Guitar Amp Hissing Noise For Sale (2024 Update)

If you're expecting an amazing Marshall sound, you might want to invest in some of the bigger amps Marshall has to offer. If you think you can get a concert level sound out of this little guy, you will not be the happiest person. However, that level of "high" expectation would not be very reasonable or even realistic for such a little amp. This is a very cute, small amp that will help you plug your guitar so you can practice quietly in any room in your house without annoying your wife. It will distort if you crank the volume all the way out, and if you're used to the full sound of a bigger Marshall (like I do) it might make you feel like you're hearing your guitar over an old telephone (just my opinion). However, if you calibrate your instrument volume & tone you can find a happy medium. With that said, for the price it is a very nice solution to practice and if the sound seems too weak for you, you have the choice of putting headphones. I personally use it just for practice on the fly, it serves it purpose, but then again I was not expecting the best sound output. So I am happy with the purchase.BeeZee

It's basically a toy amp. I can see it being used as a portable amp for non-serious performance. Personally, I like it for a quick jam and for (relatively) quiet practice in my apartment setting. Won't disturb my neighbors but it does get noticeable at the highest volume. That and the overdrive knob are the two main controls. By default it just does a clean sound but overdrive lets you toggle in some gain for that distortion. It has a good look that definitely models after its bigger brothers.Rick

I don't know what some of you guys expect from this thing, but be realistic: it's an inexpensive 5 inch tall, 1 watt amp. It's not designed for anything but sitting in a chair and entertaining yourself or a couple of people. Within that context, I enjoy this thing and sometimes get it off the shelf and play around with it for awhile. Also, when I owed somebody a 1 minute long riff for his podcast and my main amp was getting some regular tech service, I plugged my American Standard Strat into this thing, mic'd the amp, used the OD channel with the volume and tone both on 10, played the part, then added tons of bass, reverb, and chorus to it in post, and it sounded great and nobody ever knew that I recorded the part using a 5 inch tall amp. It is what it is as long as you don't expect the world.Steve

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

The amp is built from a good quality plastic. It's pretty cheap, it's Marshall and it looks like a reduced copy of a real Marshall stack. The clean sound is not bad but I couldn't manage it to make a good distorted sound like I've heard on YouTube videos. Compared to other similar compact amps, the sound is not really great.yurersho_4

OK I will write something none did about use of this "amp", at least I didnt notice so sorry if someone wrote that : I checked on some gear forum question from a guitarist–he tried to connect this MS-4 to his amp as preamp boost, he said he got no sound, sohe got advice to mod thing(you have to open back of amp and solder certain jumper to get direct out–but headphone is not usable after that !)And one guy told that he got sound through headphone to another amp but it was nogood sounding ! So…both was wrong, first of all I quite intensely play and practice guitar every day, now some about sound…So :1. You have to put jackin just a half cause headphone out is stereo, 2.I have plugged thing to my Bugera 5V–5watts tube amp-which have excellent sound just lacking little push…so this MS-4 have provided that push, it serves excellent as a preamp boost and gives to your amp (specially good if you have dark sounding tube amp) Marshall caracter, so amp turns into Marshall and rally sound as you are playing tube Marshall amp–no kidding here, crystal clear strong punchy cleans and also with this you can overdriven tubes really nicely, great also to give you lead channel! So you dont need boost predal if you use this for an amp ! And you dont have to mod this amp, just use this headphone thing ! You can use micro cube roland in same way–rec/hedph out to another amp ! Then you dont need effect pedals and sound greeeeat ! The same with this MS-4–your amp becomes Marshall !! Is that good enough ?Kailash soundz

I had to make myself stop playing this Amp long enuf to write my review. This 30 watt 1 X 12 Celestion V30 Tube Stack simply Rocks my World! Bucket List item for me! Always wanted a Tube Stack with a creamy rich mid – range and a narly distortion channel. Foot switch turns reverb and overdrive on and off. 3 band EQ, 1/4" speaker cable. I love me some pedals and they blend well with this Amp. Quality build. Simply the best Amp my Guitars have played. Jazzmaster , Kramer and Mike Rowan all sound amazing. Arrived quickly in sturdy and well packaged shipping cartons. Guitar World review was spot on. peace, MarnyeMARNYE

