Washburn BD25R 108 Combo

I don't know how old it is or where it was made ... nor should I care though, as it's the sound that counts.

- Solid State
- Master Volume
- Treb, Mid & Bass Eq (good)
- Push-button overdrive (no gain control)
- Reverb (adjustable spring, I think? but not certain)
- 2 inputs (active & passive pups)
- 2 channels, with channel switch and volume control for each channel
- headphone jack (inoperative on mine though)

Has the basics that an amp like this should. I wish there was some sort of gain control ... the individual channel volumes are just volumes, not gain.

I have a mid 80's Peavey Patriot, and I play classic rock for fun and easy "moody" music to relax.

I think the overdrive is not bad, pretty crunchy, but not that buttoned down compressed kind of sound that a better amp has - and it's either on or off, no gain control. It stays pretty true no matter the volume, although I don't go above 6.

Clean is good, it seems to stay fairly true even as you bring the volume up to about 6, and it's nice with full reverb.

I have not played with the volume on full ... I'm 40 and am losing my hair. I'd just as soon keep my hearing.

I have not noticed any "susceptibility" to noise as a result of the environment, but there is more hum with overdrive on. It's fairly loud.

I keep the bass pretty much off, the mid at 6, and the treble full on - so it could be a bit muddy if you've got too much bass, and I suspect you'd experience a bit of rattle/vibration as well.

Seems VERY well built and dependable.

It is likely not loud enough for much gigging, but I would not hesitate to give it a try ... I know it wouldn't let me down.

The amp is so simple that it needs no service to continue on faithfully.

I asked for schematics and an owners manual, which they emailed promptly. They are pretty good.

That's the extent of my experience with customer service.

I have been playing about 2 years now, and have a Peavey Patriot, an older Yamaha dreadnaught, and a basic Yamaha Classical. I wanted a cat, but my wife says "No!", so I got a capo instead. I own no pedals.

I tend to do my homework and settle on under-rated equipment that is still the recording artists' secret (Peavey Patriot - awesome! Yamaha FG-160 - killer! Yamaha C40 - very good beginner classical).

I admit that I did relatively little homework on the amp though. It has good reviews here, with decent features, and the price was right, so I dove in. Luckily, I have not been disappointed.

If it was lost, I would have no hesitation in getting another, but at the same time it's a basic amp and so I might get something designed to do more ... maybe a Line Spider or other modelling amp.

It's realiable, fairly cool looking, and light but still pretty loud.

New , Made in China , 8" speaker(looks celestion like) 2 channels , fx loop , fotswitch input for channel switch. open back cab , reverb , hi/low inputs , metal grill. 25 watts , very compact. There is a more expensive Randall twin of this amp.

I use a tele. Very Quiet ,Chimey and bell like. This amp sounds great. I was a little reluctant to buy because it only had an 8" speaker. This amp has a big sound and it isnt noticable that it is an 8" speaker. I think this amp sounds much nicer than the fender frontman 25r. Its more compact , is clear , more tubelike , nicer sustain and an especially nicer reverb unit. Its quite wet sounding for a mall tank.I think the distortion is pretty good too although i would always use a pedal for this. It starts breaking up at around 3 , but at that point , its pretty loud.

This amp seems well thought out and build quality seem great.

I emailed washburn once and they got back to me the next day. I think this amp has a 3 yr warrantee , if Im right about that , thats great.

One of the best sounding practice amps ive ever heard. The rogue gold series 30 watt reverb amp is also very nice with a 10' speaker. For 107.00 , the washburn is cheaper and sounds much nicer IMO than the frontman 25r.

I have no idea when mine was made, probably says so in the small print someplace, but I can't read stuff that small. It was made in China though. It's a very versatile amp. I bought it to go along with the Washburn X-21 and X-22 Guitars I purchased. For the money, it's awesome. I play just about anything, write my own stuff. Kind of folk, electric folk, rockabilly, country, alternative country, classic rock and blues rock oriented. Has two channels, with a channel switch and can also be used with footswitch. Has a nice reverb and headphone jack. Has both high and low inputs. If you just want to practice quietly in the bedroom, use the low input. If you want to shake the house down, use the high cuz this thing if fucking lousd. It is a 25 watt amp, but more than loud enough to gig with and it doesn't lose its sound integrity. I use the amp in my bedroom or living room. It is very lightweight, so no problem moving it around. For the bucks, I think it is the best amp out there. Has in addition to what I mentioned, a volume control for clean channel and a separate one for dirty channel, these are really gain controls and it also has a master volume. Has three band eq and reverb.

