Valeton Guitar Headphone Amplifier Rushead Max Bass Multi Effects USB Chargable Pocket Carry-On Bedroom Plug-In Mini Practice Combo Amps

First impression: this thing is SMALL! Comparing it to my older Joyo English Channel headphone amp it's actually slightly larger, but these amps are still absolutely pocket-sized and the Valeton has many more features. It's powered by a rechargeable battery and the box includes a short USB cable in case you haven't got one. I've had several devices with a Micro USB socket before, so you too may well already possess a longer one. Switching it on I was immediately pleased to see it was supplied fully charged. Next I was also pleased to find the knobs have markers to show their settings and have the translucent, slightly squishy rings around them which are a distinctive feature of Sonicake & Valeton products and which I really like the feel of. More practical than the Joyo's "buried" controls which have no markers. The knobs are well laid out, with first the basic Level and Tone, then the three effects, each with their corresponding mode switch under them. Now for the sound test! Clean channel: Gain vs. Level doesn't make a lot of difference - I assume this is because there's no distortion circuit on this channel. However at high levels of the Level control, or with the Gain turned up full and medium Level, you can get some crunch which is quite reasonable for a tiny transistor amp. This is impressive because the crunch of an overdriven Clean channel is often missed out of the list with small amps. The Tone control is very well calibrated for Clean, from not too muffled to not too crisp! Only a tiny amount of hum and fizz, almost inaudible. Overdrive channel: A pretty usable roar, again the Tone control gives some usable adjustment. The Gain knob functions more as a sag control than changing the amount of distortion. Hiss and fizz appear when you're not playing but are no worse than the average "real" amp. Distortion channel: Heavy modern fuzz with sustain and a distinct octave overtone. Good for practicing sustain lead but rather spitty suggesting the amp is hitting a hard limit - it may be set up slightly too distorted. As with the Overdrive channel, Gain and Level produce a very similar effect, just emphasising a slightly different range of mid frequencies. Definite hum in the background, like a real high-gain amp (in fact I'd say not as bad) but only audible when not playing. Delay: clean but with a substantial hi-cut, which is sensible since there's no Depth or Feedback controls - the knob controls Time, which goes all the way down to 0 so you can dial up your favourite slapback delay, and up to about 2/3 second. Well chosen values again! Reverb: hard to be sure but sounds like the knob controls the length of the tail (again starting from zero), which seems to start quiet and build to a peak, then at the longest setting there's a smoothed repeat. Someone's really put some thought into these single-knob effects! I'd characterise it as Small Hall. Delay+Reverb: the Delay repeats sound modulated by the Reverb, suggesting that the Reverb is applied first. Quite a cool special effect at the maximum setting where it makes the repeats sound like an organ rather than your guitar. Chorus: starts from zero, seems to begin by blending the chorused signal into the clean, and then increases the sweep speed - just from slow to medium, no silly wobbles at maximum. Tremolo: similarly to Chorus it seems to start by blending in, then increases speed (and depth too, it sounds like). Another usable range! Flanger: blends in, then definitely increases depth as well as speed - this one's lower range is nicely Electric Mistress-y, the higher range is a bit wild. Combining effects reveals some quite Gothic possibilities! All in all, a great improvement on the headphone guitar amps of only a couple of years ago - much more versatile, more pleasant sounding, lower noise and incredible value for money. And the USB charging means it's more practical for a long train journey than my old one's AAA batteries.

Don't often write reviews but had to for this little device. First of all, I managed to get two as Christmas presents so had to send the one my wife bought me back to Amazon. Process was easy and we got the refund within 24 hours of posting it. Second. Wow! What a fantastic little bit of electronics. I have a fairly nice Faith electro-acoustic, but don't often get to use its full range on an amp, as it's too loud. With a decent pair of over-hear headphones this works well, really well. The sound quailty is better than actually plugging the headphones into my amp - less distortion, and it's much more convenient. Sounds bizarre, but I actually love it with just one headphone cup over one ear, so that I can get the nice blend of the warm acoustic sound with the amplified as well. For less than the price of a vinyl LP, this is well worth getting for the avid guitarist who doesn't want to blast everybody's ears to play something different to acoustic.

