Sovtek Tube Midget Mig 50-H Head

Two channels, but no switching or dedicated controls. As a result, I never use the dirty channel. No reverb, but that's okay; I never use reverb live, only when practicing. EQ controls do not have much effect. You need to crank the treble and presence to get a good sound.

This amp, played through a Peavey 112SX cab (1 12" speaker, closed back) is somewhere between a Bassman and a Bluesbreaker. It's tougher than the Bassman, but doesn't have quite as much body (when cranked) as a Bluesbreaker. I use the clean channel exclusively, and get dirt from pedals. It's quite loud, and stays very clean, even when dimed. There's not quite as much "character" or "prettiness" as you get from a vintage Fender; perhaps replacing the 5881's with 6L6's would change this. To me, the best amps use EL84's. I just don't think any other tube comes close to that tone.

Only had it a couple of weeks.

The manual ain't too confidence-inspiring.

This thing is my main (and only) gig amp. It fills the bill -- very loud, and reasonably warm. If money were no object, I'd have a couple of Bassmans. But I must say, this is the best buy in an amp I've EVER seen. I'm very happy with it. Also, the blue light looks very neato onstage.

2 Inputs, 3 band EQ, presence, master volume. It's an amp, nothing fancy (look at all the "retro" and "boutique" amps going for mega-bucks with the same features.

When the high sensitivity input is used, rock city. Even with a strat you cannot get a clean sound in the high input. Killer rock sounds, great crunch, EQ is ok, but not spectacular. Able to get a good hot rodded Marshall-esque sound. Using the low input able to get a good (almost Fendery) clean sound

So far, So good, I've only had it for 4 months now, used mostly at practice. But the pots and jacks on mine feel solid, no scratching when turning pots, they feel solid and linear. I really checked this out because of other reviews I've read. Maybe they vary from one to the other

1 year warranty, haven't needed it

I've been playing for more years than I'd like to admit. I have 3 Marshalls (TSL100, 2205, MKII 50w), and old bassman head, a musicman 130 4-10. I normally play a Gibson SG, or a Fender strat. If I needed more versatility out of it, I would buy 2 of them, and an A/B switch. That would still be cheaper than any channel switching tube head out there. The sovtek (at these prices) is a great value, I would recommend you get one while they're still available. I will probably use this on my band's next CD, and use it as a backup at gigs. It gets plenty loud, its compact, it's all tube, and it sounds pretty damn good.

Hi and low inputs, on and standby, low, mid, treble, presence, volume and master volume

This thing tears ass. I was using a Les Paul into high input with volume dimed and master on about three, plugged into JCM 800 cab with 75 watt Celestions...so basically I was going for good crunch/gain tone. This amp delivered it in spades....I have played the JCM 800 head that goes with the cab (it's 2205 50 w channel switching model) and have owened that amp as well as JCM 900s and Boogies and Groove Tubes. For flat out late 1970s/early 80s hard rock or punch crunch this little devil eats them all. Tone was a little bassy but I attribue this to stock Gibson pickups and 75 watt speakers...with some more refined pickups (my Hamers used Seymour Duncans) and 25 watt greenbacks this problem would disappear. I find the tone a little less sweet than on my Carvin X-100B head or than through a Marshall JMP II master volume with tube screamer, but I would buy this over any amp other than those two if I was looking for good straight ahead gain. Match it up with a good 2x12 and a Fender combo for clean/pedals and you're there. This was an older model with metal inputs and switches.

Merely shop demo so n/a

This thing fits in your glove compartment and will EAT any post 1980 Marshall...or Boogie. Shopowner liked its gain better than the $1500 Bogner Metropolitan he played yesterday. I may purchase it as a backup to my Carvin/Marshall cab rig...it doens't have reverb or effects loop by like I said A/B it with a Fender combo for clean.