I am using a Fender Standard Strat (MIM), with three single coils, Washburn X-21 with H-S-S configuration and a Washburn X-22 with 2 humbuckers. Very good amp for blues, especially if you turn the channel one volume all the way up....get a nice bluesy, vintage distortion just like the manual says. Great for country if you back off that gain one volume, use your bridge pickup and turn the master volume and reverb up a bit. Handles electric folk, grunge, classic rock, electric blues, jazz and hard rock very well. Don't buy it if you are a metalhead, this is not a heavy metal amp, and by that I mean it is not suited for Megadeath or Iron Maiden type stuff. Handles Sabbath, Deep Purple, Hendrix and Stones stuff very well and you can peg the Beatles classic sounds along with Buddy Holly and Steve Earle stuff extremely well. The amp is much quieter than my Fender Super Reverb and Marshal MG15RCD. Clean channel does distort to a nice bluesy distortion at higher volumes, which it is intended to do. Distortion can be brutal, but not Megadeath brutal. It's a nice distortion, more oriented towards the artists sounds I mentioned. Pegs Brian May queen stuff quite well also.

Built like a tank.

Never dealt with Washburn but the place where I bought it here in the Philippines are very cool and helpful.

Been playing my whole life. Have the stuff I have already mentioned and a bunch of Gibson and Epiphone acoustics and Acoustic Electrics. Even have a Washburn Classical Guitar. Compared it to the Marshall MG30RCD (which absolutely sucked) and the Fender Frontman 25R which is the noisiest amp I ever saw. Also compared it to the Peavy Bandit and VOX Pathfinder and they were good, liked their sounds, but went with the Washburn to match the guitars I bought.

This amp was made in China in 2003. It is a very versatile little amp and suits my music styles just fine. I play mostly southern rock, classic rock, blues rock, alternative country and once in awhile some hard rock, not really into metal, I consider AC/DC or Guns n Roses hard rock, and consider Metallica metal. Don't expect the Metallica sound but it will handle all the rest quite nicely. It is a 2 channel amp, clean and dirty. Has a channel switch along with a pushbutton overdrive button. Has a volume control for Channel 1 which is clean and volume control for channel 2 which is dirty. Also has a master volume control, so those other volume controls are actually just gain controls. The reverb is quite good and it has the three band eq, treble, mid and bass. I pretty much use all the features at one time or another. Has a high input and low input, which makes a real big difference, also has a headphone jack but no line in or line out. This little amp is fucking loud and the low input is plenty good for bedroom practice. Use the high input and it is loud enough to gig with. I use this one in the bedroom and living room, it is very light, but also very strong. Has plenty of power, 25 watts through an 8 inch speaker, and the 8 inch speaker handles the volume without rattling at all. It is solid state. Now, I don't know what is wrong with some of these fuckin peole that write these reviews. Of course, this amp does not compare with my Fender Super Reverb, but then we are comparing a 40 watt tube amp with 4 speakers that costs over $500 to a 25 watt solid state practice amp with one 8 inch speaker that costs a little over $100.00. Give me a fuckin break. For the money, this amp is outstanding, I have had a lot of amps in the 35 years I been playing guitar and for the money, this is the best one yet as far as practice amps or even a studio recording amp would be concerned. I can't give any amp a 10, so I will give it a 9 because it does everything it is supposed to do. I brought this amp for one reason. I learned a long time ago when I used to play Les Pauls through a Fender amp that Fender Amps were matched to Fender Guitars. I found this to be the case in most companies, so I purchased a Washburn X-21 Guitar and decided to get a Washburn amp with it, kind of feeling out things. Inexpensive but awesome guitar, inexpensive but awesome amp.

