Danelectro HoneyTone Mini Amp

To reiterate, this is NOT the little amp that comes with the Danelectro 50's style gig bag, it's the little table topper that comes in Bergundy, Aqua, and Yellow colors. I have the Aqua and Yellow ones. For whut it is, it's cool.

Well, yeah, I mean a Mesa-Boogie it AIN'T, right? But it gets me some ok sounds for screwing around. For those of you who can't get the clean sound, here's how: with the back of the amp facing you, (the input jack on the left), set the controls like this: O.D.-9:00, Tone-12:00, Volume-12:00. I find this gets a good clean sound with most of my guitars. Doesn't put out much volume, but if you need more volume, simply go to your local place of employment, earn 5 times the cost of this amp, and buy a louder amp, see? Oh- and if the sound dies, replace the battery! If it's still dead, exchange it, duh! I think it beats all other 9-volt amps.

I've had two for 4 months now. Niether has failed me.

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These amp's. are cool. If you want a tiny battery-powered amp to noodle around with, get one of these!

1 watt, retro styling, volume, tone, and drive contols, single 1/4" input with headphone jack, runs on a 9V battery.

I tried the amp out with a U.S. made Fender Stratocaster. An audible clean sound was impossible to attain as tweaking the volume past the 1 or 2 position produced a pronounced, cold distortion. Distortion was harsh and something in the amp was buzzing and rattling at higher volumes.

During that first test drive, the amp began to break up and cut out repeatedly. I stuck it back in the box and took it back to Guitar Center the following day. I had the extra satisfaction on ripping the Goth loser sales guy a new one when he ignored me rather than refund my $.

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A piece of crap. I have been very satisfied with Dano's effect pedals over the years, but the Honeytone was a disaster.

This is a plastic cased mini amp, which runs on a single 9 volt battery or an AC adaptor (not included). It has a single 2 1/2 inch speaker inside, as well as a headphone jack for private practice. On top, there is a single input for guitar and three knobs, labeled on/off/vol., tone, and drive. You can use the vol. and drive knobs to adjust the distortion and overall volume. There is only one channel. There's also a red LED to indicate power on, which also tells you when the battery is getting low (it dims out when you hit a chord). The whole package is wrapped up in a cool retro styled case, and looks something like a '50's table radio. There's even a real leather strap handle (which is too small to use), and a belt clip (which you can use). Mine is painted (yes, painted, not just molded in color) in a really cool seafoam green, just like a '57 Nash Rambler. too much! Rating reflects this "coolness" vibe as well as actual features, and is only in comparison with other mini amps.

I usually play either a Les Paul or a Telecaster, although I have several guitars. There's not very much clean headroom in this amp. By the time you have it loud enough to hear it, there's already some distortion present. Cranked way up, there's plenty of gain and distortion on tap. It's also pretty loud for 1 watt. Given the lack of clean headroom and the miniscule speaker, it really sounds pretty good. You can clip it to you belt and dance around the yard playing ZZ Top riffs while the neighbors wonder if you've gone crazy. You can get cool controlled feedback with it too. Battery life is short and will depend on how loud you play. When the battery goes, the amp starts cutting in and out without warning, so I recommend getting an AC adaptor if you plan on using it a lot.

Just the other day, I discovered an even better use for the amp. It works really well for slide. I plugged my acoustic/electric into it and cracked the vol. knob until it just began to break up, just enough to balance with the unamplified guitar level. Whoa mama! Instant delta blues territory. The amp adds just the right amount of punch, sustain and "grit" for wicked slide work. Perfect for channeling Robert Johnson or Elmore James. Blended with an acoustic guitar, it adds a bluesy, low-tech feel to slide guitar. Because of this, I'll have to rate it a little higher than I would otherwise.

I got the amp as a gift for Christmas. I don't really have enough hours on it to judge reliability. Several of the reviewers below have had their amps die on them, so I guess there are some concerns.
Mine is working so far, so I can't make a judgement here.

I haven't dealt with the company, personally, but they seem pretty cool. They sent a cute little "owners manual" with the amp, which showed several sample settings, which sound pretty similar. I think there was a warranty card, too, but I can't remember. If mine dies, I'll probably just get another, or maybe not. Heck, it's only $30.

I've been playing for 34 years and should be a lot better than I probably am. I am embarrassed to admit how much I probably have spent on gear over the years. I got this amp as a Christmas gift. As such, it's sort of cool, in a low-tech, 78 rpm kind of way. I guess that this amp would be useful if I traveled around a lot, wanted to practice, and didn't want to lug an amp everywhere. Maybe it's best use for me is as a "tone boost" for playing acoustic slide. If you have an acoustic with a pickup, give it a try. Even when I'm not using it, it looks kind of cool just sitting on the tv, sort of like some art deco knickknack. I guess that might make it worth 30 bucks.

