Charvel CH200R

Cant remember all of the knobs, but it has 2 channels, bass, mid, treble, presence, gain, master volume, reverb, effects loop. I think the nicest feature on this amp is the effects loop. You don't see amps this small with effects loops. solid state amp with 8" speaker. Alot of features for the money.

If you keep everything in perspective as to what this amp is and does, then you won't be dissappointed. The clean channel is nice and crisp not too harsh. The overdrive is pretty good, you can get a variety of tones from this channel. Some pretty good ones really. The reverb is lush, but not as good as Fender. A nice added feature though. It's pretty loud for the size. Although the speaker could probably be a better one and breaks up a bit when pushed. Very nice sound overall.

I've had it for a few months with no problems. It's a small bedroom amp, take it for what it is.

never dealt with Charvel. They've been around a while so they must be doing something right.

A very nice amp for $50. I would pay up to $100 because I think these amps are worth that. Like I said above, you don't find many small amps with effects loops and versitility that this amp has. The reverb is a bonus. The amp sounds good clean and overdriven. A much better amp than a Marshall I once had. I'm very impressed with the versitility, sound, and features of this amp. This is the nicest small solid state combo that I've ever owned. It's a shame they don't make them anymore.

Made in the 80's, VERY scarce. Very small, solid state, approx 10-20 watts, 8" speaker, channel switching, delicious spring reverb, 4 EQ controls including effective presence control, effects loop and headphone jack. Korea. Nothing about it's design and looks would indicate how exceptional it sounds.

This is the best sounding el cheapo small solid state amp I have ever heard. I have tried over 200 small amps.. A scarce Mako is was next best, then the little fenders, peaveys voxes, etc. None of the little practise amps have ever come close to this one. It is actually for tone and volume, the best transistor guitar amp I have ever found. Totally versitile, easy to use. It has more brilliance than any other, such a rare thing to find in any transistor amp. The clean channel is to die for. It shimmers with sweet bright clarity and punch! Perfect for chords or lead. It has very ample bass and mid response too. It is utterly satisfying to play thru alone and shockingly loud and fast for it's tiny wattage. The distortion channel has 2 controls and goes way over the top, enough to satisfy ANY metalhead. Lined out, it is clean and true and nicely feeds boards or 2nd amps. While it is only what it is, it combines every professional feature perfectly. It records beautifully. Onstage, it is astonishingly loud for it's size. Unequalled by anything yet in this size range.

It has a back plate fuse socket. I have never blown the fuse. I heard one of these little amps at at jam in 1988, and never forgot it. I found one in a pawn shop in 1993, bought it for 45.00, that's more than I would ever pay for ANY other little practise amp! Although I usually use a precious Fender Super Champ for my gigs, this is my spare, double up if I care to use two, and my substitute. It is so light and small! It goes in my suitcase when I take a plane. It is also constantly used as the loaner. Almost every extra player that joins the group for a show, rock lead, acoustic rhythm, mandolin, banjo, etc. uses this amp on stage and in the studio, ditching their own bigger amp, because this one sounds so much better! If you see one of these, grab it! You will never regret it. I will never sell mine, and will grab up any more that I find in the garage sales. I could sell these all day long! It is all black, knobs, grill, case, small and not very distinctive looking.

There really isn't much to el-cheapo practise amps, so why is this one so good? I really don't know. It certainly has something to do with the way it's voiced, and the frequency dividing within the circuit. I have no idea if Charvel even remembers these amps, or how they got them. I have never tried to find out.

I have been playing lead guitar professionally for 40 years in every style of music. I submit this review just because I want to help out players who have very little money to spend and no experience with equipment. If you can find one of these, it will be cheap. Pros will also love this amp.

Don't know the year made,but it looks pretty new. It has two channels that are foot switchable and reverb also switchable.An effects loop,seperate volume for clean and grit and 4 band EQ including presence.I think it may have a headphone jack and does have 1 input jack.It is all solid state and 20 watt with one 8" speaker.Lots of features for this baby amp.

