Average Reviews:
(More customer reviews)Wow, is this amp overpriced!
It is not a valve (or tube) amp, in the strictest sense of the word, but really a hybrid amp -- one that uses tubes in the preamp stage, but for its actual amplification relies on solid state technology.
There's nothing wrong with that, of course, but ads stressing the fact that it uses tubes seem to play on the current infatuation with tubes to lull ill-informed consumers into paying more than they should for this sort of amp.
For $450, please be aware you could get an actual tube amp... one that will sound worlds better, have more power, and be more versatile.
A quick bit of googling for Dared MP5, Sonic Integrity, and the like will reveal that all these hybrids were built in the same place as the Fatman and just rebranded: in Asia, they are all very, very cheap.
With some shopping around, you should be able to find one of these here in the US for around $200 -- still far more than these cost in Asia, but much more in line with what the amp is probably worth in the US marketplace.
I paid less than $200 for a brand new one. I enjoyed it for a brief period of time, but never found its sound particularly engaging, either with speakers or with headphones. It didn't do anything glaringly wrong, but it didn't add the tube sparkle that I had hoped it would, even with high quality NOS tubes substituted for the low-quality stock tubes.
While solid, well-built and quite attractive to look at, this amp is essentially a novelty, because it is not powerful enough to drive most mass market speakers with authority: prospective purchasers should either be prepared to invest in some highly-efficient speakers to do it justice, or plan on just enjoying its adequate headphone output.
The docking station is very, very cheaply made -- lightweight and plasticky (unlike the amp itself) -- and the remote is a joke.
Please do yourself a favor and shop around before considering pressing the "Add To Cart" button. There are many more sonically-satisfying and serious amps out there at its price point.
Happy listening!
PS - The two tubes in the front are the preamp tubes: they can be easily swapped out to upgrade the sound of the amp. The larger one in the back merely provides a visual representation of how hard the amp is being driven/how close it is to clipping. (In other words, it does not influence the sound of the amp at all, so there is no point in trying to upgrade the larger rear tube.)
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