Pignose 7-100

One feature I haven't seen mentioned in these reviews is the fact that you can open the little case. This has a pretty meaningful influence on the device's tone, especially for recording. True, the pignose has only one volume knob, but since it is so small, you can achieve tons of sound variations by putting it in weird places (cupboards, bathrooms, kitchen cabinets, plastic- or metal buckets and so on) which all influence its sound in interesting ways. Also: You can have somebody else open and close the case while you play, thus creating "natural wah" sounds that are extremely fascinating. Or try this: put your open pignose in front of a large mirror or window pane and then mic that glass surface. You'll capture the reflections of sound rather than the original sound itself, which can be very interesting. On recordings, the pignose often will sound surprisingly big, it's nasal voice cutting through a mix in a big way.

Too many people here are complaining about the pignose's restraints. Obviously, this is a one trick pony, but it's a very stable and beloved member of my arsenal. The sound is always lo-fi, but in a very efficient way. It sounds kind of boxy, but guess what? That tone sits well in a mix! "Great sounding" amps that cover the entire frequency spectrum often don't survive well when mixed with other instruments, because there are too many conflicts and overcrowding of certain frequencies. The pignose is very forgiving with distortion pedals (especially cheap ones!) and starts humming, rattling and singing in ways that I find very satisfying. Try to plug in a microphone: Instant Lo-fi "old radio" vocals! You need to let this little weirdo do its thing. Don't demand the impossible. But still: Even as practice amps go, its limited sound is always pleasant, with a nice crisp attack and lots of character that make it seem like a tube amp at times. Many people here have complained about the shoddy speaker, but that is part of the charme as well! It never sounds harsh or tinny, which is more than I can say about lots of other "practice" amps.

Never had any problems, batteries last forever.

If you need customer support for a product like this, maybe you shouldn't trust yourself around electronic devices. There's too much complaining going on on this site! I never call the company that makes my razors or my soap or my pencils. I just use that stuff.

I'm giving it the highest possible grade here to balance out some of the whining that others have posted. This is an extremely affordable unit with tons of personality, and I will use it forever. It will never go out of style and it's not one of those stupid overproduced products that do a thousand things and none of them well. It's a headturner on stage, it's a travel compagnion, it always puts me in a good mood. I even like the fact that it's ugly!

One volume control, one channel, 5 watts, one input jack, one 5" speaker, and one preamp out line. It also has the ability to act as either a closed cab or an open back cab by opening its latch to open up the back. Runs on AC (with optional adaptor) or 6 AA batteries (The batteries last an extremely long time for me even with a lot of use). I'm rating it a three due to this, but keep in mind this vote is for the quantity of features, not the quality. It is very good for what it is.

Keep in mind that this is a small, portable practice amp. It basically has one tone, which is an overdrive/distorted tone. In my opinion it sounds better with single coil pups versus humbuckers; the former have a little more clarity. Very nice distortion for a solid state, and records even better. Its tone cleans up when your roll back your guitar's volume pots. It does take to effects pedal and modelling effects very well. With a Korg Pandora P4XD in front, I can even get clean tones out of it.

I have it for 3 or 4 years now and travelled with it extensively. It's gone on camping trips too. I've never had a problem with it.

Never had to use it.

I've been playing guitar for about ten years and have a fairly large amount of gear. I have too many guitars, amps, and pedals to list. My style is experiemental, but based upon the Blues and Classic Rock. If it were lost or stolen, I probably would replace it. I love its portability. It's not very flexible or feature laden. If it had a speaker out line so that it could use extension cabs, it would be awesome; I'd give it a 10 then. As is, it's prett good for what it is intended for.

This amp is basic and simple, just a volume knob shaped like a pigs snout.

I primarily use this with single coil guitars, Strats, Gibson Special with P 90's. Sometimes I use my Jackson through it as well. The sound quality is actually very good if you know how to use your guitar tone and volume knobs properly. It is a low volume amp though, and if you ask out of it more than the speaker is able to deliver then it may not sound quite so nice. It takes pedals really well to for those times when you want to really get some screaming dirty tones at lower volume levels. The cleans are pretty good too, and volume wise can keep up with an accoustic guitar easily. Very versatile if you know what your doing, and how to play. Good enough for Frank Zappa, as well as many other pro musicians for recording and performing - good enough for me.