I have other cabs and heads and needed something quieter and lighter so I went on a used search.I didn't have or want to spend much money so I checked local pawn shops. You would be suprised of all the makes of these little things there are out there.This amp and peavy were the only ones considered but peavys' had less features and more pricey.The sound is encredibly not bad for Korean solid state.The reverb is a great plus and works well if you don't turn it too high( gets kind of a springy bouncy sound). EQ does the job well.The reason for purchasing this was for using an electric to play with an acoustic. You don't have to plug in an acoustic but mine will.Anyway the gain pot needs to be cleaned cause it is all or nothing and I am sure it's not very good anyway so I plug a dano daddy-o on the clean side and does what I wanted it for;low volume.The suprising thing is that my acoustic/electric sounds damn good on the clean channel. Add a chourus and hear some very sweet sounds.By the way it is A Boss pedal. Doesn't work clean over about half volume though but it is all I need.I would like to try another speaker....Maybe Celestion.

Haven't had it long but no problems other than the gain thing but don't use it anyway.This is not the first solid state amp I have had do that.

Bought it used so I won't be needing them

Been playing about 6 years and play rythym. I have gibson,layney,ampeg,acoustic,yamaha and have had marshall and fender.I would say mostly I got what I paid for and wanted.Personally I probably wouldn't have bought it new but for the money I couldn't have beaten unless I came across another tube mini,but fat chance of that.I bought a new 20 watt vintage crate for my stepson about 7 years ago and it was $200 then.

Solid state 20watt practice amp. 2 channel clean/distortion. Ror a 100 dollar amp this thing sounds pretty good. I have heard many other practice amps that sound like total crap where this one is much better.

Epiphone SG with EMG-81. Like i said, this amp had decent distortion for a cheap amp. The amp sounds good under half way and gets muddy at higher volume but that could probably be solved by backing off some eq settings. I play metal: Slayer, Machine Head, old Metallica. The clean channel is decent also, though i don't use it much.

I've had this amp for over 5 years and never had a problem. It is built good.

It is not a great amp but it is a great cheap amp. For practice or for just a first amp I really like it and am very pleased with its dependability and sounds. Much better than some cheap fenders and peavys i've heard. If i only had 100$ to spend again i would look into this amp and maybe a Crate amp.

Hi there. Just to be different I submitted a review for this amp under the model # "CH20R". It's the lone entry for this model number under CHARVEL. That's because there IS NO CH20R. DUH! I left off the last zero..typo error. Sorry about that. This is an update on the CH200R. I'm presently driving two Eminence 12" Alnico speakers with the Charvel. These Eminence speakers are the older 12" alnicos rated at 35 watts (Kapton coils). I have them enclosed in a sealed back pine cabinet. Impedance is 16 ohms. The CH200R drives this configuration WONDERFULLY. The first time I had this setup cranked at rehersal, two guys walking through the auditorium stopped dead in thier tracks to comment on how good my tone sounded to them. One was a horn player/soundman and the other was a music director for our church. These guys know tone and that little Charvel was definitely in the "zone". It sounds HEAVENLY, dudes!! Thought I'd pass this info on to all the rest of us. The Charvel prefers 16 ohms to 4 ohms, by the way. Hook up the speakers in series, NOT parallel. Solid state amps don't like to drive loads less than rated outputs but they'll be okay with higher impedance loads.

OUTSTANDING VALUE!! IF YOU SEE ONE, BUY IT!!!

This is a small 20 watt combo amp designed for use as a rehersal amp or bedroom amp. It features switchable spring reverb, two channel switchable operation, 8" speaker, headphone out and effects loop. The clean channel breaks up slightly at high volume levels, like an overdriven amp but NOT quite like a tube amp. At lower levels it sounds warm and musical. It sounds pretty decent, actually. The drive channel seems to work best with the gain knob at 12 o'clock and the volume at2 o'clock. It does the "teen EQ" thing very well if that's what you like, begging for the mids to disappear from the scooped metal tone zone. This is a cheap amp- $100 or so, new- so don't expect it to sound like a BF Fender Deluxe or a Plexi Marshall, y'know? If you're patient, you can dial up some very useable tone settings. The headphone jack is great for silent jams but the amp sounds pretty good at low, low levels. It has an effects loop which works very nicely although there is a slight reduction in level when using it. I've stuck a delay unit in the loop and a chorus with decent results. The reverb is great-really wet, like an old Fender tank. Tone controls are very happening and the presence control is quite dramatic in effect, especially at higher volume levels. When dimed at high volume levels, the presence can get pretty intense-very piercing type tone. The original equipment 8" speaker is adequate, but I've replaced mine with a Pyle 8", 2" voice coil, HEAVY paper cone, rated at 80 watts. Made a HUGE difference in the sound-much fuller with better bottom and improved note/chord articlation. This amp is loaded with features for a low cost unit.

