How To Pick The Right Amp?

soundchaser59

soundchaser59

New member
I finally had a chance to actually play 3 or 4 Egnater amps in a store here. I had always wondered what they would sound like, plus I'm impressed by the fact that Keith Howland, guitarist for Chicago, swears by the brand. I love the sounds I was getting!! I think there were two Renegades, a Tweaker, and a Rebel 30.

So now I'm interested in buying an Egnater. I do classic rock, hard blues, loud funk, some lite jazz rock and lite fusion. I rely on 4 or 5 core sounds, loud cleans, crunch rock, clean sustain leads, and smooth over drive leads. Think Tower of Power, Chicago, Doobie Bros, Steely Dan, Clapton, SRV, etc. (no heavy metal or heavy distortion, and I don't want a ton of pedals) I do play on stage with a 5 piece horn section, so I am guessing a 10 or 15 watt amp would not be quite enough, but I probably don't need a 100 watt beast either. The 25-50 watt range seems to be ideal for what I do. Guitars are Strat and Telecaster, speakers are Webers.

What I want to know is which Egnater amps are the most reliable? How can I tell that I'm looking at a newer amp rather than an older amp at a retailer? Is that all I need to do to avoid issues, is make sure I am getting an amp that's built as recently as possible?
 
Thank You! That sounds logical.

Do you still have your Renegade? Do you play hard and loud a lot? Or is it for home use?

Do you run at 18w or 65w? What tube mix do you typically use?
 
+1 on the Renegade, It'll cover all your needs. If you don't want channel switching , either the Rebel 20 or Tweaker 15 will do, you just won't have as much clean headroom. Nice pedal platform. I saw Keith Howland's video demonstrating the Rebel 20 through his rig and I ended up buying that! Great little amp!

I run the Renegade with JJ6L6's and JJE34L's and blend on both channels. The 18 watt is great for getting that squishy tone at lower volumes. The Foot controller has awesome features. You really don't need pedals with all the features the Renegade has.
 
Thanks, I just took a closer look at the Renegade and it really does have a ton of useful features, more than just "bells & whistles." Almost all of the features are per channel, which I really like, and ability to bias it myself. CooooooL!
 
I think the Renegade is a lot of amp for the money, and if you email customer service at Guitar Center and ask them to email you a discount coupon code, you may very well get one for 15 to 20% off.
Egnater is one of the few amp brands that they allow those coupon codes to be used in a purchase.
So if you live in a state that GC does not tax their sales into, it can save you some significant coin.

I've been using a 4100 head and a 412A cab for a couple of months with no problems so far .... other than a short lived issue that was resolved by reseating the tubes, after what was probably just a bumpy ride courtesy of UPS.
The only other issue I've had with them is what I consider to be less than acceptable customer support.
No answers when using their support request form to inquire about the initial tube issue I had, and I was only successful at getting a human on the phone once out of ~ a dozen calls. :scared:

But my main reason for replying here is because I too hate a bunch of pedals, so I use a TC-Helicon VoiceLive 3 for my guitar FX (as well as voice processor) along with their new programmable 6 button footswitch, to make fast selections amongst the many customizable FX it has.
The VL3 is just one of many other multi-FX units.
IMHO: you just need to make sure you you get one that has 'all' the FX you use, an easy way of quickly switching them in/out, and that they are customizable and stackable in the ways you will want to use them.

I'm also using a Fender '63 Reissue reverb tank with a aftermarket dual button, latching footswitch because the 4100's reverb is a just bit too wimpy for some of the music I play.
I mod'd this Fender tank to have two different tone circuits (hence the dual buttons for the normal reverb on/off 'and' the second button for selection between the two tone circuits).

So ... although I 'do' still have 4 "stompboxes" per se (including the 4100's 6 button footswitch) they all work like many, many more individual stompboxes, and are much easier to lay out than a whole host of stompboxes.
This gives me a lot of flexibility, with the minimum amount of baggage and set-up hassle ..... and is certainly a lot easier than when I played drums. :yes:
I'll fab up my own pedalboard case to fit them, and pre-wire it for the minimum connections out of the board, making it even easier.
It may not be the set-up for everyone, but it works for me, and I'm not lacking for any sound/FX I want ... and then some! :thumbsup:

On Edit: My apologies ... I meant to add that in case you might go to the 4100 Tourmaster, you 'do' want to make sure the serial number has an M at the end of it.
That will ensure it is of the latest vintage and has the tranny fix.
I don't know how to tell the vintage of the other models, but hopefully others can chime in and answer your 'born-on date question' regarding them .......