Whelp, I've been scoping this little sucker out for a week or two and finally sold the horse to buy it. Read all the features in the previous reviews. For a battery amp, I'll give it a 9, and that's in comparison to others in its class.

I play this little amp through my Mexican Tele (Tequilacastor). I have, or have had, the Epiphone Mini-Tweed, the Fender Mini-Twin, and the Marshall Micro-Amp. They all have their good and bad points, but I think the Fender one's the worst, because it gives radio stations and squeels at high-gain settings. The Marshall's good if you want balls-out battery-powered distortion. The Epiphone is one of the top two best (in tweed or black), because it gives good clean and dirty sounds. The Danelectro then, compared to the Epiphone (EP-1 model), is a bit mellower (not as bright or brittle), and a tad louder. I like both, but the Dano has a bit smoother sound. By this I mean on low or high gain. The Dano is not much larger than half the size of the Epi also, so it fits in my case. The Dano, however, is super-freakin' at high gain settings, compared to the Epi; you get alot of that ssshhhiiihhhkkk sound , where the Epi is probally the quietest of the whole lot. I think I prefer the Dano though, 'cause I don't use alot of high gain, prefering to get some Jazz bits and cleaner stuff from it. I think it does this well. But, if you think that a 9- volt battery is ever gonna give you any real volume, you can just plan on going the next step right now, for a Fender Frontman 15. But, that's also around $100. For what I use it for, I'm glad I bought it! I bought the cream-colored one, perhaps I'll also get the retro-green!

Pretty reliable I think, but what- are you gonna play out with the damned thing? Marshall Micro's break the input jack way too easily when they fall off the table, and they can't be easilt fixed. These seem MUCH more hardy. And, like the other reviewers say, "if you break it, just buy anither".

I'm in a Pop-Rock type band, doing mostly covers in clubs on the weekends. My bass player and I get together once a week to work on writing new originals. So, for this particular occasion I bring my cheap Mexican Tele with a tweed gig-bag to his house, but I don't want to be lugging a combo amp also. Since we do not write songs using much volume, I looked into this little amp because it was small enough to fit in my gig-bag's main pouch, and I figured it would be loud enough for chewing on some chord structures. This little amp is worth every penny I paid. Infact, I'm going to buy all three colors! I have Strats and Les Pauls, and play seriously, but for a bitchin' little practice amp, the Dano can't be beat!

Great mini amp. I bought it a Guitar Center a couple months ago. It's got a volume control, tone (doesn't make a difference in your sound), and an overdrive control. It's pretty loud and you can use its headphone jack for when you don't want people to hear you screwing up when you practice. I use it at school in lunch and when my friends come to my period, I can unplug it to play for them. The knobs on have dots that don't even seem to stand for level they are at. One great feature I found was the red light when you turn it on. This is great for seeing if you turned it off when you are done playing and take your guitar jack out. Also, when the amp is crapping out, you can tell because of the light.

The overdrive really doesn't do death metal distortion, but it gives a great rock sound. The clean channel only works if you pick softly at medium volumes. Even fingerpicking with the amp cranked all the way up to the max produces a distortion-tinged sound. Still don't know if tone even makes a difference in the sound. In the manual it gives you settings for the amp, but most of them really aren't different from one another.

Works great except when the battery is really low. When you plug in with the headphone, it still works. But when you play it w/o the jack, it has a constant popping sound. The volume will go from low to high, then a pop. The volume will shut off and it will repeat the volume rise. Just change your battery. This also happened when the battery was slightly out of place when some idiot knocked it over. I was amazed that it still worked. The plastic case really protects it well.

Pretty good amp. Wish it had a clean setting that worked. It looks vintage. If you break it somehow (it is incredibly sturdy), just buy a new one. They are worth it.

I paid nine dollars for this brandspankin new at the guitar center in denver and it`s worth it.The stange thing was is they had a bunch of green ones on a table marked sale , then they had a bunch more for $29 ,go figure. I just bought a new Dano U3 at this same guitarcenter for $119 and they had two more for the same price with out a flaw on them. Guitar center isnt the greatest music store but when they want to get rid of somthing they sure sell it cheap.For nine dollars this is quite possibly the best mini amp in the world.Don`t ever hardly use it but it makes me smile just looking at it.That woth nine bucks

bunch of stuff: tone, volume, gain, headphone port, a useless leather handle, and belt clip. what really sucks is that there is no official clean channel. its clean until you turn the volume knob up halfway and it crackles and its all "vintage" distortion from there.

going straight through the speaker it sucks. it sounds all muffled and overall really bad. what more can you expect from a plastic amp that size? anyway, listening to it through headphones sounds good. i also hooked up these ghetto-rigged computer speakers i housed in a cardboard box through the headphone port and it sounds pretty decent. also the presets in the instruction manual all sound the same- just the same crappy distortion, it just depends on how muffled you want it to sound.

no problems yet, everytime i think i did something to screw it up it still plays as good as ever (which never was very good). i dont think it will last too long, but its holdin up.

never had to deal with them

overall, for 30$, its a pretty good buy. its really really cheap, but its also portable. i should have spent a little more to get a practice amp. for now its holding me off pretty well until i get a marshall.

