A Guitar And Gear Support Forum

I got an email from Monoprice yesterday with a code for 15% off site wide so like the idiot I am I started browsing there site so I found this amp marked down from $279.99 to $237.99 w/the 15% off and free shipping as well. Grand total $216.45 so I bought it, anyone have one of these?
https://www.monoprice.com/product?p_id=611815

I just copied and pasted this from my reciept.

Stage Right by Monoprice 15-Watt 1x12 Guitar Combo Tube Amp with Celestion Speaker and Spring Reverb 1 $237.99 $237.99
Subtotal : $237.99
Discount : -$35.70
Shipping & Handling Cost : $0.00
NC Sales Tax : $14.16
Grand Total : $216.45

Nice little amp.

Have had both styles. They are very good for the money.

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I have the version with the controls on the top. Great value! I love mine!

I have one too. Good amp. Gets about too loud for my bedroom use, so I tend to use my smaller amps these days.

I recommended one to a friend who was getting started in electric guitars. It sounded good, especially for the price.

Flatline wrote: ↑Mon Sep 05, 2022 10:12 pm I have one too. Good amp. Gets about too loud for my bedroom use, so I tend to use my smaller amps these days.

Even on the 1 Watt setting?

One of my guitar students owns the Monoprice 15 watt amp and brought it to my house for his lesson because, like you, he wanted an opinion on how it sounded.

I was very impressed, especially after he told me how little he had paid for it. For sure, it's not a metal tone, or even a hard rock tone, but it is unmistakably a tube guitar amp tone highly suitable for blues and classic rock. It had real spring reverb too.

If you wanted to upgrade you could replace the Celestion 70/80 speaker with something like a Greenback and experiment with different tubes, though I could see myself gigging with this amp as is (micd if with a drummer) and not feeling handicapped.

toomanycats wrote: ↑Tue Sep 06, 2022 7:49 am
If you wanted to upgrade you could replace the Celestion 70/80 speaker with something like a Greenback and experiment with different tubes, though I could see myself gigging with this amp as is (micd if with a drummer) and not feeling handicapped.

I've always found the cheap Chinese tube to both have not so good tone and life is not as long as others. I haven't bought any tubes in a long time so I went surfing and found EL84's around $30 and 12AX7's about $25 so I declined to purchase them didnt wamt to put $150 worth of tubes and $150 for a better speaker in a $200 amp for me it kind of defeats the purpose. Anyway @toomanycats you are 100% right those 2 things would definitely be the best way to improve tone.

I’ve never played one, but I can’t say I haven’t been tempted. The 70/80 speaker does get decent reviews from many players even though it’s often dogged because it’s such a staple offering in cheaper amps. I can certainly understand desiring a change in tone from a different speaker though. It’s fun to swap them and easy to do. I like buying used or rebuilt speakers at a discount. Check out hempopotamus on reverb. I have a couple 10” speakers that were rebuilt warfefale alnico speakers With celestion cone and spider, and US parts. I love ‘em.

For tubes, I would cruise ebay for a single great tube to put in V1. Dangeruxb is a seller I would recommend who tests his stuff and doesn’t sell jive. The preamp tubes should last a lifetime. El84s just don’t last forever so it’s a bygone conclusion in any amp that eventually you’ll be replacing them down the road unless you can lower their bias to last longer. I wouldn’t sweat it though, or feel like it’s a liability in a cheap amp. You probably have a long time before they’ll need replacing. I’d spend on a preamp tube long before a power tune in this situation.

Cool amp though. It’s a lot of bang for the buck. My only advice would be to make sure to take it extra easy on the input Jack, as with any PCB mounted input. Otherwise enjoy!


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dabbler wrote: ↑Tue Sep 06, 2022 7:38 am

Flatline wrote: ↑Mon Sep 05, 2022 10:12 pm I have one too. Good amp. Gets about too loud for my bedroom use, so I tend to use my smaller amps these days.

Even on the 1 Watt setting?

Yep. Still can get quite loud even on the 1 Watt setting. It's useable for sure, but I tend to my VOX MV50 on the 1/100 power setting or my Spark Mini.

Congrats!
Yep that 15w is going to be loud in an apt. setting.

jtcnj wrote: ↑Wed Sep 07, 2022 4:25 pm Congrats!
Yep that 15w is going to be loud in an apt. setting.

One thing I will do is install a a headphone jack.

redman wrote:

jtcnj wrote: ↑Wed Sep 07, 2022 4:25 pm Congrats!
Yep that 15w is going to be loud in an apt. setting.

One thing I will do is install a a headphone jack.

How would that work, do you have a schematic/design in mind?

I had a prototype VHT Special 6 Ultra with a headphone out, but it was one of the few cheap tube amps I've seen with a headphone option outside of running a resistive load that has a headphone output, like the Weber Mass Attenuator I used to own. (Cost more than I paid for my 1st B-stock 15w-er though...)

The headphone jack on the VHT didn't sound anywhere near as good as the amp or even a decent cheap multi-effects unit like an old Boss ME-50, so I can see why they didn't include it in the production models...

The Weber was good for calming the 50w Silkyn I had, but I sold both due to the Silkyn power supply issues scaring me off.

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I still have my Silkyn, with new PT and some mods, and am interested in an attenuator.
@honyock Nate, can you please elaborate a bit on which Weber you had, how manageable the volume was with it, and how it affected tone?

Nice little amp. Love mine 4 years on.