Sonicake Pocket Master just arrived - nano size effects processor for £50

[lemmywinks]

Been after something for quiet portable practice and song learning for a while with some very specific requirements, it had to be tiny, have bluetooth audio streaming from my phone, rechargeable, have a built in tuner and be able to drive headphones. Didn't need anything else, also had to be cheap because I don't like spending money. The Ashdown Tone Pocket seemed to fit the bill (regular and BT versions currently on sale) but I was a sick in my mouth at the prospect of buying a device that uses Micro USB in 2025.

 

So anyway I bought this:

https://www.sonicake.com/products/pocket-master

 

First off it is truly tiny - just 104mm x 85mm x 29mm so about the size of a cigarette packet. All plastic but feels well built for home use, screen is nice and the buttons feel decent. Can get going straight away by powering the unit on and either using the jog wheel or buttons to cycle through the pre built patches. Tapping the jog wheel cycles through BT on/off, volume and patch selection. You can exit menus by tapping both buttons, all pretty intuitive.

 

I couldn't get this to pair with my phone straight away but after pairing it using the SonicLink app (which enables you to manage the patches via your phone if you so wish) I could add it as "Pocket Master Audio" from the regular bluetooth menu allowing me to play backing tracks over my phone. Bass sounds good through it, enough volume and clarity for headphone practice which is all I really bought it for, most of the presets and amp/cab sims are for guitar but it does have some dedicated bass effects, the eq and comp pretty good. As usual there's loads of over the top presets (50 factory, 50 user) but the standard "Basic Bass" patch is good for me. You can add your own IRs in (up to 5) via the Sonicake software.

 

Can also use it as an audio interface and it has a basic drum machine, unlikely I'll ever use these but they're there.

 

All in all it more than does what I bought it for and came in at £50, really convenient as you just plug your bass and headphones in and away you go which is what appeals to me the most as it's great for short sessions. The one downside is that there's no dedicated 3.5mm headphone jack so you have to use a 1/4" adapter.

 

Here's my rubbish picture to prove I'm not shilling for some random company, as you can see it's about the length of a Neutrik jack plug. Crazy stuff.

 

Edited Wednesday at 18:02 by lemmywinks

[madshadows]

Been watching some YouTube vids of this little unit, seems really useful and I want one for home practice  

 

 

John 😎  

[lemmywinks]

6 minutes ago, madshadows said:

Been watching some YouTube vids of this little unit, seems really useful and I want one for home practice  

 

 

John 😎  

 

 

It nails the convenient home practice angle, just plug your bass and headphones in and that's it. I'll try this on it later tonight:

https://shift-line.com/irpackbass

[lemmywinks]

Been having an issue with the app on my current phone, it will connect to the Pocket Master but no effects or patches show and you can't do anything. Got it working on my old phone and managed to get those free cab IRs linked above loaded which was pretty straightforward - just click on any patch, select the IR slot, click the cab selection window in the lower section, press "User IR" and click the 3 dots. Can get all 5 slots loaded from there.

 

Will see how they sound later, this was all I needed the app for but hopefully they update it sooner rather than later.

[lemmywinks]

Sonicake have just updated the PC software, Android app and firmware for this, the app still doesn't work on my main phone but you can now manage effects and IRs from your computer which is probably more useful for me as my tablet runs Windows 11. They've also added a couple of bass effects (Voks and VT, assume Vox and SVT amps) as well as a bass drive.

Edited 1 hour ago by lemmywinks