These seem to go on forever and are very rugged and dependable.

They have a web site, and are very informative and helpfull, especially if you treat the person on the other end of the phone with some respect.

I have been playing for a few years now as I am in my 40's. I know how to get a great tone out of my equipment. I love the rugged simplicity and portability of this little piggy, and for it's size it really packs a punch. I have two of these, one older, and a newer one for backup if ever needed. They both sound pretty much exactly the same so I imagine they are built the same way they always have. If they wer stolen I would definately buy another immediately. I wouldn't change a thing on it, the design is perfect for what it is.

2007 Pignose model 7-100 amplifier;used for general noodling/practicing where excessive volume might pose a problem with the neighbors;3 watts output through a 5" speaker + one on/off-volume control.

MIA Stratocaster (single-coil) with 7.0K bridge & 5.7K middle/neck p/u; set-up used for rock/blues/some jazz; on fresh batteries or ac the 7-100 can get pretty dirty to badly distorted if cranked depending on remaining battery life; 4 o'clock on 7-100 volume knob & up to about 7 on Stratocaster volume control yields a relatively warm yet clean sound; at 6 o'clock & 7 or 8 , the distortion + some feedback starts to kick-in; at 8 o'clock + 10 the unit achieves full distortion & feedback, most of which is useless except for special effect. Surprisingly enough, after about 4 hours or so of continuous battery use, the amplifier tones takes on a very warm saturated sound; maximum volume has diminished but assortment of tones become more useful. Interesting little beast. Incidentally, if/when buying the ac adapter get the 'regulated' one as the PA-7 unregulated model hums horribly rendering itself relatively useless.

I've heard that the older Made In USA 7-100s from the 70s are better sounding & constructed; this one is too new to rate on reliability; sure it could be used to gig with but since one would have to 'line-out' to a PA or larger amplifier why bother unless the venue is relatively small.

Pignose-Gorilla Customer Support is courteous & helpful when/if needed.

Playing off & on since the mid 1960s, until recently, mostly acoustic;the 7-100 is a 'classic'in its own right; sound, size, & appearance are unique; in terms of these parameters, the 7-100 has carved out a successful niche of its very own; would replace it if lost or stolen; suggestion(?)being able to de-activate the speaker with a switch if opting for headphone use...this would make one hell of a Rockman!

I got it brand new at xmas 2007,guessing its made near that time.
Not versatile whatsover,good for blues,clean quiet tones.
1 channel.A no brainer,nothing fancy here,just plug it in the one input and turn on the on/volume knob(only control there is)
As I said above ,only thing it has is a volume control.
Outside on a summer day or indoors when I don't want to disturb the others

Basicall makes a clean sound,slightly muddy,but real thin line between the muddy and the bottom of the barrel useless tone
It distrots badly with high volumes,unusable distorted tones
I play it with humbucker guitars as well as single coils
Doesn't hit alot of tones I look for
Not really noisey,unless you call the high volume distorted sounds noise

Didn't own it long enough to speak of its dependability,but would assume,there is little to go wrong if taken care of properly

poor.I emailed customer support asking questions of the cuts in the brown leather/vinyl covering on both the top and the bottom of the amp.Got sarcastic remark in reply.

