Hotone Nano Legacy Mojo Diamond amp - GAS

Farrell Jackson · May 24, 2016, 08:59:32 AM

After reading about and watching a youtube video demo I ordered one of these tiny amps for my studio. I received the Hotone last Thursday as expected but not by UPS but rather the general mail. The first thing that struck me funny was how small the package was. This amp is slightly larger than a regular size stomp pedal. The brushed brass heat sink cover, cream colored knobs, with the chrome carry handles (lol as if it needs carry handles) gives it a very cool vintage look.

I un-boxed it and quickly read the minimal instructions which are not needed unless you're not familiar with amps at all. On the front panel it has an on/off toggle switch, a 1/4 jack input, bass-middle-trebel knobs, a gain knob, and a volume knob. The back panel has one 1/4...4-16 ohm speaker out, effects 1/4 in and out, 1/8 Aux in, and 1/8 headphone out.

I connected it to a Kustom 1x12" 16 ohm speaker box, plugged the included wall wart in, and the fired the tiny beast up. So far so good. I had the G&L Strat hanging on the wall so I connected it to hear some sound.

I had all the controls set at 12 o'clock and the Strat neck pup turned all the way up. The volume was less than I had expected at this setting but the sound was crystal clear, sustaining, articulate and touch sensitive. It reminded me of my Fender Tremolux but at a reduced volume.

Next I cranked the gain and volume knobs to the max and it responded nicely. It got a lot louder but didn't pick up any more hiss than my tube amps and less than some. I played around with different settings on the gain and volume knobs but left the tone knobs at 12 o'clock. I could get any where from a slight O.D.rock rhythm to a heavier O.D. bluesy/creamy lead sound but couldn't get a totally distorted sound.

Lately I've been having flexibilty problems with fingers and wrists (it's getting better) so I wasn't able to spend more than 10 minutes with my initial test. I haven't tried the effects in/out or placing any effects pedals in front of it yet but my feeling is they will only enhance the Nano amp's sound.

My snapshot, overall assessment is that it's going to be a good amp for the studio and for practice but definitely not for performing (as some claim) even if you mic'ed it up. It doesn't have enough power to cover a stage. For comparison: those of you that have or are familiar with an 5 watt Epiphone Jr. tube amp, the Epi is at least twice as loud. Maybe connecting it to a lower ohm speaker (4ohm) might give it a bit more volume.

As the manufacturer and reviews claim it does, although solid state, have the characteristic sound and response of a vintage tube amp. The youtube video recordings make the amp sound huge but in real life it sounds good but not huge. Maybe when I add some effects and record with it I can get that same huge sound. I'm looking forward to testing it out on a recording. The things I like most are the great vintage tube tone, sustain, minimal hiss, and the small footprint. I envision placing this on the recording desk next to me so I can make adjustments without having to move out of the recording area.

Thus far I'm happy with this purchase but stay tuned for more info. as I get more time with it. It cost me $95 which included tax and shipping. Here's a youtube link if you want to check it out.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V5PYc4Gkv8M

Farrell