5 Watt Guitar Amp Kit For Sale (2024 Update)

Because the Stage Right 5-watt tube amp (#611705) has control knobs only for Volume and Tone, I found that I get the best-to-my-ears guitar sound when I put an equalizer pedal between the guitar and amp and then adjust the equalizer to the tone that I'm looking for. On the guitar the Volume and Tone knobs are set fully open and on the 5-watt tube amp the Tone knob is fully closed and the Volume knob is set to the volume level acceptable to the environment (for home practice the Volume knob is set to level 3 at full 5-watts). The Stage Right 5-watt tube amp is my first tube amp after having used modeling amps for at least five years. I had heard that tube amps more often than not sound better than modeling amps. After now having experienced using a tube amp I agree that tube amps (at least the Stage Right 5-watt amp) sounds better than the modeling amps I've used (which to me sound great too). If you're looking for your first tube amp (like I was) or you are looking for a low-watt tube amp for home use then I highly recommend the Monoprice Stage Right 5-watt tube amp #611705. Review about Monoprice customer support: The 5-watt tube amp that I initially received had a cosmetic defect (a hole) on the textured surface on the front side of the amp. The Volume knob when set to fully opened level 10 produced normal speaking level sound instead of the noise-complaint loud volume that I expected. Monoprice customer service was great and easy to work with in submitting an amp replacement request. I described the problems, sent pictures of the cosmetic defect and a video demonstrating the Volume problem. After Monoprice customer service reviewed the pics and video they sent me a free shipping return label, a RMA label, and they ordered me a replacement amp which arrived within 7 days after I submitted the replacement request. The replacement amp that I received had no cosmetic defects and the Volume knob set to max level 10 is loud enough to generate noise-complaints from neighbors, though I normally use the amp at Volume level 3 for home use.New User

For the price (I got it when priced $119) it is fantastic. It's simple, straightforward and sounds good. Nice warm tones. If you're a fantastic guitar player, this amp will sound fantastic. If you're an okay guitarist, you might want to invest in some pedals (or just keep practicing). I only say that because it is very clean and bright and it really shows off what you're playing. (I've been known to hide my sloppiness with reverb, distortion, etc.) BUT It does take pedals well – thankfully! Adding a good reverb pedal, delay and an overdrive to go along with this little guy is a good idea. The Pros: Value to Price ratio. Looks well built. Warm tube sound. The handle (yes I am talking about the amp's handle) is nice! Better than I expected. In fact, everything looks pretty good (except the cheap control knobs). 5 watts is plenty loud for home/recording use. The Cons: Good sounding, but there are better sounding. Please don't buy this thinking that this is a $500 amp. It is not. But sub $200 it is a good one. The chickenhead knobs are cheap looking. I took them off and painted them. But that's a dollar or two easy fix (if it bothers you at all). Overall: I totally recommend for $150 or less. Probably for $200. If the prices climb too much beyond that, I think there are other options. If you want to jam at home and record with it, I think you'll be happy.Brad

The Monoprice 5 watt guitar amp arrived just a few days after ordering, and arrived in good shape, due in part to the excellent shipping carton. Upon taking it out and inspecting it, I could find no flaws in the cabinet, and due to the cream color of the covering, it seemed a little bigger than I was expecting. I plugged it in, let it warm up for almost an hour, and then plugged in an ES339, using no pedals. At first, I wasn't all that pleased with the sound I was getting, but it was my fault. I had it adjusted as I do with my Albion Hybrid, but that wasn't the way. I found the best sound came from turning the Monoprice all the way up, and then use the guitar controls for volume instead. That did it, and the little amp came a alive in a big way! Sounding very similar to a Fender champ, it could go from nice clear tones to crunchy heaven with the ES339's humbuckers. I plugged in a Strat with an HSH configuration, and the single coil really made it sound Fenderish. Sweet. The only thing I found one might improve on the amp, is the speaker. As such, I plugged into the built-in external speaker jack on the back, a little Randall 8" cabinet. That really did it for me. The sound was fantastic through the entire spectrum, and was loud enough to be heard down the block. I then bi-amped it with the Albion, and the sound had all the creamy goodness I've been seeking, and that is how I now have it setup for daily use. That said, there's nothing wrong with the stock speaker on the Monoprice, and I suspect it will satisfy most users. Am very happy with this purchase, and glad I bought it for such a great price. Almost every electric guitar player could find a use for this amp. Buy before the price goes up, or they quit making them!T

Not only does this 5 watt lil' monster have enough power to rattle the windows, it also has class! At only 9 lbs. the Bugera T5 Infinium has enough "UMFF" to push your favorite 4X12" cabinet into the stratosphere! It's better having this reverb built into this lil' madman than not having any at all. Just like 9/10 of the other amp heads in its class. The 1 channel, "all tube" head has warm cleans. Push in the PHAT switch and crank the volume and gain and you get saturated distortion that will blow you away! All of that in a 9 lb metal cage like package for only $200! You won't find another 5 W head with all of that for this price. I love my T5 Infinium from Bugera!brmul-8207

