ValetonRushead Max USB Chargable Portable Pocket Guitar Bass Headphone Amp Carry-On Bedroom Plug-In Multi-Effects

Fantastic product! So many sound variations, and it's powerful. Connected to a Bluetooth speaker it sounds like I'm playing on a full size amp. The line in for auxiliary works great and you can mix what you're playing with what you are listening to in the headphones, or output to your Bluetooth speaker with an aux cord. Loads of fun and you can create some really cool sounds, or jam to music or drum tracks on your phone. Great battery life. The unit feels heavy and well made. It's like having an amp with effects pedals built in. Very convenient for practicing in quiet environments, or connect to a speaker and rock your world! Highly recommended. My only suggestion is if a longer cable were included which would make it easier to adjust the unit while you are playing eg. It would be on the end of a cord instead of on the bottom of the guitar where it's hard to get to. I will probably buy a male to female patch cord so I can do that. It's fine the way it is just get it set up the way you like, plug in and go. I was not expecting this to have so much power. A must have for anyone playing electric guitar or bass.

The media could not be loaded. I was looking for an extremely portable amp that would be easy to carry in my backpack or luggage. I found the Vox amPlugs and thought those would be perfect since they are extremely small and I could plug them into any portable speaker I wanted, and even use my headphones for silent practice sessions at night. I had settled on getting the AC30 amPlug since it had some nice clean sounds and Vox's AC30 amp is a classic amp that many classic rock players use, but I primarily play harder rock and metal which use dirtier tones, so I was trying to decide which of Vox's dirtier amPlug models I wanted in addition to the AC30. However, I had this device, the Valeton Rushead Max, recommended to me, and after listening to a few videos and seeing a great Black Friday deal on it, I decided to go with this. I am very glad I did.The Pros:This is both very well built and extremely versatile. While I still don't have an AC30 amPlug (the clean sound on this is enough for me for now, though I will likely eventually get one and update this review when I do), I have read that they are somewhat flimsy. This pocket amp has no such issues and is very sturdily built. The sounds on this are also extremely versatile. Like most pocket amps and mini-amps, this has the basic volume, tone, and gain controls. However, the types of amps offered and the effects are where this pocket amp shines. Vox's amPlugs have only one amp per amPlug, but they give you three different channels (a green, orange, and red, and the sound gets increasingly dirtier the redder the color gets), but from what I have heard on YouTube, the channels on the amPlugs don't sound very different. On this Valeton pocket amp, they give you three different amps entirely. "CL" gives you a nice clean tone, "OD" gives you a hard rock-style overdrive, and "DIST" gives you heavy metal-style distortion, so you can switch between three of the most popular guitar styles all at, to quote AC/DC, a "Flick of the Switch". I mostly use the OD and DIST channels, and they both sound awesome. I also love being able to drastically switch sounds so easily, switching between the rock and metal tones I typically use all much quicker than dialing in the tones on my 20W Randall practice amp. Additionally, even mini-amps like the Nux or the Boss Katana only give you three similar options, so Valeton's pocket amp is on par with most mini-amps while being much smaller and letting you choose which speaker you want to use with it (when at home, I will typically grab the MOKCAO Power+, a speaker dock for the 2nd generation Echo Dots, which sounds surprisingly good for guitar and even rivals my larger 20W Randall practice amp, while on-the-go I will typically grab a little 808 NRG speaker, which doesn't sound as good but is significantly more portable). Lastly, this little device has a ton of available effects. Vox's amPlugs give you three different versions of Chorus, Delay, and Reverb, but you can only have one active at a time. Valeton's pocket amp lets you have Delay, Reverb, or Delay/Reverb active, and then you can add to that Chorus, Tremolo, or Flanger. It doesn't give you different versions, but you can change how each of them sound by adjusting a knob on the top of the device, ranging from not having any of the effect to having more of the effect.The Cons (or Suggested