Epiphone Galaxie 10 Combo

As described by other reviews. No surprise there. No line out. The reverb missing can easily be fixed with a good reverb pedal... but that's where I start having a problem with this amp: adding or changing parts to make it sound better. Might as well buy a better amp in the first place. Let's explore.

Let's cut to the chase. This amp is mediocre. I compared it with a Marshall VS100 and it does not even come close. I was highly disapointed. Of course, you will say that it is an unfair comparison. The Marshall VS100 has more power, bigger speaker, etc. etc. Well. Yes, but I compared the two amps in similar settings: (very) low volume, no reverb, bedroom practice, clean or low distortion, same guitar setting. I wanted the Galaxie to have better quality clean and overdrive at low volume. Forget it. I can achieve much better clean and distortion/distortion at lower volume with the Marshall than with the Galaxie. That totally defeated the purpose. Then I thought, what the heck, might as well push the volume to see what this amp is made of. Worse! I pushed the gain to 7-9 and the volume to 9 and the distortion was simply murky. Another reviewer said it very well: the sound of a rattlesnake. Exactly. A rattlesnake. Disgusting, noisy, I started getting a headache.

Clean was good but limited in range. Distortion was awefull.

Most reviewers shared their wonderful experience after changing tubes and speakers. I don't want to buy an amp and have to put another $200 to get better speakers/tubes. Why would I not buy a better amp in the first place? I did not want to start experimenting and find out that the sound was not what I wanted long after I could return the unit. So, I returned it.

Versatility: terrible. I was trying different settings and the range of tone is very limited. No low frequencies. Too bright, too thin. And I compare with the reverb on the Marshall. Reverb is nice. You have to have it. You think you can do without when you have nothing to compare with. But when it's on, turning it off is like going backyard.

I play electric acoustic songs like "Wish you were here" (Pink Floyd) and some hard rock ala AC/DC. The clean tone could fit some of my playing style, but with limited range. Distortion: no way.

If the amp only works well with single coil, as one reviewer said, then that's not good enough. You can't produce good AC/DC or LedZep distortion with single coils. And what's a tube amp for if not for good 70s distortion.

Returned it after one month.

Only had the amp for one month. Did not need support.

I have been playing for 8 years. Tried various types of amp. Small and large. All tube, tube/solid state, solid state only. Peavey classic 30, Fender blues junior, Crate V1512, Line 6 (bad digital emulation), Marshall, etc. I love Marshall sounds of Led Zep, Slash, AC/DC, Zakk Wylde, etc. I love Brian May's signature sound and Vox tone. I wanted to try the Galaxie for its potential at low volume. If I wanted it to gig on stage I would have tried higher power. Headroom is limited on the Galaxie 10, but that's expected. Where the Galaxie fails completely is in the quality of its distortion at low volume. That's the only real appeal of low watt amps. Why bother otherwise. Get a good solid state and achieve better results if you want to stay clean. Distortion is what makes the difference. And this amp has the worse distortion I heard in a long time. No feel to it. Rattlesnaky, muddy, murky and no bass.

Otherwise, the packaging look nice. Mine was blue. It's light weight, easy to transport, tubes are well protected yet easy to access. The retro look is very nice. The knobs are small but seemed good quality. If only the tone had been there...

It is a fine amp, but for the lack of reverb and at least an extension out or fx loop - but then it would not cost $199 new.

It's a single channel, all tube class A amp.

Gain, volume, treble, middle, bass knobs

Standby switch and on/off switch.

My rating of 7 does not refer to sound, but just because I love the spongy response of this amp I cannot give it a high rating in this category. But I will say I got this amp BECAUSE of the simple design. Everything you need to rock/blues out

Great sounds!

The clean channel is pristine and very round. Not really with the added fender sparkle, but thats O.K., I like a nice round clean sound to work with, without much "flavor" from different manufacturers. The gain sounds are great for blues/crunchy rock - but dont expect metal without a pedal/boost of some kind. I will say, just like the peavey classic 30 or 50, this little amp loves pedals and that gives you all the more flexibility!

It is a tad noisy at high gain settings, but Im sure thats also a result of these tubes (stock).

I keep hearing people say to swap the tubes out - and I will in another month or so, but Im enjoying the sound as it is for now. Great detail, response is superb, and the feel is so much like elastic that I just dont want to put my guitar down. I know I am saying alot about this little beast but think about it - 10 Class A watts........that is a great foundation with so much potential. All the tubes out there to mix and match, you could have any flavor you want. Screw Baskin Robbins and thier 32 flavors!

