Pignose PG-10 PG-10 a/c powered amplifier

Customer Ratings:
List Price: $79.95
Sale Price: $59.95
Today's Bonus: 25% Off

• An ideal practice or first amp. Packed with separate volume, treble and bass controls and headphone jack.

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Out of the box, the Pignose PG-10 is approximately as mundane as other inexpensive, Pacific Rim beginner amps (e.g. Rogue, Rocktron, Marshall, whatever). As such, it would rate three stars because, as another reviewer noted, it does have a rather nasty transient "thump" on power-up (annoying but not dangerous).

But this little piggy has more hot-rodding potential than many of it's $60 peers because its power amp section (nominally 10-watts into, presumably, 4-ohms (not specified by Pignose)) generates enough current to actually drive the less-efficient but more transistor-friendly 8-ohm load of the premium motor. Note well, hot-rodding an amp voids its warranty.

In my book, it's well worth the trivial actuarial risk of going without the Pignose 1-year warranty IF (and only if) one is interested in practice-level musicality rather than class-average, high-decibel noise. I'm talking silky-smooth, top-to-bottom tonal balance, consistent output, robust bass, and shimmering highs. In short, I'm talking $300+ sound quality IF one is willing to give up the pretense of performance-level volume (not the forte of a 5" x 10-watt amp in any context (laugh)).

This tweaked piggy sounds especially nice with acoustic-electrics (e.g. Fender Sonoran SCE) because it's clean, articulate, and gratifyingly-musical.

Step #1: Carefully remove the four Phillips screws on the back of the PG-10 and gently pry off the flimsy cardboard back with a sharp putty knife.

Step #2: Note the preamp/amp section lacks a protective metal cover, which helps explain the flimsy cardboard back.

Step #3: If you have small children who could, conceivably, stick their angelic little hands inside your soon-to-be open-backed PG-10, bolt the cover back on and return the amp in favor of a PG-20 (which sounds better out-of-the-box). On second thought, best not open it in the first place (laugh).

Step #4: Unsolder the positive and negative speaker leads

Step #5: Carefully remove the four Phillips screws holding the dismal 5" stock speaker in place

Step #6: Slowly re-use the Step #5 screws in the existing holes to gently but firmly seat a 5", 8-ohm Pyle Pro PDMW5 mid-bass driver

Step #6a: If you happen to over-tighten one or more screws and strip it/them out of the MDF fiberboard speaker baffle, take the offending screw to your local hardware store and get one/some slightly fatter ones of the same length

Step #7: Re-solder the speaker leads

Step #8: Use a carpet knife (or any saw-like device short of a chainsaw) to carefully cut (horizontally) the flimsy back cover into two smaller pieces.

Step #8a: Measure 3.5" down from the top for the first cut

Step #8b: Measure 2" up from the bottom for the second cut

Step #8c: Throw away the 2.5" middle chunk

Step #9: Reuse the Step #1 screws to reattach the top and bottom portions of the back

Step #10: Throw away your Pignose warranty card and the dismal speaker (or give it to a deserving kid at Halloween)

Step #11: Give the speaker a good work-out for a few hours to fully break it in and show it who's boss

Step #12: Rock on!

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When it arrived, upon turning it on, it made a loud farting noise. Quality control problem.

I have another pig nose G40V that I love. New amp shipped immediately, was OK.

Amp does NOT have a 5 inch speaker, as advertised, but does sound good