Valeton Rushead Max Bass USB Chargable Portable Pocket Bass Headphone Amp Carry-On Bedroom Plug-In Multi-Effects

I was looking for an extremely portable amp that would be easy to carry in my backpack or luggage. I found the Vox amPlugs and thought those would be perfect since they are extremely small and I could plug them into any portable speaker I wanted, and even use my headphones for silent practice sessions at night. I had settled on getting the AC30 amPlug since it had some nice clean sounds and Vox's AC30 amp is a classic amp that many classic rock players use, but I primarily play harder rock and metal which use dirtier tones, so I was trying to decide which of Vox's dirtier amPlug models I wanted in addition to the AC30. However, I had this device, the Valeton Rushead Max, recommended to me, and after listening to a few videos and seeing a great Black Friday deal on it, I decided to go with this. I am very glad I did. The Pros: This is both very well built and extremely versatile. While I still don't have an AC30 amPlug (the clean sound on this is enough for me for now, though I will likely eventually get one and update this review when I do), I have read that they are somewhat flimsy. This pocket amp has no such issues and is very sturdily built. The sounds on this are also extremely versatile. Like most pocket amps and mini-amps, this has the basic volume, tone, and gain controls. However, the types of amps offered and the effects are where this pocket amp shines. Vox's amPlugs have only one amp per amPlug, but they give you three different channels (a green, orange, and red, and the sound gets increasingly dirtier the redder the color gets), but from what I have heard on YouTube, the channels on the amPlugs don't sound very different. On this Valeton pocket amp, they give you three different amps entirely. "CL" gives you a nice clean tone, "OD" gives you a hard rock-style overdrive, and "DIST" gives you heavy metal-style distortion, so you can switch between three of the most popular guitar styles all at, to quote AC/DC, a "Flick of the Switch". I mostly use the OD and DIST channels, and they both sound awesome. I also love being able to drastically switch sounds so easily, switching between the rock and metal tones I typically use all much quicker than dialing in the tones on my 20W Randall practice amp. Additionally, even mini-amps like the Nux or the Boss Katana only give you three similar options, so Valeton's pocket amp is on par with most mini-amps while being much smaller and letting you choose which speaker you want to use with it (when at home, I will typically grab the MOKCAO Power+, a speaker dock for the 2nd generation Echo Dots, which sounds surprisingly good for guitar and even rivals my larger 20W Randall practice amp, while on-the-go I will typically grab a little 808 NRG speaker, which doesn't sound as good but is significantly more portable). Lastly, this little device has a ton of available effects. Vox's amPlugs give you three different versions of Chorus, Delay, and Reverb, but you can only have one active at a time. Valeton's pocket amp lets you have Delay, Reverb, or Delay/Reverb active, and then you can add to that Chorus, Tremolo, or Flanger. It doesn't give you different versions, but you can change how each of them sound by adjusting a knob on the top of the device, ranging from not having any of the effect to having more of the effect. The Cons (or Suggested Improvements): While there aren't any major negatives about this device, I do have a few suggested improvements. The biggest is that I would add bluetooth. I know this device already has a ton of stuff packed into a small package, but bluetooth typically doesn't take up much space. Also, many speakers in today's world only use bluetooth, so adding bluetooth would make this pocket amp work with more speakers as well as eliminating messy cords. If possible, I would also make this pocket amp slightly smaller – when attached to the lower bout on my Les Paul, the top comes very close to contacting the ground when I have the Les Paul sitting on the floor, and I sometimes worry that the amp might get broken. Additionally, making it slightly smaller would increase portability. Lastly, I do somewhat agree with another reviewer on here who mentioned that it is a bit difficult to use for guitars where the input jack is on the lower bout, since you can't see the buttons. While I have mostly gotten used to controlling the knobs and buttons by feel, I think what would be nice is making the jack on the amp rotatable. Unlike on Vox's amPlugs, though, which rotate the jack side-to-side, I think it would make more sense to let it rotate front and back, that way those who have