I've been playing since about 1979
If someone gives me one I'd take it,wouldn't spend my own money on one.I also own a roland micro cube,which,for a little higher price does so much more,and also can run from battery or ac.
It looks cool.It doesn't sound the greatest and is very limited in sound ranges
micro cube.If you need to decide between the micro cube or the pignose,definately go with the micro cube(good amp)
wish it had better tone,less distorted sounds,better price,maybe half as much as it costs would be more reasonable for what it is and does

Had this amp for around 9 months so I now have some real experiance of the thing. It is a strange beast.
A low rating for features as it has very few. One volume nob. Two lugs for attaching a strap to and then slinging it over you shoulders -not very useful as it is quite heavy for this trick. You can open the case to change the tone of the thing -never found this very useful either, I prefer it closed. Pre-amp out socket on the rear -now much use as I dont really want to replicate the tone of this thing through another amp or PA. Maybe the complete lack of features is in itself a nice thing to have, hence I rate it 4 and not 2. It has one feature which is very useful and that is BATTERY BACKUP. It runs on 6 x AA batteries. The rating now goes up to 6. I use this amp at home or when playing in an acoustic type ensemble. Its much better than the little 1 watt amps from Marshall or Danelectro etc which are only just little fuzz boxes. The pignose can put out a respectable tone at low volumes. I have read other reviews saying this can put out a smooth bluesy type sound, I would say more that this amp is cool and funky in a blues setting and so looks and acts the part. The distortion is not great for blues. Played clean this amp is good for blues.

very middley sound as you would expect from a small amp. You use the guitar controls to get different sounds out of the amp. Amp high and guitar low gives a warm bluesy sound. Guitar up high gives raspy distortion as you would expect.
The sound quality is not great overall but I dont know of any other small amps that have better quality. What is lacking in all small amps is any attempt to bring out the character of the guitar. The Pignose does try but still cannot compare to a small valve amp. But thats not why you buy this thing (beastie).
This amp cannot be compared to other amps because it is in a class of its own. It runs on batteries and puts out a decent volume (3 watts). This makes it great for house partys.

My amp was used so you may not have these problems. The speaker rattled badly even at low volumes. It was not fixed down very well using the 4 bolts. Its hard to tell if they are tighened properly so get a proper nit spinner and tighen then up properly.
I also glued the Pignose sign onto the speaker front. It is only held on with 2 pop rivets and this allows it to rattle also -so glue it doen to stop it rattling.
The battery connections were not good and it kept cutting out. The guy I bought it from checked through the connections and got it going again. Its been fine for a year now.
You can buy power adpters most places but dont just go for the cheapest you can find. My first one appeared to be perfect for the job and fitted nicely inside the pignose for traveling, but I got a buzzing when it was switched on -speaker buzzing, electric buzzing, distortion buzzing -I'd had my share of buzzing in the early days. I had to get a meatier power unit to get over this problem and now it wont fit inside the box for traveling. The unit I got, for the UK, is 11watts, 400mA, 3.6VA.
So after getting good marks for sound I have to mark it down here.

Didn't need them. I fixed it up myself.

I do like this amp as I can find no other that can do the job. The little Roland Micro Cube might be worth considering. I've heard a few good things about it. Of course it doesn't have the mojo of the pignose.

Very simple: One volume. You need to use tone and volume from your guitar. Can be used with batteries or 9V DC adapter not sold with the amp.If you want use it with a AC adapter, be careful to get a clean one i.e a regulated one. If not you will get hum and noise. I did not take care of this and I had to make a regulator with a LM 7809 and capacitors in another box connect between adapter and amp that solve the problem whith my poor adapter. Obviously, there is no power regulation in the amp.

Sound depend of the power of the guitar signal and the amp volume.
Very bluesy sound. From quite clean, a bit muddy at low level to quite distorted if you increase the power. Good for blues. The influence of the guitar mic is strong. You need to adjust the output level of your guitar to obtain the sound you want.

Don't know.

Don't know.

For the price it is marvelous if you like blues sounds.
Solve the problem of having a decent sound at low level for practicing at home without get problems with neighbourhood.
Obviously you can't compare it to big valve amps that cost 10 times or more the price. But with this great costly amps you may never succeed to home practice at low level with a good sound.

Same as others. One volume snout one input. 8 inch speaker. Runs on 6 double As or has option (doesn't come with amp) of power plug. Line out for use as preamp. Opens via latch on side. Design is purposefully basic, so it gets a 6 (largely because of the utility of using it as a preamp run into a larger amp, and its portability).

