Members Verne Andru Posted October 5, 2016 Members Share Posted October 5, 2016 I've been on the lookout for a small tube amp for my son so he can stop using mine. I noticed an Epiphone Electar Tube 10 on Craig's List for cheap and passed the link along. A day later he showed up with it and I must say, it's a little sleeper. From the top, I've never heard an 8" speaker I've liked. And while the Tube 10 is one of the best 8 inchers I've heard, it's practice and emergency use only. So what's to like? Quite a bit, if you view it as a 10 watt, Class A tube head with an aux speaker rather than as a complete amp in itself. First, it's one of the few class A amps running a 6L6. That's a big piece of glass that's responsible for driving the power section of many classic Fender amps. The pre-amp, and the amp does have a pre-amp out jack, runs off a 12AX7 with a three knob tone stack - very nice. Initial tests show the pre-amp to have a nice rock and roll level of gain - and the separate gain and volume knobs round out the well thought out control panel. Really nice higher gain when pushed with hi-gain actives or a clean boost after the guitar. The designers also provide a speaker out jack that defeats the internal 8". Plugging into my 10" Eminence Lil Buddy hempcone speaker brought the Tube 10 to life. Gone are the anemic mid-ranges that go with the 8" speaker format. I'm going to mod the Pre-amp Out jack to turn it into a Preamp Out and Return, making it an FX loop like on my V8. Otherwise, it's pure rock and roll tube tone on the cheap! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Chris Loeffler Posted October 6, 2016 Members Share Posted October 6, 2016 I had one of those, and regret letting it go. It never got used, but it did sound great and I felt it'd get some killer recorded tones in a bright room. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators daddymack Posted October 7, 2016 Moderators Share Posted October 7, 2016 The speaker in that Electar is probably one of their 'special design's...special=cheap...put a MOD 8" speaker in it and it will sound ten times better [i did this in my Valve Junior], and put a fresh set of quality tubes in there as well.... Epi has made some interesting amps over the last decade or so...the Valve Junior for one, which is almost legendary as a mod platform [i'm in the process of modding mine yet again]. It's siblings [Valve Senior and Valve Special] did not fare as well in the marketplace. The Century is a neat looking amp, it sounds pretty good for what it is, and if they had put the controls in a ergonomic spot instead of in the bottom of the back of the amp [i'm sure this was based on the original design from the '30s, and many amps into the '50s were done the same], it would fare better as well. I found a used Epi Galaxie 10 [10W with a 10" speaker] a year or so back which I use for rehearsals with my 'alt.' band. A re-tube and a speaker upgrade made it come alive. It has a master vol/gain combination that works reasonably well, and takes pedals well. It won't keep up with an aggressive drummer in a large room, but works great as a practice amp. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Mikeo Posted October 7, 2016 Members Share Posted October 7, 2016 I have one of those Gibson Goldtone Les Paul Jr (GA 5) amps here at the house. It has and 8" speaker, which was designed by Weber for that amp. There's not much too it, and it's all PTP with a el84 power tube. I like it hooked up to my pedal bard and for recording. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators daddymack Posted October 9, 2016 Moderators Share Posted October 9, 2016 well, yeah, but that is a totally different beast... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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