input jacks on the front of the guitar can leave it facing downward while those who have it on the side can have the jack on the amp rotated so it is pointing out of the main face of the pocket amp, making it easier to see. Overall, the cons aren't hugely significant, and the pros make this one of the best pocket amps you can buy, especially if you are interested in versatility. If you know you want an excellent recreation of exactly one of Vox's amps, then one of the amPlugs might be better for you, but if you want something that will give you a plethora of different sounds on-the-go, then this is the pocket amp for you. The tones, particularly the overdrive and distortion tones, also sound excellent, so you are getting amazing tones (especially if you have a good speaker) in addition to superb versatility. I am blown away how Valeton, a company I never heard of until I found this device, managed to make a significantly better pocket amp than Vox, one of the world's leading manufacturers of guitar amps. The Rushead Max even lets you just charge the device by plugging a micro-USB phone cord into it, which is much more convenient than using batteries with Vox's amPlugs (even if you use rechargeable batteries, you still have to take them out and charge them, while the Rushead Max you can just plug in - it claims it only lasts 5 hours, but I think it lasts a bit more than that, since I have gone 2-4 days with hour-ish long practice sessions and I have only had it go down to 1/4 the battery dots left without charging). I still plan to eventually get Vox's AC30 amPlug, since the AC30 is such a classic amp, and when I do I will update this review to provide a more thorough comparison between the amPlug and this. Until I do, though, I think Valeton has put Vox to shame in the pocket amp department, and I highly and enthusiastically recommend the Valeton Rushead Max! Updated March 14, 2020: As I said in the review, the little 808 speaker I was plugging this Valeton Rushead Max into sounded quite tinny while the MOKCAO Echo Dot base sounded really good. I was researching speakers the last few months to try to find if there was a smaller speaker than the MOKCAO that sounded significantly better than the 808 speaker, and I settled on getting the Vanzom Climber-Z speaker. It is about halfway between the 808 and the MOKCAO speaker in size, and it sounds much more like the MOKCAO speaker, possibly even sounding slightly better than the MOKCAO. Those are the only three speakers I have tried with this and out of those three I would recommend the Vanzom Climber-Z speaker - it is $60 new but there are frequently 20-25% off coupons on it, which brings the cost to less than $50 new. I did listen to a few speakers at Best Buy recently, and though I couldn't compare the sound directly since I couldn't bring the Vanzom speaker inside, I thought the Vanzom was clearly better than all of the UE speakers and all of the Sony speakers except for the XB41 (which was much more expensive and larger), and I thought the Charge 4 was only slightly bassier than the Vanzom (though also larger and more expensive) and the Bose Soundlink Revolve was only slightly clearer than the Vanzom (though also considerably more expensive). So, assuming that how music sounds through speakers is a good indication of how a speaker will work with this pocket amp, there are speakers that may sound better than the Vanzom, but for its size and price, I think the Vanzom is the best deal. I would definitely recommend the Vanzom Climber-Z if you want to play this through a portable speaker, or at least a speaker with 2 or more active drivers and 1 or more passive radiators should create a fuller sound which will make playing this through the speaker sound better. Update January 1, 2021: A few months ago I finally got a Vox AC30 AmPlug, and I also replaced my main amp with a Marshall Code 50. First comparing the AC30 AmPlug to the Rushead Max, I found my previous thoughts based on YouTube videos to be pretty accurate. The Rushead Max in general sounds better, is more versatile, is more convenient with a rechargeable battery, and is sturdier. The two plusses I found to the AC30 AmPlug is that the foldable plug does make it slightly more portable when transporting it, and I prefer the slightly crunchy clean tones of the AC30 AmPlug versus the crystal clean, and to me almost bland, clean tone of the Rushead Max. After learning more about amp models, I would guess the Rushead Max's clean channel is based on a Fender amp, the overdrive channel on the Marshall JCM800, and the distortion channel on the Mesa/Boogie. Therefore, I did compare the Rushead Max's distortion channel to the JCM800 model on my Marshall Code 50, and