Egnater Tweaker first impressions

[talltxguy]

Just picked up a Tweaker head at GC today. I'm running it through a Mesa Boogie 1X10. Things sound great on the clean and distorted sides of things. I did replace the stock preamp tubes with NOS tubes and changed the output tubes to JJ 6V6s. I could tell an increase in the complexity and depth of the tone. I don't miss a presence knob as the various switches take care of that for me.

I haven't got any favorite settings yet as I've only been messing with it for a few hours. Even with little 1X10, this thing is plenty loud and sounds pretty good at bedroom volumes although my favorite tones to be had were when the master volume was wide open.

I didn't try the effects loop and probably won't for quite some time, so I can't comment on it.

Nice job on the amp, Egnater.

 

[bubs_42]

Congrats, its a very versital, portable, tone machine. Very wise to change the tubes I could not believe the difference in the amp after the first tube change. I however did not have much luck with any cabinet other than the Tweaker Cabinet. It was just stellar with that head.

 

[talltxguy]

I had a chance to get on the amp for quite a while yesterday and discovered that the output tubes have a lot to do with what I'm trying to accomplish. I put some JJ KT77's in there and was blown away by the distortion; however, the cleans weren't as nice as the 6V6's. Likewise, the distortions on the 6V6 couldn't touch the KT77's.

I also did quite a bit of bias readings on various output tubes and noticed that the hotter tubes do indeed sound better.

 

[gitaryzt1985]

Congrats, its a very versital, portable, tone machine. Very wise to change the tubes I could not believe the difference in the amp after the first tube change. I however did not have much luck with any cabinet other than the Tweaker Cabinet. It was just stellar with that head.

I'm starting to wonder if I should get the matching cab or not. I hear everyone talk about how great it sounds with the matching cab. I'm playing my Tweaker through 2 Rebel 112 cabs, and it is really overly bassy on modern mode so I have to keep it on Vintage. I'm really wanting to like this little head, but I can't really afford to buy the cab right now.

 

[talltxguy]

Ok, the week is over, and I had some time to mess around with the amp tonight. I got to thinking how I'd follow Mesa's recommendations in their manuals to get basic tones, so why not do the the same with the Egnater. And it was a good thing I did. Mesas can be flubby unless you are keep that bass less than 10:00. The Tweaker, however, is just the opposite. I was getting some really nice tones with the bass dimed or close to dimed.

 

[bruce egnater]

Did you try any of the settings in the manual?? Of course, they are merely suggestions but do provide good starting points.

 

[talltxguy]

Bruce,
I'm ashamed to admit that I did not look at the settings when I picked up the amp last week. Hey, what can I say - I was excited.

But yes, yesterday I went through all of the settings in the manual and certainly got some great starting points. I'm also shuffling preamp tubes and output tubes around in order to find good combinations.

My favorite setting from the manual is the British Clean with KT-77s.

 

[gitaryzt1985]

Did you try any of the settings in the manual?? Of course, they are merely suggestions but do provide good starting points.

I actually did and they sounded really REALLY nice. I didn't really even think to engage the bright switch because putting the Rebel 20 on bright can be overly bright for me at times, but I really dig the Vox suggestion in the manual.

 

[talltxguy]

I'm gonna get a low efficiency 10" speaker to put in my Mesa cab and use that cab for pushing the amp into output tube distortion with 6V6's. For clean stuff, I'm gonna get a 2X12 cab with very efficient speakers & use KT77's, which have much more headroom than the 6V6's.

 

[Audiowonderland]

I had a chance to get on the amp for quite a while yesterday and discovered that the output tubes have a lot to do with what I'm trying to accomplish. I put some JJ KT77's in there and was blown away by the distortion; however, the cleans weren't as nice as the 6V6's. Likewise, the distortions on the 6V6 couldn't touch the KT77's.

I also did quite a bit of bias readings on various output tubes and noticed that the hotter tubes do indeed sound better.

I am not clear what you mean by hotter tubes. Are you talking about the ones that have a higher current draw?

 

[Audiowonderland]

I'm gonna get a low efficiency 10" speaker to put in my Mesa cab and use that cab for pushing the amp into output tube distortion with 6V6's. For clean stuff, I'm gonna get a 2X12 cab with very efficient speakers & use KT77's, which have much more headroom than the 6V6's.

Been looking at alternate tubes. Will a big bottle fit the chassis? Leaning towards EL34's as I love my Marshalls but a 6L6 style tube as an alternative might be nice too

 

[Ian Egnater]

I'm gonna get a low efficiency 10" speaker to put in my Mesa cab and use that cab for pushing the amp into output tube distortion with 6V6's. For clean stuff, I'm gonna get a 2X12 cab with very efficient speakers & use KT77's, which have much more headroom than the 6V6's.

Been looking at alternate tubes. Will a big bottle fit the chassis? Leaning towards EL34's as I love my Marshalls but a 6L6 style tube as an alternative might be nice too

Lots of people find that taking the metal grill off the top of the amp allows you to put in bigger tubes through that opening, that otherwise wouldn't fit when you try to slide the amp in and out of the box. Just be careful about stuff falling in that hole, and the hot tubes being somewhat accessible. Just an FYI, in case you hadn't noticed it yet.

 

[Audiowonderland]

I'm gonna get a low efficiency 10" speaker to put in my Mesa cab and use that cab for pushing the amp into output tube distortion with 6V6's. For clean stuff, I'm gonna get a 2X12 cab with very efficient speakers & use KT77's, which have much more headroom than the 6V6's.

Been looking at alternate tubes. Will a big bottle fit the chassis? Leaning towards EL34's as I love my Marshalls but a 6L6 style tube as an alternative might be nice too

Lots of people find that taking the metal grill off the top of the amp allows you to put in bigger tubes through that opening, that otherwise wouldn't fit when you try to slide the amp in and out of the box. Just be careful about stuff falling in that hole, and the hot tubes being somewhat accessible. Just an FYI, in case you hadn't noticed it yet.

Cool. Is there any reason to worry about power supplies / transformers when using a bigger tube like an el34 or 6L6?

 

[Len Rabinowitz]

Funny- The Tweaker has to be the ULTIMATE in a flexible amp, but the first thing people want to do is mod it? A little weird no?