Valeton Rushead Max Pocket Guitar Headphone Amplifier

Good until it stopped charging

Update July/26: Has been great for a year and a half, but no longer charges properly. Shows full bars when plugged in to the charger, but when you unplug it it goes down to two bars, and gets very hot while charging. I left it plugged into the fast charger for my phone overnight, which I haven't done before, and I think that fried it. Usually it's not a good idea to leave lithium battery powered devices on a charger if they are already full. I would still recommend this product and I'm getting another one. Highly recommended, just use a regular low watt usb charger/laptop usb and unplug when charged. This product really has no competition.

Original review: Fantastic product! So many sound variations, and it's powerful. Connected to a Bluetooth speaker it sounds like I'm playing on a full size amp. The line in for auxiliary works great and you can mix what you're playing with what you are listening to in the headphones, or output to your Bluetooth speaker with an aux cord. Loads of fun and you can create some really cool sounds, or jam to music or drum tracks on your phone. Great battery life. The unit feels heavy and well made. It's like having an amp with effects pedals built in. Very convenient for practicing in quiet environments, or connect to a speaker and rock your world! Highly recommended. My only suggestion is if a longer cable were included which would make it easier to adjust the unit while you are playing eg. It would be on the end of a cord instead of on the bottom of the guitar where it's hard to get to. I will probably buy a male to female patch cord so I can do that. It's fine the way it is just get it set up the way you like, plug in and go. I was not expecting this to have so much power. A must have for anyone playing electric guitar or bass. Btw I did get a 3-ft male to female patch cord to plug the unit into, easier to access the controls while playing.

Taistick

October 15, 2024

Super fun

It fricken rocks. You can jam without disturbing others. You can even plug in your phone or other media to play along with your favorite music. Jam away!

It cranks out loud volume too. If you want to sound like a rockstar and polish your skills even when your roomies and/or wife and kids are sleeping or watching TV and still keep the piece this will do the trick. If you’re on the fence, just do it. Just get it and start jamming!

This transformed my playing enjoyment

I was hohum on the sound of my electric guitar playing until I purchased this ingenious device. What an array of sound effects it provides. A little confusing at first but over time I’ve settled on D+R, FL, OD with some Ambient for a psychedelic sound. Battery life is around 3-4 hours of playing. The only drawback is a light to moderate buzz noise produced in OD and DIST when gain is applied, not an issue when playing loud. This gizmo is my favorite music device just a game changer. The image shows my AV setup- Headrush into a small amp into a Bluetooth speaker -a rocking little lightweight setup for home and travel.

Love it!

Just what I was looking for. Simple, easy to use. Used a short 1/4 inch extension cord, and attached to my strap with Velcro. Out of the way now. Sounds good too. Definitely worth the price

This thing is insane !

The simplicity of the knob controls allowing such complex tweaking with so few knobs is very impressive. Just noodling around with the controls while playing 1 note I am able to get some very synth type sounds. While I wasn't expecting that it's a great bonus. It's a great little piece of gear especially considering the price. I would have given 5 stars but the output falls a little flat campared to my Lekato headphone amp... that thing is a beast. I will be jamming on this Headrush for a while as it does sound good too.

Sounds great

Very nice small gadget for your practice and jamming. Works like a charm.

This thing is amazing!!!!

This thing is amazing, awesome quality!!! The sounds that is put out is astounding. I use it on my acoustic as well as my electric from blues to country to really just fooling around it sounds awesome! The battery last me forever on a charge. Thanks Valeton for producing such an awesome product!!

J. Keegan

May 24, 2022

Every Electric Guitarist Needs One

This is my new favorite piece of gear. I was pleasantly surprised that it is USB C charging instead of micro USB. There is minimal buzzing/humming/white noise that traditional amps have. I really appreciate this because I have sensory issues with white noise. It's super easy to adjust settings while holding your guitar or setting it in your lap. It produces amazing sound so this is an accessory that is really good value for the money.

