Customer Reviews

Danelectro N10Y Honey Tone Mini Amp in Yellow

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This mini-amp is very good for "personal" harmonica playing. Using a small microphone, you can practice your harp techniques and actually hear whether you are on target note-wise. It is very lightweight and portable enough to wear on a belt. Amazingly, in such a small package, it gives you volume, tone and overdrive controls to go from a clean to a "muddy" sound. The speaker size is small and adequately covers the frequency range of an harmonica with some expected decrease in the lower end. It is good for playing in front of a small group of people within a radius of a few meters, but not adequate to cover a larger space or small room. I'd recommend the higher wattage portable Pigamps for that. The construction is good but, of course, all plastic. I would not place a bet on it surviving a drop to a hard floor. The styling and colors are Art Deco Retro and cool. I have noticed that I only get about an hour of playing time with a standard alkaline 9v battery. The volume and clarity then begin to degrade. I have ordered a couple of rechargeable 9V NiMH batteries (250 mAH) with a charger to see if I can increase the playing time. I also ordered the AC adapter made for it. So far, I am mostly impressed with this little amp.

I bought a black one of these to practice on my lunch break with headphones at my office. Testing it at home, I was pleasantly surprised that the speaker on this produced good, listenable tones at reasonable volumes. Not super clean like I like to play, but reasonably good sounds for a twenty dollar amp, that could be dirtied up a bit more with the overdrive if you like that. The belt clip is super convenient for use with headphones and it is very light weight so it works well on the belt.

I liked this convenient little amp so much that a couple days later I ordered a yellow one for practice at home where I could use the speaker instead of headphones. Unfortunately, right out of the box it had the fade in and out sound when using the speaker as described by D. Chen in the one star review of this amp from August 31, 2010. This happened using battery power or the DC adapter. At first I thought my cord might be bad. So I checked this by using another cord and then another guitar. Nope, the problem was with the amp. So I returned this for a refund and ordered a black one to replace it hoping that the different color might come from a different production batch and might be better quality like my first amp. But it had the same issue, just not as severely as the yellow one. It mutes for about half a second on the initial attack on the strings, but not on subsequent strums as long as it was producing sound. The yellow amp muted momentarily on almost every strum.

I also was disappointed that the second and third amps did not sound as clean as my original purchase. To test this I played both black amps side-by-side on the exact same settings; half volume, half tone, zero overdrive. The one that has the fading out issue was much more distorted. While not perfect, the first one I bought offers a cleaner sound that the other amp could not replicate.

There is no consistency in sound from same models and my experience was two out of three were defective. Since I ordered two AC adapters to use at work and at home, I have the dilemma of sending back an adapter with the defective amp or trying to replace yet another amp. If I get a fourth one of these I'll update this review, but I might try a different mini-amp instead.

Update 2011/02/28: I decided to try the Danelectro DH1 Hodad Mini Amp rather than risk another of the Honeytone amps not working. Well, Amazon sent it and . . . it would not power up right out of the box! The on/off volume switch did not "click on" when turned. After jiggling the knob around for a few minutes I was able to get the red power indicator to light up and the amp working. Unfortunately, each time I turn it off I have to mess with it by repeatedly pushing down and or sideways to get the power to engage. Obviously, the switch is defective so it is going to be returned. But, when it is working I like the sound better than any of the three Honeytone amps I've heard so I am going to ask Amazon to send a replacement Hodad. Another difference is that the Honeytone amp is much louder than the Hodad. If it is faulty I am giving up spending time and money on this brand of mini-amp (and I have a Danelectro guitar that I like alot). FYI, you will have to rig a belt clip holster for the Hodad, because even though it is almost the same exact size and weight of the Honeytone it does not have the handy belt clip on the back. Update: The replacement Hodad works fine!

I purchased this amplifier to amplify my metronome for violin practice. It's perfect; great volume and sound for my in-home use. Plus it has a cool retro look! I definately recommend this product.

Simply put for the price of this thing its amazing the quality i would gig with this thing in a spot. I use it to busk most of the time and it does fabulous playing on the street. The only thing i'd advise is to get rechargeable batteries for it but it doesn't eat up the batteries as bad as some petals. Overall just a great investment

I bought this amp under assumption that it had a weak tinny sound just enough to fill my apartment. Not so. It delivers a powerful
robust sound with adjustable tone/effect controls to get the neighbors bitching. The Headphone Jack is the solution for me
though as it silences the bitches and everything else.It comes in a variety of cool retro colors and is perfect for your DC-59,U2-56,
as well as your Tele, Strat, or SG. Another fine product from Danelectro,Ya Dig?

I was expecting something small, but this thing is tiny! Definitely portable. I pulled it out of the box, plugged my guitar in and it didn't take any instruction (which it doesn't come with,btw) or fiddling to figure it out. I've been playing guitar for a few years and have been fiddling around with electric effects more recently and this is a very fun toy to play around with! I think it will be a great songwriting tool and a great busking companion. It's quite loud for something so small, which surprised me. I tried not to raise my hopes for it to be very loud (I mean the thing is $20!), but it was! I plugged in my electric (Fender Strat), acoustic (Taylor), and 12-string acoustic (Fender with Fishman Pickups) and it gave a unique and well amplified sound to each. Next I'd like to plug in my ukulele to see what sounds I can make with that:)
*The only problem I had was that at certain volumes and gain settings, it seemed to cut out, but with minor knob adjustments I could fix it.

This was about what I expected and decent for the price. If I want to roam around the house or yard, it suffices, but not very loud. With a semi-hollow it is easy to drown out the amp with the sound of the guitar itself and mine cuts out at higher volumes. I don't expect it to last long. I would only recommend it for kids learning to play.

Very small and portable, about the size of an old wind-up alarm clock. It is suprisingly loud and has zero hum and decent tone. I would buy again in a heartbeat especially for the 19 dollar price.

This nice looking amp works on a 9V battery (supplied), or a 'wall wart' plug in power supply (not included). It has volume, tone, and drive knobs, and a mini-plug headphone jack. However, it looks and feels very chincy and cheap, since it is all plastic. It should have been made of some kind of metal (pun intended) or aluminum. It's sound and variety of tones is good though, for a cheap and inexpensive portable unit. Headphones sound a tad better than the internal speaker, which sounds good for what it is. Bluesy pinched harmonic tones via this little amp sound surprisingly good in overdrive, as do chords and arpeggios with the overdrive throttled back. A good buy overall.

My
Danelectro N10Y Honey Tone Mini Amp in Yellow is terific!! I just love it. It work as it is stated. It's best to get the 110V adapter with it, but not necessary.