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Monoprice 15w Tube Amp with 12" Celestion and Spring Reverb


mihcmac

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I have had my eye on that rig, truth be told. 

But, in the end, I have too many amps as it is, and my gear addiction isn't to the point where I need it in my harem. 

It seems well-reviewed enough, save for the spring reverb function. 
I recall that some owners report that it doesn't sound all that great. (The spring reverb, that is.)

If they had offered something like that when I was first starting out though....
😌
 

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I bought this amp about 2 weeks ago and love it. I haven't had a lot of time with it yet but I plan on getting to know it better this weekend but, so far, I have no complaints. It's a lot of amp for the money and the effects loop is nice to have. As you know, a tube amp is all about the tubes. This one comes with generic no-name Chinese tubes. They don't sound bad at all but a friend, who knows more about amps than anyone I know, recommended I do this to it.

" I would keep the speaker, but change out the preamp tubes. JJ ECC83s Gold pin for v1, standard jjs for v2 and v3. The tubes are the amplifier. The rest of the parts are just there to make them work. The quality of your tubes =the quality of the amp. V1 makes the most difference. A NOS in v1 can make a startling difference in the flavor of your tone. A Telefunken will be clean and articulate. An Amperex Bugle Boy will have a minor rock flavor. An old EI smooth plate from Yugoslavia has a full on Stones edge.
A longer reverb tank would sound lusher than the short one. I tried to install a long tank in a BJR, but it was 1/2 " too long. Tin snips on the sheet metal at the ends took care of that and it fits and sounds excellent.
"

So I'm going to decide this weekend if I'll change the preamp tubes or not. I most likely will. The reverb tank really isn't bad so I'll let it be for now.

I recommend this amp. It sounds close to a Blues Jr but it is way cheaper and has an effects loop. It really is very cool.

Edited by Marky Forrest
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At only 15 watts is there much head room for clean tones before it starts to break up?  Is it a bedroom practice only amp?  Or can it stand up to a drummer in a band rehearsal session?  Looks to have some good features for the price, but wondering about it's usefulness.

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12 hours ago, sparquelito said:

I have had my eye on that rig, truth be told. 

But, in the end, I have too many amps as it is, and my gear addiction isn't to the point where I need it in my harem. 

It seems well-reviewed enough, save for the spring reverb function. 
I recall that some owners report that it doesn't sound all that great. (The spring reverb, that is.)

If they had offered something like that when I was first starting out though....
😌

 

7 hours ago, Marky Forrest said:

I bought this amp about 2 weeks ago and love it. I haven't had a lot of time with it yet but I plan on getting to know it better this weekend but, so far, I have no complaints. It's a lot of amp for the money and the effects loop is nice to have. As you know, a tube amp is all about the tubes. This one comes with generic no-name Chinese tubes. They don't sound bad at all but a friend, who knows more about amps than anyone I know, recommended I do this to it.

" I would keep the speaker, but change out the preamp tubes. JJ ECC83s Gold pin for v1, standard jjs for v2 and v3. The tubes are the amplifier. The rest of the parts are just there to make them work. The quality of your tubes =the quality of the amp. V1 makes the most difference. A NOS in v1 can make a startling difference in the flavor of your tone. A Telefunken will be clean and articulate. An Amperex Bugle Boy will have a minor rock flavor. An old EI smooth plate from Yugoslavia has a full on Stones edge.
A longer reverb tank would sound lusher than the short one. I tried to install a long tank in a BJR, but it was 1/2 " too long. Tin snips on the sheet metal at the ends took care of that and it fits and sounds excellent.
"

So I'm going to decide this weekend if I'll change the preamp tubes or not. I most likely will. The reverb tank really isn't bad so I'll let it be for now.

I recommend this amp. It sounds close to a Blues Jr but it is way cheaper and has an effects loop. It really is very cool.

Thanks for your comments, I was hesitant to post about it because of the Chinese stigma, but note that the Tubes are the Amp and there are only a few places that make tubes like Russia, China and I think somewhere in Slovakia. Note many have said the sound improves after the tubes have cooked for a while.

I have been watching the reviews with several pointing at the Blues Jr for comparison, which also has a spring reverb that can be barely turned on.

Having come up in the tube amp era, when tubes started having problems, solid state with noise gates were welcomed. But inharmonic distortion became very undesirable, then digital amp models using lots of power to push through being filtered to get closer.

I have been listening to these demos with a good sound system, or good headphones, what I hear sounds really good. One thing I listen for is how much noise slips through when they stop playing or switchover, so far not too bad. The Jr may get a few sparkly highs that may not be there on the Stage Right, but since I use P90s I don't think that will be a problem. 

Anyway I ordered one that should be here tomorrow.

Also their is a new 30w model coming soon. Separately the head is $449.99 and the 1X12 cabinet is $199.99. If bought together the package is $599.99...

6118301.jpg

  

Edited by mihcmac
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38 minutes ago, Twang Gang said:

At only 15 watts is there much head room for clean tones before it starts to break up?  Is it a bedroom practice only amp?  Or can it stand up to a drummer in a band rehearsal session?  Looks to have some good features for the price, but wondering about it's usefulness.

Most report that its great for home and practicing with a band, but playing out you may need to mic it. Note the Blues Jr is also 15w.