It is not a brutal death metal machine, but perfect for blues and classic rock as is. With your favorite pedals you can manage any other dirt you set your heart to find. It is very loud for its size, and the other reviewer was right - go easy on the treble, especially with single coils.

The sound, feel, and response of this amp is great. I cant think of anything bad to say about it. Im sure changing the tubes can warm it up a bit more as others have said, but it sounds damn fine stock as well. If it gets better with different tubes then this has got to be one hell of an amp. Great for recording, you dont have to blow your eardrums to get good tones, and a good o.d. pedal to boost the amp will allow you to record at even lower volumes.

It has held up fine for almost a month, no problems to speak of.

The simple construction tells me that it should last a very long time. The reason I gave it a 7 is that its a tube amp. Its hard to call a tube amp reliable (with a 10 rating anyway) because we all know how tube amps can be. Kickass tone one day, then the next day it may sound like its been up all night smoking all the weed in the land with a sore throat - but its just letting you know it wants a tube change. If that happens the moment you fire it up to practice/jam, then there goes reliability untill you give this monster its fix!

Dont know, and hope I dont have to find out

This is a great little amp. I can honstly think of nothing bad to say about it. I would like an fx loop and reverb - but thats missing the point. This is a bare-bones small tube amp at its best. Forget the name brand for a minute and just enjoy it. The design alone is perfect. Just tube power for you to mold any way you can.

There are so many possibilities with this thing, and the class A sounds are great. Solid, spongy, full and ready to be manipulated are the sounds this little monster can produce and thats a fine thing for any style.

Ok, first up, i'll start by saying i know jack about tube amps! Still, i'll go by the tried-and-tested aural perception. Input, gain, treb mid and bass, and standby...all i would expect, and all i need. i spose it would be nice if the eq had more range, still don't go over 4 or 5 on the treble and you won't blow an eardrum (it gets a bit piercing after that).

At the moment i'm playing with a standard USA Fender Tele, and the bite and twang is awesome! great for Sweet Home Alabama etc, AC/DC rhythym at a push, but certainly don't expect any more gain than that. i'm getting a Boss DS-2 so i can get some hard rock/metal sounds out of it, and after i've cranked the volume i reckon i'll get some really great noise out of this thing. Clean is great, distortion nicely bluesy...pretty quiet amp though, maybe if i change the tubes and speaker like some others here have. i can have both gain and volume on full and still not bring the house down. Still, i don't really need to, it's great for the bedroom.

Reliability, hmm dunno, only had it about 10 hours! :)

If anything went wrong i'd just take it back to the local music store i got it from, so i wouldn't have to deal with Epiphone at all...so, "n/a" i guess...

Amp isn't too loud, so i can really drive it in the bedroom, making it sound great. looks great too. if it were stolen or lost, well i like to have different sounds every once in a while so probably wouldn't replace it, but that's not due to it being bad in any way. Great practice amp. Do what i did; read these reviews and then go buy one! :)

Made in 2004? The features have been well covered in other reviews which I studied here prior to purchase. It has enough features for me.. I want to hear what the guitar can do first. Trying to play some blues and rock numbers. Really I'm a classical guitarist by training. Maybe a reverb feature would be nice. I beleive that in many things "less is more" Volume, power is plenty +++

Using a new Epiphone Elite Les Paul Model with stock humbuckers. I sense a great variety of sounds from the combination of the guitar and amp. Sound can range from warm and sensual to clear and bright depending upon the settings on the guitar and amp. I am not sure what I am listening for when it comes to distortion or overdrive sounds. Too new to the elctric experience.

I don't play professionally. So far so good. I've had this thing for about a month.

Haven't had to deal with them.

The point of this review is to agree with and thank previous reviewers that suggested a tube change. I bought the tubes from JJ Electronics recommended in some other reviews and the amp became a different animal. I was ready to send it back with the stock tubes. It sat and crackled and made horrid noises for fifteen minutes everytime I used it with the stock tubes. Had to keep the gain low! I replaced the tubes it came with with the JJ Electronis tubes and it's been fine. Works when I turn it own, I can crank up the gain. No more "pop" going from standby position. Cabinet is compact. It looks great(blue model) For the money I don't think one can go wrong. Our other amp is a Crate XT120R. I've played for some 40 years and would by another Epi if this one was stolen.

