Unicord Stage 25

Made in the late '70's. Basically, it's a solid state copy of a '70's Fender Champ only with reverb. It has roughly the same dimensions; it even has silver trim around the grill cloth. Features are: single channel, 2 inputs, vol., tone, reverb and trem. Mine has an older 8" Jensen Special Design speaker, which I think contributes to it's warm tone. I play mainly at home, messin' with the Blues,and this amp does the trick. My other amps are a late '50's Magnatone Troubadour and a '71 Fender Musicmaster Bass converted to a Tweed mod. I bought this mainly to save wear and tear on my vintage amps. Tone on the fly.

I give it an 8 based on my experience with SS amps and having owned a coupla Fender Champs over the years. Although it'll never be a Champ, it comes pretty damn close. It has plenty of volume, and the trem is as good as the trem on a Vibro Champ I once owned;very warm and smooth. The reverb is SS but decent, but I use a Digitech Digiverb when playing at home. I'd use the amp's reverb only to eliminate a pedal as a convenience, for that rare instance when I play outside the house. Haven't cranked it loud enough to distort, but it sounds good with my Sparkle Drive. I play Strats and Teles mainly, and this amp suits them fine. Haven't tried it with humbuckers yet. It's pretty quiet and has an excellent clean tone with a Buesy OD with my Sparkle Drive.

Over 25 years old and still working. I've only had it a coupla weeks, but I think it'll probably be around for awhile.

Made in Japan for Unicord, Inc., Westbury NY. The company is long gone, but this amp is still around.

I've been playing half-assed for 15 years. Maybe someday I'll use my whole ass. I own 2 Strats, 1 Tele, a late '50's archtop with a HB, the above mentioned amps, a few OD's, Ibanez DL-10 delay, CB Wah and a Digitech Digiverb. It compares well with all the so-called tube emulation amps I've heard and comes close to the Champ sound. Not bad for late '70's solid state.