Best 5 Watt Guitar Amp (2024 Update)

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

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

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.

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

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

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

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

The supro delta king 10 gets down right nasty when switched into drive mode great distortion clean mode is crystal clear boost mode used with Les Paul with Duncan 59s beautiful worm tube tone love this amp nice looking got the tweed with black stripes cool vibeMrjfeb

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.

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 need an amp to use at low volumes, often with headphones. I don't need high gain, just enough to warm it up. I use gain and modulation pedals through the loop. The Nano ticks all the boxes for me. I may order one of the other models for tonal variety. Really a great product! Very happy with Sam Ash fulfillment and service.Woody

WOW!! This little amp is amazing for what it is, I have plugged it into a bunch of different speakers and it sounds great, and so portable. Great price too. Thinking about getting another.wonkywookie01

I purchased this little amp because I needed to play quietly in my apartment and every amp I own is too loud and doesn't sound good played at low levels. The Hotone really works!. I paired it with a Randall 8 inch speaker and it sounds surprisingly good.Steven

I'm impressed for only being 2.5 watts this little guy sounds good and loud. For my home studio and office. This guy fits for late night playing at low wattage where even my dsl 20 is too loud. I've hooked up a couple of dirt pedals and overdrives/boosts and it gets the job done. I plan on hooking my EQ pedal to give it more flexibility in tone shaping. Love this micro pedal amp.Gary A

I recently obtained this because I have a Randall Diavlo 5W amp head that does not have a working power section, and so I wanted some kind of power amp to route its preamp into that was also not terribly loud since I only require it for at home practice. I run this set-up into two 1x12s with a Celestion Greenback and a Celestion G12-65 Heritage. The sound is actually pretty great! It certainly feels tube-y and even at 2.5 watts, it can get loud (maybe not as loud as you want it with a live drummer, but loud enough for jamming against a backing track coming out of your studio monitors for instance). I will say that if you like to jam clean, this power amp may not be for you. At 2.5 watts, it gets nice break up pretty early (at about 9 o clock). So I think it is better suited for dirty tones and metal. If you want more headroom it will make more sense to get the EHX Howitzer or the Magnum 44 (though i think the Magnum is too loud for home use). About the only con I can see with this pedal is the power supply it comes with is slightly large (though not gruesomely large as say the Line 6 HX Stomp). Also, it requires 500mA to operate, so make sure your pedal power supply can supply that or else you will have to deal with the included power supply. Thank you EHX! This power amp has certainly made my life easier for home jams.The Guitar DudeMan

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

Having been messing around with an acoustic for far too many years I decided to treat myself to an electric, and started the search for an amp. I had a few options but went with the Crush 20RT and haven't regretted it. For its size the sound quality is great, and the eq controls allow you to get a nice range of distinct tones. Having the dirty volume away from the gain dial takes some getting used to, but isn't a deal-breaker, and if you find the rather small switch to swap between clean and dirty channels a bit fiddly, you can pick up a foot switch which connects nicely on the back of the amp. Built in reverb is nice, but if you are big on using reverb I'd imagine you'd want to get a dedicated pedal. Tuner seems hit and miss, and again more accurate results will be obtained via a stand alone product. Both good features to have, especially as a starter amp. Overall, highly recommended!Kevin E.

This is definitely the best sounding practice amp I've ever used. The gain channel has several different levels of gain, all sound great. Anywhere from a slightly crunchy overdrive sound to sizzling distortion. I've never had an amp this size handle metal tones so well. The clean channel handles distortion pedals well and maintains the tone of the amp, and if you wanna add a little something extra, putting an overdrive in front of the dirty channel really pushes the mids through. All very impressive for an 8 inch speaker.
The big downside to this amp… is that its deceptively loud. At bedroom volume, it sounds kinda like a shoebox. but bump the volume knob even just a little bit and the full, rich tone punches you in the face, far too loud for playing in an apartment at 10pm. Kinda defeats the point of buying a small practice amp. The clean channel is even louder than the dirty channel.
I'm not knocking off any stars from my review for this however, because it has a headphone jack that actually imitates the speaker response quite well. So if you wanna play this amp late at night, plug in some headphones or you'll wake up the neighbors.
The only practice amp I've ever liked more was the old marshall valvestate, and those are hard to find these days, so this little amp fills that void well.Noah Nicotine