For a complete guitar noob, these mini amps are awesome

For someone like me, just starting guitar classes, these sound awesome and are extremely convenient. Practicing no longer requires setting up my amp and cables. Just plug in some headphones and the mini amp to my guitar and I'm ready. It has several effects you can manually control with the knobs on the upper side. Its rechargeable battery easily lasts the 5 hours advertised. The four LEDs on the left side act as a battery percentage display.

There are better mini amps but easily cost twice or thrice the price. And some don't even have all the effects this one has.

Freaking Amazing!

So I’ll start by stating I’m an absolute newbie guitar beginner but this unit sound awesome with a good set of headphones. My only experience is running my used Epiphone through a used Line6 Spider IV.. This little headphone amp is not only a great buy but allows practice where never available with out a powered amp waking up the neighbors. Great selection of amp styles and effects, you will be amazed. Check out some YouTube reviews and compare to the more expensive brand name amp versions and decide for yourself. As a beginner I found the Valetron Rushead Max to be a great buy for the beginner on a budget. You will not be disappointed.

Excellent device, but broke in half within 2 weeks

I really wanted to like this mini guitar amp as it had great sound & effects. Unfortunately, the connector broke within 2 weeks of light use, simply by plugging the darn thing in to my guitar! Unlike other guitar mini-amps, which use a fold-able plug/connector mechanism that rotates 180 degrees, the Rushead model is fixed and does not rotate. Definitely not durable as the design is flawed. See photo for the end result.

Be a rock star on the cheap

I put some research into finding a cheap headphone amp for my Squier Strat. I'm not a seasoned player, so I didn't want anything fancy and certainly nothing pricy. Since I registered my guitar on the Fender site, I get emails all the time offering me gear, and I noticed the Mustang Micro amp was very popular. I didn't even know they made amps you could plug straight into the output jack. I have decent Crate and Fender amps, but I have kids and can't exactly rock out, and it's too much gear to keep in the living room. We have a very old, battery-powered headphone amp, but it's bulky and shorts out, so this looked like something I'd like. But at $119, the Mustang Micro would cost almost as much as my Strat, which I don't need.

After extensive research, I decided on the Valeton Rushead Max amp, partly because it has multiple effects and had decent gain and overdrive sound, and also because it's USB chargeable. I considered the VOX and a couple of others, but this one was cheaper and had the sound I wanted - at least when others demoed it.

When I got mine, I was very pleasantly surprised at how great it sounds. The effects can be adjusted in mutliple ways (turn the ambient and mod knobs all the way down to turn them off), and the gain and overdrive controls will help you get the sound you want whether it's a blues, classic rock or metal tone - provided you have the guitar for it. The Strat is pretty balanced, so the Rushead Max suits it well. Size-wise, it sits on the body and out of the way, although you might consider an adapter cord to make sure you don't hit it or mess up the input jack. I got a 12-inch cord to go with it, which is fine when you're sitting in a chair. The box it comes in is nice and compact - you can fit it in a gig bag easily. All you need is the amp, some headphones and some picks and you can play anywhere.

About the only thing it can't do that I would like is to plug directly into a computer to record with it. The Fender Mustang does, but that's not worth the extra money to me. If you just want to jam and hear yourself in any tone from clean to metal, it's a great option for a small investment.

K

October 11, 2021

Totally Changed My Playing

If I could give this product a hundred stars I would. I bought this because I just moved from a house into an apartment and my partner works from home. Since we share the space she works in I can’t just blast my amps and work out things like theory or anything. I’d just been playing acoustic but let’s be honest, it translates different when you switch to an electric. With this little gadget I can be in the living room with my headphones on jamming away and she can’t hear anything over in the office. Fantastic!