What it's not: Not a $1k boutique tube amp. Not a mid-size club amp (unless you have great monitors and a good sound guy). What it is: A well designed, very affordable little monster that will give enough stage volume at 5W for rehearsals in a full rock band or small club, and will also allow you to drive the output stage at that 1W or 1/2W setting for recording at home. The amp sounds best at 5W and driven into either a 4ohm cabinet or two 8ohm cabs. If you use it to drive an 8ohm cab, you are getting only 70% of its potential. I only use el84 based amps. i love their dark, throaty sound, and while this amp doesn't have the punch or snap I get from my 15W custom built el 84 amps, it sounds great for rehearsal or recording. I am a little bit worried about long-term build quality. The input jack is plastic. I have a hard time seeing that surviving a year of rehearsals without breaking. This is a great supplemental amp for rehearsals and recording. Very smartly designed. Good feature set. And if you like the el84 style sound, it delivers it above expectations at this price range. I'm thinking of getting a second one.klktrk

In these days of small solid state, practice amps, this little amp gives you tube tone and more at a very affordable price. A 12ax7 preamp tube and an EL84 power tube provide the tone along with built in reverb, 2 band EQ, gain and a "phat" overdrive switch for added crunch. The three stage attenuator is a nice touch. The stock Bugera tubes are OK but I switched them out with Tung-Sols which provided a rich creamy overdrive more to my liking. Great sound when plugged into my Orange 8" or 12" cab plus headphone jack for late night playing. Great amp for the price!Isom

I just completed my Mod 102 kit. An excellent experience! I was delighted with the quality of components, clarity of instructions, and, perhaps most importantly, the sound of the amp. It is very loud – currently running into my Fender Twin Reverb cab (2×12) and very sweet! I will be running it into a new 1×12 cab with a new Celestion G12 M Heritage 'Greenback' when I get a case for the speaker (on order). My only criticism (and something to look out for) is that the chassis is very nicely painted in gray gunmetal paint. Even following the directions to file all the holes, it is very hard to get a good ground connection at every point a terminal strip connects. I worried about this, and about 1/3rd of the way through the build, took an ohm meter to check all the connections, and as I had suspected, some of the connections were not great (9-10 ohms or so!) So I removed the terminal strips (with the components I had already soldered still attached) and scraped away the paint under the tabs of the strips to ensure a good connection. Re-testing showed virtually zero resistance. I'd strongly recommend scraping the paint away at all holes under the chassis before getting started on the build. Even better, suggest that Amplified Parts leave the inside chassis unpainted (at least around the important holes). Aside that one criticism, I am delighted with the kit and with Amplified Parts. Everything was delivered promptly and they are a class outift. I'll probably try some of their other kits soon.vpmerlyn

I spent three evenings building the MOD102. The instructions are very easy to understand and the amp has a great Fender sound. I had one grounding issue that was easily fixed with a little help from tech support, which was excellent. If you're good at following step by step instructions and can solder well this is a fun little amp to build. Only small issue is the labels. They could stand an improvement.Brandon

I just finished this amp build and it sounds fantastic! I also just finished a Marshall 18 Watt clone and I have to say that the Mod102+ holds its own very nicely alongside the Marshall. In fact, I will probably use the Mod102+ for recording because it sounds amazing at lower volumes (the Marshall is loud AF). Honestly, if I were only going to build one of them today, it would be the Mod. I'm blown away by the tone! Great kit with excellent instructions. Great bang for the buck. The parts all seem to be top quality. I love the old style cloth solid core wire, too. I find it much easier to work with than modern stranded wire. The labels are a bit lame but I covered them with packing tape as suggested before cutting them out and they look fine. If you're thinking about building an amp, build this one.danjbeckett

Was on the fence for over a year on the Marshall DSL 1 Watt. Ended up getting a steal on a Blackstar HT1 head and went with that, which is a great amp but pretty quickly regretted not going with the DSL due to more range of EQ. Made the move for the DSL but decided to go up to a 5 watt due to Volume/Gain on the Classic gain setting. I have worked it for over a month now and extremely pleased with the purchase. The classic gain will not get a usable crunch for me but is an awesome clean channel for pedals, which it takes extremely well. The ultra gain, at low settings is great for classic rock. I am not much of a metal guy so really don't go for anything over noon on the ultra gain. I am not a big fan of the speaker, although it does sound much better after break in. I run it basically as a head into a 1 x 12 cab which has a 12 inch celestion 90th anniversary speaker, which sounds excellent. Will eventually swap out the internal speaker for a greenback. Lastly, I would highly recommend this amp to those on the fence between the 1watt and 5 watt. Actually, those dead set on the 1watt, take a pause and re-evaluate. I noticed minimal DB difference between my 1watt blackstar and 5 watt DSL that if concerned with volume issues, don't be. Even with 5 watt setting, the max DB is not much more than what I got out of the blackstar. With the .5 watt setting on the DSL, it was even lower for bedroom volume. The 5 watt is much better choice over the 1 watt simply due to the classic channel volume setting.Axel

