What should i Buy?

Small Amp With Good Music Playback

Q I play almost entirely at home at relatively low volumes. One of the things I enjoy most is playing along to songs and backing tracks usually via Spotify or iTunes, sometimes CDs. My old Marshall Valvestate 50-watt seems like overkill for this and I find myself sighing at having to plug in various pedals and so on. Therefore I want to downsize and uptech with an all-in-one solution – something that is small, has some great guitar sounds in it but can also play back music either by bluetooth or an old fashioned cable! What do you recommend? John Kelly, via email

A There’s been massive progress in this area over the last few years, John. You could argue that Yamaha’s THR series established the format of a small box that was part guitar amp and part music playback system… and boy how things have moved since then.You can now expect a decent number of built-in amp simulations and effects alongside modern connectivity options such as Bluetooth and Wi-Fi for music playback and more. We think they’re a great solution for playing at home: easy to manage, minimal cabling and good sounds at low volumes. To wit…