Very nice tones from this amp, clean or dirty! I have been using it mic’d with a 609 clone, haven’t had the chance to crank it yet. I use a roadhouse Strat and fine on the dirty channel with the gain at 5 I can get a great, clear cleanish tone, and then hit the Strats preamp and have some nice grit! Not fizzy fuzzy grit, but nice organic breakup that is very pleasing to the ear. I run a TC Plethora in the FX loop and get great results, no jump or drop in volume, just sounds natural. For some extra gain I use a Boss OD200 into the front of the amp, glorious!! Quite surprising that an amp of this build and sound quality is available at this price point but it is and I’m glad I pulled the trigger on it. Looks to be plywood for amp cab and speaker cab, nice touch. All this and a V30 speaker! I don’t know when or if the speaker will “break in” but I’ll be using the amp mic’d most of the time so it may take awhile, and honestly couldn’t imagine it sounding any better! Only had it a few days, and haven’t moved it since I set it up so I can’t speak for how long it will last in the long run, but fingers are crossed.Ronald

Just received my stack on 3/16/20. Packaged great!. Overall build quality is very very good no particle board here all real solid wood cabinet for the head , speaker with a nice ply baffle I think it's 3/4 ". Light weight. Asthetics ,cosmetics tolex and Grill cloth with piping perfect. Reverb is digital no tank or Springs here it is not tube driven. Bright switch works great pedal for Reverb and gain Channel works great extra-long cable to connect the head to the cabinet with power cord great. Clean tones on this amp whether a low or hi channel are amazing . kind of somewhere between vox/ marshall cleans. Definitely Fender sounding w bright switch. Gig Worthy!. Loud amp!. Digital Reverb is okay. You must turn it up to around 4 or 5 to hear it. It's clean channels are where this amp shines . On the gain channel, Ican get some good tones but not super high gain here more in the classic rock 1960- 1970's tone. Great but no super High gain. Kinda on the thinner side, Not very Fat. 3 chinese 12ax7, ( maybe a swap out in this area may give better tone), all 4 el84 Are Eurotube JJ'S!!!! So happy to see this. Celestion V30 spkr cab sounds great, full with depth. Classic rock tone!. Highly recommended..strange looking chinese power tnsfrmr, but Ot looks good. Voiced similiar to monoprice. 15 watt duel el84 model, but not as aggressive. Blows away the Bulgara V22.. Etc. Nice product monoprice!New User

Two hundred is about your bottom dollar for a tube guitar amp. This is a real deal 2 large bottle push-pull guitar head. Not only that, it's two channel with a lead boost. The amp actually looks better in person than the white washed stock photo. Solid value.nbrothergtr

I'm running this through a 1×12 Bugera cab (which to my ear is a pretty neutral speaker, but sounds great). Unless your band plays way too loud this amp should give you enough volume for gigging (even at 25 watts through an 8 ohm speaker). Takes pedals well – all of my drive pedals sound great. The MV50 reacts like my tube amps with a boost pedal in front (Fulltone & Xotic). I really like the attenuator, and at home I play at 1/100 power with the volume at about noon. While this amp has a lot of clean headroom you will start to get some hair when you push it, but in a good way. It's the kind of sound where you can play clean by picking lightly but if you hit it hard you'll hear that you're on the edge of breakup. Not surprising for a Vox, this is not a mid-scooped Fender clean. Mids are present, but not pushed. It is a warm clean, not sterile or spikey at all to my ear. I've been playing this primarily with a Boss Fender reverb pedal and the tone really is glorious. I don't feel like I'm missing anything from my tube amps. Not a thing. I wish I'd had this thing years ago when I was throwing my back out moving 60lb tube amps to and from gigs. What I don't like. The unit feels very solid, seems like a quality piece of gear, but the mini chicken head knobs on the front feel cheap (a minor complaint). Mainly I don't like how much they have crammed on the back panel. You've got tiny switches for power, flat/deep, eco (shuts it off after 15 min. of non-use) and the attenuator, as well as headphone/line out & speaker out. Once you get a speaker cable plugged in it feels very cramped. I'd much rather that the power switch was on the front. Lastly, I wish I could get 50 watts @ 8 ohms, just for the headroom. This is giggable for me at 25 watts into 8 ohms & still gives you good headroom, but YMMV. I primarily use single coils. With hot humbuckers I don't know if you'd run out of clean headroom or not. With all 50 watts you'd be fine, I'm sure.NE Guy

