20 Best Wooden Phone Amplifier (2022 Updated)

I’m using this to power 2 subs, bridged. It works as it should but there are a few things about this amp that annoy me, especially for the price. First thing is that I notice a pretty audible hiss from the subs, even at only 60% gain.

It’s only audible at super close range, so it’s a non issue for subs but if running speakers, this hiss may be noticeable from tweeters, so it’s something to be aware of. Next thing is the speaker terminals on rear are a bit flimsy and seem like they could break off easily, so be gentle.

Another thing is that when the amp goes into standby mode when using auto on setting, the amp itself makes a high pitch whine. It’s subtle and those with less sensitive ears may not notice it but it was enough that I decided to just keep the amp on, since it switches off during movie dialogue anyway, even with sub level in receiver set at max.

It barely gets warm (since only running at 8ohms) even after hours of music so I’m mostly fine leaving it on. So I’m okay with it, not annoyed enough to return and search endlessly for a chance at something marginally better but it’s a bit overpriced for the build quality due to these quirks unless I just got one that was rushed through assembly.

Let me start out with the good points. The amp has good audio quality. Static/hiss is minimal and inaudible unless you put your ear right up against the speaker. Standby power use is exceptionally low–my Kill-a-watt measures it at less than 0.

3w. It also has a small, compact size. Now, the big negative: the volume control is located on the *back side* of the unit and is only easily adjustable using a screwdriver. That is a serious shortcoming since it means that in a standalone setup you have no way of easily adjusting the volume.

To change it you have to pull the whole amp out and mess around on the back side! The unit is also lacking balance, bass and treble adjustments, which while not absolutely necessary would be nice to have.

Another gripe I have is that the speaker connections use a phoenix connector instead of binding posts. While I realize this is a compact amp, even smaller mini-amps can be found with binding posts! Finally, the amp has a manual switch between 4 and 8 ohm operation.

This seems like something that should be able to accomplished automatically (indeed other amps do this), and it causes a problem if you’re running a variable load off of the unit. For example, I have two sets of speakers, each of which can be disconnected independently.

When both speakers are being powered it’s a 4 ohm load, but when only one pair is powered it’s an 8 ohm load. Because of the need to manually switch the resistance, this amp can’t handle this setup. My advice to Monoprice would be to either revise this amp or offer a more advanced version which has a volume and balance knob on the front, and which can automatically switch between 4 and 8 ohm operation.

I’d also consider adding A/B speaker output with switches on the front, and bass/treble adjustment on the back side–these features are not absolutely required, but they are nice to have and are offered by comparable amps.

Even if the revised amp cost $20-$50 more the increased versatility would make it worth it. This amp is still a decent choice for the right situation. Just be sure that none of its shortcomings will impact your setup.

I recently grabbed this beauty to use with my array of acoustic electric guitars (Gibson L-00 Rosewood, Martin 000-17E, Taylor 324ce, Breedlove Oregon Myrtlewood Concertina, and Breedlove Premier Adirondack/Rosewood Concert).

I will especially need it when it comes time to play shows again, and I was interested in this amp as it has two channels (one for guitar and one for vocals). The sound is perfect and so true to the tone and nuances of each guitar that I’m mostly just mad at myself that it took me this long to get ahold of this amp.

It is deep and full sounding and also has an excellent grouping of effects (the delay and reverb are stellar). There are more expensive acoustic amps out there (I own one of them) but this is the best that I’ve used.

It will give you absolutely everything that you need to annoy your neighbors or to perform in front of a small-to-medium-sized room full of people.

Overall I’m very pleased. Other reviews have covered most everything, so I’ll just add a few comments. While I love the sound of this amp, it’s pretty under-powered when used with dynamic mics or a passive guitar pickup.

I have a Taylor 712 ce with a K&K mini installed, and it benefits greatly from running the signal into a LR Baggs Para Acoustic Guitar DI and Preamp first. Similarly, a dynamic mic like a Shure 58 sounds fine, but will do much better with a preamp of some sort.

