Unboxing a Super CHEAP Tube Amp...and it's ACTUALLY Good!
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- Опубликовано: 1 окт 2024
- 100w Tube amps are usually insanely expensive! Thankfully there are some budget options! Let's check one out!
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SOLI DEO GLORIA!
I always love to feature budget gear on my channel, but I never thought a 100w tube head could be this cheap!
Amp info: amzn.to/3WxK1eq
Enjoy :)
Did you mention what SPEAKER CAB you were playing through? And SOLI DEO GLORIA, indeed!
MENTION the *"CAB"* also - just for everyone's *"REFERENCE"* 💯% . . . ☝🏽 ✅️ 👌🏽 👍🏽
This amp represents everything that has made tube amps legendary. What a killer sound you can get out of it! 👍👍👍👍👍
@@lastdance2006 Lol.....because the demand went up.....everyone's been talking on the net about them for awhile- those is how Amazon works.....greedy process hiking when in fact the price should LOWER the more you sell not RAISE. It's backwards.....but the "hype"about these amps is big enough that they are still selling fast as hell. MUCH LIVE my friend!
@@lastdance2006 it's hard to say man.....Amazon definitely raises prices on hot sellers tho...that much I've seen happen time n time again ❤️
Sounds fine but pull the chassis and see how well it is NOT built. You are getting nothing more than what you paid for. Far better off spending more and getting more as it will serve you far better in the long run with reliability and repairability. A well built valve amp will not be cheap such as this example sorry as it's cheap for a reason.
hm not too exciting at all to be honest here this is just another chinese copycat version of the crappy peavey windsor apparently, you can get these from other chinese brands for around 350-400$ so not very cheap to be honest the new marshall dsl 100 head is @ 750€ here in germany for comparison (while there is just no comparison..) 🙏🙏
$650 is "budget"? 😮
Can you PLEASE review the Xavier XV-872 ST with GF/Trons? Thank you so so so much!!
I'm still rocking the 15w combo ftom a few years ago. I retubed and rebiased it and it sounds great!
Manual bias pot?
For 3 to 4 hundred bucks more you could have got a Marshall 100w HR its what I got and I love it
It better. It's a Laney Cub, 12r in a different cab.
@@hadleymanmusic yes
@@J.C... good it can run hot or cold. When the 5150 came out it reminds me of a cold bias amp. So Ive always said, "oh they sound like cold turkey"
Why not mentioned the cab your using??
Few bucks more and you can go name brand.
never heard a tube amp sound so brittle, you won't be getting Gran Hechicero tones with that thing!
This arrived this week; purchased on your recommendation. You’ve never failed me in the past. Placed it with a Marshall 4X12. The headroom is Fantastic. The clean channel sings! Clarity and immense volume and presence. The dirty channel really did not impress me at all. Just wasn’t achieving a tone that I believed should be coming from the amp. Went back to the clean. Really enjoyable. The Reverb comes through great, although I prefer my TC Sky Surfer for Reverb that suits me. Placed my Marshall Bluesbreaker pedal in front of the amp, and my pedalboard through the effects loop. This is a game changer for Me! I got all the sound and tone that I use and like with this going through the clean channel. Dunno about the dirty channel. I will have to play around with it. The power is exceptional. The 100 watts truly gives you the sound that you Feel!!!… but for me, on the clean channel. Kinda lengthy, just wanted to give my honest opinion. Thanks Darrell.
At LEAST it didn't come BROKEN!
Hey Darrell:
Can I suggest a RUclips collab video with an amplifier repair specialist, say Lyle Caldwell from Psionic Audio or Terry Dayton at D-lab electronics, so we can see where they cut corners on the construction and what any recommended upgrades would be.
This
They cut corners on labor. China.
Pretty much $1000 with tax for Canadians if you get it from Amazon, and easily over $1000 from Monoprice themselves. Not what I would call cheap.