First – let me say that this is a good, tiny pedal-platform amp, if that's what you're looking for. It has a very good base clean tone and it takes pedals well. I think most players looking to downsize would find this usable. If all you need is a good clean tone – for jazz, say – take a listen to one of these. I find the 4 ohm thing a bummer. I don't own any 4 ohm cabs, and after thinking about jumping through hoops to get all 50w available to me, I decided it wasn't worth it. This amp sounds really good, but at the very least for clean headroom, anyone looking for a pedal platform usually wants to control where the edge of breakup is, or have it totally clean. Beyond that, there's just too much crammed onto the (very small) back of the amp. Tiny switches plus the speaker out jack just mean it's hard to find the on/off switch, etc. Put the power switch on the front so I don't have to hunt for it. After having the MV50 a while I decided to try a DV Mark Micro 50 – and I like it better than the Vox. It's more versatile with 3 band EQ, and I have a full 50w to play with. Overall I prefer the DV Mark – I just feel it suits my clean & light OD tones better than the Vox. But if I had to gig with the Vox I'd be OK with it. Having said that, several months ago I came across a great deal on a Blues Cube Hot EL84 (more Vox-ish tone than the standard) and frankly, it blows the other two away. It's a combo, of course. So I'm keeping the DV Mark as a backup. The Vox has gone. Anyone looking to downsize should give one of these a listen. There is good to great tone in there, depending on your needs. Again – the 4 ohm load to get 50w is a bummer. But not everyone needs that much power. The small box is pretty cute and a cool conversation starter – but for practical purposes something slightly larger would've been a better idea, IMO.Mr. Joe

Great amplifier, especially for the money. First of all it is an amazing pedal platform amp with nice bass and mid response. Everything I've run into it sounds really good, and it's near breakup gain is gain on 10 and boost off. It is most like a JTM45, it has a lot more bass and more active tone controls than later Marshall amplifiers like the JCM900 I previously owned. It doesn't overdrive too much on its own, but if you push it with a booster, it does pretty well. It is loud, even in the low power setting, and to really get it to drive, you need to push the power amp. It also doesn't seem to have as much drive as I remember from trying a 50 watt version, but that may have been the guitar more than the amp. Great value, I would recommend it to anyone looking for what I just described. If you want something that sounds like a Super Lead, Super Bass, or JCM800, this is not the right thing to buy. If you want a great pedal platform or early Marshall sound, you can't beat it.Craig

I've had My Marshall Origin for about 6 months and I've been pleasantly surprised. I've been a Les Paul/Marshall guy for 40 years and I have the hearing loss to prove it but this Marshall has it all. This versatile 20 watt head is the perfect combination of versatility and guts.This Amp is perfect for pedals as it great grand daddies were, I use an J Rockett Archer Ikon Klon clone, An OCD a Tone City King of Blues and an original Electro harmonics LPB-1 booster. I can go from crystal clear bell like tones to Ace's plexi grind to the verge of jCM 800 tones or straight in crank the Gain and get that sweet traditional Marshall tone and attack. Unlike the Marshalls of old the EQ section greatly influences the color of this Head and along with the tilt control which replaces the need to jump channels from the Hi and Lo inputs its all there. The addition of the switchable effects loop is a huge plus as is the gain/Boost control which gives you that little extra edge for leads. Running the amp on full and using your guitars volume and tone controls gives you a lot of versatility as well. The adjustable power out put feature is nice for quiet practice but I prefer to use my Bugera PS-1 attenuator and keep my amp volume on 10, just a personal preference. A suggestion, I've used this head with 1×12 and 2×12 cabinets an it sounds good but when i finally plugged it into a 4×12 this amp took on a whole new personality. The 4×12 let this amp breathe and with the EH LPB-1 driving the front end and a little reverb I had ACE's Kiss alive tone dead on by using the gain boost and a little color from various pedals the tone possibilities a vast. All in all this amp would be a great deal at twice the price, marshall once again did it right.Miggs