I prefer to use a condenser like an Audio-Technica AE5400. I also have the big brother of this amp, the 200-watt version. I like to take a line out from that amp and run it into the 100 for use as a stage monitor.

The amp sound basically identical, so that eliminates the need for messing around much with the EQ – what you hear is what is going out to the audience. There’s no tilt-back mechanism on the 100 but I find that a foam block like what’s used for transporting a kayak serves as a nice support to lean it on.

One other thing – this is a beautiful amp and deserves some protection. I don’t think that Musicians Friend as of this writing stocks a cover for it, but ione is available at a reasonable price online if you look around a bit.

Bottom line – this is a very nice little amp. Allowing for the gain issues noted above, I’m very pleased with both the 100 and 200-watt versions.

I bought this amp while on tour as a backup and it’s the best clutch decision I’ve ever made. I love the warmth this amp adds to my acoustic, and the effects are great extra addition to my performances.

I mainly use this amp for my acoustic that’s tuned in open D. It gives it all the bottom end that I love! Highly recommend this amp.

-Longevity: I have had this little amp for maybe 5 years and it has been “on” maybe a total of 4 years (I don’t turn it off) as an amp for external TV speakers. It was bought for a TV that had absolutely crappy sound.

I connected to the monitor headphone jack and some nice (low efficiency) DIY speakers. -Sound / power: These drive the 6-1/2 2-ways with ease and louder than I ever want the TV (for me that is much louder than most people).

I do not listed to music through them; I have much nicer stuff for that. Even so, if I tune to the cable music channels to test, I am impressed by the level and overall quality. They get louder and punchier than I ever would use them without any clipping or noticeable distortion.

In testing, I’ve never turned them up to that point since it’s quite loud. It might (might) even be close to the listed 15wpc. -Features: 1. plugs into house voltage with no adapter needed. 2. easy rocker switch for power (that i just leave on).

3. easy volume knob (that i just leave at about 2/3 power). 4. simple RCA inputs. I use a simple adapter to go from headphone/aux plug to RCA male. 5. nice metal construction with some heft to it and rubber feet (it does not move around).

-Overall: this little amp has performed better than I expected for much much longer than I expected. I am buying another one for another TV with inadequate sound. Mating it to a pair of Dayton B452AIR bookshelf speakers that I will likely throw an inductor into as a 1st-order low-pass XO on the woofer.

The little power light is a bit obnoxious at night. I have a piece of dark tape over it.

If I could give this less than 1 star, I would. First of all, it’s NOT a Walmart problem, it’s Pyle’s. I got this amp before Christmas and used it a couple of hours. It started to buzz thru the speakers.

Had a audio tech check it and he said the problem is in the amp. I work many hours thru the Christmas rush and didn’t have time to take it back to Walmart. After the holiday rush my return time to Walmart was over so I contacted Pyle.

Sure send it back to us, postage paid BY ME $13. 65. Wait 3+ weeks for it to come back and told nothing wrong with unit, check your installation. Daaa, I did that before I yelled HELP. Well they did something to it without admitting to their problem, because the buzz is gone.

Never reimbursed the $13. 65 and lied to me about the repairs. Pyle warranty is a joke. Again, this IS NOT WALMART’S FAULT. Walmart is a fine store with GREAT customer service. Just don’t buy Pyle products unless you want to pay them for their warranty.

Not me anymore!.

I’ve had this amp for about a year now and it still sounds really nice. I don’t have much to compare it too, a few cheap shelf stereos of varying power outputs and a small Class D 2x8W amp board also sold here.

It’s a Class AB amp based on the TDA2009a chip from what I could see under the cover. It has a warmer sound then then the Class D amp, driving the same speakers this amp sounded smoother and not as shrill/fatiguing as the Class D.

It could not drive the same speakers as loud as the 2x8watt amp but if you look on the Pyle website you would see that the real rating for this amp is only 2x3watts. While it wasn’t as loud as the other amp it was better able to control distortions at high volumes compared to the other amp which would start clipping.

