Epiphone Electar Tube 10

Bought in June, 2000. Basic tube practice amp. Not at all loud.

Disapointing.

Didn't keep it long enough.

Music Yo is great to deal with as long as you're willing to do it online. I've bought a few other things from them and have been happy with their service.

I've been playing blues, classic rock and everything else as the needed, for about 35 years. I'd been looking for a low cost practice amp for the apartment. I bought this on a whim and after reading some of the other reviews. To put it bluntly, I was thoroughly disappointed. I never really found a sound I liked and if I would've, I couldn't hear it. It wasn't even loud enough for apartment life. I kept it for 5 days and sent it back and bought it's bigger brother, which I am quite pleased with. Especially since they lowered the price to $129 and gave me a $10 online coupon. For $119.00 plus shipping, this is the deal of the year. More about that under the electar 30 ratings.

For a cheap practice amp what do you expect? It has all the knobs it needs for the job and comes in an attractive package. Seems pretty damn sturdy. No reverb though.

Only five at first!!!!!!
Out of the box this thing sounded like a fart through a crappy P.A. I ordered it through musicyo and was very disapointed. However, I got onto Harmony Central and noticed some of the mods people suggested. Now I am happy.

No probs yet.

No contact

OK, I know I only gave it 5 for sound, but after replacing the speaker and the tubes, I have a little tone monster. My main amp is a Fender Deville 4-10". I use this in my bedroom for practice. I use it with a Zoom 507 for reverb and a Danelectro Fab tone for Distortion. The amp's distortion alone sounds like mud. You will need a good distortion pedal to get a great sound. Again, with the mods and a dist. pedal, this thing rocks, and at the price WOW! $89 for the amp/ $50 for dist/ $50 for used reverb and $18 for a weber 10" speaker. That's still under $250 for tube sound in your bedroom. I may even use it to record.

Look at one of the dozens of other reviews.

Several folks seem to like the "post-mods" sound of this unit.

What do you expect?

OK - Musicyo has a bunch more of these in stock, so I felt like putting my two cents worth in. The following are NOT complaints, just observations. The resistors are the cheap 10% jobs. Don't look for any sealed RV4 2W pots in here, either. Polypropylene film/foil capacitors? Not exactly... Check the small caps on the tone controls and they're not exactly silver mica, either. Rated power on the trany is not inspiring if a heavily clipped/nearly square sound is where you tend to play a lot of the time. Again, these are NOT complaints. Come on people, the whole thing is $100 delivered!! Use the factory tubes as emerency spares only, heft the "speaker" in the dust bin, do the mods and you're out $80US (if using a WeberVST Signature). BUT, you're still stuck with the limitations of an 8" speaker. You're still stuck with the "inexpensive" resistors, caps, pots, and trans. It sounds pretty good today, but it won't next year or so. Bottom line, if you are capable of modding this thing so it sounds good, and it does BTW, just spend the SAME money building your own amp with top quality parts - granted no speaker. Now you can justify using a Weber P10P or even P12B and you'll have a great rig for a LONG time.

10W Class A all-valve combo (12AX7/ECC83 and a 6L6). Basic three band EQ (chicken head knobs), gain and a master volume. Standby and power switch as well as a pilot light. Preamp out and an external speaker jack socket, as well as switching for UK/US voltage. All in a 50s style configuration - quite limited, but people shouldn't be expecting more switches than a mixer for a 10W Class A tube amp.

Waaaay too much bass end for such a small amp. After performing some amp surgery (following tonemonkey@yahoo.com 's webpage on Electar 10 mods), I have now got a very nice sounding replica of what should be a 50s amp. Admittedly, it doesn't have a very high gain and would appeal to britrock and blues players more than metallers but both the clean and overdriven tone (to me) sounds more expressive than most Marshalls and Laneys which I have heard.

This amp hasn't really been through any torture tests yet, but it has survived my soldering, so that HAS to be a good sign.

Epiphone no longer make these amps - bad luck. Still, anyone with basic knowledge of electronics should be able to replace anything that has blown as the internal circuitry itself is not all that complicated.

From experience, most amps sound best at 3/4 of it's max volume. I play everything from worship music at church to HM/vintage rock, and with the exception of extremely high gain sounds, this amp looks very promising. The clean sounds are full for humbuckers and slightly glassier for single coils, and overdriven this could be voiced to sound like both an AC30 or a Marshall.

