Sovtek Mig 100

I got my Mig brand new in 93. My moms friend was a dealer for Sovtek and convinced me I had to get this amp. Boy am I glad I did. I played Helmet inspired hard-core music at the time and this amp was perfect. Very simple amp. The Basics as far as bass,mid,treble,presence,master vol. Low and High gain inputs. No reverb, or effects loop. I ran a floor processor at the time through the Low gain ch. The amp is amazingly loud even in this setting. Over the years and bands I've run dry(no effects) and back again. Very Powerful.

With effects you can achieve every sound from blues to jazz to metal no problem. On its own good clean and very good rock tones. This thing just cranks. I run it with a Randle cab loaded with celestions. Ear plugs required.

I've had this amp for 15 years and all it has needed is new tubes. I never had a backup amp. Our roadies would complain about the weight. Well what do you expect? Its made out of old Russian tank parts!

Never needed to contact Sovtek.

I have been playing for around 20 years. Unfortunetly I haven't been able to use this amp in a while cause its just sooo loud. I have a '64 Fender Vibro Champ and a Vox. I'm not worried about it getting stolen because it's too heavy to carry more than 10 feet. I've heard that it is compareable to a Marshall JCM 800. I love this amp for its simplicity and rarity.

Tube, low and hi channel. presence, low mid and hi eq, master and volume dials. Basic features but thats not why you buy this amp

Amazing. I now have two of these.

use its distortion and you get greeeaaattt sounds out of this. Plug a les paul into this and crank it up (mind you only to about 4 or 5, otherwise the neighbors will call the cops) and you'll be in heaven.

I personally want as much gain as possible so I'll plug in one of my distortion pedals like the zoom tri metal, my electro harmonix metal muff or use my guitar sans amp classic along with some of the amps gain.

I play in a few bands...one is a metallic hardcore band where i want heaps of tightness for the real quick stuff and heaps of power and volume for those real heavy parts. The other band is a punk rock band and it goes just as well after dialling a different sound or adding or swapping a pedal.

Alone...fantastic amp....with the addition of a pedal....the amp excels I think.

THIS is why you buy this amp

I bought both of mine second hand and havent had any problems over the two or so years I have had them.

Second hand

Overall its an awesome amp and I have a lot of people asking me and my friend (who also plays one of these) how we get our sound.

I purchaced a Mig 100 head from Guitar Center bout 10 yrs ago. Paid $149.00 for it.Run it through a Marshall 4x12 cabinet loaded w/ Jensen's from Sear's Twin twelve cab's..Plenty of TONE! Bout a year ago it had slight loss of output.. Wait'n for a good amp guy to check it out. Great clean & great overdrive tones..

"82" Les Paul Costom..stock pick up's.

As mentioned, loss slight of output.Main amp!!!

Haven't had to use

Playing 30 yrs..Would replace if had to.. Own many vintage tube amps...

The Sovtek MIG 100 is 2 things: all tube and ridiculously loud. You've got your basic EQ knobs, pre-gain, and master volume. Nothing fancy, but if you like this amp's sound then you don't need fancy. This thing isn't very versatile, but it's perfect and very affordable for hard rock, metal, etc.

This amp sounds fantastic. I dial it in at full gain with mids boosted through a Marshall 4x12 and my Les Paul roars. At high gain it's really thick and full, but it does lack slightly as far as bite goes. Throw a fuzz, distortion, tubescreamer, etc. on in front of this and you've got a monster. I get sweet, full feedback from this and at high volumes it still sounds clear and gorgeous.

I haven't owned mine for long, but it weighs a ton and feels like it's made out of concrete.

This is my major complaint. I can't find ANY information online about this amp. If you buy one, make sure it's in working order or else you might spend a lot of time and money getting back to perfection.

I use my Sovtek in a stoner rock/metal band and it is perfect. Our other guitarist plays an Orange Rockverb 30 and a Black Matamp (both range from $1500-2000 each) and I can keep up with him, no problem. This amp is very specific to heavy and rock sounds, so if you're looking for clean and pretty, move along. If you want something that will shake the house and roar like a beast, get one of these.

