amp and Comparative Overview.

It was Friday, I was in the outlet store when I saw the knobs peaking out from under a large white mass. I moved over quickly to see what it was when I noticed it was a miniature guitar amp. Excited by my find I tossed it in the bag and kept on about my hunting.

After the first round I made the purchase and went outside to do some research. With very little information about these amps I went to Google Images and saw that this little amp had a twin speaker cabinet that it should sit atop. Normally if there is a part to a set of something or any given item is missing a piece, at the outlet store, its more than likely nowhere to be found, but luck was on my side!

Mere minutes before the bin I found the amp in was about to be pushed back to make way for fresh new "junk", I walk up and quickly found the speaker cabinet. The day carried on in a good way, as I found quite a few more things, but the excitement of finding this micro stack never left my mind. Sadly it would have to wait until I got it back home to give it a good and thorough testing.

Once I got it home I plugged it in and wasn't too surprised about the sound, shitty. Its a neat little discussion piece, but its not really all that fuctional, due in LARGE part to the cheap, flabby speakers they tossed into this thing. Original MSRP was $129.99 and probably sold at around $75 to $100 (?), if that were the case whoever bought one of these were seriously ripped off.

Fast forward to today, while doing research on other mini amps, when I came across the Orange Crush Micro. Orange is world renown for making high end (expensive as fuck) amps. Although I've never played one, let alone owned one, I do have to say I at least love all the orange!

But wait a second, that Orange Crush Micro looks suspiciously like the Lyon Amp3. Although they're not an exact copy I have to say the backs look very similar, the built-in tuner is the exact same and the battery door placement is quite similar as well; could these have came from the same factory? The Orange Crush Micro says "Made in PRC", obviously People's Republic of China, and the Lyon Amp3 simply says Made in China, this is getting interesting!

This gives me hope that the internal components are the exact same and with a few tweaks, and possibly a speaker upgrade, I could have a really sweet micro amp stack. Then again maybe I'm just jumping the gun here, the Orange Crush Micro and Lyon could be completely different inside, other than the obviously different face layout. Regardless they sure as hell don't hold the same prestige, or even sound close to one another.

The Lyon Amp3 isn't terrible, but I absolutely can not stand the synthesized farting that this speaker produces under mid-gain settings. This little amp may be able to produce pretty good tones, but until I can find a better alternative for the speakers its all farts from here. I did manage to get a pretty chimey clean out of it, but that was all guitar volume control.