Hotone Ampero Mini

The Hotone Ampero Mini is a palm-sized amp modeler and effects processor, described by Bass Musician Magazine as a unit that "packs a serious punch despite its small footprint"¹. Hotone's smallest fully fledged amp modeler pedal, it puts the power of the pedalboard-friendly Ampero II Stomp into an even smaller package, measuring just 134 x 120 x 49mm and weighing 529g¹².

Inside is a dual-DSP platform spearheaded by an NXP RT Series A main processor, running 24-bit conversion like the full-sized Ampero before it²³. The model library covers 199 effects, 52 amps and 50 cabinets, with up to nine effect blocks running at the same time³. Guitar World reported a $255 price at launch²; Gearnews' same-day coverage listed the Vanilla variant at $145.00 in a Thomann listing, with a €229 pre-order price, so the launch figures from the two reports disagree³.

What the Ampero Mini does

The Ampero Mini is a complete rig in a stompbox-sized box: amp and cabinet modeling, a full effects library, a looper and a drum machine. The looper records 100 seconds of mono or 50 seconds of stereo loop time, and the drum machine offers 100 patterns³.

Guitar World described the unit's promise as regular Ampero performance in the smaller chassis²:

For bass players, the amp block includes 5 dedicated bass models, and the presets cover a wide range of bass territory. Bass Musician Magazine's Cláudio Ribeiro found the presets "range from classic rock bass tones, like an Ampeg emulation paired with an 8×10 cab, to more niche sounds such as" a slap preset with a fast compressor into a 4x10 cab¹. He also highlighted the drive section as bass-friendly:

Touchscreen, footswitches and jacks

The Mini is operated primarily through two footswitches and a 4-inch touchscreen¹. The small display compensates for the reduced control set: it handles navigating amp and effects models, arranging them into preset slots, and tweaking all available parameters². Gearnews noted the "pure touch operation on the 4″ display which boasts super smooth operation and can detect scrolls via" dragging a finger across the screen³.

Around the back, the connections are minimal by multi-effects standards:

The EXP/CTRL jack is the expansion point: plugging in an expression pedal or extra footswitch expands what the two onboard switches can reach¹.

Power and connections: USB-C, stereo via Y-cable

The USB-C port changes firmware as well as presets in the editor, and a companion app is available for PC and Mac for those who prefer a larger interface¹³. Stereo is handled through the single output jack, which also handles stereo via Y-cable³, so running two amps or a stereo front-of-house feed means adding a splitter cable rather than plugging into a second jack. That is the main practical difference from the larger Ampero II units, which carry dedicated pairs of stereo outputs⁴.

Where it sits in the Ampero series

The Mini promises regular Ampero performance and authentic sound, with faithful dynamic variation and like-for-like recreations of modeled gear². The line began with the original Ampero, an amp model and effects processor in a road-ready, light-weight aluminum casing with 60 cab models⁵. The compact Ampero One followed as a downsized sibling⁶.

The second generation arrived with the Ampero II Stomp in November 2021, a compact pedalboard-friendly chassis with a four-inch dynamic touchscreen, three assignable footswitches with halo LEDs, and a dual effect chain supporting up to 12 simultaneous effect modules⁷⁸. The Ampero II Stage followed in October 2023 as the third iteration of the Ampero II collection, with eight LED footswitches versus the original four⁹. The Mini slots underneath all of them: Ampero II Stomp power in an even smaller package, with the simultaneous effect count scaled from 12 down to 9²³⁸.

What reviewers said

Bass Musician Magazine's 2024 review judged the Mini a compact, feature-rich unit that caters well to bass players, while noting DSP and touchscreen limitations¹. The review's praise centered on the bass-specific content: the dedicated amp models, the range of usable bass presets, and the distortion's blend control that keeps the low end intact even under heavy fuzz¹.

Gearnews' launch coverage emphasized the value angle, calling it smaller, cheaper and powerful, and pointing out the 24-bit dual-DSP architecture carried over from the full-sized Ampero³. Guitar World's news piece highlighted the same DSP platform and the six color options as the headline features at the $255 launch price².

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