I stopped by here before purchasing, so I knew what I was getting into. I wanted an amp for apartment playing/recording, and this has enough to fit the bill

I use a 1982 Gretsch BST solidbody and a DePinto Belvidere semi-hollow, both with humbuckers. I play rock/punk (a la Clash), so I was looking for something straight forward. It really sounds better than I expected. I swapped the 12AX7 for an 12AT7 (NOTE: I did not have a bias adjustment). I know with some amps, like a Reverend Hellhound, you can make this swap without needing the tweak, so I gave it a shot. I have found that this takes care of the crappy distortion issue. Lessy muddy with humbuckers, and has a much sweeter, less harsh bite to it. It gives you more clean gain, but growls when you crank it. Throw a pedal in front (I use a Ibanez Metal Charger and the discontinued Boss Gp20) to tweak it. Also, the lead guitar player for my band plays a Eric Clapton strat, which sounds really sweet with this amp, so good for single coils too. It would be a grand slam if it had reverb!

No problems thus far, but I've only had it for 3 months.

Same as above

I have been playing for 12 years as a rhythm guitar player. I own a Fender Deville 2x12, which is too loud to play at home, hence the Galaxie. I would definitely buy this again, because I haven't heard anything at this price point that sounds this good. Again, reverb would make it perfect.

If you are looking for a gigging amp, I would say get something else (like one of the new Reverend Kingsnakes - they look really sweet). If you want something to use at home and record with and are on a budget, give it a shot. Just ask a tech if swapping the 12AT7 without an adjustment is OK, and you are good to go.

its gotta stand by switch i liked that alot of companys don't use em for that i'll give it a 2 course u wouldn't expect or need a lot a stuff on a practice amp a headphone plug would be a plus.

we trid it with gibsons and fenders playin rock &blues tunes i didn't like it a tall i say didn't cause i already ebayed it i dunno maybe 2 tubes just arn't enough even in a small room it just don't do much the gain is not full its jus got no butt cleans are so so but why do ya want a tube amp in the first place warm crunch it ain't in there sorry

only had it about 6 months it didn't make any trouble and seemed dependable i guess i wouldn't try ta use it at a gig period but thats my thoughts , well my son didn't like it either maybe for a beginner but not really gonna last em long before they too would want more i suspect

never been in touch with em

i been around a long while i have a peavey classic 20,fender blues jr. laney lc15 a classic 30 and a coupla line 6s if it were stolen it would have to be off a some one else cause i sold it i only decided ta try it cause i like class a operation but this one left me soft ya'll can't run fast enough ta gimmie another un

This is a revision/update of a previous review of mine (it's a few reviews down...just look for my name). I'll split this into two sections: one for the Tele and another for the Les Paul.
I have tried several different tubes. The first batch I've tried (which is now what I have back in there) were a JJ ECC83S in the preamp and a JJ 6L6GC in the poweramp. I later stuck a JAN GE 5751 in the preamp. These are supposed to give the amp more clean headroom and tame the preamp distortion allowing the poweramp section to distort as well. However, I didn't notice much improvment there. The ECC83S sounded much more warm and lively. So I pulled that out and put the JJ's back in.

I'd definately recommend the JJ ECC83S and the JJ 6L6GC. Order these a set of these when you get the amp. They are considerably better than the stock Sovteks.

Keep in mind...for clean tone I have the volume set to 10 and adjust overall volume levels with the gain.
For overdrive tones, I use a pedal and have the gain around 6 or 7 and adjust volume levels with the volume control.

Route 101 Rincon Custom Tele:

After having had more time with the amp, I've warmed up to it a bit more. As I said before, the cleans are just fantastic. They are just so very thick, round, and warm. The amp really pickups up on your little picking and fretting nuances and cleans up well with the volume knob. Slight breakup is also quite good on this amp, and very light overdrive works well too.
However, as I stated in my previous review, the amp overdrive on this thing just isn't too great. It's actually quite dissapointing. You really can't get any poweramp distortion at all. And the more you crank the amp, the more trebly and harsh it gets. This amp is definately for low level playing (even less than what the amp should be able to do...the amp does get loud, but cranked it sounds pretty bad).
However, an overdrive pedal really helps with the overdrive and actually makes it quite good. Really good actually. I recommend the Guyatone OD-2 overdrie with this amp. It has good bass response (unlike other unnamed OD pedals *cough*TS9*cough). It helps take away some of the brightness. It also beefs up the amp a bit in bypass since there seems to be a slight mid bass bump in the tone while in bypass.

