40 Watt Guitar Amp For Sale (2024 Update)

Every guitar player on God's green earth should have one. The different tones offered with the app inspire you to play differently. It allows you to play along with the songs you love, and download the tone. It also tells you the chord progression to the song. It's an amazing Amp, and if nothing else the GREATEST speaker in the world. I could absolutely ruin my neighborhoods night with the most absurdly clear version of my favorite songs. But I could Also practice at midnight with out waking up my roommates using my headphones.
Amazing tones made by professionals. If you care about being a musician… you need this Amp. This Amp was recommended to me by John Moyer… of disturbed.Teryn Surratt

As a practice amp, you will soon lose interest if the tone is thin, boxy and generally sounds like crap. The Spark is none of this. An incredibly wide range of tones are available via the app with sounds that you just don't expect to come from such a small package. The sound is loud, rich without the boxiness that you seem to get with amps loaded with small speakers. If you've used PG's Bias software, you'll be in very familiar territory – great emulations that have a depth that rivals some of the serious modelers available now. The effects, while not giving you a massive selection, supplies pretty well every type of effect you would ever need. The reverbs and delays are particularly good and while more than good enough for noodling at home, are more than up to the task of recording. The unit is quite sturdy with a timber cabinet and looks great – very traditional with an "English" type of styling. Using the Spark as a Bluetooth player for music is more than up to the task – good bass, clean mids and treble and loads of volume. The app overall is very good with some truly inspiring practice opportunities, though the function where the app analyses your playing and constructs a suitable backing track is hit and miss and is probably the weakest part of the app. Bluetooth connection for both control functions and audio playback is stable and very quick to pair with your device. Overall, I don't think you will find and amp sounding this good with the flexibility and functions available, from anywhere else and that is before taking into consideration, the extra functions the app gives you.Mick G.

I bought this amp on the back of all the rave reviews on YouTube etc. For me, it's just not a finished product yet. It feels very "beta". The hardware seems robust and of good quality. The modelled sounds are very good, albeit very bass heavy. But most of that can be EQ'd out. There are several problems I couldn't live with, and had to sell it on. The hum problem which is due to the supplied, un-earthed PSU was very apparent in my example. I contacted Positive Grid support about the issue in December 20, and as of selling the amp at the start of March 21, I had not yet received the replacement PSU. There are temporary workarounds, but I wanted the problem sorted permanently. As said above, the sound is very bass heavy. The amp models' EQ can be used to deal with the guitar tone, but music playback through the unit via Bluetooth has no EQ control, so the sound quality is very poor. In addition to this, the playback level is far too high. When using as a Bluetooth speaker it is very difficult to get the volume low enough using the tiny trim pot volume control for comfortable listening when sat in close proximity to the unit. The Auto Chords feature is a gimmick and needs serious work. It only works for E standard guitar tuning. For example, when listening to a song in dropped standard tuning such as "Yesterday" (guitar tuned down one whole step) Auto Chords will show fingerings for F, Em, A7 etc instead of the G,. F#m, B7 shapes that are required. At the very least, a "transpose" button is required to allow for dropped standard tunings that are very common. When using the tuner, you have to look at the lights on top of the amp. The app should have a screen that displays the tuner on your connected device when in use. The app metronome tempo can only be set by tap. It should have the ability for the user to enter the exact required BPM by inputting the figure required, or selecting the tempo with up and down or + and – controls. All of these niggles were too much for me to live with. Hopefully Positive Grid implement the changes in future releases, but I won't be buying Spark again until they do.Paul

I’m in love with the way my telecaster sounds through this amp. Just pure beautiful tone. Pedal board all sounds amazing through it too. Especially delay + reverb. Have seen some reviews say it doesn’t take overdrive/distortion pedals too well but it sounds phenomenal to me with my Fulltone Full-drive 3 overdrive pedal. Perfect for the really dirty alt rock/pop punk tone I use sometimes. In fact, even the amp’s own much maligned distortion sounds pretty decent to me, although I probably will rarely, if ever, use it Only tried in my living room so far but it goes LOUD. I’m in no doubt that it will have more than enough volume for small/medium gigs in pubs/clubs etc. There’s a line out too if I ever need more and don’t have a spare mic. I had the volume on 2 and was still wary of disturbing the neighbours as it was quite loud. Anything above half way gets pretty deafening. Also feels really light which will be a plus for gigging.Doug E.

