Skip to main content
MusicRadar MusicRadar The No.1 website for musicians
UK EditionUK US EditionUS AU EditionAustralia SG EditionSingapore
Sign in
  • View Profile
  • Sign out
  • Artist news
  • Superbooth 2026
  • Synths
  • Guitars
  • Controllers
  • Drums
  • Keyboards & Pianos
  • Guitar Amps
  • Music Gear Reviews
  • Software & Apps
  • More
    • Recording
    • DJ Gear
    • Acoustic Guitars
    • Bass Guitars
    • Tech
    • Tutorials
    • Reviews
    • Buying Guides
    • About us
Don't miss these
Superbooth header
Tech Superbooth 2026: all the latest synth news from Berlin - LIVE!
Polyend Drums drum machine in black
Tech Polyend Drums is a hybrid analogue-digital drum machine "built for immediacy, depth and performance"
Jared James Nichols plays his Gibson Futura on a stage lit up in red-pink.
Artists “I felt like I was levitating off the ground. I felt like I was in Cream in 1968”: Jared James Nichols on why he switched to Marshall amps
Blackstar Beam Mini: the super-compact desktop amp has AI stem separation and offers players access to over 200,000 user-created NAM captures
Guitars With AI stem separation, component-level modelling, and access to 200,000+ neural captures, Blackstar's Beam Mini “redefines” the desktop amp
Roland Lydia Phase 2
Tech Project Lydia, Roland’s neural sampling stompbox, moves a step closer to becoming a finished product
Sonicware Minimal
Tech Sonicware Deconstruct Minimal is a hardware groovebox designed for ‘hypnotic minimal grooves’
Buchla Ziggy desktop analogue synth
Tech “An ‘instrument’ rather than a ‘synth’”: Ziggy is a desktop Buchla available for (just) under $1000
Three new additions to the $99 JHS Pedals range: Glitch Delay, Bit Crusher and Ring Modulator – all compact stompboxes with white enclosures and three knobs
Guitars Meet the $99 stompbox that’ll crush your bits – JHS expands its affordable 3 Series with three exotic effects for your pedalboard
EVH Gear Wolfgang Special Baked Maple: the high-performance electrics are refreshed with baked maple necks, TOM bridges and Floyd Rose vibratos
Guitars Eddie Van Halen-approved baked maple necks? Check. Flagship pickups? Check. EVH Gear unveils stunning refresh of the Wolfgang Special
IK Multimedia Tonex One Plus
Guitars The most mighty mini amp modelling pedal just got mightier as IK Multimedia offers full MIDI integration and wireless editing on the Tonex One+
Sterling By Music Man Joe Dart Collection, ft. the Joe Dart I [left] and the Joe Dart Vision – the bass with no controls
Artists No knobs? No problem – Sterling By Music Man takes bass guitar design minimalism to its logical conclusion with the super-cool Joe Dart Vision
Fender Godzilla Distortion
Guitars You’ve seen Fender’s Godzilla Strat, now here the comes the pedal – and it’s a monster op-amp distortion with city-levelling tone (and a seriously cool graphic finish)
Superbooth 2026
Tech Stochastic sequences to a ‘render farm’ of drums: 8 great Eurorack releases from Superbooth 2026
Warm Audio Reamper: the all-in-one routing solution for reamping and adding effects to recorded tracks.
Guitars “Track a performance through your favorite tube amp while simultaneously capturing a dry signal as a safety”: Warm Audio’s Reamper is an analogue “creative routing hub” that could be the recording tool you’ve been waiting for
Neural DSP Quad Cortex
Guitar Pedals Best multi-effects pedals 2026: Our pick of the best all-in-one guitar FX modellers
More
  • Superbooth 2026
  • Kate Bush Army Dreamers
  • 95k+ free music samples
  • Theory of Feels
  1. Guitars
  2. Guitar Amps

NAMM 2016: Stone Deaf unleashes "game-changing" SD valve amps with digital control

News
By Michael Astley-Brown published 15 January 2016

All-analogue heads and combos deliver preset-saving ability

When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here’s how it works.

Introduction

Introduction

NAMM 2016: As well as five tasty new effects pedals, Manchester's Stone Deaf has launched a range of equally desirable valve amps, the British-voiced SD series, which offer full digital control and the ability to save presets, plus full MIDI integration.

The range starts with the SD8 eight-watt lunchbox-proportioned head and progresses up to the SD50 50-watter – all amps are 240/120V switchable, while a range of lightweight poplar cabs are also available (below).

Click through the gallery for more info…

Page 1 of 5
Page 1 of 5
Stone Deaf SD8 Head

Stone Deaf SD8 Head

The baby of the range, the SD8 is a pure Class A compact head, outputting eight watts via 12AX7 and EL84 valves.

