Alexis Babini is a Boston based singer songwriter who released his first EP, Breaking It In this past march. He was the recipient of the Berklee College of Music Performer Songwriter award and will be performing with Boz Scaggs in the fall.

In August Babini will be participating in Operation Swan Dive, a festival of skydiving and music which raises money for Lyrics for Life, a cancer charity founded by Sister Hazel frontman, Ken Block (those Sister Hazel guys are very charitable types). This is the third year for Operation Swan Dive and in the previous years it has raised $110,000.

Babini, as a singer-songwrier, waned to talk to Gearwire about his use of a Ibanez Troubador T-35 acoustic instrument amplifier.

"I picked this amp because you can run a microphone through it and use it as a small PA system. At the time I needed a small set-up for rehearsals and something I could test out my effects with. Now I bring it for the select shows where I need to bring my own backline." he says.

Babini says the amp's best feature is its reverb.

"For such a small amp, it has a very boomy sound. For full band shows, it's better to have them put a mike on that amp instead of running the guitar through a direct line," he says. "If a room has bad acoustics, I feel like the acoustic guitar is the first instrument to get buried. This amp helps prevent that from happening."

The only problem with the amp comes when using it for both vocals and a guitar. This isn't surprising since this is usually a tricky proposition.

"Sometimes when you're running both guitar and vox through it, the guitar cuts out a bit. Usually the guitar will get turned down slightly," says Babini. "Most people won't notice but I'm kind of a freak about that type of stuff."

He plays a couple of different guitars -- with quite different tone -- through the amp as well.

"I run my Gibson Hummingbird artist series and Taylor T5 through it. I like the Gibson a little better because you get a lot more low end from that guitar," he says. "When I play solo shows, a lot of the voicings I use have bass lines and I like to have that aspect brought out a little."

As to the tone of the amp Babini says the reverb has a nice, warm sound that brings out the high strings. He says it works perfectly with the sort of pop/singer-songwriter music he plays.

He also lauds the Troubador for another reason, one that will appeal to all the singer-songwriters out there who toss their guitars and amps in the back of the vehicle and go. He says it is a tough amp. It also has the benefit of being small.

"Definitely roadworthy. I recently played a show outside of Boston with a band called Wild-Wood, and their violinist had the same exact amp. When I play solo-acoustic at private parties that I know are going to be small, I will bring the amp instead of a whole sound system. It's a lot less of a set up and more time for me to rock out." he says.

Keep an eye out for Babini's EP and also a single, My Direction, to be released on iTunes.