This JC40 is outstanding. It's so pure and brings out true guitar sounds and also makes any pedal/effect sound, sound just as it was intended to. These models are gems. And it's so loud it shakes my house I can't imagine how loud the 120 is. This is most definitely enough to play smaller to mid size shows. I couldn't be happier and they're was one problem in shipping but Sam Ash handled it immediately and professionally as expected. Always trust Sam Ash.Eduardo115

Beautiful, wonderful stereo chorus, what a wonderful clean tone for jazz, pop, blues and any other music where clean guitar tone is desired! Speakers do have a bit of breakup and cabinet rattle when turned up loud, past about 6. Distortion tone strange and not tube-like. Digital reverb OK. Stereo inputs and stereo effects loop are great! This amp loves stereo pedals! Sounds absolutely glorious with guitar fed into amp through a stereo effect such as a Boss Digital Delay or Neo Ventilator rotary speaker simulator, and just a touch of the amp's stereo chorus. The stereo chorus is addictive, just a bit of it sounds great and makes this amp well worth it! Enjoy, you'll love it!Dave M

Overall: This amplifier absolutely rocks! With so many options you can dial in any sound that you want, from crystal clear clean to roaring rhythms and screaming leads. As everyone has already said, the reverb is almost nonexistent. However, the amp, tubes and build are rock solid. BUT… if you really want to blow your mind, swap out the speaker with one that fits your style. My style is classic hard rock so after much research I swapped out the 70 watt Celestion V-Type speaker that it comes with for a 150 watt Eminence Swamp Thang and I swear that it sounds as loud and ballsy as my full-on DSL100 full stack with 1960 cabs. The difference is mind boggling. No fizz, no speaker distortion at all. Just a loud, clear representation of my sound. Obviously the Swamp Thang might not be your speaker of choice but do your research and this will be the only amp you will ever need again!Scott

Sound: With good tubes properly biased, yes. Features: One feature that I absolutely detest is the effects loop button. When it is activated the front of the amp ceases to operate and when deactivated, the front works but the effects loop deactivated. There's no reason for this feature to exist. Substantially limits what the user is able to do. Bad decision in the design. Ease of Use: Just need to fix the owners manual to include specifically how to bias the tubes. Value: At the time I bought it, it was around $800. So at that time, yes. Overall: It took me a while for this amp to grow on me as it sounded like crap out of the box. I replaced the stock speaker with a Celestion V30 and replaced the stock tubes with Ruby EL34STR and a 5751 in the PI as is my typical configuration. Still couldn't get an acceptable tone was fuzzy and grindy. Years later, I learned that you can self bias the amp. After reading forums, there is little info on how to bias the amp and nothing in the manual. I discovered the bias was at 31mv so I turned both to 40mv and HOLY SMOKES this was the tone I've been seeking all these years. Eureka, I found it and it's incredible now. Completely unacceptable that Marshall included zero information in the manual regarding this, which is a pretty important feature. Moreover, it's important that I explain how to bias this. When you place the multimeter leads in the ground and point, one point will give a reading and the other red test point will read zero, always. YOU WILL NOT BE USING THIS TEST POUNT AT ALL. Go back to the one that gives the reading and keep it in that test point and adjust the pot to 40mv. Then, keeping the multimeter lead in the same pot, turn the other bias adjust til they both read 40mv. Next onto the effects loop, there is a button to turn the effects loop on and off as you can not use both simultaneously like in other amps. What good is this feature? Worthless and is an absolute thorn in my side as I would like to use the midi to switch between both which is why I bought it, but can't. Now, the amp does sound good now that it's properly biased as well as replacing the stock speaker, but I lost years of good tone due to the lack of instruction in the instruction manual.Jonathan

Overall: This thing is awesome if you like that Marshall tone this amp is for you, it's really a 4 channel amp if you get the six way Marshall foot switch, if I had to nit pick this amp would be the reverb, don't get me wrong it sounds great and is useable for 90% of what you would need it for, but if your wanting that Gilmour type reverb you'll need to add a reverb pedal in the chain. Where this amp really shines and I discovered this on accident I was messing around with the effects loops and added an EP booster which I would normally run on the front in, and just WOW…adding the EP booster to the loop really opened it up, tamed some of the compression and evened out the gain while improving the tone, sounds more like a JCM800 at this point, I'm super impressed with this little amp and I have some really nice amps in my collection. Let me say I would totally gig with this amp without question. This fact that Marshall made it easy to change and bias tubes is a huge thumbs up as well. Other manufactures please take noteRick

This is a great amp! I had the 15 watt version a while ago so I already knew this would sound good, but with more power. At 40 watts of all tube power, this thing is a beast! Lots of headroom so you get a really nice bottom end out of it as well. I play a strat through it with 50's style pickups, so not a very high gain guitar. With the classic gain set to "crunch" and the gain turned to 12 o'clock, I get a nice warm dirty-clean sound with just a little light break-up. On the ultra gain channel, I keep it on "lead 1" to get that classic JCM800 type of sound. Lead 2 sounds pretty good and would be ideal for more modern tones. With a set of humbuckers, you could likely dial in a good metal tone there. Conversely, with the switch set to clean on the classic gain channel, you can easily dial in sparkling cleans if you don't like the dirty-clean sound. My only two complaints with the amp are that the reverb sounds weak, and for an amp that technically has four channels, the footswitch is only a two-way. The reverb probably wouldn't even be bad to me had I not just been playing a Fender amp with real spring reverb. That thing on 2 had more reverb than the Marshall on 10! But to me, that's not much of an issue. I actually kinda like that the reverb is there but not in your face about it. As far as the channels go, it would be nice to have a 4-way footswitch to use, or even a boost switch that works with both channels. Again, no biggie. I just dial in the sounds I like and use a tubescreamer to push the front end for solos. Some people complained about the speaker and that there's only one eq for both channels. I guess that's a preference thing and I'm sure other speakers might sound better depending on the sound you're looking for, but to me, this speaker sounds great! And as far as the eq goes, I don't really see a problem there either. I tend to set my eq somewhat flat with the bass and treble at 6 and middle at 7 so I'm not really relying on eq for my tone.Pifer

