Firebrand : A real high gain (tiny) monster!

In the last few years there's been an alarming proliferation of preamps and distortion pedals claiming to emulate the tone of famous valve amps. Joyo chose a different approach: for the price of the average pedal, and in little more than the size of a pedal, you can buy an actual amp! And a pretty nice one, for that...

All bantamps (as these cute little boxes are called) are hybrid, 2 channel 20W amps, with a preamp valve and a solid state power section. They have an fx loop (something that is still lacking on some full scale amp...), a headphone output and Bluetooth connectivity, to jam along a track played by a mobile phone or any BT compatible device.

Sadly all bantamps lack a footswitch, something that limit their potential for gigs or even rehearsals...

When the Bantamp series was launched, the only high gain model was the ZoMBie, loosely modeled on the modern channel of a mesa rectifier. It did its thing well, but i never cared for the bass heavy, slightly scooped mesa tones.

The FireBrand, on the other hand, is openly inspired to the ENGL Fireball, that's definitely much more in my territory. I can't really say it sounds exactly like a fireball, BUT the core ENGL tone is there. There's plenty of aggressive mids, a deliciously fizzy top end and a tight bass.

The clean channel has more personality than the nice - but quite generic - clean channel on the ZoMBie. Unlike the latter, it's influenced by the gain control, so it's always on the edge of breakup. I love it, but it's a matter of taste. Be aware, the only way to get perfectly clean cleans is keeping the gain around 9-10 o clock.

I bought it because it's cute, and of course with the idea of having an extremely portable backup amp. A footswitch would be extremely appreciated, and i don't completely dig the looks. In my opinion Joyo could make these little guys look a bit more like actual amps and a little less like transformers (the robots, not the electric devices), but they look cute anyway.

It's cheap, it's tiny, it sounds good. I can't see any reason not to buy it!