Epiphone Galaxie 10 Combo

Single channel, class A, single ended basic amp. 10watts, a pretty basic guitar tube amp. Made in China, fairly good craftsmanship but not the best of quality components internally. Seems like it would make a nice practice amp for my apartment. Master volume in addition to vol, treble, middle, and bass.

First impression was that this was a really cheap amp with a cheam amp sound. Absolutely lacking in bass, brassy mid range and screechy highs. Since I thought of this as a project amp, changed tubes and improved the sound right away. The stockers are Sovtec 6L6GC and a 12AX7, not very good quality. Remember, the manufacturers have a price-point to sell these amps at to make any sort of profit. They're not going to put top-shelf components in if they don't have to. Tried several 6L6GC tubes finally settling for JJ's. As for 12AX7, also JJ's.Much better sounding.
Threw away the Cheap Import 10" Celestion and replaced it with a Eminence Ragin'Cajun'. Much better drive, tonal range, and articulation.
Finally, replaced the puny output transformer with a Hammond 125DSE.

Still a 10watt amp but now it really roars. Sounds like a much bigger amp than it is. Tube and speaker swap were big steps but output transformer was a huge leap. Really love this little amp now. Easily overdriven, very warm sounding, creamy sustain, nice tonal range, and much, much, louder than in stock form. There are many other mods but these were simplest.

Just finished the mods, too soon to tell.

N.A.

A very basic tube amp with a fair amount of potential. Everyone seems to be modifying the Epiphone Valve Jr but these Galaxie10's are also a nice platform to start with. The only drawback with mods is a limited amount of chassis space to work with. Adding the Hammond output transformer required relocating the power transformer.

This started as a weekend project and I'm really happy with the results. The sound is now boutique tube-amp quality, it's very sturdy in construction, and it's perfect for small gigs or a home studio.

When I purchased an amp at a music store's clearance sale, the owner gave me the Galaxie10 to get rid of it. The goal was to take this amp to the next level or two without breaking the bank.

Nothing has been said that I can say; you do have a gain and a volume switch; I can say the gain dose act like a second or lets say a preamp volume switch. you have one 10 inch speaker and a preamp and power tube.

I play in a band using a big vox combo; I've got a standard 80's american tele as my main "axe", an 80's Ibanez Roadstar II; and a 90's Korean Epiphone coronet.
This is not a death metal amp. I am assuming that people, like me, buy this for a quieter smooth tube tone, a bluesy to pushed crunch, to record with a faster break up than a bigger louder amp, at a fraction of the price. There is a really nice vintage sound with the volume on ten, and the gain about 5-7. I am anxious to look into replacing the speaker and or the tubes. I can only hope that that may make it go from very good sounding to exceptional.

No history with this yet. Its used at a bargain, perhaps I will need to service it a bit.

I've been playing over 20 years, most of that time in gigging and recording bands. I can't really imgine using this alone live; I see it as a recording amp, practice amp. Perhaps my mind will change with mods. I also will try it with an eq pedal.

Right now, after a couple of hours or so, I think its just about on par with one of those valve jr or blackheart type set ups. With mods and work, it may far surpass them.

It has everything it needs. The only thing i missed, was a external speaker connect, but it is easily to mod.

The original Sound is too flashy or screaming. tehe tone stack don??t work very well. Too much treble, to less bass, no mids. But if you use a equalizer before it and crank the basses and mids the way up, you will be surprised how thick the tone will get. So I say in original it is 5 but with a eq it has everything for good bluestone. The overdrive is ok and is to optimize with other tubes. Try out.

Like others, no problems.

To old to know something about.

For the low price, you will get a good bluesamp, if you will kixk it in the ass with an equalizer or booster. Than it will work fine.

Update to review of 9/05. I still have the amp. Now has an Eminence Governor Speaker and a GT KT-66 power tube. You can squeeze it in there, and trust me when I tell you no 6L6 can compare. Makes the amp a monster, and looks like a 25 watt light bulb in the back of the amp!

I use a delay/reverb pedal, and a Keely modded Ibanez TS-5 in front. The amp has played many a gig. Really great for everything but super clean country, and only because if you get it loud enough to twang with a band, it starts to break up too much.

never a problem.

With a 12" speaker, the right tubes and pedals, this amp can get you to a lot of places. For the $ it's hard to beat it.

This amp has already been reviewed ~83 times. For the tech types out there you can download the schematic at my site (blueguitar dot org).

Replacing the tubes helps a lot with the sound but I thought it was still too bright. Looking at the schematic there is an extra coupling cap (C6 0.1uF) between the second tube stage and the tone stack. Although the extra cap is sometimes used to restrict bass response on high gain amps I didn't think it was appropriate in this design so I removed it and replaced it with a jumper. I replaced the 3 remaining coupling/bass/mid caps with 0.022uF 600vdc polyester Orange Drop caps (C2, C8 and C9, respectively). You could alternately use a high quality 630vdc polyester cap, preferrably from one of the suppliers who specialize in tube guitar amps. For the 470pF 1kv ceramic treble cap I put in a 390pF 500v mica cap (my own preferance).

The other mod I did was substitute a 1M resistor for the 100k series resistor R5 (between the 1st stage coupling cap and the 1M audio taper Gain control. This cuts the brightness a little bit and also keeps the amp from going too crazy if you set the Gain any higher than 8 (out of 10). With 1M series resistor it goes crazy only if you set to the max.

I have some amps which will become unstable if you set both the gain and the volume to the max; turning down either control will stabilize the amp. With this amp, setting the Gain control to the max will cause instability at *any* setting of the Volume control- not the best design. LOL

With these mods and the stock tubes, this amp sounds pretty nice- but replacing the tubes as well makes it sound really great. I happened to have a single Tung Sol 6L6WGB from 1956 and I finally have an amp to put it in.

