# Killer deal on Monoprice amp



## keefsdad (Feb 7, 2006)

$262 Canadian with shipping.
Monoprice 15-Watt Guitar Combo Tube Amplifier w/ Celestion Speaker $136 + Shipping (varies by region)


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## Lord-Humongous (Jun 5, 2014)

I got one of these last deal & it’s a great little amp. It’s got spring reverb tank!


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## sambonee (Dec 20, 2007)

I am very tempted. 

I already have a:
Moratto jet clone 12 watts. Amazing amp
30 watt Bernie clone 2x10” Moratto animal. MV and effects loop. Another killer
1958 Ampeg m-12. 
Southboots brown 1961 deluxe clone.

I don’t have a small tube combo - hmmmm


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## keefsdad (Feb 7, 2006)

I've been eyeing these for a long time and I finally pulled the trigger. the wait begins!


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## johnnyshaka (Nov 2, 2014)

keefsdad said:


> I've been eyeing these for a long time and I finally pulled the trigger. the wait begins!


Nice! Any idea how much you'll have to pay at customs?

When I go through the checkout my total with shipping (DHL is the cheapest for me) comes to $202 USD...so $262 CDN but that doesn't include taxes or any customs so I'm curious about what the final, all-in, cost should be.


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## keefsdad (Feb 7, 2006)

johnnyshaka said:


> Nice! Any idea how much you'll have to pay at customs?
> 
> When I go through the checkout my total with shipping (DHL is the cheapest for me) comes to $202 USD...so $262 CDN but that doesn't include taxes or any customs so I'm curious about what the final, all-in, cost should be.


I ordered a tuner pedal from them and there was no duty....I'm hoping there won't be this time either. My total price was the same.


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## sambonee (Dec 20, 2007)

Small stuff gets by usually. An amp less likely.


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## Guest (May 27, 2018)

Don't forget the discount code "*20WHITE*" to bring the price down to $135 From $169.


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## Diablo (Dec 20, 2007)

I haven’t shopped on monoprice in ages...shipping always killed the deal. But this is tempting even though I don’t need it.


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## Guest (May 27, 2018)

Diablo said:


> I haven’t shopped on monoprice in ages...shipping always killed the deal. *But this is tempting* even though I don’t need it.


I don't think so. These amps have the tube sockets soldered right into the boards. It is a circuit board tube amp for close to $310 with tax. Then how much are the brokerage fees going to be? You can get an old Traynor or Garnet for close to that if you look around. But I would still like to have one... or at least try one first.


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## Diablo (Dec 20, 2007)

Player99 said:


> I don't think so. These amps have the tube sockets soldered right into the boards. It is a circuit board tube amp for close to $310 with tax. Then how much are the brokerage fees going to be? You can get an old Traynor or Garnet for close to that if you look around. But I would still like to have one... or at least try one first.


You’re prob right, although the reviews for it are quite good.


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## cboutilier (Jan 12, 2016)

Player99 said:


> I don't think so. These amps have the tube sockets soldered right into the boards. It is a circuit board tube amp for close to $310 with tax. Then how much are the brokerage fees going to be? You can get an old Traynor or Garnet for close to that if you look around. But I would still like to have one... or at least try one first.


Yep. You can get 70s Traynor heads for 250-400 pretty steadily. Pepco heads even cheaper.


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## keefsdad (Feb 7, 2006)

Really? I haven't seen an old Traynor head for less than $500 for a long time.


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## sambonee (Dec 20, 2007)

keefsdad said:


> Really? I haven't seen an old Traynor head for less than $500 for a long time.


Me neither. Toronto area anyway. I bet further away $300 is doable. 

Traynor is good stuff.


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## cboutilier (Jan 12, 2016)

keefsdad said:


> Really? I haven't seen an old Traynor head for less than $500 for a long time.





sambonee said:


> Me neither. Toronto area anyway. I bet further away $300 is doable.
> 
> Traynor is good stuff.


I see them around 400 in Halifax all the time. Theres one in a non-original head cab for 250 right now.