Overall: This is a great practice amp with the onboard 10” speaker, and also sounds incredible when ran through my buddy’s 4×12 Marshall cabinet. If you don’t like the factory speaker, Celestion makes some very fine replacements you can pop in. If you want to play through a bigger stack, unplug the onboard speaker and run a cable from this combo to the stack. If you want that Marshall DSL tone, an amp from this line is definitely what you’re looking for. Some of the features that made this the right amp for me include:- low power mode: when engaged, I can dial the gain as high as I want without notifying the rest of my apartment complex that I’m rocking out. Conversely, don’t let the five watt power rating deter you if you’re after volume – you’ll definitely be able to cause a noise complaint if you so choose. The selling point for me, however, was being able to dial in that Marshall tone at a volume one can speak over. Whether playing with the hot EMGs in my Les Paul, the even hotter humbuckers in my Blacktop Jaguar, the 490s in my SG, or the comparatively quiet Texas Specials and Atomic humbucker setup in my Strat, the cleans are articulate and the distortion is wonderful. This amp also takes my pedals, including my variety of dirt pedals (EHX Big Muff Pi for fuzz, a modified Boss DS1 for distortion, and an EHX East River Drive for OD) like a champ.- included foot switch: This was a fantastic bonus. The cabling on it is sufficient in length to play practically anywhere and still be able to switch channels without running across the room.- onboard reverb: While I don’t use it often, it’s much more articulate than I was expecting. Not in the same class as my EHX pedal, but definitely a nice added feature.- emulated line out: This is fantastic. No need for a direct box, no mucking about with a USB/FireWire/Thunderbolt interface when I want to jack in and record, no latency issues, and no mucking about with software effects to get my sound just right. A mini jack cable to the line-in on my laptop or DAW allows me to record my sound, off of my signal chain, with no issues whatsoever. I love it.- effects loop: this was something that my Orange Micro Terror lacked. While I don’t use it frequently, it is nice to have the option. Bottom line, if you want a worthy successor to the original Dual Super Lead in a package that won’t blow the roof off your house and would be sufficient for gigging small venues (which I have with this amp,) this is probably the amplifier for you. 5/5, would definitely recommend this or others from their DSL line.Mike

I played through this amp with the battery and with the AC adaptor, and with multiple guitars. Switched from clean to dirty and used my bridge and neck pickups with and without the coil tap. This amp isn't super loud at 5W, but it is an amp made for portability and practicing. Sounds awesome clean with the neck pickup single coil, and gets nasty dirty (a little too much with gain set anything past 6)with my bridge double humbucker. The sound is really quite good for this size amp. The tone control has a decent range of sounds to switch between. I was out on my deck last night playing through this thing and the sound and portability reassured me I made a great purchase. Definitely would buy again.Ace McCloud

This little five watt amp has the heart of a Lion. Clean channel is from crisp and articulate to warm and wrap it up in a sweater goodness. The drive channel with the greater level of tone control can be any sound you want, truly. It's up to you. I drive this amp through a close backed cabinet of my own design made with plank spruce and 8" Jensen Mod 35 speakers. It sounds amazing. Rich full tone and great response to picking level (hit it hard and it'll bark at you. Soft and it will whisper too.) It also has digital reverb which for me coming from spring will take a little getting used to. Overall a great addition to anyone's arsenal of amps.codboy61

I bought this strictly for my bedroom but found it's much more. It gets loud enough for band practice on the dirty channel and the clean with the volume up gets a nice breakup. It handles pedals well in the loop or an overdrive out front. I don't care for the morph when it's fully left or right on the dirty channel but you get nice tones on the clean side. The attenuator is the reason I bought it and I love it. I A/B'd it with the ht5 and couldn't see spending the extra cash on the Blackstar. Then I A/B'd with my modded dsl15h on triode (7 watt) and it made me wonder how much of the signal is tube and how much is solid state, but I don't know if that's fair given the Marshall has 4 12ax7 and 2 6v6 tubes. Can't speak to durability yet but it seems well built, and I haven't used the emulated out. All in all I'd recommend it for the price and the featuresgbob61

The Hotone Freeze B is good on replicating the "Friedman" amp on a cheap budget for musicians to experiment on different tones. Better on budget than paying near $4000 or it's mini head amp $300. Over all, it's good to have to use and switch other head mini amps instead of owning the real deal. Way too much $. For a 5 watt amp, it's gets loud and that's good for practice or even on small parties.wino-1061