Two channels are available via a push-button on gain control, while treble, mid and bass are adjustable using the push-button tone knob.

Up to 16 presets can be stored across four banks, accessed using the push-button volume control or controlled via MIDI, while the amp's tonal range covers clean to crunch and drive.

Features

  • Pure Class A Single Ended
  • 8 Watts RMS
  • Light weight poplar cabinets available
  • All analogue valve amplifier circuit with digital control of tone, volume and gain via a push of a button
  • MIDI input
  • 240 /120v Switchable
Page 2 of 5
Page 2 of 5
Stone Deaf SD30 Head

Stone Deaf SD30 Head

With switchable wattage (30 watts Class A/B or eight watts Class A) via 12AX7s and EL84s, the SD30 offers increased versatility over its baby brother.

In addition, players can assign each of the amp's channels with solid-state and valve-rectified functions and power scaling, as well as fixed bias and cathode bias.

What's more, there's digital spring reverb, MIDI control, a channel-assignable buffered effects loop and a whopping 32 presets across eight banks – tidy.

Features

  • 30 Watts RMS Class A/B or 8 Watts RMS Class A
  • Light weight poplar cabinets available
  • All analogue valve amplifier circuit with digital control of reverb, tone, volume and gain via a push of a button
  • MIDI input
  • 240/ 120v Switchable
  • Digital spring reverb
  • Channel assignable Cathode Bias and Fixed Bias
  • Channel assignable Solid State Rectifier or Valve Rectifier
  • Channel assignable buffered effects loop with send and return volumes
Page 3 of 5
Page 3 of 5
Stone Deaf SD30 Combo 1x12

Stone Deaf SD30 Combo 1x12

Spec-wise, the SD30 Combo mirrors the Head version, but adds a marine birch plywood or lightweight poplar cabinet and FX70 70-watt speaker.

Features

  • 30 Watts RMS Class A/B or 8 Watts RMS Class A
  • Combo including 1 x 12 inch FX70, 70w speaker
  • Light weight poplar cabinets available
  • All analogue valve amplifier circuit with digital control of reverb, tone, volume and gain via a push of a button
  • MIDI input
  • 240/ 120v Switchable
  • Digital spring reverb
  • Channel assignable Cathode Bias and Fixed Bias
  • Channel assignable Solid State Rectifier or Valve Rectifier
  • Channel assignable buffered effects loop with send and return volumes
Page 4 of 5
Page 4 of 5
Stone Deaf SD50 Head

Stone Deaf SD50 Head

The SD50 boasts a massive 50-watt Class A/B output from 12AX7 and 6l6GC valves, but like the SD30, is switchable down to eight watts Class A.

Other bonuses over its brethren include additional presence and resonance controls, but elsewhere it retains the same complement of 32 presets, digital spring reverb and MIDI control.

Features

  • 50 Watts RMS Class A/B or 8 Watts RMS Class A
  • Light weight poplar cabinets available
  • All analogue valve amplifier circuit with digital control of reverb, tone, volume and gain settings via a push of a button
  • MIDI input
  • 240/ 120v Switchable
  • Digital spring reverb
  • Channel assignable Cathode Bias and Fixed Bias
  • Channel assignable Solid State Rectifier or Valve Rectifier
  • Channel assignable buffered effects loop with send and return volumes
Page 5 of 5
Page 5 of 5
Michael Astley-Brown
Michael Astley-Brown
Social Links Navigation

Mike has been Editor-in-Chief of GuitarWorld.com since 2019, and an offset fiend and recovering pedal addict for far longer. He has a master's degree in journalism from Cardiff University, and 15 years' experience writing and editing for guitar publications including MusicRadar, Total Guitar and Guitarist, as well as 20 years of recording and live experience in original and function bands. During his career, he has interviewed the likes of John Frusciante, Chris Cornell, Tom Morello, Matt Bellamy, Kirk Hammett, Jerry Cantrell, Joe Satriani, Tom DeLonge, Radiohead's Ed O'Brien, Polyphia, Tosin Abasi, Yvette Young and many more. His writing also appears in the The Cambridge Companion to the Electric Guitar. In his free time, you'll find him making progressive instrumental rock as Maebe.