I am a female musician, and 9 out of 10 times that I carry my Mig 100 into a venue, some metal head is instantly drawn to me. I use a Marshall 4x12 cab, and the Sovtek sounds good clean and distorted. My favorite pedal is my Big Muff Pi, and the two sound fantastic together. The features are minimal, but if you can really play, you don't need a bunch of fancy effects.

I play a vintage Washburn. The sound quality is fantastic.

I always bring it inside after gigs. It's heavy as hell. My only complaint is that the standby switch broke. And I had to fix it. But i did it upside down. Oops. I deal.

My Sovtek is used. One time I had to change a tube, and the part was difficult to find. But I have had the thing for 10 years, and that was the only time it needed a company part.

I have been playing for ten years and the Mig 100 is by far my favorite piece of equipment. And I don't play metal.

This amp does not have a million freatures but it has exactly what is needed to get the job done and have great tone. Most of the time the key to good tone is to keep it simple. It is one channel with no effects loop and no BS

Its really hard for me to rate any piece of gear on sound quility because I feel that every piece of equipment does what it does and every piece of gear no matter how good or bad it sounds is useful. So it is hard for me to rank anything on a scale, but I can tell you how the amp sounds. This Amp sounds like a Marshall JCM 900 but with more gain and low frequences. It is a very "heavy" sounding amp but is still clear.

This thing is built like a tank!

There is very little info out there on this amp.

I play mostly Metal, Rock and guitar hero type stuff with my bands but I also work as a studio musician, so I have to be able to make any tone at any time. I own 7 or 8 amps and about 30 guitars. This amp is a great add to my collection of amps. Some of my amps cost up to $3,200 and this one keeps up. If you are looking for a heavy sounding marshall type amp with no extra junk added on this is your amp! If you want to hear it I am always recording with it and you can hear it and contact me at myspace.com/jeremymrussell

I've had my Mig since 97 and it has seen it's share of pain and suffering but has held strong. This amp is as bare bones as can be while still being useful. 1 Channel, no reverb, but at least you can adjust the treble, mids, bass, presence and gain. It had everything I needed for a heavy rock tone. Now that I've toned down my playing I wish it had some reverb. In addition, this thing needs to be cranking loud to sound its best. And this thing gets VERY loud.

I bought this amp to get a heavy ac/dc like rock sound and it delivered. I rarely used my Mig at high gain but it can go there. I preferred to stay around mid gain for a great heavy tone that still lets you hear individual notes. For the heavy, drop D riff driven music I played this amp was perfect. Variety is not this amps strong suit. No channel switching, no reverb, nothing. I would push it with a distortion pedal for leads and that extra special grind. You'll never mistake a Mig for a rectifier but what you will get is a great solid heavy tone that still sounds like a guitar.

I am literally shocked by the reliability of this amp. My amp has been through absolute hell. Ice cold practice spots, filthy NYC clubs, crappy band van, drunken band mates, mold, and oh yeah my apartment burned down too. This amp survived it all with nothing more than tube changes and a replaced output jack (my singer snapped the cheap plastic one off). To suggest that this thing is bullet proof is not an exaggeration. 10 +

yeah right... I don't think you can even buy original parts for these things. I always heard they were built from post Cold War Soviet surplus.

Yeah, its basic but gets the job done with style. I have yet to play through another high powered head that I like as much as my mig. My 4 x 12 cab is tired and shot but I've played this through my 2 X 12 with vintage 30s and it sings. I love the sweet simplicity and tone tone tone. I'm struggling to figure out my next move. If I can find a way to get some good cheap reverb then my mig will rise again. Otherwise, the Sovtek may get shelved. That being said, I can't imagine selling it.

I has the necessary! Bass Midle treble and presence! Low and Hi gain input! The only lack is the missing of other channel and fx loop :S

I use this amp with his original cabinet with 2 Eminence V12 Speakeres and 2 Celestion seventy 80's.

It's heavy the cab and the amp! and it's loud has hell!