Once you figure in the stuff like a case, volume pot, and power supply this amp is a better value. Compared to the cheap shelf stereos it had better fidelity, not as stark as compared to the Class D amp but it still sounded better to my ear.

It was lacking in power compared to a shelf stereos but that was no surprise. This is not a window rattling house party boombox, it serves better as a small desktop amp. I also like the simplicity and size of the box as oppose to having some big garish stereo with a cd/tape/radio/million buttons/giant shiny speaker boxes/etc.

sitting on my desk, instead it’s just the small box sitting under the monitor and some nice small stained wood bookshelf speakers of my own design. Overall I’m very happy with this amp.

At first I was disappointed because I was having trouble keeping the phone support and the magnifying screen upright. After practice, though, I’ve enjoyed using it for online fitness and dance classes, and I expect to set it up on the wide windowsill next to my treadmill to stream shows.

It’s actually quite cool.

Bought this for my mother (who is 82, and loves to watch YouTube videos on knitting on her phone) and she loves it. The quality and clarity of the magnified picture is excellent. I would recommend this product wholeheartedly.

I absolutely Love this item do not know how i managed without it. Whilst on night shift I can put my mobile on the stand and be watching my Netflix or sky or whatever I wish like I am watching TV at home – excellent – Well done Inspire.

Previously I used my cell phone only for absolutely necessary phone calls because i could not hear well at all on phones. Conversations were frustrating for me and awkward for the other person because they had to repeat things.

often a couple of times. This product solved that problem. It was easy to pair, and after charging the battery initially I soon had everything set up and I was on the phone testing it out. I got amazing results.

I prefer the speakerphone option because I wear hearing aids and like that better, but I’m getting accustomed to placing the device next to my ear, too. It has made all the difference in the world. I am very pleased and would recommend the product.

I may actually learn to like talking on the phone again after years of avoiding it whenever possible.

I rarely write product reviews, but in this case I’m making an exception. Before I purchased this amplifier I rarely was able to make phone calls on my cell phone, Hear All changed all that. The amplification is more than adequate; in fact, it is so loud you may need to consider that other folks will be able to hear your conversation.

That said, the volume control comes in handy, both on the amplifier as well as your cell phone itself. You can leave your cell phone on your desk or in your pocket and simply use the amplifier itself to answer calls.

Highly recommend it.

We have tried the Hear All with a couple of our clients who are hard of hearing already and they feel that this product will make it possible for them to use their cell phones more successfully- not only in a quiet environment, but in a noisy car as well.

We were surprised at how much the device amplifies, and the three tone settings can help even more. The pairing process is easy and the handset is a good size and easy to handle for older and younger clients as well.

We will be recommending this product to our clients from now on- Thank you!.

I have hearing aids but have difficulty hearing on my house phone. This phone amplifier is a miracle product. I have the dial set on low and can hear perfectly. Wish I had known about this years ago.

The price is right, the product is very well designed and so easy to install. Thank You Diglo for making this product available to the public. I’ll be telling my deaf friends about this great product so their lives can improve.

Really makes all the conversations loud and clear. I’ve been using them for years on my landlines. It’s so cheap for an item of this quality, that buying it is a no brainer. (It does however work more reliably with a plug in battery adapter than it does with just a standard 9 volt battery.

).

I wear hearing aids and when I took on a new job that was phone oriented I was in a pickle because I really couldnt hear what people were saying and besides feeling stupid was really not adequate at my job.

I wish I had Come to you first it was in perfect shape the only thing missing was the cable and that was easy to remedy. Thanks.

This amp is great to use with 70’s era New Advent Loudspeakers. I thought I’d have to really crank up the volume to get adequate sound, but I was wrong. There’s plenty of amplitude. I use it to play through Bluetooth and it works quite well.

Occasionally I think that it may loose connection because of a “drop-out”, but that’s only happened a very few times and may be due to interference in my home, I typically use it with the loudness enhancement turned on and with the EQ set to E4.