The gizmo itself is really cool too. It has a good range of sounds and effects that give you a realistic idea of what your guitars pickups are actually pushing out. I had a Fender Mustang amp which sounds fantastic no matter what you push through it because of all the computers and simulators. This really opened my eyes to how much tone I was leaving on the table and convinced me to go out and get a different style amp to really open up my sound. I really enjoy this little thing. 5 stars!

If only I had known about this gadget sooner.

Love the operation, literally just what I was looking for and I didnt even know it existed. Could do with an adjustable joint on the audio jack to make it a little easier to see while adjusting or switching but at the same time that would be kind of unnecessary because once you know what each does it's easy to operate by feel. The material the knobs are made of is great too, soft and grippy, and feel very accurate in adjustments. This can be an awesome gift to a guitarist or bassist that doesnt have one. I'm sure theres other ways to use it in other music equipment. Would recommend out of 10.

¡Fabuloso!, gigante en sonido, pequeño en tamaño.

Es sorprendente lo útil que puede resultar este dispositivo, tiene una gran cantidad de opciones sonoras y prestaciones para practicar en silencio, sin molestar a nadie pero con el volumen e intensidad que necesitamos para ser felices tocando guitarra. El Overdrive es fabuloso, los efectos de modulación dan ese toque esperado que mejora la calidad del sonido.

Estoy muy satisfecho.

Great sound with questionable build quality

It's really convenient and portable. I hook it up to a portable mini speaker when I don't wanna use headphones. My only gripes about this is:

The jack has already started to feel slightly loose after only using it 5 times. I make sure sure to grab the top where the plastic meets the jack and pull out with care.

I wish the jack folded away.

I attached a video showing the jack getting more loose about every other time I use it. I wish it was built better because it really does sound good.

0:05

Plug doesn’t swivel, not very loud, lacking low end

Ok for the price (it was on sale on Prime Day), not super loud, probably better for bass than guitar. The controls seem more gimmicky than useful - not much low end, but that might just be me. The biggest downfall is that the plug doesn’t swivel which I didn’t even pay attention to (I just assumed it would), so it won’t work for a super angled/tight input like on my SR500 (see picture). I was going to buy a patch cord, but decided to return it and go with the VOX instead (which I’ve had before but it broke after several years). I liked the idea of rechargeable vs having to charge/replace batteries, but ultimately the cons outweighed the pros for me so this one is going back.

Great little amp...no longer charges =(

Love this little practice amp. Wife purchased for me at Christmas so I could practice quietly. Problem... it will no longer charge (see photo). So...I really got 5 months using this amp. Worked great while it charged, but it's dead in the water now.

Either way, LOVE the tones and the convenience of practicing anywhere...beware of the charging port.

Highly recommend

Very versatile. Perfect for a late night jam without waking the kiddos.

Very good🤌🤌

This thing is AWESOME and I would highly recommend to friends and people who wanna play guitar and need to be quiet or don't have the money to afford an amp. Although i have one issue. When you’ve been playing a lot and you’re hands are even the slightest bit sweaty, don't plan on changing the settings because those little rubber nobs are slipperier than a damn bar of soap in a prison shower. Otherwise its a great product

Doesn't fit in Ibanez Sound Gear bass guitar

I purchased this for my Ibanez SB500 bass, but the 1/4 Jack doesn't fit because the body surrounding the 1/4" jack is too narrow. I gave this device 5 star rating because it's fantastic overall, and sounds pretty good on my other bass, but I consider this a bit of a design flaw. The Vox series has a smaller male 1/4" jack and swivels, which makes it more versatile for the few of us who have this similar guitar body design. I've included a picture 'as proof'. I'd like to see a version 2 of this, with narrower jack and also a bass specific version, as distortion effects for bass use a very different EQ.

Perfect

Came quickly and exactly what I ordered. Great effects and versatility. Sometimes sounds a but off sometimes but is worth it for the price. Overall amazing product. Would buy sgain if I could.

Great value!