I'm primarily a bass player but also play guitar. All of my guitar amps are low wattage tube amps from under 1 watt up to 15 watts. I got into the Nano amps as they had some abilities I wanted such as effects loops, headphone outs, aux in and ability to run on batteries. Yes. These come with 19v power supplies. I tried them with a standard 9v supply and while there was a reduction in clean headroom, I actually found the overdrive/distortion tones more natural. After establishing that they worked at lower voltages, I made a 9.6 battery pack using Eneloops. This way, I can use it in bed (or anywhere) into headphones. It'll power a speaker cab but I use the power supply for that unless I want to play outside. This is my 4th and final amp from the Nano series. My 1st and favorite remains the Mojo Diamond for its Fender tones. It even sounds great with bass. I actually prefer it to my Thunder Bass. If you're only going to get one, that would get my vote. Then use pedals for other tones. I also have the British Invasion for the VOX tones. I wanted to round things out with something like a Marshall. The Purple Wind seemed the obvious choice but I wanted something a little different. This is supposed to sound like a Friedman which is Marshall-like. It's got a nice bite. It also has a nice clean tone with the gain turned down. Due to the higher gain, this is noisier than the others as expected when not touching strings or bridge. I wish they sold these and the power supply separately. Seems silly to buy 4 power supplies when I only need 1. To be honest, at full price, I would have passed but Sam Ash has these at a great price I could not refuse.Steven

This is an amazing amp. It sounds just like an Engl & the eq section really boost or cuts the freqs. For it only being 5 watts I was really surprised with the power & tone. It sounds as good as a 50 watt amp &this little thing can be used for shows running directly to the mixing console especially with an in ear monitor system. I have a few Hotone products & there all solid built & sound great. Well worth the money.properaddiction

Overall: I run this into a Bugera ts1x12 with a WGS veteran 30 @16ohm and a Joyo vintage overdive in front. Very surprising how versatile the tone knob is with the different tone stack switches. Despite what people say this amp can do clean. You have to turn the volume up high and use the gain as a volume. It even says this in the manual. I have a Bugera G5 that does cleans very well so I don't worry about that. Before I even turned it on I swapped out the 2 12ax7 preamp tubes for a pair of matching Tung-sol 12ax7s so I can't speak to the sound of the stock ruby tubes. I am using a dean VX with guitarheads hexbuckers and a ephiphone strat with hsh pickups (guitarheads z-buckers and a no name dual rail single coil in the middle). It is a 1w amp so don't expect it to sound as loud as a bigger amp. I play about half way on the volume knob and that is plenty loud for my apartment and it has plenty of low end chunk at that volume. The overdrive just gives it a little sizzle but you don't really need it. For the money there is no better small tube head for metal or rock. The Bugera G5 retubed with Tung-sol pre and JJ power tube comes close but this is just thicker sounding distortion. I will never sell it.David

I bought it on impulse during Black Friday and I'm so glad I did. I had been looking to get a tube amp and at the price this thing went for it was a no brainer. But price aside this amp sounds great. I was looking for a high gain metal amp and this fit the bill. I only have combo amps which means I do not have a speaker cab to hook this too but I used the midi out and hooked it to my PC using an audio interface. The high gain sounds are tight, clear and perfect for modern heavy rock/metal. I do plan to get a speaker cab for it, however for recording rock/metal it is so easy to use and I personally love using a real amp to record with instead of a software plug in to emulate the high gain sound. It's also small enough to sit on my PC desk.Supergoat94

I picked this amp up hoping it would be a nice quieter tube-amp option. Randall is known for high-gain, and even at just 1 watt, this amp has gain for days. In fact, that was one of my knocks against it, i had a hard time dialing in a nice clean sound. The breakup happens very early in the pre-amp stage, so if you're looking for anything resembling a clean tone, this amp doesn't excel there. It would be great for the metal player that can't crank up a 30, 50, or 100 watt tube amp in their apartment, but you need high-gain tones. Overall, i wasn't as impressed with this amp as i am with the Positive Grid Spark 40. Two different beasts, but the Spark 40 has way more value to me in this product range.Tanner's Favorite Things

I bought this amp based on the good print reviews and the way it sounded in you Tube reviews. I did a lot of homework and finally placed my order. I was excited when it showed up at my house and plugged my Jay Turser Les Paul copy right in. Boy, is this thing dark! I turned all the tone controls to 10. I changed the strings. I removed the covers from my pickups- that just made it dark and tinny. After three days I decided that I had to either send it back or make some changes. I took the speaker from a Squier 15 amp and installed it in the Bugera. Right away there was more life and clarity to the sound, though it still sounded tinny (because it's a speaker from a Squier 15), but it was some progress. Next I pulled tubes from a circa 1959 Curtis-Mathes console stereo and swapped them into the Bugera. Now we were getting somewhere- the overtones, the reason we use tubes, were now present and accounted for. The same console is full of Oxford speakers, which are a Jensen knockoff and well respected. I took an 8" from that and installed it in the V5. OH YEAH! Now this is a great little amp. The clean tones are super sweet, clear, full and bell-like with tons of sustain. The overdrive has a huge range of grit, and the reverb is better than any other amp I've had. So after installing a set of +/- 60 year old tubes and speaker, it sounds great. But out-of-the-box stock, I would have sent it back, no question. If you have a too-bright guitar or are willing to make upgrades, this amp is a super value. My one complaint about build quality is that the wattage selector switch is extremely touchy- it goes from .1 to 5 watts and has to be fiddled with to get it to stay on the 1 watt setting.Farmhand