With the New Advent Loudspeakers, the audio is extremely accurate. I’m hearing things in music I’ve listened to for years that I’ve never noticed before (through other speakers, headphones and ear buds).

Sounds great with my T652 Air speakers. My room is 13 foot by 30 foot, and the combination fills the space with sound. The Bluetooth latency is not perceptible — which is surprising. It’s easily the shortest latency BT device I’ve ever used.

It does not speak Dolby over optical. Make sure you set your TV or other device to output PCM — or it WILL play digital garbage The manual is utterly worthless. It doesn’t describe anything about the EQ settings, except that there are six.

It doesn’t tell you anything about bluetooth pairing (it does not store any paired device. There’s no need to unpair. Whichever device pairs first wins. It’s LED display is bright enough to be seen in the noon day sun.

Sound: I wanted to state that if this looks like a novel unit, it still is currently. LAG Guitars make an incredible acoustic with onboard effects at a 1k price point and I believe Yamaha is doing the same thing.

For $250 this isn’t bad per se, there just isn’t much competition. In relation to these onboard effects of smart guitars, the Tonewood Amp doesn’t have much to offer. Overall: I bought this for my PRS p20e parlor acoustic with no awareness of a market for acoustic effects.

In a nutshell: it’s ok when it works. The install is VERY specific on the placement of the magnet inside the soundhole; I didn’t have much clearance inside my guitar and once the adhesive touches, it’s on there.

you get one extra set of adhesives in case you set it in the wrong spot, so be careful. My biggest compliment: the reverbs are fantastic, especially the plate. My biggest complaint: the delay and OD are dog water, plus the unit clips constantly so strumming hard onto a parlor = bad clipping.

It looks cool, easy to play once it’s installed correctly, it eats batteries very quickly, and ultimately I’m left debating whether to keep it or not.

Take time to find the sweet spot on install. Not easy finding it, especially if you want to fix the adhesive pads of the internal x-brace to the inside of your guitar that only has a soundhole big enough for a limp muscurless arm.

Take time though and then. yep!. It makes you feel centre stage wherever you may be. Such awesome lovely sounds. That’s my guitar and playing style assisted I’m sure. Wish it had actual chorus effect.

Other tweaks get nearish but then you just fall down the rabbit hole. Lots of greatness comes from this tool. My 1994 Epiphone PR350S has always been my favourite acoustic. Put passive Fishman under saddle piezo on years ago.

Went looking for a DI box with EQ and found this. Was blown away when unplugged. DI out and magic was rewarded. I can only say if your guitar is well setup and has a decent positioned pickup, that this tonewood amp will make you happy.

Battery life is pretty good, but keep spares or rechargeable sets. Durability is a little unknown. It really does fix tight and secure magnetically, but I have yet to drop it on the floor. It is plastic so, maybe not a good result.

Be careful of this beauty. Get one and fall down the rabbit hole. You might find me. “hello”🤠👋.

I just can’t. My experience with this item has been horrid. I had to send the first one back as it died in two days. The replacement worked once before I had the send it back. The third unit I have now has to be turned off and on a few times before it will work, but I just don’t care enough to send it back again.

Installing the x-brace is one serious pain. It won’t sound as good if it doesn’t lay completely flat on the guitar and most guitars today don’t have a completely flat back. Taylors are a nightmare to mount this on.

It sounds good, but the volume is so low that someone across the room could barely hear it. A lot of people have quoted it as an inspirational device, and I agree with that. You can hear it when you are playing and it does sound great once you get past all the hassle and if it actually works.

Not worth all that trouble for me.

Really decent build quality. I set this amplifier up today. It has excellent high frequency response but the bass lacks substance and not enough inputs. I utilized a Midas Mixer (Pro Audio) to utilize the tape, CD, FM Tuner, Phonograph for my garage setup.