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## traynor_garnet (Feb 22, 2006)

You can by a vintage Traynor YGM-3 for under $400. You will see them listed for much more but they never move. I have trouble selling one last year for $350! It sold, but not the second it hit Kijiji.

The monoprice may sound pretty good, but it's not going to last and won't be worth repairing. 

TG


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## Lord-Humongous (Jun 5, 2014)

Not that I'm prepared to vigorously defend the Monoprice... it's an econo amp, it's presumably from China, and it doesn't come with any 'pre-installed mojo'... But I bought it the last time it was on sale and had it shipped to my place in Florida. It was $150 USD/$200 CAD roughly. For that price, it's a great deal. I wanted a reliable practice amp that I can leave out & lend out. I have a Traynor YGL reissue also & it's crazy heavy to hump around, so I keep it (the Traynor) in the basement at home for practice there & I've had it out for a few gigs too. For my purposes, I'm not sure a vintage Traynor would be a reasonable alternative to the Monoprice. Right now my Monoprice is at a friend's house and I haven't had it home for weeks, yet, when I go over, all I need to do is plug in and play, it hasn't given me any grief at all. It sounds pretty good with the Celestion speaker and it's loud enough to play over drums in a small rehearsal setting.


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## traynor_garnet (Feb 22, 2006)

I get your point. It's not so much that we/I brought up the Traynor as a direct replacement, but more to prevent people from making an impulse buy based on the mistaken idea that "where else can you get a tube amp for $XXX?!). 

BTW, replace the speaker in your reissue. Given that the stock speaker (Marsland) was always the weak point of their vintage amps, it is sadly ironic that Traynor once again choose a poor speaker for the RI. 



Lord-Humongous said:


> Not that I'm prepared to vigorously defend the Monoprice... it's an econo amp, it's presumably from China, and it doesn't come with any 'pre-installed mojo'... But I bought it the last time it was on sale and had it shipped to my place in Florida. It was $150 USD/$200 CAD roughly. For that price, it's a great deal. I wanted a reliable practice amp that I can leave out & lend out. I have a Traynor YGL reissue also & it's crazy heavy to hump around, so I keep it (the Traynor) in the basement at home for practice there & I've had it out for a few gigs too. For my purposes, I'm not sure a vintage Traynor would be a reasonable alternative to the Monoprice. Right now my Monoprice is at a friend's house and I haven't had it home for weeks, yet, when I go over, all I need to do is plug in and play, it hasn't given me any grief at all. It sounds pretty good with the Celestion speaker and it's loud enough to play over drums in a small rehearsal setting.


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## keefsdad (Feb 7, 2006)

Player99 said:


> I don't think so. These amps have the tube sockets soldered right into the boards. It is a circuit board tube amp for close to $310 with tax. Then how much are the brokerage fees going to be? You can get an old Traynor or Garnet for close to that if you look around. But I would still like to have one... or at least try one first.


Apparently not, from an owner on the Strat forum:
"The tube sockets mount to the chassis, with their pins extending to the board, as opposed to the much less desirable method of just soldering the sockets to the board and making it support the tubes."
Pretty good for the $ actually, the Blues Juniors sockets are mounted to the board.
It is a circuit board amp but most mass-produced amps are.
I paid $262 with shipping and tax.


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## keefsdad (Feb 7, 2006)

The amp came in today. Fortunately I didn't have to pay any brokerage fees. $262 CDN total.
It was well packed, seems well put together and it has a nice leather handle. Most important of all to me, it weighs 25lbs.
I can't really give an informed opinion on its sound until I use it on a gig, especially since I live in an apartment.
At low volume it sounds all right clean, doesn't have a lot of bass which I expected. I am using my Epiphone SG because I'm doing some work on my Strat, it's not my favourite guitar for clean sounds. The reverb seems to disappear a bit as you use more gain but it sounds pretty good. Not as good as the reverb in my HRDLX. It has a lot of gain, you can get a nice smooth sustaining sound at really low volume using the 1 watt switch. It should be great for home recording. The power switch is actually just attenuation, from what I understand. I'm really looking forward to taking it out somewhere where I can open it up. I have an old Fane speaker I might try in it but I'm going to see how I like the stock one first.


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