Univox U65RN

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This is a '69, which oddly enough came with a 12" speaker, rather than the 15s the early ones tended to have--but that's probably not a bad thing. Nice black tolex, very cool vintage-y Univox logo badge on the front, it's kind of a looker in a 60's combo kinda way. Otherwise, the other reviews cover the features well, I think, so I won't go into detail. It's a very nicely equipped little budget combo. Nice to have three inputs, BTW--it's fun to jumper them.

Note: Mine had a torn stock speaker, which I repaired and eventually replaced with a 30W Sunn 12" that was collecting dust. However, I had another Uni around with the same speaker in it, so this review is written with a good stock speaker installed. Just keep in mind that the Sunn really makes this little amp shine.

Surprisingly good for what it is, and again, a far better value than your average modern-day starter pack. It certainly is fun to play.

I've played it with an Am Std Strat, an LP Std, a Variax, and a Sheraton II archtop. Though I'm primarily a tube-type, I've played several current SS amps, including many from the Peavey Transtube line, that sing pretty doggone good. I also use fair variety of digital gear, including a CyberTwin. So I get around the block a bit, technology-wise, but IMHO tubes simply do things SS, especially older SS, can't do.

So, biases considered--This is an early Solid State amp, and though it's one of the better sounding SS circuits from the era, it still has the usual SS drawbacks. Specifically, when driven, it isn't nearly as tolerant of big chords as it's tube brethren, because of the odd-order harmonics SS saturation is known for,and power chords can be kind of mushy. (Also, it doesn't have much of a sweet spot--you're either in the dirt or out of it.) Fortunately, because IMHO the overdrive doesn't get much beyond a good stout crunch, you won't find that a major problem. Stick a boost or a comp in front--uglier story if you chord, but fun to play single-string leads if you don't distort it to death. But all critique considered, it's one of the better-sounding SS amps to come out of the era.

On the clean side, I must agree with the other reviewers here, it has a surprisingly pleasant, warm, jazzy tone with a nice tight low end and pretty respectable presence. Very pretty.

Dimed and jumpered, it gets no dirtier than a good crunch as I said above, and it does that remarkably well, remaining comfortable to listen to, and decently musical, if lacking in feel. However, as SS tends to do, clarity starts to suffer a bit for any chord bigger than double-stop. But for 60s-70s rock, (not so much blues) it's right in character.

BTW, I must respectfully disagree with my fellow reviewers--I don't think it's all that loud, definitely not enough to stand alone at a gig. But I also think that's a very good feature--your FOH will thank you for keeping the stage volume controllable, and you can always mic an amp if you want big loud. So dimed and crunchy, this thing is a kick to play and it won't frighten the neighbors.

But truly driven--you're asking it to do something that isn't in it. It gets screechy ugly and terribly indistinct. It can get difficult to tell if the guitar is in tune even at medium drive levels. And the sustain is something you'd rather didn't last so long.

As for the reverb--it's a real spring reverb, but it's very metallic and can be quite noisy. The tremolo--no rate control, so not very useful either. But then IMHO this amp shines best without a lot of FX hung on it anyway.

So soundwise, within its limits--it's SS and it doesn't like heavy drive--the U65RN is what you'd expect from Univox. It's got a really wonderful, stout tone, lots of depth, and a terrific little crunch to it. With a better speaker, it's that great Univox tone on steroids.

Reliability-wise I wouldn't be afraid to gig with it. (But any amp should have a back-up, IMO.)

The cabinet construction is pretty stout, so it should transport well. The pots tend to twist on their mounts, but you can fix that. The soldering varies from good to atrocious, so a little TLC might be in order there, too.

Overall, at this price point, this is a pretty well-built amp. A ding for the soldering, but otherwise very good for a budget rig, and certainly far, far better than today's starter packs.

Univox--gone. Darn.

I've been playing since the mid-seventies, and the material has run a very broad gamut.

For the rookie player, the U65RN beats the daylights out of the "starter" amps in the budget packs you see all over the place these days, and it's far less costly. It even beats the name-brand offerings a click or two up the price ladder. So skip the packs, get a reputable starter guitar, and plug it into one of these--you'll be way ahead.

