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Kustom Defender 5W Class A Guitar Amp: Is this the cheapest 5W valve guitar amp yet?
Introduction
I'm a fan of small, low-power guitar amplifiers for nailing the tone you want at the volume that your neighbours will condone. I know a lot of people give the cheaper models a hard time, expecting top-end boutique tone out of a cheap Epiphone valve junior hot rod. Well that's not going to happen. There's a point to small amps and this new model, the Kustom The Defender 5W Class A Guitar Amp Head Black may have just found a nice niche. Read more »
Bugera V5 5W 1x8 Tube Guitar Combo
Yet another addition to the small, low-power valve amplifiers. I like the idea of the Bugera V5's power attenuator as I know that 5W is still too loud to crank up in your house if you want to maintain relationships with your neighbours. 1W is a good amount of power and I'm not really sure about 0.1W. Only one way to find out, I need to go and find one of these to try. Read more »
Starter Packages
Want to buy a starter package? Well I know you can buy a starter guitar package for $200-$300. But hold on a minute, you don't get much of a guitar for $200, let alone guitar, amp, strap, lead, stand, etc.
I also believe that starter kits can cause more harm than good. You may be buying the package in the hope that the soon-to-be guitarist will learn, but sometimes they're badly set-up and it's almost impossible for the guitarist to get a sound anything like their heroes. A bad experience with shoddy kit can put learners off playing the instrument altogether. I've always advised people against buying the cheapest guitar they can find. Like most things in life, the cheapest deal isn't necessarily the best. Read more »
New 15W Guitar Amplifiers
The last few years have seen a rise in the number of smaller, low-powered all-valve guitar amplifiers. These are great for achieving awesome tone at lower volumes and so we set up the Smaller Amps section. In the last few months, Marshall and Vox have both released small amplifiers; Marshall with their Haze line and Vox with the Nightrain. Read more »
Peavey Classic 30
What we say about the Classic 30
The Peavey Classic 30 has got a tone that some people swear by. Others see it as a poor man's Fender. To be honest, it has a tone of its own that's distinct from the Fender blues amps, but similar enough that you can see why the comparison exists. Read more »
Engl Thunder Drive 50W 1x12 Guitar Combo Amp
What we say about the Engl Thunder 
I used to recommend the Engl Thunder combo as a good all-in-one amp. Actually, I've almost bought one a few times, I thought they were that good. If I had bought one, I'm sure I'd have enjoyed every minute with the amp. In fact, it's still on my list for checking when I want a combo amp for covering a variety of styles.
Orange Tiny Terror Combo
What we say
This is a single channel amplifier so if you need to vary the tone on stage, you'll need pedals to do it. There's not much clean headroom on this amp, even at the 15W setting. But then again, it's not really meant for clean. This amp basks in the glory of overdrive. Use a guitar with humbuckers and you'll end up with bite at any volume. Even the trick of turning up the volume, but the gain right down still leaves an edge on the clean tone. It's never quite clean as clean should be. Read more »
Blackstar HT-5H and HT-110 Mini Half Stack
What we say about the Blackstar HT5 stack
I wish this amp had been around when I was first learning how to play guitar. It's great for bedroom usage and beyond. I'm convinced this would have been at the top of my wishlist had it been available then. Read more »
Matamp Minimat II
The Marketing Blurb
New for Summer 2007 is the revised Minimat. We've taken the old version and added an all valve booster. It's still controled by the footswitch. We've added a master volume so you can take advantage of great sounding preamp gain, or use the attenuator to run the master flat out and get power valve overdrive at sensible levels.
More details will be here soon...but unlike the Little Rock you'll still be able to get custom options like vinyl and gold plating.
There will also be a 1x12 combo version with reverb but without the boost. Read more »
Blackstar HT-5 Combo
What Blackstar say about the HT-5
The HT-5 is the ultimate studio and practice amp, packing all the great tone and innovative features of the award-winning HT valve pedals into a two channel, footswitchable valve combo. The patent-applied-for ISF (Infinite Shape Feature) circuit gives you infinite adjustment over the characteristics of the tone control network and takes you from the USA to the UK and any where in between. So now you can effectively design your own tone and finally find ‘the sound in your head’. Read more »