Edited by mihcmac
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5 hours ago, mihcmac said:

I have been listening to these demos with a good sound system, or good headphones, what I hear sounds really good. One thing I listen for is how much noise slips through when they stop playing or switchover, so far not too bad. The Jr may get a few sparkly highs that may not be there on the Stage Right, but since I use P90s I don't think that will be a problem. 

Anyway I ordered one that should be here tomorrow.

Congratulations! I think you'll be happy with it. Did you get it for $199.99? I paid $249.99 just 2 weeks ago. They are having a sale on them now.

https://www.monoprice.com/Product?p_id=611815

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4 minutes ago, Marky Forrest said:

Congratulations! I think you'll be happy with it. Did you get it for $199.99? I paid $249.99 just 2 weeks ago. They are having a sale on them now.

https://www.monoprice.com/Product?p_id=611815

I paid 249.99 off of eBay with free shipping to Hawaii a few days ago, should be here tomorrow.

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5 hours ago, Twang Gang said:

At only 15 watts is there much head room for clean tones before it starts to break up?  Is it a bedroom practice only amp?  Or can it stand up to a drummer in a band rehearsal session?  Looks to have some good features for the price, but wondering about it's usefulness.

Like mihcmac said the BJR is also 15w. My limited experience with the Stage Right is that it is very loud. Loud enough to gig with in a small venue. At home, I have it set on 5w and 2 to 3 on the volume and gain and it's really loud.

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I can recommend this amp as being one of the best recording amps I have ever used. It is perfect and sounds good. I do use a rocktron chameleon processor between my guitar and this amp.   I think that combination to enhance the tones are great for studio work. best bang for the buck amp out there.

 

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8 hours ago, mihcmac said:

It got delayed, but its on the island, so I will get it Monday.

Sorry to hear that but the anticipation will make it that much sweeter when it arrives. I can't wait to hear how you like.

At least you have the Super Bowl to watch and take your mind off it. 🙂

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On 2/2/2020 at 3:34 AM, Marky Forrest said:

Sorry to hear that but the anticipation will make it that much sweeter when it arrives. I can't wait to hear how you like.

At least you have the Super Bowl to watch and take your mind off it. 🙂

Should be here in a little while..

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On 2/2/2020 at 3:34 AM, Marky Forrest said:

 Sorry to hear that but the anticipation will make it that much sweeter when it arrives. I can't wait to hear how you like.

At least you have the Super Bowl to watch and take your mind off it. 🙂

On 2/1/2020 at 8:35 PM, Roxx said:

I can recommend this amp as being one of the best recording amps I have ever used. It is perfect and sounds good. I do use a rocktron chameleon processor between my guitar and this amp.   I think that combination to enhance the tones are great for studio work. best bang for the buck amp out there.

My SR15 (Stage Right 15w) came in a few hours ago, can't stop playing. It sounds great, very adjustable /controllable, looks a lot better than I expected... Can get a Deluxe Jr type sound. I played a lot of different tube amps over the last few weeks, the best sounding was a used Rivera that would have cost me about 3X what the SR did. I really like the way it sounds, its very easy to dial-in the right amount of presence for my pedals. Well I'm gonna go play it some more.....

The MonoPrice SR15 is on sale again for $199.99

Edited by mihcmac
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10 hours ago, mihcmac said:

My SR15 (Stage Right 15w) came in a few hours ago, can't stop playing. It sounds great, very adjustable /controllable, looks a lot better than I expected... Can get a Deluxe Jr type sound. I played a lot of different tube amps over the last few weeks, the best sounding was a used Rivera that would have cost me about 3X what the SR did. I really like the way it sounds, its very easy to dial-in the right amount of presence for my pedals. Well I'm gonna go play it some more.....

The MonoPrice SR15 is on sale again for $199.99

Congratulations, I'm glad you like it! I really like mine too. I played it a lot over the weekend and dialed in a nice tone with some chorus, delay and reverb using the bridge p-up (57). It's a very cool amp.

KgciXGJ.gif

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8 hours ago, Marky Forrest said:

Congratulations, I'm glad you like it! I really like mine too. I played it a lot over the weekend and dialed in a nice tone with some chorus, delay and reverb using the bridge p-up (57). It's a very cool amp.

KgciXGJ.gif

At the end of the day I was pleased to be able to dial in a good low volume tone with high sparkle and lows, using my SG with GFS Mean 90's. Looks like its time to put my Deluxe 900, never good at low volume, out to pasture...

Edited by mihcmac
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On 1/31/2020 at 7:26 AM, Twang Gang said:

At only 15 watts is there much head room for clean tones before it starts to break up?  Is it a bedroom practice only amp?  Or can it stand up to a drummer in a band rehearsal session?  Looks to have some good features for the price, but wondering about it's usefulness.

With the Gain on 2 1/2 I took the Volume up to 8, clean sounded very good with a little edge from the Gain. Then I stepped on an OD in my R5 and it just screamed without breaking up.

It should handle anything a Blues Jr can like a bar or small club.  Also with 1 watt selection you can tweak it down to bedroom level.  

So between 0 and 3 the Gain acts kind of like a presence control, up from there it starts to drive but 10 is a really good tube OD.

Tone is very adaptable with 4 controls a Tone control and individual Bass + Mid + Treble controls.

The spring reverb, like the Blues Jr very usable up to about 2, when very minor slap-back may appear.

I still have only a few hours working with this amp, so far every thing is better than I expected.

[thumbup]

Edited by mihcmac
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