Gibson Les Paul (Faded):
The cleans sound pretty good with the Les Paul with one caveat: you can't get it loud without breaking up (obviously). You can get it loud enough (clean) to play by yourself at low volume levels, but you'd have a tough time playing with another guitarist.
When it breaks up...it breaks up and poorly. At around volume 10 and gain 5, you start to get some nasty distortion. The low end really farts out and gets ratty. I originally thought it was the speaker, but I'm not pretty convinced it is just the circuitry.
However, with the aformentioned overdrive pedal, the tone gets considerably better. You can get some decent crunch and smooth lead tones at fairly loud practice volumes. The pedal seems to take away the harshness and low end rattiness.
Overall, the amp makes the Les Paul seem quite bright (but it is a 10" speaker afterall). Nonetheless, with enough tweaking you can get some warm overdrive tones (even some nice "woman" tones...think the solo to "I Feel Free" by Cream).

Here's the individual ratings:

Tele:

Clean - 10
OD - 9

Les Paul:

Clean - 7
OD - 8


The amp also works well with the few effects that I have (a chorus and a wah).

Works every time. Although, there is a pop when coming out of standby.

In conclusion, if you have a single coil equipped guitar and an overdrive pedal, and you are searching for a practice (small gig, dare I say) amp that can give you great clean and overdriven blues, jazz, and classic rock tones: GET THIS AMP.

If you have a humbucker equipped guitar and a overdrive pedal, and looking for a similar amp...think about it. It does a good overdriven tone well (WAY better than any solid state amp in the price range), but the amp doesn't have a whole lot of clean headroom with a humbucker guitar. Volume levels are tough to describe...everyone's ears are different. What is loud to you might be quiet to me. You can easily get a good clean tone at a low bedroom practice volume. I will say that (with humbuckers...with singles you can get much, much more clean volume).

The amp is definately a good amp for what it is meant for: bedroom practice and low level jamming.

If you have any questions, feel free to email me.

Master/gain volume combo. Full tone stack. Low power so it can be driven hard without the cops showing up at the door. True, no reverb or speaker-out jack but that's because it's a retro-style $200 practice amp. For a price like that ya gotta cut corners somewhere. What matters most is it's a tube amp that most everyone can afford. Plenty of features for an amp in this price range.

I, too agree that the amp can be too bright & harsh. The treble has to be set very low (mine is at 2 1/2). Anything lower than that & it sounds muddy, anything higher than 3 or 4 & it's ear piercing. A couple of things that I did to my Galaxie 10 to help it sound better was put in a Weber speaker & changed the power tube to a JJ Tesla 6L6GC and I put a NOS 12AT7 in the preamp. The 12AX7 starts to overdrive WAY before the power tube does which is why the overdrive on this amp sounds so harsh. A 12AT7 has a lower gain output so the poweramp can overdrive without being overwhelmed with preamp overdrive. (There's actually a better, more in-depth explanation but that's the best way I can explain it) A 12AT7 will cut the volume and punch a little so it may not be for everyone but it works great for me (I play single coil and humbucker equipped guitars & the amp breaks up good at 7 or 8 depending on the guitar). One of the great things about tube amps is the ability to swap in different preamp & power tubes (and speakers) to get different tones and break up. A little experimenting can work wonders.

I've had it over a year & use it almost every day. It makes a "pop" sound sometimes when the standby is switched but no other problems at all

A good little amp for the money. The right speaker & tubes can improve the sound. Experiment to see what you like.

This is a sort of addendum or sequel to a much earlier review I posted. (Scroll down, 1/2way or so, look fer the word "DAMMIT!" in caps, if ya care) Anyhow, features have been pretty well covered in this forum.

Guitars- Lots, including lapsteel. Most have no pedigree, all have excellent pickups. I believe in the redemption of Japan/Korean/Mexican
made stuff through better pickups, wiring, and determined (if sloppy) playing. My style is twangy-arsed-what-country-music-might-be-if-no one-cared-about-commercial-viability-or-airplay. Yeah, I know that sounds like some sort of sorry-arsed reverse snobbery of an inferior musician, and it probably is in one way, but I like country music and just want to vomit at that stuff that passes for country music these days on the ray-dee-oh.But I digress. Glad I got that off my chest. This is, as I mentioned earlier, a one-trick pony doing a pretty good imitation of a Blackface Champ although with a midrange control and a conservative gain circuit thrown in cheap. I don't care much that it has no reverb. I use it mainly for home recording demo's, fooling around, and I like it pretty well. 'Nuff said.