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

Great way to get the 5150/6505 style on a budget. Amp tones are usable as is but, I really love hitting the front end with a BOSS SD1 as a boost. Adding 10 band eq into effects loop shapes the tone even more. Sounds great through Celestion V30 and GT75 2×12. 1/4 power switch helps for home volume levels, but I still use a reactive load attenuator.Dave

Dude !! This thing is extremely loud. I play through a 100 watt Marshall TSL100 and this 80 watt head blows it away as far as power goes..I couldn't get it past 4 without it hurting my ears seriously. I returned it because of that reason. It is a very large head too..pretty good sound though and easy to use. You want loud…get this head if not get the combo but you better have a good back !Mike

WAY TOO LOUD for home use..this amp just screams loudness. You will not sound like Eddie using this amp. it is very big and did I say LOUD !? at full power I couldn't get it past 4 playing through my Marshall with VIN30s – 4×12 cabinet. for the money a good LOUD amp a bit sterile sounding playing clean..It went back though so you can decide yourself…oh it has tons of GAIN too…TONS !! almost too much reallyMike

I was looking for a pair of SS amps to gig with (I run stereo reverb), ones that sounded good clean but also had a tube like attack and compression. These TransTube do. Sure they aren't AS good as a tube amp, but they sound really good none-the-less. Better than all my other SS amps. They DON'T have the annoying ultra-high freq, almost ice-picky thing going on that so many SS amps have.I own four of the TransTube amps: the Solo, Rage, Envoy and Bandit. If you're looking for clean tones, this Rage 258 seems the best of the bunch.On the higher end models (Envoy and Bandit), you get to select separate EQ'ing for your clean and lead channels, but I find most of the lead selections not really my taste. But the Rage's three EQ selections all sound good to my ears.The other three models' clean channels tend to start breaking up earlier on as well. With the Rage, you can be almost to full volume before the break-up starts.I did a side-by-side with the Envoy and the Rage. I connected each to a single spkr in my Peavey Classic 50 combo, so both were playing from identical speakers in the same cabinetry.I found that the volume level of the Envoy wasn't really much greater than the Rage, and if you turned them up just to the point of break up the Rage was slightly louder. The Rage is EQ'ed a bit differently, so even the two models' clean channels sounded a bit different. The Rage was a tad brighter, a bit more presence, perhaps a bit less compression. I also noticed that going through the 10" speaker from my cab, the Rage had all the depth and character of the Envoy. In other words, I'm betting the limiting factor on tonal depth with these amps is the speaker and enclosure. I suspect I could plug my tiny Solo up to a warm 12" speaker and get some thunderous bass. I'll have to try that with my Solo and Bandit!How am I using this amp as a clean amp? By running ultra clean, I can more easily make my electric sound like an acoustic (I use an EH Knockout pedal). I also have the option of getting whatever kinda dirty I like, without limiting my ability to play clean – I treat the whole amp as the power-amp stage of an amp and use overdrive pedals to emulate the pre-amp stage, putting effects in-between like an fx send/rtrn on an amp would. I put my dirt boxes in front of my phaser pedal (A behringer PH9 – the cheapest phaser I found, and the BEST one [true bypass, low stage count so it sounds all warm and gooey like the Vintage 74 MXR]). After my phaser I've got a Vox Cooltron Big Ben Overdrive (basically a pre-amp stage from an amp). Then I do my chorus and reverb before going in the Rage.Chorus and Reverb sound MUCH nicer when not overdriven. By putting a tube pre in front of those effects, I get nice glistening effects. I put the phaser before the tube pre because it's a bit bitey and the tube pre smooths the edges a bit. More of a Robin Trower effect that way as well.FrostBottomBoys