Perfect at home tube amp. I generally use 1 watt mode. Great tone whether clean or breakup. Loves my telecaster and Boss BD-2 into it, and takes pedals great in general. Couldn’t get over how nice it looked when I unboxed mine, either. Beautiful looking amp on top of sounding great. Really an incredible value. Can’t recommend this one enough if you’re looking for a home use valve amp.Grandaddy Jeff

Overall: overall – maybe the best sounding low wattage amp ever. only small difference in sound between this & a tube amp. weak point is lack of features. they really skimped. twice the price of other compared to other practice amps that have way more features. you're really extra paying for tone here.pro's – * truly terrific tones* even if you have a tube amp that sounds good at whisper volumes (i have a 15w egnater tweaker) it's so convenient to be able to play this on top of your desk.* clean and modern settings are fantastic. i don't use the other amp settings much, but they sound great as well. the only setting i don't like is brit hi.* effects sound good* tap tempo* good tuner* the features are weak* pricey – other practice amps have many more features. they sound pretty good themselves (just not quite as nice as this). so if features are important to you, get something else. digital amps these days all sound not bad to downright good.* are the tones here so much better that it's really worth double other companies' amps? honestly hard to say, but this one does sound the best* can't save settings* one knob control of all mod effects is really limiting* can use the software to tweak settings and effects, but as soon as you unplug, you lose them* max volume on delay is occasionally not enough. usually it's ok. but sometimes, you want a little more & doesn't have it* as mentioned, brit hi setting not that great* the name "modern" might be misleading. i mentioned that modern sounds good, but, it doesn't have enough gain to get you into mesa rectifier range. you're going to need a pedal for that.A

The footswitches are finicky. The overdrive models are sub par. The touch screen works well and the IR workflow is excellent. In the end, it was not for me. While the amp tones have a pleasant midrange quality, the character itself felt restrictive. The reverbs are glorious but do not warrant the price of admission. My first one had footswitch issues, where they would activate on their own. The replacement did it once or twice. I ran at that point, and do not miss this sub par productEC

For me the MX5 is exactly what I have been looking for many years. Intuitive, compact and priced right. I owned the original Line 6 Pod, the Boss GT-10 and recently the Line 6 Pod Go. The frustrating thing for me with the Boss GT-10 and Line 6 Pod Go is if I did not consistently use them I would forget how to go in and tweak the sounds. Sometimes I don't play for weeks even months and when I got the urge to play again I had to fiddle or re read the manual on how to make certain adjustments. I ended up spending more time on the darn effects unit than actually playing the guitar. With the MX5 it's very intuitive via the touch screen to just make changes or create a new rig. I don't think I'll succumb to use it or lose it affect. The compact size means it can be tucked away easily in my office. And the fact that it has a built in expression pedal is really nice. I don't typically do reviews but I felt this is the first time in a while that a product has met all of my needs. I think Headrush really nailed it for many of us older, part time weekend warrior guitarists out there that just want something easy and ready to use. Whether at home practicing, recording or take to a quick jam session or gig.Steve

The MX5 is the third modeler/multi effects processor that I have used for recording and playing live. In my opinion the overall sound quality is a bit underwhelming. On the positive side, the clean tones are excellent. On the negative side, the overdrive tones are satisfactory at best. To be completely honest, I'm very disappointed with the overdrive/distortion tones. It will take a lot of tweaking to get a desirable crunch tone if you are a True Tone chaser. I am not alone with this opinion. Check out the YouTube reviews of the MX5 and the reviews from those who are not affiliated with HR marketing. There are some honest reviews that point out the good, the bad, and the ugly. I unfortunately did not pay attention to those before I purchased this pedal. If you are not a tone chaser and you are new to modeling, this may be a good pedal. It has a great looper. It is easy to use. And it gives the user plenty of options for exploring different pedal tones (not to mention the ability to split the signal chain). But if you are serious about high quality sound, compare this with others before you buy. Not to mention, this pedal has had its share of firmware bugs. The good news is that HR is pretty good about fixing them with firmware updates. Good customer service too.Jesse

O.K., been a "tube" guy for many years. So one day I needed a small portable amp that I could take with me and not leave behind. After a LOT of looking, listening, and researching I came across this little guy. Seemed O.K., sounded pretty good on the "tube", and the price was definitely right. So never hearing one in person I pulled the trigger. The E-Bay seller was GREAT and it came very fast. Hooked everything up and guess what…I was REAL MAD….. for not having one sooner!! It is still hard for my ears to believe the tone I can get out of this teeny tiny amp!!! It's almost unbelievable! Huge sound out of a little box!! Who said ya can't take it with ya?? And they come in different "flavors" according to your musical taste. I'm sold on the Fender tweed tone and this little killer really delivers. Nuff said!!!okie-dokie777

