Dean Markley K-50

I think I bought this amp in the early 90's along with an Epiphone Telecaster clone...with a maple neck. I like Gibsons and swore I'd never play a Tele but the neck and action on this one changed my mind. My style of music is slide with an emphasis on what the old bluesman used to play.

The store where I bought the K-50 was going out of business a few months later and I bought a matching cabinet to slave off the main amp. So actually I have a Dean Markley K-50 mini-STACK! The sound of the expansion cab is a little better than the K-50's...the speakers are different.

Good tone and very loud. Crunch is fairly typical of the solid state amps of the early 90's.

As it's a solid state amp, it lacks the overdriven/clipped sound of the old tube amps but with the overdrive adjustment on the back, I was able to get a tone I could live with. Setting the overdrive level was not very user friendly as it involves an eight place binary switch on the back of the amp chassis and a small pointy thing such as a pencil, etc., to adjust the setting.

Old school reverb, too.

I've owned this amp for 15 years and have never had a problem with it. To be fair, this amp lives either in my bedroom or out in the garage and it NEVER travels.

No reason to call Dean Markley as I've had no problems with it. It's now longer made anyway.

I've been playing since I was a kid and am now approaching Social Security age! I've owned and played quite an assortment of gear over the years. While this unit is certainly not in the same category as my 1972 Fender Twin, it's very enjoyable and suits my needs/requirements. It was a great value for the money at the time. My son on the other hand just bought a Fender Princeton 112 Plus for $60 from a private party so value is where you find it!

This is guitar is incredibly versatile. Great for practice scenarios and small gigs. I hook it up to my Peavey Express 65w amp and it rips. It's great for many different styles of music, especially rock. It'd be nice if it had effects, but then again its a great straight forward amplifier. It definatley has alot of power. Great for jamming.

I use an Ibanez SZ320, with 2 humbuckers. I play all styles of rock and this guitar is great for all of them. The distortion is lacking, but most on board distortions arent good. The clean is very loud and bright and sounds awesome.

I bought the amp used, so it's seem some use. So far its been reliable. Dean is a good company so i'm not worried.

Never had to get customer support for this product.

Been playing guitar for 4 years. I use a Peavey 65w Express amp with transtube technology. If it was stolen, I would probably look for another dean.

2 Channels, High and Low Gain. Tone Stack. Reverb tank. Very simple.

I used this little fella with a Fender Tele to play the music the kids call rock and roll. It sounds better than any solid state little amp i have ever heard, honestly. Clean channel stays clean at full volume and the amp will make a suprisingly natural feedback at full volume.

I never had a problem with this amplifier, which is great because i didn't show it much respect.

I have never tried to ring up ol' Dean.

This was my first amp. My old man bought it for me when i was in 9th grade. I spent many hours in front of this thing figuring out how to play mid-90s radio rock. I haven't used it much since I went marshall, but i would never give it up because of its sentimental value. Additionally, it is durable and actually pretty loud. I once used it to play a show and it held its weight against a drummer fairly well. This is a perfect amp for getting started with guitar.

I'm a romanian guitar player and i sing in a new-wave/alternative band.. and here in Romania it's, obviously, a little bit harder to find a quality two channel amp who has enough power and sounds ok. Even if it has no incorporated effects i find this amp to be versatile enough for me. I have used this amp only two times on stage but not because it's too quiet but because it's too heavy to carry and the clubs in which i played had their own amps...i admit that i never had to use the voice drivning...

I have a PRS Tremonti with Dragon humbuckers, an Ibanez RG 450 with Jackson JS hums and a Premier with single-coils..It's important to say that to achieve my own sound i use as clean, actually, the drive channel but with a very small amount of gain..and..first both guitars sound warm on ,,clean" with the EQ setting: bass6/middle5/treble5 but the Premier sounds a little bit glassy...and for distortion i use a Rocktron Silver Dragon dual tube distortion and all tree guitars sound hard. I must admit though on dist, the amp it's a bit noisy..

I have used the amp only twice on stage and it was ok..The amp broke down about two months ago and i had to replace some parts but that didn't cost too much..However i have a problem with the power supply because this amp runs on 110V (american) and i live in Romania (Europe) where all is powered on 220V..I had to buy a convertor..

The warranty lasted five years so as it broke down it was still on warranty but as i said, i live in Romania, so...

I own this amp for five years and it survived a lot of other gear changings. So i've tried it with a Zoom 505II, a Zoom 707II and a Digitech Grunge combined with the Zoom 707II and it proved to be worthy..If it would be lost i probably buy a more powerful amp such a Fender and that's because the Dean Markley company doesn't produce amps anymore. My opinion: if you find it at a good price than you should buy it, it's a good amplifier.

Features have been covered by everyone else, so...
Let's just say that it has basics, and that's ok, considering what it is meant to be

Use it with Les Paul standard or Prestige Nysse (stock pick ups in both of them).I sometimes use a Boss ME-33 as an effect device. I play almost any style of music. Makes both my guitars sound their own way, and that's good. The clean channel sounds nice if you cut down the mid control to 3 and bring your bass control to 7. Treble is on 5. The drive channel is not for heavy metal.

Use the voicing on the rear panel, use the eq controls, use your guitar pots, and you should find lots of interesting things... if you also use your head... don't expect things you should'nt from a 200$ 30 watts amp (like some reviews unfortunatly show).