Improvements):While there aren't any major negatives about this device, I do have a few suggested improvements. The biggest is that I would add bluetooth. I know this device already has a ton of stuff packed into a small package, but bluetooth typically doesn't take up much space. Also, many speakers in today's world only use bluetooth, so adding bluetooth would make this pocket amp work with more speakers as well as eliminating messy cords. If possible, I would also make this pocket amp slightly smaller – when attached to the lower bout on my Les Paul, the top comes very close to contacting the ground when I have the Les Paul sitting on the floor, and I sometimes worry that the amp might get broken. Additionally, making it slightly smaller would increase portability. Lastly, I do somewhat agree with another reviewer on here who mentioned that it is a bit difficult to use for guitars where the input jack is on the lower bout, since you can't see the buttons. While I have mostly gotten used to controlling the knobs and buttons by feel, I think what would be nice is making the jack on the amp rotatable. Unlike on Vox's amPlugs, though, which rotate the jack side-to-side, I think it would make more sense to let it rotate front and back, that way those who have input jacks on the front of the guitar can leave it facing downward while those who have it on the side can have the jack on the amp rotated so it is pointing out of the main face of the pocket amp, making it easier to see.Overall, the cons aren't hugely significant, and the pros make this one of the best pocket amps you can buy, especially if you are interested in versatility. If you know you want an excellent recreation of exactly one of Vox's amps, then one of the amPlugs might be better for you, but if you want something that will give you a plethora of different sounds on-the-go, then this is the pocket amp for you. The tones, particularly the overdrive and distortion tones, also sound excellent, so you are getting amazing tones (especially if you have a good speaker) in addition to superb versatility. I am blown away how Valeton, a company I never heard of until I found this device, managed to make a significantly better pocket amp than Vox, one of the world's leading manufacturers of guitar amps. The Rushead Max even lets you just charge the device by plugging a micro-USB phone cord into it, which is much more convenient than using batteries with Vox's amPlugs (even if you use rechargeable batteries, you still have to take them out and charge them, while the Rushead Max you can just plug in - it claims it only lasts 5 hours, but I think it lasts a bit more than that, since I have gone 2-4 days with hour-ish long practice sessions and I have only had it go down to 1/4 the battery dots left without charging). I still plan to eventually get Vox's AC30 amPlug, since the AC30 is such a classic amp, and when I do I will update this review to provide a more thorough comparison between the amPlug and this. Until I do, though, I think Valeton has put Vox to shame in the pocket amp department, and I highly and enthusiastically recommend the Valeton Rushead Max!Updated March 14, 2020: As I said in the review, the little 808 speaker I was plugging this Valeton Rushead Max into sounded quite tinny while the MOKCAO Echo Dot base sounded really good. I was researching speakers the last few months to try to find if there was a smaller speaker than the MOKCAO that sounded significantly better than the 808 speaker, and I settled on getting the Vanzom Climber-Z speaker. It is about halfway between the 808 and the MOKCAO speaker in size, and it sounds much more like the MOKCAO speaker, possibly even sounding slightly better than the MOKCAO. Those are the only three speakers I have tried with this and out of those three I would recommend the Vanzom Climber-Z speaker - it is $60 new but there are frequently 20-25% off coupons on it, which brings the cost to less than $50 new. I did listen to a few speakers at Best Buy recently, and though I couldn't compare the sound directly since I couldn't bring the Vanzom speaker inside, I thought the Vanzom was clearly better than all of the UE speakers and all of the Sony speakers except for the XB41 (which was much more expensive and larger), and I thought the Charge 4 was only slightly bassier than the Vanzom (though also larger and more expensive) and the Bose Soundlink Revolve was only slightly clearer than the Vanzom (though also considerably more expensive). So, assuming that how music sounds through speakers is a good indication of how a speaker will work