For guitarists, nothing puts a damper on a gig quite like the thought of having to schlep a big amp to the venue and back. Having to worry about parking close enough so that the amp lugging is bearable is the last thing I want to be thinking about as I get ready for a gig. Granted, guitarists don’t have it as bad as drummers do, but a 60 lb. amp is a 60 lb. amp.

For every roadie-less guitarist that shares these feelings, the answer may lie in the Lunchbox ($259 Street), which ZT Amplifiers dubs “The Loudest Little Amps in The World.” The Lunchbox is a 200W DSP-controlled, solid-state amplifier that is, literally, the size of a lunchbox (7.5" x 9.8" x 4.4"). Yet, it can hold its own against a full band.

The Lunchbox is outfitted with a proprietary 6.5-inch speaker and weighs in at 9.5 lbs. At first glance, it reminded me of the Gallien-Kruger 250 ML from the ‘80s, though the Lunchbox is definitely smaller and lighter. ZT Amplifiers offers the optional Lunchbox Carry Bag ($29 Street), which has a 3-inch-deep zippered pocket for cables and pedals. However, the Lunchbox can easily fit into just about any backpack, which is how I transported the amp and a Line 6 M13.

Fig. 1: The Lunchbox has a simple set of controls.

Happy Meal
The top panel of the Lunchbox has four knobs—Ambience, Tone, Volume, and Gain (see Fig. 1). The rear panel houses a Speaker Out jack that can be connected to a cabinet rated at 8 ohms or higher, a headphone jack with a volume knob, a Speaker On/Off toggle, and an aux input, which can be used for, say, connecting an mp3 player (see Fig. 2). The aux input is not affected by the gain knob, but the remaining controls do function with it. That’s good because, although the Lunchbox is not a high-gain beast, you can crank it up for a lead sound and not simultaneously distort your mp3 backing track in the process. When you plug into the headphone jack, the speaker is not automatically muted as expected. You will have to turn the speaker off using the On/Off toggle.

I initially expected the Lunchbox to sound small and boxy because of its size, and brittle because of its “tube-less” design, but I was pleasantly surprised. The amp has a surprising warmth to its fundamental sound, almost like a good tube amp, and it produces a fairly thick and meaty tone that is perfect for pop, rock, R&B, jazz, and country.

The Lunchbox uses digital signal processing to create its warm sound. After the initial input preamp, which is analog, the signal is converted to a 24-bit, 44.1 kHz digital signal. It’s converted back to analog after the Ambience control and fed into the power-amp section.

Ken Kantor, the amp’s designer and president of ZT Amplifiers explains. “The Gain setting is an analog control that determines the front-end gain of the preamp.  This can affect overdrive and can be used to adapt the signal level hitting the DSP, which in-turn alters how the DSP algorithms function. So, at volume levels below very loud amp clipping, the Gain can alter the tone, touch, and drive of the amp, and match it to different guitars and pickups. On the other hand, the Volume control simply turns up and down the signal going to the power amp stage.  It won't change the sound except via amp/speaker clipping.”

Obviously there aren’t too many bells and whistles with this amp—you’re not going to be able to get a Fender-like clean sound that is footswitchable to a Marshall-like roar. But heavier styles of music are certainly possible if you put the right pedals in front of the Lunchbox, and if you’re miked at a gig you should do fine, even on a big stage.

Fig. 2: The rear panel includes an Aux input so you can practice or perform with recorded tracks.

The Sound of Spring
Early editions of the Lunchbox came equipped with a Reverb control. The actual effect was very subtle and was not much like a spring reverb, as the name might imply. ZT Amplifiers described it as being akin to an open-back cabinet. On later models, to avoid confusion, this effect was re-named Ambience.