I was surprised with how close it came. The Code 50 clearly had more details and intricacies in the JCM800 sound, but it also has a much larger computer and a 12" speaker. Considering how small the Rushead Max and Vanzom speaker are, the Rushead Max did a good job getting the general tone of the JCM800 down. Secondly, in addition to the new amps, I have more recently tried two smaller speakers with the Rushead Max, in an attempt to make it more portable. The first one I tried was a cheap, off-brand aux speaker, which is essentially just a very small speaker with a male aux jack attached, designed for use with phones to make them louder. It made the Rushead Max a bit heavy, but I found putting a rubber band around the amp/speaker connection and strapping it around a tone or volume knob kept it in place. It sounded better than I would have expected from such a small speaker, but it was still very tinny and muddy and had no bass. Also, playing the overdrive or distortion channel with high volume made it shake, and I'm sure the speaker could easily be broken if played on high volumes on the distortion channel for long periods of time. The second speaker I got even more recently was a JBL Clip 3. I found that the best way to make it portable is to hang the Clip 3 off of one of the top tuners and run a 3-4 foot audio cable from the Rushead Max to the Clip 3. The Clip 3 still lacked the bass of the Vanzom speaker, sounded a bit tinny, and did the weird buzzing thing, but it was a considerable improvement over the phone extension speaker. In comparison to that one, the Clip 3 was significantly clearer, does not shake at higher volumes on the distortion channel like it is going to fall apart, and also has a bit more bass to it. So while if you want the best sound with the Rushead Max I would still recommend a tabletop portable speaker, if you are looking for a super portable way to use the Rushead Max which would allow you to walk freely around the room, I would recommend the JBL Clip 3 hung over a top tuning peg. I did also try connecting an Aluratek Bluetooth 5.0 transmitter/receiver to the Rushead Max so it could wirelessly connect to my Vanzom speaker (which also uses Bluetooth 5.0), but I found the lag, while only being ~0.5 seconds, to be quite noticeable, so I would recommend a wired connection for this pocket amp. Lastly, I have attached a couple more pictures of the Valeton Rushead Max, this time comparing it to the Vox AC30 AmPlug, as well as a video comparing sound samples between the Rushead Max and AC30 AmPlug. The distortion tones were achieved on the Rushead Max by changing channels while the distortion tones were achieved on the AC30 AmPlug by increasing the gain. Updated September 26, 2021: I purchased a Diezel Herbert and an Alexander Jubilee Overdrive pedal a few months ago and was looking for an easy way to listen to them with headphones. Setting the Valeton to the clean mode and plugging into the output sort of worked but didn't sound the best, so I recently tried out a Boss Pocket GT, a Fender Mustang Micro, and a LEKATO Headphone Amp. The LEKATO was neat with cab sims and made the pedals sound the best when I only used a cab sim, but a clean setting on the Mustang Micro sounded pretty close just a little looser, and the amp models on the Fender were better even than the models on this Valeton headphone amp. I especially liked the Uber model on the Fender, which to my ears sounded fairly similar to the Diezel Herbert (my favorite of the two pedals). The Valeton sounds noticeably fizzier than the Mustang Micro, and the Mustang Micro is more compact and portable than the Valeton without being fragile like the Vox. The Mustang Micro also has more options. Though the Valeton does have a bit finer control over the options available, the knobs aren't super sensitive and after playing the Mustang Micro I realized the tone knob on the Valeton is slightly weird in that the volume decreases as you turn the tone down. Apparently one can also record with the Mustang Micro. I haven't tried it yet, but since this is the one I decided to keep out of the three new ones I tried, I definitely will try this at some point. Overall, I would recommend the Mustang Micro slightly more than the Valeton for its better tone, more compact size, and recording ability. However, the Mustang Micro is 3-4 times the price of the Valeton. I think it is worth it myself, but if you are on a budget and especially if you don't need to record, the Valeton is still the best headphone amp under $50 in my opinion. If you can find an extra $50 for a used Mustang Micro or a new one on sale, then I would recommend the Mustang Micro, though. I also added a couple more comparison pictures.