Now let me first state that Guitar Center is the only place I'd buy this from, to try it out and return it to the store. Guitar Center is the BEST. This little amplifier is the WORST. I bought this specifically for it's cabinet output and the fact that it can run on a 9 volt battery. I own four other mini amplifiers, two of them are pedals and the other two are Blackstar Fly 3 (with the extension cabinet.) Here's the crux of my review: The Blackstar Fly 3 is louder and sounds far better than the Orange Crush Mini, even if that Crush Mini is powering a larger speaker cabinet (a 2×10, in this case.) So yes, two 3" speakers in the Blackstar are louder, and the sound quality is far superior to the Orange Crush Mini driving a 2×10" cabinet. The Crush Mini's 3" speaker is unusable, sounds very tinny and is very low volume. Now, I also have two pedal amps that run on 9 volts, an Electro Harmonix 5mm and a VHT Redline 6. The 5mm is amazing, and the VHT is very good also. So if you want to drive a cabinet with a pedal size amp you can put in your pocket, try the Electro Harmonix 5mm. The VHT Redline is also very good and has the added features of an aux in jack and headphone out jack. An adapter cable to use a battery can be had (I have a few of them.) Avoid the Orange Crush Mini, the Blackstar Fly 3 is far superior.John

As others have written, I too chuckled when opening the box. It’s smaller than I thought it’d be. However, it can crank. Teamed it up with an Orange PPC12 and scared the neighbors dog. I appreciate not having 15 dials to create tone. For the price, you can’t pass it up. AMS, amazing as usual, speed, easy pay, secure!Mike

I play a Rockerverb onstage and figured hey I'll grab a micro Terror for the studio when I'm working on demoes and practicing. Everyone raves about how it does the Rockerverb thing so hey why not? Don't bother. At best it's a little practice amp but I honestly like my Hotone Heart Attack better. This terror is kind of scratchy and just a little league sound. I love Orange amps but this one pales in comparison to the classics. I guess you get what you pay for but I expected more than this.jq127

I bought this with a ppc108 cabinet – as my review for that cab says, I was very surprised how good and powerful they are together. I thought I would eventually get a larger cabinet for it, but i would only need to if using it for a live performance with a full band. (might be able to get away with ppc108 with a quiet drummer…) For just playing by myself or jamming with other guitar/bass players it is more than enough. This amp can get you great classic rock tone – but I play all styles of music and generally more jazz and hard rock sometimes into the metal range – and this sounds great for that as well. For full on metal you might want to add your favorite distortion pedal but the tube overdrive of the amp itself sounds fantastic! I haven't tried myself but this thing can drive a 4X12 cabinet pretty well according to videos that I've seen. It really sounds like a slightly scaled back version of a full amp head. for the price you will not be disappointed. You could definitely use this for amateur recording – probably professional recording as well but by then you've probably got a bigger amp. Any one who wants a tube amp to mess around with but doesn't have a lot of money to throw around should check this out – or if you just want something very portable. Note that this is a hybrid, it has solid state power and one tube for the preamp, but don't be afraid, it sounds great! It's louder than you might expect and although with the ppc108 it dosen't have extreme low end, it still has good low tones when used with six string guitars in standard as well as C tuning and I have used it with an 8 string guitar, which flops a little on the low string but with a larger cabinet would probably be fine. I highly recommend this amazing tiny amp. Watch some youtube videos if you aren't convinced. For portability the ppc108 cabinet works very well with this and still sounds very nice, but again you can power larger cabinets including 4X12.valvetuber42

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

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.