HB tube amps

[blindwilly3fingers]

Forget my question just read the monoprice description!

[salteedog]

Should be the same as this one I suspect...

[Deleted]

That little 5 watt is interesting - although damned ugly. I could get busy with with some nice hartonbenley covering scheme. The attenuation is nice. I'll bet swapping out the preamp tube for a lower gain one like a 12AY7 could be a good and simple mod. Put it more into Champ territory.

[johnnyo]

I think i will order one!

[Djangle]

I see the Bugera V22 still sells for £245 on Thomann and includes a footswitch. Be interesting to hear a shootout between the V22 and the HB tube15.
BTW This guy swapped out one of the tubes to lower the gain ....sounds pretty sweet

[Deleted]

At 1:30 this guy says the Monoprice fx loop has a line out. Does he mean that it is switchable to be one or the other or is he simply saying you could use the fx send AS a line out? That's a very different thing since it would bypass the power tubes and the character of the speaker unless it has some sort of cab simulation. I can't believe it would. Surely using the fx send AS a line out is going to sound like pants without some degree of amp sim? Maybe that can happen in a DAW instead? Could you pass it through a Tech21 or similar on the way to your computer/mixer?

I have seen several folks suggesting downsizing the 12AX7 to something less gainy so ease the fizzy drive channel on a V22 too.

[johnnyo]

I ordered and will report.

[johnnyo]

Okay guys, my first try with posting image links: imgur.com/a/XJYufp7

[johnnyo]

My thoughts: It looks very nice, much creamier than in the pictures. The sound is very similar to my Fender Blues Jr. Tweed which I eventually sold. I will send the Amp back because:
- I can´t stand the volume knob working like in the fender -> Silence at 1.5, nearly full volume at 2.5, 0-1.5 and 2.5 to 10 not needed.
- 1 Watt mode is very loud (much louder than my DSL5 on 1 W). -> no crunch tones in the evening in a rented apartment.
- the amp won´t produce any nice overdriven tones. When cranking the gain it sounds like a fuzz. i hate it.
- The overall tone is quite muffled (like a Bugera V5 i had and sold), even with bass down and tone at 10.
- I can´t get a nice tone out of it, for me it sounds muffled like covered in a wet towel but at the same time with a shrill high end. No transparency at all. Very unpleasant.

Now, i´ve got a guilty conscience: If i knew i would be EXACTLY like a blues Jr. i wouldn´t have ordered it. Also, i know many many people like this sound very much and get superb sounds out of it (maybe with pedals??). So i am not saying that it is not good. It´s exactly what i don´t like with amps. In general i think Harley Benton could crash the whole Amp market because Amps are even less craftmanship than guitars (where you can discuss about rare woods, patterns, one piece bodies etc.) and in the Amp market there is the same amount of boutique BS. SO i keep on waiting for clones of VOX AC and Marshall Amps which will be great for me.

[blindwilly3fingers]

Thanks for the review and your thoughts johnnyo. Good honest stuff 👍

[Deleted]

Yeah the guy in the video mentioned the fizziness and downsized his preamp tubes. Many Fender folks do the same. The Champ was a prime target for that mod too.

[Deleted]

Check out this video that I just happened to have open when you posted johnnyo.

[Deleted]

Here's a guy doing the preamp gain reduction tubes swap on a Fender Blues Jr.

[Deleted]

YouTube failed to convince me that changing the tubes in the Monoprice made any difference. The guy said he could hear things in his room that I couldn't hear in mine!

[Djangle]