I play metal and Hard Rock.
I use only de Hi-gain input, and I add some drive with a Marshall Gu'v'nor pedal for the solos, It sounds very good!

The sound is very like Mesa crunchy stile.

I play with a Yamaha Pacifica with 2 humbuckers EMG H4 (passive version of the EMG81) and this amp really kick ass live and in a studio!

This thing is contructed to last I had mine at 12 years, but I think it has 15 years. Never had a problem, and never let me down! I use a Line Flextone III in the back up just in a case, but never had to use it in live situation!

Unfourtunely they don't produce anymore this amp, but recently I send complements to electro-harmonix about the amp and can you believe, the president repplyed to me!!! :)

Maybe some day this amp re-apear on the market, I hope so!

If you whant just distortion in a amp and do not whant to spend money in a Mesa or in a Marshall, these amp is a very good choice and sound great.

If you wahnt just a very clean and flat and very linear channel, to play with pedals, for that this is the best amp you can ever had!

I hate when people complain about a lack of features on an amp. If you want a bunch of nonsense features, buy a Line 6 or one of those Marshall Triple Super Lead heads or something like that.
Personally, I prefer amps to have very few options. As long as I can adjust the bass, mid, treble, volume and gain I'm a happy camper. It does exactly what it needs to do, and for anything else I can bring in outside help.

I play a PRS Custom 24 and an 81 Les Paul Standard through it and it seriously roars. I pair it with my 120 watt Matamp GTVtc and I get complimented on my rig EVERY SINGLE SHOW I play. I dont use the "clean channel", but I get a decent clean by decreasing the output on my guitar. One channel is totally fine if you use the volume knob on your guitar.
The distortion is unreal. I find it strange that some people are saying that it's not good, because I play heavy doom and it suits my needs perfectly. Right now I play it through a Marshall 1960a cab and an Orange cab, and it sounds ridiculous.
It used to hum really really loud, but that has since been fixed, and while it's not as quiet as my Matamp, the hum is very minimal and pretty much what you would expect from a high gain amp (if not less).

I do use it at gigs without a backup, but I'm not going to lie...sometimes it scares me. It has had several grounding issues which has caused to start buzzing on several occasions. While these problems are easy to fix (usually a loose grounding screw), I'm still nervous at times.
I bought it used and it had been heavily modified. All of the plastic parts were replaced with metal ones. Metal input and output jacks and metal on/off & standby switches. If you're going to get one of these I suggest doing the same

I compare these things to the reuben sandwich. Its component parts are terrible, but for some reason the end product is a masterpiece.

No idea. Its good to have a reliable amp repair guy though.

I've been playing for 14 years and I've owned several amps and I think this thing is great. It seriously roars. Its unbelievably loud, and disgustingly heavy. Plus it looks cool. The person who owned it before me ripped all the tolex off and stained the wood and its very cool looking. Paired with my Matamp its pretty much my dream rig (finally). If you want to hear the combination of the two, check out my band Ancestors http://www.myspace.com/fleshintostone

Basically if you play heavy music or rock & roll I highly suggest this amp.

I got mine with a 4X12 Sonic cabinet off a friend for $300. Money well spent. Pretty basic, workhorse amp. One channel, low and high inputs, 4/8/16 ohm speaker outs, weighs as much as a Fender Twin and has more than enough power. More than enough power. It's got plastic jacks but metal switches (mod?) hasn't caused me any problems that way. Very basic eq (treb, mid, bass knobs) input volume works well to adjust gain while master volume adjusts overall level. Simplicity=perfection with this thing.

Great mildly dirty, fuzz tones to very clean, depending on what guitar used and where you want the gain to go. I don't use any effects pedals or any of that nonsense, but if I did, I don't think distortion would be one of them. Low input can get a warm, jazzy tone, not bright, but well defined. I prefer the high input & play my '62 melody maker with the vintage lil' black pick up and it gets an awsome, twangy yet dirty, tele-with-an-attitude trebly sound that works out great for what I play. The high end has the potential to rip your ears apart if you play too loud without turning down the treble a bit and I'll raise the mid to get a little more warmth & buzz. Not a "quiet" amp at all. It pretty much goes from "zero" to "rock" without much in between. If you're looking for the clean Fender tone but need the power & (natural) distortion of a Marshall, this is perfect stage gear.
Only issue with this is when I'm standing around in between playing with the guitar volume all the way down I get audible radio signals, but a lot of things cause that to happen. It's really only in my practice space anyway.
I totally love this amp.