Great little practice amp from Korea, made in '99 more than likely. Has a 12ax7a preamp tube and a single Sovtek 5881 power tube. Controls for gain, volume, treble, middle, and bass. Extension speaker jack for a 4 ohm cabinet. Standby switch is a nice feature. From what other reviewers have written, it seems as though there are quality control issues, but mine is a good unit. Well built, with nice retro styling.

Right out of the box, it sounded good. Surprisingly good. But I had some tubes from other amps in the tool chest, so I did a little mix and match. I found that an old Raytheon 6L6 power tube and a RCA 12ax7a gave me the best sound. This little thing isn't a powerhouse, but these tubes give it plenty of clean volume. And when I plugged into a 2x12 cabinet, it really sounded strong. Not made for playing out, but great for practice. Definitely better than the solid state practice combos on the market.

I've had this for 4 months now and never had a problem. Well built and sturdy.

I've played for several years - long enough to trust my ears when it comes to judging good vs bad tone. This has a very good tone for a small cab, low watt amp. Two things I wish it had are a headphone jack and reverb. If they're still available, the low price makes them a good buy.

The amp was probably made in 1999 (it was delivered to me Dec. 1999). I bought it at Musicyo.com. A single channel amp with a single 12AX7 tube in the preamp and a single 6L6 in the poweramp section. The control knobs are gain, master volume, bass, mid and treble. This is really a small practice amp and there is no reverb nor effects loop. It does have a standby switch, an external speaker jack and the AC voltage selector. I travel a lot so the AC voltage selector comes in really handy (the main reason of my buying this amp). I have not tried using this amp in a band situation but I am not sure if this amp can cut through the mix. This amp will remain as a practice amp.

When I first plugged in to the amp, it rattles like crazy. I think the speaker needs an upgrade to something better. My main gutar is equipped with humbuckers and I have to split the pickup coils to get a decent sound. Otherwise, I would use a stompbox to get a distortion sound. With the right tone control setup, the amp's clean sound is not too bad, although it does breakup very early. Overdriven tone is decent, too, providing you don't push the amp. All and all this amp is not designed to be played at high volume. The lack of reverb is cool sometimes but I would recommend using stompbox effects to deal with that if you do need some kind of reverb. For an amp this size, I think the sound is pretty good. I am sure with a good speaker, the amp probably will sound even better.

Just like Steve B, the C10 cathode bypass cap exploded in my amp a few days ago. I figure I have used the amp for about 40 hours in total since I got it. The shell of the cap and other loose stuff was all over the chassis. I have no idea how can this happen. But since I am not the only one who has this problem, perhaps the defective parts were from the same batch? I just hope the problem is not a design flaw and replacing the cap with a good one will solve it. As I have said before, this amp will remain as a practice amp and I will not take it out to a gig without a backup.

Since I am not in the States now, the 5-year warranty is useless unless I sent the amp back to the US for repair. I was aware of this when I ordered the amp that someday under Murphy's Law the amp will break while I am nowhere near the US and I'd be stuck. I have emailed Epiphone about this and their email support was quick (got an email back from someone at Epiphone 15 minutes after I sent mine!) but with no luck about the repair, just as I thought. However, they did offer to send me the schematic by snail mail so I will have to fix it on my own. I explained what happened to the amp and the customer support person who replied my email did not say much about it. I figure this is just the cap's problem.

I have a few other combo amps so I am not stranded without an amp for the time being. However, that explosion does not make me feel too comfy about this amp. I believe this is a case of you get what you paid for. At $89, I can accept the shoddy speaker and cheap assembly method but not the cap explosion. MusicYo no longer lists this amp so I am not sure where I can find one if the one I have is gone. I like the amp because of the voltage selector switch and I am not sure if there is anything out there with this feature. In a way, this is a unique feature of this amp. Otherwise, sizewise and powerwise, you are looking at a Fender Champ or a Pro Junior. IMOH, both Fender amps sound better than the Electar 10 but they do cost more. I still think it was a bargain, even though not much time was put in before the cap exploded. Time to refresh my soldering skill.....

Gain, volume, and three tone controls. Has a standby switch (nice touch). The price listed is based upon cost of the amp., shipping both ways, a spare speaker (Weber C8SS) and spare tubes.

This amp sounded like like crap with humbuckers but could produce a good tone with single coil guitars. If you ar looking for clean headroom forget it, this amp breaks up way too early.

