Palmer Pocket Amp MK2 Guitar Preamp

My application for this unit, is to use it as at a pedal-based clean platform amp to use in conjunction with an FRFR-speaker and with some compact pedals I particularly like.
The quality of the sounds has greatly improved since the Mk1-version, although I tend to stick to the the vintage clean preset. This presents me with a decent and tweakable Fender-esque clean canvas.
The pedal is very suitable to use in combination with other pedals.
The built in XLR-out is not at all good-sounding, so an additional amp sim-DI or IR-loader is advisable before going straight into the board.
As a stand alone unit, it is very practical (e.g. hotel room playing with headphones) but the sounds of the higher gain stuff are not very convincing.
Sonically, neither the Mk1 or the Mk2 can really compete with the Tech-21 GT-2 SansAmp the design was clearly based on.
Overall, a practical little unit with some pretty nice features; if it were really suitable as a one-stop solution for amp modeling, amp sim AND DI, this would potentially be a five star product on pedalboards everywhere. Maybe the Mk3-version? I would happily pay quite a bit extra if the DI were more usable (and included amp sim functionality, e.g. Palmer pdi 03 jb).

Currently using in a small church.
This guitar preamp is great for playing in places where you just cant use your amp, in my case is just very complicate to use my amp with a very low stage volume, so this was a great tool for me.
Also its very useful for practice at home, you can plug your computer or phone in with a mini jack and just plug your headphones directly in it.
You can cut some bad frequencies with it (great tool in live playing).
For me the sound is very accurate and similar to some amps, however its not the same, but some times you just get tired in carrying around your 30kg amp to every small gig...
This can save your back some pain and can save your gig.
The xlr out is just great!

This box is ideal for taking the most established electric guitar sounds available everywhere you go. It is well suited for studio recording and rehearsing, since it also emulates cabinet microphone capturing.

* Build *
Solid 10 x 10 cm aluminum box, no loose parts. Its controls rotate smoothly and its switches are snappy. The foot switch is strong with good feedback. I have not used the power input and the XLR output. The jack connectors are just good: neither loose, nor too resisting. Overall, the box offers the impression of rugged quality.

* Features *
Very easy to handle. No on/off switch. When fitted with a 9v battery it starts up when the input jack is connected.

In terms of distortion, the Pocket Amp offers the three most used classes of effects: the vintage clean to smooth overdrive, the British-style emphasized-mids heavy or "lead" sound and the high-gain bassy treble modern metal distortion. Three levels of distortion can be picked using the "Mode" selector. Separate gain control.

The two band equalizer controls (for bass and treble) and a choice of three filters which emulate cabinet microphone recording offer an authentic and complete guitar sound. The sound processing can be completely bypassed using the foot switch.

* Minuses: the microphone emulation cannot be disabled, making it impossible to just get the distortion signal out.

* Sound *
The distortion effects are, as far as I can tell, quite pure and accurate. In comparison with other effects I have used, they don't have emphasized bass or highs by themselves. The EQ is powerful and it really makes a difference. I rarely encountered little noise, at high gains and volume.

* Minus: The lack of a mid EQ band control may be limiting.

Update: after not much use, the switches and pots became noisy and the switches sometimes stop in inconsistent states (where a slight touch change the tone, you are not sure what is actually selected)

I use it as a backup for my guitar amp, but I'm thinking about leaving the amp and only using the Palmer from now on. It doesn't have a lot of options, but it is good, at everything it does.

The unit is built like a tank. Very nice and sturdy aluminium housing, good quality knobs and switches. All connectors are also first class. I love, that it has a headphone out, makes it a perfect bedroom amp.

The sound it produces is amazing. And it goes from crystal clear to crunch to cranked fullstack.

The only downside for me is that it doesn't run from phantom power over the xlr. Otherwise it is perfect.

So it's not the poor man's Kemper, and it probably doesn't aim to be, but it's hard not to like this little, sturdy metal box which offers excellent features when used as a demo/home/on-the-road sketchpad for guitar ideas & sounds, but also offers decent enough tonal quality to end up being used on some actual recordings, or in some volume-constrained live situations.
It lacks an fx loop i/o or a high/low sensitivity input, but it does have other goodies such as a phones output and a stereo line aux input for background audio practice purposes.
More importantly, the 3 amp types are relatively realistic and the 3 sound modes are not bad, never too sterile or fizzy or cheap sounding (Palmer has always known what they are doing, when it comes to guitar sounds!), and the 3 simulated microphone positions for the cabinet simulations are quite convincing.
A little winner!

I bought this product to have a cheap back-up in case my tube amp fails during gigs, and just a smart exercise tool (instead of the bigger and harder to feed line6 Pod xt) to use direct in my audio interface or with earphones. I soon realised how useful it is as a "replacement" of amp miking during gigs too and a wonderful rehersal tool inside my pedalboard: I no longer need to bring my amp with me so far a mixer and PA is available!
You also have integrated DI out.
I run the Pocket amp at the end of the pedal chain and the sound is dinamic and real: works incredibly similar to my amp. I already used it for some recording of guitar lessons as well and worked really good. I really recommend it!