Nothing special about the sound in my opinion. Muddy by design. I've played a Gibson SG and ASAT Classic through it and was not wowed by the sound. I didn't hear the John Lee Hooker scratch I expected. Perhaps a true tele single coil would provide that. Serviceable for practice, but not particularly pleasing.

NOW, run through a distortion pedal, on the Boss pedal setting, this thing sounds awesome. I can get a perfect Physical Graffiti guitar tone (Custard Pie, The Rover, etc.). I absolutely love it. I ran it as a preamp through a very clean 200 Watt Traynor solid state head and it retained the tone. I am very pleased I purchased it for this reason. Further experimentation with different effects might yield similarly pleasing alternative tones.

Because of it's rather limited tone without effects, it gets a 7.

Sturdy unit. I dropped it once on a cement floor and it didn't miss a beat, no problem.

I have not had to seek customer support. I was a little disappointed that I did not get the power adapter (I can't find the correct word -- the thing that lets you plug it in.) It doesn't come with the amp, at least from where I ordered it online, and I wish I would have noticed that. I'll order one but it would have been easier to do it all in one transaction. Probably my fault but something to keep an eye out for if ordering online.

I've been playing for about 30 years. I own seven guitars. If it were lost or stolen I'd buy a new one immediately, b/c of the augmented tone I mentioned, the affordability and portability.

Very simple amp... turne it on and it sound! u can open or close the amp to change the tone... u can also make a wha wha effect if u ask to someone to close/open it when u play :D

its not a versatil amp but its not the goal... pignose have it own sound, u like it or not. The power and the sound quality is very impressive for the size of that amp!! I use Battery and there is absolutly no hum. The more you increase the volume the more distortion u get. A good vintage sound

It looks strong...

Its a very impressive amp... many guitarists used it in studio (jimmy page, frank zappa, etc...) It worth the price! U cannot find an other amp with that kind of sound at this price

2005 limited edition tweed Pignose 7-100.

Same classic design & features of the original legendary Pignose amplifier, but covered in tweed for that vintage look! While features are few, they're exactly what is needed from a practice amp. Its simplicity lends itself to the unit's user-friendly appeal, and the presence of the rear preamp out jack really makes the little guy versatile for direct recording and using it in conjunction with a larger cabinet or power amp. Furthermore, I love the fact that the amp is designed to automatically shut off when the guitar's cord is removed from the input jack. This allows you to shut down while maintaining your volume settings for next time.

I'm using it with several Fender Stratocasters and it's a perfect match. Single coil pickups are really the ideal complement to the Pignose 7-100 because they're able to retain their articulate and expressive note definition whereas humbuckers and higher output pickups can occasionally become muddy-sounding through an amp this size. The unit's cabinet acts as all the equilization you'd need. At lower volume settings with the cabinet closed, a lovely cleanish tone is achieved with pronounced midrange. By cranking the volume snout up, an overdriven balls-to-the-wall tone is attained. With the cabinet open, an airy tone with more pronounced treble can be realized. Using 6AA batteries, this amp is absolutely quiet and seems to exhibit no hum or noise floor whatsoever.

It's been extremely reliable thus far and assuming I were to gig with it, I'd feel confident using it without a backup. Its solid state circuitry makes it possible to not have to worry about blown tubes, overheating, biasing, or the like.

This is one area where Pignose really shines. Their representatives are warm, courteous, and truly strive to accomodate their customers. Their toll-free telephone number affords us the opportunity to speak with somebody one-one-one such that our inquiries might be addressed in a timely fashion. A pleasure to deal with!

I've been playing guitar for nearly two decades now and despite owning a variety of larger and more powerful amps, I have to say that the Pignose 7-100 is still one of the best gear acquisitions that I've made to date. It's an ideal practice amplifier for low volume rehearsals but its tonal versatility allows it to really rip when cranked wide open. If lost or stolen, I wouldn't hesitate to replace it with another. Kudos to Pignose for offering an affordable classic for the last 30+ years!