hey everyone,
So I got a chance to jam 3 1/2 hours on the Egnater tonight.. Started with the Splawn for about 1/2 hour and then switched to the Egnater, took about another 20-30 minutes to get the 3 channels set up to sounds I liked. I have to say, wow.. this amp is amazing.
Both amps got played with my Gibson LesPaul Classic with Burstbucker 61T/61R (factory pickups) and Gibson Flying V with Suhr Aldrich Pickups (bridge/neck). My Rig is pretty simple: guitar --> Korg PB03 --> Wah (Dunlop 95q) --> MXR Microamp (off 90% of the time or used as a gain boost when doing a solo on low gain drive) --> