Johnson JA-T25-R Loredo Combo

Just got an '08 T-25 in Sept. of '08- new. I play mainly classic rock, blues, little country, in club band. Been looking for small, lighter weight, versatile tube amp. This isn't it. Looks cool-plays ok at low volume, but the amp needs way more headroom before getting distorted. I like all the features. Good reverb! A previous writer noted- no line out?? Look on back- it's called "effects send"- pop a cord in to PA or mixing board- works fine. Single channel- which is ok- I use a TS-9 Ibanez as an overdrive/boost. For me, that and reverb is all the effects I want. In brouchure amp says it has 25 watts- but at 10% distortion. My 15 watt Fender Pro Jr. is way louder, and speaker stays tighter at higher volumes than the Johnson T-25. I was acutally looking for a slightly louder amp than the Pro Jr. with reverb. This isn't it. I wish it had an honest 25-30 watts. At this price range- under $300, it would kill in sales. It has a cool sound at low volume- but with a 3-4 piece group- it gets lost and distorted, even at very moderate volume.

I use a hand made Ragsdale Single Cut LP type guitar with Seymour 59 & JB pups, a '59 Gibby LP Historic reliced by Murphy, and a '54 LP Jr. Sometimes I use a Strat or Tele for that sound. Again, amp has a good sound- at low volume. And yes- I have that hum in my '08 amp that some talk about. It's a low range hum and won't stop. Can cover it up playing, but will not be good for recording. And yes- the amp can attain a Fender-like sound with lush reverb. By using the master and gain, you can adjust to a fair distorion, but I prefer to use a TS-9 or similar tube distion/overdrive unit, and keep the amp clean. Again, if you run the volume up to a fair playing level, speaker breaks up- farts out. Not enough usable headroom for most band situations.

Good looks- seems to be built like a tank- good warranty- on paper- I've only had the amp a few weeks, but seems to be very relaible. This amp should be marketed to perhaps to a jazz player, or church player who wants a very low volume tube amp. I won't be able to take this amp out to a gig because of speaker break up at moderate volume. If the Fender Pro Jr. is a 15 watt tube amp- this one should be rated at about 8-10 watts realistically.

Never dealt with them, but written warranty lloks good. Have no idea if company will stand behind it?

Been playing guitar for over 30 years- done opening concert work for lots oa name bands, and I have a good local club band, playing mainly clasiic rock-blues and few originals. I'll continue to lug my Kustom 30 watt amp, or my Crate 60 watt amp until I find a nice clean, light weight tube amp, that doesn't cost $2000. I wouldn't buy this amp again if lost. I like the looks and features,and sound but it is simply not a 25 watt amp. Not in usable volume. I do wish it was a real honest 25 watt amp. They have a good amp, and if it had the horse power, it would be an unbeatable amp! Try one before buying. If youplay at low volume, it may be your cup of tea. If you play in a 4-5 piece band, and low to mederate volume levels, I suspect you'll be disappointed.

Made in 2008. Great sond. Single channel amp. I wish it had a Line Out but can live without it. Plenty of power for my needs.

Came with Electro Harmonix Tubes which address the problems experienced by earlier users. There is no need to switch out the tubes. They are perfect. No hum at all when plugged into a grounded circuit. Johnson has a winner here.

I'm using a Hagstrom Reissue and a Jay Turser Les Paul Copy. The amp sounds much better with the Hagstrom to my ear but that may just be a personal preference.

The amp is not at all noisy. Zero hum. Amazingly quite. I play mostly folk based music and this amp is perfect for that. It also sounds good for rock/country and blues. I'm not sure it has enough power for metal and wouldn't recommend it for that genre.

I use the amp with all knobs set at the mid setting for most songs. Ocassionally I move a knob a little just to get a slight change. BTW the knobs are knurled metal not cheap plastic.

The amp sound stays really clean until the volume gets past 7. It isn't hobrribly distorted at 10. That would be ideal for use with a pedal.

It is warranted for five years. The amp look solid. Very well constructed.

Haven't had a need to contact the company but the five year warranty gives me a certain amount of confidence.

This is a fantastic amp for the money. Probably the best value out there. I certainly would have no hesitation gigging with this amp. The sound is that good. Will it require any modifications? At this point no! Maybe in the future I may experiment by changing a speaker but that's about it and even that isn't definite.

Iwouldn't compare this to a Fender Twin simply because it lacks the power. I would campare it to a Traynor Guitar mate or a smaller Fender Tube amp for sound and when you compare based on price this amp comes out a hands down winner.

Purchased late Jan 2007 for $250, probably made in 2006. This allows me to play without back pain from lugging my 100 watt all-tube Fender Twin Reverb. This Johnson tube amp has everything I was looking for: lightweight & portable, tubes, tone stack, reverb, 10" speaker. Great for rock, blues, country and (metal if mic'd).

