" The amp is great, just going with 4 stars due to being shipped with a bad cable and I feel like the cab should be a 10” or 12” to woof enough air to chug better, but it’s quite the rock and roll amplifier!"

"I purchased this as a replacement for my Marshall AVT275. You're probably thinking, why switch from two 12'' speakers with 150 watts of Marshall power to a 20 watt head and 8" speaker? That's a very good question. The Marshall was simply too much - and I was looking to downsize. I'm a hobby guitarist who doesn't gig so I didn't need all that power. I live internationally and move a lot (about every 1 to 3 years) so I also wanted a lightweight, portable setup that could run on both 110v and 220v (without sacrificing tone and versatility). This rig fits the bill almost perfectly.

This head has surprising tonal range. The shape control and 4 stages of gain produce sparkling cleans, dirty tube pre-driven crunch, and screaming distortion - all with just three on-board controls (volume, shape, gain). There are no on-board effects so a reverb pedal is a must add. I put together a mini pedal board which I run primarily through the effects loop. The board consists of a tuner and compressor (direct in), and delay, reverb, looper, and passive attenuator through the effects loop - all mounted on an 18'' pedalboard. The result is a versatile rig in an extremely compact package. Plus it can get loud! I was shocked. Hook the head to a bigger cab and you can gig with it. Unplug the cab from the head, plug in some headphones and you can practice silently.

If it's so great, why the 4 stars? I'd give the Micro Dark itself 5 stars, but 4 for this combo. This head really needs a 10'' or 12'' cab to reach it's full potential. The 8'' cab, while great for portability, lacks the low end needed for this amp to really shine. With the 8" cab the muted low end chunk really suffers when the gain is all the way up. I was also disappointed in the headphone cab simulator. It models a 4x12'' cabinet but still lacks smoothness and warmth. I've found most cab simulators to be a bit harsh sounding through headphones (even the Marshall Cab sim on the AVT275). It's missing the aux-in of it's its predecessor, the Micro Terror, but the Terror didn't have an effects loop - so that was the trade off. I'd choose the fx loop over an aux-in, but the inclusion of both would have made this the perfect practice amp set-up. There are some great product demos on YouTube that show off the versatility in tone that were very influential in my decision to purchase. Overall, I'm extremely satisfied. It met everything I was looking for: it's lightweight and portable, runs off of an external power supply that can receive 110-240v (perfect for international use), and doesn't sacrifice tone. Great purchase."

"I was recently recording in a studio and I played through an Orange brand Duel Terror amp and was really impressed. So in my research to purchase a small amp for my 22 year old daughter, my curiosity led me to looking at the Orange Tiny Terror and this one, the Micro Dark. I really didn't need an amp as I'm currently using a Randall half stack, but I became more and more intrigued. What sold me was the price, I wasn't going to spend a ton of money when I already had a nice amp, and my experience with Orange in the studio. And then it arrived. If you are considering an amp of this size, you can stop looking right now! This little thing can hang right in there with my 100 watt Randall half stack and the 100 watt Marshall half stack I owned before it. And when I say "little", I mean tiny!!! You have to see it to believe it. Now let me say my taste leans towards hard rock and metal, even though I've written and played pop, rock, hip-hop and r&b. That said, I love the distortion tones I can get from the "shape" and "gain" knobs on this model. (I also bought my daughter a Fender Acoustasonic 15 with a chorus effect for her since it will fit her style of music much better when she is playing out. That's a nice little amp too.) So if you like it heavy, buy this amp, at least the head although the cab isn't bad for $100. But before you do get the Micro Dark, watch the Youtube videos that compare it with the Micro Terror side by side. There is a difference in sound, it just depends on your own preference. So you can stop looking. I don't believe you will find anything that can top either of these "micros" for the price."