Pignose 7-200 HOG-20 Amplifier

Customer Ratings:
List Price: $189.95
Sale Price: $119.95
Today's Bonus: 37% Off

• Runs for hours on a single charge
• Headphone outlet
• Clean & crunchy tones
• Runs on ac power, too
• Adapter / recharger included

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I'M A BLUESMAN WHO PERFORMS ON THE STREETS OF NEW ORLEANS, AND THE HOG 20 IS JUST GREAT FOR WHAT I DO. THE BATTERIES SEEM TO LAST FOREVER....I'VE PLAYED FOR DAYS AND NEVER REALLY SAW ANY INDICATION THAT THEY WERE RUNNING DOWN. TECH SUPPORT TOLD ME TO RUN THE HOG FOR 6 HOURS AND THEN CHARGE IT FOR 3...WHICH I DO, AND HAVE NEVER HAD ANY PROBLEMS. I PLAY BLUESHARP THROUGH A GREEN BULLET AND THE 3 CONTROL KNOBS GIVE ME JUST THE SOUND I WANT. THE HOG 20 DOSN'T LOSE THAT GRITTY, RUSTY SOUND I LIKE...EVEN ON LOW VOLUME. I NEVER PLAY ON MORE THAN 1/4 VOLUME IN THE STREET....AND IT'S...REAL...LOUD. I EVEN DID A FEW CLUB GIGS USING THE HOG 20 BY MIC'ING IT THROUGH THE P.A. IT HELD UP LIKE A CHAMP. THE TECH SUPPORT IS ALSO GREAT. I CALLED MORE THAN ONCE FOR ADVICE AND ALL MY CALLS WERE PROMPTLY AND COURTIOUSLY RETURNED. I USED TO OWN A "LIL' MOUSE"...SQUEEK, SQUEEK (IF YOU ARE A MUSICIAN, YOU KNOW WHAT I MEAN)....NOW I GOT A "BIG HOG"...OINK! OINK! GET ONE TOO. THE HOG 20 "BRINGS HOME THE BACON!" I GA-RONE-TEE. JERSEY SLIM

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The good: the amp is convenient, has a nice growling tone, a fairly nice clean tone, and is pretty loud. And, so far, holds it's charge to my satisfaction.

The bad: you can't simply run it off of A/C on a continuous basis or you will (according to the instructions) ruin the battery. Instead, you have to keep the battery charged and run it off the battery. But if you're not using it, you're supposed to drain the battery.

All of which makes this a high-maintenance amp for someone who only wants to use it occassionally. I can accept the inconvenience and planning-ahead of keeping a battery charged when your purpose is to use it as a portable. But for someone who wants to use it as a practice amp at home, this is onerous.

Seems the amp could easily have an A/C mode. Maybe the manufacturer has good reasons for not offering that. Anyway, I didn't see this mentioned anywhere before I bought it and wanted to alert other potential buyers whose intended use is like mine -that is, who are not buying it primarily for portable use.

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This amp has a sound that rivals larger wattage and far more expensive models, yet it is small enough to be truly portable, (and it does come with rechargable batteries). True, other models offer more distortion, but if that is what you are after, a little amp is not what you are want anyway. There are many practice amps put there, but I have never heard one with sound that comes close to this Both my Gisbon SG and Washburn J-6 sound great with this tiny amp. I tend to play blues and jazz, and after almost two years, this little amp still impresses me with the richness and fullness of it sound. If I did not know what it was, I would think I had plugged my guitars into a much larger and more powerful amp. I also like the simplicity of this unit. No long row of nobs to mess with means that you can plug in, adjust the volume, tone and squelch, and you are playing.

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Bought this on recommendation from other reviewers. Gives you that classic harp sound and mikes up nice.

Can't imagine paying any more $$$ to get that classic blues sound.

I bought this for one specific purpose as I have two other combo amps. I often practice on my back deck where I don't have an electrical outlet in close proximity and even if I did I wouldn't want to drag a 60# box back and forth. In that context I'm not concerned about ultimate volume or even perfect tone control. It's pretty much about convenience and based upon my criteria this little amp is a winner. The positives are pretty clear; a single charge lasts for about 6 hours of playing time (Pignose claims 6 8 and I've found that to be pretty accurate) and the volume level is sufficient for practice or solo play, but isn't going to compete with a conventional amp regardless of power rating.

Unlike the original Pignose, the "20" has some rudimentary tone contouring controls that give you some options, but essentially it's a slightly warm clean amp that you can fuzz up a little. Buskers working inside will more than likely find it sufficient, but outdoors a noisy street corner might be a little more problematic. Regardless, the ability to pick up a little box and plug in wherever is tremendously liberating and makes a Strat/LP/335 as travel worthy as an acoustic guitar. I can move from blues to jazz without skipping a beat, but as a performance tool it's much more limited.

These are US designed but built and assembled in China. The overall construction quality looks robust, the controls don't feel cheap and it clearly looks like a product from the 60/70's; pretty cool with the brown grained vinyl covering. The only real downside to the amp is if you want to run it off AC you get some confusing instructions. Essentially you're only supposed to run the amp off the charged batteries (lots of multiple warnings about keeping the batteries charged up) and IF the batteries start to run down during a set you can plug in the charger and run the amp off the AC current, BUT WHEN FINISHED TURN OFF THE AMP AND LET IT RECHARGE. The problem is apparently the charging circuit doesn't allow the batteries to reach full charge and then dissipate excess juice when the amp is turned on. Not a problem for me, but might be if you're trying to use this as a full time playing amp.

For me it's 5 stars and well worth the $116 I paid for it. If the AC operation or the sonic limitations are a problem for your use you may want to consider other options.