I put some research into finding a cheap headphone amp for my Squier Strat. I'm not a seasoned player, so I didn't want anything fancy and certainly nothing pricy. Since I registered my guitar on the Fender site, I get emails all the time offering me gear, and I noticed the Mustang Micro amp was very popular. I didn't even know they made amps you could plug straight into the output jack. I have decent Crate and Fender amps, but I have kids and can't exactly rock out, and it's too much gear to keep in the living room. We have a very old, battery-powered headphone amp, but it's bulky and shorts out, so this looked like something I'd like. But at $119, the Mustang Micro would cost almost as much as my Strat, which I don't need. After extensive research, I decided on the Valeton Rushead Max amp, partly because it has multiple effects and had decent gain and overdrive sound, and also because it's USB chargeable. I considered the VOX and a couple of others, but this one was cheaper and had the sound I wanted - at least when others demoed it. When I got mine, I was very pleasantly surprised at how great it sounds. The effects can be adjusted in mutliple ways (turn the ambient and mod knobs all the way down to turn them off), and the gain and overdrive controls will help you get the sound you want whether it's a blues, classic rock or metal tone - provided you have the guitar for it. The Strat is pretty balanced, so the Rushead Max suits it well. Size-wise, it sits on the body and out of the way, although you might consider an adapter cord to make sure you don't hit it or mess up the input jack. I got a 12-inch cord to go with it, which is fine when you're sitting in a chair. The box it comes in is nice and compact - you can fit it in a gig bag easily. All you need is the amp, some headphones and some picks and you can play anywhere. About the only thing it can't do that I would like is to plug directly into a computer to record with it. The Fender Mustang does, but that's not worth the extra money to me. If you just want to jam and hear yourself in any tone from clean to metal, it's a great option for a small investment.

Better than other headphone amps in this price range, but nothing compared to the Fender, NUX, or Boss. Holds a charge for a long time. All of the effects sound fine. Responds well to humbuckers. Even on the clean channel, I can use my bridge pickups to get a little dirt. The overdrive and distortion channels are…okay. I generally only play clean or slightly overdriven when I use headphones, so I can’t really say how good those channels are. Overall, a great little product. But if you are a tone snob or want all of the features, then spring for one of the more expensive ones.

This is the 4th brand of portable headphone amp that plugs directly from the guitar jack into headphones, and is by far the best sounding one. I tested with an industry standard pair of Sony headphones. It's a great solution for someone that is looking for a super compact, super simple, inexpensive option to practice electric guitar with headphones that sounds good. The options for clean, overdrive, and distortion, along with the effects give a lot of versatility for the kinds of sounds and songs to play. I most often use a rather complicated setup or more expensive multi-effects units. But I know a lot of people either don't care about all the options those provide, or just want something simple so they can focus on playing rather than learning how to use more equipment and always adjusting the sound. This is really about as simple as it gets... charge it up, plug it into the guitar, plug in headphones, turn it on, and it's ready to go without disturbing anyone from the volume. One thing that I was pleasantly surprised by was the tone knob, because it has a wide range to really help sculpt the sound from dark and bassy to bright with treble. I have used this with 4 different guitars and 2 bass guitars. One thing I couldn't test is how this fits into a stratocaster style guitar with the "football" jack. I think it would fit, but it might be worth looking through other reviews to see if that is mentioned. Since the sound of this will vary based on what kind of guitar you have, especially the pickups, I have made a few observations from each of the 6 instruments I've used it with: 1. Guitar with medium-hot output 3 single coils. Sounds very clean on clean channel. Overdrive and distortion sound good. Low noise. 