Traveler Guitar FlipTone v.25

I just purchased the FlipTone v.25 25-watt portable battery-powered amp, knowing that I would be travelling this summer and, hopefully, will be meeting up with long-time musical friends. The amp IS a bit on the expensive side, but finding no used ones, and knowing that the amp is essentially hand-built here in the USA, I bit the bullet and bought it. The specs are available via many resources on the Web.

I intend to bring my Steinberger-licensed Hohner GT-3 guitar with me this summer, so naturally I plugged that in first. Extremely nice, round, and surprisingly big sound from the flat Fane speaker. I played some jazz licks and chords, and tried all the effects (which are a tad limited, but useful as is), and was surprised how loud the flat speaker was. Satisfied with that, I thought I would push it with a 1970 Gibson ES-335, my main jazz axe. With this guitar in vaious settings, the Fliptone was surprisingly warm and responsive, and I only got the speaker to rattle a bit when I cranked everything up to max and used the neck pick-up on the Gibson. I don't think I will try a Les Paul through it, though, because it is apparent that this little travel amp was made for quieter surroundings, in general - not a rock'n'roll amp, for sure. The lack of any overdrive or gain stage pretty much makes that statement up front.

The FlipTone v.25 is HEAVY at around 8 lbs., and built like a truck with heavy-duty steel as the primary casing material. Haven't had it long, but it LOOKS and feels damn sturdy!

N.A. - yet.

I have been playing for around forty years now, and am always searching for the ultimate in portability in amps and sound equipment, due to burnout from WAY too many gigs hauling P.A.s and big bass and guitar rigs around. I now own several battery-operated amps that can produce a certain amount of volume, not just "practice"-type amps; such as the 50-watt Crate Limo and Bass Bus amps, and the Pyle 400-watt single unit P.A. and 250-watt guitar battery-powered amp (both WAY overrated in terms of wattage, but darn good pieces of equipment for the money). Anyway, I wanted to add the Traveler FlipTone v.25 due to it's size and portability, and so far, I am not disappointed. If I ever get that gig out in the desert or out at sea where there is no power supply, I am READY!

I purchased this due to the nature of my constant travel and the need for a portable amplifier that would also run on batterry power. It just does not have the tone that I desired but purchased it thru a RETAIL store for 175.00. It was on CLEARANCE since they had it in-store for over 10 months and just wanted to move it out. So considering the price I should NOT complain, BUT if I were to have paid any more I would surely returned it.

Starts to break up and not in a good way. :(

Would NEVER GIG with it. Just not that caliber of sound or that type of Equipment.

Never Used Support but give them the benefit of the doubt.

I have been playing over 20 years. On stage I use a Mesa Lonestar miked thru a P.A. As far as practice portable amps I'll get another Pig-Nose II.

The FlipTone is a street musicians dream. It is about the size of a laptop computer with a fold up flat panel speaker taking the place of the computer screen. The foldup speaker is a flat panel device produced by Fane and marketed under the name NXT. It runs off a lead/acid battery that holds plenty of charge. It has two channels each with a hybrid input (1/4" and XLR combined). The XLR inputs have 12 volts of phantom power that is always on. There are auxillary RCA inputs as well. Each channel has a separate gain control. There is a master volume control and bass, mid, treble master tone controls. There is a selection of eight effects: 2 reverb, 2 delay, 2 chorus, and 2 flange. It has an effect level control. Four LEDs indicate the charge level from 25% to 100%. Two other LEDs indicate limit/overload condition and charge status: green for charge complete, red for charge in progress.
The back panel has an extension speaker jack, a line output jack, and an effects footswitch jack. No footswitch is supplied with the amp.There is also a switch to set the effects to channel 1 only or channels 1 and 2.
The amp comes in a wonderful shoulder bag manufactured by High Sierra with plenty of pockets and extra, form fitting padding.
I give it a 9 because of a couple of deficiencies which are explained in the overall rating section below.

I played my Bourgeois Jumbo OM equipped with a Martin Gold under saddle piezo pickup through this amp. As you would expect from an amp targeted for acoustic instruments, the sound is clear, crisp and lovely. Noise is minimal even when max'ed. It sounds like my guitar only louder. I believe this is due to the fact that the speaker produces sound equally well on both sides. This eliminates the "point source" artifact associated with cone drivers. That being said, I should note that the bass is not as full as a cone driver in a sealed cabinet. For this reason I give it a 9.
The tone controls are very active, each of the three acting strongly on the two strings in their range i.e. the treble control strongly enhances or diminishes the high B and E, mid the D and G, bass, low E and A.
The effects are useful. Being able to dial in their level allows you to "season to taste".

I haven't gigged with it. The unit I received rattled when I played A 220 at high volume. This rattle was stopped by pressing on the top panel.

No comments, I haven't contacted the manufacturer.

The FlipTone is best suited for small venues where only moderate sound support is necessary due to its limited headroom. However, because sound emanates equally well from both sides of the flat panel speaker it does an exceptional job of filling the space.
I have two quibbles with the features: first, this unit should have a limiter in it. When it reaches overload the breakup is harsh and nasty. This may be a function of overdriving the flat panel speaker. In any case, a limiter circuit would eliminate this grating artifact.
Second, a small quibble, the effects knobs should have detentes at each of the different settings. It is difficult to tell which effect is selected and how far the knob needs to be turned to get the next effect.
This unit is under-powered for my needs. For that reason, I am returning it.

I submit this review in gratitude for the many reviewers on Harmony Central who have helped me by their sharing.