Product: Beltone Model 500 Combo
Price Paid: US $40.00 used
Submitted
01/25/2003
at
08:59pm
by
Anonymous
Features
:
8
Has five tubes (3 6VA6, 1 6X4, 1 6AQ5A). 4 instrument inputs and strangely enough....the amp's volume does not diminish very much when added instruments (harmonica mic) are plugged in. One volume and one tone control. There is a great sounding tremolo with only one knob which controls the "on/off" and the speed of the tremolo. There is a footswitch jack for the tremolo. The amp's power switch is a toggle switch next to a red indicator lamp. The amp looks like it was made during the 60's in Canada. I changed the 2 prong power cord to a 3 prong power cord. The amp has no hum unless cranked to maximum and even then there is only a very slight hum. The amp starts to distort at about 5 or 6. At 3 or 4, the amp has a very bell like sound. The amp is not very powerful (about 5 to 8 watts) but it is loud enough for me to practice with my blues group. There is a 10 inch speaker in the cabinet. The amp does not get hot like my other tube amps. Does not have a spring reverb or headphone jack. This is a stupid question. How many features do you want for a vintage 40 dollar amp?
Sound Quality
:
9
I bought this amp as a harmonica amp but sounds really great for guitar or harmonica. Great blues amp. It's pretty beat up and I doubt the no-name 10 inch speaker is the original speaker. I am sure that a better speaker will make the amp sound even better. With the volume above 6, the bluesy distortion starts to kick in. The tremolo sounds great. The tone control works very well.
Reliability
:
10
I never gig without a back up. Yet, all my amps are 40 to 50 years old and have not failed to operate yet. It's obvious that the amp is reliable.
Customer Support
:
No Opinion
Overall Rating
:
8
Been playing a long time. Most of my gear is from the 70's. I was looking for a tube amp for harmonica and this amp is great for harmonica and guitar. I can even use only this amp and mic it through a P.A. system. Difficult to rate. Sounds great and cost me only 40 bucks U.S. Fantastic value!!!!.....yes. A "Dumble" amp at 100 bucks is a fantastic value too. (stupid question just like the rest of the stupid questions on this page)
