Egnater Rebel/Tweaker -- jumping ship from Blackstar

[bara686]

Hey guys,

This is not set in stone yet, but my HT-5 is blowing preamp tubes like crazy and I think I may have to cash in on my service plan.

I was looking for something versatile, that can do Blues/Blues Rock (ala SRV, Dire Straits) to gainy stuff like American Metal (VH, Ratt) and more modern stuff (Weezer, etc). Nothing like the modern metal we know today, so I need gain but not a ton. I do have a Bad Monkey, but I would prefer the amp to be able to handle most of it itself.

The next issue is volume. The HT-5 sounds great at low volumes and I need the Egnater to do the same.

Any issues with the Tweaker v. the Rebel 20/30? I know the Tweaker has Master Volume, but will that help me achieve good tone at low volume?

If there are other amps you recommend let me know -- but I may be limited to what Guitar Center has in stock. I want to stay tube, and I need an effects loop.

 

[BloodRose]

Re: Egnater Rebel/Tweaker -- jumping ship from Blackstar

I always thought the rebels were ok, but since I have a PV classic 30, the rebel didnt offer much different to be worth the $. Its a fine amp but didnt have enough gain for my liking. The Tweaker however... I LOVE IT!!
GC near me got 1 in and before the opened, the guitar tech snapped it up.. Ive known him a number of years and trust his judgement. He said it was good. I told my bud to get one and we got one from ebay for a GREAT price. Tunnelvisionmusic.com. (plug cuz they did me good!)

The amp has a respectable clean on the vox and fender settings, and the high gain is awesome! I mean it doesnt roar like a Recto or any thing, but it has a great cranked marshall tone.. I played it back to back with JCM800 yest and where I was getting a thin pillow over the speaker type of fizz sound (volume too low to really come out) on the JCM800, the Tweaker was delivering a full crunch. and, thru my Avatar 2x12 , that lil 15 watt beastie had the house shaking on about 7 on the master.

Im VERY impressed with it. time will tell how it will hold up, but it appears to be a solid build.

Definately try one

 

[bara686]

Re: Egnater Rebel/Tweaker -- jumping ship from Blackstar

So my high gain needs (ala Van Halen, Ratt, Weezer) will be covered? I can't tell from internet clips -- gonna try to track one down here Tuesday.

And how about the MV on the tweaker, would it allow me to get decent distortion at lower volumes? I know the HT-5 really excelled at this.

Thanks, really in a dilemma atm.

 

[ken361]

Re: Egnater Rebel/Tweaker -- jumping ship from Blackstar

I heard the tweaker the other day cool little amp!

 

[devastone]

Re: Egnater Rebel/Tweaker -- jumping ship from Blackstar

Bloodrose,

Are you talking about the Rebel 20 or the 30?

I just picked up a 30 1-12 combo and it is a great amp, but it can get loud, even at the 1W setting (Egnater states that this is more of a dynamics control, not a volume control). The 30 has more gain than the 20 and can do the sounds the OP was asking about with a little tweaking, great amp, I also us an OD box in front of it for more push for solos and such. It can do bedroom volumes, if it is dialed down to a minimum. I get better low volume results running it through my RP1000 and using the Master output control on that (in the fx loop) to control the volume. You could do the same with one of those fx loop volume control thingies that sell on ebay for $20 or so.

My <$0.02, hope it helps some...

 

[BloodRose]

Re: Egnater Rebel/Tweaker -- jumping ship from Blackstar

So my high gain needs (ala Van Halen, Ratt, Weezer) will be covered? I can't tell from internet clips -- gonna try to track one down here Tuesday.

And how about the MV on the tweaker, would it allow me to get decent distortion at lower volumes? I know the HT-5 really excelled at this.

Thanks, really in a dilemma atm.

I cant say whether or not it will work for you, but I spent 3 hours today playing with it, running a les paul , a tele and a Kramer thru mine.. The cleans are very nice! Warm and sweet but can get jangly.. The gain is about all you'll need. Its as much or more than my JCM 800. you can even set it for a metal setting. (big scooped sound) But it isnt quite as pleasing and rich as the normal high gain.. Yeah, will easily cover hair metal and I was close to getting a believable brown sound with my Custom 8 loaded Kramer Focus 6000. And, it can be done at low levels and it gets loud too!

Im so impressed with it, Im gonna put my JCM800 in storage for awhile, cuz its overkill for my house..

Bloodrose,

Are you talking about the Rebel 20 or the 30?

I just picked up a 30 1-12 combo and it is a great amp, but it can get loud, even at the 1W setting (Egnater states that this is more of a dynamics control, not a volume control). The 30 has more gain than the 20 and can do the sounds the OP was asking about with a little tweaking, great amp, I also us an OD box in front of it for more push for solos and such. It can do bedroom volumes, if it is dialed down to a minimum. I get better low volume results running it through my RP1000 and using the Master output control on that (in the fx loop) to control the volume. You could do the same with one of those fx loop volume control thingies that sell on ebay for $20 or so.

My <$0.02, hope it helps some...

Im talking about the Engater Tweaker. GREAT amp!! But if you mean my Rebel reference, Ive only played thru a rebel 20.

 

[bara686]

Re: Egnater Rebel/Tweaker -- jumping ship from Blackstar

My local GC (which is my local guitar shop with Egnater) does not have the Tweaker available atm. I am off work tomorrow and am going to go to hopefully check out the Rebel line. I would LOVE 2 dedicated channels, but after looking at some Rebel 20 reviews, it seems to fit the bill.

