Smarvo tube amp, anyone?

[KightTemplar]

HEllo folks, I am gonna get my very first tube amp soon, hopefully.......

I saw in a shop a cheap Smarvo tube amp that cost like USD250 bucks, and it's like 100W! The model is something like VS5012, and it has 3 channels: clean, OD1 and OD2. Each channel has its own gain and frequency plus REverb and Master Vol. The OD2 has a darker tone only, not a higher gain one. The sound is very Marshall-esque and when I plugged a Mexican Strat with my DOD250, there's Malmsteen.

 

I like the tone a lot, but here are some questions:

 

1. Any one tried it before? Are Samrvo amps reliable?

2. The shop guy told me that the tubes are Russian made Electro Harmonix ones. Are they crap tubes?

3. I heard that with tube amps, if you take good care of it, the sound is gonna be better and better as time goes by. IS that true for most tube amps? Or depends on the tubes' qualities?

 

Thank you.

[KightTemplar]

Come on guys, please answer my questions! :wave:

[mc5nrg]

Limited internet research indicates Smarvo is based in Taiwan. Don't know where that particular amp is made though mainland China seems likely if that is a price for a new amp. Otherwise not real familiar with Smarvo.Probably not much distribution in the USA.

 

1) Reliable? Got me. Is there a warranty with this purchase?

 

2) EH tubes usually have a logo. Perhaps they mean sourced from the same manufacturer if there is no obvious brand name.(Many Russian sourced tubes with different brand names and sometimes differences are made by Mike Mathews/usually Sovtek like Sovtek/EH/Current rather than old Tung-Sol/Mullard/etc)

 

3) Not exactly.Tube amp tones can change as the amp warms and is used due to heat and component changes- usually found in older used amps.Sometimes not for the better. All electronics have a burn-in period and sometimes new tubes get better after a period of use but I wouldn't count on a big improvement in tone similar to acoustic guitars "opening up" with playing.