A good "Middle of the Road" amp
Written: Aug 26 '01 (Updated Aug 26 '01)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: A lot of noise for the money.
Cons: Just your basic guitar amp. No CD jack.
The Bottom Line: Dollar for decibel, this is a good buy. Recommended for amateur players or a (2nd) practice amp.
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| spectre4444's Full Review: Ibanez Toneblaster 25 R Combo |
(I don't know where the "Est Price" comes from on this site but for $79, I'd get two! This may be a typo on the price or this should be the review for the TB15R, in which case you have my apologies, although that is a terrific amp in it's own right.)
When I first saw an Ibanez amp, I had the same feeling as when I saw a Crate guitar. "Ibanez makes guitars, right? Not amps!" (Or vice versa for the Crate guitar.) Surprisingly, however, the Ibanez amps I have tried seem to be very solid and have a really great sound range for the price.
Looking at the Ibanez line of guitar amps, the TB25R seems to be right in the middle of the stable. (Their 50R and 225 are essentially higher end spin-offs of this basic model and the TB15R is a scaled down version.) While the IBZ10 (their 10 Watt amp) is really only a tuning amp and the TB15R is better suited for practice and learning (I can't wait to review this amp...it's really great!), the TB25R can span the range from tuning your ax to rehearsals and small jam sessions.
It makes a great amateur amp, being small enough to fit in a corner of a room or under a table, while also being portable enough to load up for a practice session or garage gig at your friend's house without taking up all of your trunk space. Being larger and higher wattage than the TB15R (which is a personal fav of mine), the TB25R is capable of much rounder, deeper bass tones and just has more raw power to crank up the volume! This amp, while small enough to easily fit in any home or apartment...is surely loud enough to get you moved out to the garage or kicked out of your apartment!
The Clean channel is very much so, producing a real 'studio' effect which is nice if strumming out some acoustic or electric-acoustic songs. The Overdrive channel adds a nice 'heavy metal touch', although it does get a bit noisy around 6 or 7 for the amount of distortion it gives. With the 3-channel equalizer, you can model some really nice touches onto your tones in either channel. This allows for some nice switching arrangements, from a very clean fingerpicking 'intro' sound...to kicking in the Overdrive and crunching out some powerful metal/grunge chords.
I like this amp, and it's smaller cousin the TB15R, because they both produce a good range of sound in a nice, compact and inexpensive package. Personally, I like an amp with a good sound and minimal controls...just set it up once in each channel for the basic sound you are after. Then, I put a Boss ME-33 digital modeler in between them and I can access a whole range of effects and tone options at the touch of a toe, rather than having to stop...get up...go to the amp...change the tones around...and get back to playing. I would just as soon setup the amp once and use the effects and guitar controls while playing. As for switching between Clean and Overdrive on the TB25R, it comes with a footswitch jack so you can put that control on the ground for easier switching as well.
While this is no Marshall stack, as I mentioned before, these small Ibanez amps will put out some loud sound. (Even with the TB15R, I can chase my dog out of the room!) The TB25R will hold its own against other equipment as well, easily filling a 'garage sized' jam session with your guitar's sounds alongside similar equipment.
One of the biggest drawbacks to this amp is that it does not have the Input or CD jack. For some, this is a way to learn songs and practice guitar, so keep this in mind. I personally do not use this option but it could be the difference for some (I would highly recommend the TB15R in that case.) It also lacks a speaker extension jack, so it can't really be used in a live show situation if you are planning on filling a club with sound. (In this case, I would recommend moving up to the TB50R or even some serious pro equipment, like a Marshall stack.)
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
spectre4444
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Location: Tampa, FL USA
Reviews written: 12
Trusted by: 0 members
About Me:
In my honest and biased opinion...
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