MAKO Piranha Combo

This is a 30-watt combo with 3-band eq, drive and master volume, and onboard fuzz/overdrive with its own gain knob. No reverb or effects loop. It came with an 8-inch Mako speaker. This speaker had a nasty buzz (possibly a bit of cone damage). I cut the combo down and made it a head only, and wired in a jack for an external cab.

The fuzz/overdrive is OK, but nothing to shout about. It is of course nothing like an overdriven tube; it is all silicon...but reasonably well-behaved.

Playing through a proper external cab the sound is not bad. It is never really sparkling clean; compared to a good clean amp it sounds muddy. The power amp in this unit is a chip, not a circuit with discrete power transistors.

The overdrive is kind of fun for fooling around with. It is capable of making some good rock-n-roll noise. It doesn't play well with some of the external boosts and fuzz circuits I use, though.

When I got it -- from a thrift store -- the speaker was buzzy and the pots scratchy. But that could just be age and abuse. The pots cleaned up with some contact cleaner, and the speaker...well, it's laying around somewhere. Maybe I can use the magnet for picking up nails or something.

I think Mako Electronics is out of business. If so, that means customer support can't get any worse... ;)

To me this is a pretty commonplace unit, much like a low-end Crate. I play a home-built guitar with Carvin single-coils, helped out by an onboard boost and (optionally) fuzz -- with the boost + fuzz on it tends to freak the Mako out. I also use a late-'60s Lyle copy of a Gibson ES335, which sounds pretty flat through the Mako. The Lyle pickups are not the strongest.

If one finds this little guy at a flea market or garage sale it's a fun piece to use for experimentation. Cut it down and you have a lightweight head, open it up and play with the circuit without worrying too much about your investment...or about messing up a sterling sound.

A small Solid state practice amp. About 12X12X7. On the front there is Treble,Middle,Bass. A power switch & a Tube blaster switch with 1/4 jack input & 1/4 jack for head phones. On the back there is a 1/4 jack for a tube blaster pedal & a 1/4 jack for line out.
Looks like a 8" speaker & 25 watts.

Now here is the fun part. This little thing is a screemer. About as big as a bread box but sounds like a 30 watt Marshall. Our lead player had 1 given to him a long time ago & it's all he uses. With a strat, acoustic & a bass all ran thrugh a Digitech pedal.
the first time I saw it I thought, "oh little shit box" but when he fired that little sucker up "WOW HOLY SHIT" I had a 30 watt Marshall Master Lead & the Mako is about as loud & sounds beter. It has a tube blaster switch which I think is just a gain switch, But snap that sucker on and what a sound. You would sware it was a tube amp. The louder you turn it up the better it sounds. I have a Fender Frontman 25R & the mako is not as clean or bright but is almost as loud & the distortion is beter. I play an Ibanez acoustic/electric, a Hondo Les paul copy & a Kramer strat. The Hondo with the gain turned up is all I need. A very cool Zakk Wilde sound. & no pedal.

After I saw the 1 our lead player had, I had 2 have 1. So I bought 1 on E-Bay for $30+shipping, When I got it, it had a tarible hum. So I opened it up & someone put a used volume (pot) switch in it & used old speaker wire 2 solder the connections together. So I bought a new (pot) from radio shack & put it in. But when I turned it on I got no output sound. 17 years as a Communication technition I thought I did everything right. Even had my Tech friends look at it & still nothing. So anyway I find another 1 on E-Bay & again get it for $30+shipping. This 1 works great. I'll not rate this because our lead player has had his for ever with no problems & my first 1 was operator error & the second 1 I have not had long enough.

Kamon music distributors bloomfield, CT U.S.A I was not able 2 find any info on them. There is a Mako amplifacation but it is not the same maker. But they did reply pretty quick to my e-mail to tell me so.

I've dabbled with the guitar on & off for several years. I Only Jam with friends & play small gatherings. I had allot of low end stuff but thats the fun of it, don't pay allot 4 it & don't get allot 4 it.
If it was stolen? hahahaha, right. I've bought 2 many already. It's time to move on. The next one will be the last one, A Fender tube amp.