Overall: As a studio musician, I get to try dozens of Boutique tube amps for free in return for my opinions and advice. You can spend thousands more and not get better tube-tone or "feel" than this little guy. As another reviewer pointed out, the speaker could be improved but is OK for low volume practice or very quiet jazz gigs, like those where people eat dinner. You can very easily improve the already good tone by plying this through a better 8 inch speaker OR putting the head into a better cabinet with a premium 12 inch speaker. I use both of those strategies. For lightweight low-volume jazz gigs, I bring TWO of these to run in stereo from my stereo effects board. In those, I merely replaced the stock "blue marvel" speaker ( which is not terrible) with a much better 8 inch with wider frequency response and a lower FS. You'd be amazed. I had a woodworking friend build another cabinet that encloses this amp with an italian neodymium speaker. WHOW! You probably won't believe how beautiful and loud this thing gets! So, if you just want a good little practice amp or play VERY quietly, use this as is. These are so inexpensive, you can get two and make a very affordable stereo rig that fits in a rolling suitcase. And if you need boutique low-wattage tube tone, just use this amp with a good 12".Geo

Love the quality of the product. Easy to use and sound quality for the price is excellent. I love buying products from Sam Ash!!!! Selection is great and everyone is knowledgeable and very helpful.Rita

Overall: I’ve been looking for one amp to do it all,and this is the closest I’ve ever come yet. The cleans have a life of their own,it’s not merely lack of distortion but a whole depth and presence,think Stevie Ray Vaughn’s Riviera Paradise,Tin Pan Alley ,etc…Mark Knopfler’s tone,Hendrix’s Wind Cries Mary,yeah it’s that good.The overdrive channel can put out some juice too,pure singing single note leads with a quick attack,and damn good heavy riffage is available,but make no mistake this is no death metal amp.Classic rock yes,Cannibal Corpse no,but I’ve got amps for that stuff anyways.When I removed it from the box,I plugged in the included foot switch,turned on the power and waited for 10 minutes or so for the tubes to warm.I put all the tone controls to the halfway point and lowered the volume to about the number 1 position on any other amp,hit the standby switch and played a few chords on my Strat,it was on the clean channel and sounded glorious!This thing takes some adjusting to get the sound you want,but every move of a knob makes a difference so finding a tone that makes you happy shouldn’t be a problem. The foot switch is nice and silent and the LED indicators for the dirty channel and the boost are super bright. I’ve only had this amp three days and I can’t wait to get home from work and play through it! Definitely worth the money and although pricey still less expensive than the only other amps that approach it’s features and tone. Of course I haven’t had to deal with any warranty work,after all I just got it,but I have the feeling I’m not going to have to deal with that,this thing is solid as a tank.For what it’s worth I highly recommend this thing,it’s a serious amp for serious playersDave

This does everything you would want. Beautiful cleans and ridiculous overdrive. The od channel is the shining star of this amp.Richard

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

My son loves it, I watch the Hughes & kettner on Andertons tv first and then showed him and he found the spirit of rook more to his taste he plays it though a marshal code 2×12 cab.Reviewed by Andertons Music Co.

This little amp is plugged into a Marshall 2X12 and has more than enough volume to annoy the neighbours. But I got it for low volume practice and use it as a clean pedal platform – sounds great with a Marshall Drive Master and some verb, delay and vibe in the front.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.

Seems as well built as the other options I've seen. Better tonal range than Vox and better than having to buy 2 or three devices. First impressions were not that good but as I've used it a bit more I can see me getting more used to it. I probably expected to much and was basing my hopes on the FLY amps. I think the effects are too limited to be worthwhile and would prefer Blackstar to focus on better amp tone. Still, I'm happy with it and for the type of device this is I know of nothing that sounds better. If I lost it I would probably look at the latest options but as it stands this is still the one I would buy. I think all of this type of device are over priced when you consider what a small amp costs but for portable practice in a small space it can't be beaten. This Blackstar amplug is in my opinion the best VFM option available.Paul S.