This amp is a plain straight forward rock/blues amp without any fuss like reverb, effects loop or channel switching. Just the way I like it. It's got that fuck-you attitude to it. It has 2 channels, high gain and low gain. On high gain, you can get fat, bassy, JCM 800 crunch to endless sustain leads (but I prefer using an Boss OS-2 for leads) while the low gain channel offers a Jimi Hendrix type of clean sound (little wing). I use this amp mainly for crunch and lead and I use a Mesa StudioCaliber for clean tone. I use it with a Celestion GH-100 speaker. My main axes are a Fender stock strat plus. The amp is
50 watts with 2 6L6/5881's and 3 12ax7's. But the best thing about this amp to me is its size. It is only 13x8x8 inches but is as loud as any 50 watt marshall.

This amp does not have much features but with this amp's got is tone. Ballsy in your face tone. The tones of this amp can range from Jimi to Nuno to Van Halen. The amp like any marshall sounds good when cranked to at least 4-5. But I think would give it a 10 if I use a 4x12 closed-back cab since I only use a 1x12 open-back cab and tends to lack punch.

I've now been playing for 7 years and am currently building my dream rig. I've got this SOvtek for disto and a Mesa for clean. My guitars are a Strat Plus and a Custom Strat style guitar w/ DiMarzio AirZones With this rig, I can cover all of my styles ranging from Eric Clapton, SRV, Van Halen, to funk. I would buy this over a Marshall JCM
800 any time because it is one-third the size and cost of a marshall and sounds just as good.

I think the amp is of current Russian manufacture. It seems to be all tube. It has two inputs-high and low, 1 channel. It has a master volume, nonreverb. Controls are straight forward, bass, mid, treble and presence. Standby and on/off toggle switches with pilot lights. Metal grille on back. It is very compact. Outputs are 4, 8 and 16 ohm.
The circuitry has been explained as either a copy of an early Marshall or an Fender Bassman, with a Master volume added. It is very compact which is good because my space is limited. Price paid includes $30 shipping.

I have various guitars but have played it so far with a Gibson SG-X (1 pickup) and an ESP LTD M-250. It has an excellent crunch sound on the high input using the master volume. It got the Doobie Bros. China Grove tones right off with the Gibson, with the Master and the Volume at about "1". ESP didn't sound as good, but I am not so sure that guitar isn't "one-dimensional" because of the Korean Duncan Design pickups. Low input is lifeless and sounds muffled. The amp might be good for a crunchy classic rock sound, but probably is not versatile to handle jazz or folksy sounds. I wasn't able to try it before buying since no local dealers sold it.

The amp is new. Some of the components seem questionable. The hardware (handle, amp corners) are not up to Fender or Marshall standards. The amp came with a gouge in the top of the cabinet (probably from shipping) but brings into question how strong the cabinet wood is. There is a lump under the tolex which may be from poor gluing. The metal grille on the back was loose out of the box. Nothing wrong electronically so far, unless the weak sound on the low channel is some defect instead of just poor sound.

I haven't dealt with the manufacturer. Their manual was a little chintzy. The shipping carton was a little thin with no cushioning or styrofoam. I bought it from Musician's Friend (on sale) and told them about the gouge on the cabinet. They offered to either replace it or give me a $30 credit, which seemed pretty good.

I've been playing quite a while. I have a bit of equipment including Marshall tube amps and different guitars from high end to low end. I was looking for a compact amp to give me some rhythm crunch at low volume for practice. I had two 10" Marshall cabs, 16 ohm Celestions. I was able to hook up the Sovtek to one of the cabs. So far it fills the needs of a compact amp which will give a crunch at low volume. I haven't gigged with it. The high channel sounds great without a lot of noise. The low channel is not worth anything. The crunch sound at low volume is superior to my Marshalls, but the clean sound is not there at all. I may need to experiment with different speakers. I would probably buy another one if I lost this one if it was a good price, just for the rhythm sound.