If you're beyond beginner, and you want an affordable Solid State amp with great tone, this is certainly worth a look. Though if I had my druthers I'd go with a Peavey Bandit 1x12 or the like, you'll spend a lot more for those than you will for one of these Univoxes. Besides, this amp has a surprising depth and body to the sound, and that wonderful trademark Univox clarity, along with a remarkably pleasant crunch, in a loud-but-civil package. A very pretty voice in a staunch cabinet, this amp is lots of fun to play.

Advanced players? Unless you're in it for the history, I'd say this is definitely try-before-you-buy. But be prepared to be surprised--the U65RN is an awful lot of Solid State tone for the buck. And it's a cool little piece of history to boot.

Not many. 12" speaker, not a lot of watts, volume, tone, reverb, built-in trem. Simple and foolproof.

It's a very clean sounding amp...I like it for recording funk, blues, jazz and country stuff. It's actually quite punchy and clear. With the volume on 10, you get this nice natural overdrive, very crunchy without much gain. It's also not really loud, so it's comfortable to play on 10. The reverb is a little weird, but it adds depth, and the tremolo is a perfect surf sound. IMO the speed doesn't go slow enough.

From the 70's, I guess, and it's still kickin loud with the original speaker. i got it out of the trunk of a car in a junkyard, so who knows what it's been through. I haven't gigged with it, because it's not really loud, but it's probably do fine because it's so simple.

A solid, good, clean amp.

not really sure the year the logo is in the bottom right
only one channel .. 3 inputs(organ,guitar,and mic)
has decent reverb and a cool trem thing

played a few guitars on it strats , gibsons has a realy nice clean sound as long as the volume isnt past 9

i took it apart to see if it was powered by tubes didnt break.. and its pretty old and hasnt fallen apart yet

i dont even think univox is stilll around

been playing awhile have a gibson sg and pual , fender fat strat, and a schecter.. i doubt id be able to find another if it were lost so i guess the amp is decent in all but for one sound its awsome

First, this is NOT a 65-Watt amp. The website "The Univox Page", http://univox.org/, lists 15W and 17W versions. Mine is a mid-70's (guess) transistorized version that says "50WATTS" on the label (I don't know where all that power is going - there are no filaments!). The best features are: 12" speaker, spring reverb, tremolo, value, and light weight. It makes a great practice amp, but I would gig with it in small venues.

I use it with a solid body h-s-s and a flat top acoustic w/soundhole pickup. I like rock & roll, blues, folk, country. In the 50's, I played a Harmony archtop w/floating pickup through a homebrew Tremolux (tube) amp; this amp (esp. with some tremolo dialed in) is surprisingly reminiscent of that warm tube sound. I have a Digitech RP2000, but probably won't use it with it: why change a great sound?
The spring reverb (Hammond?) is noisy (a.c. hum) when cranked up, but this seems to be a common reverb characteristic.
This amp does not seem to distort even at max volume, and that is very loud (compared to my Kramer 22W s-s amp/10" spkr). So, who knows what the wattage it is?

As a used amp, it needed some TLC: CAIG clean/lube (www.caig.com/) for the controls and jacks, numerous small Tolex dings/tears/wear spots, missing knob, general cleaning. I would never gig without a backup - I actually authored some of Murphy's Laws. It's solid-state, old/heavy/two-sided PCB, with quality wiring/soldering, so there's not much to worry about. It's had no obvious repairs and it's still crankin' on after 25+ years.
That's a 10 in my book.

N/A

I played for about a year in 1957-58. I built the Tremolux from a schematic that Fender sent me (I was in a band with my $32 pawnshop guitar and no money) and put the chassis in a suitcase blank with a cheapo 12" speaker). I used it for small local gigs and also as part of my high-school term paper on "Electronics." I just bought two guitars and amps in the last year and started practicing (after 43 years) and I really love the sound of the U65RN.
If it was lost/broken/disappeared-in-a-blue-flame/stolen, I would replace it.
Considering what it is, price paid, value, cost to duplicate with another amp, and all of the above: I give it a 10.

