Epiphone Galaxie 10 Combo

its very simple but i love it that way

i want to follow-up on an earlier post.

i mentioned that i changed the tubes (JAN 5751pre and SED6L6power) and it really warmd up alot and i loved the difference. i just wanted to add that now i have wired the amp to 2 extension cabs (each a 1x10 cab) with better celestions and the improved even more!

so i give it a 9 based on the fact that after you change tubes its an 8, and after changing speaker & tubes its a 9.

i am not comparing it to my larger stack or more powerful amps - but im comparing it with small combo amps that are perfect for cranking up to get that tube magic happening that does not kill your hearing - and i actually prefer small combos in any circumstance, i like the detail and response

so far so good and ive had it 9 months

cool little combo that becomes an extremely usable and great sounding combo with tube swap - and even more so with speaker swap as well.

it does great cleans, and if cranked some and pushed with a good boost the overdrive really rocks in a classic way, the amp is so detailed in tone (after tube & speaker change) and so responsive. i sold my classic 30 but i had to keep the marshall stack for weekend jams - if it werent for that id sell the jcm808 and get a couple more galaxie 10s to do some parts-swappin with!

This amp was bought new in Dec 2004. Same controls as mentioned in the previous 50 reviews. Has everything I need, though an external speaker jack would be nice. Definitely loud for 10 watts. What more can you expect out of a tube amp for 200 bucks?

I mostly use the amp with a Standard Tele, and occasionally an SG. I play mostly blues...the nice tubey distortion is perfect for my sound. I usually am looking for a Bloomfield on Butterfield's first album tone...and this amp gets there perfectly. I don't use clean that much, but the clean sounds fine...after a preamp tube change.

And, as has been mentioned in many posts, a tube change is definitely in order. This particular one just doesn't like a 12AX7. I've tried a couple of modern brands, and a NOS RCA, and with all, the gain is unusable over about "7". A 12AT7 fits my needs, though I eventually will try a 12AU7. Either guitar sounds good after changing the preamp tube.

I've tried a couple of tubes in the power position, and also an NOS RCA, and to be honest, the stock Sovtek tube doesn't sound bad.

The amp isn't noisy at all, fairly quiet by tube amp standards...even with the stock tubes.

The speaker doesn't sound that bad after it is broken in. You cannot judge a speaker by how it sounds "out of the box"...10-20 hours of playing time is required to loosen up the spider and the surround. Even Ted Weber recommends a 10 hour break-in period for his fine speakers.

It seems pretty tough...but all tube amps are somewhat fragile. Never, never gig without a backup.

Never needed to use Epiphone customer service.

I've been playing about 30 years. I've owned pretty much everything worth having at one time or another. After selling, giving away, thefts, and dead gear, I'm down to this amp and a Silverface Fender Bassman. If this amp were stolen, I'd definitely replace it with another. I love the simplicity of this amp, in looks, controls, and circuitry...though I don't know why Epi is dead set on using a 12AX7...except maybe that people that don't know any better think they have to have one.

I looked at the Fender Blues Jr and Pro Jr, a couple of other amps, picked this one because of the price, and I'm glad I did.

Basic class A tube amp, Gain, Vol, 3 tone controls, standby switch. That's it. Basic. Has all you need for good tone. Get a reverb pedal.

Played woth Strat, Les Paul, Gretsch Anni, and a bunch of others. Once you dal in the tone you like, it sounds good, like a tube amp should. Clean tones were enhanced by a Tube Change, and occasionally farty lows were improved. Sounded ok with the stockers, but was really made much more useable by the tube change. I have good cleans and sweet crunchy overdrive. If I need more volume or overdrive, I hook up a TS-5 or any OD pedal you like. Sudedenly you have become very loud. The Celestion handles it well, and the amp really sounds very cool now.

Seems well built, time will tell.

Never hope to meet them service folks, but it did come w/ a 5 yr warranty.

I would have to say, post tube change, that this amp gets a high score. I used it at a VERY loud Blues Jam last night, and it was enough volume to be heard over some Loud Bass playing and a few heavy handed drummers. A 12" speaker would have made it perfect, because though it was loud enough, it needed to move a bit more air to really cut through the mix with a bit more bottom and fullness. Considering that it is intended as a mere practice amp, and I was able to use it at gig volumes with the pedal, I am impressed even more. I have to give it a strong nine.

Bought this at Musicians Friend on sale. It has to be of the better pratice amps for the money that are tube, not very loud and no way can be used with a drumk kit unless miced through a PA. Cleans are good and better after a change of tubes. I used a SED 6l6 and a Mesa Boogie preamp tube and it sounded much fuller and rounded. It has a solid state Retifier and phase inverter (drives the poer tube) Its a class A Cathode Biased amp, most one output tubes are. Good buy and great tolex retro amp for the price!

Sounds good with a tube change (sounded ok before) used SED 6l6 and Mesa Boogie preamp tube.