I play an old Epiphone L 450, a solidbody, all maple, with a rosewood fingerboard. It is a bright sounding plank with humbuckers. I use a Bill Lawrence XL500 in the bridge and a Schaller Golden 50 in the neck position. They are configured for series/parallel operation. I play Christian contemporary, clean and distorted tone, both backup and lead work. This unit suits me as I have my amp miked and use it as a monitor on stage. As long as I can hear the Charvel, I'm happy 'cause I know it sounds good through the house PA. I mike it up with a SHURE SM57, slightly off axis near the edge of the cone.
The Charvel is not noisy at the settings I use-Drive channel: gain at 12 o'clock, volume at 2 o'clock. Clean channel: volume is dimed. EQ: treble at 9 o'clock, mids at 12 o'clock, bass is dimed, presence is at 2 o'clock. Reverb: 2 o'clock; moderately wet These settings sound great with the pickups in the parallel mode. I will sometimes switch the Lawrence into series for a solo and I find the Charvel can keep up with the increase in gain/drive. The Lawrence and the Schaller are both HIGH output humbuckers. The Charvel just sounds better to my ears when the pickups are in the parallel mode (lower outpu, more highs/mids.) I normally play through the drive channel amd use my guitar's volume to control the distortion. Unlike a tube amp, the Charvel exhibits a real loss in volume when I roll back the guitar volume. My LANEY LC 15 loses the distortion under similar circumstances but retains most of it's volume. I've got to signal our sound guy whenever I crank the guitar volume up for soloing, due to the volume jump-he just cranks the board channel volume down to compensate. That said, the smoothness and richness of tone and the harmonic feedback sounds just great. With the addition of the premium Pyle speaker, this is the best little solid state box I've ever heard. Compared with the Park G10 or the little 15 watt VALVESTATE, this Charvel is much better sounding and is much more touch sensitive. (Remember, I've got a premium 8" speaker in this guy. There IS some noticeable hiss when the drive channel gain/volume is dimed out. The BACON FRYIN'/ SIZZLE zone is kinda noisy too at dimed out settings, typical for scooped extremes. Clean channel is quiet to the limits. Both serve up a single coil hum...not the fault of the amp, though.
Soundwise, it serves up smooth, creamy OD, death metal scoop, good useable clean tones and great 'verb. It works great, able to preserve the guitar's character very well!

Had it for 2 years. Only problem was with the front panel channel switch. It got a little sticky, wouldn't change between clean and drive. I played around with it and it cleared up. Never had another problem. It cranks for long hours at high volume settings. Very reliable.

I fix my own stuff. Warranty was whatever Musician's Friend offerred me. Never dealt with it.

I've played through almost everything-Fender, Marshall, Crate, Peavy, Magnatone, Gibson, Silvertone, Yamaha, Rockman, Carvin, blah blah blah...Been playing for 33 years, owned everything at one time or another. I've gotten rid of all the effects and big power amps and I find I like the sound of a small amp with GOOD TONE and a nice guitar. My current "A" setup is my guitar, a TS 10 tubescreamer for boost and a LANEY LC 15 amp. It's what I mostly use on stage, although I do use the CHARVEL too, depending on what kind of mood I'm in! I prefer tube-ala Joe Satriani "Flying in a Blue Dream"-tone. The LANEY/tubescreamer setup delivers it at low to mid volume levels. When I'm jamming with friends I'll sometimes take the LANEY and sometimes the Charvel. The LANEY is great for the power amp saturation/distortion but the Charvel serves up a HUGE CRUNCH for playing rythem and a nice tone for lead work. (Maybe I should A/B these little guys, huh?) I like having a pedal switched channel select and as I said, the reverb is really nice. I'd look for another Charvel if I lost this one and I would replace the speaker in the same way I did it on the one I own now. This is a nice little amp for the money, full of great features and sounds. I recommend it.

Reverb (footswitchable), Lead and Clean channel (footswitchable), gain for lead channel, volume, 4 band EQ (treble, mid, bass, presence), headphone jack, effects loop (not parallel), all solid state :( Rated at 20 watts.