This amp is pretty slick- most of the single-ended amps like this one use the lower powered 6V6 tube, which will put out about 5 watts. A single-ended 6L6 will put out about 10 watts, with enough gain to be able to use a regular 3 control tone stack to shape the tone. With the tone stack, this amp might be good for harmonica.

I gave a rating of 6 for the sound quality- this is for the stock amp. With the mods outlined here and different tubes, I'd give it 8 or 9 for getting a great blues tone. I would have liked to do more mods to it, but with the stock cabinet design there are not good places to add extra pots or switches (I've been thinking about taking out the pilot light and putting a pot there! LOL)

One channel, 10 class A watts, 10" celestion speaker, bass/mid/treble controls, gain/master controls, stand-by switch - basic, but all that you really need. Although, being able to add an extension speaker would be nice. One 12AX7 and one 6L6 for tubes. The Epiphone forums were saying that this is self biasing, which makes this very easy to experiment with new tubes. I use this amp for recording and practicing in my apartment. The 10 watts lets you turn it up without your neighbors calling the cops :)

I use a Strat with a bridge humbucker and a Tele with a P90 in the neck, and I find this amp has a good clean to starting-to-break-up sound. My humbucker is in danger of getting harsh distortion sometimes, but otherwise all of the pickups work well. It takes my pedals well, so there really isn't a need for a second channel (I use a Rat, a DS-1, a TS-7, and a Big Muff... but not at the same time). The EQ is pretty limited in its usefulness (as other have mentioned), although the mid control is fairly useful. All in all, a solid basis for rock of most genres (not metal though...). I have tried a few new tubes, and I haven't had the luck others have had with lower gain preamp tubes. However, I found that an Electro Harmonix 6L6 rounded off the harsh high end (I also have a 12AX7EH in it right now, which my Strat loves). The stock tubes weren't terrible though.

I have had this amp for about a year and a half, and it has given me no problems.

never dealt with them

I got this when they were on close out at Musician's Friend, and for the price, I don't think I could have gotten a better amp. It sounds good with the music I play, and it records well. If it were lost or stolen... I might try to find one on Ebay, but I might look elsewhere too.

separate gain and volume knobs are a helpful plus. 3 tone knobs treb mid bass and standby, which is a nice touch.

get rid of the stock tubes and you have a nice little class a 10 watt amp.

Like others have mentioned, this little amp has alot of features for the small $$$ paid. I particularly like the speaker (10" celestion tube 10), the standby, and the sep gain and volume. It lets you dial in the level of distortion you want without disturbing the neighbors.

Stock, I would give this about a 7. The sovtek tubes are ok but it can sound better. Try JJ Teslas or Tung Sol tubes and you will be pleasantly suprised! As with most tube amps, it does humm. I've heard others say there are mods that reduce the humm but it never really bothered me enough to bother. Amp does seem to be treble prone. Adjust the treb way down and bump the bass to help balance it out and it sounds fine considering it isn't a boutique amp.

No issues for me so I'd give it a good mark except I think an amp needs a year or two to really see what it is going to do so I won't rank this one yet.

No idea on this one since I haven't had any problems with mine over the past few months.

I've played alot of solid state and tube amps over the years. I'd say this is a very nice budget amp with alot of flexibility for the buck. I challenge you to find a more flexible class A tube amp for $150!

I purchased this amp new in 2004 shortly before it was phased out. The amp is simple but the gain and volume can be adjusted to produce decent clean tones and moderately dirty ones. The amp is loud for the bedroom if you crank it up, but not quite enough for a blues jam or gig with drums (I have tried it a couple of times and came up short). It can of course be miked.

I usually play it with single coils - strats or a tele. The clean tone is pleasant but very dry with no reverb or effects. It is not chimey. Add in some gain and it starts to sound pretty good with no reverb. I usually play it with a Deluxe Memory Man delay in front and that makes it sound very good.

I did not like the tone when I first got it and it was microphonic. I read about the tube changes on this board and bought a box of miscellaneous old used preamp tubes - 12ax7, 12at7, etc. All of then sounded way better than the stock Sovtek which I pitched. I have not found that changing the power tube is necessary.

It let me down this winter when I was in the Bahamas and had no access to parts - I thought the transformer had quit. I had to manage without it and when I got home I took it to the amp hospital where the guy told me it would cost $50 for his minimum labor and at least another $50 for parts - a lot for an amp worth not much over $100.

Since I have more time than money, I decided to try to fix it myself. I decided it was indeed the power transformer since it got hot and smelled bad.....so I found one on Ebay for $20 (without the second primary coil for 240V). I installed it with some modified mounting holes and eliminated the dual voltage switch. The amp works fine again - came close to heading for the dumpster until I got all that figured out though.

Ordered it new from a mail order house and haven't bothered them since.

It is a nice looking amp that serves a purpose. It sounds good after changing out the preamp tube. The construction and the speaker look pretty good. I was disappointed when the transformer quit though.

I probably would replace it with a Peavey or Fender of some sort.

The features look standard and make the amp seem versatile and adjustable.

Here we go..
Huge kudos to Epiphone for attempting to make an affordable low-watt tube amplifier. That being said, there should be an award invented for making a tube amp with absolutely ZERO presence and/or sparkle. They should have named it the "Epiphone Thud". No clarity here. NONE. And even with the Bass and Mid turned down all the way, and the treble cranked... it sounds like a can of rocks being shaken from behind a wool blanket... in the trunk of a Studebaker... underwater.

Who knows

Don't know

If this amp was stolen, I would pay whoever took it. If you have the misfortune of receiving one as a gift, do yourself a favor: Fill it full of cement and use it for a door-stop.