PRACTICE, WE’RE OFTEN told, makes perfect. As much as you might love the sound of your boutique 100-watt head feeding into a three-foot-wide pedalboard and pair of oversized cabinets, no one, not even the world’s biggest rock star, needs to practice like that. At the end of the day, the only person who needs to hear you practice is you — not your cohabitants, your neighbors or even the crowd waiting for you to take the stage.
It’s much better to have something transportable with enough tones covered so you can make the most out of your session, whether it’s taking place at home, on the move or in a dressing room in the hours before showtime. Every guitar player will have different needs from said devices — some might prefer a battery-powered unit with one basic sound that’s just about loud enough to be heard in a quiet hotel room. Others might want something socket-driven that’s able to push more air in order to cut through all the background noise, with options for overdrive and maybe even an aux in to jam along to recordings and backing tracks.
Then there are those who might want to go