Honestly, I was blown away, mainly because I didn't have a lot of expectations regarding quality. Finally I'm able to play without my wife nagging me about the volume and also portable enough to just move when my son wants attention. Got it for $31.99 during Thanksgiving.

Pros:

-Great sound quality

-Easy controls

-Good range of sound

-Decent battery life ~4-5 hours, good for amateur use

Cons

-Should have bluetooth aux in else you still end up with a lot of wires limiting your freedom if you need a backing track.

-Could be great if it had some recording option, preferably via a USB connection as output jacks don't usually work as good mic inputs for PC.

-a little difficult to sit with this thing hanging out like that, I'm always scared it will break and I have to end up sitting very uncomfortably at the edge of my bed. I think it's specifically designed for playing standing up.

Convenient practice tool and more.

I am a bedroom guitar junkie like many.I purchased this purely out of curiosity for a headphone practice tool and was pleasantly surprised.The tone and sounds you can coax are pretty impressive for a relatively low cost.Ive attached a sound sample of my Epi LP headphone out to bluetooth speaker to give a small idea of what you can do with this near little device.The built in fx are a nice bonus for a simple plug and play experience.

0:14

It's worth it. You won't regret it.

Best forty bucks I've ever spent.

I got mine today, charged it up, plugged it in, and in seconds I was hamm-jammin in ambient mode. Very therapeutic for someone like myself with my daily life-struggles. I'm so glad I found this device.

Great amp with some nice sounds & features.

I have tried several amps of this type & this is the first that shows some really good engineering. It offers more features & functionality than most any other mini amp I have tried. It's easy to dial in the sound that you want & the controls are well marked. This amp works well with Strat type jacks as well as side jacks. One tip. For side jacks I use a 90 deg. adapter to get the amp oriented toward me. I put some rubber on the bottom of the unit so it sits flush with the guitar top. Perfect angle for easy access. Highly recommended.

Vox Should Be Worried

For the Price this thing absolutely ROCKS! Here is my favorite CRUNCH setting: Switches 1 - D+R, 2 - CH, 3-OD ... Dials using clock face time MINUTE HAND (like your looking at the minute hand of a clock): LEVEL - 43, TONE - 12, AMBIENT - 55, MOD - 40, GAIN - 20 ... Awesome battery life. It lasts way longer than my fingers do and I have decent calluses. I use Audio-Technica ATH-M50x Professional Studio Monitor Headphones with the Valeton Rushead Max and it sounds awesome. Would a $1700 HELIX sound better? Of Course! And it will give you hundreds of different sounds as well but for this CRUNCH TONE AT 1/40 of the price? This Head Phone Guitar Amp is Awesome.

squall-leonhart-8

January 17, 2020

Excellent Pocket Amp and Better Than Vox!

I was looking for an extremely portable amp that would be easy to carry in my backpack or luggage. I found the Vox amPlugs and thought those would be perfect since they are extremely small and I could plug them into any portable speaker I wanted, and even use my headphones for silent practice sessions at night. I had settled on getting the AC30 amPlug since it had some nice clean sounds and Vox's AC30 amp is a classic amp that many classic rock players use, but I primarily play harder rock and metal which use dirtier tones, so I was trying to decide which of Vox's dirtier amPlug models I wanted in addition to the AC30. However, I had this device, the Valeton Rushead Max, recommended to me, and after listening to a few videos and seeing a great Black Friday deal on it, I decided to go with this. I am very glad I did.