I was never happy with the amp's mid-range tone, there is way too much midrange. Tone preference settings are GAIN-9 o???clock, BASS-MAX, MID-OFF, TREBLE-10 o'clock, reverb-9:30. I don't use digital effects (e.g., death metal) on the Loredo amp, you'll lose sound headroom against drums, rhythm and bass. Analog-type distortion and flanger foot pedals have more bite/headroom sound when playing with the band. Also, the 60hz hum was horrendous!

Sound quality is a 9 rating after major modifications to the amp. See OVERALL RATING below.

Johnson???s 5 year warranty proves their confidence in the amp for reliability. However, my mods to it before the 1st year of ownership probably removed all warranties. Lost 4 more years of warranty, oh-well!

Received my schematic and owners manual within a week of asking for a copy. Great customer service!

Overall rating 5 + MODS = 9.

Okay, to bump the rating to 9, modifications to the Johnson Loredo JA-T25-R required:
1) shielding of tone, gain, master volume, reverb, effects/return potentiometers and associated wiring to ground. This will remove all of the 60 hertz hum.
2) Replaced the 10??? speaker with an Eminence 16 ohm, square magnet 35 watt 10??? guitar speaker. Built another add on speaker cabinet with the same model Eminence speaker and placed a parallel jack on the Loredo to make the two speaker impendence 8 ohms overall. The amp plays fine with the one 16 ohm speaker. It added about three pounds to the overall weight of the amp, good trade-off though.
3) Changed the tone stack to get rid of the terrible mid-range ???boxy??? sound. This was done by listening, comparing and replicating the sound of my Fender Twin-Reverb. Compared the schematics of the tone stacks of both amps, since they are tube amps, just copied the Fender tone stack design.
4) Selected and purchased new 600 volt capacitors, a 1 meg-ohm potentiometer and a DPDT switch.
5) This amp sounds exactly like my twin-reverb with less sound wattage. Drilled holes in the back for the pot and switch. The new potentiometer is used for a middle-volume control and the DPDT switch is used for brightness on/off. The brightness switch opened up the overall sound and reverb! It doesn't take long to dial in the revamped and new controls to your liking.
6) I call this amp Twin-Reverb JR.

This is Johnson's first tube amp and what a tube amp! I was looking to buy a Peavey Delta Blues or Classic 30 till I came across this Johnson Loredo and I'm glad I did! I was very willing to pay the $277 price you can get at most places that carry this amp, but was lucky to find a demo unit on Ebay for $199 with free shipping. :-)

Johnson's an American company, but the amp is manufactured in China to Johnson's specs.

The amp features:
25 watts (I think that's peak watts. It's more like 15 watts continuous I believe)
2 - Sovtek 12AX7-WA preamp tubes (with tube retainers!)
2 - Electro Harmonix EL-84 power tubes (with tube retainer!)
10" Alphatone speaker
Accutronics spring reverb (3 springs I think)
Approx. 25 lbs.
Approx. 1/2" thick chipboard cabinet
Metal corner bracket protectors.
Dark brown tolex
Tan speaker grill cloth
Plastic carry strap
Rubber feet

The front panel left to right goes:
1/4" input jack
Gain knob
Bass tone knob
Middle tone knob
Treble tone knob
Reverb knob
Master knob
1/4" footswitch jack for reverb
Red power light
Stand-by swtich
Power switch

Back panel features left to right:
Fuse socket
IEC type power cord socket
Wet/Dry control knob
1/4" effects loop in
1/4" effects loop out
1/4" external speaker out

I was surprised to find when I got this amp that the control knobs are made of knurled metal and not plastic. The power/stand by switches are metal Switchcraft type toggle swtiches too. This lends a nice solid feel to the amp. The only thing that cheapens the amp is the plastic carry strap but that's no big deal. It can always be replaced with a leather or wooden handle. I love the vintage look and feel of this amp. In fact, a friend of mine asked if it was vintage. Cool. The workmanship on this amp is excellent. Switches are solid and knobs are smooth.

This amp is pretty versatile. It's a great practice amp that's not too heavy to carry around. It's loud enough for small gigs too. I don't miss a gain channel has I have an overdrive pedal. In fact, I prefer this setup. I'd rather save money not having an additional channel or two and adding what effects pedals I want to the effects loop. This amp can go from clean Jazz to Country to Heavy Metal.

The one thing that the more expensive Peavey Classic 30 and Fender Blues/Pro Jr. lack that this amp has is a stand-by switch. That's a feature I think all tube amps in this power class and above should have.

Okay, I've held off writing this review till I had some time with this amp and made some mods. This amp was a demo unit before I got it so the speaker and tubes were well broken in before I got it. I do think most people write reviews too soon before the speaker and tubes have a chance to break in.

