Danelectro N-10 HoneyTone

I purchased this mini amp at Guitar Trader in San Diego for $22.00. I bought the amp because I live in a pretty quiet condominium community and wanted something small and that I could play at a reasonable volume. I also travel often so I wanted something portable.

This amp is truly amazing for it's diminutive size. At only 5 inches high by 5 inches wide, this little amp gives you both a full clean sound as well as a vintage sounding distortion when you turn up the overdrive. Definitely not an amp for band practice, the volume does go high enough to satisfy most apartment dwellers and scare away the cats. It even looks cool, definitely retro in style, coming in colors such as Beatnick Burgandy and Daddy-O-Yellow. I bought the Nifty Aqua model. It also comes with a belt loop so you can hook it right to your jeans, as it weighs next to nothing, and run around the house unrestricted doing your Angus Young impression.



It uses a 9 volt battery which it seems to burn through rather quickly when you turn up the volume. The Danelectro 9 volt adapter for the amp doesn't seem to be available at most retailers who sell the amp, so you might have to search around for it.

The unit is basically made of plastic with separate volume, tone and overdrive knobs and a headphone and input jack. For $22.00 its seems to be built well though I wouldn't want to drop it on a hard surface as it is made of plastic.

This is a really cool little amp that would make a great stocking stuffer or gift for any guitar player; beginner or pro. It's portability makes it fun for anyone who travels, wants to walk around and play or wants to toss their amp in the drawer quickly when their wife comes home and asks what they've been doing all day. The retro look would appeal to anyone and for about $20.00 bucks the sound is amazing. I do recommend you buy the adapter so you don't have to keep heading to the store for batteries that will quickly add up to more money than you paid for the amp. Overall I recommend the amp highly.

This review was originally published on http://www.musicgearreview.com

This is a tiny 10 watt battery powered, solid state amplifier with a two inch speaker. It has a volume control, tone control, and gain control. For input there is a 1/4" standard guitar jack and there is also a headphone out which will disengage the speaker. For a battery a 9 volt is used, but there it can use a pretty standard power supply. There is also a belt clip, should you feel the need to attach it to your pants to take your rocking to the streets.

UTILIZATION

This thing isn't loud enough to start bringing down the walls, but for a personal sized practice amp the tone is pretty good. There is a decent amount of crunch that can be achieved with the gain up all the way, but don't expect tone shattering sustain for days. A guitar pedal could be put in between the guitar and the amplifier, but that would defeat the purpose of its portability for most situations.

SOUNDS

This amp was not designed for excellent tone. I wouldn't use it for recording, unless I wanted transistor radio type guitar tone, but I think I'd rather stick with my Mesa Boogie for the time being. Still, to show off in front of your friends, or to hide an amplifier away in a classroom (as I have) it serves its purpose.

OVERALL OPINION

This little amp has lasted longer than the Marshall micro amp that I had for a short time before it stopped functioning. Who knew that Danelectro quality would outlast Marshall? If this thing croaked, I'd replace it only if I thought I needed another portable practice amp. It's cheap and has been reliable so far. The only feature I wish it had would be a 1/8" input to hook up a CD or MP3 player to play in combination with the guitar.

I will not go back on it, others have said it all.

UTILIZATION

It's simple. If you get a "good" sound? See below ...

SOUNDS

See below for the overall opinion. But the sound ... is bad.

OVERALL OPINION

Since I (+ 1 year), I have almost never used. I had taken it for portable use, but I would have preferred to quickly level the cabinet with a little Vox Amplug. It is neither more nor less than a small amp in a plastic box, and the sound suffers greatly.
A simple test by plugging an mp3 it: it's disgusting. While the Cabinet Vox is nickel!
This is far from breaking bricks. For now, I keep it, because I do not have the courage to sell ...
Ok, it's cute. But that's really all there is to it.