Ok, I think I said something like "Too early to tell" in the other review. Well, it's later, and I found out it IS possible to break this thing. This may or may not be a big deal to those considering purchase, Gibson USA handles the warranty on this thing and it is parts&labor for 5yrs, if I understand them correctly. More on that later. Most of us who own a few tube amplumfiers have collected a few favorite 1st stage tubes for tweaking mostly more complex & unruly amps than this, but it has been mentioned elsewhere in this forum that the gain stage in this thing is kind of unusable after "7" or "8". It'll squeal, like a microphonic tube, but I tried a good EH 12ax7 as well as a real good Tesla JJ, same thing. (Should also mention to those of you here that obsess about this kind of stuff that the Svetlana 6L6GC brings out the best on the power section, without spending a fortune IMO) Anyhow, started fooling with lower gain tubes for the input. 1st, 12AY7. Too little gain for this amp. Next, a Sovtek 5751 as well as a NOS Westinghouse 5751. BINGO. Full, sweet, tone. You could dime both the gain & vol, set the tone how you like, and just not want to put down that gee-tar. It made me move quite out of my element and into a half-hourlong reverie of Johnny Winter type stuff,(Yikes, had my lapsteel picks on and was just DIGGING IN) when suddenly it became silent, cold, and dark. Changed the fuse, warmed up on standby, but take it off standby, and BZZLAPFTT! goes the fuse. Again and again. To be continued in the "Customer Support" category.....

As mentioned earlier, parts & labor 5yrs. Ah, but it's never that simple, is it?
1st, people at Gibson USA in Nashville ARE both helpful and friendly. I live in Wisconsin.It's a pretty big state. There are 3 authorized warranty service shops, all located nearby (to each other) on the east side of the state, all 4hrs or better from me. One in Minnesota, 2hrs west. Not real convenient, but I realize they can't foresee where people who might buy their stuff might reside.
Another option was to mail it to them in Nashville, where they might repair (or, given their cost on a machine of such value) simply send me out another. The catch here is I would bear the cost of packing & shipping it to them (abt $60) while they would spring for the other direction. Alas, I tried reasoning with them that since any damn fool knows good and well that Gibson is not going to waste any time or money trifling with the diagnosis & repair of a tiny amp which probably costs them less than $75 to build in Korea, wouldn't it be more sensible to all involved if they were to just ship me another while I provide them a gruesome video of the carcass being given a dignified cremation, or burial, according to their wishes? But they were having none of this reasoning stuff.
Some of you may be asking, at this juncture, "Pray, why do you not simply return this defective thing back whence you purchased it??" Ah. I hang my head low, friends, for I am old and should have known better. Please, stifle your guffaws, I purchased this mail order from Musician's so-called Friend. Have pity, no music retailer around here carried these things, and I dearly wanted a single-ended Class A 10W amp w/ a 6L6, for old times sake. Stupid, stupid me, I even anticipated such a catastrophic failure of the device and, when the very friendly phonesalesperson offered me a one year, full replacement, postage paid,insurance policy covering the thing for a mere $16, I tell you, I fairly LEAPT at the opportunity! "Why, yes!",said the friendly phonesalesperson at M.F.,(the irony of their initials has not been lost on me)"Even if it's just something as little as the pilot light not lighting up, any malfunction at all, all you do is call us, and we ship you a replacement! with the value being just under $200, we don't even require you to return the unit! Why,a somewhat slightly dishonest person could end up with two of these fine little guitar amps for just $216!!(Wink Wink) Well, who couldn't go for a no risk deal like that?There is just one catch.
You buy the coverage without seeing a contract. Hell, they don't even tell you it's an outside insurer underwriting the thing. About 3 mos. after you buy the thing, amp's still working fine, you get a copy of the policy, some slimy insurance co in Va. You think, Ugh, hope I don't need to file a claim, and put the thing away where you can find it. But it gets better, and here's where M.F. AND this little slimeball so-called insurance carrier ought to get a big slap in their collective little pee-pees. Get ready, now, this is a pretty high-concept con, as far as mail order retail goes: You may not file, or presumably, collect a claim for complete replacement of the defective device, until AFTER the manufacturer's warranty (5yrs, remember?) has expired!!??! Is this a good one, or what? Am I nuts,or
isn't that PRECISELY the OPPOSITE of what a full replacement supplemental warranty, covering shipping and all costs, is designed to achieve in any reasonable sense? Let's see, a scenario following their conditions might be: 1)The merchandise turns out to be defective
2)You spend $500 in postage the next 5 years, mailing
this $200 amp back to Nashville 10 times so
Gibson can send you another to blow up.
3) At last, the happy day has arrived. If you are
lucky enough to still find your little $16 insurance
p

