Which Amp Is Best For My Cigar Box Guitar?

Choosing a guitar amp is such a personal choice but many Cigar Box Guitarists want something easy to set up and play.

Many Cigar Box Guitarists like to use an amp that is fairly portable and the Roland Microcube and some of the smaller Vox amps are popular. It’s even possible to buy an amp that is housed in a larger cigar box or similar. Old radios can be transformed into small amps suitable for Cigar Box Guitars.

I decided to buy the Roland Microcube recently and I will show you how I did my research to help you choose your own amp.

Decide What Is Important For You In Your New Guitar Amp

These are some of the factors to consider when choosing your amp:

Portability- Battery operated and/or mains power
Portability- Size and weight
Power- this affects the volume you can achieve but not as much as you might think
Ease of use- preset tones and effects
Extra functions- drum machine included
Extra functions- tuner
Extra functions- memory function
Cost
Well known Manufacturer

Battery Powered vs Mains Powered Amps

If you like to leave the house to play your guitar, maybe even for a spot of busking, battery power is really useful.

You are free to set up away from power outlets, assuming any pedals you use do not need mains power. Part of the reason I chose the amp and looper pedal I chose was because they could both operate via battery.

I’ve written and made videos about my BOSS RC500 which I will link to at the bottom of the page.

Check out the price on Amazon if you are interested. Here is a link to the RC-500 which I bought on amazon.co.uk and here’s a link for those of you who want to look at it on amazon.com

Having a mains power adapter is very useful for when you are playing at home or near power outlets. My Roland microcube came with a power adaptor included which I have found very useful.

Size and Weight Of Guitar Amps

My old Peavey amp weighs a ton ( or so it feels) and takes up quite a lot of space, but if you are giggling a lot you might need a larger amp. However for most players a smaller amp makes a lot more sense.

Not only does this make for greater portability, particularly with a strong handle attached, but they take up less floor space and can even fit on a workbench or similar.

Very small amps are possible for those with very limited space such as this one I bought which works well if you just want to amplify the sound without much in the way of tone control:

You can even buy ones that enable you to plug straight into the guitar jack as a headphone adaptor such as this Vox one which you can see on Amazon.co.uk here and on Amazon.com here

Here is a handy chart for you to compare the size and weight of some suitable amps for Cigar Box Guitar:

Amp	width	depth	height	weight
Marshall MS 2	5.5 inches 140mm	4.3 inches 110mm	5.5 inches 140mm	0.75 lb 0.34 kg
Roland Microcube GX	9.75 inches 247mm	6.8 inches 172mm	8.9 inches 227mm	6 lb 2.7 kg
Vox Mini 3	10.32 inches 262mm	6.85 inches 174mm	8.78 inches 223mm	6.61 lb 3.0 kg
Vox Mini 5 Rhythm	10.59 inches 269mm	7.05 inches 179mm	10.51 inches 267mm	7.72 lb 3.5 kg
Roland Cube Street II	16.3 inches 414mm	11.25 inches 285mm	10.1 inches 255mm	9.75 lb 4.4kg

Amp Power and What It Means

Higher powered amps can generate more volume without a lot of distortion but for indoor playing, especially if you are mostly playing alone you won’t need an amp with high wattage.

My Roland microcube is actually only 3 watts but it’s plenty loud enough for what I need. I would really annoy the neighbors if I turned the volume up high.

The older Roland Cube Street was powered at 50 watts and was not ten times louder than the Vox Mini 5 Rhythm. Wattage doesn’t work like that. In fact the newer model Roland Cube Street II is just 10 Watts

Amp	power in Watts
Marshall MS 2	1
Vox Mini 3 G2	3
Roland Microcube GX	3
Vox Mini 5 Rhythm	5
Roland Cube Street II	10

For your first amp for mostly home use, 3- 5 watts is more than enough power.

Preset Tones And Effects On Guitar Amps

My old Peavey amp had many controls and to be honest I found it all a bit confusing. The amps I am looking at in this article have presets that allow you to get very different sounds from the amp with the turn of a dial or the click of a switch.

That doesn’t mean you can’t customize the sound as many have several built in effects too:

Amp	Presets	Effects
Marshall MS 2	2	1
Roland Microcube GX	8	8 Types – chorus, flanger, phaser, tremolo, heavy octave, delay, reverb, spring
Roland Cube Street II	9	2 Types – chorus/delay and reverb
Vox Mini 3 G2	11	8 Types – compressor, chorus, flanger, tremolo, delay, echo, spring reverb, room reverb.
Vox Mini 5 Rhythm	11	8 Types – compressor, chorus, flanger, tremolo, delay, echo, spring reverb, room reverb.

Amps With Built In Drum Machine

Some of you will want an amp with built in rhythms, especially if you don’t have any other bit of kit that supplies this.

Since I had already bought the BOSS RC500 Looper pedal with built in rhythms, this wasn’t something I needed.

In fact when choosing my amp, I was quite torn between the Vox Mini 3 G2 and the Roland Microcube GX but I ended up choosing the Microcube. Had I not had a drum machine already, I think I would have gone for the Vox Mini 5 even though it is a bit more expensive than the Microcube.

Amp	Drum Rhythms
Marshall MS 2	0
Roland Microcube GX	0
Roland Cube Street II	0
Vox Mini 3 G2	0
Vox Mini 5 Rhythm	99

Bonus Functions Found On The Amps

All the amps have a headphone jack which is very useful.

Whilst not necessarily needed you might like the fact that the Microcube has a memory function to allow you to store the control settings for each of the 8 amp types. It also has a tuner and an IOS app allowing you to record your playing and Jam.

The Roland Cube Street II has a built in looper allowing you to record 45 seconds of loop and has a built-in harmony function. It also has an IOS app- this time Bluetooth enabled.

Manufacturer Of Amp And Cost

I have only included well-known makes in my round-up of amps and this is reflected in the prices being a little higher than some others.

Cost is a factor for many of us. Guitar gear is not cheap and I would rather save money by buying something decent once and I am happy to save up and wait or to buy second hand.

You will find many players upgrade their amps but still hold onto their favorites, but there are plenty of people who try electric guitar and give up.

As expected by the features listed, the Marshall MS 2 is by far the cheapest amp I have talked about in this article. It’s OK for a quick home practice and it’s very very portable, but I don’t use it that often.

The new Roland Cube Street II looks really good but was a bit more money than I wanted to pay, being about twice as expensive as the three middle amps:

Amp	Relative Cost
Marshall MS 2	Cheapest
Vox Mini 3 G2	3 – 4 times dearer
Roland Microcube GX	Middle price range
Vox Mini 5 Rhythm	About 1.5 times dearer than previous
Roland Cube Street II	Most expensive