G5 Infinium : Perfect practice amp!

I've had this amp for over an year now and haven't had any troubles. I admit it doesn't have that many hours on it, as I'm only using it at home, but seems to be very reliable so far.

The rated power is "only" 5W, but it can get very loud if you crank it on the overdrive channel!

Mine is connected to a Harley Benton G112 Vingate (open backed with 12" Celestion Vintage 30). Since the speaker sensitivity is 100db, it is possible to annoy the neighbors if desired ;)

The integrated power soak is invaluable if you want to keep the volume low while still getting the high gain sound. Be mindful that when you set it to 1W or 0.1W the sound seems to get more compressed. I do like it best at 5W - using the master volume it's possible to keep the levels "bedroom friendly"

Features are excellent for any amp and for the money you can't really find anything better. The effects loop works well and has a level switch.

Only giving 4 stars as the clean channel has a single tone control, which somewhat limits the flexibility. ISF is nice, but it doesn't have a profound effect on the sound.

The reverb is pretty good and can be switched on/off with the included pedal, which you can't do from the face of the amp.

Finally - the SOUND! Clear channel is chimey and just sings with a strat. Overdrive is rich and responsive, but gets noisy if turned up too much. A pedal in front (OCD clone) works better for higher gain tones if you want to achieve that growling overdriven sound.

I'm really glad I took the plunge and went for a valve amp soon after I started learning to play. Sometimes I just want to plug in and fool around a bit, listening to the great sound and nuances, and inevitably this leads to learning some new lick, riff or song - which is always a bonus!

Recommended!