Customer Reviews

Pignose 7-100 Legendary portable amplifier

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Once, many years when lunch was half a loaf of fresh bread (baguette or ficelle) and a bottle of white wine, I lived in Paris (France) and my entire income was derived from playing a beaten up Strat (I wish I still had that guitar!) through a Pignose in the Metro. The sound was perfect, the subway provided georgeous reverb, and the tone was thrilling. I played well enough that the cops didn't move me on too much, and the skinheads that surrounded me, despite my fears as I was a long-haired hippie in those halcyon days, loved my my extended version of "red house" - I dragged it out to nine or ten minutes expecting to be beaten up at the end! They over-tipped and and cheered like a football (ok soccer) crowd. Here's the secret with pignose amps, you can create all sorts of different tones by opening and closing the door at different angles, and how the speaker is pointed is crucial in a reverberent room - or hall. Sadly I have a real job now, but still play - with a much larger and more expensive amp! http://beesdeluxe.com

an important note
The Pignose cannot produce a clean sound. It is distorted no matter what you do. The distortion is not exteremly heavy, so if you want a good bluesy distortion this is great for you. But if you want to be able to hear chords clearly then you should know that this amp cannot do that. I am disappointed that it doesn't say anything about this in the description of the product.
I dont have any problem with the Pignose, just thought everyone should know about this.

This little amp is a classic!! Do a google search and you'll see guitarists the likes of Frank Zappa, Johnny Winter and Ronnie Wood have all kicked out the jams on one of these little swine!
It's ultra-portable, runs on just 6 AA batteries and sounds dang good too! I've had mine now for 8 years and it's still cranking out my sloppy bar chords as strong as day number one! This is my primary practice amp, because it goes anywhere in the house I can (I had one of those mini-Marshall amps too and ended up selling it, no comparison). Whether I want to play in my bedroom, my kid's rooms, living room etc, the Pignose is there. Also, I love the tone this thing gets. Noone will mistake this for a Marshall stack. But at top volume, this tiny dude gets pretty dirty sounding. So, if you are looking for the ultimate in portable; and the ultimate in classic value.... look no further than the Pignose. Add on to cart now and I guarantee you won't be disappointed.

I bought this little amp along with a tele when I was under the misconception that I was a blues man and after watching the movie "Crossroads" (the 80's Ralph Macchio effort not the Britney Spears vehicle). How embarrassing that I was using Macchio as my blues man model when there were still so many real, great, authentic blues men still alive then.

So my motivation for buying the pignose was that this little thing looked cool and very American. As it didn't actually make me sound like a better guitarist it promptly got relegated to the shelf. Occasionally I would power it up and each time I did it surprised me with how capable it did what it did. True, it's a bit of a one trick pony; it has no EQ controls, just a single volume knob. Any tone adjustments you want to make will have to be via the guitar or an effects box, however, the concept of this amp is pure simplicity so I don't like to mess with it by throwing stomp boxes into the mix. Instructions I read suggested you could change the tone by leaving the case open to some degree but I was never as happy with this sound as with the case locked shut.

I do wish the amp had some kind of pilot light LED on the front but I guess that would somewhat ruin the relic aesthetic. Still, I'm always forgetting to turn it off so I often come back to the pignose to find the batteries drained. It is strong and incredible toughly built. As such it makes a great traveling amp that you can throw in a duffle bag and forget about. At less then half volumes it useful for amplifying things other than your guitar when you're traveling. I've used it to amplify my MP3 player at BBQ's and stereoless cabins with OK results.

Conclusion; not essential but cheap fun.

I want to be honest so others aren't dissapointed when they order and receive this amp.
Its reallly overpriced for what it is.A tiny solid state amp which runs off of either ac power ,if you pay extra for an adapter,or off 6 double aa batteries which will last app 5-6 hours.
If you want this amp for a novelty type amp for its history and vintage looks and are not too concerned with quality or sound ,you may be satisfied.However,if you expect this amp to sound good and be used in any serious recordings etc,you most definately will be dissapointed.It has only a volume control which turns the amp on and off and adjust volume up or down.You get kind of a clean sound ,or kind of a muddy sound,or at full volume a useless sound which sounds similiar to a blown speaker.For the price this amp is,if you want a nice quality playing amp which runs off ac or dc,look into the roland micro cube.I have the micro cube also,and it totally blows he pignose away.Not evben in the same ball park.Also,when I received my pignose,it has very obvious splits in the fake pigskin covering on the bottom and the top of the amp which just shout out cheap construction.I emailed their customer service who said they all are like that due to no other way of seaming the material.Ok,that will be their little secret.
If you have money to burn and want the amp for its nostalgic look,go for it,but,if you want an amp that is portable and actually useful and sounds good,their are many others available out there for just slightly more money,such as the roland micro cube,vox,and others.This amp should be sold for app half the price it is ,in my opinion.