Great review...great sound! I bought a SR 30 head with the 1x12 cab just about 2 years ago. $480. Can't beat it. It does have the full size chicken head knobs (so good there) but has that darned mirror back that makes it hard to read the knob's labels etc. so I created my own labels and placed just below the knobs. Some day I may just screen my own back and put it in there. Anyway, love the amp. I catch some crap from some amp snobs but even they admit it sounds great...even just the 30 watt!
Clean has a nice sound but the Gain sounds a bit anemic in comparison. Also the Reverb was quite lush. For the $$$ its a Good value though.
He should have tried a TS or a SD-1 in front of it.
$650 for a new 100 watt tube amp. Nice.
I need a living room amp with 3-5 watt but very hard to get. I want a 12 inch speaker in it not a 10 inch…
@@1972Georges Get a Bugera V5 & a 12in in a spkr box?
@@1972GeorgesVox ac 15
MENTION the *"CAB"* also - just for everyone's *"REFERENCE"* 💯% . . . ☝🏽 ✅️ 👌🏽 👍🏽
What CAB/IR were you using?
Liked the clean channel but not so much the distortion channel
Im a huge Fan of your show! AND we share our last names. Are you originally from Germany? I mean, your ancestors. Must be. We are Swiss (Switzerland not Sweden) 😂. But I Got German ancestors.
Something about the drive channel didn't sound right. The clean was pretty decent though. Perhaps this could be set to clean with drive/distortion pedals before the amp?
$650 is far too much for this amp, for not much more you can get a evh 5150 iconic, for less you can get a orange tube amp used. that amp should be $300 max 😂 don't misunderstand it does sound pretty good, but what are they smoking? they aren't a top end brand and the drive channel even double tracked is too bright for being at noon.
With the right cab I bet this would be great If starting out with tube amps and wanting to test Waters. If the QC is on point. Seem the 15 w was a huge HIT.
@Rob K LOL. I'm sure many today like me are fine with digital...or SS. I use a multi pedal. Me80. I definitely not a tube snob. But the ridiculous prices for them is why I cannot see purchasing them. I get great tones for me on much lighter products. Haha
Thanks for the review ! Nice clean but the dirty channel is really not that good...
You can get a used Marshall or Mesa Boogie 100watt head used for around this price or even cheaper. Used they would will be a day and night better than this head.
It does sound great. But when you're in the $650 plus tax realm you can get a Fender Bassman Silverface head. I'd probably go that route. Some good used stuff in that range.
Not sure people need a cheap 100w head anymore. If you're playing out in large enough venues to need one you'll spring for a better head. I have a Marshall Origin 20H. Gets a better crunch tone. Just gotta learn the proper settings. They aren't intuitive. First thing is to turn the treble all the way down and use the presence and tilt for treble. Plus it doesn't need to be biased and uses half the tubes. Loud enough for today's sound requirements..
How do you do this and not mention it's a Monoprice product? They are well known for value.
Yeah I didn't think sounded all the good either , like many others who didn't like it.
$650 is pretty good but you could get a used Marshall dsl 100hr for $750!
The gain channel is too thin and anemic. Maybe adding some bass might help, or just add a kickass distortion pedal.
Agree - it went from ice pick to SUPER ice pick!
$649 is not budget. I just picked up a Crate 33V Tube Amp With V212B 100 Watt 2x12 Cabinet And Foot switch for $149.
Used
the distortion sounds just crappy to me but that is not really "cheap" and there are just a lot better options in this price range imo like blackstars, marshall dsl, hughes & kettner, laney, EVH, peavey....just to name a few here, cheers 👌🎸
Agreed, nothing special about this. The center of the mid frequency seems poorly tuned, unrefined and unfocused - and doesn't do guitar many favors.. For the same money, one could do better.