Same as other posts

I use this with a Danelectro U256. The combination makes for a great 50s-60s creamy reverb. The tremolo is also really cool!

Never gig with it, no problems, though I did install an Eminence 12" speaker.

N/A

I've played bigger and 'better' amps, but the tone in this Univox is really unique. I've played for 15 years. If it were stolen, I'd look around for another one on Ebay.

I'm guessing this amp was made in the mid 70's? It's really loud for how small and crapy it looks. I borrowed it from my nieghbor, I would really love to buy it and fix it up a bit, but he's a punk and won't sell it. It's a really sweet amp for how much it's worth. It has pretty weak features, but it is a good sounding amp.

I play sometimes with my E-bow, and it gets super loud with a great natural overdrive. I have a 78' Ibanez Les Paul (law suit era), and it's been taken care of, good guitar. The amp on the other hand looks like crap, and has been through crap. There's chicken wire and duct tape over the back part of the amp. I have no idea why.

Since it's not really MY amp, one day at practice, I played for about an hour with volume at 10 on both the amp and my guitar. It began to cut out and crackle, when i was done laughing, I turned the amp to 8 and it stopped. So whatever that is??

The customer support in my neighbors garage is pretty crappy.

I've been playing for about 3 years. I used to play bass, until my a really good friend of mine smashed the crap out of my finger with a sledge hammer. I had 6 stitches on the tip of my middle finger on my right hand. Permanent nerve damage, I can't play bass with my fingers anymore. So i have a bass amp it's a crate BRX40 or something, it's a 100w combo w/ 1x12. I hate it so much. It's a really crappy bass amp, my guitar sounds better through it than my bass.
If you run into an amp like the Univox, get it...it's sweet. stay away from crate!!

I'm not positive but I am fairly sure that these amps date back to the early/mid 70's. As far as overall features go, this amp is lacking. It has a guitar in jack, a mic in jack and an organ (believe it or not). Other then that, there's not much here - a volume knob, a tone knob, a reverb knob and two knobs to control the built in tremlo effect (which is great). As far as overall eqing goes, there's really not much you can change. What I have done to combat this and (warm up the sound) is place an ART Tube MP in front of the amp and set it for just a little bit of OD. Sounds great to me.

Simply put, this amp is good at one thing and one thing only - that ultrabright, 60's type of jangle (which I love). I plug my Danelectro 12 into the MP and then into the U65Rn and I'm suddenly back in the 60's. Sounds a lot like the first chord in "A Hard Day's Night." I also use this with my Strat and that doesn't sound bad either.

This amp was literally pulled out of a dumpster after it had been rained on for two days straight. After letting it dry out for about a week, I plugged it in and it worked great. In fact, the speaker had been worn in so well that it had a nice "Kinks" tone to it; but I couldn't play clean at high volumes so I threw in a cheap 12 inch speaker.

Really, what could go wrong with this thing? It's a solid state amp! I am planning on having it modified by adding a jack for an external speaker cab.

As they aren't in business anymore, they could be tough to reach.

I have been playing for about 15 years. My main guitar/amp setup is a Fender Start into a Sovtek 50 watt head driving two tens. It has a nice Lemonheads-y tone to it; not to much distortion, but definitely not clean. I recently added a 12-string to my guitar lineup, and as a result i needed a second amp handy (that would sound right with the 12). This was just lying around and it made more sense then spending $500 on a Fender Hot Rod Deluxe. It works for now, and when it goes, I'll get the Deluxe.

But I can honestly say, this is the best free amp I have ever owned. Great 60's twang and also good for college/indie rock. Metal heads need not apply.

ilove the unique sound of a 60s vibrato with my boss ds1 distortion. i mainly use it with my harmony v666t flying v. a nice 65 watt amp. i picked it up for only about $20 from my drummer.

it's avery loud amp. great viberato

oh, yeah. i have a celestion vintage 30 in it instead of the stock. i reccomend this setting. i've only used it for 2 weeks, and there's no problem with it.

they're aren't in existance anymore. i'd expect it'd be great though.

i've been playing for 3 years, and it's the next best thing to my marshall vs100r!!!!!!!