# NGD: Those chinese amps that everyone is scared to buy!



## MildlyMoist (Apr 9, 2013)

So here we are. I did it.

I went and bought one of those chinese rebranded tube amps that everyone is super interested in until they can't find any reviews of them.

Lets see some pictures 

THAT STUFF INBETWEEN THE AMP AND CAB IS WOOD SHAVINGS FROM THE SCREWHOLES IN THE BACK, NOT DAMAGE OR ANYTHING BAD












Rear connections




TOOBZ




Sperkers




Cab connections




THE HEAD BUILD QUALITY:
Solid, nothing feels cheap, nothing is flimsy, pots are tough, strong, well built feel. Inputs are good, nice and tight, nothing is lose. Sturdy switches on the front. Frame construction is solid, feels nice and well built, not too heavy.

THE CAB BUILD QUALITY:
Solid as a rock, ample connections, adequate watts, can't say anything bad about it really.

THE SOUND:
No idea yet, one of the power tubes was faulty (definitely a tube, checked the amp). Turned it on, let it warm up, could smell hot, that hot thing smell, so i looked behind the grate on the back, and there was one tube, black, cold, not glowing. And there was the second tube, glowing red hot all over, blue halo at the top.

Might i add here that i called up Gear4music (seller) and told them that a power tube was broken on delivery, they said they would replace the amp for free, to which i replied that i need the amp for regular gigs and band practices tomorrow and so on, so without hesitation, they offered to buy me replacement tubes as they dont stock them theirselves. Jolly nice of them.

While i did get to play it a bit, it sounded pretty sweet, although i can only imagine it will sound much nicer with two fully functional tubes biased and all.

Define pretty sweet: cleans were warm, tasty, loads of headroom. Pump up the gain and you get a decent tweedy style crunch sound, slam gain to max and hit the gain boost button and you get really nice distortion, smooth, no fizz, no nothing. Not exactly djent/brootalz levels of distortion, but plenty to play with as an entry level amp. Add a tube screamer or OD pedal or RAT pedal or whatever, and you'd have a pretty monster sound. Not to mention that fat saturated tube distortion you get the more you crank the volume, which at 50W there is plenty of. Bearing in mind that i was playing it at volume level of 2 with one working tube at that time, and it still sounded sweet

All in all, i think i will be pretty happy with the amp. I have a nice loud band practice this coming Thursday so i will be able to run in the new tubes and get a feel for the amp.

EXPECT SOUND CLIPS/VIDEO OR SOMETHING WITHIN THE WEEK


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## Quitty (Apr 9, 2013)

I've actually never heard of these.

Sorry for asking, but what are you comparing it to?
The front panel looks Laney-ish. I'm wondering if it's a circuit rip-off or a real new offering.


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## MildlyMoist (Apr 9, 2013)

Quitty said:


> I've actually never heard of these.
> 
> Sorry for asking, but what are you comparing it to?
> The front panel looks Laney-ish. I'm wondering if it's a circuit rip-off or a real new offering.



Multiple laney tube combos ive playednincluding the lionheart combo. Mesa recto, a marshall jcm thingy. And one of those vox night trains, oh and a tiny terror. Peavy XXX ? line 6 spider ss combo, pod hd pro. Theres my amp lineage.

Ive played enough to tell the difference between cheap tube sound and good tube sound. But as I said this amp us " good enough ", a decent entry level amp to join the world of tubes.

This amp is a rebranded belcat, and belcat is rumoured to be marshall clones. But I havent plsyed enough marshall stuff to make that sort of comparison. But my guess could be a circuit rip off, although that worked for Bugera. 

It really does sound pretty good, especially asca crunchy rock/loe gain amp. I shall report back with my findings on this amp + an od later to see how it handles some metal!


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## MildlyMoist (Apr 9, 2013)

Slightly of f topic but I'm getting a jet City jca50h head soon, so if this interested you keep and eye out at the start of next month  this is the only price competitor to the subzero line of amps. Although the jet City was designed by soldano so im expecting a slightly huger gain style amp, time will tell


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## Quitty (Apr 9, 2013)

MildlyMoist said:


> Slightly of f topic but I'm getting a jet City jca50h head soon, so if this interested you keep and eye out at the start of next month  this is the only price competitor to the subzero line of amps. Although the jet City was designed by soldano so im expecting a slightly huger gain style amp, time will tell



The JCA i know all too well. Not quite Soldano, but in the ballpark. Might be more like it with a boost or a good cab.

If your impressions of it were with one tube, it might be a really impressive amp. One tube should give crazy crossover distortion, the amp might sound completely different.


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## MildlyMoist (Apr 9, 2013)

Quitty said:


> The JCA i know all too well. Not quite Soldano, but in the ballpark. Might be more like it with a boost or a good cab.
> 
> If your impressions of it were with one tube, it might be a really impressive amp. One tube should give crazy crossover distortion, the amp might sound completely different.



I'll definitely get a video up of the sound once I get some replacement tubes tomorrow morning, although I may wait until I can turn it up a bit more in a barn or something, get a d we cent condenser mic to capture the sound better.


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## Jakepeg (Nov 3, 2013)

Bought one of these too.
Great valve amp for the money.
Good valve and good clean no hiss sounds from the electro harmonix valves in the head.
Gain is not over the top, but adding in a pedal and you can achieve that if thats your thing.
I already prefer the smooth tone compared to my Fender blues junior.

50 w all valve stack , with 4 speaker cabinet.
This is half the price of a Blackstar of equivalent spec and having recently tried a 60 w stage combo, i cant justify the price difference for the sounds , tone or build quality.
Not had long enough for a reliability test.
With the money difference might consider splashing out on a few mullard pre amp valves and testing the tone.


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