Never had trouble...

I love it because, it does well what one should expect from it. Good practice amp.Simple,easy to use even with multi- effects devices. Has the basics for an amp. The only reason why I would buy something else is I now want an amp that will manage those stereo effects. Power is limit for playin' with a band. I'd say it is perfect for home studio or practice.

Its not a bad little amp. It has two channels, clean and distorted which at times is a little weak. It lacks effects, but is still versital and can create alot of different tones and sounds. Its not the most powerful thing but is what I use to practice always. The k-50 also has the distortion customizer on the back which is a cool idea, to bad the distortion doesnt have alot of boost otherwise this amp would be a real animal.

I play with a gibson les paul studio, or a ibanez talman with some really nice lipstick coil pickups. I also like to use a cheap aria pro 2 fullerton I threw some fender lace sensors in. I dont really stick to one style of music, im in a band that has alot of spanish, blues, progressive, and rock influences so I need to practice those styles and this amp allows me to do that. The k-50 doesnt tend to scream to much for me, it has a little hum but most amps do, which I dont mind (thats how you know there still alive). clean channel is nice on low to medium volumes but it breaks up when you crank it up.

never broken down. its not a concert amp by any means. Maybe a small little coffee house gig but nothing beyond that. Its reliable in the sense that it will always be ready for me to sit down in front of it and practice or learn.

dean markley is a real company that knows how to keep customers pleased. Theyre not trying screw anyone (but at the same time theyre not going to bed over backwards for you).

I havent kept track in how long ive been striving to be a guitarist, im sure its been a while. As far as my gear goes I mainly stick to the Les paul, unfortunatly a kustom amp that has been my enemy since I bought it (im not a rich man, all I could afford), an Rp-100 effects processor, a cry baby wah, a boss phaser shifter and a few hand made effects. If my k-50 were somehow lost I wouldnt search to far to find another one, I could live without it, in fact theres plenty of other amps id rather shoot for but the amp is nice. Its has its sound and if its the sound your looking for then this is your amp. I hate its distortion but luckily the amp can handle alot so throw all the pedals you want through it. I wish had everything that gods amp has. This amp has its own sound.

I play blues and this amp is not for this. It is solid state, 2 channels... good for the beginner that wants to play low. I use it in my room, so I always play low volume (horrible things can happen if you play loud). Headphone jack, 10" speaker, line in, line out, two footswitches.

I use it with a Mexican Fender Strato. The clean channel distorts at high volumes and worse than that, NEVER try to touch it at high volumes, it's like putting yourself inside the wall outlet. The distortion sucks.

I'll never use it on a gig.
The amp has never broke down.

I've playing with this amp about 6 years. I'm never buy it again. I choose this one because of the price and my inexperience in this field. NExt amp is gonna be a full tube.

It has half descent eq but if your looking for onboard effects or really diverse distortion go eslwhere

the clean sound is great but the overdrive isnt so hot , delivers warm or glassy tones. Sounds exactly like the intro to blurs song 2 , nirvana's smells like teen spirit. I was playing everlong by the foo fighters over the phone to my girlfriend and she thought it was the cd until the sencond guitar didnt come in. Not bad.

I fried some stupid little part which took about 2 months on back order but it has never given me any crap since then

the compnay i dealt with to fix it sucked but im sure dean markley is ok.

not too shabby, wouldnt gig with it but a good bedroom playing amp.

not a bad, 2 chanels clean and distortion, 2 footswitch channels for reverb and distortion, line in an line out with also a speaker imput jack in the back. i wish it had a better distortoin, it blows. the one thisng that i do like is the drive voicing in the back of the amp, it lest u costomize ur diztortion to some extent. not bad for bed room practice or even jammin wit the guys or a small gig.

im usinging a samick with to single an one humbucker configureation. i play mostely stuff like ozzy an black sabbath. i alos use a zoom gfx-707. this gives me a half descent distortion sound and an excellant clean sound. not a whole lot of variety. the clean channel kinda breaks up a high volumes.

this is the most unreliable amp i have ever owned. it has broke down on me at least 3 times an i had to bring it to the shop. it blows fueses like somthin sick, an the distortion channel cuts into the clean channel without flickin on the distortion switch, which is really bad because if u r playin somthin with a clean sound the distortoin will just come on for no reason at all. this has happened to me in the middle of giggs when i have micked my amp an this screwed up the hole song really bad.

the company wasnt to bad, they fixed the amp in no time but 2 weeks later it was broke again with that distortion thing i was talkin about.

could be alot better, big dissapoiment, should of baught somthin different

This amp has the right amount of power for a college student who plays modern rock and alternative music. It has two channels, clean and distorted, and is footswitchable. This is my seond amp and my prefered amp because of its versatility.

I play a Les Paul copy with humbuckers through an Ibanez '60s Fuzz and Danelectro Daddy-O and it has an awesome distorted sound!

I can't play anywhere without this amp, and I don't need a backup.

I have been playing guitar for five years. The gear I use includes a '79 Squire Strat, a Les Paul copy, Crybaby Wah, Ibanez '60s Fuzz, Danelectro Daddy-O, Danelectro Milkshake chorus, and a DOD Analog Delay. If I ever lost this I would go and buy another because I like so much.