I think this little amp does a great job of producing "tube clean" tones reminiscent of the old Fender tube amps — especially at this price point and about the size of a stomp box. One huge thing it has over the Champ and Princeton is the mids in the tone stack. The tone controls are useful all the way up and down. Super quiet as well.21h

for the price and size, it is fantastic. take anywhere with any small or bigger speaker box that will make it sound great. Nice smooth middle tones for those who play solo. And people start asking around you for having such small, great looking, attractive "machine", you almost become famous for that just alone.elohim2468

Sorry, prior review title contained a date error. Original review written 11/7/11. I guess the 7 stuck in my head stronger than the 11 did, hence the title "Update to the July 2011 Review." I should practice what I preach and proof what I write. Sorry for any confusion. Still mean every word I say though. Would of written more, but it was very early in the morning when the notion to update the review hit me. Oh well. Still, though, would someone out there that makes these decisions, decide to give the guitar-playing market (that's quite a large market) a fractional-wattage amp head, or combo, with all the bells and whistles given to their top-of-the-line 100-wt. stadium-rocking machines. I sound like a broken record, but ANYONE giving us the dream rig we've been dying for, and can play at home, will draw an awful lot of attention to their whole line of products. I bet you would see an increase in sales across the board by showing that you understand, and care, what the guitar-playing population needs. After all, after the tour, doesn't everyone go home? Make a "home" amp that doesn't leave anyone wanting for anything, and the world will beat a path to your door. It's the age-old adage of, "build a better mousetrap…" So, give us a feature-laden, fractional-wattage amp, with power settings for each of at least three channels (0.1-wt. to 5-wts. would be about perfect, and doable,) with at least a 12" speaker of top quality, or preferably, a head so we can use whatever cabinet combination we want, and you will satisfy a very hungry crowd of guitar players dying for that sound only a fully overdriven preamp and power amp can lend to any quality guitar, and player, or up-and-coming determined player, and we will pay a fair market price for it, regardless of what that has to be to satisfy the needs of countless thousands of players out there, from home recorders to headliners. Can't you see the light, and find your way home to us, the consumers of the full-range of your products. As of now, no one cares enough to give us enough in a low-wattage amp. Seems that low-wattage means low everything across the board on the amp. Give us the Caddy Elvis, and we'll be playing Elvis amps regardless of what we need. We just need a manufacturer to care about the little needs of the little guys to the rock stars. We all live in houses and play in those houses. Don't we all deserve a flagship amp for where we lay our heads each night. Just try, more than half heartedly, and you'll realize a return of benefits equal to what you give. That's the way of the world. Just DO IT! Blackstar, you gave it a good shot, but fell just outside the infield. We need a grand slam homerun. You already do it, just tone it down to manageable volume levels, even for the same price, and I'll buy at least two right out of the gate. Then I'm going to take a good, long look at the rest of your lineup for my needs in other areas. Charity starts at home, right?aj0206

I just received this amp today and I've got to say I'm amazed. It's surprisingly loud for just 10 watts, but that's not why it got it. I wanted something to record with and wanted rich British tone and gain. It delivers that, but so much more. This amp is rich and full sounding at all levels! It gives warm cleans, crisp crunch, and the best sounds are with the gain about 1 o'clock and the Master maxed out…it's loud, but oh so good! Thick, rich tone. The real bonus is that it sounds so good with pedals, as well. You have to play with the relationship of the gain and the master if you turn down low and put an overdrive pedal to make it sound natural, but it's well worth the effort. I also put a delay in the loop to try that. I don't think I've ever been happier with an amp right out of the box. I've got some vintage and boutique amps (and I love them), but they are TOO loud to record with to crank to get saturated tube tone. THIS amp solves that problem. I may get the 6L6 version as well…these amps are that good!Lloyd W