This is an awesome amp. I have played guitar for over 40 years and I have owned a bunch of amps. My last combo was a Rivera era Fender Princeton Reverb II. I sold it to buy a Marshall half stack. Although I love my UK made DSL50 half stack, I always regretted selling my Fender combo. I can honestly say I like the Marshal DSL40C better than the Princeton. The DSL40C is much more versatile, with great cleans and the best crunch around. The half power switch adds to the versatility, and actually takes a little of the hard edge off of the sound. Crunch channel at half power is creamy blues heaven. The Lead 1 / Lead 2 channels have all the gain you could ever need. I have read several reviews complaining about the stock speaker. I think it sounds fine. The Celestion 70/80 is the same speaker Fender uses in many of their newer amps. Are there better speakers available? Sure there are – but this speaker isn't as bad as many reviewers say it is. I have also read reviews complaining that the amp is too bright on the high gain channel. The original DSL series (which I own) share the EQ stack between the channels. This new DSL series is no different. In my opinion, its the biggest shortcoming of the DSL line. It is impossible to have a perfect EQ on both the Clean and Lead channels. When the Lead channel is dialed in with the right EQ, chances are the clean channel will be mellow and a little bassy sounding. That's how the DSL series has always been. I typically set the mid and bass at 5 and roll the Treble and Presence off to around 3. Tone Shift off, Bass boost off. The DSL40C has replaced the Bass Boost switch with a sweepable Resonance control which helps give it's open back single speaker a little more thump – similar to a 4 x 12 cab. My DSL50 has Accutronix spring reverb, my new DSL40C combo has digital reverb. I like the digital reverb of the DSL40C better. This is a great amp. I love it.Old Rocker Dude

It is a great amp. Very good sound and options for the price. It is not heavy which is a big deal to someone who has had back surgery. I gave it a 5 in spite of one big complaint. When you turn it off you hear a loud "POP!" Wow, is that loud is what I thought the first time I heard it. I read about it online and there is a simple fix. Find an old set of ear phones or ear buds that you would use on a cassette player or a Sony Walkman. (Yes, these are ancient electronic relics from the past for you younger people. You might ask your parents if they have a cassette player and borrow the ear plugs.) Just plug that earphone jack into the "PHONES" input BEFORE you turn it off. THEN you only hear a little blip when you turn it off. THEN just pull the jack out of the "PHONES" input before you start it next time.chasmigu

This amp is better than I thought. I've had it for over a year. I use it for practice sessions (classic rock mostly), and I haven't gone over '4 1/2' on the volume (it does give good feedback if you want it). I did upgrade the speaker to a 12" 'Celestion' Vintage 30 and am absolutely happy! This could easily be mic'd for larger venues. Lightweight, powerful enough, and the effects are a good assortment. One small glitch…when using the footswitch, there is a short, instantaneous volume boost when the pedal is pressed for distortion. Could possibly be a problem for recording. Besides that, 5 stars for me.Myk

After playing acoustic guitar for 15+ years and rarely plugging in, I finally decided to make the plunge and try out an electric. I was advised by a buddy to not buy too big, that 15W-20W would be plenty to practice with. So, I found this little Champion at Sam Ash, and so far it's been great! I bought the display model and have had no issues at all with it. Great sound, enough presets and effects to play around with, and sounds great clean too. Having a blast and loving it.Nate-O

I’m in love with the way my telecaster sounds through this amp. Just pure beautiful tone. Pedal board all sounds amazing through it too. Especially delay + reverb. Have seen some reviews say it doesn’t take overdrive/distortion pedals too well but it sounds phenomenal to me with my Fulltone Full-drive 3 overdrive pedal. Perfect for the really dirty alt rock/pop punk tone I use sometimes. In fact, even the amp’s own much maligned distortion sounds pretty decent to me, although I probably will rarely, if ever, use it Only tried in my living room so far but it goes LOUD. I’m in no doubt that it will have more than enough volume for small/medium gigs in pubs/clubs etc. There’s a line out too if I ever need more and don’t have a spare mic. I had the volume on 2 and was still wary of disturbing the neighbours as it was quite loud. Anything above half way gets pretty deafening. Also feels really light which will be a plus for gigging.Doug E.

