Leem Amplification GA818R Cabinet

The clean tone is ok. Nothing wrong with it for bedroom practice. The break up is a real bright, grainy, vintage overdrive that when I was 14 I thought sounded like ass next to the Peavey Rage's distortion, which was much thicker and more akin to the distortion sound of bands at the time. I recently brought this old girl out of the closet after 10 years to play after I sold my tube and am waiting for a second hand deal to come around, and the input nut broke within a few days. This somehow 'circuit bended' the preamp because the gain knob doesn't work anymore and the amp sounds like it has an old splattery gated fuzz pedal like a Fuzzrite being run into it. It's a different sound to what it used to make if you maxed the gain - way more intense. It's a pretty cool sound that may have some recording application for a real dirty bad lo-fi tone. I'd never get rid of this amp because in this state you'd get $5 for it if that, and the tone it's making at the moment is better than many distortion pedals I've tried (Boss DS-1 etc).

Well, it held up great for several years when I was a kid, but as I said after 10 years in storage it didn't take much for the plastic nut to break. Also, because the input jack is surface mount, I somehow damaged the preamp as well, with surprisingly cool results.

I'll hang onto this for sentimental reasons, and also because it's technically worthless. I haven't played any entry level SS for a while but I'd hazard a guess those amps that come with $150 Squire package deals doesn't sound any better than this did, and it could probably be had for something like $20 used at a pawnshop, letting kids invest more money in their guitar. It held up for those few formative years without a hitch, and didn't sound half bad comparative to my friend's amps with the old DOD Grunge I had back then in front of it. I suppose that's how it should be judged.