Decent detail and depth the HF definition is very good. Im utilizing the Advent Baby II Speakers which have an outstanding treble/mid response but lack substantial bass. I added the BBE Sonic Maximizer to sharpen up the system for a larger soundstage.

The system sounds great.

When you call an amp a “Tube” amp, and claim it doesn’t harshly “clip” like a solid state amp, i. e. amp reaches it’s power limits and starts distorting, you’re talking about a TUBE output section, the part of the amp powering the speakers.

They slip in the comment in the video this is a “Hybrid” amp, meaning part solid state, part tube. This usually means the output section is solid state, and the PRE-AMP section is tube, with possibly a tube rectifier converting AC wall power.

This design does NOT benefit from “soft” tube clipping if the output section is actually solid state. Specs show good performance, but no better than a typical solid state output section amp with much higher output power.

The attraction of this amp is it just looks cool and you can claim it’s a “tube amp” for the novelty of it.

AMAZING little amp for the price. Plenty of power. (I run six large speaker cabinets through a splitter). Warm tone. Very compact. Gripes are few (Can’t use headphones and speakers at the same time. “Balance” knob doesn’t do much.

) Overall? Doubtful you could find a better product for this price ANYWHERE,.

This amp sim in a (almost) pedal format is not only versitile, but sounds great as well. I am using it for home practice / recording only, and it really works well for this. There is a lot of flexibility in the routing options for an analog device, and having the ability to track two amp sims simultaneously without screwing around in software or menu’s is fantastic.

As mentioned the sound is great. Does it sound like a tube amp? Nope. But it sounds good and responds the way I would expect, never presenting digital decay that even the best digital devices seem to have.

I like digital devices too, but knob or switch per function is awesome. Very high gain can sound fizzy to me, at least with my low output guitars and setup. I run this via the balanced out’s into a mixer and out through monitors (or occasionally headphones).

I would think the Simplifier is gig worthy, but the knobs and switches would be anxiety inducing. They are quality knobs and switches, but I would fear them being knocked around and changing settings.

Probably best to bury it under the pedal board.

This thing is amazing. It’s quiet and super convenient. I love all of the different configurations. Being able to dial in two completely different amp tones and switch effortlessly is awesome. No more bringing multiple amps to gigs for me! It’s especially nice to be able to have stereo in and split the amps.

For smaller shows, the other guitarist and I can plug in our own pedalboards and each get an independent input straight into FoH. This makes smaller gigs incredibly easy. I use the Fender on the pushed channel and he uses the Vox on the regular channel.

It’s so much better than lugging a Deluxe and AC30 around. The Simplifier doesn’t quite feel same as the real amps, but you can dial in an extremely similar sound. I think it sounds better than the Iridium, but I do miss the midi control.

That could be a deal breaker to some. I can’t praise the reverb enough. I’m not using my RV-500 nearly as much. I’m not a fan of the room (though it isn’t bad) but I absolutely love the Plate and the Ether sounds great as well.

Like the rest of the bass players out there I’ve used all of the major brands. From old-school Acoustic Control heads and cabs from the ’70’s, to Ampegs etc etc etc. Well I’ve reached the point where that level of stage volume isn’t needed for what I’m doing now; I shopped around, and despite some of the amazing combos available, I landed on this one.

Actually the guitar player in our band mentioned that he had bought the 50watt version of this. I played through it and was impressed. For me it’s the ideal unit for what I’m doing now – I still play some heavy rock (Mountain, Cream, Cactus, Trower), but when volume is required we of course use the FOH and good monitors for stage support.

Having the onboard direct out is the best as it allows me to go direct into whatever board is being used, whether live or recording. Don’t be fooled by the small size; the size is a real asset in terms of portability.

The head is where it all starts, and the tonal range is wide so you can dial in your sound. In a live situation there’s plenty of lows, highs and depth of tone. Playing in various size venues is no problem – this will carry without going through FOH in churches, smaller bars & clubs (50-100 capacity).