This JC40 is outstanding. It's so pure and brings out true guitar sounds and also makes any pedal/effect sound, sound just as it was intended to. These models are gems. And it's so loud it shakes my house I can't imagine how loud the 120 is. This is most definitely enough to play smaller to mid size shows. I couldn't be happier and they're was one problem in shipping but Sam Ash handled it immediately and professionally as expected. Always trust Sam Ash.Eduardo115

Beautiful, wonderful stereo chorus, what a wonderful clean tone for jazz, pop, blues and any other music where clean guitar tone is desired! Speakers do have a bit of breakup and cabinet rattle when turned up loud, past about 6. Distortion tone strange and not tube-like. Digital reverb OK. Stereo inputs and stereo effects loop are great! This amp loves stereo pedals! Sounds absolutely glorious with guitar fed into amp through a stereo effect such as a Boss Digital Delay or Neo Ventilator rotary speaker simulator, and just a touch of the amp's stereo chorus. The stereo chorus is addictive, just a bit of it sounds great and makes this amp well worth it! Enjoy, you'll love it!Dave M

It dose as exspected & more. Very versitile with so many tone variations. You just need to sit down, take your time & work with the various chanels & the tone stack. Was very surprised at how this also takes pedals, but even more amazed at what this can do at low volume levels. It punches way above its weight/price.Reviewed by guitarguitar custome

Really happy with my DSL40CR amp- it’s a great upgrade to what I was playing with before and it sounds brilliant. The channels are voiced differently with varying amounts of gain and this makes it so adaptable to different musical styles. Unmistakable Marshall growl and then a roar when you crank it. The foot switch is fine for my needs – not particularly fussed about buying the 6-way pedal to have every channel on tap. It is a little heavy, but not much more than my previous amp that was loaded with a Vintage 30 speaker. No inbuilt fx, aside from reverb, but that’s not what it’s about- I use the fx loop with pedals and it’s all good. Quick delivery from PMT and the whole process was smooth from start to finish – thanks guys!!! 🤘🤘Ben B.

I have now had my Marshall DSL40c for over 2 years. I bought it over a Blackstar HT40, The amp puts out thundering bass and soaring treble and mids and lets you capture the true sound of rock and metal. Having said that it is not only a hard rock amp. It has great cleans and a huge range of tonal possibilities. The amp takes some time to settle in. There is an initial period in which the amp sounds a bit harsh and trebly and the treble needs to be rolled back quite a bit but after the initial running in period it really smooths out dramatically. Right now I would not swap it for another amp for any money. It is just perfect for me. That is not to say that the amp is perfect. It is not. The reverb is pretty useless but an effects loop allows a reverb pedal to be added after the distortion. In general this amp takes pedals really well. I run a zoom pd-01 and a rat and they both sound really amazing. The zoom lets me run the amp at very low volumes with decent tone. In case you are wondering I use both a Strat and a Tele. Overall I could not recommend it more.sandashami

I bought this amp for my granddaughter who is a young student of guitar. For the money this amplifier can't be beat! Quality sound and sturdy build! Everything works as it is supposed to. I'm completely satisfied. Exceeded my expectations in every category! I'm about to order another one for myself, for practicing, so I can leave my big, PRO performance amp stowed away. My highest recommendation!!rgwhitlock

I initially was pleased with the overall functionality of the amp. The features at this price range were great, and I liked the tones I was able to generate. However, within a day I started getting some weird rattling noises as well as buzzing. I'm guessing there were some wires crossed on the inside. I'm not great at fixing electronics so I returned it. I think this amp has potential, but if the manufacturer can't minimize these issues in the simple construction process, I'm not risking purchasing it again.Russell

This amp has great sound. I like the response of the EQ. I also like that its load! It looks nice and is durably constructed. I bought this to run a ZOOM multi-effects processor to the front-end clean channel. I am very happy so far with its perfomance. I would have no problem playing a small venue with just the amp. Larger venues as a monitor with Its ability to connect to a mixer >PA is just a bonus. I like that it has an effects loop for more options. This is a tremendous value at this price-point. I have nothing bad to say about this product. I will say,IF it had a 1/4in' footswitch jack I would have purchased the Monoprice footswitch as well. As is you have to use the button on the unit to change to the gain channel.(Not an issue for me) I enjoy the thump from my drum machine through this product! I would recommend this product.Thank you,Monoprice!David

This is a great amp! I had the 15 watt version a while ago so I already knew this would sound good, but with more power. At 40 watts of all tube power, this thing is a beast! Lots of headroom so you get a really nice bottom end out of it as well. I play a strat through it with 50's style pickups, so not a very high gain guitar. With the classic gain set to "crunch" and the gain turned to 12 o'clock, I get a nice warm dirty-clean sound with just a little light break-up. On the ultra gain channel, I keep it on "lead 1" to get that classic JCM800 type of sound. Lead 2 sounds pretty good and would be ideal for more modern tones. With a set of humbuckers, you could likely dial in a good metal tone there. Conversely, with the switch set to clean on the classic gain channel, you can easily dial in sparkling cleans if you don't like the dirty-clean sound. My only two complaints with the amp are that the reverb sounds weak, and for an amp that technically has four channels, the footswitch is only a two-way. The reverb probably wouldn't even be bad to me had I not just been playing a Fender amp with real spring reverb. That thing on 2 had more reverb than the Marshall on 10! But to me, that's not much of an issue. I actually kinda like that the reverb is there but not in your face about it. As far as the channels go, it would be nice to have a 4-way footswitch to use, or even a boost switch that works with both channels. Again, no biggie. I just dial in the sounds I like and use a tubescreamer to push the front end for solos. Some people complained about the speaker and that there's only one eq for both channels. I guess that's a preference thing and I'm sure other speakers might sound better depending on the sound you're looking for, but to me, this speaker sounds great! And as far as the eq goes, I don't really see a problem there either. I tend to set my eq somewhat flat with the bass and treble at 6 and middle at 7 so I'm not really relying on eq for my tone.Pifer

