Budget Tube Amps

For years, we've been frustrated with the fact that guitar builders have figured out ways to make affordable guitars and basses that have turned out to be fantastic, but none of the amp builders were able to do this. What added to this, was the fact that certain companies had moved home production of amps overseas, but kept prices the same or raised them. In the last couple years, some of these amp builders have gotten a clue and have started to make amps that sound good and are affordable (or at least more so then their higher line production models). What follows is a list of some current tube amps that are available for a bargain when compared to the bigger names.

Bugera

Bugera has been responsible for making copies of some more popular amps, and they don't hide this fact. Their amps are modeled after some world renown amplifiers, and the model names give a big clue as to what they're going after. The 1960 is their take on a Marshall Plexi 1959, but has 150 watts instead of the normal 100. The 1990 is their take on the Marshall 4100 JCM900 head, and sounds quite convincing. It even has the JCM900 love-it-or-hate-it overdrive nailed. The reverb on the 1990 is digital, but doesn't sound sterile like some, think Holy Grail reverb sound. The 333 is their version of the Peavey XXX (they use to have a 6260 which was a convincing 5150 ripoff). The BC-30 may have you believing it's a Vox AC-30 clone, but actually is closer to a Matchless DC-30. The V55HD is one that doesn't exactly have one particular clone, but is compared to a Fender Hot Rod DeVille, and has a MUCH more usable overdrive, and the same digital reverb as the 1990. Bugera has on their website the Tri-Rec which you'd think was their take on the Mesa Triple Rectifier, but is actually more like the Dual. It still has the 3 channels. The Tri-Rec doesn't seemed to available for sale in the US yet, and neither does their BVV3000, which is an Ampeg SVT-CL ripoff.

There were some technical issues in the beginning with Bugera, but seemingly it was a simple fix, and there don't seem to be as many issues with newer ones. The tone of these amps is great right out of the box, but can be improved by replacing their stock tubes (Bugera brand) for JJ's or whatever tubes you're into. Also, they do make affordable cabs, but they have a particle board cabinet, and Bugera speakers.

Jet City

Jet City came about rather recently, and these amps were designed from the ground up by Mike Soldano. Everything about these amps screams Soldano, even down to the SLO overdrive sound. The wording that we got from the forums, is that Mike didn't want to just make amps overseas and slap his name on them like other amp builders are doing, he wanted to keep the lines separate between Jet City and Soldano. For those familiar with Soldano sound, these amps are a godsend! Also, Jet City is using Eminence speakers, like the Soldano cabs and combos.

Orange

OK, now Orange's Crush series isn't exactly a tube amp, but they do have a TH30H head (and TH30 combo) that is all tube, and though it comes in at $1200 street, is still considerably more pocket friendly when compared to their higher-end amps. These particular heads offer 30 watts, which can be switchable to 15, or 7 watt operation, and are 2 channel. The overdrive channel offers one tone knob, but that one knob is more useful than some heads with multiple EQ's. Again,we recommend swapping the stock tubes with a set of better ones.

Marshall

Marshall finally came around to building an affordable tube head in the MA100H. This amp is quite suspect, and the reviews on it are quite negative in regards to the overdrive channel. Basically, our fear is that this head is just a lesser Marshall, and people are just paying for the name. It's hard to assess this head, because the employees of the big box stores hate it so much, they don't have it ready to try. One employee told us that it basically sounds like a Crate. For $800 street, you're probably going to be happier with a Bugera, or a Jet City head.

Another thing to consider is that with cabs by these companies, seemingly all speakers (even Celestion Vintage 30) are made in China, so there's no way around that with standard new speakers. With any tube head, the tubes make a big difference, so if an amp sounds good with bad tubes,it can only get better with good ones. We're kinda split down the middle over who makes the best tubes, but we generally go with JJ's or Sovtek.