@@BrewReview I think the appeal is in the power rating, which is really a moot point these days anyway...but then again I'm a vintage snob
Believe it or not everybody, the best tone in my life I've gotten in person both in the studio and performing live was always an SG through a fender twin with the two tone controls and to volume controls on the guitar with the humbuckers and those pure classic tubes the clean sound was out of control without any effects whatsoever and the distortion was unbelievable and whenever I wanted high-gain and saturated creamy sustaining type of distortion I simply put a quality distortion pedal
You need to hear this head in person. Paired to a good cabinet with good Soeakers. It sounds better than an old skool Marshall Jcm 800 😂
@@ericsivilla4091 not a smart investment at all..a real jcm 800 is highly collectable and will just increase its value over the time, i have a jcm 800 2203kk kerry king signature, paid 600€ for it, now its wort 2k, just to say..in contrast to that, you will also just lose money if you try to sell this cheap clone here again, cheers 🎸
Great video! I bought the Stage Right 50 watt tube combo amp on sale for $399 and I really like it. I use a Digitech RP 300 multi effects unit that has amp modeling and I get everything I want out of it. I may upgrade the speaker eventually but it's alright with what it has for now.
The drive channel lost all bottom end. The clean was actually beautiful but the dirty channel....well nope!
??? I was looking for their stuff and someone gave me a Fender, Hot Rod Deluxe Mod 3. We both had Uncle's that died and he doesn't play a guitar, but he like to fish so I gavel him all my dad's fishing stuff, good trade. Now I own 2 tube amps, a T-50 by Bugera and the Fender 40 watt. I'm a happy person. This year is a cool year.
Thanks Darrell!!
One kind correction…
The Stage Right SB20 you mentioned is actually a 50 watt tube amp, not a 20 watt.
It is hard to figure why they chose to make the model name so confusing. I have an SB20 and it is a nice amp. I only use it for cleans. The distortion channel isn’t very good. But I always get my distortion from pedals anyway.
clean side of the amp sound great the dirty side needs some work cause i noticed that it made the humbuckers sound really thin and most likely it's a cap that has a weak microfarrat signal other than that it's a good amp to get you into the world of tube amps. you should have a look into the jet city amps they're like a low end soldano for around the same price. nice vid
Great work, DB. As always. But I question just how necessary a monster 100 watt tube head is anymore, given the advent of all the great technology available these days.
Lots of people still leave an amp at their practice/jamming space, where many do not have a PA, everyone just has their own rig. You could even use something like the tonex, or a quad cortex + poweramp to make a portable version of your jam space rig. Im pretty sure a lot of gigging musicians these days actually go a route like this. And until profiled rigs perfectly capture the feel and response of a rig (its getting spooky close, it wont be long), rather then just the sound, i feel like this will still be fairly common. I, as well as many other that have nothing bad to say at all about the sound of profiling solutions, (basically no one can tell them apart by sound samples alone, thats already astonishingly uncanny), still prefer the feel* of playing through a real valve amplifier, and in our jamming space, want the clean unboken headroom an amp like this provides (maybe your a pedal-hound, or just l;ike to use totally pristine cleans)
it has to be light or I am out.
I remember how people would totally dismiss the Peavey Windsor and the B52 AT/St lines which were still cheaper than this and had very solid construction. Now these cheap alternatives are all the rage.
B52's were totally underrated
Peavey Windsor was a great amp. Unfortunately, the Peavey customer base during it's run was focused on the 5150/6505, or the Classic series.
It comes from Monoprice.
I’m giving up on tube amps. Been lugging big heavy amps around for decades. I have three of ‘em. One needs new capacitors at this point. So I’m going to do that, then sell it (fortunately it’s a very collectible amp, and I will not lose money). The other two will be sold within a couple years, before they too need new capacitors.
I always love your videos. This amp has great clean sound. I can honestly say I am even less interested in tubes which need more maintenance and more interested in solid state amps that sound good. You should do a show on t hat!
Solid state gets a bad rap sometimes. There are some killer S.S. amps out there for sure. And way less maintenance.
Hello Darrell,
I am a new subscriber.
Just be warned they can and have changed the Power Amp Tubes to something other than what was advertised. My 50 Watt was suppose to have 2 6L6s but came with 8551s.
5881? They're a sub for a 6L6 and might even have some advantage. Curious what brand you got.