Out of the box this amp sounds very good clean and at lower volumes. With the master turned all the way up and the guitar volume all the way up this amp can get very very loud. I'd say as loud as a 50 watt solid state amp.

After having the amp for some time I've made two recent mods. First mod was to change out the two stock Sovtek 12AX7-WA preamp tubes with Tung Sol reissues. The Tung Sol tubes are much quieter (hum), smoother, have more gain, have more detail and are slightly darker than the Sovteks. I love these Tung Sol 12AX7s! Actually I'd describe the Sovteks as slightly bright and the Tung Sols as more neutral in tone. Also, not mentioned much but of significant importance, is that the Johnson comes with tube retainers to reduce/minimize microphonics. A small detail that makes a significant difference in sound, that doesn't cost much, which a lot of amps in this price range and above lack!! It's really a no-brainer...any combo amp in this power range and that mount their tubes upside down should especially have retainers.

The second mod was to change out the speaker. The stock Alphatone speaker is okay for practice and such. It has a chimey, reedy tone which is nice, but it does lack a bit in the bass. With the amp cranked all the way up the speaker gets a bit muddy. Detail is also not too good in that the reverb doesn't sound like it should. I just installed a 10" Weber Vintage Series 10F150-T-8 25 watt speaker with light dope as recommended by Ted Weber himself. I emailed him requesting a speaker with good tone balance from top to bottom. WOW! The amp now has balls and guts!! The Weber's magnet is easily twice as big as the Alphatone's. Beware when installing this speaker as the entire metal basket is magnetized and can attract your metal tools causing you to accidentally ding, or worse, punch a hole in the speaker cone if you're not careful! I almost did this...twice! doh. This Weber speaker rocks. The amp is louder, has more bass without giving up nice treble, and with more detail. Overdrive has a creamier texture and the reverb sounds really really good now.

I figure even if I paid the full selling price dealers are asking for this amp (around $277 - $300) with these two mods (at around $150) I've got a better amp than a Fender Blues/Pro Jr. or Peavey Classic 30 that has more/better features and great tone.

Also, I bought a Johnson 1 - button footswitch for around $10 on Ebay for the reverb. Any generic 1 - button footswitch will work. Would be nice if Johnson included this, but it's no big deal. Other amp amnufacturers charge more for their's.

This amp is built really well and should last a long time if you take care of it like anything else. The toggle switches are solid. I like the metal knobs. They won't crack or break like plastic ones could. The only thing that worries me is the plastic carry strap. I'll change that out for a leather one or maybe make a nice wooden one myself. Other than that this amp should hold up well.

I haven't needed to contact Johnson so far. The amp has a 5 year warranty.

Johnson has a winner on their hands and this amp is a keeper. Stock, they made a really nice sleeper of an amp and with the simple mods I made I have a KILLER sleeper amp. It's a great starter amp for practice and small venues. If you need more volume just run a line out or mic it.

If it were lost or stolen I'd get another easily. Heck, at this price you could buy two and run a stereo set up without breaking the bank.

I was looking for an all tube harp (harmonica) amp that had a bit more grunt than the average practice amp (or the small vintage amps such as the CMI Kalamazoo that a lot of harp players like), so it would be adequate for gigging in smallish venues as well as for practice and in-house jams (I???ve got resident Strat and upright bass players at my house, both with 30W solid state practice amps). Two power tubes would be the minimum for the required grunt. I wanted at least a 10??? speaker, and not too heavy. A lineout for connection to a PA would save having to mic the amp for larger venues. No need for a headphone jack ??? the harp can be pretty loud acoustically anyway. A single channel would meet my needs. I didn???t want to spend a lot of money on a vintage amp or a specialist built harp amp (Harpgear, SonnyJr, Buffalo etc) - both types were likely to require importing from the US and hence have issues with cost and power supply (we???re 240V here). So it needed to be cheap and available in Australia.

After much internet research I figured the Johnson T25 was, on paper at least, great ???bang for the buck??? and was available in Australia for a reasonable price. According to the manufacturer???s website, it has:
- 25 Watts RMS
- Power Amp: 2 x EL84 Tubes
- Pre-Amp: 2 x 12AX7 Tubes
- Accutronics Reverb
- 10" Alphatone Speaker
- ????? Input/Output Jacks
- 3-Band EQ
- Footswitch Jack
- Effects Send & Return
- 14.5" x 17.25" x 9.5" at 25 lbs.

The retailer???s website added:
- Standby switch
- XLR line out socket
- Brown Tolex cover with vintage style grille cloth

The reality (and User Manual) added:
- a ???Dry/Wet??? blend control on the effects line (with ????? in/out jacks)
- a ????? 8 ohm external speaker jack
- the XLR line out was in the Technical Specifications but nowhere to be seen on the amp

First impressions were that it was small and solid. For a 10??? speaker it???s not a big cabinet and is not much larger or heavier than a 5 watt practice amp. The cabinet seems solidly made (looks a high grade chipboard), but the electronics are PCB mounted and the tube sockets are plastic. The reverb tank is mounted on the bottom of the cabinet ??? looks neat. The power lead is ???stand alone??? ??? I can see that going missing on the way to a gig. Oxblood tolex and tweed makes for a good look ??? marred somewhat by the black soft plastic handle.