Read more
The Victory PowerValve 200 is a compact 200-watt tube-driven power amp designed for digital rigs.
Guitars Does your digital rig lack “thump” and feel? Victory’s PowerValve 200 promises to restore that analogue tube mojo
 
 
Blackstar Beam Mini: the super-compact desktop amp has AI stem separation and offers players access to over 200,000 user-created NAM captures
Guitars With AI stem separation, component-level modelling, and access to 200,000+ neural captures, Blackstar's Beam Mini “redefines” the desktop amp
 
 
The Victory MKX rehouses a high-end classic from the British amp brand in a more compact lunchbox format.
Guitar Amps “Undoubtedly the most versatile lunchbox amp Victory has ever made”: Victory MKX review
 
 
Blackstar ID:X Floor Two
Guitar Pedals "The amp and effects modelling unit for those who’d rather play than get bogged down in too many details" Blackstar ID:X Floor Two review
 
 
Warm Audio Reamper: the all-in-one routing solution for reamping and adding effects to recorded tracks.
Guitars “Track a performance through your favorite tube amp while simultaneously capturing a dry signal as a safety”: Warm Audio’s Reamper is an analogue “creative routing hub” that could be the recording tool you’ve been waiting for
 
 
Wampler Golden Jubilee: the sparkly-green stompbox has gold anodized dials and two channels of drive to play with, placing classic Plexi and Mesa-style sounds into a compact housing.
Guitars Love hotrodded Plexi crunch and Mesa high-gain drive? Wampler’s Golden Jubilee serves up both in one sparkly green stompbox
 
 
Latest in Guitar Amps
Warm Audio Reamper: the all-in-one routing solution for reamping and adding effects to recorded tracks.
Guitars “Track a performance through your favorite tube amp while simultaneously capturing a dry signal as a safety”: Warm Audio’s Reamper is an analogue “creative routing hub” that could be the recording tool you’ve been waiting for
 
 
The Marshall 60th Anniversary Jimi Hendrix Collection features a Marshall 1959 Super Lead half-stack, and a special edition Dunlop Fuzz Face.
Guitars “We built the amps, Hendrix made them scream”: Marshall celebrates 60 years of Jimi Hendrix with “cosmic” anniversary collection including hand-wired amp, Fuzz Face and more
 
 
Jared James Nichols plays his Gibson Futura on a stage lit up in red-pink.
Artists “I felt like I was levitating off the ground. I felt like I was in Cream in 1968”: Jared James Nichols on why he switched to Marshall amps
 
 
Blackstar Beam Mini: the super-compact desktop amp has AI stem separation and offers players access to over 200,000 user-created NAM captures
Guitars With AI stem separation, component-level modelling, and access to 200,000+ neural captures, Blackstar's Beam Mini “redefines” the desktop amp
 
 
Jared James Nichols plays his Gibson Futura live onstage
Artists “So yes, it’s official: I’ve made the move”: Jared James Nichols switches to Marshall amps
 
 
Jake Kiszka of Greta Van Fleet rips a solo on his '61 SG.
Artists Jake Kiszka on the time he went shopping for the world’s most expensive guitar amp in Japan
 
 
Latest in News
New for 2026: Gretsch Electromatic Baritones, ft the CVT on the left, the Jet on the right
Guitars Gretsch reinvents a cult classic loved by Jack Antonoff as it unveils two Electromatic baritones
 
 
Portrait taken on September 13, 1982 shows British singer and drummer Phil Collins. Phil Collins combined his career as a drummer and singer with the band Genesis and a successful solo career.
Artists Phil Collins says that he gave away his Roland CR-78 then had to ask for it back
 
 
AMERICAN IDOL - "916 (Grand Finale)" - The Top 3 finalists give their all for the last chance to earn America's vote. Alicia Keys serves as guest mentor and performer, plus special performances from other music legends and today's top stars. MONDAY, MAY 11 (8:00-11:00 p.m. EDT) on ABC. (Disney/Eric McCandless) RAYE, ALICIA KEYS (Photo by Eric McCandless/Disney via Getty Images)
Artists Alicia Keys celebrates 25 years of her debut album, which featured a notable cover of a Prince b-side
 
 
Seymour Duncan Limited Edition 50th Anniversary Duncan Custom
Guitars Seymour Duncan releases hand-wound replica of an OG humbucker from the dawn of the high-gain era
 
 
Noel Gallagher performs live with Oasis and plays a Gibson Les Paul Standard
Artists Definitely, maybe your chance to nail Noel Gallagher’s tone: his pedalboards have gone up for sale
 
 
Jay Messina, Jack Douglas and Steven Tyler listen to playback of tracks for Aerosmith's Draw The Line Lp, while recording at The Cenacle in Armonk NY, May 15, 1977
Producers & Engineers "He touched many of your lives. He will be missed": John Lennon and Aerosmith producer Jack Douglas has died
 
 

MusicRadar is part of Future plc, an international media group and leading digital publisher. Visit our corporate site.

Add as a preferred source on Google Add as a preferred source on Google
  • About Us
  • Contact Future's experts
  • Terms and conditions
  • Privacy policy
  • Cookies policy
  • Advertise with us
  • Accessibility Statement
  • Careers

© Future Publishing Limited Quay House, The Ambury, Bath BA1 1UA. All rights reserved. England and Wales company registration number 2008885.

Please login or signup to comment

Please wait...