Larger venues or live situations where stage volume is needed for impact or performance, then my personal recommendation is to use this as a personal monitoring device and go through the PA & stage monitor as a direct through the board.

One last thing; the amp sounds as good on 3 as it does on 7. Any more than than 7 and it starts pushing the speaker, and not in a good way. But I’ve had this for several months now, use it gigging and recording regularly and overall am simply satisfied with the purchase.

Like everything, this amp has limitations. You’re not going to get the punch or volume of a high powered rig, and you really shouldn’t be using a combo for something like that. But whether you’re a beginner, novice, or weekend warrior or pro this amp, as well as the rest of this product line, is a tremendous option.

Compared to a couple others in the store under $400 this thing was substantially better. Not only was it just the loudest, got the lowest, but with the stock tone settings I(a novice with the bass) was able to dial in some absolutely incredible tones in a matter of minutes.

From clean to all out thick heavy modern metal tones. I had like 2 other dudes look at me like “gah daum” at the tone I got out of this little thing. And it could be heard well across every square inch of that store let me tell you.

I’m sure the other amps $400 or less can get just as good heavy tones with external effects, but they still where no where as near as loud as this box. I honestly might return it for the 15″ model it’s that good and I don’t even play bass just need a rig to record with and I absolutely fell in love with playing the bass now.

Also keep in mind I was using the low string 80% of the time on a 5 string bass. Yea.

Recently, I bought my first bass guitar. Guitar Center was having this Trade-in your Used Gear promotion and I traded in my Gibson Les Paul Standard and a Fender Blues Deluxe tube amp that I NEVER played.

I got a very fair price for them PLUS I got 10% off any purchase. I got a Fender 75th Anniversary Bourbon Burst Jazz bass and a Fender Rumble 100 bass amp. Let’s talk about the amp. I have the Fender Champion 40 amp I use with my Fender Custom Shop 62 Strat Reissue.

It is perfect for my mancave and projects well over the 5-piece Gretsch Renown acoustic drum set I have. I wanted the bass amp to match the power of the Champion 40, and the Rumble 100 EASILY does that.

Incidentally, the Blues Deluxe amp weighed 45 pounds !!! The Rumble 100 ( with the same size speaker : 12″, weighs 22 pounds }. DO THE MATH ! I’m 69. my days of lugging backbreaking gear up and down flights of stairs are OVER !!.

The Rumble 100 has a 4-band equalizer, an overdrive channel and 3 presets so it’s easy to dial in the EXACT tone you want without a LOT of pedal effects, etc, needed. There is a headphone jack in the back of the amp for silent practice sessions ( I’d STILL be playing the Blues Deluxe amp IF it had a headphone jack ).

My ONLY beef with this amp is I wish that the headphone jack was on top of the cabinet instead of the back. I believe this amp provides an incredible value to bass players of any skill level, but it’s the experienced players who will instantly recognize that, Baby, THIS is the bass amp we’ve been waiting for.

Spaceman.

The previous bogen c100 lasted seven years and it was on 24/7 and gave clean audio up until this year so, replacement was required. I used a audio adapter to smooth out the highest frequency peaks. Audio from the bogen is clean.

We have used Bogen amplifiers at all our sites. They have always been reliable and dependable for our paging systems. I would recommend Bogen to any business. Easy setup and clear sounding.

quality of build is excellent and it has the pontoon base and not the thin plate that cuts into the fill you are trying to compact.

I bought this as a gift for my father and he loves it. It’s sturdy, well designed, and has space for everything! I highly recommend this for anyone needing a simple and stylish desk organizer.

Have been using these as backline for years, and have finally got my own one. Does everything you’d expect it to, and is built solidly. Can load in for a solo show with one trip from the car, and light enough for public transport too.

Absolutely loud enough by itself for a pub/bar or small outdoor stage gig, no extra PA required.

Excellent acoustic amplifier, a bit or icey, but well worth the extra cost. Amplified guitar sounds very similar to natural acoustic sound with no horrible synthetic metallic overtones. Even my cheaper guitar sounds good through this.