I had anticipated that feedback and limited headroom would be issues ??? they usually are when using a guitar amp as a harp amp. The usual solution is to drop the pre-amp gain by substituting a 12AY7 or 12AU7 for one or both of the 12AX7 pre-amp tubes.

I initially tried the T25 with a cheap SM-58 knock-off vocal mic. A slight hum on power up, but hey it???s a tube amp and the hum certainly wasn???t annoying. I was surprised that I could crank it really hard before any feedback was apparent. The 3-way EQ did a good job of filtering out my breathy noises and the spring reverb is just bags of fun. It just sounds so much better than a digital reverb. It has a lot of grunt, but I think 25W RMS might be a bit optimistic ??? it didn???t seem to be THAT loud.

With my Shure Green Bullet 520DX mic I found the feedback earlier, but it was still at pretty high gain and volume. It???s possible to get the gain up to overdrive levels and still get a reasonable volume before feedback, but I???ll start with a 12AY7 in the V2 position in the pre-amp and see how it goes from there. The speaker becomes a limiting factor at higher volumes ??? I???ll replace it with a Jenson C10R, which is available in Australia for about half the price of a Jensen P10R.

It???s hard to determine reliability over a short period of ownership. My previous amplified harp experience is through a vocal mic into the PA - I guess that???s always a fallback option if it dies, so I???d be happy to gig it without backup in venues with a PA. It looks solid enough ??? but I???d take the 12AX7 pre-amp tube that I swapped out for the 12AY7 as a spare.

The T25 warranty is for five years on defects in material and workmanship (excluding the tubes, which have a 90 day warranty). That???s a pretty good indication that Johnson is backing their product.

I emailed both Johnson at their international ???Contact Us??? site and the retailer regarding the ???lost??? XLR line out jack. The retailer checked with the importer and got back to me inside an hour. He said it must be a typo because there is no XLR line out jack on the cabinet (at least then I knew I wasn???t blind). The email to international enquiries at Johnson bounced, so I resent it to their domestic ???Contact Us??? email address. They got back within a few days, explaining it was a misprint and should have been the ???Ext Speaker??? not ???XLR output??? in the Technical Specifications.

Despite the retailer being on the other side of the country (for those in the US, think me in Washington DC, him in LA) and there being a minor problem with the original delivery (a T15 arrived instead of the T25) the retailer has been most helpful with provision of information and delivery support. Delivery was cheap too, given the distances involved. I???d have no qualms about recommending Peter at PK???s Music, despite them being in Western Australia and specialising in leftie guitars!

The main attraction of this amp is its ???bangs for the buck??? ??? it really provides a lot for the price, more so in Australia where the big name brands are stupidly expensive and there are fewer ???cheap brand??? options. The Fender Pro Junior seemed to be the closest ???big name??? equivalent ??? it has a very similar tube set up and a single 10??? speaker (but no reverb, and only single ???tone??? vs. 3 band EQ). In Australia the Pro Junior sells for two and a half times (yep, 2 ?? times) the price of a Johnson T25, and the reviews of the Pro Junior speak of similar issues with quality of the tubes and speaker.

The Pignose G40V is almost exactly the same size (but a fair bit heavier), offers more power (40W, with an extra pre-amp tube) but lacks the effects loop, reverb and standby switch. The reviews again speak of similar issues with tubes and the speaker, but I can???t find a retailer in Australia that carries the G40V so it wasn???t an option. It would be worth considering in the US ??? it???s about US$50 more than the T25 on internet pricing.

So the T25 is PCB not point-to-point and doesn???t use the greatest tubes, tube sockets or speaker. But it does provide a lot of power for its size, has that neat spring reverb and is excellent value for money (particularly in Australia). Its ???big name??? competition simply isn???t worth the extra money. With a single tube swap and an (optional) speaker upgrade, the T25 offers the best value for money all tube harp amp I could find. But I???m no pro muso, and your mileage may vary!

This is an upgrade to my review below.

Features: still the same, but changed the speaker (Eminence Ragin Cajon 10 inch) and the preamp tubes (now JJ 12AU7/ECC82 and a JJ 12AX7/ECC83).

The statements below refer to humbucker guitars.

After upgrade:
The change of the tubes had the effect, that now there is a larger usable range of preamp volume. It starts to distort later, and now gain is usable until 3-o-clock position of the gain control.
I also tried 2 12AY7, but with that the Loredo amp hardly distorts.
I think the preamp tube change is a very reasonable update, because the T25-R doesn't sound good with too much drive, but now it sounds rather good with drive at 12 o'clock up to 3 o'clock. Drive at 9 o'clock now gives a sound that is almost clean.