Plus, either amp, I may end up getting an attenuator if I pick em up. I am GASing hard for this Egnater, just as much as I did the HT-5. I DO have an EQ pedal I can run through the loop as it has a volume slider on it.

All of this is going through an Avatar 2xG12H30 btw.

 

[FuseG4]

Re: Egnater Rebel/Tweaker -- jumping ship from Blackstar

The rebel 20 felt really compressed to me, it was hard to get a balanced sound that worked with both pickups, and the el84 side just seemed bright and harsh compared to the 6v6 side. Mixing the power tubes just didn't sound like any kind of tones I was familiar with... I dunno it just didn't wow me at all. Lowering the wattage control was like throwing sucessively thicker blankets over the amp, amp only sounded good at 20 W. There was a good amount of gain available, and cranked up it did sound alright, but the amp didn't have the headroom I like. The gain knob ramps up pretty quick. The bright and tight switches were OK but I'd rather just have them out of the circuit.

So, it was hard to EQ, I only liked the 6v6's, and it felt compressed. it's not a bad sounding amp, but it didn't have the feel I wanted. I went back and decided to go with the night train I'd been playing earlier that day.

 

[Chickenwings]

Re: Egnater Rebel/Tweaker -- jumping ship from Blackstar

I nearly messed my trousers when i plugged a strat into a Rebel 20 using the EL84 side. Very nice. Rich in harmonics. I have a marshall 1x12 jcm900 combo that covers all those rockier sounds you were talking about - but i reckon the rebel is a much more versatile amp and at very useable volume level. Great for recording and enough of volume/headroom too for live work. I think it sounds less modern and scoopy than the blackstar, but much more open, less compressed and generally more responsive. The blackstar does sound big and dirty for its wattage - but next to amps with a little more headroom (or a drummer) it runs out of puff. The egnater is so rich and responsive in comparison. Of course it will never sound like a 50, or 100watt marshall with the gain cranked, but these days it is rare you can actually dial in that sound without getting into trouble with the sound man, or the neighbors. So i would like to give my thumbs up for the rebel 20 fwiw to do the job you require.

 

[FuseG4]

Re: Egnater Rebel/Tweaker -- jumping ship from Blackstar

The harmonics in the rebel 20 amp I played were nice but it was just hard to use somehow...
I was really thinking about buying it but the el84 night train just had a more 60's british voicing. It is a vox, after all. Plug in and play, it's hard to make that amp sound bad unless you have no clue what you're doing.
I might like the tweaker but something comes to mind. I wish instead of all these switches and different voicings they could just pick one voicing and use the money saved on the other components to make that one voicing sweet as hell. Just a bad-ass 6v6 amp but at that price.
Good thing fender makes the deluxe reverb resissue. Not as much gain but oh! The smoothness! someday I'll get one and an a/b/y box. Now thats how to mix el84s and 6v6s!

 

[guitfiddle]

Re: Egnater Rebel/Tweaker -- jumping ship from Blackstar

I like the Rebel for what it is.

What it ISN'T is a British voiced amp. Very much more American flavor to the drive.

And, remember, Gibson and a bunch of other companies were making amps...both single ended and A/B...that used 6BQ5 tubes (US version of the EL84) a good 10 years before VOX ever made it's first amp.

 

[FuseG4]

Re: Egnater Rebel/Tweaker -- jumping ship from Blackstar

I like the Rebel for what it is.

What it ISN'T is a British voiced amp. Very much more American flavor to the drive.

And, remember, Gibson and a bunch of other companies were making amps...both single ended and A/B...that used 6BQ5 tubes (US version of the EL84) a good 10 years before VOX ever made it's first amp.

Right it did certainly have an american voicing but it turned out that wasn't what I was looking for at the time. Turns out I don't really dig american voiced el84s.

Yeah I know Vox wasn't pioneering the el84 field but the voicing of their amps is fairly distinct, regardless. I like it and the way el84s distort, to me, just demands that kind of barking british midrange sound. It feels like it fills in the gaps once the bass starts to compress from the power tubes overdriving. The most american voiced el84 amp I've played has been the blues jr, and it's actually a kind of warm amp and it doesn't feel like it has a lot of headroom. The rebel was comparatively bright. It caught me off guard, maybe?

That's why I liked the 6v6 sounds out of the rebel better than the el84 side. the way 6v6 crunch just sounds american to me, and the breakup tones just matched what i thought the amp should sound like.
I dunno why mixing them just didn't sound right to me. Maybe if I had more time to mess with it...

Like I said tho I did almost buy one. It's not a bad amp by a long shot.

 

[Chickenwings]

Re: Egnater Rebel/Tweaker -- jumping ship from Blackstar

Fuse - you should start a night train forum.

 

[FuseG4]

Re: Egnater Rebel/Tweaker -- jumping ship from Blackstar

Yeah me, AniML, and Hermetico. We form Voltron and fight against bad tone.
The only thing that bites is the low end compression that plagues all el84s by nature. it really only gets to be a problem when trying to squeeze more gain out of the thick mode at high volumes, and some of that compression's gotta be the single greenback.
Anyways, vintage tubes and a simple circuit is what most people really need. They just don't know they need it.

It's too bad the OP needs a FX loop. The night train lacks in the "extras" department. No reverb is a bit of a blower, but all in all they made the amp affordable and had to cut something somewhere. Thank God the basic platform isn't what got the budget shortcomings.

 

[Chickenwings]

Re: Egnater Rebel/Tweaker -- jumping ship from Blackstar

yes vox definitely achieved what they had in mind with that amp. I like them. Maybe an fx loop would be nice, but simple is often clearer and more responsive with amp circuits.