Amazing bit of kit for the price! Clean, over drive and distortion channels in a small box the amps to headphones perfectly! Can’t really comment on the effects as not really tried them out! But if you need a tiny portable amp that connects to your headphone for practice i would throughly recommend! Just noticed it even has aux in so I can listen to my Fender tutors without having to have 2 different sets of headphones on the go!!! Total novice managed to get it working in 3 minutes without reading the instructions!Mike

I bought this amp on a wim and I'm glad I did. I wanted a light weight little tube amp to lug around to play small gigs with. I'm old and I don't like to bring out amps that are just too loud and bulky. After swapping out the tubes a couple of times to find what my ears liked, it just perfect. I'm not going to tell anything about how it sounds because that would not mean anything. We all search for a individual sound that is on YOUR head. I will day this. The amp is a great platform to mold into that sound we all are looking. I purchased 2 of the single 12" cabs. O opted to do this instead of the 2 x 12" because I wanted to keep the weight down for moving it around. The 18 watts is plenty loud enough to cut through and be heard. I like the amp so much that I use it for every show. I can play small to large gigs with no worries. When we play bigger events I just run into the board but still use the cabs for monitors. So I can hear my rig. The days of having to lug a full 100 watt stack are not needed anymore. So all in all this a great little amp and it will satisfy most everyone with a little adjusting. I also love that tube replacement is just plug and play. It will tell you if your tubes need replacing and it's self biasing.worldtrdex

Classic Hughes and Kettner tones in a little monster of an amp! Plugged it into a 12 x 2 cabinet and DAMN! this thing is beautiful to listen to. Clean or over driven, this amp is a pleasure to play guitar on. However when overdriven the nuanced variances between different guitars are not well appreciated. The overdrive is more muddy and less nuanced in my opinion. Comparing different strat styles here with different pick-up combinations. Tele sounds different. Chambered SG style sounded the same as other strat style guitars with humbuckers. Parker and Ibanez S series with infiniti 2 pickups sounded distinctly different. Have not played neodymium pickups on it yet but I'm hoping that will clear up some of the mud.arcticwynd

Compact size Versatile Great for Home music room. Studio Clean Channel pristine quiet Lead Channel with boost very nice Takes pedals well Built in attenuation 1-5-18W FX Loop nice! Sounds great with 8 or 16 ohm speaker Great valuechhl

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

I should start by telling you all that i play modern metal, not classic rock or anything close. I bought this pedal a few years back hoping to squash out the hiss in my amp due to my use of an overdrive in front of the amp.I used it in front of my amp with a ts9 in its little effects loop. it was very difficult to get the start-stop quick djent style stuff i wanted without a feedback remnant always cutting in. also, there was a noticable amount of cut on any palm-muted notes and really any note played would not sustain naturally. any setting on the decay would not help. but, i had to have the threshold up pretty high to knock out the hiss. you must also know that i am using a horrific amount of gain with a 6505+. I have the post gain maxed out and most other things maxed out as well.After much research and saving, i invested in the isp decimater g-string. this product was on a whole other level. the things that the ns-2 lacked this thing just has. It senses when you are playing, instead of opening a gate when you play loud enough. Even with my extreme gain settings, overdrive in front, booster in the effects loop, and volume all the way up on my guitar, i can start-stop all day long just like periphery and animals as leaders. plus, my palm muted notes fade naturally as do normally fretted notes. Another thing i have recently learned is that the ns-2 manufacturing process uses lead free solder, whereas the ns-1 has lead based solder. This resulted in a big difference in signal integrity, and is very evident if you leave the pedal on bypass and play something, then removeit from the chain, and play something. it darkens the tone alot. In conclusion, if you want play the new styles of metal with all the gain and start-stop, buy the isp decimater g-string or pro rack g.MTloveit