I have three electric guitars. I have a Fender Standard Stratocaster, made in Mexico, which I have upgraded and put Texas Special Pickups (3 single coils) on. I also have a Fender Standard Telecaster, also made in Mexico, which I have upgraded and put Vintage Noiseless pickups (dual stacked humbuckers) on. Finally, I have this Washburn X-21, which is a really cool guitar, especially for the money. It has a humbucker at the bridge and two single coils. The amp is only noisy on my Strat with the Texas Specials but then, it is also noisy on my super reverb. This little amp has a real good variety of tones. If you turn the clean channel volume all the way up and leave the master volume on about 2, you get a really cool a nice bluesy distortion. Hit the dirty channel and have everything at 12 oclock and you get perfect Keith Richards sound, regardless of which guitar I'm using. Turn the treble and bass all the way up, and the gain all the way up for the dirty channel and you get good hard rock sounds. On clean this is great for alternative country, especially since the bridge pickups of all three of my guitars have that nice twang to them. Clean channel gets a bluesy distortion at high volumes but it is a nice distorion. Not annoying at all. With the volume at 5, it is plenty loud enough and stays perfectly clean. The distortion is brutal. Push in the overdrive button, turn the dirty volume all the way up and leave the master volume on 2 and it is awesome distortion. Any louder will break the windows out of the house. I am most serious about how loud this fuckin amp is, but it retains it's integrety even at higher volumes. I disagree with the other reviewer. It is not a cheap sounding distortion nor is it tinny. It is vintage distortion and that is what I like. No, it is not a Megatdeath, Metallica, Creed, Marilyn Manson or Iron Maiden type amp, but I don't play that shit anyway. Very good for grunge rock though, stuff like Pearl Jam and Nirvana, which I do get into occasionally and also very good for punk. So basically if you play classic rock, southern rock, hard rock, blues, blues rock, jazz, country or alternative country, grunge rock or punk rock, then this amp will do you good. If you are a heavy metal head, stay away from it (and me too).

Built like a tank. I'd gig with it if I had to, but I do use my Fender Super Reverb for gigs. This is just my practice amp. Never broken down, but I have dropped it a couple of times, when I chose to mix beer, wine, tequilla, scotch and amp carryin at the same time.

Never dealt with Washburn. Heard a lot of good stuff about Washburn, which is why I bought this guitar and amp.

Been playing nearly 40 years, retired army living in the Philippines....hey, a military pension goes a long way here...I can live like a king. I have this amp I am reviewing, a Fender Super Reverb Amp, the Fender Stratocaster and Telecaster I mentioned earlier and two old Gibson Acoustic guitars. Love this little practice amp. Don't hate anything about it. Compared it with the Marshall equivalents and this won hands down.

2001 mode, Got 2 channels and a volume knob for each channel, and overdrive and a clean. Reverb, bass,treble and master knobs.

I am using the amp with a BC rich beast with EMG81s, and a KH602 with 2 emg81s. I am using a Metal zone MT2 as the distortion, because the overdrive on the amp completely sucks. The probelm with this amp is its only good clean. Otherwise for full blown metal and distortion the quality is rubbish. the quality gets even worse the louder you turn it.. it is a dam fuckin loud amp though!!. but thats it

Yeah its pretty strong..You could bash it against the wall, althought the amp makes alot of springy sounds... dunno what that is.. but kinda makes you think its broken.
Don't like the open back design, cos rain can get through and stuff. Its good if u want to hide stuff there though.

never dealt with washburn

This amp is extremely awful, in terms of sound quality. THere are some good points to it, such as the loudness and the strong outer body, but otherwise.. the soudn quality is shit with distortion and make emg81's seem not as good as they should be.
I admit.. the quality isn't bad for a clean sound, but when you turn it up to about a between a quarter and a half of its full volume, its extremely loud yet the quality is so bad.
Think i'll be buying a LINE6 spider amp next. their alot better.. or a Roland Cube

It comes with 2 channels can be both clean with individual volume and the 2nd channel can be distoted by the built in overdrive. It also have treble, mid and bass eq's and a master vol. knob and a reverb knob 2 inputs high and low and a headphone output. Effects loop at the back and channel switching for optional footswitch for the 2 channels..25w.. i gave it a 9 coz' it didn't have a speaker out but it's worth it..

Pretty clean and reverbish!! what i mean is the reverb can be too much! overdrive is cheap sounding, brittle sounding to me and the treble and mid eq's do it's job pretty well except for the bass knob, it doesnt get bassy even if i max the bass knob, but in distorted it s pretty loud coz' i use it with my art xreme pedal and bad horsie 2 and ernie ball vol. pedal.. with my fender guitars one strat with pure single coils and the other strat with H-s-H config with floyd rose 2..

It bounces back when you bump it to the walls it seems sturdy enough.. however i can hear the spring boings from the reverb device inside when you bump it to the walls.. i'm a little worried..

nope haven't deal with them yet..

Well, ican say that for a practice amp and for small gigs, this can do the job well, however don't depend on the drive in it coz' it definitely sucks!! reverb is fine but i dont here the bass in it even if i max it, but what the heck i already bought it..