Strongly recommend.

This is made by Bogen a well known company and widely used in industrial/comercial fields. I personally have installed many of this particular unit in manufacturing facilities with as many as 100 speakers on a 70 volt balanced system with little or no problems.

I trust this company and hily recomend them.

Very nice piece of equipment. Does the job intended for the purpose. Very clean and flawless.

Bought this amplifier to install at a non-profit thrift store. Good value for a piece of equipment that does what is required.

I purchased this unit because we are having trouble getting signal in our metal building. Great when we go outside, just not inside. When we installed the unit and powered it up it we couldn’t get the 3 green lights always a green or a yellow (orange).

So I left it plugged in and came back later and it was very hot to the touch and still had alternating green and yellow lights. After a call to tech support who were very supportive and polite I found out that we were receiving too much strength from 2 different towers.

The fix is to tuck the antenna away on a side of the building that will be facing the tower of your choice. I never found in all my research that this my be a problem. So I may just go with a directional antenna.

I still have not put to yet.

I purchased this with the idea that it would help with reception on my main floor. I normally get 1 bar inside. I now get 3 bars in the 1 room where the indoor antenna is. As soon as you walk out of that room you immediately drop to 1 bar again.

Unimpressed!.

Our steel building was a no cell signal kind of place until we installed this unit. Now I can call out and recieve calls in the shop with no problems. Highly recommend putting this in other buildings.

There is a saying, that you get what you pay for. If you are in the market for an amp that you can sing and play an instrument through and maybe play some MP3’s. You want it loud enough to play to a small bar or coffee shop with the ability to hook up to a big pa for main stage BUT you still want high quality, not just noise.

Save your pennies and buy this amp or its bigger brother. You will never make a better purchase if you live to be 100 years old. Dont waste your time and money on less amps, like we have in the past.

The difference is light night and day, If you cant afford it or dont believe me then thats too bad but you have been told.

Very high quality amp. Compact! Great inputs for a small duo performance! Easy to transport! A bit pricey, but will eventually see how it performs, over time.

Very good service by Music store, very good price, very good acoustic amp, very happy customer

Perhaps I?m impatient. I removed the stock tubes it came with and put in NOS JAN 5670W?s and a matched quad of new production Electro-harmonix EL84?s as soon as I unpacked the amp. I didn?t even bother to power on the unit to hear what it sounds like with stock tubes installed since there have been many reports of it humming.

The JAN 5670W?s are considerably smaller than the 6N3?s that come with the amp but are suitable replacements. I bought these tubes based on a recommendation from a tube distributor who has been in business for many, many years.

With these tubes, the amp sounds phenomenal. It had a nearly inaudible hum?I had to stick my ear against the speakers to hear it?when I first powered it up with the new tubes, but quickly went away after 10 minutes or so.

The hum is non-existent for me now. I listen mostly to hard rock, punk, indie, hardcore, and metal. With that said, this amp shines and then some playing these types of music. The bass is not muddy or booming, although it can go into that territory if the bass adjustment is cranked up to 10 and the treble is turned down.

I love a present kick drum and bass guitar cutting through the mix and this does it well. The bottom end is tight and punchy while the treble side sounds great in that the highs are not harsh or brittle sounding.

The mids are not overly nasally or lacking despite the absence of a mid-tone control. Everything sounds smooth and even to my amateur ears. The one aspect of the amp that is not working properly, at least for me, is the Bluetooth connection.

I?m well within the recommended Bluetooth range with the audio source being less than 15 feet away from the antenna. The audio will be fine but then it suddenly stutters and gets real glitchy and static sounding.

When it does work, the quality of sound occasionally degrades to the point where it feels like I?m listening to a crappy low-bitrate Napster MP3! There is also an audible ?pop? that happens randomly when BT is connected.

I completely stopped using the BT feature and went back to using aux RCA jacks to get audio from my computer to the amp. The only thing I?d absolutely change is to add a headphone jack. Having no headphone output was almost a deal-breaker for me.