Been playing over 40 years. I am a certifiable curmudgeon. I own a lot of stuff. I won't go into detail here, partly because I listed some of the stuff in the aforementioned earlier review (if it's important to see what sort of rehab'd junk I own the other review ain't that hard to find) and partly because the response to this question in many of these reviews becomes a rather impertinent list of gee-tars and goo-gaws that usually gives a seeker of information about a product no insight whatsoever just exacktickally what the hell the reviewer was trying to achieve with the object of the review, although we are seemingly bound by sheer awe and amazement to
marvel over the reviewer's impeccable, expensive, and eclectic taste in musical instruments as well as special ee-fects. This makes some folks highly nauseous, and I don't want to be a part of that if I can help it.
Oddly enough, I still am fond of this amp, even though it is presently deader than a mackerel. If it was stolen (!?) or lost I would not replace it, since the only way around here I can get one
would be mailorder and, since I've learned the hard way there are reliability issues, that would be just stupid. Not to mention one mailorder firm having proved themselves to be far from scrupulous.
I love the way it sounds & responds once you get the right tubes in it and turn it all the way up. (that is what a 10W Cass A is for)
I hate the way the power transformer burnt up just when I was really starting to love the thing. I hate the reality and inconvenience of dealing with any sort of warranty problems. I am going to happily pay a guy (who has probably forgotten more about amplifiers than anyone at M.F. will ever learn) to put a new (and better quality) transformer in it, and see how it behaves. I hope this review costs M.F. a hell of a lot more in lost business than the $16 they screwed me out of. Anyone knows that a piece of electronic equipment, cheap or spendy, can develop a problem. I sure ain't mad at the amplifier, and to prove it, it'll get repaired. Stay tuned for the next review.

This is a review for a 2003 Galaxie 10 in the blue colour. It is very cool looking. It has only one channel, but it has a gain knob for pre-amp overdrive. Basically this is a simple small, lightweight practice amp. I REALLY wish it had reverb, but I just didn't pay enough for it to feel like it should have it. It's best feature is its lack of newfangled features like built in effects. It is a classic type retro amp. I give it a six because it doesn't have reverb or a speaker out jack.

The guitar I use with it is a reissue Les Paul Junior, with a P-90 alnico single coil pickup. I play mainly blues and classic type rock, but play a little of everything, except heavy metal type stuff. (this amp would not be good for that anyway, I assume) Unfortunately, for me right now this amp is not that great. It is not bad but not great. I basically have very few options between my guitar and this amp. I know that the Junior with only one pickup has limited sonic options, but this amp adds to that. Of course I am only practicing when I use it, but I wish for recording that it was a little more versatile, and I will explain. This amp with the stock tubes that I am using right now has a overly bright and somewhat shrill tone. My pickup is already pretty bright and the combo is not to great. Of course I can work with the EQ knobs and get some good sounds, but I have to keep the treble rolled off at all times. Maybe some different tubes would help with the brightness of the tone. By the way I prefer a pretty strong midrange tone to give you perspective as to what I am writing about. As far as the volume it is pretty decent, very loud for practice and recording. The distortion is ok. It is a tube amp so you can get that, just breaking up, tone. The only problem is that I can't seem to be able to get power amp overdriven distorion out of it in any really noticible way, its all pre-amp, and I personally think pre-amp distorion is just too harsh to go it alone. For low volumes I can understand, but even when you crank this thing it doesn't ever quite "get it" (the great tube sound) all the way. Of course it is a lot better at the just barely breaking up tone than any solid state amp. Overall, it's pretty decent tube tone and for the price it really is pretty awesome tone, but I still like the Fender amps better, but of course they are much more expensive.

So far it seems really reliable, so I have to give it a good rating here. It is well constructed and it seems very sturdy.

I've never dealt with the company, and I don't know what kind of warranty it has, but that can probably be found on the web site.

I have been playing for 2 years so some of my opinions are not really based on years of experience. I love that this is a good practice amp with tube tone at a really cheap price. I love the way this amp looks as well. Again, I think that the Fender amps are a little better for the tone that I am looking for, but this is really pretty decent anyway, plus it is distinctive. Of course reverb might help this amp a ton, so I might get a really nice pedal, because that can always be useful. The brightness of the tone bothers me quite a bit, but maybe some different tubes will help this as in some of the other reviews. And some might actually want that tone. I definitely would not buy another, but I think that this amp really is a pretty decent value, just try it before you buy it.