Perfect for what it is
"So, you want an inexpensive, portable way to practice silently? Well, here ya go. Get yourself a set of headphones, plug them in and you have decent tones to practice too.
There appear to be multiple variations of these and this is supposed to be the "Tube" based one. Look, its a cheap solid state amp. If you're expecting it to sound like a roaring JCM800 for $13.00, you're insane.
That said, it doesn't sound terrible. The cleans are a decently "warm" clean (again, all of this is relative to the cost) and it reacts fairly well to the volume knob of your guitar. I've only used it on my Strat style guitar that has a minibucker and it "dirties up" nicely just using the guitar volume.
Messing with the drive control allows for more distortion, but you'll quickly turn it into a tiny can of bees. Its overdrive circuit is extremely simple and if you're expecting awesome high gain tones, seriously, dude, this was $13. By fiddling with your guitar volume, and the gain knob, you can get livable high gain if you feel like practicing your palm mutes.
It's completely plastic so I doubt its overly durable. I'm not certain how long the batteries will last, I've only used it for a total of maybe 3 hours? The cheapness of the build knocked off a star, but again, its cheapness is also a plus.
I'd recommend this if you need a cheap and portable way to practice at night, at work, or in a dorm room.
If you're super picky about your tone, even for headphone practicing, there are much better, albeit more expensive options out there."
VERY WORTH IT
"I give it five stars. Granted, I've only used it about an hour, but already I'm wondering about the reviews that ding it; maybe they got a lemon. Volume is fine and not overly sensitive; none of the controls are wiggly or difficult to adjust. Plug it in, plug in the ear buds and voila. Works fine with my bass and that's all I wanted it for. Tone, gain are fine and even if they weren't I wouldn't care because I can play and enjoy playing without disturbing anyone else; I can hear what I'm playing without having to resort to my AE, which I don't always want to play due to getting used to the nut width AND the AE isn't quiet even when not plugged in. I'm just so damned happy to be in my own little world.
The price is ludicrously right; I didn't want to pay $40 or $50. I don't care that it requires headphones/earbuds cause that's what I need it to be. If it craps out within a few months I won't be pleased and wouldn't buy another because eventually you're going to pay the higher price that maybe you should have started out paying. I'll upgrade when it dies unless it takes years to die. I plan on using this at least five days a week for an hour each time, so I'll comment back if it doesn't cut it."