Back again for a few more words on the Blackstar HT-1, 1-wt. amp head. Well, it's three years later, and I'm getting ready to turn 56 early next year. I don't know how much longer I'll be playing. I'm not having any problems other than a trigger-finger release procedure done on my fretting hand, middle finger, which has caused me to incorporate my pinky into playing more than I ever cared to in the past. Too bad really because some longer-reach pull offs sound cleaner, and the triplet timing, cleanness, and sound are better than I remember them being doing the three-finger, traditional, lazy, blues player's way we've all seen and done before–that includes all the rockers out there too. Still have the HT-1, and use it and its sister head quite a bit. I play every day, and use these a lot of the time. I enjoy the sound I get out of them using whatever I front them with, which is always something different or new. I NEVER just plug into these amps and find a sound I want to lay a track down to on just about anything except something really clean; and again, the main culprit stopping that is the weak reverb, which hasn't been changed or updated in three years that I can tell. Blackstar actually came out with a new 1-wt amp head for Metal players, and I've yet to get my hands on one of them. It just doesn't seem all that attractive to me feature wise. The reviews, as well, seem to not be the best. It basically seems to be the same head with a different voicing to coax more gain, hence noise, out of an already too-noisy preamp architecture. No one has really answered my call to action to provide a top-of-the-line fractional wattage amp, save a couple of exceptions, for the home-recording, buddy jamming, solo-screaming crowd out there that surely has more residents than just me. The "Appetite for Destruction" 100-wt. down to 0.1-wt. head with Slash's signature on it from across the pond seems to be the leading contender out there so far, and it's been discontinued for a few years. Right before or after this came out, if I remember correctly. The ne AFD amp is a combo from 5- or 1-wt. that is still weigh too light on features, but not pounds, as in weight or the currency of its maker's country. The demise of the original, full-sized head might of had something to do with its two grand entry fee. I don't mind the size really, but it just seems someone could put out an amp that doesn't have to be "lunchbox-sized," but could pack in all the features without the huge transformers and big power soaks to actually tame a monster down to a teacup. I've tried the Special Ultra 6 that seemed promising, but I've had problems and problems with them until I'm about to give up. Alone, they sound more like the amps I watched guys play through when I got all jazzed about playing while in the sixth grade. Still, if you can get a good clean sound out of an amp, you can doctor the front-end with whatever you want. This practice seems to be what we're stuck with to get nice "simulated" overdriven power sections. All the major brands still think a low-wattage amp is in the ballpark of 5-wts, to maybe 1-wt. Too loud most of the time! Ever read the specs on speaker efficiency ratings? The dB sensitivity rating is measured at 1-wt 1 meter away, and you get sound level ratings hovering around 100dB. Definitely not a neighbor-friendly, let alone apartment-friendly sound level. C'mon guys, SOMEONE out there has got to get it into their heads that there is a whole untapped market out there waiting for a masterpiece to be released that is rated from .01 to 1-wt., or even up to 5. Ten is fine, but give me the option of turning it down to a normal level to jam with your friends and still carry on a conversation without a noise hangover from screaming at each other, or stopping playing every time you want to make a point. Across the pond they have a revived 1-wt. mini head or combo, for nearly a grand, that has a low-power switch down to 0.1-wt.. It lacks all the features you want and need to do what you really want an amp to do, plus it's paired with an 8" speaker. I don't care if it is a Celestion, you have to have a 10- or 12-in. speaker to move the air you need to emulate the sounds you want to emulate at a lower volume. Why is it that low wattage means low features and the ashcan end of everything else? Why can't someone bring out a feature-rich amp at a fractional wattage rating that will make half the guitar-playing population grin from ear to ear. After all, how many of you can really say you need, or can commonly utilize, a 100- to 120-wt. stadium sized stack, or even combo. Even the rock stars are at home sometime, and I'd bet they'd love to have an amp capable of reproducing the sound, harmonics, and all else that comes from their stage setup at a reasonable volume at home. I don't drink, but I betaj0206

Nice little kit! Instructions are pretty clear and it's certainly not overly complicated to build. Having some amp repair/building experience helps, but I'd say even a beginner could buy this, build it, and be playing it within a day or so. Once built it sounded pretty good as well. Fun to swap tubes around, substituting the 12AX for a 12AT, AY, or others. The 'effect' changes on the pull switches are pretty subtle, so don't expect anything dramatic there. But, the amp makes a great platform for learning, and even 'expanding' from the original design. I've put an EIA connector in the back of mine so I don't have a cord sticking out. I put some tall 'feet' on it so it would clear a speaker box handle. And, the power transformer is suitable for adding a 6CA4 rectifier, which I plan to do in the future. I'll have to move the filter capacitor section around some to make clearance for the socket, but it's a 6 volt 9-pin rectifier, so will work perfectly in this amp. I might even 'upgrade' the output transformer….or play with some yellow jacket type adapters to try a different output tube. In all, a lot of fun to build, sounds great for what it is, and I'm very glad I made the purchase!! A 'GREAT' value!!!Tom

This is a great kit. I wanted to build a small amp so i started researching schematics online. Then i found this kit. All the leg work has been done as well as step by step instructions. I just started it so i can’t comment on tone, but the ease and design of the kit is excellent. Full parts list, schematic and instructions include. It gives you a proven simple platform to start with and you can add your own modifications if you wish. Thanks MODRonnie

I own JMM Recording Studios. This little amp was perfect for powering a small speaker box with low wattage for recording guitar. The first "British Invasion" unit was defective. It created a perfect "popcorn crackling" sound, however, I was not presently recording any tunes that needed the "popcorn crackling" sound, so I took my complaint to the famous Steve Price at Sam Ash. He emailed me the proper paperwork and FedEx prepaid stuff. I mailed the defective unit back and a few days later, the new unit was delivered to my studio…kinda like magic, ay? Contact Steve Price. If he can't fix it, no one can! The new 5-Watt amp is functioning perfectly…so far.Jerry

This is a fun little amp from the folks at Hotone who is bringing out some great new entries. The new British Invasion is a powerful little mini amp head that will surprise. Thanks to it's maximum portability and excellent tone, the Hotone Nano Legacy Series British Invasion Guitar Amplifier Head is the optimal solution for any guitarist looking for great tone in a small package-whether you're looking for an amp to take along to jam sessions, or need a small amp for your home office or bedroom, the Hotone Nano Legacy Series British Invasion Guitar Amp Head is sure to satisfy.Jeremy the entertainer