At higher settings, it sounds more like a chorus or maybe a Leslie-type effect that you would use for a quirky part rather than just leave on for added depth like you might do with reverb. Kantor explains, “As a hybrid DSP/analog unit, the Lunchbox uses a specialized audio DSP chip to handle some of the signal functions. This chip allows us to implement some of the proprietary algorithms that give us our sound and feel, as well as handling some more routine gain and EQ tasks. Committing to this chip, porting our code to it, etc, was done with the understanding that our supplier was about to release a certain type of firmware required to implement on-board reverb. They got as far as putting it into their chip's design library but, at the last minute, decided not to enable it due to some bugs. Facing a possible delay of roughly 12 months as well as the cost of a redesign, we tried to make the most of the situation. We did the best sounding reverb we could within the existing chip's limitations, but it wasn't enough. In an effort to make the knob at least marginally useful given the processor's capabilities, the Ambiance control was born. We think about this constantly, and experiment with ways to squeeze reverb into the current Lunchbox design.”

Meat and Potatoes
The Lunchbox is perfect for jazz gigs. Its rich, thick tones are excellent for both single-note lines and fat, extended chord voicings. I also wanted to see how the Lunchbox would hold up in a loud, un-miked situation with a band, so I brought it along to a gig at the Lovin’ Cup café in Williamsburg, Brooklyn with a funk/jazz band. My setup that night consisted of the Lunchbox, a Line 6 M13 stompbox modeler, and an XOX Audio Tools guitar, the Handle. Up against an electric bassist, keyboard player, tenor sax player, vocalist, and an ultra-loud drummer, I had no problems cutting through the mix. Unison lines with the sax player came out really clear, dense chords were never muddy, and my solos never got drowned out. The Lunchbox’s size meant that it was easy to elevate the amp for better projection, which helped me be heard.

Fig. 3: The Lunchbox Cab fits nicely under the Lunchbox amp.

I also tried the Lunchbox in a hard-rock setting with a full band. For this I enlisted a Radial Tonebone Classic pedal and, again, the Line 6 M13. Overall the results were good, although there were times when it seemed like the speakers almost couldn’t handle the input. I had the amp cranked all the way up for this session, and I imagine if I used an extension cab (discussed below) or were miked through a PA, I would have gotten better results for the louder and heavier applications.

To see how the Lunchbox fared without effect pedals, I maxed out the amp’s gain rather than relying on stompboxes for dirt. Using a humbucker-equipped guitar, I was able to get a nice bluesy crunch, which was perfectly useable, though I preferred using the Lunchbox as a platform for my effects.

Mini-Stack
Although the Lunchbox is pretty full sounding with its 6.5-inch speaker, there is no way you’re going to get the “oomph” of, say, a 4X12 cabinet. To address that, ZT offers the Lunchbox Cab ($99 Street), an extension speaker cabinet that enables you to create a mini-stack (see Fig. 3).

The Lunchbox Cab weighs just under 7 lbs. and may be the lightest speaker cabinet for guitar on the market. Even if you can’t get a lift from a band member, the bus ride wouldn’t be so bad with this setup. The Cab runs at 8 ohms, can handle up to 100W, and is outfitted with the same 6.5-inch speaker as the Lunchbox amp. Although I didn’t get a chance to try the Lunchbox Cab, I mated my Lunchbox with a Marshall cabinet and ran it with the Lunchbox’s speaker on: The combination sounded phenomenal.

Your Meal Ticket?
The Lunchbox sounds great, not just “good for what it is.” In fact, on several different occasions, I was complimented on my sound when I used the Lunchbox/Line 6 M13 combo. Unless you’re playing arenas, there probably isn’t a situation this amp couldn’t cover.

Even if you already own the holy grail of amps, at this price, the Lunchbox is worth getting even it’s just as a backup amp that you can use as-is or as a head to drive a bigger cab. Considering what you get for the money, the Lunchbox is virtually a must-have amplifier.

Pros: Small. Lightweight. Inexpensive. Lots of volume for an ultra-portable amp.
Cons: Lack of true reverb.

NYC-based guitarist Joe Charupakorn writes for Guitar Edge magazine and is a best-selling author and editor for Hal Leonard Corporation. Visit him on the web at joecharupakorn.com.