This amp is a tank! I've had this thing get slammed around in the back of a van and once dropped it and none of that ever phased it. It's what I use at every show and to record with and it works great under any condition so far. I've had it about 2 1/2 years, maybe a little longer and it's always been trustworthy. Taking the same good care of it like any other tube amp is of course, the way to go, but I think one could be negligent with one of these and not run into too many problems. They seem to be built for the war. The only issue I had with it was with the fuse jacks on the back. One of them got smashed while being transported. They're those spring-loaded finger screw fuse covers and the "russian" variety are big, weird things that look a little unstable. Mostly they just stick too far out of the back. I replaced the smashed one with a cover that screws in with a phillips head and is flat against the housing and problem solved.No problem with tubes or anything else and all the guts are protected with a metal-mesh "cage" in the back.

I dunno.

I've had different combos and half-stacks before and so far this one is my favorite set up. As far as tone, dirty-ness, volume and reliability are concerned, this one rules. I love the simple, power house amps and this one satisfies. I looked at Orange, Sunn, Acoustic, and, yes, Marshall amps, but this is one I could afford easily (and kind of fell into my lap) so I can say it works out nice for what I need to have. It would be better for me to have a smaller, more portable combo and something that didn't weigh as much as a volkswagon, but I don't mind hauling this thing around since it makes a sound I really like.

Good amp.I use it on a Marshall 4x12 cab with a 1968/1959 Marshall super lead 100 on the right channel off a digitech RP20 to another 4x12 Marshall cab.Shakes the house!!!!Sound obviously will vary with effects processors.In the clean mode obviously all guitars and pickups will vary.A stock strat would prob sound like a tin can in clean mode.

My MIG 100 Blew up.

Havnt tried yet.

20+ years Need info on getting repairs for the MIG100

1995
pop rock anf hard rock

les paul and strat
it`s no better rock amp and i play rock
its only noise when the dist is turned on
everthying you want it to done i ing
good

yes
no and i have travelled on the road with it for ten years, and vever let me once.

i have only uesd my guitar road to change the tubes for me.

this is the best amp i ever owned so this the the best amp in the world.

One channel, plug and play. No detours to a great tube sound!

I use fender strats and gibson les paul on this, and it works great! You need a overdrive pedal first to get the real metal-driven-sounds. I use a BOSS OD-3 or a Damage Control WomaniZer for this!

I have had it since 1994 and I have changed tubes twice. No other problems. Its been on many tours!

You have to see a specialist for tube amps. They dont make them anymore.

LOVE IT!

I found the amp had a surprising amount of versatility despite all i had heard, but im a nuts and bolts kind of player and don't need much more except maybe a reverb tank. This one loud amp...i like that.

I kept hearing how this amp is for metal heads and only good for grunge and blah blah blah, but one thing that will affect your tone is your CABINET. I play country/bluegrass/thrashabilly blues and love this mofo. Its got one hell of a clean sound at a high level.

haven't used it enough to find out yet

n/a

I really like this amp. and like everyone else says, for the dough, you can't beat it. I ran into this one not looking to buy anything and bought it just for curiosity (and i knew they weren't being made anymore). I'm totaly sold and looking to buy the other amps they made.

Weight. On/Off switch. Volume. Balls.

This thing is honest. Lots of feedback (if you don't like feedback, too bad). Mine is clean only so I employ a dirty old Rat Pro Co box to make it filthy. At high volumes with the Guitar off, it sounds like an Ocean. Funny.
This thing is great for deep fuzzy old school sludge metal. Just jam with it man. Feel the vibration and warmth it delivers. You will feed off of each other. Oh yeah, use a humbucker with this thing. Single coil Strats seem to leave the oats at home with this old girl.