with this pocket amp, there are speakers that may sound better than the Vanzom, but for its size and price, I think the Vanzom is the best deal. I would definitely recommend the Vanzom Climber-Z if you want to play this through a portable speaker, or at least a speaker with 2 or more active drivers and 1 or more passive radiators should create a fuller sound which will make playing this through the speaker sound better.Update January 1, 2021: A few months ago I finally got a Vox AC30 AmPlug, and I also replaced my main amp with a Marshall Code 50. First comparing the AC30 AmPlug to the Rushead Max, I found my previous thoughts based on YouTube videos to be pretty accurate. The Rushead Max in general sounds better, is more versatile, is more convenient with a rechargeable battery, and is sturdier. The two plusses I found to the AC30 AmPlug is that the foldable plug does make it slightly more portable when transporting it, and I prefer the slightly crunchy clean tones of the AC30 AmPlug versus the crystal clean, and to me almost bland, clean tone of the Rushead Max. After learning more about amp models, I would guess the Rushead Max's clean channel is based on a Fender amp, the overdrive channel on the Marshall JCM800, and the distortion channel on the Mesa/Boogie. Therefore, I did compare the Rushead Max's distortion channel to the JCM800 model on my Marshall Code 50, and I was surprised with how close it came. The Code 50 clearly had more details and intricacies in the JCM800 sound, but it also has a much larger computer and a 12" speaker. Considering how small the Rushead Max and Vanzom speaker are, the Rushead Max did a good job getting the general tone of the JCM800 down. Secondly, in addition to the new amps, I have more recently tried two smaller speakers with the Rushead Max, in an attempt to make it more portable. The first one I tried was a cheap, off-brand aux speaker, which is essentially just a very small speaker with a male aux jack attached, designed for use with phones to make them louder. It made the Rushead Max a bit heavy, but I found putting a rubber band around the amp/speaker connection and strapping it around a tone or volume knob kept it in place. It sounded better than I would have expected from such a small speaker, but it was still very tinny and muddy and had no bass. Also, playing the overdrive or distortion channel with high volume made it shake, and I'm sure the speaker could easily be broken if played on high volumes on the distortion channel for long periods of time. The second speaker I got even more recently was a JBL Clip 3. I found that the best way to make it portable is to hang the Clip 3 off of one of the top tuners and run a 3-4 foot audio cable from the Rushead Max to the Clip 3. The Clip 3 still lacked the bass of the Vanzom speaker, sounded a bit tinny, and did the weird buzzing thing, but it was a considerable improvement over the phone extension speaker. In comparison to that one, the Clip 3 was significantly clearer, does not shake at higher volumes on the distortion channel like it is going to fall apart, and also has a bit more bass to it. So while if you want the best sound with the Rushead Max I would still recommend a tabletop portable speaker, if you are looking for a super portable way to use the Rushead Max which would allow you to walk freely around the room, I would recommend the JBL Clip 3 hung over a top tuning peg. I did also try connecting an Aluratek Bluetooth 5.0 transmitter/receiver to the Rushead Max so it could wirelessly connect to my Vanzom speaker (which also uses Bluetooth 5.0), but I found the lag, while only being ~0.5 seconds, to be quite noticeable, so I would recommend a wired connection for this pocket amp. Lastly, I have attached a couple more pictures of the Valeton Rushead Max, this time comparing it to the Vox AC30 AmPlug, as well as a video comparing sound samples between the Rushead Max and AC30 AmPlug. The distortion tones were achieved on the Rushead Max by changing channels while the distortion tones were achieved on the AC30 AmPlug by increasing the gain.Updated September 26, 2021:I purchased a Diezel Herbert and an Alexander Jubilee Overdrive pedal a few months ago and was looking for an easy way to listen to them with headphones. Setting the Valeton to the clean mode and plugging into the output sort of worked but didn't sound the best, so I recently tried out a Boss Pocket GT, a Fender Mustang Micro, and a LEKATO Headphone Amp. The LEKATO was neat with cab sims and made the pedals sound the best when I only used a cab sim, but a clean setting on the