I'd been looking for a headphone amp for some time and was pleased when I found the RH-100 Rushead Max. Even better, it has some effects built in. Build quality is good - it's a robust item and will bounce rather than shatter if dropped. The switches and dials are tiny, but okay to manipulate. After all, it's not like I'll be gigging with the thing, so I won't need to switch settings in a hurry. The amp sounds are varied and convincing, from clean through crunchy and all the way to chainsaw. Something for everyone. The effects are pleasing and have just enough variability in them to do what I need. You could ask for more, but it's a matchbox, not a full pedalboard, so set your expectations accordingly. Charging is handy, via a micro-usb port and the headphone port is well-placed. So far so good. It let me down on one count - when you play left-handed, as I do, everything points the wrong way. A minor irritation. But if you play a strat, or a similar guitar with a recessed jack... It just won't fit. The bottom tone dial gets in the way and you need a cable or adaptor to give it enough clearance to work. Overall, it's a great gadget and brilliant at the price. If you're left-handed, I'd still recommend it, but be prepared to mess about a bit to find a way to make it work for you.

Excellent at the price, way better than the Vox one I've had before, and it's rechargeable Sound is good and loud, effects clearly marked (no endless tiny button pushes) Buttons on the top are easy to use and actually have a range of volume and effects Line in works well and with good volume range. Clean and overdriven channels have decent tone Be aware it's fixed plug at 90 degrees to the unit, but it did fit my traditional strat jack

Was not expecting great results from this; to be honest it was a bit of a punt purchase. However I am after initial use pleasantly surprised at the quality of sound and versatility of the effects. For initial testing I ran it by a variety of guitars. First up was a Gibson SG where it performed well sound wise but it was difficult to see the switches & control settings as the input jack is on the bottom side of the guitar body, some people might want to plug it into a male/female jack extension lead to set it out where you can see the controls easier. With it directly plugged into the guitar jack it was a bit of a pain constantly having to lift the guitar body up to check what sound I was selecting, but this may not be a problem if you use it enough to intuitively know what switches are where. No such issue on a Fender Stratocaster where the unit sits in the perfect position for adjusting the Volume/Gain/ Ambience / Mod & Tone controls & selecting/switching between sounds and again the sound is pretty good across the spectrum of effects. Different story on a Musicman Sabre 2 with built in pre-amp as a lot of background buzz was produced, Tried it on a Fender acoustic also with battery power & the same effect was produced. So I will assume the unit is not happy around battery pre-amped guitars. Although I haven’t investigated this in any depth & perhaps this is only true on some guitar models. For such a small unit it has a nice solid design & the control dials are a usable size, reasonably spaced apart & have a nice rubbery feel with just enough resistance to make adjustments fairly smooth. The switches feel robust & easily click between effects. How long it will last is anyone’s guess, but for a very simple portable headphone practice amp/effects system, offering the chance of quick solo session or a jam along with an external sound via the aux input without the bother of setting up more sophisticated gear or having any concern with upsetting the locals this little unit is a lot of fun.

This is really easy to use and although it only has a limited range of amps and effects they sound good and it isn't as noisy/hissy as similar products - for me the clean amp with tremolo and reveb/delay sounds great - cheap and effective practise tool...

Absolutely brilliant wee amp. Really good sound and all the effects I need for practice purpose. Seems sturdy enough. Long lasting battery. It's also got an AUX input so you can play with your favourite tracks. I can definitely recommend.

Been using this about a week now and this is really useful little gadget but it has some issues. The chorus, flanger and trem are useless in my opinion as the lowest setting is still too aggressive, at least for what i play. It might be useful to you if you play different styles, but its no good for me. The distortion channel has very low output volume vs clean and OD so is of limited usefulness. Mine could be faulty, but i wont know unless i buy another (i might!) The reverb works well, the OD is fine too. Overall the sound is quite bright, so you may need to dial in your tone a bit. I also found that high output pickups tend to sound really crappy unless you turn down the volume on the guitar. Then it all works just fine. This issue might explain some of the reviews calling out poor sound quality. If the output from the pickups is too high it just blasts the poor thing and it cant cope. On my headphones there is some hiss at high gain/volume but its starting to blow my head off at that point anyway. Plugged into a PA at an open mic the hiss did not seem to be an issue though. The aux in works well, battery life is good... Generally its very good, not perfect to be sure and i have no doubt the fender version is better. But for the £22 i paid i really cannot complain too much. As i said, i might buy another so i have one in my open mic gig bag and one on my desk. That way i wont have to remember it when i head out!