I don't know the year of my head & cab. The head is finger-jointed oak and the cab is finger-jointed pine finished in a light stain. I spent about a year looking at various amps in the $800-$1500 range. What I kept finding was that the ones w/ the simplest circuitry sounded best. When I first saw the amp, at the beginning of that year, I thought it didn't have enough features. Well, I was wrong. No, the amp doesn't have E.L.'s, channel switching or a headphone jack. But, what it does have is serious balls. It would be nice if it had channel switchng, since both the clean and the drive sound good. It has no reverb,chorus or trem. Which is fine w/ me since there are plenty of pedals that do a good job. I don't care for reverb. I use this amp to play gigs in Houston and it has plenty of power.

I play a '76 LP standard and play all types of rock. I let a producer use it to record a local artist and he found it to be the most guitar friendly out of a Marshall JCM 900, Fender Vibrolux RI, and a Fender Hot Rod DeVille. They used hollow bodies, teles, and LP's. This amp is very guitar friendly. I've had no problems w/ noise. I've even changed the tubes w/o a rebias and it sounded great. The sounds of this amp range from very clean & articulate to classic overdrive (low input) to a Blues drive to a teeth kickin' in distortion. I play mine in the high input w/ the volume on about 1-2 and the master on 5-7. This lets me clean up the sound w/ my volume knob and still be able to get a really punchy overdrive. I use a FD2 & a Soulbender for texture changes. The clean channel will start to distort if you have the volume at 5-6 and the master > than 6, or so. The distortion isn't an ear ripping grind, but more of very heavy crunch when set at high gain settings. I'm really eager to see how different tubes will alter the sound.

I haven't had any problems since I bought it in March of '99. Yes, I do use it w/o a back up, but i don't tour. I'm thinking on buying another one for back up. I've taken out the chassi and the work inside actually looks very neat. The construction of the wood head and cab are very strong. The half stack looks absolutely amazing in the wood finish. The cab is built like a tank and is very heavy and very deep, which gets good bass. I e-mailed a very well known & respected amp maker from TX about this amp. He stated he thought they were the most bang for the buck. However, he recommended upgrading the power resistors.

I called to get a manual and owen calimed they didn't have any. I wasn't impressed by him at all. He came across as someone who wasn't really interested in helping me out. I think the warranty is a year. However, i would find a well known amp tech and let them fix any thing that should go wrong. It's a very simply laid out amp. I don't think a good tech would have any trouble fixing one of these.

I've been playing for 13 yrs. If it were lost or stolen I would probably by it again. There's nothing I hate about it. I do wish it had channel switching though. When i play an amp I look for responsiveness. This amp doesn't have the response of, say, a Matchless or Soldano, but for the price I don't think you can beat it. I compared it to a Soldano HR50 which had more string definition, but it was also 3x's as much. I chose this amp for its simplicity, variety of tones, and guitar friendliness. i would like to see metal jacks and a thicker gauged chassi. It would raise the price, but still worth it.

See above!

I play a Ibanez Blazer Costum.
Very good. I play Metal. I don't use the lead channel-distortion, but the low channel, with a KORG AX 30G.
The amp is very noisy at my Sovtek box, noisy enough for clubs.
It sounds well with fuzz, distortion and clean settings.
It distorts a bit at very high volumes.

I have bought the amplifier a couple of weeks ago only.

I haven't got any problems with it.

It's a great amp, for 330 DM ($US 180). Before you buy any expensive Marshall or something else, look at this amp.

Very few features, no reverb or effects loop. 2 inputs, 1 "low" and 1 "high", but these are not switchable; you're in high or you're in low.No complaints, though, as it is what it is.Hey, 30 years ago, all amps were this way, although reverb would be nice, but not really necessary I guess. There's a master volume and that's about it, but this itself doesn't make the amp undesirable.