But i think the major plus ist the change of the speaker.
There are worlds betwenn the sound of the original speaker and the Eminence!

With changed speaker and pre tubes, it sounds rather good!
Warm, tube-like, very dynamic and just great. You can turn drive o 3 o'clock what gives a nice ac/dc-like crunch, and with the volume poti of your guitar (and hitting strings soft) you can go to clean sound, and bot sounds are rather good now.
Drive sound reminds me now more of a little Fender tube amp at higher volume. The 10 inch Eminence gives you enough bottom end (with a Les Paul-like guitar) and enough trebles. There are no ear piercing upper mids anymore. What the amp not has are very high sparkly high trebles, but apart from that it is very balanced now. I do not miss the highest trebles, and maybe you get them with a Tele or Strat.
The major plus: the artificial buzz it originally had when playing single notes has gone.

All in all it is now a very good sounding EL84 tube/valve amp with a good effects loop.
It doesn't give you high gain sounds, but a fat and very nice crunch tone. If you need more gain, use a good drive pedal; the Loredo combines extremely good with overdrive pedal. The sound is alsways tubey-soft. Nothing for harder metal, but very pleasant for classic rock, blues, jazz, oldies. With humbuckers there is always a very little slight distortion if you strongly hit the strings what cleans out when you hit them softer. Good for dynamic players, bad for players that only want to thrash.

The reverb now sucks less, but still sounds too buzzy for my taste.
But the effects loop works rather well, so put a digital reverb/delay in the loop and it sounds great.

After tube and speaker change the EQ works better and more usable.
EQ doesn't change the basic sound, but gives you enough range to adopt the sound to the room and to your guitar.

After upgrade:
with the upgrade part i did pay 290 Euro all in all (without upgrades 200 Euros).
Still much cheaper than other 10 inch dual EL84 combos.
If you regard the price (upgrades included) i did pay, it deserves a ten!
The list price is 380 US$, and street price often is around 320 US$, what is too high, imho.
But if you look around a little, you can get it for about 250 US$.
Nevertheless: after upgrade it is worth at least 350 US$.

After upgrades it is great sounding, versatile, transportable, and again great sounding.
Togehther with a decent drive pedal and a good working guitar volume pot, you can use it as 3-chanel-amp with a good clean sound, a good crunch sound and (with pedal) a nice lead sound.
A high end practice amp, a good sounding amp for small sessions.
If there wasn't the little basic hum, it would be also an nice recording amp.

This little tube unit imho shows the large difference between solid state amps and tube sound. There are worlds between. And even better modelling amps hardly have the dynamics and feel of the T25-R, at least modellers below 1000 US$

One chanel, 2 12AX7 preamp tubes, 2 EL84 power tubes, 3band EQ, spring reverb, 10 inch alphatone 8 ohm speaker, gain and master volume, controllabe effects loop, standby switch. With the exception of a presence control this little amp has all you can demand from a chep one chanel tube amp, therefor 9 of 10 points.

Manual claims the T25-R Loredo has 25 watts, but i strongly assume its 15 watts (because that all you can get from 2 EL84).

There is a little basic hum, but not too much.
What is more disturbing is the noise the reverb adds, even if reverb level is zero.
The reverb would sound o.k. if there wasn't that artificial noise it adds. I unplugged the spring to eleiminate the noise from it.
The clean sound is rather o.k. when clean, even with the ultra cheap alphatone speaker. It starts to distort rather early, with humbucker you have to put gain near zero to get a clean tone. The clean tone is warm, nice, tube-like. Reminds me a little of the cheaper fender tube amps. If you add distortion, lets say gain control on 10 o'clock or 12 o'clock, it sound crunchy, raw, a little buzzy and fuzzy on chords. A useable sound, but single notes sound rather bad, somehow like diostorted with a bad fuzz. Distorted the are (too) much upper mids, but thats somehow controllable with the EQ (which is not great, but usable).

Because it ditorts to harsh and too early, i think i'l change the preamp tubes for ones with less distortion, maybe 12AY7 or 12AU7.
And the speaker sounds rather bad with distortion, i think a speaker upgrade could help.

The sound all in all is mixed emotions. Clean sound and the sound at the "sweet spot" where first very slight distortion comes up is quite good, but most buy such a little tube amp more for overdrive sounds, and the distorted sounds are weak and bad imho, like a solid state diode distortion (and not the best of that kind). It doesn't sound like a solid state amp when distorted, but like an amp with bad solid state preamp and tube power amp, imho. With single coils distorton is better than with humbuckers, but still not good, especially not good on single notes.

