Announcing The Mighty Flea - A High Quality 20W Battery Powered Guitar Amplifier
I have been working on a new product : a portable, rechargeable, battery operated guitar amplifier, that makes no compromise on sound quality or looks.
My idea has been to build a beautiful looking and sounding amplifier that runs perfectly from batteries, and is light and portable. The idea has evolved over the last year from several prototypes, and will soon be available to buy. I call the amp "The Mighty Flea".
Most battery guitar amps on the market are inferior in sound quality to mains powered versions. They usually use small speakers and are not powerful enough to gig with. Although some models use a lot of digital magic to boost the sound, they can never approach the sound of a decent sized speaker. A 3" speaker cannot physically produce the 80Hz frequency of a guitar's low E with decent volume.
Battery amps are great as busking amps, but why should they be limited to that? Even if your gig is sometimes on the street (and plenty of established artists started like that) - why should you suffer an inferior sound? So, I have designed a battery guitar amplifier that looks and sounds as good as a fancy boutique amp?
The Mighty Flea is the best busking guitar amp you've ever seen - it's so good, it can be your main amp. Thanks to the quality 10" speaker and no-compromise electronics, it sounds rich and warm. The amp delivers 20W rms, the preamp has an optical compressor/limiter which keep the sound clean. The state-of-the-art Class D amplifier consumes amost no power when you are not playing, so the lithium battery pack lasts between two and ten hours from a full charge (depending on how loud and often you play). When the battery gets low - which you can see from the 4 battery LEDs - just plug in the charger, and keep on playing. As satisfying as a boutique amp, as handy as a laptop.
(Not convinced? You can read and see more about The Mighty Flea by following these links:)
- The Mighty Flea Battery Guitar Amplifier Specs And Info
- Robin Nolan Tries The Mighty Flea Battery Guitar Amplifier A top jazz guitarist tries The Mighty Flea
- The Mighty Flea Battery Guitar Amplifier Compared To Stimer M10 vintage Valve Amp Side by side sound comparison with a legendary vintage valve amp.
Several models are planned. For around 600€, the basic model has gain, tone, volume - no frills. For a little more, you get a fantastic three band EQ and high quality digital reverb. A version with a mic channel is also planned.
The first prototype was very well received by musicians in 2016, and there are already a few early buyers waiting. I am busy with the project right now, and I aim to have the product available for purchase in March 2017. there will be several models available.
Interested? Questions? Please join my mailing list at the top of this page, or just drop me a line.
Royal Opera House "Open Up"
I am delighted to once again be assisting the Sound and Broadcast Department of Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, with extensions to their Paging System, which I designed for them back in 1998/9. The equipment has played a crucial role in the day to day running of the building since being switched on in 2000, and has given exemplary service, 24/7, since then. That's some record for reliability!
Open Up is described here. I look forward to, once again, assisting ROH, and hopefully making the system ready for the next 16 years!
(I've written a piece about the design of the original system here.)