This amp was a 1998. It has controls for volume, tone, and distortion. Very Simple. I Mainley bought it because none of my amps with distortion fit in my backpack at school.

This amp sounds the same wih any guitar. It sounds great with headphones but loud and crazy without. This amp sounds like a lawnmower when you run a bass through it. Which i Think is cool.

It was 2 years before this thing blew up. I used it at school religiously as a hallway musician. the thing that killed it was the lack of a channel button control, I blew all the knobs and circuts up from overuse, which was well over what I payed for it in use.

Who needs customer support on this cheap, simple little thing.

It' kicks ass. i remember playing Cheech and Chongs "Earache in my Eye" on this thing with my Jag-stang and had all my friends and lady friends lauging along with me while I did it. It's dead no so I'll have to get another one.

This is a mini-amp, suitable only for practicing. It can be powered with a 9-volt or an AC adapter. I got it because I practice at school and I didn't want to lug a real amp up and down three flights of stairs to the practice room every day. It is surprisingly loud for its size, has one channel with variable overdrive, a headphone jack, and a beltclip (for all those times when you need to walk around while practicing). It would be better if it had dedicated clean and lead channels. I practice rock, blues, and jazz, and it sounds about the same for all of them, regardless of setting (it comes with a booklet that shows a dozen possible settings--but in reality you get two choices: loud and distorted or soft and slightly overdriven.

It has volume, tone, and overdrive knobs which control its single channel. It can be surprisingly loud and crunchy for its size, and has a decent overdrive tone. The plastic casing tends to rattle at high volumes, and it's almost impossible to get a truly "clean" sound out of it. The speaker, though loud, is crappy, and you can get way better sound if you use it with headphones. Practically any other instrument will drown it out, so don't plan on jamming with this puppy. It's a practice amp only.

So far, no problems other than the rattling.

Never dealt with them.

I've played for years and I think this amp is a pretty good bargain if all you want is a super-portable practice amp. I toss it in my bag and use it with my Strat whenever I practice. What it lacks in tone and power it makes up for in portability, price, and convenience. Most low-end practice amps are $100 and sound bad, whereas this little guy is 1/3 the cost and sounds about the same, and its easy to carry around. I haven't tried the other mini-amps (Marshall and Fender make minis), but this one is probably as good as those, and it's cheaper.

This amp came from the year 1998 and i found it very very useful in all the styles of music i play. I play funk jazz and rock or anything in between. It works wonderful to practice late at night with or without headphones when you're worried that somebodies gonna scream at you for playing so late. I like how much the tone changes from one end of the tone nob to the other. i usually set it dead center. the drive on it is quite beutiful up to about halfway then it gets kinda gross. Mostly i use it as a preamp going into my larger also solid state amp. I hate solid state but can't afford a new amp so if i use the honeytone as a pre-amp and set the overdrive just barely on and when you play loudley you get that very sweet tube-like overdrive.
I have also used it on a Fender Rhodes keyboard and it sound pretty good for practicing and stuff too.

I play with a really old Dano Silvertone i think its about a '62 with two single coil dimarzio pickups.(the same pickups as on the new Rickenbackers). It gives me the really trebely sound i want for funk and the really warm sound i need for Jazz. The distortion is good at low levels but i'm not a huge fan of huge distortion of any kind so don't care to much about my oppinion.
of course alone it still sounds small but better than any amp in its catagory that i've ever heard.

It is very dependable. since it is so light quite often i walk away with my guitar and i come to the end of my chord and it comes crashing down off the top of my other amps. On time it broke and i emailed Danelectro and they said send it back and we'll send you a new one. Fortunately i took it apart and was able to fix it myself. its farlely simple inside and a real no brainer to fix most of the time.

Like i said above they said send it back and we'll give you a new one. They said the same thing when i thought my Daddy-O overdrive pedal died.(the power supply quit)

very good for its price and size and very fun to play woth late at night. I've got alot better at guitar because of its ability to use headphones late at night.
Rock On Toronto