This is a must have if you have a multitude of effects esp. overdrives, distortions at high gains and volume. Any nuance of movement on a string and the cats are climbing the curtains and your pissing off your neighbors 🙂 BUT! with this suppressor your sloppy metal play is crisp and tight full of clarity and your sound is cleaned up. Must have for overdriven metal heads…Azuljay

It's a huge compliment to any pedal board. If your tired of excessive hum, buzzing or just white noise especially when using multiple pedals on a pedal board this is the solution. I mated mine with a BOSS LS-2 Line Selector pedal at the start of my pedal chain so every pedal is covered by it. It allows instant quiet after quick aggressive picking starts and stops while using heavy distortion. It's a "Fire and Forget" pedal for the most part if your running the same gear regularly. It's a must have if you want clarity and certainly worth the space it takes up on your board. It's the magic behind the curtain.kt.precisio-7

I was really surprised at how good this amp sounds. Years ago I tried Line 6 and was not at all happy with the tone; but this is another story. It does take me awhile to dial in a specific classic rock tone, but when I do, it sounds better than any other amp that I've tried. I have tried the Marshall Code, Blackstar id Core, Vox Valvetronix, Boss Katana; as well as some all tube amps. The only other amp that is a close 2nd is the Fender Mustang GTX; also a great amp. The Spider V is fairly easy to operate. It offers lots of choices for amp models and cabinets. I like that it has variations of a mic'd cabinet. The parametric eq is a plus. I haven't played around too much with the effects yet, so I can't comment on that. The only negative thing I could say is that when you're editing a preset and want to hear how it sounds before you save it, you only have a short time before it goes back to the Home Screen. This really is a small price to pay for the quality of the amp and all the versatility it has. I like the App too. Musicians Friend got me a great on this as well; and their agent is following up making sure that I'm satisfied. The funny thing is that I came across this by accident. I placed an order for a Peavey amp that was on back order. I called Peavey multiple times, but they never returned my call. I also emailed them, but they didn't respond to that either. As far as I'm concerned, Peavey doesn't have any customer support.crrkr

Been playing about a year, so my review is from the perspective of a complete newbie. The things I like- Lots of presets, mobile app functions, computer interface, and loads of user created effects available. Nice and loud, but no real basis of comparison to say if clarity is better or worse than other comparable amps. Don't likes- The micro-usb interface. I had to get an adapter and it's just not as good a connection as nearly anything else would be. IMHO, micro-usb is far too flimsy. Connecting to PC is far more problematic than just using the spider mobile app. It's probably a little more complicated than it should be for a beginner, but it's feature rich for the money.Nic T

I had a Line 6 120w amp for years that I regrettably sold a while ago and was looking for another amp. I looked at all the amp reviews I could find and decided that the new Katana was the way to go. I got the Katana home and absolutely loved it but the second day I had it it started a really loud buzzing that I couldn't stop. It probably was an easy fix but the fact is the amp was way too powerful for my purposes and their software wasn't compatible with the new Catalina OS. I returned and started looking again. I saw the 60w Spider V and the price was excellent so I made an on the spot decision to buy another Line 6 and I'm really glad I did. The tones this amp can get are incredible. There are so many amp models and cabs that you can dial in pretty much any tone you want from a crispy snapback country clean to the most vicious heavy metal and everything in between. You can use the presets as they are or you can use them as a baseline and tweak to your own liking or you can start from scratch and build your own rig from the ground up. The controls are intuitive and easy to use but there are some features where you'd have to be a professional to really know how to use or even care to use. The software and the mobile app are so easy to use and give you all the options at your fingertips. The amp comes with a lot of presets that I find are completely useless but there are a lot that are excellent as I already talked about. There are only four empty slots for your own custom presets and I wish there were more but if you use the mobile app you can have your own tone library on there. I bought the FBV3 foot controller so that gives me a lot of flexibility to have various effects. One of the limitations is the lack of good effects though. There's enough that if you work at it you can get a decent sound but there could be some better ones. Overall I would recommend the amp. Don't listen to the naysayers or the amp snobs, it's a quality amp and extremely versatile.Just Plain Joe