This is an awesome amp. I have played guitar for over 40 years and I have owned a bunch of amps. My last combo was a Rivera era Fender Princeton Reverb II. I sold it to buy a Marshall half stack. Although I love my UK made DSL50 half stack, I always regretted selling my Fender combo. I can honestly say I like the Marshal DSL40C better than the Princeton. The DSL40C is much more versatile, with great cleans and the best crunch around. The half power switch adds to the versatility, and actually takes a little of the hard edge off of the sound. Crunch channel at half power is creamy blues heaven. The Lead 1 / Lead 2 channels have all the gain you could ever need. I have read several reviews complaining about the stock speaker. I think it sounds fine. The Celestion 70/80 is the same speaker Fender uses in many of their newer amps. Are there better speakers available? Sure there are – but this speaker isn't as bad as many reviewers say it is. I have also read reviews complaining that the amp is too bright on the high gain channel. The original DSL series (which I own) share the EQ stack between the channels. This new DSL series is no different. In my opinion, its the biggest shortcoming of the DSL line. It is impossible to have a perfect EQ on both the Clean and Lead channels. When the Lead channel is dialed in with the right EQ, chances are the clean channel will be mellow and a little bassy sounding. That's how the DSL series has always been. I typically set the mid and bass at 5 and roll the Treble and Presence off to around 3. Tone Shift off, Bass boost off. The DSL40C has replaced the Bass Boost switch with a sweepable Resonance control which helps give it's open back single speaker a little more thump – similar to a 4 x 12 cab. My DSL50 has Accutronix spring reverb, my new DSL40C combo has digital reverb. I like the digital reverb of the DSL40C better. This is a great amp. I love it.Old Rocker Dude

Great sounding amp, full sound great cleans and crunch. Easy to use and has a great master volume so the amp can be used at home without a problem. #sweepstakesBryan

It is with a somewhat heavy heart that I write this review. I have largely used fender amps since the mid to late '60s, with a few deviations along the way- Sunn, GK, Marshall etc, but I always returned ' to the fold/fender.' I made the decision a year or two ago that if I wanted to keep playing out, I would need something that I could lug around a bit easier. 45 years of schlepping and humping gear has unfortunately taken its toll, and to continue means getting something smaller and lighter, but being self admittedly narrow minded and optionated, I did not want to make the slightest compromise in tone or usability. Enter Egnater. I was marginally familiar with the brand, and they were recommended to me by a colleague with much passion. After spending some time checking one out while my son lost himself in the magical world of various vocoders, I decided this was a serious contender. After putting in some overtime during the holidays I used the fruits of my labor to pick up the tweaker 40 head and matching 112x cabinet. This was absolutely the right choice for me. The number of usable tones at my fingertips, the portability, it's all there. Great headroom, plenty of sparkle on the high end if desired. I play in a classic rock cover band and this amp allows me to get close enough to classic tones that I doubt anyone will demand their money back because of the way the amp sounds. I love the versatility, and the shared eq and amp voicing does not bother me near as much as I was afraid it would. From dynamically responsive breakup to crunch and grind, its difficult to ask for any more at this price point. At he onset of my search, I was really wanting fender to make a deluxe reverb head, complete with reverb tank and tremolo (are you listening fender?) but dismissed that notion as fantasy. The lack of reverb and tremolo is not an issue due to the extremely usable efx loop, complete with line or instrument level options. Very nice. It takes pedals nicely and can handle all but death metal chores. Leaving fender behind after all these years for this amp is… Different. With a lesser amp I would care more, but make no mistake, this is a great variation on a tried and true circuit. Try it. Don't be afraid to listen to your ears.Oldenkrusty