2. Guitar with hot passive Dimarzio humbucker and low output Guitar Fetish lipstick pickup. Unlike the active EMG pickup in my other guitar, this humbucker was able to get a good clean sound. The lipstick pickup was even better for the softer mellow tones. With distortion, the humbucker was the most aggressive, and the lipstick with overdrive got more of a classic rock vibe. 3. Guitar with active EMG 81 pickup. Sounds overdriven on clean channel even with gain at zero. Not possible to get a really clean sound with this headphone amp and guitar combination but that doesn't surprise me because the output is so hot/high to begin with. Sounds great with distortion setting at max gain. 4. Classical nylon string with piezo pickup bridge. This guitar sounds best when going into a preamp meant for acoustics so I wasn’t surprised that the sound was a bit harsh and thin. But still not bad and definitely fine for practice, though people won’t be using a headphone amp with their acoustics. I just tried it because I was curious and the reverb+delay with acoustic has a unique sound. 5. Electric bass with humbuckers and active preamp pickup system and round wound strings. Clean sound with gain turned down. I had some annoying noise/hum/hiss with volume of headphone amp at higher settings or with gain control turned up. Overdrive also has background hiss noise but can be tamed with turning the tone knob toward the bass end, and has a nice growl. Cool, heavy sound with distortion setting with medium gain and a minimum amount of flanger effect. 6. Fretless bass with passive split pickup. Sounds nice and natural with clean setting and low gain. This comes with a USB cord for charging, but you'll need something to plug the USB cord into, such as a computer with USB A style ports or a phone charger. The port on the headphone amp is a "micro USB". I've never let the battery run fully out so I don't know exactly how long it can go between charging but with 4 lights to indicate full power, it was over an hour of using before it dropped down to 3 lights. I really like that the lights are there so it's super easy to see if there is power remaining. The headphone jack is the 1/8" 3.5mm size, so depending on your headphones, you may need an adapter for that, and same for the auxiliary input if you want to plug in a mp3 player, phone, or computer output signal to play along with.

PRO TIP before review: Get an instrument extension cord (3.3ft/1mtr.) I already had a 1ft extension cord, but personally I found that to be a bit short to use comfortably. This way you can play your instrument with the amp on your lap where you can see it, and are less likely to sit on it or strain your neck from staring down at your input jack all the time. The one I got came in a two pack and you can see the brand in the attached photo if you're curious. I can confirm this combo works great with my bass. Years ago, I had a couple similar-styled headphone amps. They took AAA batteries and really didn't like the whole plug into input jack thing. So when I saw this Valeton recently and noticed it had good ratings that seemed legit I thought I might give this type of plug-in amp a chance again. I just wanted something I could leave near my bass to remind myself to play more. As for the built-in effects, I didn't think much about it as I prefer a clean or slightly overdriven bass sound. But since they're there, I think it's a nice touch and I'm looking forward to experimenting with effects I probably wouldn't bother laying out a bunch of pedals for. I do wish it had some built-in drum tracks like the Vox Bass headphone amp (V2) has but not a deal breaker. Main goal was ease of use and convenience so no excuses to practice. The USB-C charging port sealed the deal (Thank you EU for making the electronics world a better place.) If this took batteries or even a micro-USB cable I probably wouldn't bother. My only complaint here is that, while powered on, the bright blue LED battery strength indicator is super blindingly bright. There may be a way to turn that off but I am not finding it. I may just cover these lights with some translucent tape to dim it a bit. tl;dr: All in all a great buy. It sounds great and the USB-C charging is so convenient. It's got a noise-free clean tone and the overdrive + a little gain is awesome. All the other effects are a nice bonus to experiment with. And since I'm using a TS extension cable rather than direct plug in to the bass, I can not only see the controls easily while playing, but also less likely am I to sit on it or strain my neck to look over at hte jack for the settings. Definitely recommended if you're like me and know that it's much more likely you'll pick up an instrument if it's right next to you on a guitar stand with your headphones and headphone amp ready to go. If you end up getting one, hope you enjoy as I have !

