Small Wonder

From the cult Foxgear pedal brand comes Baroni's latest innovation - a micro head that could just be the most portable amp out there

-  Nick Guppy

FIRST PLAY

BARONI AFK150 HEAD £549

WHAT IS IT? Affordable, super-portable 150-watt head, with vintage Italian styling complementing its hybrid design

Italy's contribution to the guitar universe is bigger than many people realise, with many famous brands including Eko, Binson and Meazzi, from Sicily, playing pivotal roles in the development of some of the biggest names in rock and pop. Today, Italy's amp and pedal scene continues to flourish. Here, we're looking at the new AFK150 compact pedalboard head from Ugo Baroni, a well-known amp and pedal designer from northern Italy, currently producing a range of Chinese-manufactured pedals under the Foxgear Distribution umbrella brand, which also includes Gurus - another well-known Italian amp and pedal builder.

The Baroni AFK150 is a hybrid design with a 12AX7-based preamp feeding a Class D output stage that's capable of delivering a respectable 150 watts RMS into a four-ohm load. Power comes from a universal switched mode supply that will accept anything between 100 and 240 volts AC, so you can plug the AFK150 into the wall anywhere in the world. Slightly unusually for a mains-powered device, there's no on/off power switch or external fuse access. The electronics fit into a sturdy cast alloy tray with the control panel forming the lid, secured by four Allen screws.

The backlit acrylic control-panel graphics pay a subtle tribute to Binson's classic Echorec spinning disk delays, made in Milan and famously used by Pink Floyd in the late 60s and early 70s, most visibly in the Live At Pompeii film. As well as making things much easier to see in lowlight conditions, it's a cool feature with plenty of vintage mojo. On our sample the backlighting was a little uneven somewhat dimmer on the lower half of the panel and on some of the connection labels along the top edge.