Belcat I 3U Mini Amp

Tsani

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I am planning to take a trip to latin America this summer to do some volunteer work and help with the building of a school. We will also be working with kids and I will be part of a music team. I normally play my Epiphone Les Paul in church and we have all the amplification we need. However, if I want to play something amplified for this trip, I will probably need to bring my own amp - and space will be at a premium since I will need to pack it in my luggage.

Does anybody have experience with the Belcat mini-amp, and what kind of sound can I expect to get out of it?
 
I carry my Vox Mini3 in my luggage. When I take the back off to access the battery holder, there is plenty of room for a couple of rolled up t-shirts and a couple pair of socks. I don't pack it tightly so as not to put pressure on the circuit board in the top of the cabinet. I'll take a photo with the back opened later and post it here. I also carry the ultra light M-193 headset microphone. Ric
 
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ricdoug knows of what he speaks.... I've picked up a couple of pieces of equipment lately based on his advice, and can't be happier with them - a couple of Kustom PA50s and a Behringer DI box - both great values that work well for the price.... thanks ricdoug!
 
I don't have experience of the specific Belcat model you mention, but I do own a 20w Belcat tube combo for guitar and it is a fantastic amplifier at an absurdly low price. I've also had good experiences with belcat pickups and preamps in the past. In my experience so far, their stuff has been great value.
 
ricdoug knows of what he speaks.... I've picked up a couple of pieces of equipment lately based on his advice, and can't be happier with them - a couple of Kustom PA50s and a Behringer DI box - both great values that work well for the price.... thanks ricdoug!

You're welcome, 23skidoo. As a sound engineer, I own a lot of very nice sound equipment and run large outdoor stages. It can become very complex at times. That being said, I also enjoy getting good sound from minimal, quality equipment. I own 6 of the Kustom Powerwerks PA/PW 50's, now. 2 of them I leave at Molly Bloom's in San Clemente, as I have a weekly Sunday gig there. I gave them my permission to use them during the week, as they like the clarity much better than their large 20 year old sound system. They have a weekly stand up comedy night and other nights where a couple of acoustic electric musicians perform, too. I taught the staff to mount them as high as possible on the speaker stands, for better coverage and less feedback issues. The microphone's I leave there are high quality, low budget, too:

http://www.taropatch.net/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=10735

Guitar Center often runs discount code specials for $10 bucks off $49 bucks, with free shipping, wehere you can get 3 of the vocal microphones or 3 of the instrument microphones for only $39 bucks! You can then get your heavy duty microphone and instrument cables here:

http://www.monoprice.com/products/subdepartment.asp?c_id=102&cp_id=10244#1024401

I know many cannot break their paradigm of quality professional audio on a slim budget and will knock gear like this, even though they've never tried it. I can set up and run 12000 watt mains and 4200 watt monitors and 32 channels for large events, but am also happy with the sound I get at smaller venues of 50 to 100 with the PA50/PW50's.
 
sorry to hijack the thread.....

I've been really happy and surprised with the quality of the little Kustom speakers..... I use one of the Bose L1 speakers for a trio I play with in small venues. If there's enough room, you can set the Bose speakers up about 10 feet behind the performers so there's no need for a monitor and virtually no feedback with amazing sound quality. In smaller spaces (where we always play :) ) there usually isn't enough room, so we're behind the speakers and need some sort of monitor - the PA50's work well. Also use one during unplugged rehearsals to bring up the volume of the ukulele in relation to the guitar and fiddle - makes it easier for everyone to hear each other. I'll probably end up picking up a couple of more, along with the powered sub they sell - four 50s spread around and the sub would make a great midsize PA, seems to me.....

I also use one of the Fishman Aura DI boxes for my guitar and ukulele with undersaddle pickups - got the Behringer box as a back up to keep in my bag, but it works so well, we've ended up using it for the other ukulele player and it gets regular use..... for what we do, it sounds as good as the more expensive Fishman and Baggs DI's - a great value for $40..... thanks again for all the help.
 
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