Would get five stars if it didn't cause speaker pop when turned on. Otherwise, it's a fantastic little practice amp. Great sounding low/medium gain amp with surprisingly rich tone. Will be purchasing one of the high gain models soon.Gordon

Think Led Zeppelin, Free, Cream, Bad Company, the Who, Deep Purple, etc. This amp is old school rock and gets the job done. I love it!rollinstoned

I've owned every great Marshall amp made, and the Class 5, made in England, is the best by far. Sounds the best, looks the best, most reliable with less tubes to worry about. Great with pedals, and has 8/16 ohm outs, and dedicated headphone jack. Pure awesomeness!just ME

Great tone and size. Looks classy . Only downfall might be its on or off you can not turn it down. But its made in Englandbctking411

I was skeptical of trying this 5 watt head out, but it really does perform. With the ISF and EQ, you can really dial in the sound you are looking for, it may take some time…but it is there. How loud is this thing? I'm running it through my Mesa 2×12 cab and I rarely put it past halfway on the volume. Perhaps the most shocking thing to me about this head is how well the low notes sound, especially when palm muting. The clean channel isn't to be overlooked, it sounds amazing, and the Reverb does as well. If you are into playing virtually any genre of Metal, I'd highly recommend this 5 watt amp. I'm actually thinking of selling my 50 watt EVH head because this thing surpassed my expectations.Craig

I am a gear hog and I love trying out amps and pedals. I am a big fan of Blackstar, especially my HT-50. I've been pondering getting the Metal head for some time, but the larger version was just too much for home studio use (my intended purpose) – when I saw the price on these, I went for it and I love it. The flexibility and range of the EQ is generous and lets you dial in precise tones. Working the gain and volume together offers such a spectrum of sounds and feels (crystal clean to super metal), and when you add in the OD select, you have a real powerhouse of options. My only concern was, how much could a 1 watt amp really push? Not to be worried! I played this through both a Marshall 1960A and a Blackstar HTV412 and it sounded great. You are not going to be able to rock an arena (maybe a 20 seat arena!) but for practice, home studio, or small gig purposes, it is plenty enough. Besides, it's metal, it's Blackstar and it's cute! Wait, can you say it's cute 'and' metal? If you are considering getting one, get it before they are gone, gone, gone.egwanaboy

Perfect for metal all any kind of music, Brutal,nice crispy tube sound on both channel( clean and overdrive). Five star product and excellent value and price.Reviewed by Andertons Music Co.

Great sounding clean tones for playing at home, which is why i bought it – my beloved Mustang 1.1 started having issues and I MUST have a great clean tone to relax. Wanted a tube amp and did my research. Decided on the Blackstar. I must say I'm extremely happy with it. The reverb is KILLER to my ear and does a great job at adding shimmer without destroying the tone. No external effects are needed to get a gorgeous clean tone – I use my Zoom G3Xn into the front end to get univibe and compression. The effects loop is very functional. The amp can be very bass heavy, depending on your instrument, but if you run a 10 band EQ (go with MXR) in the loop you amp can achieve any tonal result you want. My best sound comes with everything at 12, with some of the bass rolled off with the MXR EQ – but its just a matter of taste i guess. This amp moves a lot of air when you use the drive channel, and if your not pleased with the amps distortion it does respond really well to distortion pedals. I'm mostly in the clean blues zone but must brag on the amps darker side: it can get very loud and stay rich. I haven't tried any of the direct recording features. The 2 selectable characters of clean that the amp offers thrill me and ,again, the reverb is classy and a bit different from other amps ( I read that is a room reverb). Highly recommended.Tim H.

This amp out of the box sounds fantastic. Crystal clear clean tones and a snarly gain channel that lets you choose between a more American gain tone and a British gain tone. I would say ‘cater for everyone’. But, I received my first amp and within an hour of playing I’d noticed a loud ‘POP’ when changing channels. This pop occurred if a note was being played at the same time as the channel change. (Footswitch and Amp buttons) So, of course I returned the Amp to PMT. they arranged DPD next working day collection for me, completely hassle free. I awaited my next amp, as a direct replacement. A few days later the next Blackstar HT-5R mkii arrived, box fresh like the last. I plugged the amp in, let the tubes warm and away I went. Within minutes of found a great tone again, but the loud ‘POP’ I heard from the first unit was there again on this amp. I tried 4 sockets in the house in case there was any kind of interference/static, but to no avail. Absolutely gutted, I called PMT again. The amp was returned for the second time. Apparently this hasn’t happened to anyone else, I may just be unlucky or the amp may not get along with the electrics in my home. Just check this out as soon as you buy one. I’ve tried two other valve amps on my house since, including a Blackstar Artist 10 AE and an Orange terror with cab, and there’s absolutely zero noise with these. Very important to note here, this is not a slam of PMT, they’ve been absolutely brilliant throughout this whole thing. Customer service is second to none and they are very easy to contact. Used these for a very long time and I will be returning once stores open to try out a new amp.Jack H.