The speaker had a rattle right out of the box (something rolling around under the speaker dust cap). After approximately three to four hours of operation, the amp literally exploded the C10 capacitor (cathode bypass cap). I mean there were pieces of this cap all over the inside. Since I had the amp for only a couple of weeks, I decided to return it (hence the shipping both ways). After repeated attempts to contact the vendor (MusicYo) they eventually replied to my several e-mails(8 days after my initial contact and 5 days after receiving the amp back). They claimed another (replacement) amp was damaged in shipment and they did not have any more. They offered to refund my credit card or send me an Electar 30. In order to minimize my losses I have requested the Electar 30 (I'll probably give it to my brother).

Good luck geting these (MusicYo) guys to respond in a reasonable time. Personally, this method of internet sales plain sucks. I won't be using these guys again once this issue is resolved. I give them a 4 since they did offer to replace it with a more expensive (but less useful) item.

I wanted this amp replaced but that is now not a possibility. I am now stuck with the spare tubes and Weber C8SS replacement speaker. How the heck does a cathode bypass cap explode? Considering it is parallel to the cathode resistor, it shouldn't see more than few milliamps. It must have been pinholed from the factory and finally broke down to a dead short (even then it should only see 10's of milliamps - not really an explosive current level).

This is a 10 watt all tube amp with an 8-inch speaker, made in 1998 in Korea. Controls include gain, volume, treble, middle, bass, stand-by, and power. The amp has an input jack, an external speaker jack, and a preamp out jack. An effects loop and reverb would be nice, but not really feesable on an amp that costs $100 delivered. I use this as a practice amp, so the 10 watts is adequate.

I am using a Route 101 Guitars Solimar Custom with coil-splittable Duncan Designed hotrail humbuckers in neck and bridge positions, and a Duncan Designed single coil pickup in the middle position. This amp really lets me experiment with the versitility allowed by the guitar: I can hear every minute difference between pickup positions and coil-splits. I play mostly blues with a little bit of jazz mixed in, and I can certaintly get the tone I'm looking for. Though the treble/mid/bass controls do not seem too sensitive to me, a little fiddling around and I can get a whole variety of sounds. I hate playing with distortion, so I haven't really tried to get any out of the amp; I imagine a pedal would be necessary though. Although a number of people reviewing this amp have suggested a whole bunch of modifications, I can get exactly the sounds I'm looking for, so I doubt I'll be making any changes. Obviously this amp can't be compared to expensive stacks, but its price-to-tone ratio is outstanding.

The amp is pretty new and I don't gig (yet!), but it seems pretty solid and heavy, so I am guessing that it will last.

Again, the amp is pretty new and seems solid, so I have not dealt with Epiphone. It has a 5 year warranty, but of course I'm hoping I won't need it. MusicYo shipped it to me in four days without any problems, so I am pretty happy with that.

I have not been playing too long, but I listen to a lot of music, and I know what I like to hear: The Electar Tube 10 delivers exactly the tones I was looking for. If stolen, I would log on to musicyo.com immediately, and order myself another one. I think the key thing people need to remember here is that this amp is a practice amp, and is not necessarily meant for gigging. With that in mind, its insanely inexpensive 10 watts of tube smoothness really get the job done!

Minimal Features: Treb., Mid, Bass, Gain, Master Vol., Line out, Ext. Speaker Jack. ALL TUBE: 10 Watts.
NO: effects loop or reverb.

This is an ALL TUBE mini-amp with Very Good classic rock tones/Blues. (I have also owned both the legendry Gibson Skylark and Fender Tube Champ, both of which I sold..like a moron.) The tones are reasonably clean with the gain up to about 2, then it starts to break up pretty rapidly, so I spend a lot of time search for the "sweet spot at about 2-4. Above that, the distortion is too muddy for my taste, but still gives a good rock sound. As with most of these tube amps, the tone controls seem knd of weak compared to modern active controls, but they do the job. I keep the treble on 10 the mid on 0-3 and the bass on 2-3. The bass gets muddy very quickly. A touch of reverb (from my ME-8) makes everything sound real good. Think "All right Now" by Free. No effects loop, so you have to put effects in front. I bought this as a low-power recording amp, so for that it is probably an 8. Very low power and limited range of tones makes it a 6 overall. I'm totally happy with it though. Don't interpret the 6 as dissatisfaction.

