8 GREAT Cheap Amps (And 4 to AVOID!)
8 GREAT Cheap Guitar Amps (And 4 to AVOID!)
Today I check run through some great guitar amps, and some not so great. This is something I’ve been asked to do, since I did the same thing in terms of cheap guitars. This is not a review of the amps, I’ve done in depth reviews of all of these amps (links below). All of the amps in this video are still in production, apart from one honorable mention. I hope you enjoy this video, and that it helps you, and maybe saves you a bit of money. I’m not paid by anyone to say any of the things I say in the video, and I’m not selling any of the amps mentioned, just to be completely transparent.
0:00 Intro
1:22 Amp 1
3:40 Amp 2
6:30 Avoid 1
7:58 Amp 3
10:20 Amp 4
12:02 Avoid 2
13:55 Amp 5
16:54 Honorable mention
17:18 Amp 6
19:46 Avoid 3
22:35 Amp 7
26:18 Avoid 4
29:14 Amp 8
Links to the reviews:
Amp 1: https://youtu.be/JXxgjQRtBtw
Amp 2: https://youtu.be/c536E9sT3Zc
Avoid 1: https://youtu.be/Ry22n7XxhIo
Amp 3: https://youtu.be/XXCR6DVEhPQ
Amp 4: https://youtu.be/22YKJKrXPp0
Avoid 2: https://youtu.be/pY2RHopqbPM
Amp 5: https://youtu.be/7oo0Mq3yYAw
Amp 6: https://youtu.be/WzwqFDtXNtY
Avoid 3: https://youtu.be/0wUJgyUHG4Q
Amp 7: https://youtu.be/jXTi1MS0Fts
Avoid 4, review 1: https://youtu.be/pRgUoJqzPv4
review 2: https://youtu.be/MKCCRjmlirw
review 3: https://youtu.be/t55-2fobi-8
Amp 8: https://youtu.be/Ua3opHgAJfI
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#GREAT #Cheap #Amps #AVOID
Originally posted by UCvlPdKSXxjPAQ2jwYgKEJ-A at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r92cswgqOgw
Check out the video on 8 Great Budget Guitars: https://youtu.be/dM9zKKiZoxc
Or check out some of my music: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLNaLwTdlpQNHKlg8ALZfM3AINC20WMp8s
Peavey's overdrive is very decent if there is no much gain.
The guy who OK'd it was a bloke called Stig.
Someone help me out, I have a Starcaster Stratocaster by fender, what is the best amp I can get for it with a budget of like £60. Willing to get preowned.
Have you tried the Gamma Amp
Elmo, I do like your reviews here. I feel like most should understand these are your experiences, with sounds you like, but I tend to agree with you on a lot of these amps being tested. Lastly, I want to thank you for your empicable pronunciations and display of the "American/English" language. Some Europeans are quite frankly, unintelligible. You seem to have a Saxon to Nordic native language, and I am delighted you've done your research to clarify to your audience the fully developed approach.
No pignose love?
I'm an older guy and somewhat old school but recently attended a show where the guitarist used only software amps. They were modeled on the Fuchs ODS and a Friedman Buxom Betty Input directly to mixer. I'm 73, playing since 10. Never heard such a range of quality tones from a rig. It was impressive. And this is coming from one who owns vintage Fenders, ACs and a plexi. Heck they might be for sale soon.
Hi Elmo. Have you tried the bandit with full volume clean channel yet? 😉
That was a really nice shootout of affordable amps. Some expected along with a few surprises! Thanx for sharing this!
What do Tou think about Line 6 Spider 30 MkII?
I've been putzing around with bedroom bangers for years now and I think one I enjoyed so much was the little Vox dc5. compact, great sounds at low low volumes, battery powered – and cheap.
Hey Elmo! Great review. I really liked the way Orange and Joyo sounded but I'm quite confused about one thing: Orange and Joyo are both about 1kg and come with 20W. Other 20W amps (Marshall, Harley Benton…) weight 6-7kg. Why is it so?
Your timestamps are all messed man
I have the Monoprice 15w, which seems to be exactly the Harley Benton, same cab, knobs, speaker, everything, excepted not branded Harley Benton, and wired for US 120vac, which is nice since I'm American. They look like they come from the same factory.
Try the Fender frontman,25,it has reverb,two volumes for distortion.I paid 100 bucks.That was 10 years ago,I bought two..They are great for home,not enough power or speaker is made for practice,but could handle small rooms.
Orange surprised me, but Fender sound is the best!!!
You should do a demonstration of the Boss Cube Street II and the Joyo DC-15s. I’d love to get your input.
Wow, the Marshall Code sounds like a tin can full of angry bees. ????????????