I like to listen to my records at night through my headphones when the house is quiet. That is no longer an option as I can?t figure out a way to incorporate a headphone amp into the signal chain and still use the MP pure tube amp silently.

A remote control, a mid-range tone adjustment and a dedicated sub-out would be nice additions, too. Overall, I am pleased with my purchase after just a few days of having it. In total, I put in $423 with tax for the amp plus another $180 for the tubes.

I?m not thrilled about the added tube expense I incurred, but it?s totally worth the extra money and fun to roll new tubes to get such a nice sounding amp. I can?t wait to hear what it sounds like with more burn-in time.

Upgraded the tube set with thetubestore. com preferred series package and this became a truly great piece of gear, sounds like sonic honey on Klipsch Heresy, klipsch rp-600m, B&W 602s2, and Sony ss-cs5 speakers.

Compares quite favorably to my main system and its $15k + price tag. Add a subwoofer to the mix and there will likely be no need to ever upgrade. 4 stars because the supplied tubes are not really that good, even after 200 hours of break in.

The tube cages make it semi difficult to roll new tubes, but just need to wiggle them out. No remote for volume control, although a preamp or DAC can do those duties as can BT devices. The VU meter is rather useless but gives you something to look at besides warm glowing tubes.

The power button and source switch both feel a bit on the cheap side but work perfectly well. The volume control feels average in quality, not liquid smooth, but not gritty either. It’s not big, nor particularly heavy compared to a few other tube amps I own.

The speaker connectors are good quality, gold plated and accept spades, 4mm bullet or bare wire connections. RCA inputs also feel solid and are gold plated. The subwoofer out is a great feature I wish all tube amps came with.

I even like the tone controls, even though the purist side of me says I shouldn’t use them, I do. 90% of my listening is at less than 1 watt of power so anyone that thinks 10 watts isn’t enough will be pleasantly surprised.

I?ve been a mid-fi guy for ages and have owned tons of stereo/hi-fi components from the 70?s to present day. I built Dynaco kits way back, but never had tubes? I have never written a product review. I bought the Pure Tube Stereo Amp with plenty of reservations but it was on sale and I thought worth a try.

After a month I can tell you that I am very, very, pleased with the amp. Paired with a Sony turntable from the late 70?s running Ortofon blue and Audio Technica ML 540 cartridges into Bowers and Wilkens CM8?s and an SVS 2000 sub, it is superb! It absolutely kills my Integra AVR on 2.

1 and also is superior to my SAE/Nikko preamp/amp setup from the 80?s. The most stunning thing to me is the depth and width of the soundstage. It sounds almost 3D in my listening room. That was never the case with my other amps.

Some people have observed that the amp is noisy and humms. My unit is dead quiet.

Very good preamp for pop, electronic and light hard. Jazz is soso.

TranslateShow in original languageDer Preamp von Oehlbach ist ein wahres Bijou neben meinem Plattenspieler. Er sieht super aus, hat einen megaschönen Chrom-Kippschalter zum ein- und ausschalten und die Cinch – Eingänge und Ausgänge liegen einander gegenüber.

Das ergibt gestalterisch und technisch Sinn und ist für Laien wie mich leicht nachvollziehbar. Farbgebung ist auch toll. Anklebbare Gummifüsse werden mitgeliefert, die sind super! Der Preis ist unschlagbar für diese Qualität.

Das Stromkabel kann mit der Qualität der Restlichen Teile leider nicht mithalten. Es ist etwas zu leicht und dünn geraten.

TranslateShow in original languageHat meinen Thorens TD125 mit Ortofon BlueQ MC zu neuem Leben erweckt. Dürfte für seinen Preis wohl unschlagbar sein und tut für meine Bedürfnisse, und die sind nicht gerade klein, eigentlich schon fast mehr als er sollte.

SMILE! Klang für meine Ohren TOP! Absolut Empfehlenswert!.