Yup, I'm in agreement with that. I've seen buskers who seem to be on such an ego-trip that they would consider a 2k rig somewhat under-powered!!

However, let's not forget some buskers play solid body guitars that sound a bit naff unless amplified, and the Ashton looks to be good value for money in that respect.

Shame the mic input is a jack, though - in this day and age pretty much everyone uses balanced XLR rather than a jack. Matching transformers are available, though you'd be stuffed if the mic needed phantom!

Ashton claim 8 hours average battery life from the internal re-chargeable... if you aren't getting that, maybe the battery needs replacing? Or maybe you're just driving it a bit hard?!

We have some Fohhn FP2+ units in our hire, which easily do 8 hours or more, and have built in UHF radio receivers so they can run completely wireless. Mind you, they're not exactly cheap...!!

We had to change all the sealed lead acid internal batteries last year, as they weren't holding a charge any more... now they're fine.