The Pros:

This is both very well built and extremely versatile. While I still don't have an AC30 amPlug (the clean sound on this is enough for me for now, though I will likely eventually get one and update this review when I do), I have read that they are somewhat flimsy. This pocket amp has no such issues and is very sturdily built. The sounds on this are also extremely versatile. Like most pocket amps and mini-amps, this has the basic volume, tone, and gain controls. However, the types of amps offered and the effects are where this pocket amp shines. Vox's amPlugs have only one amp per amPlug, but they give you three different channels (a green, orange, and red, and the sound gets increasingly dirtier the redder the color gets), but from what I have heard on YouTube, the channels on the amPlugs don't sound very different. On this Valeton pocket amp, they give you three different amps entirely. "CL" gives you a nice clean tone, "OD" gives you a hard rock-style overdrive, and "DIST" gives you heavy metal-style distortion, so you can switch between three of the most popular guitar styles all at, to quote AC/DC, a "Flick of the Switch". I mostly use the OD and DIST channels, and they both sound awesome. I also love being able to drastically switch sounds so easily, switching between the rock and metal tones I typically use all much quicker than dialing in the tones on my 20W Randall practice amp. Additionally, even mini-amps like the Nux or the Boss Katana only give you three similar options, so Valeton's pocket amp is on par with most mini-amps while being much smaller and letting you choose which speaker you want to use with it (when at home, I will typically grab the MOKCAO Power+, a speaker dock for the 2nd generation Echo Dots, which sounds surprisingly good for guitar and even rivals my larger 20W Randall practice amp, while on-the-go I will typically grab a little 808 NRG speaker, which doesn't sound as good but is significantly more portable). Lastly, this little device has a ton of available effects. Vox's amPlugs give you three different versions of Chorus, Delay, and Reverb, but you can only have one active at a time. Valeton's pocket amp lets you have Delay, Reverb, or Delay/Reverb active, and then you can add to that Chorus, Tremolo, or Flanger. It doesn't give you different versions, but you can change how each of them sound by adjusting a knob on the top of the device, ranging from not having any of the effect to having more of the effect.

The Cons (or Suggested Improvements):

While there aren't any major negatives about this device, I do have a few suggested improvements. The biggest is that I would add bluetooth. I know this device already has a ton of stuff packed into a small package, but bluetooth typically doesn't take up much space. Also, many speakers in today's world only use bluetooth, so adding bluetooth would make this pocket amp work with more speakers as well as eliminating messy cords. If possible, I would also make this pocket amp slightly smaller – when attached to the lower bout on my Les Paul, the top comes very close to contacting the ground when I have the Les Paul sitting on the floor, and I sometimes worry that the amp might get broken. Additionally, making it slightly smaller would increase portability. Lastly, I do somewhat agree with another reviewer on here who mentioned that it is a bit difficult to use for guitars where the input jack is on the lower bout, since you can't see the buttons. While I have mostly gotten used to controlling the knobs and buttons by feel, I think what would be nice is making the jack on the amp rotatable. Unlike on Vox's amPlugs, though, which rotate the jack side-to-side, I think it would make more sense to let it rotate front and back, that way those who have input jacks on the front of the guitar can leave it facing downward while those who have it on the side can have the jack on the amp rotated so it is pointing out of the main face of the pocket amp, making it easier to see.

Overall, the cons aren't hugely significant, and the pros make this one of the best pocket amps you can buy, especially if you are interested in versatility. If you know you want an excellent recreation of exactly one of Vox's amps, then one of the amPlugs might be better for you, but if you want something that will give you a plethora of different sounds on-the-go, then this is the pocket amp for you. The tones, particularly the overdrive and distortion tones, also sound excellent, so you are getting amazing tones (especially if you have a good speaker) in addition to superb versatility. I am blown away how Valeton, a company I never heard of until I found this device, managed to make a significantly better pocket amp than Vox, one of the world's leading manufacturers of guitar amps. The Rushead Max even lets you just charge the device by plugging a micro-USB phone cord into it, which is much more convenient than using batteries with Vox's amPlugs (even if you use rechargeable batteries, you still have to take them out and charge them, while the Rushead Max you can just plug in - it claims it only lasts 5 hours, but I think it lasts a bit more than that, since I have gone 2-4 days with hour-ish long practice sessions and I have only had it go down to 1/4 the battery dots left without charging). I still plan to eventually get Vox's AC30 amPlug, since the AC30 is such a classic amp, and when I do I will update this review to provide a more thorough comparison between the amPlug and this. Until I do, though, I think Valeton has put Vox to shame in the pocket amp department, and I highly and enthusiastically recommend the Valeton Rushead Max!