I think the amp has the potential for far better sounds after some upgrades/mod, but as is i can't rate better that 6/10.

I don not have it long enough to judhe that.

No idea.

You get what you pay for.

This cheap china-made amp does not sound like more expensive 2xEL84 amps, clean it is close, distorted far away from e.g. Fender, Hughes and Kettner Edition Tube 20 or Vox AC15.

I think with some mods you can get much better distorted sounds (i will tell when ic checked it out), but as is the price/returns-ratio is acceptable, but not good (for the price i payed).
The usual street price of more than 300 US$ is imho far too high for what you get.

This little bugger has Gain, bass, mid, treble, spring reverb, standby, power, footswitch jack for reverb, rear fx loop level control and 8 ohm external speaker output.

For a small tube amp, very happy to see the standby switch. QUALITY built amp. I am quite pleasantly surprised.

Only one channel, but hey.. it's not like you can expect any more for the price.

Again, I was pleasantly surprised. I play alt-country. We're not heavy metal by any means, but we like to lay the dirt on some rattlesnake rock and the crunch on this has me surprised to no end. Even our lead guitarist, who is quite picky with sound enjoyed the crunch and stayed behind to play with the amp for a while after practice. Then our bassist did the same. They couldn't believe such a little amp sounded so good. We happened to record live off the floor and my guitar ('57 strat re-issue) sounded GREAT in the mix teamed up with this amp.

Clean is indeed very Fender-y sounding. To get it loud enough for a more rocking outfit, you have to lay a bit of dirt down though (turn up the gain a bit). Which is fine with me. Only a slight complaint on that, but overall it sounds great and that's without any mods. I've heard good things when people swap the speaker, so i'll defintely do that and of course replace the tubes with my own favs. Can't wait to hear it after that.

Only have had it for a short time.. but it seems very well built.

I got this from Elevation Music. They speak very highly of Johnson although i haven't had to contact them for anything.

Been playing off and on for 12 years. Been playing A LOT for the last two. My first amp was a CRATE (LOL) I also have another Fender amp, and will be picking up a Peavey Delta Blues shortly (sick amp).
I was previously playing with a Fender Bassman 10. Very heavy, and had seen better days.

For certain music styles (like mine), you will NOT find a better amp for the money. If you do, kindly post on here so i can see it for myself!!!! If you play heavy metal, this is likely not for you, though. Like someone else here said, get a Mesa Boogie or something.

Seriously, this amp sounds great. Definitely a "sleeper" if I ever saw one. I found out about them basically by accident. If they come out with a higher wattage amp, I'd be more than happy to give it a look. So far, thumbs up for the Johnson Loredo (although I still don't think I'd touch their hybrid amp with a ten foot pole).

If this got lost or stolen, I would for sure get another one. I think this is my "small" amp of choice.

As for the ring some people get.. I haven't heard it myself. It's a pretty quiet amp unless you've got it cranked. Still not bad for noise though.

This is an update to my earlier review. I have to send the amp back since the hum has gotten louder. I'm replacing with another Loredo since this amp is still pretty damn good for the money and I think lots of the sound / noise issues were possibly due to bad filtering and/or transformer. Tubes were swapped and nothing changed to its an internal thing.

I'll update accordingly after the new one arrives.

Gain, bass, mid, treble, reverb level, standby, power, reverb footswitch input, and rear fx loop level control and 8 ohm external speaker out put. 25 watts is a severe overstatement. It sound more around 10- 15 watts. Plenty loud for my use.

This review is preliminary. Its a cheap amp but given the cost ($275 with free shipping on Ebay)I plan to make some upgrades.

Ok, with the stock speaker, this is one shitty sounding amp. Very thin and tinny sounding. The speaker is a cheap Chinese made piece of crap. A very poor attempt at a Jensen sound.

I replaced it so far with a Eminence RamRod speaker which is a vast improvement in sound.

Its a little noisey, especially with older / poorly grounded guitars. Treble range is very bright, I don't turn it up past 10 o'clock and boost the mids and bass to add more fullness. There seems to be a bit of hum and static. Not the cleanest sounding amp, but for the price, not bad.

Reverb is ok, not Fender deep, but good for its price range.

Future improvements are to: upgrade tubes, add some shielding, upgrade power and coupling caps, better speaker wiring, and upgrade the rectifier diodes to either Freds or a Thd Reactive Rectifier that I have laying around.

For all this, it adds maybe another $100. Still below a new Fender. I'll let you all know how it goes.

Don't know. Haven't had it too long.

Not bad so far for a cheap amp. Good clean sound with a speaker upgrade. Overdrive is crap...you'll need a good box up front. I bought this since my Fuchs ODS combo is a bit heavy to cart around for quick practice / jam sessions. It needs a bit more quieting (first priority) and then some touch sensitivity added (caps and rectifier changes).

