JOYO Zombie-II BanTamp XL Series Mini Amp Head 20W Hybrid Tube 2-Channel Guitar Amplifier with Bluetooth (No Sound, Need Extra Speaker)

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 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.

Unbelievable! This tiny lunchbox sized amp almost perfectly emulates the big boy its voiced as. The attack is almost unmistakable from my triple rectifier. Running through a 4x12 cab does not faze it and it gets loud enough to hang with band practice. The included footswitch is a very nice touch. This was clearly engineered by someone who gets it and it delivers for well under $200. This will definitely not be my last Joyo purchase

Definitely Mesa style distortion, a bit bright like it’s boosted. Has more low end than you’d expect. I think it’s a pretty good buy for a lunchbox. I’ll be keeping mine.

Ok where to start. I have multiple tube amps. I decided to try this bantamp zombie 2 for a spare when I just wanted a quick jam in my studio. Well done. I love the dirty channel. Pretty loud through a 16 ohm Evh 1-12 cab. I tried it with a 2-12 8 ohm cab. Wow. The clean channel is a lot lower than the distorted channel. No problem I always roll back the volume on my guitar when I want it a little cleaner. Works for me. I’m impressed with the effects loop. Makes my Boss RV-6 sound great. Also using a delay as well. Is it a rectifier? No. But great to jam with. Could you use it in a band situation? Depends on how hard hitting your drummer is. In my situation I could use it in the band. Great head. Sounds decent to me. I also use a Hughes and kettner grandmeiser 36 and have a Evh lbx2. I gravitate towards this little guy. It’s less fussy for me to dial in a tone. Not sure if the tube is doing a whole lot in the preamp, but cool little amp.

I have owned the amp it emulates,,it was extremely heavy,,but sounded good with way more output power then the joyo, but this little amp gets so close sounding, I'm using ceramic crunchy high output humbuckers,,and it has a boost channel, it's light and makes little or no hiss in my setup of it with a speaker cabinet I re purposed adding a 8 inch 8 ohm guitar speaker bought on the Zon for a mere $15 , that I find is a great deal on a guitar speaker that's just rite for this amp,,, and sounds great with this amp,, it's plenty loud yet not by any means as loud as it's big heavy noisy static latent all tube donor, but on a live stage you mic the amplifier on lower settings anyway ,,been there done that,, over all after playing this amp for a week or 2 now I am quite pleased with its value,,it has a bit of a limited volume and gain output sweep, dosen't do feedback easily and isn't exactly the same grits as the heavyweight it emulates, but so close and so light I am just super glad that they decided to make their tube pre amp Joyo series guitar amps, the features like effects loop and 2 channel with pedal are extra bonuses as well

What is not to like? Great little amp for the money. Sounds good and has enough power to push a 4X12 cabinet easily. It is well constructed, too.

I've owned several amps, including the small Orange amps. I was never very impressed by them. They'd often have decent output, but the tone was never anything great. After watching several videos on this beast and seeing the price, I figured I'd get one to find out for myself. When I pulled it out of the box, it was quite a bit smaller than I expected! I plugged it in and jammed for a while. Tested out on a 2x12 large sealed Vintage-30 cab (I'm a metal guy, what can I say?) Pros: -Unbelievable tone! The distortion at low to high gain is near-perfect! M-E-T-A-L for days! -Power packed! About 1/2 way up the volume is more than enough. I could imagine a 4x12 cab would be pretty silly. Remember that 1 watt can do 100+ decibels in most of the pro-audio speakers. Double the power, +3dB or x10 power for +10dB from there. Double the speakers, +3dB. So if this can put out 20 watts into a 4x12 cab, we're getting close to 120dB! Even your drummer will ask you to turn it down at that point... -Easy to use. There's not much to the knobs.. some like having a 4 hour tuning session with tons of knobs and settings, but I'd rather play my guitar. The few knobs that are there are really all this amp needs. Get pedals if you want more options. -Small and light weight. Would you rather pack a boulder or a pebble? Flights of stairs?! Crowded stages... you could "probably" fit this amp on some pedal boards! -Simple clean/dirty pedal, uses a TS cable which is nice, since most I've seen use a TRS. -FX loop. Haven't used it yet, but it's there! -Freakin tube?! Yeah. It glows. It's pretty. -Stays cool! Class D amps are pretty efficient. After playing ~30 minutes, nothing felt very warm. Mediums: -Clean tone is pretty good, but not perfect. Can't quite get the gain just right for perfection, but the clean channel is acceptable. -Bluetooth... it's there, but I don't need it. I'd rather either have other features, or rid of it and save size/weight and cost. But I'm sure others can find use for it. -I haven't used a ton of amps on this 2x12 cab, but the low end seems a bit excessive. Further testing needed here, but it may be a little too thumpy for some people. -Came with a cable that I can only assume is for amp-to-cab, but doesn't specify anywhere. Can't see what gauge the wiring is (not printed on cable), so may not be suitable for that power load. (though, we're talking 20 watts, so it doesn't need to be a 12awg speaker cable...) Cons: -Non-standard power supply. The ICE plug is missed, but when you get to this small of a package, it's not surprising. -Instructions weren't too great, but if you know how to insert plugs and turn dials, it's pretty self explanatory. You won't find ANYTHING... N-E-THING that is going to beat this at this time at this price level. It may not have the flexibility of some other high end amps, but it simply just doesn't need it.