Overall I'm very pleased with the amp, and I don't see any need for anything else! This amp will do everything I ask! There are only a couple downsides in my opinion. Both channels are exactly the same. I guess if you were playing only clean or distortion it would be nice to have the ability to set up two clean channels or distortion channels but I'd prefer one channel have a little more gain to really allow you to go from country all the way to metal. The EQ knobs are shared by both channels as well as the different amp model switch. I really like the Fender section for clean but marshall for crunch but I'm stuck picking one or the other and having to sacrifice. I'd like to see a seperate amp switch for each channel. Honestly it only takes a second to reach down and flip the switch but during a gig it's a pain. Seperate tone controls really aren't needed since you can seriously dial in your sound simply with the toggles. Realistically if you even eliminated the different amp models it would still be a fantastic amp and sound great compared to anything out there. And the name "Tweaker" totally fits, I find myself constantly trying new sounds and combinations of the toggles and knobs! I'm really having to nit pick to put this thing at only a 9 rating overall but it would have been nice if they put the amp model control seperate for each channel. This thing is louded with tones! I'm playing it through a marshall 4×12 cabinet. The mini-toggles really allow you to change the color of the amp, most of the time the actual EQ knobs are just for fine tuning. I'm playing Gibson Les Paul's with P90's and Humbuckers. The amp really won't dial in a bad tone, it's really amazing! The variety of clean tones you can get are great. I find myself mostly sticking with the fender setting for most of my cleans and the marshall model for my distortion. I mostly find a sound I like and stick with it but this amp is capable of many different sounds. What's nice is it will really sound different with different guitars. I like to find a good sound and leave it alone and you can really tailor it to your guitar. The distortion will do anything up to classic G&R stuff and 80's metal. You'll likely be dissappointed if you're looking for heavy metal and super gain. Although there is more than enough gain available look to something like a Jet City or Peavey 6505+ if you mostly play heavy stuff. I did find you can plug in an overdrive to push the amp near that territory but it's really not designed for heavy stuff. What this will do is simply everything from crystal clean sounds to hard rock and everything in between. It's plenty loud for any situation and still sounds great at bedroom levels as well! So far so good, I don't see any concerns. There's no humming or hiss when it's turned up. All the controls work great and there's no pops when flipping the switches. I'll have to see how it holds up in the long run but it's great so far! Value wise it's as good as anything in it's price range. It's nice to have two channels and comes with a solid footswitch that will toggle the effects loop as well. The power is more than enough for most gigs and practicing and it looks very nice compared to all the plain jane amps out there.Freddy-jXzod

This amp runs the gamut from standard clean to pushed clean to crunchy to fully saturated forever sustain. The distortion is fabulous. Responds nicely to volume knob changes and picking dynamics. It has a voicing that is familiar yet its own. The clean tone is also very usable so it can be the workhorse amp that does it all. The effects loop is great. The reverb is OK. It is loud. Even at ten watts you won't get past three on the volume dial to maintain bedroom / apartment levels. Bought it on a Sunday afternoon, played all afternoon and all night. Called in sick Monday morning and played all day. It's a keeper…Matt

Absolulty love this combo and have no complaints on sound what so ever. The only down side to this combo is it has NO HEADPHONE jack unlike the 50w version. Other than that Great.Peter

Sound: The EVH 5150 Iconic Combo sounds great. In my opinion, it does what it sets out to do. You can't go into it expecting it to be one of the Stealth Models – it's not that. It is a very straightforward and easy to use amplifier, and it will do pretty much whatever you need it to do. Features: It's versatility, and the built in noise gate and boost. All high gain amps should have a noise gate built into it in today's day and age. Ease of Use: It was super easy to get a great sound out of the the EVH 5150 Iconic Combo. I started with everything (except reverb and gate) set to noon, and plugged in and let her rip. I have to do a bit more tweaking with the clean channel, but this thing REALLY shines with the overdrive on. To me (much like the original 5150 from the 90s) that is where money is. The red channel is pretty good too. By itself, the red channel sits between the green channel with overdrive on and the red channel with burn – and tbh I prefer it with the burn button off. Cranking the gain will take away some of your playing dynamics, and on both channels I found that setting it between 11 and 1 'o clock was sufficient. Quality: The amp appears to be solidly built (I've only had it for four days, so time will tell) It's quite heavy, and looks good. The footswitch was quite a bit smaller than expected, but seems like it's ruggedly built with a long cable. Value: I think the EVH 5150 Iconic Combo is a great value for the price range it sits in. It would have been better at the $799 price, but hey – inflation is what it is. The Wow Factor: I mean, it's a 5150 – you are going to get what you pay for. I wish the overdrive on the green channel could be kicked on with a footswitch. Overall: I really enjoy this amp. It sounds much better than what I expected, and it's very straight forward to use. Straight plug and play – no boosts necessary 😀Aaron

It's honestly amazing, this was bought by a friend and it has amazing noise, I've had this for a while, can't count anymore, but it's all you want in an amp. There aren't special effects like wah, and all that, but over all it's a 10/10Jason

I'm no stranger to boutique amps having personally owned Friedman BE100, 3rd Power Kitchen Sink, Bigtone Studio Plex Mk II, Mezzabarba MZero Overdrive, Suhr PT100, Landry LS100, /13 RSA 23, Kingsley, Bruno, Komet, Bogner, Aiken, Reinhardt, Two Rock, Marshall, Fender, Kemper. All great amps. This Friedman Twin Sister may very well be the cream of the crop. It just feels perfect and yields the best cleans I've heard on any Friedman….As much as the Dirty Shirley was so highly rated, this twin sister really ups the ante by giving you to flexibility to set up a clean vs. dirty channel, or a dirty rhythm vs. dirty lead channel…and my guitars all react really well to the amp in terms of guitar volume rollback. The only thing that would make it perfect for me would be on board reverb and tube biasing ports…but, it's such a perfect amp that I don't mind…i'm sure is'ts the simplicity of the amp that in part makes it such a killer amp. Dave really nailed it with this amp and I've never been so happy with an amp. For sure a keeper.Val H

