jdeluke137 - Posted - 02/21/2025:  19:59:53

My wife gave me a Gold Tone Banjola. I really like it. It’s very nice and easy to play but very quiet. It has a pickup and I’d like to get a small amp that I can use for practice but with enough power to use in a small gathering, like a Sunday School social.

Any suggestions for a small amp that would work with batteries or plugged in? I’ll only need one input based on how I’m thinking about using it.

Thanks!

TScottHilton - Posted - 02/21/2025:  20:13:44

I have one of these that I use for small gigs:

sweetwater.com/store/detail/Ac...combo-amp

It gets the job done. Fishman has some similarly sized amps designed for acoustic instruments they I hear good things about. But they tend to be a little pricier.

Culloden - Posted - 02/21/2025:  21:45:52

I have a small Epiphone amp about the same size as the one Tyler mentioned with the same wattage. I'm sure other brands are available in that size as well.

Nic Pennsylvania - Posted - 02/22/2025:  03:53:41

Is this one of the Pat Cloud banjolas with the telecaster style neck pickup? If so, any guitar amp will be fine. I would avoid amps designed for acoustic instruments as those amps are designed for active pickups like piezos. While most of these amps will still work fine for passive pickups, there are an abundance of more economical options. I keeps a small Gorilla amp for hotel rooms. I found it in a thrift store for $5.

banjobob36 - Posted - 02/22/2025:  05:37:22

Look into the Yamaha THR combo amps.

jdeluke137 - Posted - 02/22/2025:  07:25:40

Good suggestions. The Yamaha looks like the size and features I’m looking for. I’ll do some investigation on it.

Benji Bird - Posted - 02/22/2025:  07:59:17

Wow what a fantastic wife you have. I’d love for someone to give me a banjola. I’ve been tinkering with this monstrosity for a few weeks because I started getting some banjola-envy after the last Give-a-Way where a goldtone banjola was offered. I’m hoping to use it for camping though so I’m not sure a $600 instrument is right anyways

Edited by - Benji Bird on 02/22/2025 08:00:37

 

martyjoe - Posted - 02/22/2025:  08:12:24

quote:

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Originally posted by Benji Bird

Wow what a fantastic wife you have. I’d love for someone to give me a banjola. I’ve been tinkering with this monstrosity for a few weeks because I started getting some banjola-envy after the last Give-a-Way where a goldtone banjola was offered. I’m hoping to use it for camping though so I’m not sure a $600 instrument is right anyways

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It's a bit of an oxymoron having a sound hole and f holes on an instrument. There is something wrong there!

banjered - Posted - 02/22/2025:  09:11:14

It is called "art." banjered

Texasbanjo - Posted - 02/22/2025:  11:07:59

Many years ago we bought one for Dave's Acoustic-electric Martin bass guitar. It was plenty powerful to make the guitar heard around the circle at jams, outside at jams and even inside at festivals.

It was called a Micro cube, is about the size of a car battery and runs off batteries. Batteries lasted us a long time and we went to lots of jams and played for hours. You can see one here: reverb.com/p/roland-micro-cube...QAvD_BwE.

I would highly recommend one of those little amps.

If you lived closer I'd just give you this one, as I never use it any more.

Benji Bird - Posted - 02/22/2025:  13:23:39

quote:

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Originally posted by martyjoe

quote:

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Originally posted by Benji Bird

Wow what a fantastic wife you have. I’d love for someone to give me a banjola. I’ve been tinkering with this monstrosity for a few weeks because I started getting some banjola-envy after the last Give-a-Way where a goldtone banjola was offered. I’m hoping to use it for camping though so I’m not sure a $600 instrument is right anyways

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It's a bit of an oxymoron having a sound hole and f holes on an instrument. There is something wrong there!

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The sound hole was just a convenient way to get inside the mandolin so I could attach the neck. Although it does make the tone a little brighter I imagine