@@philjy1683 SR Stage Right their 50W Tube Amp head. The Issue is they advertise big time of having 6L6s and some people want the 6L6s. Don't get me wrong the amp sounds great.
Never mind that amp... how big is that pick sir!!! Looks like a paddle.
650 is not super cheap lol.
Would have loved to see the top and bottom of the chassis. You can tell a lot about an amp by the transformers and construction.
Yeah, need to see some gut-shots to know how it is designed and built. It might be okay for the price. A lot of big-name expensive tube amps are not good build-quality.
To much treble on gain.
Kind of reminds me of a Kitty Hawk from the late 80s which Winger used to endorse.
Stick to mainstream brands if you want to maintain your resale value.
I like stage right amps I own two of them both are combo amps. I have the sr 12 ~50 watt combo tube amp and the sr 5 watt combo. Both are real nice and affordable. I paid $354 plus tax for 50 watt and $115 plus tax for 5 watt. Really good budget amps. I also bought an indio strat for 70 bucks 😂
Try the Bugera amps.
Very thin sounding
Wow, I really like this amp, may have to spring for the SR30 or the 50 version, 100 would be overkill, then make my own driver cabinet(s), have built very high end cabinets so this should be an almost no brainer. But oh boy, that 100 makes me druel, haha. Again, this amp is awesome, really want to try one! Will have to look around and check the mfg for local dealers in STL. Very very good review. Will be looking to see if you or someone reviewed the 50. Keep up the excellent work Darrell!
Stage right 30 watt? El 84? 6v6?
@@hadleymanmusic thanks Hadley, just picked up a new Jazz P Base so this is pushing out on the calendar! But,I like your recommendation!
I never got beyond rooms where 100 watts was way too much. My 22-watt Fender Deluxe Reverb is too loud for most clubs. It's great they're making quality gear affordable, but who honestly needs this much who isn't in Metallica, guys who need to overcompensate?
Monoprice has some great amps. Goes to show you don't need to spend thousands of $$$$$ to get a descent sound. A buddy of mine has been gigging with his little 15 watt combo for years now and it sounds fantastic. This 100 is one I've been looking at, it has a ton of gain. Sounds great. Glad to see they made the eq section very useful. I've had amps where you turn the knobs with little audible difference. That can be frustrating when you spend a lot of money on a name brand amp like Marshall and it's barely useable if at all.
They have great guitars too. I have 5 lol. Their DLX PLUS line is where it's at. I have 4 of those. 3 LP-style and a Tele. And I just got their 335-style guitar last week and it's dang good too even though it's not a DLX Plus. The one in my avatar is one of theirs. It has an 18mm thick maple cap vs veneers on all of the competing models like Harley Benton & Epiphone. Set neck. Bound body & neck . Carved top. It's a fantastic guitar for wayyyyy less than an equivalent Epiphone.
I have the 5w in my "have to play quietly" apartment. I have the NUX Horseman in front of it and I have the sound I want. It's bare bones- no headphone jack, for example- but it sure does the job.
As presented the cleans are very good . The dirty side is a bit limited. Buzzy and thin. It has a strange tone stack on the dirt side. The gain knob does nothing past a point - that might be a clue.
5150 Iconic for $999, includes reverb, noise gate and it sounds really good....no pedals needed. Stage Right is awesome for the money, not trying to say it isn't but I would rather pay a little more and get a lot more.
Yeah I was expecting it to cost $499
4:45 Why do you have it on the neck pickup all the time🤦♂🙏 ? I wanted to hear a clean sound mainly on a bridge pickup. Why such a review?
Bugera was in the same price range, and a lot of different used stuff can easily beat this price as well. But I don't have anything against this amp.
Sounds pretty hreat honestly. I would like to hear an overdrive in front to really get some chugs
Missing information: What cab is it plugged into?, ya know being as speakers can make all the difference.
The thing is to get a nice sound you need to crank it up which might make some people around you not happy. Also you need a tube screamer in front.
Great review!!! What cabinet were you running this through?
