"Amp in a box" recommendations for tube-like jazz, swing and rockabilly?

**Spook410** · 03-11-2025, 10:02 PM

re: $25 Behringer TM300 "Amp Modeler". Bought this on impulse with low expectations. Honestly figured it would end up at Goodwill after I played with it for awhile. Was surprised to find I could get a pretty good clean tone out of it. Keep the volume low, dial the bass/treble in (could use a mid control), choose the 'tweed' setting, and choose a mic placement (setting does matter) to your liking and voila... a use-able tone. Not great but it's actually alright. Won't replace my pedal board but perfectly adequate in a pinch. And if it's only OK why does that make it a good find? Because it takes a 9V battery. Put in my kit along with a DI and I have a viable backup. Like that time I forgot the power supply wall wart for my pedalboard.

What did I not like? Well, the battery should be installed on your bench. It's a really terrible design with spring loaded pins requiring the right size screwdriver and a little patience. Other than that, $25 well spent. Thanks to nyc chaz for pointing it out.

Amazon.com

**nyc chaz** · 03-11-2025, 10:26 PM

Originally Posted by Spook410

re: $25 Behringer TM300 "Amp Modeler". Bought this on impulse with low expectations. Honestly figured it would end up at Goodwill after I played with it for awhile. Was surprised to find I could get a pretty good clean tone out of it. Keep the volume low, dial the bass/treble in (could use a mid control), choose the 'tweed' setting, and choose a mic placement (setting does matter) to your liking and voila... a use-able tone. Not great but it's actually alright. Won't replace my pedal board but perfectly adequate in a pinch. And if it's only OK why does that make it a good find? Because it takes a 9V battery. Put in my kit along with a DI and I have a viable backup. Like that time I forgot the power supply wall wart for my pedalboard.

What did I not like? Well, the battery should be installed on your bench. It's a really terrible design with spring loaded pins requiring the right size screwdriver and a little patience. Other than that, $25 well spent. Thanks to nyc chaz for pointing it out.

Amazon.com

You're welcome.Behringer pedals have many of the same exact circuits as Boss pedals at a third of the price.The only downside is the plastic housing but quite honestly they take a lot of abuse and still work fine.Even if they break they are more than cheap enough to replace.Sweetwater a few years ago was selling most of the Behringer pedals for $19 dollars.I bought a bunch of them and have gotten good use out of them.

**garybaldy** · 03-12-2025, 05:14 AM

Originally Posted by nyc chaz

You're welcome.Behringer pedals have many of the same exact circuits as Boss pedals at a third of the price.The only downside is the plastic housing but quite honestly they take a lot of abuse and still work fine.Even if they break they are more than cheap enough to replace.Sweetwater a few years ago was selling most of the Behringer pedals for $19 dollars.I bought a bunch of them and have gotten good use out of them.

The concentric pot on my Boss Chorus Ensemble broke so I got the Behringer version.

**supersoul** · 03-12-2025, 07:04 AM

Originally Posted by Spook410

re: $25 Behringer TM300 "Amp Modeler". Bought this on impulse with low expectations. Honestly figured it would end up at Goodwill after I played with it for awhile. Was surprised to find I could get a pretty good clean tone out of it. Keep the volume low, dial the bass/treble in (could use a mid control), choose the 'tweed' setting, and choose a mic placement (setting does matter) to your liking and voila... a use-able tone. Not great but it's actually alright. Won't replace my pedal board but perfectly adequate in a pinch. And if it's only OK why does that make it a good find? Because it takes a 9V battery. Put in my kit along with a DI and I have a viable backup. Like that time I forgot the power supply wall wart for my pedalboard.

What did I not like? Well, the battery should be installed on your bench. It's a really terrible design with spring loaded pins requiring the right size screwdriver and a little patience. Other than that, $25 well spent. Thanks to nyc chaz for pointing it out.

As others have noted, that's a clone of the SansAmp GT2, in a Boss pedal format.

The Tri-AC pedal is a Sansamp with a mid control. My Trademark 30 amp also has a mid control, and it is very useful.
Sansamp tone controls behave differently than how most tone controls work. They have more range to cut and boost. If you don't have a mid control, you can cut the treble and bass while boosting the gain to get more mids. But a dedicated mid control gets you there better.

I have a Palmer Pocket Amp, which is also a GT2 clone, but it's battery powered and has a headphone out, which makes it much more convenient to use for practice. It doesn't eat batteries.

The DSM & Humboldt Simplifier looks to be a decendent of the SansAmp but with additional and different controls. I've never tried one but I would like to at some point.

**EastwoodMike** · 03-16-2025, 03:39 AM

saw this pop up in my feed. 2 options: amp or no amp both with onboard reverb, headphone out, Di out etc.
I have a dsm mk2 which is also ace. The dsm lets you choose and tailor the cab sim, or bypass if you wish to add your own.
cheers
Emike.

**omphalopsychos** · 03-16-2025, 02:23 PM

Originally Posted by EastwoodMike

saw this pop up in my feed. 2 options: amp or no amp both with onboard reverb, headphone out, Di out etc.
I have a dsm mk2 which is also ace. The dsm lets you choose and tailor the cab sim, or bypass if you wish to add your own.
cheers
Emike.

How in the world do you call a pedal with that many knobs and switches "The Simplifier".