Monoprice 5-Watt Guitar Combo Tube Amplifier (611705)

Wow! I bought the Monoprice 15-watt a year ago, and was just blown away (see my review). For $115 I figured I couldn't go wrong with the 5-watt, and sure enough it's a winner. Sounds pretty good all by itself, but tonal range is limited to the single tone knob and the attenuator switch. However, if you throw in chorus and delay (check out the Donner Alpha Cruncher 3), it bumps up to excellent. Build quality and appearance are top-notch. 110% satisfied, and if there's anything better for a hundred bucks and change, I have no idea what it is.If the price above got your attention, do yourself a favor, and check out the manufacturer's website. You won't be wasting your time, I promise.So I needed a cover, and nobody seems to make one. My girlfriend gave me some prezzies from Lowe's for Christmas (she's a great girlfriend), and when I looked at the bag I said hmmm, I wonder... Sure enough, it fits just fine. Cut off the tote handles, cut an opening for the amp handle, and you're good to go. It's two inches too tall, but otherwise perfect. I'll bet other stores have a similar bag, too -- just take the measurements with you when you go looking.I'm very happy with this sweet little amp, and it's what I'll take to my jam groups (along with the Donner pedal) once this pandammit is over. Way to go, Monoprice!

I plugged it in and started playing after letting the tubes warm up and it sounded ok. It has nice sounds, very bright, almost too bright, but you can turn the tone down to compensate. I suspected that it had more potential and I was 100% correct. It was obvious it could use a better speaker, which I expected for this price. After reviewing 8" speaker options I opted for the Celestion Eight 15 G8C-15 8 Ohm speaker because: 1. It was only $29 with free 2 day shipping via FedEx from ZZsounds. They even delivered on Easter Sunday! 2. The Celestion website spec's the Eight 15 speaker at 20 Watts, although ZZ's spec's showed it as 15 Watts, which is what the amp came with anyway, so even if it's only 15 Watts that is still fine, but I tend to believe the manufacturer's spec's. 3. I noticed the magnet in the Eight 15 speaker weighed over twice as much than the stock speaker. The difference in the sound was very noticeable right away. Not a little better, the difference was day and night. Now, with the new speaker it sounds wonderful and "chimey" like a fine boutique tube amp. I couldn't believe what a difference the new speaker made and definitely recommend the additional $29 for the upgrade. It's an easy upgrade to do for most any DIY'er. However, it was a real challenge, incredibly difficult, unexpectedly took a lot of effort to remove the chassis because the tolex had bonded to the chassis, maybe excess glue from the tolex? I had to carefully use a large clamp with cushions and a rubber foot to avoid marring the surfaces to apply enough pressure to get the chassis out. I couldn't believe how much pressure it took to break it away from the tolex, but I was able to work it out without damaging anything. This amp takes pedals well. I like to use a Tube Screamer type pedal to get the natural break up at lower volumes and this has worked way better than I expected. I was feeling ok with the purchase even with the stock speaker, but the incredible difference an inexpensive speaker upgrade made encouraged me to write this long winded review. I recommend the amp, with or without the speaker upgrade.

I bought this amp basically on impluse, I have a couple Marshall amps and was just looking for something to experiment with... At first I can't say I was very happy of the sound, the 8 inch speaker just doesn't do it for me. So, I hooked it up to my 2x12 cab with a v30 and g12-H and this thing sounds disgusting (in a great way). I really like the amp with both knobs dime'd out it has some nice organic overdrive, like a more classic style tube amp. But, it cleans up if you roll of the volume. Very responsive. I still felt like there could be more so I stuck a JJ 6v6GT and a JJ 12AX7 I pulled out of a Marshall in there. This upped the overdrive a bit and smoothed out the sound. Has a nice big bottom end now. Further more stick a boost pedal in front of it, I use a Tumnus (Klon clone) with the gain set to zero just to push the front end and open up the mids....You get an incredible almost exploding overdrive, it is the essence of crunch. Great Stoner Rock/Metal or Doomy tones. Of course if you dial things back a tad you can get some great old school rock tones as well, but this thing just sounds crazy pushed to the limits imo.Warning though the amp is pretty friggin loud for a 5w, I personally put it though an attentuator (Jettenuator) so I can push the amp hard and still have it at a reasonable volume.I guess the real point here is if you have a nice assortment of toys to throw at this amp it can be a pretty cool piece of gear. Like all tube amps it just sounds better cranked!As far as build quality i'd say it's pretty exceptional for the price point. The cab is made of plywood surprisingly, there is a brace on the back made of cardboard though, but it's only there to protect the tubes. Stock tubes are nameless chineese, but they actually are pretty balanced and responsive if not slightly tame...I don't like that power cord is hardwired in and it's only about 3 feet long. Nice white tolex(ish) on the outside no real gripes there...it's made of good stuff basically. Really nice leather handle.It would be pretty cool if they would offer a head version, I think i'm probably going to end up converting mine.