Don't cut the mids on the high gain setting, please! xD
I got the little Stage Right 15W/1W combo. Put in a MOD verb tank and a Cannabis Rex. Awesome amp!
No surprise the 100W is awesome too.
Amplifier Tabung memang sangat ideal untuk sebuah gitar listrik, apalagi kalo dengan embel embel kata harga murah . Mungkin yang akan jadi pikiran cuma soal ketahanannya saja.
$500 is not exactly "chump change"! On top of that, you'll need a cab that can handle all that power.
I think I'd just pick up a nice used Vox AC30. Years ago, I got a Vox AD120 (LOUD AF!) I was never able to use it to it's full potential. They were expensive then, but can be gotten really cheap today.
Between it & the VC-12 pedal, the operator's manual is as thick as a friggin' phonebook! LOL
Wow the distortion almost sounds like my cheapo Kustom KG210
Can you turn off the reverb when you're playing a new learn to play a few more chords and riffs, rather than the pentatonic scale.
$650 on Amazon today. But who needs 100 watts? Why not review the SB12 50 watt 1x12 for $385? Or the Monoprice 15 watt 1x12 for $238?
The price this is set at isn't realistic in terms of brand which =resale value...
It's over $600 for this amp
Peavey could be an option as well as an used Egnater or Black star...in today's venues anything over 20 to 30 watts is a waste because you'll never turn up past 3 or 4 before management is yelling TURN DOWN....as much as I appreciate your channel...this was informative but pricey too.... sorry
But for that Price range I wouldn't choose that amp ... Fender blues JR possibly....
I got the 50 watt version, the SB20, for $234 shipped to my door. It’s very similar to a Marshall Origin but with two channels. The clean is very Fender like and the overdrive channel is very Marshall like. Best of both worlds.
I bought two of the 50 wt heads - both failed in less than hour of playing time.
@@alanswanson7515 Wow, that's crazy. I've played mine on occasion but it seems to be holding up well. I wonder if they had a bad batch or something? Well, at least they failed during the return period.
@@alanswanson7515attenuated?
The Stage Right SB20 is actually their 50 watt head. It sort of drives me crazy that their model names/numbers don’t reflect the power. I have the SB20, and it is a lot of bang for the Buck!
Por lo que pude ver de este amplificador uno de sus problemas era descargas eléctricas
Jep… as always: cutting the mids in high gain sounds like dog poop🙄 why? Just why?!?
Modern metal tones live in the mids!!! Don’t cut them!
And yes… leaving the EQ at noon and adding a boost/TS in front would get you a long way. For that price: great amp🤘
I have the 50 watt model. SB20. I do part time tech work, and I have examined the circuit board, transformers and tubes. The construction was just as good as Fender and other major brands. Time will tell regarding the transformers, although they seem to be adequate to me. They are big and heavy. The preamp tubes are JJ brand. The phase splitter tube is JAN GE, which is good, as the tube is constructed to military specs and is NOS. The outputs are not JJ as advertised, and not 6L6. They are apparently Russian military tubes, 5881. This means they are military spec, which is good. The amp sounds great, but I am expecting the usual problems found in all circuit board power amps in the future. I would wait until the hundred watt amp goes on sale. Monoprice has a tendency to really slash the price of their power amps. I got my $439 amp on sale for $259 with free shipping. They do this once a year to clear inventory.
I posted in the chat of a video review that was on RUclips of the SB 20 explaining that I took it apart and examined and discovered it was put together just as well as any other current namebrand amplifier that’s made in China. I was told by another person in the chat that I was lying and didn’t know what I was talking about. Glad to see someone else knows what’s up.
Hey dude, can you tell everything about it because our local shop with outdated website asked and yes, don't forget the pedal after washing your car. This is going to such an upgrade for your led TV. Let your SSD or CPU to pick up the sound, because tubes don't have a long lasting life. Bright is just like switching to a neck pickups, but I use those rarely. Go and find your safe bass/middle/treble combination for a perfect mood depending on a song you are listening to. Should have everything else to plug into this amp, could it be 20W is fine for your room.