Yeah the low input broke off years ago and its been flopping around inside since then. I don't care.
But how's this for reliability: At one show in Aug of 97, I threw my Guitar at my half stack (epiphone 67 V reissue), then pushed the Sovie head over behind the cabinet, and then kicked the cabinet backwards sending it over the now upside down head. At this point I realised I still had one more song to go so I picked up the V, retuned it as best I could in 30 seconds and belted out one last song with my upsidedown head and cabinet facing the drummer. It still worked fine and I have never had a problem with it. People laugh at it cuz the see em advetised for a few hundred bucks and think its a joke. Its a secret weapon in relity.

I have never had to replace a tube, resistor, or fuse. In 8 years.

It has a deep scatch going right down the middle of the "Sovtek" name plate that was due to this insident. I'm very proud of that.

Never messed with this.

This thing is a giant middle finger in the face of guitar snobbs the world over. I love that it weighs 300 lbs. I love that it cost me 200 bucks new. I love that people ask me "what the hells a Sovtek?".

What can I say, it definately doesnt have the most features. But it does what it does, and it does it well. No reverb, 2 chanels, but non switching means you will probably be resorting to pedals to get any sort of effect, but beyond that..

Im using a Earnie Ball volume pedal to deal with the non switching issue. Basically ignoring the fact that this head has two channels, I use the high input with the Volume pedal to switch between cleaner non-overdriven sound to over-driven sound using the amps own natural distortion. I had to setup up the volume pedal so that when I pushed down all the way it wouldnt turn the volume off (i put a longer screw on the stopper with a few extra nuts) to just give it a cleaner sound, then when you push the volume all the way up, there you go, nice natural distortion, not to mention the variaty of distortion levels you can get while playing.

I love the distortion from this amp, it can heavy as hell, or just a little bit dirty, it also handles low ends beutifully. Also the amp is damned loud, and I cant understand why everyone is complaining that its so loud because...... it can be turned lower. I use this amp during band practices and jams with no problems so far.

The cleaner side is nice sounding but not the best ive heard. Also with lacking any sort of reverb, you dont get warm feeling from it.

The damned thing is heavy and solid. I havnt tossed it around to much, but it hasnt given me any problems yet.

I emailed New Sonar (which is who sovtek became) about geting a logo for the front of my head (which it was missing), and though they didnt have any stock, they were nice pointed me in another direction (which also didnt have any) and were prompt, however I never had really use their cust support.

Iv been playing around with it for about 2 months now, and so far ive had the least problems with this amp out of any amp ive had (which have included a constantly broken marshall valvestate, and some other now broken amps).

As for the sound I really love it, and love using the volume pedal to get the clean and distortion, and the variations in between. Also the volume is excellent, if you want loud, go for it, if you want quiet...

Though its not a feature packed amp, its got that old Russian charm, strong, stable and utilitarian.

Not many. I agree that the EQ does absolutely nothing. Not versatile at all. These amps are one trick pony's. You'll soon be wanting another amp to pick up the slack. No channel switching. Master Volume is more of an on/off switch. Either it is very quiet, or brutally loud! Not very versatile for medium to small rooms. I guess if the rest of your band, and your audience, just wants to hear the guitar, then buy it.

These sound like a Marshall with a cold. Raspy, and not very smooth. I have a Bluesbreaker, so I know what smooth is. I have also owned JMP combos, now those are smooth! This amp is for newbies, lets face it...

This thing had me worried the moment I brought it home. I tried using it for a show. I tried to plug my guitar in the (plastic) hi input jack, and the damn thing broke and fell into the chassis (and it was brand new!) I had to use the low jack instead. Needles to say I was pissed. NOT VERY RELIABLE! Sovtek amps are Russian engineered, does anyone remember Chernobyl? You will have to replace several plastic crap parts to get it working, and that will be costly. Who knows if it will be reliable then.

I couldn't reach anyone at Sovtek, at the time it broke down. I had the amp fixed at a local shop but it soon happened again with the input jack. Crappy!

