I picked up this little devil last week at Guitar Center. It’s a simple battery powered amp that plugs directly into the guitar. I bought the AC30 version, which simulates the much larger classic Vox AC30 amp.

As you can see from the pictures, this thing is tiny. Powered by two AAA batteries, the Vox AmPlug allows the player to use just headphones to rockout. No clumsy guitar cables or power cables strewn about. Just plug and play. Couple this with Korg’s Pitchjack and some earbuds headphones, and you’ve got yourself a pocket rig. Just grab your guitar and go.

The AmPlug has a Gain, Tone, and Volume knob - although I can’t see too much difference between the Gain and Volume. Theoretically, you should be able to squelch the gain with the volume up. The AmPlug’s gain however, seems to just raise the volume without any dynamics. Maybe I’m wrong about that, but to me that seems to be the case.

The AmPlug also allows for a line in plug. Just hook in a MP3 player or your laptop and jam along. With the same male mini-to-mini plug, I can also plug the AmPlug directly into my MacBook Pro, and record a fairly decent dry amp - or add effects from my DAW.

I do wish that it offered at least a reverb option. While the sound is fantastic, what the AmPlug doesn’t offer is effects, although technically, you can plug it into the end of your pedal effects chain - but what’s the point in that?

Vox also has other flavors of AmPlugs - including Lead, Classic, and Metal. I could buy these in order to change my sound, but I’m only using the AC30 version for the portability aspect. If I need different sounds, I’ll just plug into my DR-880 or my M-Audio Blackbox. All in all, not bad for $40.