Dean Markley K-75

i origionally bought this amp to go with an old vox clubman 2 guitar, simply because the two complimented each other nicely. now with a little more money and experience under my belt, i play a les paul through it and i'm still happy with the sound. I cannot belive how loud this amp is for a 50 Watter, yeah the clean channel distorts when you get much over halfway, but for the price i'm not complaining I've also been using it for 10 years and it hasn'tchanged much in volume or sound quality (maybe with a change of speaker it would get a little clearer at higher volumes but i dont want to ruin its originality). The drive can be a little toneless for some styles, but with good use of the EQ you can get mostly the sound you want, and when using the drive you actually hear the notes your playing unlike some amps i've used which turn into pure distorted mess.

I have used this amp for 10 years+ without a breakdown (finger crossed) and its served me well. i still use it for gigging and if its not loud enough , the line out wires nicely into a P.A.
I did have some problems with the input crackling and making a dreadfull noise, but a squirt of WD40 stopped it (much as i hate the stuff, it did the job)

I haven't had to use customer support (yet, 10 years and counting) so cannot comment.

There are many modern amps out there that are better than this amp, but if mine became terminal and i could find another one, i would get it. The drive isnt to everyones taste, and neither is the reverb, but its a nice little amp that mics up, or line out.... very well into bigger amplification if you need it (or have it as not everyone does), i happily use it as a main amp at small gigs or personal monitor in larger gigs, and if your still struggling to hear yourself through this amp, then you should seriously think about sizing up your equipment! alot of people may consider it a practice amp by todays standards, but i personally feel it can be used as so much more.....

50 watt, 8 ohm 12" speaker with 8 ohm extension output. 2 channel, drive channel has mini-toggle switches in back to fine-tune your tone. The switches do make a difference, but their not that noticeable. Decent reverb. Drive and reverb both are selectable with footswitch. Line out and headphone jacks.

Play mostly blues and some classic rock. Play with a Gibson hollow body, Nashville Power Tele, or acoustic. The drive is understated, but I like that. I mainly use it as a boost and rely on an overdrive pedal. This amp can be pretty loud, but does get a little muddy at higher levels. I've gigged with it in small clubs with good results.

Never had a problem other than blowing a couple fuses. I always gig without a back-up, never had a problem. I've had this amp for about 12 years and haven't had any problems with the volume changing or drive creeping in.

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I've been playing for 20 years, just got a Peavey Delta Blues 115, so this amp will probably take a back seat and wouldn't get replaced if stolen. For a solid state amp, I think it sounds pretty good, especially for the price. Clean tones are great, drive is ok.

I want add a comment on this one!

I've had the volume issue as well, but I've found a solution (In my case). It seems that there is a loose connection in the "Input" and "Foot switch" jack. I put in a jackplug and wiggle it a bit, and the sound comes back. It works for me, and it has been playing close to 10 years wihtout any other issues. Hopes this helps!

K-75 purchased off the computer about one year ago. Had played a K-65 but wanted a 12" speaker instead of a 10'. That is the only difference between the two. Both are 50 watts.
I use a Jap Strat which I love and a Tele. Have owned a 67 SG, 66
Rick and a 62 Strat. This little amp and the Strat sound like a team.
First thing I did was put in a JBL and add a EVM 12L extension Cabinet. They compliment each other. When you plug in the EV the volume seems to double. Clean channel only. Great tone on 3-4 and controlled sustain on 8. Married so I use the headphones alot.
Playing since 66 so now just make it up. Blues and rock plus some country

REPLACE THE SPEAKER!! USE AN EXTENSION!!
I use a blackface bandmaster also. Not the same tube sound but overall Very satisfied for the buck. ($125.00) Had the speakers
Volume 3-8 Treble 8-10 Mid's 6-8 Reverb 2-3

Never a problem yet. I have to mike it because I play against Line 6, Marshall and Fenders but it is lighted and smaller. Sign of my age.

I tried calling their support number and got a household. Tried again,same thing. Not happy but was looking just for parts. Figure if you cannot find parts service will be worse.

