ZT Lunchbox Acoustic

By: Scott on 10/20/2011 12:44:47 PM

Pros: Small, light, plenty of power for a small venue, good reverb, two inputs, independent gain/tone adjustment

Cons: Cannot drive an external cabinet and its own speaker simultaneously

I ordered the ZT Lunchbox Acoustic not fully certain of what I'd receive. My practice amp was not sounding the way I wanted and I was tired of fiddling with my power mixer. I needed something that would allow me to practice with a clean sound, give me a microphone channel and some power. On paper, this looked to fit the bill. I have to say I was more than happily surprised. The sound from the 6.5" speaker was better than I imagined (especially on the low end) and when running the signal out to one of my PA speakers (15" cone with horn tweeter) the sound was impressive. The reverb is pleasant and lends itself well to a clean jazz sound. I have run the signal direct from a hollow-body electric, a nylon string guitar with preamp and both work well. I've also run a signal from a PC preamp/processor with no issues. A preamp, obviously, will give you more volume, but both work well for practice or small rooms. I wish it was a tad less expensive, but the portability and versatility are wonderful. ZT's next goal should be to allow it to drive its own speaker and an external cabinet simultaneously (like the standard Lunchbox amp) and consider batter power. An excellent amp.

Nice box

By: Buco on 02/01/2011 07:59:51 AM

I'd like to share a few of my first impressions with Lunchbox Acoustic. While I'm giving it a full 5 star rating it should be seen in context. Meaning it's great for what it is! I could've compared it to some higher end $700 and up amps and in that world it certainly wouldn't rate 5 stars. While I read and saw many glowing reviews amateur and pro alike I can't say this is a killer amp in all respects. For one I'm still to be convinced of it's power rating and high, clean headroom. It is clean but only to a certain point after which there is a slight but audible distortion. I'm trying to follow ZT recommendations for finding a clean sound and I'm still hopeful that I will find that golden spot. I've used it with solid body electric trying to achieve jazzy sound and oval hole Selmer copy with K&N elements under the floating bridge. And then there is what is at the same time it's biggest strength and one of the weaknesses: this amp represents the sound of your acoustic instrument pretty accurate to my ears. To high end audio purists that could not be a better achievement, however most people, in my opinion want their guitar amp to achieve "magic" and sweeten up the sound of their instrument through some clever EQuing. It seems to me that folks at ZT went the audio purist way and I give them thumbs up for that! The amp got completely different reactions from my friends when I played in public with it for the first time (using Parker fly guitar): from "wow it sounds great, clean but pretty warm" to "too clean, almost piercing". I asked for honest opinions from all of them. This could also be simple matter of seating positions, the guy who was somewhat brittle sat pretty much in amps direct path, others were more off-axis. I think the sound can be dialed in to my satisfaction though, after little more usage and experience if different situations. Bottom line is when you take is consideration it's size, power output and quality of sound I don't know of anything that can touch it. Anything out there that can compare in sound and power will be bigger or with much less power or much pricier. Anything that will flat out beat it with sound will have at least 8-10" speaker or array of smaller drivers and cost twice as much. So that is why it gets 5 stars from me.