Honestly, I've played worse sounding amps at over twice the cost of this amp. I just want a cheap, simple, single channel tube amp with reverb. This amp might just fit the bill with a few tweeks out of my supply drawer (I mod amps as a hobby).

The Loredo I have was purchased through ebay, but appears to be almost brand new. I think they're around $500 in Australia but they're not widely available here yet. It's a single channel, master volume, 2*el84 combo with a 10in Alphatone speaker. The tubes have been replaced by JJs, so I'm not sure what it's like with the stock EHs. The amp also has an effects loop that seems to work fine, and Accutronics reverb. The manual claims there's an XLR line out, but it aint true. Looks great!

The amp sounds quite good - I'm gonna try replacing the speaker with a Weber blue pup, but it's OK for now. Using the extension out, I've tried it through my homebrew 2*12 with Jensens and it sounds big and clean. With my strat and the eq tweaked slightly, I get a lush slightly overdriven sound with both gain and master on about 7 each. I'm not sure about the 25Watts claim... it gets over a drummer but not completely clean. I'm sure it's more like 15 W or so. Doesn't matter to me though, I like the overdriven sounds I get from this. With the 2*12, I reckon I can play any pub or club (and will keep sound guys happy!) Reacts well to a overdrive pedal in front so I can get all the way from bluesy clean, to hard rock sounds. With a better stock speaker (and maybe JJs instead of EHs?), this'd be a 10. Have played through it with a Jap-made Fender Strat with Dimarzio pups and a 1990 Les Paul standard and it brings out the character of each guitar nicely. Probably better with single coils but that might just be me. This amp is very quiet.

It's PCB, but seems to be built solidly. Tubes are easy to replace. Would gig without a backup.

I asked about the line out and got a friendly reply via email in a day or two.

I've been playing for around 15 years now... had a Peavey Reknown (which I loved till it blew up on me), a Marshall 2204 (sounded great but too bloody loud and heavy), an Eminar 50 watt point to point (sounded even better than the marshall but NMV and extremely loud) and now this little baby. I love it, and would recommend it to any player. The bang for buck is amazing on this thing, and the volume is just right for jamming and gigging. Plus it's really really light and portable. If only it had the line out...

Next amp on my list will be a tweed deluxe clone if I can find one for a good price... that and this amp in stereo would be awesome on stage. Email me if you have one for <$1K.

Bought brand new in November 2006. This "all-tube" amp features a single input and single channel with a gain and a volume control, 3-way EQ, footswitch jack for the Accutronics spring reverb, effects out and in jacks along with a "dry~wet" pot for controlling the amount of outboard effect fed into the amp. It has 2 Sovtek 12AX7 tubes in the pre-amp stage and 2 Electro Harnonics EL-84 tubes in push-pull config for the main amp. It is rated at 25WRMS. It has a 10" Alphatone speaker. The amp is designed by AXL in California but built in China.
Although the amp is "all tube", it does use a lot of solid-state circuitry and is not "point-to-point" wired like the vintage or boutique tube amps. But then it also doesn't cost hundreds or thousands of dollars.
It has a vintage look with its ox-blood tolex and beige grille cloth. Seems to be very well built with a solid cab and chassis and quality controls and on-off and stand-by switches.
I use this amp for jamming with a couple of friends and also for performing at the open mic at our coffeehouse. It has plenty enough power for that and can go from "Fender" clean to nicely over-driven by tweaking the gain and volume controls. It has THAT vintage tube sound that is to die for. Definitely not a "metal" amp but great for R&R, Country-Rock, Country, Blues and Jazz. Turn up the gain and you get that great warm overdrive sound that is to die for.
The spring reverb really works and doesn't get too "wonky" right away like on a lot of amps out there. Beats the hell out of ANY digital reverb!
It would be great if the amp had 2 channels with foot-switching but at this price, well, you just won't find that.
Also, the fact that it only weighs 25 lbs. is a blessing for this old guy with a bad back.

The amp can go from very clean to a nice tube overdrive without the hum associated with a lot of tube amps. It "dirties" up faster with humbuckers than with single-coils of course, but with the right blend of gain/volume, you can find the right sound for most stuff. I use an SX strat knockoff with 1983 '72 re-issue Fender alnico pups and this amp gives me the full range of sounds this guitar is capable of producing, along with all the fine nuances of various picking styles. It can get pretty loud with the volume cranked.
I jam mostly Buddy Guy style blues and this amp suits that to a T. Also great for such classic instrumentals as Sleepwalk and Apache.
Definitely not a "metal" amp though. Get a Mesa Boogie or whatever if that's what you want. Although I guess you could just put a heavy-metal pedal in front of it...