I guess I like this amp. more than most folks but I spent alot of time learning it's character. The overdrive I do not like but don't use it anyway. Not a Boogie but serves it's purpose very well

This amp was made in the early 90's.....I play Blues/jazz,and R&R. It's two channel with a switch....the line in and out work well to loop my delay...There is a headphone jack that I will never use,unless I need a spare line out...The reverb is alittle out of control half way up, I like verb, and use it, but this is a 9:00 verb, over that is cheese. It has enough control for me.I play straight in with a delay(sparingly...)I work as a musician, and use this amp in clubs.....I also use an old musicman 65 212 for larger venues.....I play very punchy,and my band is not a wimpy act....we open up the throttle, even in small joints, we are mature enough to utilize the right size gear for the room in question...The k-75 would suck in the wrong situation.....On a large stage without a bunch of monitor mixes it would sound like a flea fart.....in a little club, it kicks.....but that's all up to you, guitar players out there...

I can only use this amp with my stock strat.....I usually play a LP standard, but this amp at a gigable volume is way too distorted for what I do. I play clean,use the guitar, amplify its sound...for this it is great in the tolerances that I mentioned...If you work, you know every place has something going on....neon, transformers on lights, things that would make your shoes buzz....If you play with high gain and aim a strat a foot away from any amp it will buzz straight in.....I set my amp up for my pickup selections, usually bridge and neck...and have always had to settle for mediocre on each, not using two amps,and no time to mess around between songs, I live with it...in the studio I'm sure I could dial it in and be happy, and yes the clean channel distorts when you crank it....and not in a good way.....I bought this used and really don't know if thats from a baggy speaker or the amp....The drive channel doesn't need to be there for me.....tried low drive and high gain for a lead channel, and wasn't happy....the footswitch stays home...

I have played this for three weeks, about twelve gigs, and it is fine, and I never carry a backup......no problems yet....

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I started working as a musician in 1966, at 16,sponsered by the leader of the band so I could work in bars(Miami)...I was a gearhead when I was a kid...now, I play whatever strikes my fancy......my main guitar is an old strat that I picked up about twenty years ago,and #2 is an epi LP standard....Have a few teisco delrays that I drag out on occasion,I don't own a flatop....My main amp is a musicman 65 212, and this k-75 has become his little brother......Flatwounds on the LP, EB 10s on the strat.....my guitar tech has modded all my guitars, without pimping them....graphite, switchcraft elects...As far as effects go, I am not going to type in what I have,but what I use....(alot of dust on a bunch of"let's smoke a big one before we go in the store" purchases...!) A Danelectro BLT slapback....I went through alot of stuff when I bought this,and out of the boutique stuff I tried, this does what I need, i just wanted colour.....I was going to buy an echoplex,and reality kicked in.......I don't own a violin bow or and old ladies shawl...this 20 bucks cuts the gig.......If someone stole it, I'd find anything I could get a good sound out of.What do I love/hate about it? I turn it on, and play....its an amp, find its purpose!Yeah, and I could have picked up anything, blues jr, epi firefly.....and they sounded like shoeboxes...this amp is doing it right now.....If paris hilton had a 12" speaker, I might swap....I don't need anything.....It's a good amp.....

It has all the bells and whistles I would ever need really. Now if the darn thing would stabilize itself regarding the phantom distortion we'd be pals, but as is it's not even usable. I play straight clean guitar with no effects and don't require any distortion. The fact that the distortion creeps even if you turn the distortion vol. and gain off and it still fades in till its full dirt potential is met no matter what I do. Means this thing lives in a closet and collects dust.

for the 45 seconds that it will run clean before the distortion fades itself on full it sounds adequate for my purposes if a little bass thin. It also has more usable volume then I'll ever need which is comforting but again you cannot turn the distortion off no matter what you do once it magically turns its self on full dirt. My guess is it's a capacitor somewhere in the channel switching that is the under value or some other bleed causing (probably capacitor caused) due to the fact that it has to run for awhile till it gradually over rides the switching.

due to the phantom distortion problem since the first time I turned it on. I would have to say this amp is unusable.