This is a neat little amp. It's small, but solidly built. It's definitely NOT a toy. I got this amp with the idea that I could use it as a 'man-portable' sound system for my harmonicas. That way, I wouldn't be tied to a wall socket. I use it with a Shure Green Bullet microphone as an amp for my harmonicas. The sound is really nice. I was looking for sort of a "Chicago Blues Harp" kind of sound, and this really delivers. For me, the sound is very good, but I'm not sure how much a guitar/bass player or a vocalist might like it. There's some distortion, but I knew that before I bought it.

It's VERY simple to run. There's only one control (an on/off/volume knob on the front, just below the speaker.) On the back, there's a spot for the ac adapter (YOU NEED TO BUY ONE) and a jack for a headset plug.

You need to buy the AC adapter. I got the Pignose PA7 Power Supply. They come 'bundled together' on Amazon. This amp runs on 6 AA batteries, and it tends to use them pretty quickly. I AM VERY HAPPY THAT I BOUGHT THE AC ADAPTER.

It has a handle on the top, and the handle is well-attached to the body. The amp has knobs on the sides for a guitar strap. GET A GUITAR STRAP specifically for this unit. It seems like there's no other practical way to carry it around when you're using it.

The body opens up like a briefcase to put the batteries in. There is no storage space inside it so don't think about storing the AC adapter or anything like that inside it. It may have a 'big' sound, but this is a small amp.

I use a small electricians' tool case to carry my gear (Harps, mic, etc) in, and the Pignose fits in there quite easily.

All in all, this is a really nice little unit - well worth the money.

First of all, let's get this straight: this is a classic, portable practice amp. For its purpose, it does its job very well. You won't get a full bodied tone out of it due to the physical limitations of its speaker size (5"). It also is sort of a one trick pony. Even though it is solid state, it distorts beautifully and gradually as the volume is increased. It's not a Neu Metal distortion at all but rather a Classic Rock type of distortion. It also works well as a preamp in front of a larger more powerful amplifier (I have several, and it works well with them all). In my opinion, it sounds better with single coil pickups versus humbuckers; the clarity is a little better with the former. I have found that you can get clean sounds out of it, but you have to use your guitar to do so. By turning down your guitar's volume pot, the sound cleans up. With my Stratocaster, I get the cleanest sounds with the guitar's volume pot around 7 or so and the Pignose's volume at about 3:00, which provides decent volume too. This amp also can be very loud despite its 5 watts and small speaker. Fully cranked this amp is surprisingly loud with awesome distortion, which sounds even better recorded. Speaking of recording, by using a Shure SM57 microphone it sounds huge. So it's a great recording amp for distorted tones. It really shines as a recording amp. This amp also takes to pedals very well. I have several classic pedals that sound great through it. Modelling effects also work well with it and can considerably shape its tone. By using a Korg Pandora PX4D in front, I can actually get clean tones out of it at high volumes, which is impossible plugging in direct (plugging in direct has its own charms though). It even works well to amplify vocals. I have even used it to amplify my bass guitar too, but not with very good results. I have to turn the bass' volume pots very low, and I can't turn the amp's volume up much past 4:00 or 5:00 and expect to keep the sound clean. Needless to say, there isn't much bottom to the tone when amplifying a bass either. But keep in mind this is designed to be a guitar amp, not a bass amp. All things considered, if you're looking for a small, go anywhere amp that has Classic Rock to Blues tones, this amp is your ticket. Just don't expect to get either huge or clean tones (unless you use modeling effects in front of it) out of it. It wouldn't be my choice as a primary amp, but it is an excellent and portable tool to add color to your tone.

I have owned two of these little Pignose amps in my lifetime. The first one I bought as a practice amp as a teenager years and years ago. It lasted a good long time, and suffered plenty of use and abuse over the years. When it finally died a noble death, I ran out and immediately bought another.

The little Pignose is the most portable (and runs off of plain old batteries, no less) and fun little practice amp I've owned. Over the years I have played plenty of electric and acoustic guitars through my little Pignose amps, and have thoroughly enjoyed it.

Yes, the sound of the little Pignose is very simple...but it's also very unique. I've often found a sound on the Pignose while practicing that I couldn't reproduce on any of my bigger tube amps (that muddy bluesy sound the Pignose has at near peak volume), so I've even used my Pignose as a pre-amp for larger speaker cabinets to get that "Pignose sound". I've even had friends open and close the Pignose while I'm playing, to be a manual wah-wah pedal. Good times.

This is one classic little amp that every guitar player should own...especially for those times where you need a little volume, but have very little space to pack an amp (camping, travleing, etc.)

Thumbs up for Pignose for keeping this classic amp alive...I may need to buy another some day, and I'm glad to see them still around and kicking.

This is a great practice. At low volumes you can get a semi-clean tone to play some SRVs tracks like Lenny and Rivera Paradise. At high volumes the distortion is mild. Overall it is the best sounding practice amp I have ever used.

This was an awesome purchase. This is the greatest go anywhere practice amp that I own. The price was excellent and the delivery was right on time, for my trip to Las Vegas, NV.