Look rugged

I bet this will be its dowfall if needed because of its price and ...will it be worth mialing off to fix, they wont pay to get it! Unless you find a local aurthrized sevice center localy.

Ok for what I paid, with the tube swap, I will more than likely use it for studio work, it wont have the police out here (i live in a townhouse) it is more likey less than its 10watt rating with stock tubes..I would say 3-5 watts RMS ( have one 10 watt yellow jacket in my 130 watts music man amplifier and its loud as hell compared) Clean sound

Well, this is just a basic amp for someone who wants tube tone but doesn't necessarily have tube money. It has Treble, Middle, and Bass EQ Knobs as well as Gain and Volume. I would have enjoyed this amp better if it had channel switching and possibly an effects loop, although I am not heavy on effects. I haven't totally checked out the back, but most of it is covered with an opening to see the glowing tube. It halso has a Power Switch and a Standby Switch

This amp was exactly what I expected with the exception that it is bigger than it looks in the pictures. It is a little loud for bedroom practice, I'd say, but I also like to practice at really low volume. For now, I turn the volume up to about 3 and put a pillow over the front of the amp so it will sound decent without being really loud. This amp also can be extremely piercing in terms of highs, but the pillow somehow manages to balance it out perfectly. Right now, I have the EQ with the Treble at 10, Middle at 0, and Bass at 10 and the Gain at 10. The cleans on this amp are fine for my purpose; I am not a professional at clean sounds, but I would say it does ok with the gain around 5, no break up there. This amp on it's own does not have Rectifier or Marshall quality distortion; it has more of a vintage sounding distortion thats suited more for blues and light pop or whatever. However, I have an Ibanez Tube Screamer (one of the cheap new ones) and it really makes up where the amp lacks, it can give me that Nu Metal Dual Recto crunch with lots of bass. It does have alot of hiss with a pedal in front of it, but I am also using crappy cables and the pedal itself is somewhat broken. For the money however, it is easily a killer amp.

I have had this amp for less than 24 hours.

Have not dealt with them

I have been playing for about 2 and a half years and I pretty much only play an Ibanez SZ. If it were lost, I would definately buy it again simply because in this price range, your most likely to get solid state crap or hybrid junk, and although they may have alot of features, I'd rather an amp that does one thing well than 20 things terribly. I should note, however, that I bought this amp without hearing it first and although I have played a bunch of other amps in this price range, I never did a side by side comparison. However, I probably won't be looking at amps for a while because this fits my needs perfectly. In fact, I am considering buying a Galaxie and an A/B switch and using the other one for my clean sounds.

I bought the latest Galaxie 10 Combo. It is a sharp looking amps.
I changed the preamp tube to a Mullard 12AU7 and the power tube to an
Jan RCA 6L6. The sound is sweet, full, round and robust. I have a 10" WeberVST speaker on order. This a must-have practice amp.
A headphone jack would have complimented this fine amp.

This is my harp practice amps. I like to play the blues. Since the tube upgrades, the amp is very clean sounding.

Still new, but the technology has proven itself for decades of reliability.

I am an amatuer harp for 2 years.
Because of the price and performance for a home enviroment practice amp,
I would buy the exact setup again with upgraded tubes and WeberVST speakers.

I like the features which are rather simple.

Gain, volume, treble, mid & bass controls. Sometimes with any more than that people get distracted from just playing!

I wish it had reverb but I cant hold that against the amp, I knew it did not have reverb when purchasing it so no blow there.

It also has a standby switch which is very handy when taking a break and just an overall nice feature in the longrun when you think about how a standby switch can make "tube-life" more pleasant for the tubes.

I got this little amp and fired it up. I did like the cleans but something was to be desired with the higher gain settings. The breakup was not very smooth - but as others have said new (better) tubes can do this amp justice.

I dropped a 5751 in the pre and a 6L6GC in the powerslot. This did cause the amp to loose a little "punch" at lower levels but I also noticed that at higher levels there is no indication of that, also the breakup is much more smooth in the sense of traditional tube amp breakup.

The cleans are also still very round and musical which is a great thing, this amp has good, smooth sounds and after changing tubes to find them one can turn it on, step back (its damn loud for 10 watts!) and just rock away with plenty of detail to playing nuances and the simple - no frills approach to the design means you can just have a blast making music and not worrying about more sounds because its a good little tube amp that loves to be pushed.

So dont go expecting a thousand different sounds like your modeller or processor......just good tube tone. This is not my first tube amp or my last so I know what a good amp can do. When you crank this up be prepared to have fun because it really is a fun little (but loud) package thats easy on the back.

Also this amp responds well to pedals so have at it!

The simple but effective design tells me this thing should be good & tough in the longrun, provided you give it the care it needs from time to time.

Dont know, and I hope I dont have to find out.

I gave this review pretty much all 8's because thats what I feel it deserves.

If you are not happy with the stock sounds, swap out some tubes and have fun experimenting because its self-biasing, just make sure the tubes you pick can be used.

