the t.amp TA 1050 MK-X

Having emailed Thomann asking for advice about purchasing an amp for our band, they sent me back a very helpful review of what would be compatible with the gear we have and the genre of music we play.

The strange thing was they recommended we take a look at the TA1050 as it was reliable, sturdy and would comfortably drive our speakers ...this amp was CHEAPER than the one we were interested in!!! ... not many businesses are prepared to do that!

Anyways as I have always received excellent advice from Thomann in the past regarding purchasing equipment we decided to go with them on the new amp.

I'm glad we did, here's a brief review of what we found:

This amp is heavy, it's going nowhere fast, built like a tank ... it does not feel not plastic or "cheap" ... so carting it about is not for the faint hearted.

However it does delivers a whopping sound ... we play acoustic covers mainly. Acoustic Guitar, plus some effects, vocals and Cajon (piezo) and Kick cajon (internal mic). Bass guitar uses own combo.

The sound we managed to get was clear, plenty of headroom, and the bass was strong. We do not using a crossover or bass bins at the minute, just 15" speakers.
For the price and for a small band playing small venues 80-170 people this beast was coasting along at about 2 o'clock on the dials without breaking sweat. No clipping, no distortion.

There are no whistles and bells on it - inputs, outputs, stereo/parallel/bridged - this is not a bad thing - I want an amp to deliver the sound my desk sends - I don't want to pay for anything else I don't need.

I do not claim to be well versed in setting up or sound checking but I am very glad we bought this amp.

Don't be put off with it being "cheap" or not a "big name" it does what you need it to do - pump volts - lots of them .. well, consistently and all night.

Superb value.

As always Thomann once again delivers a solid product at a good price. Though this is a heavy unit it comes with two handles on the front which makes it easy and more convenient to handle - though I can't see a way to remove these so if you had a hardcase with a front, may not be able to fit the front cover on, I haven't tried to remove so there may be a way.

Sound quality is crisp and the unit itself feels well built. I have lost the knobs a couple of times when turning it has come off in my hand and once or twice it has dropped to the floor, but could just be how I'm using it. I've put two small blobs of blutack inside to stop this from happening.

I owned a more expensive amp of similar specs by Mackie it did not outperform this amp in any way obvious to me whatsoever. So to say it is a great amp for its price would be an understatement. It is a great amp fullstop.
Physical build quality is great. Handling is simple and efficient. Features are balanced and useful, they met my expectations. Sound of course is not Hi-Fi as this is PA amp. It was even used as bass and guitar power amp (paired with quality preamps, and guitar/bass boxes) on couple of international tours, and came back to me alive and well. No signs of wear and tear.
It was a first Thomann's own branded item that I bought, and it earned my respect and blew away prejudice the hard way, by great performance and quality.

I got this amp a three years ago for use in a rehearsal room. It gets a lot of use! Probably 4 hours a day almost every day, so its got a bit of mileage on it! We initially got it because one of our powered desks wasn't packing enough punch, but this bad boy has all the power a band could need in a medium sized rehearsal room, and it never gets turned up past half way. Its never once let us down. It has been dragged out gigging a few times and is fairly robust and sturdy although the knobs do seem to come off easy if knocked. Its a basic enough amp with just an on switch and a left and right output level...but sometimes that's all you need.