Alto Professional out of Rhode Island has announced the appropriately named Busker battery powered portable amp/speaker for street musicians, DJs, party performers, and "anyone and everyone who wants to be heard."
The portable PA sports a rugged road-ready exterior designed to "stand up to the grind," with a useful wedge shape at the back for wider dispersion. It can also be mounted to a pole "to keep your audience on their feet and immersed in your tunes."
Inside are a 6.5-inch woofer and a 1-inch tweeter rated to throw out 200-W of peak power, with a sound pressure level that maxes out at 106 dB and a reported frequency response of 60 Hz to 20 kHz. The 12-V6.6-Ah Li-ion battery will rock for 20 hours in standard operation, or up to 24 hours in eco mode – though output power dips to 50 watts for the latter.
The Busker weighs in at 11.9 lb (5.4 kg), comes with a built-in carry handle, and measures 11.8 x 8.6 x 10 in (299 x 219 x 254 mm). Solo performers can play with a backing band courtesy of tracks streamed over Bluetooth 5.0, and users can wirelessly pair to an optional second unit for stereo. Settings and sounds can also be tweaked via a companion mobile app.
Ins and outs shape up as two XLR/0.25-inch instrument combos, an aux input, one XLR line out, a RCA line out and a USB charging port. It features onboard effects powered by Alesis, including chorus, delay and reverb, so players can leave the pedal board at home. And there's phantom power available for condenser microphones, too.
The Busker is on sale now for US$399, making it a little pricier than the Cube Street II from Boss but not as expensive Korg's Konnect.
Product page: Alto Pro Busker
