The new Amonito all-in-one guitar amp may be priced too high for some
A new, lightweight amp solution on Kickstarter
The Amonito is a lightweight, all-in-one guitar amp rated at 200 watts RMS that is vying for your money via Kickstarter. But will this oddball design ever capture the hearts of guitarists, especially at this price point?
Amonito all-in-one guitar amp
According to its Kickstarter page, the Amonito uses “an adaptable high voltage circuit that centers around two vacuum tubes” for tone, paired with SHARC DSP chips to offer players high-quality effects, including reverbs and delays.
With 300 Volts powering the amplifier section and 200 Watts of RMS output power, this lightweight guitar amp, in theory, should provide a neat solution for players wanting to use it in a band context. But I cannot get around its odd shell-like form factor, which doesn’t look particularly easy or handy to lug around. Then, there is also the insanely high price tag, which isn’t too enticing either.
Amonito all-in-one guitar amp · Source: Amonito
Lightweight
It looks like there will be two versions of the amp upon release; a Carbon one that weighs in at an estimated 5.5kg / 12 lbs, and the other in Aluminum is estimated to be around 7.7kg / 17 lbs.
Amonito in Carbon · Source: Amonito
Basic Specifications
You get a tempered glass for the display, and an onboard neodymium speaker, which should help with keeping the weight down, but still be able to handle the power output. There’s not much actual information about the working of the amp as yet, but we do know it has four basic amp models: CLEAN & VINTAGE, CLEAN & MODERN, DIRTY & VINTAGE, and finally, DIRTY & MODERN. You also get a Boost (clean boost), Comp (compression), and Drive (transparent overdrive) for that tube preamp section.
Amonito all-in-one guitar amp curved display · Source: Amonito
Curved Display
It also features onboard effects, which currently aren’t listed in any detail. But we do know they are SHARC DSP based, so expect reverb, delay, chorus, tap-delay, and tremolo. Plus, a three-band EQ section, which all sounds pretty basic.
The whole unit has a rotary encoder with 480 steps of control and a very odd curved display layout, following the swoop of the shell-like casing. The layout is laid out around the central neodynium speaker, so I can see why they have chosen this shape. But it still looks very awkward to me personally.
I/O
The basic I/O also looks pretty simple with a guitar input, an effects send and return, a line-out L/R, a ground lift switch and a pair of XLR PA outputs. I know it isn’t in production yet, but it is up against modern hardware with far more inputs and outputs, plus MIDI, USB and more.
Amonito Carbon vs Amonito Classic?
You have two versions being touted. The Amonito Carbon which features stereo processing, hand selected tubes and a burned-in neodynium speaker . The other is the Amonito Classic, which is mono processing, has standard tubes and a tested neodynium speaker.
Each has a myriad of prices (heavily discounted for early adopters on Kickstarter), but both are excessively high at full RRP. The Early Adopter prices listed are €1666 for the Classic version and a whopping €2999 for the Carbon edition!
I honestly think that the pricing is way above what I would expect for a product with a zero track record, so I cannot see them achieving the full RRPs they have listed. The official demo video below really does not help them out, as it shows you nothing and gives very little information on this product.
Hopefully, we will see some more detailed information soon that could make us feel more confident with these price points.
Update 27/8
They have uploaded a new video with a bit more information, which you can watch below.
More Information on Amonito
Amonito Demo Video
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=93hiXcFh7OQ
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