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Rester « Sub Zero Tube-H5 »
Published on 05/05/15 at 03:30
Best value:
Excellent
Audience:
Anyone
This amp head is 5 watts and gets REALLY loud (suitable for rehearsal with an average drummer). It has volume, EQ (treble and bass), gain (for the distortion channel), channel select, standby and power. It runs on two valves: 12AX7 on the preamp and EL84 on the power section. It has vintage looks, although there are minor finishing blemishes (corner buffers are not set exactly the same, but I guess that comes with the price).
I use the amp mostly at home with a 1x12, and in some jam sessions with a 2x12. It has a pretty decent sound at low volume, but there is a lot of top end which needs to be tamed with the treble knob. The real fun comes when cranked: the clean channel starts to growl in a sweet way, perfect blues or classic rock tones. The distortion channel starts at clean and adds a hairy overdrive with the gain knob which is really usable. Maxed out, you can play Guns ´n Roses (specially with humbuckers) and get impressive hard rock tones (I have actually tried this seldom, as I am more on a classic vibe).
Before this amp I had a Vox Lil´ Nightrain. This was a great amp, again, very trebly. The major differences were volume (no jamming with a drummer with the Vox) and the headroom. When one wanted to get high volume, the overdrive became too strong and didn´t allow the more classic sound to come out. This is, by far, the best characteristic of the Sub Zero, because the clean channel stays cleans breaking very mildly, which is just what I wanted on my valve amp.
With regard to durability, I must say I have only had it for some 3 months, but it seems to be holding on just fine (I do take care of my equipment, though). I have no reason to think that it will fail anytime soon, but I wouldn´t kick it or drop it (nor would I do such thing with a Blues Jr...). Increadible value for the money
Pros: Very good tone, loud enough for jams, incredible value for the money (no useless options).
Cons: No footswitch option, very slight finishing signs (cosmetic only), trebly at low volumes.
I use the amp mostly at home with a 1x12, and in some jam sessions with a 2x12. It has a pretty decent sound at low volume, but there is a lot of top end which needs to be tamed with the treble knob. The real fun comes when cranked: the clean channel starts to growl in a sweet way, perfect blues or classic rock tones. The distortion channel starts at clean and adds a hairy overdrive with the gain knob which is really usable. Maxed out, you can play Guns ´n Roses (specially with humbuckers) and get impressive hard rock tones (I have actually tried this seldom, as I am more on a classic vibe).
Before this amp I had a Vox Lil´ Nightrain. This was a great amp, again, very trebly. The major differences were volume (no jamming with a drummer with the Vox) and the headroom. When one wanted to get high volume, the overdrive became too strong and didn´t allow the more classic sound to come out. This is, by far, the best characteristic of the Sub Zero, because the clean channel stays cleans breaking very mildly, which is just what I wanted on my valve amp.
With regard to durability, I must say I have only had it for some 3 months, but it seems to be holding on just fine (I do take care of my equipment, though). I have no reason to think that it will fail anytime soon, but I wouldn´t kick it or drop it (nor would I do such thing with a Blues Jr...). Increadible value for the money
Pros: Very good tone, loud enough for jams, incredible value for the money (no useless options).
Cons: No footswitch option, very slight finishing signs (cosmetic only), trebly at low volumes.