JOYO Meteor II BanTamp XL Series Mini Amp Head 20 Watt Preamp 2 Channel Hybrid Tube Guitar Amplifier Head for Electric Guitar with Bluetooth

I ordered this amp to downsize from a 100 watt head to something more appropriate for my home. The reviews and videos I watched about this amp were spot-on and I couldn't be happier with how it performs. The main feature I needed was an effects loop so that I could plug other modellers into the effects return and send the audio out through my 1x12 cabinet. I've reached the point where I am stale on emulated guitar speakers and I want an actual speaker with a microphone in my signal chain. Since this amp handles 8 ohm and 16 ohm speakers, I was covered and many others should be as well. You can also use the headphones as a line out since it has an emulated cabinet in that signal, but I don't think it sounds the greatest, and I wouldn't use it in a mix.I was expecting to be disappointed with the lack of traditional tone stack controls, but what's cool is you can come up with some really decent high-gain tones with different combinations of the gain, tone and volume controls. I have found some really nice settings fairly quickly just trying out different knob positions.I've used it with a guitar directly plugged in, and I also have re-amped several sources through it to take advantage of this amp's great tones. I think using it to re-amp has been more fun since I can set up loop points in my mixes, then adjust the 3 knobs until the guitar tone sits nicely within the mix.Don't be fooled by the 20 watt power size....this little lunch box gets LOUD. I have mine running through my speaker at full volume in my isolation box and it does its job well. I don't play out or in a band, so I don't know how it would function in that area, but for home use it is more than ample.In case you're wondering, since it has a solid state power amp, you do not need to have it connected to a speaker at all times. You are free to use just headphones with it if you prefer.I haven't tried the bluetooth line in stuff yet as I have never done that with any amp, but I assume it would work just fine. It also comes with a foot switch to change amp channels if you want to do that.After working with this amp for a few days and enjoying how it sounds, I want to also get the Jackman (JCM 800) version as well to have most heavy sounds covered between this and the Jackman.For the price point, I am not certain you'll find a better deal that has so much to offer. I sweated this purchase for far too long and I'm glad I took advantage of an Amazon sale to get it for around $150 USD.

I've been looking at these amps for a while now. I decided to pull the trigger, and get the Zombie II. I received it today and hooked it up to a 1x12 cab with a vintage 30 speaker. This little guy is insanely loud. It's a little chuging machine, I still can't believe what's coming out of it. If you're into high gain metal tone this can't be beat at this price.I doubt at 20 watts this would hold up against a powerful drummer, but with a PA and a good mic, it most likely would. I was also impressed with the clean channel, it's not colored in any way by the gain. If you turn up the gain on the clean channel it beefs up your tone instead of having a traditional overdrive sound clip the tone, it's perfect for running pedals. There is quite a bit of beefy low end to this amp, something I personally like.I would suggest adding a pedal EQ to shape it to your liking. I'm really blown away by this little lunch box, I wouldn't hesitate in buying another.Edit 3/14/2025This is not a head phone amp. I blew one of my drivers on a set of Audio Technica ATH-M50x headphones. Not sure if this an impedance issue or overpowering on the headphone out. If you need a quiet headphone practice amp this ain't it. This was made for speaker cabs.

I bought the Zombie 2 for the dual channel option and I'm glad I did. I wanted a high gain amplifier for down tuned metal, hard rock, and rock guitar playing but I didn't want to have to sell a kidney on the black market to get it. After watching a couple YouTube videos with positive reviews I decided to give it a shot. I own several joyo pedals and have learned to appreciate their products. Just because they're inexpensive doesn't mean they're junk.The good: The high gain side of the amp is amazing! Having a tube in the preamp section gives the high gain channel a definite warmth and push. It's responsive even without using added overdrive and with passive pickups. While I do recommend an eq pedal to get the most out of the tone, it's got great power and tone just as it is. An eq, and a little added overdrive(really recommend the joyo maximum od) and she's a raging beast. Great lows, clear highs and a fine balance with the mids. Power to spare too. I run mine into a Marshall 2x12 with celestion V30 speakers and I can bury a drummer. Easily enough power for small venues and practice. Fx loop in the back and it takes pedals extremely well both through the fx loop and in the front. I do recommend a noise gate at the end of the chain on the gain channel.The ok: the clean channel is ok. No reverb with the amp but it's clear, clean and responsive again thanks to the tube preamp section. You really can dial in solid clean tones. Add delay and a little reverb via pedals and you can rock out blues and r&b with ease. Both channels take pedals well so if you add a little overdrive you can have dirty blues to vintage rock tones with a twist of a dial. Really inexpensive combo for vintage rock is the zombie 2 on the clean channel and the joyo vintage od. Got the pedal used for $20 at a guitar shop and plugged it in. About 5 minutes later I was jamming on my sg copy playing Sweet Emotion and grinning like an idiot because my cheap little setup sounded so good.The bad: no built in reverb. That's it. Seriously that's it. That is the only con I can find with this amp head. I've played it extensively, run every pedal combination I can come up with through it, played a semi hollow Gretsch, an ibanez 6 and 7 string through with passive and active pickups, a Les Paul, a Fender Player series stratocaster, an SG copy, and a Charvel hsh super strat San Dimas model, and two squier guitars(50s classic vibe and affinity telecaster). Thing sounds amazing.

The crunch channel is a killer! It's sure sounds like Marshall amp crunch. I am very impressed with this little amp. I am more like a tube clean tone guy so the clean channel is pretty good. Overall. It's a great little amp with great sound for the money. With 20 watt is loud enough for a small gig or you can jam along with the drum and the bass.