Unboxing a Super CHEAP Tube Amp...and it's ACTUALLY Good!

100w Tube amps are usually insanely expensive! Thankfully there are some budget options! Let's check one out!
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[DarrellBraunGuitar]

I always love to feature budget gear on my channel, but I never thought a 100w tube head could be this cheap!
Enjoy :)

[arustydodge]

This arrived this week; purchased on your recommendation. You’ve never failed me in the past. Placed it with a Marshall 4X12. The headroom is Fantastic. The clean channel sings! Clarity and immense volume and presence. The dirty channel really did not impress me at all. Just wasn’t achieving a tone that I believed should be coming from the amp. Went back to the clean. Really enjoyable. The Reverb comes through great, although I prefer my TC Sky Surfer for Reverb that suits me. Placed my Marshall Bluesbreaker pedal in front of the amp, and my pedalboard through the effects loop. This is a game changer for Me! I got all the sound and tone that I use and like with this going through the clean channel. Dunno about the dirty channel. I will have to play around with it. The power is exceptional. The 100 watts truly gives you the sound that you Feel!!!… but for me, on the clean channel. Kinda lengthy, just wanted to give my honest opinion. Thanks Darrell.

[brianpark]

As a Canadian I would just like to say Sorry! Why all the hate on these guys trying to Help out up and comers? Too much hate in the world.Keep up the great work helping the next generation of rock guitarists.We need it.

[vanshankguitars]

I'm still rocking the 15w combo ftom a few years ago. I retubed and rebiased it and it sounds great!

[JenniLudes]

Great review...great sound! I bought a SR 30 head with the 1x12 cab just about 2 years ago. $480. Can't beat it. It does have the full size chicken head knobs (so good there) but has that darned mirror back that makes it hard to read the knob's labels etc. so I created my own labels and placed just below the knobs. Some day I may just screen my own back and put it in there. Anyway, love the amp. I catch some crap from some amp snobs but even they admit it sounds great...even just the 30 watt!

[thefloop]

I would LOVE to see someone as thoughtful and immediately likable as yourself, try and do interviews with people in the music world/industry. I'd be willing to bet your youtube account is big enough that many would bite. **IF** you had the time to do such a thing, I bet fans of your channel would absolutely love it (i know id look forward to every one), and you'd maybe be able to have first-hand conversations with some really cool people in the industry you admire.

I will return on future videos, to likely request the same thing.

[Antitrump]

Why not mentioned the cab your using??

[Amp]

I have the 50 watt model. SB20. I do part time tech work, and I have examined the circuit board, transformers and tubes. The construction was just as good as Fender and other major brands. Time will tell regarding the transformers, although they seem to be adequate to me. They are big and heavy. The preamp tubes are JJ brand. The phase splitter tube is JAN GE, which is good, as the tube is constructed to military specs and is NOS. The outputs are not JJ as advertised, and not 6L6. They are apparently Russian military tubes, 5881. This means they are military spec, which is good. The amp sounds great, but I am expecting the usual problems found in all circuit board power amps in the future. I would wait until the hundred watt amp goes on sale. Monoprice has a tendency to really slash the price of their power amps. I got my $439 amp on sale for $259 with free shipping. They do this once a year to clear inventory.

[robertvarner]

Great video! I bought the Stage Right 50 watt tube combo amp on sale for $399 and I really like it. I use a Digitech RP 300 multi effects unit that has amp modeling and I get everything I want out of it. I may upgrade the speaker eventually but it's alright with what it has for now.

[robertclarkguitar]

With the right cab I bet this would be great If starting out with tube amps and wanting to test Waters. If the QC is on point. Seem the 15 w was a huge HIT.

[neilsullivan]

Hey Darrell:

Can I suggest a Youtube collab video with an amplifier repair specialist, say Lyle Caldwell from Psionic Audio or Terry Dayton at D-lab electronics, so we can see where they cut corners on the construction and what any recommended upgrades would be.

[chaz__]

Something about the drive channel didn't sound right. The clean was pretty decent though. Perhaps this could be set to clean with drive/distortion pedals before the amp?

[ricdale]

Clean has a nice sound but the Gain sounds a bit anemic in comparison. Also the Reverb was quite lush. For the $$$ its a Good value though.

[dappawap]

I always love your videos. This amp has great clean sound. I can honestly say I am even less interested in tubes which need more maintenance and more interested in solid state amps that sound good. You should do a show on t hat!

[rogersonger]

Thanks Darrell!!
One kind correction…
The Stage Right SB20 you mentioned is actually a 50 watt tube amp, not a 20 watt.
It is hard to figure why they chose to make the model name so confusing. I have an SB20 and it is a nice amp. I only use it for cleans. The distortion channel isn’t very good. But I always get my distortion from pedals anyway.

[nachom]

I remember how people would totally dismiss the Peavey Windsor and the B52 AT/St lines which were still cheaper than this and had very solid construction. Now these cheap alternatives are all the rage.

[nomadronin]

I got the 50 watt version, the SB20, for $234 shipped to my door. It’s very similar to a Marshall Origin but with two channels. The clean is very Fender like and the overdrive channel is very Marshall like. Best of both worlds.

[dhelton]

Would have loved to see the top and bottom of the chassis. You can tell a lot about an amp by the transformers and construction.

[Gkm]

I’m giving up on tube amps. Been lugging big heavy amps around for decades. I have three of ‘em. One needs new capacitors at this point. So I’m going to do that, then sell it (fortunately it’s a very collectible amp, and I will not lose money). The other two will be sold within a couple years, before they too need new capacitors.

[neilsnow]

Monoprice has some great amps. Goes to show you don't need to spend thousands of to get a descent sound. A buddy of mine has been gigging with his little 15 watt combo for years now and it sounds fantastic. This 100 is one I've been looking at, it has a ton of gain. Sounds great. Glad to see they made the eq section very useful. I've had amps where you turn the knobs with little audible difference. That can be frustrating when you spend a lot of money on a name brand amp like Marshall and it's barely useable if at all.