Updated March 14, 2020: As I said in the review, the little 808 speaker I was plugging this Valeton Rushead Max into sounded quite tinny while the MOKCAO Echo Dot base sounded really good. I was researching speakers the last few months to try to find if there was a smaller speaker than the MOKCAO that sounded significantly better than the 808 speaker, and I settled on getting the Vanzom Climber-Z speaker. It is about halfway between the 808 and the MOKCAO speaker in size, and it sounds much more like the MOKCAO speaker, possibly even sounding slightly better than the MOKCAO. Those are the only three speakers I have tried with this and out of those three I would recommend the Vanzom Climber-Z speaker - it is $60 new but there are frequently 20-25% off coupons on it, which brings the cost to less than $50 new. I did listen to a few speakers at Best Buy recently, and though I couldn't compare the sound directly since I couldn't bring the Vanzom speaker inside, I thought the Vanzom was clearly better than all of the UE speakers and all of the Sony speakers except for the XB41 (which was much more expensive and larger), and I thought the Charge 4 was only slightly bassier than the Vanzom (though also larger and more expensive) and the Bose Soundlink Revolve was only slightly clearer than the Vanzom (though also considerably more expensive). So, assuming that how music sounds through speakers is a good indication of how a speaker will work with this pocket amp, there are speakers that may sound better than the Vanzom, but for its size and price, I think the Vanzom is the best deal. I would definitely recommend the Vanzom Climber-Z if you want to play this through a portable speaker, or at least a speaker with 2 or more active drivers and 1 or more passive radiators should create a fuller sound which will make playing this through the speaker sound better.

Update January 1, 2021: A few months ago I finally got a Vox AC30 AmPlug, and I also replaced my main amp with a Marshall Code 50. First comparing the AC30 AmPlug to the Rushead Max, I found my previous thoughts based on YouTube videos to be pretty accurate. The Rushead Max in general sounds better, is more versatile, is more convenient with a rechargeable battery, and is sturdier. The two plusses I found to the AC30 AmPlug is that the foldable plug does make it slightly more portable when transporting it, and I prefer the slightly crunchy clean tones of the AC30 AmPlug versus the crystal clean, and to me almost bland, clean tone of the Rushead Max. After learning more about amp models, I would guess the Rushead Max's clean channel is based on a Fender amp, the overdrive channel on the Marshall JCM800, and the distortion channel on the Mesa/Boogie. Therefore, I did compare the Rushead Max's distortion channel to the JCM800 model on my Marshall Code 50, and I was surprised with how close it came. The Code 50 clearly had more details and intricacies in the JCM800 sound, but it also has a much larger computer and a 12" speaker. Considering how small the Rushead Max and Vanzom speaker are, the Rushead Max did a good job getting the general tone of the JCM800 down. Secondly, in addition to the new amps, I have more recently tried two smaller speakers with the Rushead Max, in an attempt to make it more portable. The first one I tried was a cheap, off-brand aux speaker, which is essentially just a very small speaker with a male aux jack attached, designed for use with phones to make them louder. It made the Rushead Max a bit heavy, but I found putting a rubber band around the amp/speaker connection and strapping it around a tone or volume knob kept it in place. It sounded better than I would have expected from such a small speaker, but it was still very tinny and muddy and had no bass. Also, playing the overdrive or distortion channel with high volume made it shake, and I'm sure the speaker could easily be broken if played on high volumes on the distortion channel for long periods of time. The second speaker I got even more recently was a JBL Clip 3. I found that the best way to make it portable is to hang the Clip 3 off of one of the top tuners and run a 3-4 foot audio cable from the Rushead Max to the Clip 3. The Clip 3 still lacked the bass of the Vanzom speaker, sounded a bit tinny, and did the weird buzzing thing, but it was a considerable improvement over the phone extension speaker. In comparison to that one, the Clip 3 was significantly clearer, does not shake at higher volumes on the distortion channel like it is going to fall apart, and also has a bit more bass to it. So while if you want the best sound with the Rushead Max I would still recommend a tabletop portable speaker, if you are looking for a super portable way to use the Rushead Max which would allow you to walk freely around the room, I would recommend the JBL Clip 3 hung over a top tuning peg. I did also try connecting an Aluratek Bluetooth 5.0 transmitter/receiver to the Rushead Max so it could wirelessly connect to my Vanzom speaker (which also uses Bluetooth 5.0), but I found the lag, while only being ~0.5 seconds, to be quite noticeable, so I would recommend a wired connection for this pocket amp. Lastly, I have attached a couple more pictures of the Valeton Rushead Max, this time comparing it to the Vox AC30 AmPlug, as well as a video comparing sound samples between the Rushead Max and AC30 AmPlug. The distortion tones were achieved on the Rushead Max by changing channels while the distortion tones were achieved on the AC30 AmPlug by increasing the gain.

