Amps, eh. We all need 'em to sit in a corner quietly making us loud, but we don't want to pay much for 'em... enter the TLA Mini Amp, a super-compact studio amplifier that delivers on both counts. Paul White takes the Mini for a drive.

Manufactured in the UK, the TLA Mini Amp is a compact, general purpose, solid-state (bi-polar) stereo power amplifier with a very respectable technical performance and a realistic price. Rated at 60W per channel into 8 ohms or 100W per channel into 4 ohms, the amplifier is surprisingly small, the top-mounted heatsink giving it a squat appearance that to my mind resembles a kind of cubist Bart Simpson or a surrealistic sculpture of a hedgehog! However, this particular hedgehog is very sturdily built in a heavy gauge steel plate chassis, so any lorries running over this little beast are likely to come off worst. Self-adhesive rubber feet are provided; it's advisable to fit these before standing the unit on any decent furniture.

Rear panel, electronically balanced XLR sockets are provided for the signal inputs, but jacks, which may be used balanced or unbalanced, are also provided. Power is via a captive mains lead and the speaker outlet is on a single Speakon connector. These are easy to wire up, though are not as convenient, at least to reviewers, as conventional terminals, but new European regulations seem likely to outlaw terminal connections for all but the lowest powered amplifiers. It seems that the idea is to build electronic equipment that remains safe, even when confronted by a maniac with a weak heart standing knee deep in salt water who's determined to explore every orifice of the equipment with a length of bare copper wire! Normally I would go along with this view, but including the speaker terminals of a relatively modestly powered amplifier seems to be taking things a bit far.

CONTROLS

The unit is turned on by means of a front-panel power switch which also activates a green On LED. The mains fuseholder is also positioned on the front panel, which is convenient in the event of a problem that needs to be sorted quickly, as is often the case at gigs. A further red LED indicates that the protection circuitry is operating. Normally this will only come on in the case of overheating caused by poor ventilation or an output short circuit, but it is also employed at switch-on to eliminate thumps, which is very welcome. Each of the two channels has its own level control in the form of a rotary pot, and there are also independent peak LEDs that show if either channel is being driven into clipping.

When in use, the amplifier is reassuringly boring — it is quiet, and at modest listening levels, runs only barely warm. Used with known CD source material and a pair of very good quality near field monitors, the resulting sound was smooth, transparent and quite free of audible vices. For home studio use where listening levels are unlikely to be excessive, this is an ideal little amplifier, though for users needing more power, all future models will include switching for bridged operation, where the two channels can be configured as one large mono amplifier. An optional 3U rackmounting kit is available for two Mini Amps.

CONCLUSION

Though power amplifiers are seldom the cause of great excitement, they are vital pieces of audio equipment and reliability is imperative — if your digital reverb goes down during a session you can usually get by, but if your power amp quits, you're well and truly stuffed. This little amplifier gives the impression of being quite tough in this respect, while its bi-polar circuitry produces the kind of subjective sound quality that should satisfy even the most discerning listener. The lack of fan cooling means that the amplifier runs silently — particularly important in home studios — and the compact format means that even home studio owners will have no problem finding somewhere to put it. Better still, it's a British product, so buy one now and help end the recession!

Further Information

TLA Mini Amp £351.32 inc VAT.

Tony Larking Professional Sales, (Contact Details).