And FYI: I run the 4100 in the 10 watt mode for practice, and go to 100 when I want to rock the mountain tops up here. ;)
 
Flyer91":1gxizz98 said:
I think the Renegade is a lot of amp for the money, and if you email customer service at Guitar Center and ask them to email you a discount coupon code, you may very well get one for 15 to 20% off.
Egnater is one of the few amp brands that they allow those coupon codes to be used in a purchase.
So if you live in a state that GC does not tax their sales into, it can save you some significant coin.

I've been using a 4100 head and a 412A cab for a couple of months with no problems so far .... other than a short lived issue that was resolved by reseating the tubes, after what was probably just a bumpy ride courtesy of UPS.
The only other issue I've had with them is what I consider to be less than acceptable customer support.
No answers when using their support request form to inquire about the initial tube issue I had, and I was only successful at getting a human on the phone once out of ~ a dozen calls. :scared:

But my main reason for replying here is because I too hate a bunch of pedals, so I use a TC-Helicon VoiceLive 3 for my guitar FX (as well as voice processor) along with their new programmable 6 button footswitch, to make fast selections amongst the many customizable FX it has.
The VL3 is just one of many other multi-FX units.
IMHO: you just need to make sure you you get one that has 'all' the FX you use, an easy way of quickly switching them in/out, and that they are customizable and stackable in the ways you will want to use them.

I'm also using a Fender '63 Reissue reverb tank with a aftermarket dual button, latching footswitch because the 4100's reverb is a just bit too wimpy for some of the music I play.
I mod'd this Fender tank to have two different tone circuits (hence the dual buttons for the normal reverb on/off 'and' the second button for selection between the two tone circuits).

So ... although I 'do' still have 4 "stompboxes" per se (including the 4100's 6 button footswitch) they all work like many, many more individual stompboxes, and are much easier to lay out than a whole host of stompboxes.
This gives me a lot of flexibility, with the minimum amount of baggage and set-up hassle ..... and is certainly a lot easier than when I played drums. :yes:
I'll fab up my own pedalboard case to fit them, and pre-wire it for the minimum connections out of the board, making it even easier.
It may not be the set-up for everyone, but it works for me, and I'm not lacking for any sound/FX I want ... and then some! :thumbsup:

On Edit: My apologies ... I meant to add that in case you might go to the 4100 Tourmaster, you 'do' want to make sure the serial number has an M at the end of it.
That will ensure it is of the latest vintage and has the tranny fix.
I don't know how to tell the vintage of the other models, but hopefully others can chime in and answer your 'born-on date question' regarding them .......

And FYI: I run the 4100 in the 10 watt mode for practice, and go to 100 when I want to rock the mountain tops up here. ;)
Click to expand...

Great info, THANK YOU!
 
soundchaser59":115omh5o said:
I finally had a chance to actually play 3 or 4 Egnater amps in a store here. I had always wondered what they would sound like, plus I'm impressed by the fact that Keith Howland, guitarist for Chicago, swears by the brand. I love the sounds I was getting!! I think there were two Renegades, a Tweaker, and a Rebel 30.

So now I'm interested in buying an Egnater. I do classic rock, hard blues, loud funk, some lite jazz rock and lite fusion. I rely on 4 or 5 core sounds, loud cleans, crunch rock, clean sustain leads, and smooth over drive leads. Think Tower of Power, Chicago, Doobie Bros, Steely Dan, Clapton, SRV, etc. (no heavy metal or heavy distortion, and I don't want a ton of pedals) I do play on stage with a 5 piece horn section, so I am guessing a 10 or 15 watt amp would not be quite enough, but I probably don't need a 100 watt beast either. The 25-50 watt range seems to be ideal for what I do. Guitars are Strat and Telecaster, speakers are Webers.

What I want to know is which Egnater amps are the most reliable? How can I tell that I'm looking at a newer amp rather than an older amp at a retailer? Is that all I need to do to avoid issues, is make sure I am getting an amp that's built as recently as possible?
Click to expand...

last i saw, Howland was endorsing the tourmaster, though that could've changed.

the tourmaster is a great amp...you probably hear it on a lot of recordings and you dont realize it, i know that micheal wagener said he uses one quite extensively in the studio.

there is good advice here if you buy one, just get a tourmaster with the "M" at the end....

i just read a post from bruce that said they changed transformer companies and now the issues have been resolved. i replaced my output tranny in my tourmaster myself and did the M mod myself and did some other mods to it....knock on wood, going strong since...i even gigged with it and it sounded great LOUD!
 
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