Was looking for a small light weight amp whilst away from home, not wanting to lug around my heavy tube amp, cab and good sized pedal board. This amp fit's the bill perfectly. This amp sounds great, the onboard effects sound good to my ear. And I also like the controls on this amp. Simple layout that makes it easy and fast to dial in a decent sound. If you need more flexibility the architect software, which is a free download from Blackstar, is straight forward to use giving you even more flexibility. Another thing I like about this amp is as I'm away I often need to us headphones, no to disturb the neighbours, through the architect software, you can change the cab simulation from 112, 212, 412, even choose what mic simulation is used, which I think it's an excellent addition to this already impressive small amp. This amp also sounds great through its built-in speakers, giving it a great stereo sound. For this price I honestly cannot fault it, I did look at other amps but settled for this. And I'm so glad I did. This amp is a bargain!!Lesley C.

I hate amp hunting. I wanted something small and specific for a home studio. Shiny cleans with some grit too? Quality build? Under $600? I searched the used listings for weeks trying to find a deal. Nothing really GETS me. Finally, utterly sick of shopping, I walked into Sam Ash, saw this thing on the shelf and just bought it. Didnt try it. Just read the specs online, read a few reviews and snagged it. I figure, worst case scenario I'll return it tomorrow. Let me say, the sound from this amp is just so incredibly nice. Even without pedals, the built in reverb sounds very good. Not splashy, more like a plate reverb. Adding a transparent overdrive makes my G&L ASAT sound like a tone monster. I have no specific affinity for Blackstar. Never owned a single one of their products and I am totally blown away by this thing. I don't know a thing about the tonal waveforms and harmonic frequencies of the most expensive boutique amps but, on a stage or studio I'd put this amp up to pretty much anything. It FEELS good. It sounds good. Between my guitar and an overdrive pedal and the tone knob on the amp itself, I'm able to pull at least 6 very distinct tones before I even engage the dirty channel. It's even got an effects loop. Get one! You'll like it!DANIEL

I bought this amp a few months ago after LOTS of research, having finally decided to replace my previous amp of about 20 years! (A Marshall AVT half stack) Firstly, it looks amazing IMO and build quality looks and feels great too. I play in two bands, one playing southern rock, the other heavy rock/classic metal so needed something that was going to cover a pretty wide range of sounds. The Blackstar handles it amazingly! Wonderful warm crunches all the way to chugalicious highly saturated metal gains. The high gains are so smooth and creamy too and not 'scratchy'. (Something I always struggled with with the AVT) The clarity is also pretty amazing at high gain too. Individual notes can be picked out clearly and not just lost in a fuzzy mush. The 2 OD channels work perfectly for the two separate sounds I'm looking for to suit each band, with Voicing on each channel giving even more versatility. This amp produces beautiful cleans too, which can also break up nicely if you push the clean channel volume up. I'd also really recommend the optional 5-way footswitch, shame this doesn't come as standard, but hey..! All in all, I'm absolutely over the moon with this amp. It can do everything from sparkling cleans to tasty crunch and up to all the gain you could wish for. I've even been able to get THAT Stevie Ray Vaughan tone! 😍 But not only that, it's not some 'Jack of all trades, master of none'…it absolutley nails all of these brilliantly! This amp delivers the sound I've been looking for elusively for years now, funny that Blackstar's slogan is "The Sound In Your Head"… Big thanks to the team at PMT Newcastle when testing the 40 Watt version, and the distribution team for the speedy next day delivery!Davey S.

I bought this amp because my gig amp died a cyber twin 2-12s 100 watts that was about 16 years old. I have had many Fender amps they were great. I do country and 50s and 60s rock and roll. I figured 100 watts would put it out there and it does. At performing volume, the distortion is a pure heavy metal on the clean channel. Mine is not much good for high volume for my type of music. I have an old champion 110 75 watt that I will be using It has worked for me when the others were down. Not sure what to do.stev_majo

Great starter/practice amp. It gives a great tone for a great price. Gives some really great crunchy distorted tones for metal and rock. Also gives a great clean tone. Has plenty of built-in effects too. It gets pretty loud when you need it to, and has a 3.5mm headphone jack for convenience and quiet practicing. I love this amp! If you're just starting out and looking for your first amp, look no further. Or if you're an experienced guitarist looking for a good practice amp, this is a great choice.danielk2852

It is a great amp. Very good sound and options for the price. It is not heavy which is a big deal to someone who has had back surgery. I gave it a 5 in spite of one big complaint. When you turn it off you hear a loud "POP!" Wow, is that loud is what I thought the first time I heard it. I read about it online and there is a simple fix. Find an old set of ear phones or ear buds that you would use on a cassette player or a Sony Walkman. (Yes, these are ancient electronic relics from the past for you younger people. You might ask your parents if they have a cassette player and borrow the ear plugs.) Just plug that earphone jack into the "PHONES" input BEFORE you turn it off. THEN you only hear a little blip when you turn it off. THEN just pull the jack out of the "PHONES" input before you start it next time.chasmigu