No support not even responces to email questions.
Though I did find a circuit diagram online today. I purchased one online when i first got this amp but it was not readable being a poorly scanned photo copy of a hand drawn copy of the original diagram. Maybe I'll take it apart again and see if this diagram is accurate enough to chase down the offending capacitor(S).

I bought this amp new old stock it having sat around the store for years. I therefore got it dirt cheap ($100 brand newish) but even at that it is still not usable (unless you like solid state type distortion on 11 that you cant turn down or off)

I like the versatility of this amp. The miniswitches in the back add nice tone variations. The controls on the fron ar esmooth and easy operate. Channel switching is manual or by footswitch. I like the headphone jack feature for pratice. It is easier to adjust than theFender Deluxe 112. Its a nice no-nonesense amp for my purposes.

I am still playng with the tonal variations. I play classic rock, blues, country and very little jazz. I wouldnt recommend this for metal, grunge etc. I get great warm clean rythm sound, and some nice "Sweet Emotion" type distortion with it as well. If you over dirve the amp too much it gets a bit too fuzzy.

I would take this on a gig with out a back up. I am not a pro and its not likely that I would beat this one up.

I don't know. I Found all info I need edon thier web site though.

I have been playing guitar about 30 years. I am not sire if i'd buy another but I;d sur ebuy one before I'd but I'd buy one of these beofr I got a Line 6 or another Peavy blazer 158.

This amp is from 1991, the tweed/classic style. I haapened on it in GC while buybg cords, a new strap etc. I played though it clean and loved it. Switched to the drive channel and found ity to be decent. I am playing wth teh tone controls. I plan to use the amp for practice and small venues like church and jamming/parties etc. The Boss Me 30 works well with it as does my DOD over drive.

I like the sounds.. Not quite as ballsy as my Fender Deluxe 90 but it works for me. GReat for blues and the kind of rock I play. I am suing it with mostly with my D'Agostino Benchmark which has 2 humbuckers aith coil splitters.

Unknown. I havent had it that long. No problems yet

Dunno about Markley, I do have 1 year parts and labor with GC though

Keeper. I looked all around and there was nothing even close in this proce range (used)

Everything said about the specs, I just have one thing to add - my k-75 is not black (as in the pdf manual) but cream (like the tweed ones?), I don't know what's the differense, but I use this amp on gigs and it works fine. Not the best out there but since I got it for free from a friend who doesn't need it, it gets the job done.
Not that I don't have any complaints - I do.
I does NOT have enough base. At least not enough for my taste (it sounds like a ds-1 with the tone volume all the way up). So I have to set it: tr. 3-4 midd. 4-5 and bass on the MAX!

I already said some things about the sound but there's one more.
I don't use the drive on the amp (to weak for me) so I use the drive chanell for a boost (with the drive set to min. and the volume of the drive chanell a little louder than the clean chanell).
But - the 8 little switches on the back DO work on my amp (they add a LOT of bass - on the drive chanell), and my amp (at least so far) doesn't have volume issues.

Pretty solid - like I said 2-3 gigs a week so...
For me, it's (been) ok (so far).

Wouldn't know...

Playing long, a lot of gear bla bla bla...
If it were stolen my friend would kill me (even though he doesn't use it :-)
So...not great but not a bad amp overall (at least this one).

I play Blues and Jazz mostly, and the sound is nice. It handles the bluessound really well. This amp is not recommended if you want to play more "heavy" music.

This amp is really not reliable at all! I have had mine for a couple of years now ( Waaay too long ), and i have experienced quite some trouble with it. Sometimes the volume is very low, but after a while i suddenly turns up the volume itself- This is a vey big pain in the "ears". The overdriveeffect doesnt allways work. That also comes and goes.

If you can get it for free, take it. Otherwise I recommend a Marshall
amp instead. It has been quite irritating playing on an amp, whose got a mind of its own, when it comes to volume.