Updated September 26, 2021:

I purchased a Diezel Herbert and an Alexander Jubilee Overdrive pedal a few months ago and was looking for an easy way to listen to them with headphones. Setting the Valeton to the clean mode and plugging into the output sort of worked but didn't sound the best, so I recently tried out a Boss Pocket GT, a Fender Mustang Micro, and a LEKATO Headphone Amp. The LEKATO was neat with cab sims and made the pedals sound the best when I only used a cab sim, but a clean setting on the Mustang Micro sounded pretty close just a little looser, and the amp models on the Fender were better even than the models on this Valeton headphone amp. I especially liked the Uber model on the Fender, which to my ears sounded fairly similar to the Diezel Herbert (my favorite of the two pedals). The Valeton sounds noticeably fizzier than the Mustang Micro, and the Mustang Micro is more compact and portable than the Valeton without being fragile like the Vox. The Mustang Micro also has more options. Though the Valeton does have a bit finer control over the options available, the knobs aren't super sensitive and after playing the Mustang Micro I realized the tone knob on the Valeton is slightly weird in that the volume decreases as you turn the tone down. Apparently one can also record with the Mustang Micro. I haven't tried it yet, but since this is the one I decided to keep out of the three new ones I tried, I definitely will try this at some point. Overall, I would recommend the Mustang Micro slightly more than the Valeton for its better tone, more compact size, and recording ability. However, the Mustang Micro is 3-4 times the price of the Valeton. I think it is worth it myself, but if you are on a budget and especially if you don't need to record, the Valeton is still the best headphone amp under $50 in my opinion. If you can find an extra $50 for a used Mustang Micro or a new one on sale, then I would recommend the Mustang Micro, though. I also added a couple more comparison pictures.

1:05

Great unit for any price, except for headphone jack

This is a great sounding little processor for your guitar. I have enjoyed it very much, unfortunately had to add my own cord and eliminate headphone in Jack. It did not hold up well and I'm very careful with my equipment. Otherwise an amazing sounding little unit.!!

Valeton Rushead Max: Nice for personal practice.

This is a step up in the personal practice headphone amp world. It's got a great sound, and a nice variety of effects and amps. There are two sets of effects; Ambient (delay, reverb, or D+R), and Modulation (chorus, tremolo or flanger). You can run one set or the other, or both, by adjusting the mix knobs for each set. In addition to mix, the knobs adjust other parameters too, like reverb add reverb, but also extends the delay time as you turn it up. The Amp section has clean, overdrive, or distortion, plus volume and gain knobs. You can get a LOT of different sounds. I think you could even use this thing live in a pinch, if you had the right cord! The USB charging is nice too. Well worth the $40.

16:06