Ive had it about 2 weeks and next week Im going to order another. I love a small amp that you can crank and with powerful tube amps its pretty hard to do that in most situations. There is a big difference between 6 and 9 or 10 with the volume knob on most tube amps.....get one you can push!

In all seriousness I just want to say that its a good little amp that comes stock with bad tubes. Maybe Ill try the speaker on my next one, but this one sounds good as is so Ill leave it alone and spend my time jamming instead of searching for new sounds.

It sounds great with my LP, and even better with my strat.

I want an amp to have usable controls and no more. If you need a degree in electrical engineering just to play it then I don't want it. This amp is nice in its functional simplicity. A reverb and an external speaker jack would make it perfect, but I like the design features.

Brand new. I use these amps a lot for bedroom practice and small jam sessions.

I purchased two of these recently when they went on sale. The idea was always to leave the stock speaker in one and do some experimenting in the other. Here's what I did.

Galaxie #1 got a Reverend Alltone 1030 speaker, a Groove Tubes 12AX7-M pre-amp tube and a Groove Tubes 6L6GE. It sounds very good. Nice soundstage and presence.

Galaxie #2 keeps the stock Celestion speaker, but benefitted from getting both the pre-amp tube and a power tube replaced. out went the SOVTEKS and in went an NOS JAN GE 5751 in V1 and an SED 6L6GC power tube. This set up has a firmer bottom end. The loss of volume from the lower gain pre-amo tube is noticeable, but also has the benefit of giving you a little more flexibility with the pre-amp gain. This set up gives a little grittier sound than what I get from Galaxie # 1.

I do not recommend using less than a 5751 in the pre-amp slot. You lose a degree of presence and soundstage to the point of robbing the amp of its identity.

I'm using strat type guitars, semi-hollows and Gibson SGs. Both humbucker and single coil guitars sound good clean. The drive could use a little help, but a few EQ adjustments at the guitar let me get good usable tones. Still, the amp definitely excels when played clean. Its best distortion comes in that "on the edge" range right between clean and distorted where you are just starting to get some nice breakup.

Only had these a weak. Very simple designs. Should last an eternity.

not an issue.

I bought two of these at the recent sales price. I'm very happy with them. They are nice little amps for the money that will get you that tube tone we all strive for.

I wanted to add that I gave a review a month or so ago of the stock epi galaxie 10, and although I liked it I couldnt get over the overly bright sound and harsh gain.

So I changed the preamp tube to a JAN GE 5751 and the poweramp tube to a SED 6L6 GC, and it did just what I needed - it warmed the amp up alot, got rid of the "extra" treble, and smoothed out the sound alot.

It did loose a little volume and punch, but that should be expected when you drop a tube in to lower the gain a bit.

Overall its very warm & smooth now, and if you need more drive than the amp can give just boost it with a good o.d. pedal, and you are set for some good classic rock & bluze!~!


If you are willing to swap the tubes out this can be a great little tube amp, not just for bedroom practice but jamming and recording. Just dont go expecting the stock tubes to give you the sounds you need, but this amp does respond well to changes in tubes, and is very responsive & spongy with your playing nuances.

Great deal on a great little amp

I just want to comment on what the poster below said, because his post may discourage someone from owning this great little blues/classoc rock amplifier if they need a small tube combo for practice/recording and don't want to piss off the neighbors.

You HAVE to change tubes with this amp.

Epiphone picked the tubes that come stock with this amp based on what........sound? NO WAY!!

They chose them because they are CHEAP!!

Anyone who's ever owned a tube amp knows that changing the tubes in a tube amp can lead to very different results. In the case of this amp, it can lead to very good results.

I will be the first to admit that playing this amp with the stock tubes in it the drive sounds are so trashy, and what little bit of breakup the amp has is almost horrible. The cleans are nice though - not sparkly like a Fender but that's a good thing to some folks, but round and very usable with the nice response expected of a tube amp at higher volume settings.

After finding the right tubes, this amp can be a real pleasure to play. No, the overdrive it has is still not suited for hard rock/metal unless you push it with a boost or ride your dirt boxes while the amp is clean.

But with the right tubes, you can get great blues tones, even classic rock breakup with this thing. The sound after finding the right tubes is very different from how the amp sounds stock which was not very good. It responds well to your playing nuances and has a sweet compression perfect for bluesy leads.

Also, with a good overdrive or clean boost the rhythm is smooth and chunky, with a little heavier driven pedal pushing it you can go into harder rock and heavy metal settings.

I just wanted to point this out if anyone is browsing through the review of this amp, and if they are looking for a small tube amp to get those chunky but smooth tube tones for recording or jamming at levels that won't melt your ears (but it is still damn loud for 10 watts - its a Class A tube amp!).

So if you are looking for that amp, do what anyone else would with a tube amp if they're not happy with it's stock sounds - try some tubes!! You can always throw a couple tubes in, see for yourself and if you are not satisfied, take it back to the store and get a more reliable (but no tube tones) SS.