Another nice video, Darrell.
Is that a spring reverb on that head? It sure sounded like it when you were playing the clean channel. Definitely a decent price if you need 100 watts.
I freaking love your channel, man. Letting us know that we don't have to open a mortgage just to be a bedroom rocker lmao
Just an opinion here: This sounded good to me until you went into bright mode with bridge pickups - then it became (to my ears) raspy, unpleasantly gritty. Otherwise, nice sounding for a big amp. Thanks for your reviews!!!!!
Hi Daryl I like your videos, you put so much time into them and I enjoy watching them but really dude when you say budget real cheap on your videos I think your mad you need a reality check on your price points.
It's my 1 small criticism You use the words affordable and its 1000 or 800 that is not affordable man and budget = 600 come on dude. Ain't in my budget.
Thanks for the amazing content but you need to correct your grammar a little.
At $649 this is no bargain. A 100w tube HEAD (not a combo) made in china for $649 is a terrible deal. It would be nice if you showed the internals of the amp with the back cover off.
Time to try the Wangs HD-15 👍 I know you tried the 2204 .... but I like the HD 15 better ... Another great amp for the money!
You still need a cabient, and pedals waste of money, just buy a good modeling amp, and and foot switch, and PA and you can create any tube amp, with the right equipment for the same price.
Not a good head ~ ask around. To be sure, it's sold at WALMART.
100W Tube is wayyyy too loud if that is wired/configured as it should be. Crazy cheap! You could deafen the neighbors with money to spare.
I hate clicking on these..."super cheap" is so subjective 🤷♂️
I have the 50w and it has a lovely tube sound. The transformers have some meat to them, which matters. It does have a unique sound, but it's nice. Really great for jazz among other things. And does it chug? Yes it chugs.
The clean channel sounded nice, with all eq at 12 o'clock, it had a pleasing, balanced tone. Unfortunately, the gain channel sounded thin and "bee in a jam jar" buzzy. If the only way to approach an even barely acceptable tone is to cut almost all of the mids, there is something very wrong in the design of the tone stack
A Marshall and Fender in one head at a realistic price what's not to like? I mean seriously look at a like this it has more features than a Plexi and isn't a one trick pony. Add a tube screamer and a boost pedal and I bet it gets the heart pounding like you're at a Motley Crue concert. The best thing about it is the head isn't going to cost you close to 4k by itself. Add a 4x12 Greenback loaded slant cab, a modest pedalboard, and you are ready to pull off small venues. I do not harbor having to spend your life savings on equipment to sound good as a local gigging musician. The stage right and wangs amps have the ability to get you where you need to be. Just my opinion.
Why set everything at noon ? Is there ANYONE who just sets the amp knobs at 12 ? I set them where they sound the best with no preconceived notions , and I've NEVER found an amp that sounds it's best with all knobs set at noon , dimed , or any other spot . Adjust them to wherever they sound the best .
I like the clean tone is really good. I am not a fan of the dirty channel. The Harley Benton Mighty 15TH what a great amp that one is from Thoman for $234 in the USA/
In MY preference, bright is right, the brighter, the righter. Both pickups on, clean channel is what makes it for me. I love the sound of the telecaster style guitars, but those guitars are ugly. This guitar sounds very nice on clean channel on this amp.
WHY would a company like this waste their time and money putti9nmg out an aAmp like this that only has enough gain to do Rock & very light metal. ....Seems to me they went all the way to 75% but failed to go the rest of the distance needed for a great amp. ...I guess if its a 300 dollar head thats not bad I guess for 300ish.
Don't like the sound of the dirt channel; maybe EL34 output tubes would be a bit warmer and chirpier, but ,by design it may not be possible to reset the amp this way.
Super Cheap tube amp ? Not. Low price for a 100 W ? YES. But do really need 100 W of tube power?
You still a cabinet, so with the head it's not cheap. Just buy a tube amp with out the head.
Can review the carlsbro sherwood 60w please, there's hardly any info on them?