I got an email from Monoprice yesterday with a code for 15% off site wide so like the idiot I am I started browsing there site so I found this amp marked down from $279.99 to $237.99 w/the 15% off and free shipping as well. Grand total $216.45 so I bought it, anyone have one of these?
https://www.monoprice.com/product?p_id=611815
I just copied and pasted this from my reciept.
Stage Right by Monoprice 15-Watt 1x12 Guitar Combo Tube Amp with Celestion Speaker and Spring Reverb 1 $237.99 $237.99
Subtotal : $237.99
Discount : -$35.70
Shipping & Handling Cost : $0.00
NC Sales Tax : $14.16
Grand Total : $216.45
Monoprice 15 watt tube amp
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Partscaster
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I recommended one to a friend who was getting started in electric guitars. It sounded good, especially for the price.
"The man that hath no music in himself, nor is not moved with concord of sweet sounds, is fit for treasons, stratagems, and spoils. The motions of his spirit are dull as night, and his affections dark as Erebus. Let no such man be trusted."
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toomanycats
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One of my guitar students owns the Monoprice 15 watt amp and brought it to my house for his lesson because, like you, he wanted an opinion on how it sounded.
I was very impressed, especially after he told me how little he had paid for it. For sure, it's not a metal tone, or even a hard rock tone, but it is unmistakably a tube guitar amp tone highly suitable for blues and classic rock. It had real spring reverb too.
If you wanted to upgrade you could replace the Celestion 70/80 speaker with something like a Greenback and experiment with different tubes, though I could see myself gigging with this amp as is (micd if with a drummer) and not feeling handicapped.
I was very impressed, especially after he told me how little he had paid for it. For sure, it's not a metal tone, or even a hard rock tone, but it is unmistakably a tube guitar amp tone highly suitable for blues and classic rock. It had real spring reverb too.
If you wanted to upgrade you could replace the Celestion 70/80 speaker with something like a Greenback and experiment with different tubes, though I could see myself gigging with this amp as is (micd if with a drummer) and not feeling handicapped.
“There are only two means of refuge from the miseries of life: Music and Cats!” Albert Schweitzer
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redman
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I've always found the cheap Chinese tube to both have not so good tone and life is not as long as others. I haven't bought any tubes in a long time so I went surfing and found EL84's around $30 and 12AX7's about $25 so I declined to purchase them didnt wamt to put $150 worth of tubes and $150 for a better speaker in a $200 amp for me it kind of defeats the purpose. Anyway @toomanycats you are 100% right those 2 things would definitely be the best way to improve tone.toomanycats wrote: ↑Tue Sep 06, 2022 7:49 am
If you wanted to upgrade you could replace the Celestion 70/80 speaker with something like a Greenback and experiment with different tubes, though I could see myself gigging with this amp as is (micd if with a drummer) and not feeling handicapped.
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JimyTheAssassin
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I’ve never played one, but I can’t say I haven’t been tempted. The 70/80 speaker does get decent reviews from many players even though it’s often dogged because it’s such a staple offering in cheaper amps. I can certainly understand desiring a change in tone from a different speaker though. It’s fun to swap them and easy to do. I like buying used or rebuilt speakers at a discount. Check out hempopotamus on reverb. I have a couple 10” speakers that were rebuilt warfefale alnico speakers With celestion cone and spider, and US parts. I love ‘em.
For tubes, I would cruise ebay for a single great tube to put in V1. Dangeruxb is a seller I would recommend who tests his stuff and doesn’t sell jive. The preamp tubes should last a lifetime. El84s just don’t last forever so it’s a bygone conclusion in any amp that eventually you’ll be replacing them down the road unless you can lower their bias to last longer. I wouldn’t sweat it though, or feel like it’s a liability in a cheap amp. You probably have a long time before they’ll need replacing. I’d spend on a preamp tube long before a power tune in this situation.
Cool amp though. It’s a lot of bang for the buck. My only advice would be to make sure to take it extra easy on the input Jack, as with any PCB mounted input. Otherwise enjoy!
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For tubes, I would cruise ebay for a single great tube to put in V1. Dangeruxb is a seller I would recommend who tests his stuff and doesn’t sell jive. The preamp tubes should last a lifetime. El84s just don’t last forever so it’s a bygone conclusion in any amp that eventually you’ll be replacing them down the road unless you can lower their bias to last longer. I wouldn’t sweat it though, or feel like it’s a liability in a cheap amp. You probably have a long time before they’ll need replacing. I’d spend on a preamp tube long before a power tune in this situation.
Cool amp though. It’s a lot of bang for the buck. My only advice would be to make sure to take it extra easy on the input Jack, as with any PCB mounted input. Otherwise enjoy!
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AGF refugee11/30/08-5/28/20 (8,502 posts)
Yep. Still can get quite loud even on the 1 Watt setting. It's useable for sure, but I tend to my VOX MV50 on the 1/100 power setting or my Spark Mini.
How would that work, do you have a schematic/design in mind?
I had a prototype VHT Special 6 Ultra with a headphone out, but it was one of the few cheap tube amps I've seen with a headphone option outside of running a resistive load that has a headphone output, like the Weber Mass Attenuator I used to own. (Cost more than I paid for my 1st B-stock 15w-er though...)
The headphone jack on the VHT didn't sound anywhere near as good as the amp or even a decent cheap multi-effects unit like an old Boss ME-50, so I can see why they didn't include it in the production models...
The Weber was good for calming the 50w Silkyn I had, but I sold both due to the Silkyn power supply issues scaring me off.
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10 years, 2 months, and 8 days of blissful ignorance ruined by that snake in the grass Major Tom.
I still have my Silkyn, with new PT and some mods, and am interested in an attenuator.
@honyock Nate, can you please elaborate a bit on which Weber you had, how manageable the volume was with it, and how it affected tone?
@honyock Nate, can you please elaborate a bit on which Weber you had, how manageable the volume was with it, and how it affected tone?
Old AGF since Feb. 2015; refugee of the Great MOMO Purge of May 2020.