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  #1  
Old 01-05-2019, 07:36 AM
lkingston lkingston is offline
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Default Monoprice 15 watt all tube amp.

I just got the most recent (the one with the upgraded spring reverb tank) Monoprice 15 watt all tube. It cost $200 and is just fantastic!
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Old 01-05-2019, 07:46 AM
Dru Edwards Dru Edwards is offline
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I watched a Youtube review a month or two ago and it was positive but I can't recall the specs. Assuming single channel but does it have a lot of gain or mostly clean with some OD?

Congrats!
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Old 01-05-2019, 09:19 AM
CASD57 CASD57 is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by lkingston View Post
I just got the most recent (the one with the upgraded spring reverb tank) Monoprice 15 watt all tube. It cost $200 and is just fantastic!
Had the 5 watter they are no brainiers
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Old 01-05-2019, 09:49 AM
lkingston lkingston is offline
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Quote:
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I watched a Youtube review a month or two ago and it was positive but I can't recall the specs. Assuming single channel but does it have a lot of gain or mostly clean with some OD?



Congrats!


Yes, just one channel. I do jazzy fingerstyle on a floating pickup jazzbox so that is all I need or want. There are separate volume and gain controls so you can the amount of dirt you want. I set it so it is clean when I play softly but so that it has a little grit when I dig in.

15 watts is perfect for the volumes I need. Heck, it sounds fine in the one watt setting! I play acoustic when I gig, but I’ve been listening to a lot of Bruno Major and Emily Elbert and I wanted to start experimenting with that style of soft electric sound.

This amp really sounds beautiful for a soft jazz/blues type of sound. You can also get really dirty but that isn’t my interest.

Construction is is rugged with a bit of a vintage vibe. This amp competes with the Supro Blues King 12, Laney Cub and Fender Super Champ. From what I’m hearing so far, I really don’t believe I would be any happier had I gone with one of those more expensive options.
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Old 01-05-2019, 10:09 AM
bsman bsman is offline
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I’ve got one, and it’s been great so far. Speaker is finally starting to get broken in, and I like the fact that I can get some tube distortion without making my ears bleed. However, I am not confident it would really work in a band situation, but I’m not doing that much these days, so it works for me.
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Old 01-05-2019, 01:48 PM
Steve DeRosa Steve DeRosa is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by lkingston View Post
...This amp competes with the Supro Blues King 12, Laney Cub and Fender Super Champ. From what I’m hearing so far, I really don’t believe I would be any happier had I gone with one of those more expensive options...
These babies get a lot of love over on TDPRI as a less-expensive alternative to the Blues Junior, if you're into that sort of thing they also make great mod platforms, you couldn't build it yourself for the $199 - sometimes less - they're charging (BTW you're getting Ruby Tubes and a Celestion Seventy-80 for that price), and TMK the only reason they went to the front-load controls was at the request of Laney (for whom they produce the otherwise-identical Cub 12). Quite frankly, I've been looking at one of these myself (possibly a second for my wife as well) - while I love my Bugera V22 it scales in at over 50 pounds in its current modified form (about twice as much as the Monoprice - and I'm not getting any younger), the kind of gigs our band does (mostly small room and/or very small stage/setup area) generally don't require the power/weight of my '65 Super RI or Frontman 212R, and I like the idea of both the additional clean headroom and tonal control (not to mention the 12" speaker) over my Bugera V5; got my eye on a sweet decade-old major-brand NOS piece hiding in plain sight here in the Tri-State area , but if that doesn't pan out there's likely to be one (or two) of these in my future...
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Old 01-05-2019, 02:44 PM
roylor4 roylor4 is offline
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I have zero experience with the Monoprice, but have owned 30-40 tube amps - both new and vintage. I had a Laney Cub 10 and it was the single worst sounding tube amp I have ever played through.

Having watched many reviews for the Monoprice and the new videos for the Supro Blues King there is no comparison IMHO. YMMV
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Old 01-05-2019, 03:11 PM
lkingston lkingston is offline
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Originally Posted by roylor4 View Post
I have zero experience with the Monoprice, but have owned 30-40 tube amps - both new and vintage. I had a Laney Cub 10 and it was the single worst sounding tube amp I have ever played through.

Having watched many reviews for the Monoprice and the new videos for the Supro Blues King there is no comparison IMHO. YMMV
I don't have experience with high end tube amps. There may well be more difference than I think. I know that the guitar sound that Emily Elbert gets out of her Supro is freaking amazing. How much of it is the amp and how much of it her amazing touch is hard for me to judge.
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  #9  
Old 01-05-2019, 05:14 PM
Rudy4 Rudy4 is online now
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Hopefully it lasts longer than some of their stuff. After "great reviews" I purchased their top of the line bluetooth headphones. Two replacement pair also fell apart within a couple months of having them so I'd say once bitten twice shy for me.
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Old 01-05-2019, 07:16 PM
lkingston lkingston is offline
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I've had great luck with their cables. Out of a hundred or so that I've ordered, only one was defective and they replaced it as soon as I complained.
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Old 01-05-2019, 08:12 PM
Rudy4 Rudy4 is online now
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I've had great luck with their cables. Out of a hundred or so that I've ordered, only one was defective and they replaced it as soon as I complained.
Absolutely! Their cables are very economically priced and top notch quality. I wish my couple of cable purchases were the only thing I had purchased for them, though.
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Old 01-05-2019, 08:25 PM
lkingston lkingston is offline
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Well, as far as I can tell, this is a really great tube amp. It seems well made and I love the sound.
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  #13  
Old 01-05-2019, 09:29 PM
GHS GHS is offline
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For home use I have been thinking about the monoprice 15amp with the 12" Celestion or the Katana 50...apples and oranges for sure but both seem to deliver what I need. Power step down to 5w - 1w headphone jack, reverb, 12" speaker, light weight package. price within 25 dollars of each other..What do you folks think???
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Old 01-05-2019, 09:35 PM
lkingston lkingston is offline
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I would love to hear them next to each other. One is computer modeling, the other is all tube. I opted for real tubes because some days I think I can hear the difference...
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Old 01-05-2019, 09:44 PM
roylor4 roylor4 is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by GHS View Post
For home use I have been thinking about the monoprice 15amp with the 12" Celestion or the Katana 50...apples and oranges for sure but both seem to deliver what I need. Power step down to 5w - 1w headphone jack, reverb, 12" speaker, light weight package. price within 25 dollars of each other..What do you folks think???
I would vote neither. The Katana has an abundance of features, but does not sound like a tube amp. It does have power to spare though and is cheap.

Look at the Vox mv series or the Orange stuff. My .02 and I have played and/or owned both
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