Looks very well built. Tube retainers and a protective cage. All hardware fits properly. FIVE YEAR WARRANTY ! But we will have to see !

Epiphone: 5 No support at all, but there is a 5-Year Warranty.
I bought this from Musicyo.com and was very impressed. I ordered it over the Net, the had a UPS tracking number available the next day, and I was able to track the shipment across the country from the Musicyo site each day. Took exactly 7 days from Nashville (Epiphone/Gibson) to Salt Lake City Utah, via Chicago (??).
Musicyo seems very reputable and the prices are great. But you can't really talk to a salesman with questions, so I will give them a "7", even though I am happy and would buy from them again !

I've been playing 35 years and have owned all the "holy grail" equipment. The Electar 10 is a good-sounding low-power practice or recording amp. I wish it had an effects loop, but I will probably actually use it completely dry, and add all the time-based effect via the recording console. The fact that it is all-tube gives it excellent bluesey tones with picking-attack dependent break-up and distortion. This is something I have noticed is lacking from the amp simulators, such as the POD. So for what I wanted, and how I will use it, it is a "9", but I rank it a little lower overall because of its limitations.

Before it arrived, I had already visited some of the websites that recommend Mods to the circuitry and speaker. I was prepared to try these immediately. Eventually I still may try the Mods, but after hearing the amp as built, I am satisfied enough that I am in no rush to modify anything. I tried the amp through a EV12L speaker that usually sound great (with a 100 W tube amp), and the Electar sounded very trebbley and tinney through it. So I think the Electar must be specially "voiced" for its 8" speaker and closed back-cabinet.
FOR THE PRICE IT IS A VERY GOOD DEAL !

Single channel super cheap-assed allegedly class a combo tube amp. Cool looking retro thang. Like everyone else says: gain, volume, trebele, middle, bass, standby and power switches. Has a 1/4" preamp out jack, as well as an ext. speaker jack (disables internal speaker). Easy access power fuse, power supply has a switch for 110 or 220 vac operation. Philips JAN 12AX7WA preamp tube, Sovtek 5881/6L6WGC power tube. Built like a little tank, but easy access to all parts. PCB construction, but tube sockets are chassis mounted. While some folks have said it has a "sealed enclosure" for the speaker, um, not exactly. The back is indeed closed, but there are two holes approx. 1" diameter in the front panel. Not exactly a scientific tuned port by a long shot. Sure, there's extra stuff I'd like, but it only cost $100 delivered to my door. I'm giving it a 9 because at this price, it has more features than some more expensive amps.

Using a Godin SD, S/S/H. I'm just l;earning how to play, but I do have extensive experience on the electronics/hardware side. Nice little practice amp out of the box. Not terribly loud, but could still get you in trouble in an apartment. Before doing anything, it sounded marginally okay, but kind of flat and flabby (artificially boomy resonance on the low end, muddy mids, very weak, somewhat raspy highs). By marginally okay, I mean what the hell, I haven't
heard any new $100 amps that sound any better than marginally okay. Did the basic circuit mods on http://members.home.net/mtatro/Electar10Mods.htm, i.e. replaced R3 & R7, removed R5 and replaced C2. Also did the NFB tweak R14/C11(not eliminated). Total time spent for assembly, mods and reassembly, half an hour. Total cost of parts, $1.00. Made a HUGE difference in high end response, but really brought out the nasty raspiness of the speaker. No problem, because I also just got my new Weber C8SS.
Replaced speaker, 15 minutes (do it when you've got it apart for the circuit mods and save 10 minutes). Old speaker has a MUCH lighter magnet and a GIANT dustcap. Now sounds VERY nice, with a total cost including shipping of less than $130. The speaker is a huge difference, as well as the bypass cap mod. Next played with a few tubes, currently using a Svetlana 6L6GC and JJ/Tesla 12AX7A, sounds very sweet. So another $20 of tubes, and I've got $150 into it with a full set of extra (original tubes) and speaker in reserve.

Clean channel now sounds fairly sweet, really nice at lower volumes and okay at higher ones. Cranking up the gain is nicely noisy, but gets a bit brutal after a while when maxed out.

So far, so good. One of the real great things about this amp is that it is perfect for the person who wants to become a junior amp tech.. Simple circuitry, easy access, low cost...perfect little lab amp that you can really use.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA. But so what, a blind monkey could reair this amp, or just buy a new one.

Buy one. Play with it. Open it up. Love it.