Mustang Micro sounded pretty close just a little looser, and the amp models on the Fender were better even than the models on this Valeton headphone amp. I especially liked the Uber model on the Fender, which to my ears sounded fairly similar to the Diezel Herbert (my favorite of the two pedals). The Valeton sounds noticeably fizzier than the Mustang Micro, and the Mustang Micro is more compact and portable than the Valeton without being fragile like the Vox. The Mustang Micro also has more options. Though the Valeton does have a bit finer control over the options available, the knobs aren't super sensitive and after playing the Mustang Micro I realized the tone knob on the Valeton is slightly weird in that the volume decreases as you turn the tone down. Apparently one can also record with the Mustang Micro. I haven't tried it yet, but since this is the one I decided to keep out of the three new ones I tried, I definitely will try this at some point. Overall, I would recommend the Mustang Micro slightly more than the Valeton for its better tone, more compact size, and recording ability. However, the Mustang Micro is 3-4 times the price of the Valeton. I think it is worth it myself, but if you are on a budget and especially if you don't need to record, the Valeton is still the best headphone amp under $50 in my opinion. If you can find an extra $50 for a used Mustang Micro or a new one on sale, then I would recommend the Mustang Micro, though. I also added a couple more comparison pictures.

My one and only amp is a Peavey 6505+ 120w head with a Marshal 4-12 cabinet. Even with a load bank on it the amp is loud... Well, fine for me, but since my GF moved in... Too loud to just noodle around. So I decided to get a headphone amp.With so many options I decided to start here. The fact it was rechargeable and had some effects sold me. Also it was the fastest thing I could get in my hands delivery time wise...It was plug and play and I was making noise in seconds after the Amazon delivery driver left. The controls are intuitive and it took only seconds to start changing things by feel. There is delay and reverb, chorus, flanger and I'm guessing TR is tremelo but I'm thinking it sounds more like a leslie rotating speaker. The delay time and reverb intensity are adjustable as is the sweep on the chorus, flanger and tremelo. There's a clean channel, overdrive and distortion with adjustable gain.There's also a master gain (volume) and tone control, power switch, 1/8" input, 1/8" headphone output, usb charge port and the 1/4" jack. It's fixed and protrudes off the back, so it looks like it'll fit a recessed Strat type jack but I don't have one to confirm. It fit my Standard Tele Jack fine.Now for the bad. The single coils on my Tele were easily able to overdrive the clean channel with ease. Even the neck which is the lowest output pickup I have easily started clipping. The clean channel requires the gain to be at 0 and the master volume to be set fairly low. It's usable, but just something to be aware of. The Overdrive is classic old school rock sound and the distortion is great for some chunky metal playing. The gain changes it from the Beatles to Cream to Van Halen to Metallica to Slayer depending on the OD/Dist switch settings. Lots of versatility here.The tone however... The tone is muddy. The tone control did little to address that, it's just bleed off all the frequencies and a loss of clarity really. The pickups on my tele are hand wound and very specific to the guitar and my playing style and I know what they're capable of and this amp just blurs it all together. It is a $40 headphone amp and if I adjust my expectations however it's adequate.Overall it's a great practice amp. I can't expect a $40 headphone amp with earbuds to compete against my half-stack. If you are a stickler for clarity and want a great sound open your wallet more - you're not getting it for $40. But for $40 I have an amp I can toss into the case and take anywhere and practice and even play around with some effects. I was having a bit of fun hammering notes with my left hand and sweeping the delay with my right making some crazy 70's sci-fi noises. My only gripe at the price is I wish the clean channel had a little more headroom before starting to break up. If my Tele can overdrive I'm not sure I want to know what my Les Paul will do.Lastly, as a note, this obviously sticks out of the jack and if the jack is on the bottom like most of my guitars it can be a problem depending on where you sit. A short 1/4" extension cable may be useful if you want to sit on the couch and play.