I wanted a small head unit that could push a 4×12 orange cab with V30s and still give me my tone. I have tried other lunchbox sized that cost 3 times less, but they fall short. I like lots of amps, Mostly high watt combos. I tried the tubemeister 36 but it lacked some oomph so I decided I would just go for the deluxe series. The 36 was discontinued so I've been waiting months for this 40 to come in. I play jazzy metal/ djent and use Jackson, ibanez, BC Rich. I have used mostly Peavey, Marshall, stacks, combos, Maxon, Boss effects and mix match everything as needed. I already had a tiny bit of experience with this lunchbox style H&K so figuring out the controls was easy. Even getting use to the effects was easy. (Manually trying to figure out where your knobs were set after dialing in effects and switching back was and continues to be lame) This head has plenty of power and gives me a great tone with volume set as low as one. I didn't even have to soak to 1watt. i don't use the presence so all have to say is I don't like it past 1 and up. Yuck. The r so an extra is a great addition and helped huge in getting my tone, not that I crank it, but having that extra bit of modeling really helps. Reverb has plenty of headroom to the point of ridiculousness but sounds natural as do all the effects. The noise gate…awesome. Really tightens it up. I don't use the loop so no comment. The EQ is pretty nice. Good mids and treble, bass is a little weak, but then there's that resonance. The boost is ok but I almost always use a distortion pedal to help get my sound and no exception here. The clean is very nice with and without effects. The crunch, lead and ultra are all pretty basic in my opinion, like most amps. But like I said , I use a overdrive pedal and with that, I get a really killer and brutal metal sound that is not out of control. There's chunk and grit and tang and it wants to be loud to show you what it can do. The redbox is awsome. I'm really digging this head.Ghostpuncher

This little AMP is a ripper! Clean to high-gain and everything in between. H&K put a lot of thought into this design. The only downside is the extra cost of the wireless adapter and it would have been nice if they had that functionality built in. I am running this through a Fender Supersonic 2×12 cabinet (V30's) and I am most impressed with the power soak function in a smaller room @1 or 5 watts is all you need without having to upset the entire neighborhood. Turn it to 40 watts at any volume this thing produces a high power punch than I have not experienced with any 100W Solid State amp I have owned in the past. The Redbox capability is top notch and works like a charm running through the PA system. That said, IMHO so far running it directly into the 2×12 cabinet offers a much better sound experience.Bryan

I really wanted to like this thing but it only works maybe 5% of the time. The WMI 1 has never connected properly to be able to use the features this amp has to offer. Customer service is horrible and I will not ever purchase another Hughes and Kettner product. I spend at least 15 minutes every time I turn on this thing on trying to get it to connect and like I said it works maybe 5 percent of the time. I’ve heard reviews where some people don’t have this problem but listen to the echo of all the people who do. Buy at your own riskMark Shaw

I really like this amp. I bought it used at a really good price, so I was very pleasantly surprised at how nice it sounds. It has loads of power and nice tone. I bought it as a practice amp, but I wouldn't hesitate to use it on stage in a small club.voltyr

THE 8 INCH SPEAKER IS ALITTLE WEAK SOUNDING ,CAB IS BUILT WELL, EFFECT ARE GOD THE ACTIVE EFFECT IS REALLY KOOL SOUNDING,WELL WORTH THE 100 DOLLARS I PAID JUST NEED TOO UPGRADE SPEAKER SIZE TO A 10 INCH!!PAUL

Fantastic amp for the price! The clean channel is great, and has time delay effects that is unexpected for an amp in this range. The overdrive is excellent too, and you can control different frequencies as well. It also has two inputs for guitars, and a microphone input! So you can jam with friends and sing along. At 40w output, it is pretty loud. If you are in the fence, get it! You won't regret it!integrationbyparths1

Huge sounding and a lot of power for such a small amp. The Spark Control App gives you loads of choices from classic sounds to the most modern of amps out there today. You also have tons of effects to use in conjunction with all of these modeled amp choices. All of these possibilities can be saved as your own personal presets which can endlessly be tweaked to make you sound and play your best. You can also use the Jam Along feature which syncs to iTunes, Spotify, etc. while also displaying the chord changes as you play. The Spark amp also connects easily to any DAW for professional sounding quality recordings. This amp does it all for a fraction of the price.Javier

Used it only for practice. Unusable for live performance. Every update was a fiasco and after 11 months, it only works as a Bluetooth speaker as the Amp section gave up. Google that issue and found it happens to many other users. Defective chip and Positive Grid helpdesk is not responding.Cory

The amp is awesome. Well built and solid, very pleasant to look at, easy to use and the sound! Oh man, the sound of that little amp is just beyond belief. Full and rich, it fills the room as though it were five times the size. With the app on my android phone, fine tuning the sound is easy and intuitive, and you can save your sounds as presets if you wish. But even without using the app, the presets that ship with the amp are simply stellar. In my opinion, the amp is well worth the price.Richard L.