There are basically 2 sounds: clean and high gain. Clean at moderate volumes sounds quite good when run through the Emminence speaker in the open-back cab which comes as part of my Blues Deluxe combo. Using both sc and hb pick-ups, this head sounds dull in the clean channel when used with a 2x12 closed cab w. Celestion 70W speakers. The difference is remarkable. Now, I say moderate volumes because as the master is turned up more than about 1/4, it becomes very and increasingly noisy. The pot may be one part of this problem but a good clean sound is possible for me only within these certain limitations regarding speaker/cab and limited volume. The speakers used has a great effect on the high gain channel as well. With the 2x12 Celestions, the high gain channel is practically unusable because the sound is just too distorted for practically anything I'd want to play. It sounds like a fuzz-tone with my LP. Through the single Emminince, though, this high channel sounds really good and very useful. This is the sound which people who buy this amp are actually after; sort of early Marshall. Again, the noise factor limits the volumes you'll want to try to achieve. Basically, you can get some good sounds out of it with several footnotes and limitations.

I don't trust it. Within the first week I had it, a plastic nut holding an input jack busted and I mentioned the pots. Its aggravating to have such nickle/dime parts used so that it degrades the entire product.

I put in calls twice to get some info and my calls were not returned. I decided that I didn't need to speak with them all that much anyway, but I came away with a chilly feeling.

I'd heard good things about these and the price was really right. I would not buy this amp again, however. You usually get what you pay for, more or less. These retail for TWICE what I and many others have paid, and I would absolutely recommend AGAINST buying one of these for in the $450 range. Forget it. Sure, there is some good in these, but I'd be willing to sell mine for what I paid for it. The low price is ultimately what is selling these amps IMO and I think that they're being overrated. Make sure you try it through the speakers which you plan to use it with.

This amp had everything I needed (at that point). For modern players I would give a -10 for a blues guy a 7 (no reverb or trem).

It was good strait out the box, like my old 6? bassman head (that I foolishly sold, sniff). On that I would give a 7-10 rating but I bought this baby to hot rod.

I would never use this amp without a back-up! The input jacks are just too flimsey. Then again an old one with up graded parts.....

never had deal with them

I would only buy a old one & I would also sugest the same to all my guitar playing brothers (& sisters). I bought mine thinking it would be the perfect vehicle for hot-rodding so the new p.c. board they used was a bummer. The second bummer was the jacks!!!! I am convinced those plastic jacks are the WORST jack known to all mankind. You could take one to a south american indian and even though they have never seen a jack let alone eletronic equipment (most of them) they could probably feel the cheese aura from the jack. Well,actually this isn't the real problem because half the people like their amps stock but you take a sucky jack & shitty pots (did I forget the pot also really suck) shock mount them to the board, and have it so you can't even up grade to better parts! AAAARGH! So my gutar bretheren take heed take heed and seek only the phenolic 50s , you will be much better off because of it. The End
P.S. Sovtek, If you're lisening the pots and jacks are fine and p.c. board too just leave space for those who like to up grade to better stuff and oh yeah dump the shock mount,it sucks hard.
P.S.S. rating: - googol for the new shit and maybee 10 for the much missed phenolic 50s

The features have been covered in previous reviews.

When I first got this amp, I had to try it out at low apartment-level volumes. It sounded very mediocre. Flabby and "farty" bass on some settings on my strat. Recently, though, I put in a set of Rio Grandes in my strat and I got to try this amp out in a very large room. The screamed! I loved it, lots of great-sounding bass and ballsy crunch. You really need to turn it up to get a good sound. I suppose that that's always the case, huh? The clean sounds on the low-gain input stayed pretty clean at most volumes, at least with a strat. Very quiet as well. At low volumes, the treble is sort of muffled. I don't know if this is inherent to all tube amps, as this is my first. I have not tried this amp out with a humbucker equipped guitar.

Seems very reliable.

The "manual" is cheesy. Just a paper with some basic guidelines, I think. but hey, what kind of a manual do you need for an amp this simple? The warranty is one year, I think.

For $275 new, this is a fantastic value. I don't know of any better head I could have gotten new at this price.