Looking at the Inside of the Monoprice 15-Watt TUBE amp

get the Monoprice 15-Watt Tube Amp:

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[thseed]

Add a disclaimer about how dangerous it can be to touch anything inside the Amp.

[johnstrandberg]

Mine failed after 70 hours. Got a warranty replacement. Same problem with the replacement after 200 hours - noise-buzz-squeal. Decided to try tube replacement instead of second warranty claim (2 week warranty replacement turnaround). Replaced V1 (12AX7) no change. Replaced V2&V3 (12AX7s) no change. Replaced V4&V5 (EL84 matched pair) fixed. 300 hours later now. All good. Each tube was $20. Matched pair EL84s $40. Overall with new JJ tubes it does sound a bit better. Good amp and amp design/copy. I think in my case they just had a bad batch of unbranded EL84s. I find no complaints on this amp. This was my experience. I really like the amp. Good luck.

[michelmarleau]

Hi Landon, I'm a retired electrical engineer. The board assemblies are very good. Little details like blobs of glue securing the caps to the board to prevent vibration failures is very good. Most of the cost is in the speaker (Celestion 70/80), not my favourite but ok. They used to stuff V30's in there I believe. Transformers are costly but I can't tell anything about those. If the amp works well, they're probably good and will last forever. If they get too hot, it could be a problem down the road. Next is the tubes. I can't tell if there are provisions to balance the bias for the tubes from just looking at the pcb. For the money I think you can't go wrong.

[danielpayne]

Uncle Doug did a run through on the 5watt version and didn't have much bad to say about that one

[spookshilljoe]

I have one of these for 3 years now. I changed the speaker for an eminence Patriot texas heat and it made a big difference. Still the same tubes and not one problem. It came with JJ 's. Probably my best purchase with tube amps.

[pmre]

I use 2 of these in stereo. Bought a couple years ago, no problems at all so far. And a while back Darrell Braun (DBG) did a video where he swapped the 70/80 for 2 more expensive Celestions, I think a Greenback and a Blue Alnico, and did sound tests to see if a higher end speaker would improve the amp. After listening to them all, I found that I actually preferred the 70/80. So I'm real happy with my purchase.

[gerrykavanagh]

The lighter green is because the board is single-sided and has no solder-mask on the unsoldered side. Honestly, these amps are good for the money. They do have some potential failure points - tube sockets mounted directly to the board being the main one, but all in all, not terribly badly designed

[smflyboy]

I’ve had mine for almost ten years and it sounds excellent and I’ve never had a problem with it. I have a Mesa Dual Rec, and a Mesa Rectoverb 25, and a PRS DGT 15 and while this amp is not as good as those amps it’s a great practice amp for home and sounds fantastic at low volumes. For the money, I am super happy with it.

[claudedesautels]

have two for 4 years, I put a Eminence Wizard red coat in one, best tube amp bought in 50 years. no problem

[Seabro-tabl]

First one I received in 2023, was DOA. Wouldn't even turn on. Replacement, no problem. I thought it sounded OK, but I noticed the tubes that I was told were JJ's, had no markings on them. Replaced all 5 with new tubes from tube depot and wow, what a difference. I also added a 3 spring reverb. I then bought a Monoprice speaker cabinet for around $170.00 (good deal), that came with a Celestron Vintage 30 and put that speaker in it. Don't know about the quality of the components, but it's at least a good amp for modding.

[MrMojabo]

Love mine. Speaker change is all 30 watt 70 Anniversary. Mines is steady and ready. Board goes in front. Play it with people who say hey that amp sounds great. Cant beat the 1 watt setting dimed on volume 2or 3 on gain.

[andymarshman]

Kudos to the designers for securing the pots and jacks securely with hardware. They didn't cut corners and just have those components soldered directly to the circuit board, vulnerable to the forces of pushing in cables and ultimately fracturing solder joints.

[jonthomas]

Hey Landon I am on the search for new speakers to try.

I do not mind the 70/80 at all, it is a decent speaker and did not really get anything "special" by plugging it into my 2x12" with the vintage 30's.

Creamback, Hempback, Cannibus Rex, G12t 75?

The electronics are what you can expect in a sub $600 amp. I suggest you check out the guitaroligists or other repair video channels to see what makes these things tick! The main benefit of hand wired is the ability to fix it 20 years down the road or make modifications. Most of the repair guys hate it when you surface mount hot tube sockets to the board. Heat kills the components next to the tubes and testing or replacing the tiny transistors is beyond most of us.

[tomd]

Had mine for quite a few years, gets a lot of play home and out, even did a couple outdoor gigs, when the marshall crapped out.
Put a greenback and some nos tubes in, never had a problem.
It’s a Laney, it’s a Great amp!

[ChengLi]

as often mentioned: it is a laney cub 12r and the laney comes with quite the same preamp like the jcm800. ❤ and the stage right is labeled in germany with harley benton. 😅

[blues]

I’ve had mine for a few years now but I’ve never taken it out to examine the components. Thanks for doing this Landon and informing everyone. 👍🎸

[mrwiggles]

I've built/designed a couple of amps in my day and I'm gonna level with you, electronic components are cheap... like dirt cheap. Unless you are getting some marketing based bullshit capacitors or out of production germanium diodes etc they aren't gonna be very expensive. Even in higher end amps. What you pay for is R&D, brand names and labour costs.

The parts that you do have to spend a bit of coin on and likely where they saved their money are transformers, speakers, cabinetry. pots and switches can vary in quality too.

[otari]

I'm an EE (Electrical Engineer)...been designing electronics for decades.

The PCB material is known as FR4 and is extremely common. The on-board components are typical. From the quick view here, the overall assembly and wiring also appears typical and very likely meets quality requirements of industry standard IPC-A-610. Products like these also need to comply with CE, TUV, UL etc.

[patrickinsocal]

A big thank you for all the knowledgeable and helpful comments in this section! 👍

[johnosborne]

This is a Laney Cub 12R. When I found the schematic on line, it says Laney right on it. It is a fabulous amp. Admittedly, the QC isn't awesome and you can get a DOA one. I bought 4 at a local auction for about $50 each, I got 2 of them working flawlessly so far. I replaced the tubes and have put all of my many other amps away. This is an absolute gem. I continue to discover new, amazing tones. It takes pedals exceptionally well and even sounds great with my HX stomp with Amp and Cab sims turned on. If you're looking for the best deal on a great tube amp with an effects loop and reverb tank, this is the one to get!