Thinking of buying a Sovtek Mig50

[OU818]

I have been interested in these amps for a while but haven't seen one come up for sale in Australia, until now.

Has anybody played one of these and have any impressions of it?

[the_blue_bomber]

They're similar in sound to Marshall JCM800's but made with much cheaper parts and construction methods that may not hold up as well over time. I've been intermittently tempted to get one for a long time, but could never justify buying one, even though they're not too expensive.

[OU818]

They're actually rather overpriced here, though admittedly this one is the Mig 50 001 which was based more on the Bassman and has just had a $200 Hammon OT installed, so the higher cost is compensated a bit. I know in America they go for a couple of hundred but here they go between 600 to a grand. Typical Australian mark up. Even second hand isn't exempt.

[baytamusic]

Andy AKA indianDYsummer has one I believe. I don't know if I'd pay 1k for one but might go up to 600 if it has an upgraded OT.

[flea]

I have a Sovtek Mig 100, it is a loud beast! I payed 500 for it with a cheap 4x12. To be honest, I found it way too bass-y for my liking. Even with the bass all the way down. I actually use it for a bass amp at my apartment to practice on. Don't let that discourage you though, go and play it, you may love it!

[indianDYsummer]

I've got one. Well, it's the Mig50, and not the 50H (smaller and more like a jcm800). If you're looking for a clean/light grit style amp it'll do you pretty well. You have to turn it up preeeettty loud to get the crunch going, but it's really raw sounding and quite dynamic with pick attack. IMO it's a mix between a bassman and a plexi, but closer to a plexi. The circuit is essentially a Marshall 1987 biased for 6L6s and a slightly different power supply. It has no choke as well. Everyone seems to argue about the impact power valves actually have on an amp's tone, but IMO this amp sounds basically like what you'd "expect" a plexi fitted with 6L6s to sound. Glassier cleans, and a bit more headroom.

I paid $250 for mine and I used it for a couple years in a band. I would set it to near breakup and run it as a pedal platform. The tones I get with it are really quite nice. It's almost completely necessary to run it with a Y cable with the channels mixed. I usually brought up the lead channel to volume (about 11 o clock), and then raised the rhythm channel to fill in the bottom end (about 10 o'clock). They both break up nicely around 1pm, but that was too loud for my band. At that point it's definitely not high gain.

It never broke down on me, but none of the tone controls did anything until I replaced all the pots. Opening the amp for the first time I was a bit disappointed with the build quality, but it's about what you should realistically expect. The PCB is not very thick, and neither were the traces. The eyelets around the component holes are also very fragile. The power-LED, all the jacks/switches/fuseholders/etc. were all mounted and hot-glued in place to strain-relieve the connections (I presume), which I think helped these amps keep their reputation for being tanks, it's just ugly as sin on the inside. That said, I played without a backup (both at gigs and practices) with it for about 2 years. And this guy owned it for 10 years in his basement (and CRANKED it through a 4x12) and never had any problems either. If you don't do your own repairs, and don't mess around with the PCB, you shouldn't have any reliability problems, but spending over $500 for one isn't a good deal (I'd be looking for only $300-$350). If you're limited to a budget, get something like a pre-owned (or pre-built) ceriatone kit instead, or a silverface bassman, if you can't find a sovtek in that range.

All of that said, it has been a great amp and I do like it a lot. It seems to be just about as reliable as any other amp out there despite my concerns with the build quality. All you ever hear about these amps is that they can take a beating. I'm actually about to rebuild it from scratch in PTP turreted fashion with upgraded components as a fun project.

I've heard the 50H and Mig 60 are handwired/turretboarded so if I were to get another sovtek, or go back in time, I might get one of those. Maybe not though, I liked the pedal platform thing more than I thought I would. The 60 and 50H are different beasts though. Much closer to a modded JCM800 style amp. But, I did find a pretty good deal on this 50 for $250, and it's an interesting amp for sure.

EDIT: Also bayta is right about the right price for that amp. With the upgraded transformer I'd be trying to get it for about $500. If you can get some gut pics, or look at the guts, it'd be a good idea. The build quality varied quite a bit between amps I think.