13 Sep Orange Crush Mini 3-Watt Micro Amp: A Review

by Marisa Torrieri Bloom

I take a lot of pride in my guitar amps — from my super-effects-loaded Fender Mustang amp, with its variety of preset effects and 50+ watts, as well as my 60-watt Fishman Loudbox Mini, which I use for acoustic sets.

 

But that’s why I couldn’t part with either amp when I took on a new guitar student who wanted to play electric and didn’t have her own gear. With my beloved, 15-year-old Vox V05 totally shot, it was time to explore what was possible in the $80 ballpark. And lo and behold, a quick search led me to tons of cute, teeny tiny guitar amps. On a whim, I ordered the Orange Crush Mini 3-watt Micro Amp.

 

 

Of course, I’m a sucker for vintage art and the pretty, bright orange color that reminds me of pumpkins and all things fall. But the amp is really a powerful little fireball!

 

What I Love the Most

The Orange Mini 3-watt Micro Amp is stylish, lightweight, and compact. This makes it perfect for travel, or for loaning out to students who need a basic amplifier. Plugging and playing was pretty intuitive, and I didn’t need the instruction booklet. There are just a couple of knobs on the top, so for anyone who can’t handle lots of choices (like me!), it’s ideal.

It also sounds great for a 3-watt amp. I don’t intend to use it for a solo gig, but I could mic it and expand its reach, which is also cool. According to Orange, the speaker output “turns your Crush Mini into a giggable head.” I didn’t try this, but it’s good to know!

Also, the price of $75 is hard to beat for all of the above. There are similarly sized, highly rated micro amps like the Blackstar Fly 3 and the Positive Grid Mini but they’re a bit pricier and don’t have that punchy orange color and vintage look.

An added bonus: The amp comes with a built-in tuner in case the player doesn’t have a Snark tuner handy!

What I Like Less

You’ll need a power adapter – and it doesn’t come with one. Fortunately I had a Truetone 1 SPOT Slim 9V DC Adapter in my gig bag — but that wasn’t always the case. Many newer or less-experienced guitarists don’t think about power adapters. They just add 9-volt batteries to their pedals and move on with their lives. I’ve learned that doing this is risky, but if I didn’t begin exploring pedals, I might not know to have one of these babies handy.

Or, you could use a regular 9-volt battery, too, if you want to do the subway busker thing.

One other thing that bothered me is that the knob that amplified the volume also seemed to make my guitar sound a lot crunchier. I’m not sure how to turn the knobs to create a more saturated, clean sound yet, but then again, if I really need a pure, clear, clean sound, I’ll use a bigger and more robust amp.

 

Would I Recommend?

As of now, the answer is a pretty solid “yes.” I love the little beast. I’m actually kind of sad that my new student is going to be using it so I may have to get a second one for home use pretty soon!

Marisa Torrieri Bloom is the editor and founder of Rockmommy.