There are a few amplifier manufacturers in the UK. I won’t name them, but I’ll assume you know one or two. Not residing in the UK (and not being as aware of these things as I should be) I hadn’t heard of Matamp. After discovering their Mini-Pro (or Mini-Mat as it’s referenced on their website) and the way they put together their promotional PDFs, I can say I’m a fan.
I haven’t been able to locate any videos of this specific amp head, but there are videos of seemingly older versions such as this Matamp Minimat and this Matamp Minimat 2. Both sound cool.
This amp is a non-nonsense 4 watt tube amplifier that lets you focus on the one thing that’s truly important. Tone. The inclusions are simple. List time!
- 1 x 6V6 tube (output)
- 2 x ECC83 tubes (preamp)
- 8 and 16 ohm speaker output
- Volume and tone controls
- Output attenuator (8 ohm output only)
Apparently this could be used in a small practice session (as long as your drummer’s kit doesn’t rival the likes of Mike Portnoy) or even at a small gig (with the amp miked up). That’s all well and good, but in my search this year for a perfect introduction to tube amplification, this may just tick all the important boxes. It’s so simple (which is convenient because I’m simple). This could be the amp for me. If the tone is perfect I can technically place any one of my pedals in front of it and the amp will do its job. That’s a win.
Disclaimer: I’ve not played through this head. I have not experienced the sound or tone of this head other than through video. That doesn’t matter. It looks awesome, it’s obviously played by winners and I want one.