I bought this primarily for two reasons: 1. So I could play at night, with clean effect, without disturbing my upstairs neighbor 2. To add a chorus and reverb effect to run through my amplifier In both cases this works fine, so I got my money's worth out of it. HINT: It's not exactly obvious at first, but to achieve clean output, turn the LEVEL knob up and all the other knobs down. Since the knobs directly control the effects, turning those knobs down eliminates all effects, leaving clean as a result. PROS: * Decent sound for the price. Comparable with other "pocket amps" on the market. * Versatile. Can run from clean to heavy distortion, with several effects. * Does "clean" very well. If you're wanting to play soundless and just hear your electric through headphones so as not to disturb others, this will do the job. * Has reasonably decent effects. (See cons) * The effects are divided into three different areas, sensibly arranged. * Easy to understand instructions. Be sure to read them; the controls may not make sense unless the instructions are read. * Four LEDs tell how much power is left in the device. But they are BRIGHT. (Personally I'd prefer lower-power LEDs.) * If all you're wanting is an earphone jack for your guitar, the CLEAN on this is excellent, and the tone adjustment knob provides quite a range, especially when combined with the Tone on your guitar. CONS: * Not sure whether it's this individual unit or a model flaw, but mine had a slight buzz to it when chording, as if it was being overdriven (which really, isn't possible from the very weak signal coming from a guitar). There should be no buzz or distortion at all in a battery-based device of this type. * The effects while functional, are a little "iffy" and tricky to adjust. Affects are controlled by flipping a switch and turning a knob... and those knobs are touchy. Just a minor turn can make a major difference. * While the effects are sensibly divided into 3 areas, you must choose between chorus, tremolo and flange. They can't be combined. The effects themselves aren't the best quality, but then, this isn't a two hundred dollar device... so one need make allowances. * Again, the sound is acceptable for a portable device, but don't expect pro quality. * Controls can be hard to reach on some guitars. It would make sense if these portable devices had a short cord between the device and jack so the player can move the device so the controls can be seen. In the case of some guitar jacks, the guitar will have to be flipped upside down to even see the controls... and the device itself may sit where the guitar rests on the leg, hampering playing. I suppose this could be corrected by use of a short 6" M/F cable extender, which would be extra expense. I give this 3 stars because the resulting sound is acceptable, but not gret. It's as good as other devices of this type, and will allow you to hear your electric guitar through headphones, which is the whole purpose of this type of system. It's portable, which is its main feature. But depending on where the guitar jack is, it can be cumbersome to use. Beyond that, one can accomplish the same thing by plugging headphones into their modeling amplifier.

I have the other one made by Sonicake, but I bought this one, and this one is better all around. It sounds good, has built in effects, and a usb-c charging port.

I bought this over the Vox options because it is rechargeable and seems more versatile. I have used it with a cheap pair of Neewer NW-2000 headphones (not recommended) and with a basic 3.5mm aux cable into the aux input of a Fender Frontman amp. The low end bass is a bit weak with both the headphones and Fender amp (especially noticeable with overdrive/distortion), but the reverb sounds excellent. Overall, for the price, this is a great way for a beginner like me to experiment with some basic effects and have a way to practice playing quietly with headphones on. I am impressed with the quality of the Valetron. It does not feel cheap, but the blue LED battery indicator lights (while functional and helpful) are really bright. The device charges fast and holds a charge for at least an hour of playing—probably 2+ hours. Also, the silicone rings on the control knobs can come off if you are rough with them, but they are a nice touch. The shortcomings of this device should not dissuade anyone from buying it at a price point under $50 (I paid like $35). If they come out with a newer version, it would be awesome if they included a wah effect.