I have been playing since 1990. If it was stolen, I would by a Marshall JCM 800. But I sold it a long time ago, and I never looked back. There are much better amps out there than these. It is a far too limited amp to suite modern players...

Looks like a very old Marshall

Not Sure!

N/a/

on the web

I didn't know about these amps until I saw one in a second hand shop, since the hi gain wasn't working, I got the price knocked down to around 200AUD. I have it working now, but just the low input, so far sounds great, but I know very little about these units, not even sure what it is supposed to sound like!! Anybody have any tips on what to look for for the hi input?? Anybody know who services these in Australia/Sydney? Is it worth replacing the valves , or should i retain the originals if possible, appreciate any tips, thx

I do not know what year my amp was made. someone mentioned look at the serial number and the first two digits are 93. Could be? I don't use the amp much any more because I have taken a liking to a small epiphone tube combo. the tube mig 100 sure worked great when I did use it and it still sounds inredible. I play rock/punk/alt-country and this amp did what I needed it to do. No effects or any of that junk on it. Don't like that stuff anyways. has a low and a high input, always used the high input. power is not a question with this amp. has more than you'll ever need. Why have all the built in effects on an amp when all you need are a few foot pedals?

Many compare the Sovteks to Marshall Heads but I think the Sovtek sounds better. Cleaner all the way through the volume knob positions. All around a better tighter sound than Marshall. I used an SG and a Les Paul Jr. with this amp and both sounded equally great. The SG had more depth, do to the humbuckers instead of the Les Paul Jr's P90. A friend of mine had a Sovtek Mig 100 and played Telecasters. Sounded just as cool. The amp is a little noisy depending on the guitar. If you're worried about noise get a gate, all amps make noise. As far as variety of sounds, again that's what pedals are for. The amp can remain fairly clean at high levels with some dialing in of the knobs. But the amp was made for the nice smooth distortion it can produce. I've used it in all kinds of live clubs and recording situations and basically what you see is what you get...a really powerful rock amp.

Never had the amp just breakdown on me for no reason. Once the fuse blew due to poor wiring in a club. Once someone stepped on the guitar cable right by the input jack and cracked the plastic sleeve on the input. I replaced it with a metal sleeve. Once the amp fell from about 4 feet up and it needed repair but the tech that repaired it said the amp handled it well and he was surprised at the lack of internal damage. I think it cost me about $30 to fix. I've used the amp for years with what I would consider heavy usage (i.e. daily rehersals and gigs).

I've been playing for 14 years, used this amp for about 5 years. Right now I like the smaller combo amps for convenience. Been using an Epiphone Galaxie 10 for guitar and a Fender Bassman 100 for bass. Trying to sell the Sovtek. Don't really need it. If I did want that sound again I would purchase another one. I used a Marshall Head prior to the Sovtek Mig 50 and then traded/paid for a Mig 100 and prefer the Sovteks by far.

The basics...

I used this amp with a Burny Les Paul and a Marshall 1960b cab. Despite what many have said about the clean headroom, I found it to be relatively non-existant. The low gain channel with a Jekyll and Hyde overdrive sounded okay, and the same channel with a Keeley modded Metal Zone sounded pretty thin. The high gain channel sounded like the ocean on a windy day even with the mildly cranked. A noise gate is a must! My main gripes are the fact that the EQ does virtually nothing and that you hear the pick attack waaaay too much.

Worked fine for the month I had it...

Yeah, right!

I think that this head would be great if you're willing to put in some serious cash to get it modded a bit and experiment with some different tubes. The EQ section is my biggest gripe. I had a Mig-50 before the 100 and I would recommend that head before this. They sound completely different!

standard features with the exception of a torres engineering bass gain boost installed.

i use a telecaster with dual fender humbuckers and run staight to the head and then out to a laney cab. My band plays hardcore stuff like converge, breather resist, scarlet and botch. this is the perfect amp for this kind of music. The distortion is thick and really natural sounding. i installed a bass gain boost pot that i got from torres engineering and now it absolutely rips other amps apart. Despite what some people may say you are not going to get a tube distortion sound from a pedal. As other peple have said this thing is loud our other guitarist uses a peavey 5150II: he plays on seven, i play on three. My only complaint is that with the gain up the amp can be a little noisy when you are not playing. According to sovtek this was an inherrant flaw in this model. But i spoke to my repair tech and he said that rebuilding the input circuit would fix this. i may also have him install an active mid boost. I have to give it a 10 for sound though because i have never heard a better amp and the only ones that can come close are well over a thousand dollars.

