Toast of the Tone

When I see unique gear / equipment, I often find myself asking, "how in the hell did THAT come about." But a vintage toaster . . . as a guitar amplifier??!! Really - I thought I'd seen it all.

The folks at Hottie Guitar Amps apparently saw a need for a toaster-housed guitar amplifier, and by golly, they jumped on that train - - big time! What ensued is something of a novelty, though well-rooted in terms of functionality. All things considered, one might begin to wonder a bit about a person who would drop $200 on a what I would term as conversation piece, more or less.

Hottie starts out with a vintage American toaster housing into which they install solid state amplifier circuitry, a 6" speaker (Jensen MOD), and a line out (*to drive an external cab). If anything, it's an ingenius idea, and most certainly from the aspect of saving those classic American toaster chassis from the landfill. But the real question - - how does an amplifier in a toaster sound? Actually, not as bad as one might think. Here's a You.Tube link to Hottie's Guitar World demo video.

My take: the line-out sound ain't half-bad, in kind of a C.C. DeVille (Poison) meets Joey French (Twisted Sister) kind of way. The toaster-only tone . . . eh, not so good.

Anyway you slice it (*man, I just kill myself), Hottie's toaster amp breaks new ground in the world of appliance-based music gear. One thing's for certain: breakfast will never be the same!! - - J.