Origin 20 with a decent speaker and closed back cab sounds great to my ears. Marshall’s launch and demo of these amps did them no favours at all. Lots on line regarding dialling it in, since the controls don’t really behave as you might expect. Great secondhand bargains to be had.
Fat disagree on the code. Ive got some amazing tones after dialling it in
The beat at 22:48 you could just add some guitar to that.
Elmo,
Every time I watch your channel, I learn something valuable.
Thank you.
its pretty easy to get a bandit to sound good. maybe you should try turning the knobs? secondly, chugging away on a strat on the high gain setting is pure foolishness.
Not sure how it is with the new Peavey bandits, but with the old ones I have never once used the dirty side. Like you said, it sounds terrible. Wanna try an interesting amp? If you like the tweed sound and can find one, check out an RMS 400 D. Only 20 watts but they really sound nice. Another one that isn't half bad is a Kustom KGA10 fx. Great little practice amp and it has a speaker out and will power a 4×12 cab. Lately I have been messing around with a Behringer AC108 vintager. Yes it is an acoustic amp but personally I think it sounds much better as an electric amp. It is a hybrid tube amp that can be had for about $15 U.S. I haven't payed more than $20 for any of the amps on this list. All used but like new condition. As always great playing. Gotta like someone that gives an honest personal review even if it pisses some people off…lol
I wanted to thank you greatly for mentioning the Roland Cube.On EBay I bought the guitar and bass amps.The guitar has great sound and effects. Haven’t did much with the bass amp but it’s cool to have 4 little speakers and a built in metronome.Thanks again.
Anyone else think avoid number 2 sounded amazing?
as always, helpful video. thanks. yeah even though its a couple years old, still good info.
i have three keepers and one notso…
Bugera G5 infinium. five watt tube head. clean and OD channels are great. reverb is outstanding. very good built in attenuation, AND headphone compatable. was ~300 bux. prob more now.
Monoprice( i think it gets the harley benton tag in europe…) 5w tube combo. 8inch speaker is pretty good. and there is a speaker out port on back. built in attentuation is ok. 120bux a couple years ago. great deal.
not as good, but still usable, johnson 20w tube combo. not made anymore. replaced 10inch speaker, helped alot. onboard reverb is very good. gain knob does very little. speaker out combines with inboard speaker. odd, but kinda usable.
the best i have is a Wang's 5w tube head. scored a great deal, 220bux new… simple but useful controls : b,m,tr bright switch choice of tube or ss rectifier(great difference in sound and feel !). built in 110/220v acceptance. 8/16ohm speaker outs. A GREAT AMP ! controls are very impactfull. takes pedals wonderfully. sounds so clean and does not lose precision when you force it to be dirty. i consider this a very lucky/great purchase.
You missed the Blackstar Id Sore Stereo 40. the original version which I I have one I got used for under $100 US and the Starcaster "Strat" I got a year later both from my Local 'Music-Go-Round. I did an extreme mod/build of the guitar. 3 quad rail humbuckers wired like a Les Paul with P/P pots for coil splitting and one of the tome pots also P/P to activate the neck and bridge Pickups together regardless of the 5-way switch position all mounted in the custom hand made stainless steel pick extended pick guard to hold all the extra controls and the output jack too… all grounded through the steel of the pick guard … Les Paul '50 style wiring with a third pair pf pots and hmbucker added.. coil splitting and bypass gives this guitar so many variables and combinations that I haven't yet calculated just how many I can get. lets just say it's a whole lot. the pick ups average about 18.5 k-ohms each and split to around 8-9 K each. each has 4 coils so even split are still humms but sound like single ciols split. the way i wired them for splitting active coil toward the brudge side of the pick up. I may add leds for active coil indecators using the opposite sides of the P/P switchon the vol [ots for the led circuit… each side of the P/P being independant of each other… so usefull for my needs. that's a lot of wiring to solder and route.. I have a plan that will work the way I want it to. … Oh what fun this will be to play and show off.
My code mames my fender soun like a sick Sears and roebuck
I HATED my peavey 112 bandit it sucked
7:12 Elmo turned into Jens Kidman
I've had all these amps except joyo which im about to buyi'm just weighing up the Jackman II or the Zombie II, I agree with you about most of them, the Marshal origin 20 was a stellar amp if your a peddle fiend but you got to weigh it up against the DSL 20 which is a great home amp which I loved I had both at the same time and I just didn't play the origin, the fender lt20 really great practice amp and killed the code but if you got the money the GTX50 I loved, I disagree with the katanas they are great amps the 50 and 100 you can get some Good sounds out of them. I'd like to see you do more of these multi reviews like best/worse mid gig Amps, and the best/worse 100 watt+ heads and cabs great video man