The usual complaint about the plastic inputs but thes are easily changed. Other than that these things are bullet proof. If russia built their soviet infrastructure as well as they built these amps, we would all have pictures of lenin on our walls. This is the ak-47 of amps.

I called them once to request a schematic and they sent a copy by mail three days later. Try getting that kind of support from another company that has not made an amp in almost ten years.

If i was given $1000 dollars to buy an amp i would buy several of these over a marshall or mesa anyday. They are getting hard to find now. I asked sovtek if they ever plan on reissuing them, but all they said is that they dont think they ever will. but in the mean time just crank it up and invest in a hearing aid because you may need it one day.

They don't offer much features, but you don't really need many features, it sounds good pretty much where ever you have the settings.

It has two channels but they're not foot switchable, theres just a high input and a low input. High is distortion and Low is clean.

I use this amp with my band with a loud drummer and I can hear myself loud and clear. I also have a Fender Bassman 100 from the early 70s and that wasn't loud enough but the Mig100 has a similar sound and is loud enough by a lot.

It sounds good depending on what kind of pedals you plan on running through it. The distortion that it comes with isn't the greatest. But the clean channel makes up for it cuz its amazing. I first ran a RAT distortion pedal through it, but it got a little too 'beefy' for me, so then I tried my Boss Overdrive/Distortion pedal and that sounds amazing. I have a Gibson SG with stock pick ups and it sounds good with this amp, The RAT might sound better along with a single coil-pick up guitar. My style is hardcore/punk/metal/indie and it fits my style pretty good with the Boss pedal.

The plastic parts scared me at first, because i'm kind of a perfectionist about things, and the last thing i want is my things breaking right before i'm supposed to play a show, but the plastic parts haven't given me any problems at all, they're really sturdy. This whole amp is built like a tank.

Sovtek responds emails within a day or two, i was suprised. Although they couldn't help me with my request, they still were nice about everything, and appolagized that they coudln't help me out. (I bought mine used without the sovtek name plate and I asked if they could find me a replacement but they didn't have any)

A lot of people compare this to Fender bassmans and JCM800s. It does have a similar sound to my fender bassman, but it defiantely has a sound of its own. The bassman distorts really easy which can sound really cool, but I think i like the SOVTEK better cuz it doesn't distort when its cranked. If it was stolen I would probably just keep using my Fender bassman because i'm a college student that doesn't always have hundreds of dollars laying around. But if i had money at the time it was stolen, then yes i would buy another.

like an old jcm800 master volume: low and high gain inputs; volume,master,bass,mid,treble,presence controls... 4, 8, 16 and line outputs...
it's very close to the jcm800, but power tubes are 6L6 instead of el34 and the eq is a bit like mesa (dark).
no channel switching :-( but it's ok...

I use a lot of equipment, but for rehearsal and gig my rig is fernandez guitar tuned in B E A D F# B, and an old aria pro 2 cardinal series of 1982 tuned in D G C F A D or C G C F A D(drop C)...
Mig 100 is connected to a 100w marshall 4*12" cab of late 70's or early 80'S with celestion greenbacks inside... (very nice cab!!!)
I use a boss GT3 multifx...
This head give a very clean sound, and a good compressed low end... I like it very much. But I find this amp a litle dark. Maybe I need to change some caps and resistors to get the true jcm800 sound...
I play mostly hardcore/punk/metal/grind and it works fine for that...
Sometimes I prefer the mig60, because it's closer with the jcm800, but it's far to be as louder as the 100w...
I play with master volume at 5 and whowww!!! It cut though the mix of the band easily...
I think it's a good value for punk or rock too...

my mig100 was ok in the store, but when I plug it at home, power tubes were very hot: plates were very hot (red)...
it was a diode which has broken (only god knows why...); I just replace it with an 1N4007 and works very well.
These device are very reliable, and they're build to last a lot of time...
Very simple to repair!!!

don't need to deal with them because of the quality of sovtek amps...
I've just ask for technical information, and the guys were very nice!

