JOYO Top GT Mini guitar amp: A Fly swatter?
A new micro amp enters the ring
JOYO’s new GT Top guitar amp is their answer to the Blackstar Fly and has a few similar features. Can it swat the Fly?
Top GT
This new mini guitar amplifier from JOYO is aimed squarely at the same market as Blackstar’s Fly and Marshall’s mini stacks, both of which are popular practise amplifiers for guitarists. In fact, most manufacturers now offer this kind of product, including Vox, Orange and Boss. The market place for portable, battery-powered guitar amps would seem to be a lucrative one and with prices usually starting at under £100, you can see why manufacturers go for this sector.
Fly swatter?
The GT Top appears to have almost the exact same feature set as the latest incarnation of the Fly, which is why I think it could be a threat to Blackstar’s product. However it will depend on two key areas – Price and sound quality.
I own an original Blackstar Fly and in my opinion it sounds very good indeed, and a lot nicer than my other micro amps (I collect small amps for recording and when I travel). It is also well priced. So JOYO have to make this new amp sound great and it will have to have a seriously low street price to dent Blackstar’s sales.
Features
The GT Top has the usual Volume, Master, Voice, Drive and Tone controls that many micro amps have, plus it also has a Bluetooth connectivity option built in as well as the regular guitar input and mini jack input found on other amp models.
You also get a headphone output for silent practise and as yet unspecified ‘built-in effects’. The real clincher, though, could be the built in 2,000 mAh lithium battery, plus the power supply is included. Blackstar’s Fly 3 does not come with this feature, so we will have to wait and see.
Blackstar already do this micro amp thing really well but it will be interesting to see if they respond. Again, if the price is low enough then JOYO may actually succeed, but I wonder if the RRP of $109 is low enough.
RRP $109
JOYO GT Top product page
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