The clean channel is decent. Not a lot of headroom and gets shitty at high volumes, but tonality isn't too awful. The lead channel on the other hand... is very fickle. Takes JUST the right amount of gain and volume to find a passable tone. I'm comparing this $200 amp to a brand new $850 35 watt Mesa Boogie DC-3 that I just brought home. Granted the two are not in the same category but frankly, I've known the lead channel sucked on this amp very soon after I got it, 3 years ago. I guess for a solid state amp, the distortion is ok. The gain control might as well have 3 settings though because the difference when you twist that knob is nearly non-existent. It just doesn't crunch like a tube amp. Obvously. This amp is meant for distortion and a lightly distorted bluesy tone is nowhere to be found. Clean or super high gain are your two choices.

Had it for 3 years, got wacky once but I think it was a bad cable.

N/A

As a practice amp, I suppose it's decent but you'd really be better off with ANY sort of tube amp. The difference is phenomonal.

The functions of the controls are easy to understand. The manual wasn't really necessary. The way the controls operate is a little strange, though. I mainly use this amp at home for practice, so I usually have the volume pretty low. I think they might have used linear taper pots for the volume controls. At the quiet end, a slight nudge drastically changes the volume, and it stays at about the same volume from when the control is at halfway to where it's turned all the way up.

It sounds all right to me, but it is the only amp I've ever owned, so I don't really have anything to compare it to. I'm using it with an Ibanez RX170. There is a bit of hum and noise on all the settings, and it gets fairly bad on high gain settings, but that's to be expected. The noise levels are acceptable for practicing, but this is not a studio quality amp, nor was it intended to be. The reverb sounds pretty good to me. I'm glad I spent the extra $20 to get it.

I haven't had any major problems. A couple of times, it did something strange. It switched channels without me pushing the button. I only had that problem two times, and it hasn't happened since. So I trust it anyway.

Never dealt with them.

I play a lot of Led Zeppelin songs. I can't get the tones exactly right, but it's close enough for me. I've been playing for about 3 years now. I built Craig Anderton's Tube Sound Fuzz to use with the amp, but I don't find a lot of difference between the Fuzz distortion and the overdrive built into the amp. I also made a footswitch for channel switching. If you have any experience at all with electronics, you could do it too. Just get a push on push off SPST switch, wire it to a mono 1/4" jack, and put it in some kind of enclosure. I used a plastic box. I like this amp both because it was cheap and because it's small and light-weight. I would like to be able to get more sounds, though. I'm thinking of getting some kind of digital effects processor, like the Zoom 1010 or DigiTech RP-6. I don't know how much they could improve the sound of the amp. Depending on how much money I had, I think I'd buy it again. I got it from Musician's Friend, so I couldn't try it before I bought it. It was about their cheapest amp. If I buy another amp, I'll go to some music store and try some amps out before I buy anything. It was my first amp, and it has been good for me, but I think I'm ready for something fancier.

This is a good solid state practice amp. It has two channels, clean and dist., and offers woderful EQ. This amp is good enough to play at home, but if your looking for somthing to play in clubs, get somthing bigger. I bought this amp for practice at home and I made the right choice.

This little amp sounds great at lower levels but at higher you get a little backround noise. The clean channel sounds a little distorted at high volumes but it doesn't bother me. It gets pretty loud at high volume (enough to wake up the neighbors) and the distortion gets louder but I think it sounds to heavy-metelish.( thats why I got a Boss pedel).

This amp is reliable for home and has never given me trouble.

N/A

If I had to buy this amp again I would. I had a little Ram amp and this amp blows it out of the water. I especially like the reverb. I recomend it to anyone looking for a reliable at home-amp.

A small practice amp, with reverb, 2 channels (clean and drive), 20W solid state, 4-band eq.

Generally sounds better at lower volumes -- i.e., for practice. In a pinch, you can play it fairly loud, for a small group situation. However, there is some background hum, which gets more apparent at higher volumes. The clean channel gets crunchy and distorted if you turn it up. The distortion channel is OK for some sounds but not especially versatile; it gets muddy at higher distortion settings.

I've had this as a practice amp for a couple of years and it has never given me any trouble.

Never had to deal with the company.

This really is best suited as a practice amplifier. It's not very expensive and it preforms decently. For this sort of use -- a small amp for practice by yourself or with a small group -- it works fine. The sounds aren't groundbreaking but the price is extremely affordable. I would look elsewhere if you're looking for an amp for oter uses (gigging, recording).