You can't get a better amp for that price, everything inside is build to last... so many years
If you can try, or buy one... you're not wrong at all!!!

I ABSOLUTELY hate complicated amps, theyre no good for live playing on. This however is the beast to end all, i got this thing in 91 when i started playing, had it 13 years, not a single problem!

a 10! a fucking 10! more headroom than my other guitar players 1300 dollar marshal, if yours is noisy, turn down the presence, play thru low input and use pedals, i run a strat(american standard) thru it and i dont get any hum , or feedback.....if you run digital pedals thru it, or amp sim's it acts identical to whatever you input.

i have NEVER replaced a single part on this amp, not even the tubes sound worn yet......i simply dont get it.people say they replace the tubes every year? theres no real need, mine are still glowin and goin!

never had to usse it, maybe its the one thing bad about this amp?

i bought this new from my friends shop, house of guitars in houston texas near 13 years ago. i had a 1970 gallien kreuger 200 watt (2x12) combo another great amp, i had a fender bassmaster with the 4x10 cab.....the only problem i see with amp ismy tendancy to break other things with it......i dropped it and cracked some of the tiles in my kitchen...ZERO damage to the amp...if this thing was ever stolen, i would call the f.b.i!!!!!in comparrison to my other very expensive amps, i wish i had known about these sooner.....the one thing that could have made this amp better?i really dont know......its my favorite out of an overweighted comparrison.i'd give my left nut for another.

Bought this secondhand , made in 1994 ,Saint Petersburg Russia. Very basic well built powerhouse. Some cheap parts such as plastic switches ,but easy to fix if they break (replace with metal ones) 2 volumes,2 inputs(high -low) ,bass,mid,treble,presence.4-8-16 ohm jacks for speakercab. Very well made and laid out inside too...high quality caps etc.(well it's Russian so it's made to last!!) Mine's had one fuse holder replaced.If it had channel switching and reverb, it would get a 10! This is the gutsiest valve guitar amp I've ever heard.I have a 70's 100 watt eminar valve head and a Fender bassman 135 and this rusky rules.I have yet to try it for bass but have heard they work well.I compared this to one of those toy line 6 heads and the Sov shat all over it.With 2 vols and 2 inputs,U can get clear loud sound and varying levels of distortion from mild to intense.Next i'll get an EH holy grail reverb pedal.

This is a basic amp but really it has all you need.I use a maton mastersound with ibanez tube screamer,ibanez flanger,boss phaser,marshall guvnor2 and Dunlop wah pedal.All i need now is reverb and analouge delay...that's enough for me.I like reggae,ska,Jimi Hendrix,Asian Dub Foundation...raga, rock etc.I run this amp thru a 2/12 celestion box it's plenty loud enough and portable.The Sovtek has it's own sound...it's not the Marshall sound which is refreshing cos so many players have Marshalls.The guvnor makes it sound very close if i want it.

Has been very reliable.Only thing i have done is replace the 12 ax7's
New sensor will send you a complete circuit diagram which is handy.
My only complaint is it's weight...it's heeeeaaaavvvyyyy maaaaaaan.
I got this amp a year ago so time will tell.

It's 10 yrs. old now...pots are not scratchy yet.I have a circuit diagram of the web and can solder etc so should be ok to fix minor things like mains switch etc.

I think a good valve amp and pedals on the floor are hard to beat. I don't like a' one product does it all' concept like digital amp modelling Line6 stuff. All these sound options but very few if any sound any good. There sales pitch suggests that valve amps are unreliable which is untrue. The power supply costs more to produce than solid state designs so they can make more profit with solid state stuff. From what I heard many digital modelling solid state amps have software design faults so the KISS rule comes in here (keep it simple stupid)The SOVTEK is a good honest product, simple, high quality and robust.