At the (low) sonic levels at which I play, I don't worry about the amp failing. I haven't had the amp long enough to say how well it will hold up, but it seems to be built quite solid and the tubes even have metal retainers on them to avoid them from shaking loose so I think the amp will hold up fine.
The Alphatone 10" speaker has a relatively small magnet structure for a 25WRMS amp and that might be a cause for concern for anyone who intends on really driving this amp for prolonged periods of time. Might be a good idea to change it out with a heavy-duty Jensen, Webber or Celestion or or what-have-you.

The amp came with a 5-year Manufacturer's guarantee. Hopefully I'll never have to take advantage of that... I expect to have to change out the tubes sooner or later because tubes don't last forever. I can do that myself. The tubes are readily accessible.
I e-mailed the company (AXL) requesting a schematic for the amp and they sent me one (in PDF format) within 2 days at no cost! I've since printed it out, "just in case".

I've been playing since 1964 and have owned a lot of gear over the years. Back then in the 60's when I was playing professionally in R&R bands, I was using a blackface '63 Fender Bandmaster. Wouldn't want to have to carry that sucker around anymore!
In th 80's when I was playing in various Country-Rock, Country and Classic Rock bands, I was using solid-state Peavey's and Rolands, through Boss effects. Much more portable but there was always a certain "something" missing from the sound.
I've also played through Crates and other "modeling" amps lately and again, always something missing. That "tube" sound.
I considered the Traynor YCV-20 all-tube amp with channel switching (one of my friends has one and let me give it a work-out) but at 35 lbs., it's just a bit too heavy for me to lug around at my age. Also, it's reverb isn't as nice as the Johnson's.
I've got a custom home-built (by my old-time tube-techie friend John Lansky), so-called "AC-DC" all-tube amp that uses a pair of 50L6's in push-pull. It has tremolo and sounds really good and weighs only 16 lbs., but it lacks the reverb, effects send and return and the gain/volume thing. If it had those, it would be perfect but John didn't want to get into that. That's why I bought the Loredo.
If what you want is a vintage-looking and vintage-sounding amp with REAL tube "vibe" and sound at a price that won't break your wallet, this baby fills the bill. It's not a Mesa Boogie or a Marshall Stack but hey, it's a lot cheaper than a Fender Blues Jr. and sounds every bit as good!

Valve amp well priced and in the 25 Watt range comparable features

Excellent -very clean and clear

Too soon to make a comment

Excellent amp for a 25 watt unit.

Brand New. These amps just came out to dealers in December 2005 and I am probably one of the first owners. This is an all tube amplifier with a 10" speaker. It has one channel with pre and post gain with overdrive. It has a nice sounding reverb as well. Using the line out, you can patch it directly to your PA or to another power amp for gigs. You can also patch directly into your studio panel. The line out has an adjustable level. The amp is tolex covered with a nice Fenderish tweed grill. The knobs have a Quality feel to them. The chassis appears to be all steel, is well constructed and solid. The input jacks are quality as well. I was particularly impressed with the On/Off and Standby switches. These are very high quality vintage style switches, not your standard plastic type. The tubes are 12ax7wa sovteks and the power tubes are EL-84 EH electro-harmonics. I was surprised to see the EH tubes in it, but very pleased. The tubes are PCB mounted each with a retainer, so there should'nt be a problem with them coming loose. Overall, this amp is very very well constructed for an Asian product.

I have to say I was amazed at the sound of this little guy. A very sweet blusey sounding distortion and when clean, sounds very much like a Fender. And with 25 watts (It has a very large power transformer), it is just fine for small venues that I play. If I need extra power, I will just patch it out to a Peavey power amp and another set of speakers, but I have'nt had to as of yet. I've tried it and it works/sounds great. Much of the tube sound is preserved to my surprise, or maybe its my imagination. I bought this for its size, power and sound and I have not been disappointed.

Well, too soon to tell, but I am also a technician, and I can tell a good one when I see one. This little guy should hold up nicely, and if it needs repair, the boards are arranged nicley for troubleshooting. Nothing like some of the newer Fenders I've worked on. And I really mean that. The only thing I'm concerned about is the speaker. I will likely put an Eminence Legend in it soon. Not that the one in it sounds bad, it just does'nt look like it will go the distance. This is the only potential week point I see. But hey, its got a warranty for a while.

Just don't know. It does'nt come with a schematic, so I have orded one. Hopefully the company is now big enough to provide reliable support. I would'nt have said that a few years ago.

I've been playing weekends now for over 30 years off and on. I've owned them all. As I've gotten older, I just don't have a lotta use for the big stacks and heavy combos. I really don't like the setup and teardown anymore so I try to keep things as simple and small as I can. 30 years ago, you could'nt buy an amp this small that sounds this good....they just were'nt available or sounded like crap. Not so anymore. I like this amp. 25lbs of tube tone. It ain't perfect, but it comes as close as I have had for a long time. Sounds as good as my old Hot Rod Deluxe in a smaller package. Just hope it holds up as well as I think it will.