2001 Washburn Bad Dog Combo Amp.

25 Watts, 8 inch Speaker, 2 Channels (Clean and Dirty) with an Overdrive Button on the Dirty Channel. Two Gain Controls (1 for each channel) and one Master Volume with Bass, Mid, Treble, and Reverb Controls. Hi and Low Input Jacks. A Headphone Output Jack. All of this is located on the front panel. Around back you have a Channel Switching Jack, and an Effects Loop. A Brushed Aluminum Circled Cut Metal Grill with Chrome Knobs and Reinforced Corner Joints makes this amp look as tough as it is strong. A simple Rubber Handle on top lays flat when not in use. Little Lights indicate when the power is on and which channel is in use. Washburn's Label is on the Grill.

I wish it had a Line Out feature and a Speaker Out feature and perhaps a 10' speaker. Due to its open back design, I was able to add my own Speaker Out Jack very easily.

This amp is extremely light and compact. It weights about 17 lbs. and is 14" wide, by 14" high, by 8" deep, with a 6 foot grounded Power Cord.

It is the same thing as a Randall RG25RXM.

I've played unplugged acoustic off and on for about 30 years, so I'm fairly new at using amplifiers. This review, of course, is then based on a certain about of inexperience in this area. But with that said....

For such a small amp, this thing can be really loud. I normally use it as a practice amp by plugging into the low input jack. In this position it can still be heard though out the whole house if I turn it way up. If I use the overdrive button the room will shake at high volumes, so I'm forced to keep the volume down at 2 which is still pretty loud when it's in overdrive. When I'm not using the overdrive mode, I set the volume around 4 to 5 depending on what I'm doing and get a nice decent volume level for practice.

The high input jack is just all the louder. I never use it for practice, but when I do I then need to turn the volume control down to around 1 to 2. I just don't use the overdrive when I'm using the high input jack because I value my hearing. Although I have never used the amp outside of the house, I'm more than confidant that it will fill a small to medium sized room for performing.

I bought this amp to go with my Oscar Schmidt OE-30 (a 335 clone). I normally play clean using the clean channel, with the gain set to 3 or 6 depending on what I'm playing. Setting 6 seems to be pretty good for clean Blues. I always use the reverb but I set it at 1.5 and never go higher than 2. Anything higher than that just seems to be too much for my taste. I also run a Signal-Flex SF-10C Stereo Chorus Pedal through the effects loop which I use to achieve other sounds that I want. Everything is crystal clear at all levels and all controls operate smoothly throughout their range.

I almost never use the dirty channel unless I sometimes plug in my 12 string acoustic through the high input jack. I know it's not an acoustic amp, but I can get a decent sound from it though this channel. I also occasionally like to play with some distortion. In order to get any distortion at all, I need to use the overdrive button, but otherwise it distorts very nicely, from full (with the guitar volume up high), right down to a nice clean sound (when the guitar volume is set to low). The dirty channel seems to cut some of the highs and lows out of the music signal, but I'm told that is normal for that type of channel. I'm sure over time I will have a need to use this channel more and more.

I've been using this amp for about 9 months now and have not experienced any problems with it. It, however, never leaves my bedroom so I haven't had a chance to drop it or to do anything else that might compromise its reliability. It does seem to be very sturdily built and nothing has shaken loose. It has never quit on me but then again, I've never driven it hard for more than a half hour or so at a time.

One small problem I remember having with it though, was a small decorative sleeve from the input jack fell off one day when I unplugged the jack. I simply shoved it back in and it has been fine ever since then.

I have no reason not to rely on this amp should I ever need to play publicly.

My dealer is an authorized dealer for Washburn/Oscar Schmidt and I trust him for any and all repairs. The warranty I believe is a limited 5 year warranty to the original owner. My own dealings with Washburn's customer service department has been very pleasant in the past and they usually answer my e-mail questions on different subjects about their products. I so far have been very pleased with them and I hope they keep up the good work.

List price is $179.00. I paid $129.00 form Chepachet Music, Chepachet, Rhode Island.

This amp is very light, very loud, and is so much more than just a practice amp. It has a wide range of control without being overly complicated or busy and everything is neatly and logical laid out. The sound is clear, full, and loud. It's easy to transport and takes up very little room. I believe it's strong enough to effectively drive a 10" speaker but maybe not a 12". But that would then require a larger cabinet, more weight and a higher price. I do wish it had come with a more detailed list of suggested setting to have given me a better clue as to what I was doing. But experience is the better teacher.

Overall, this is one great, little, inexpensive amp!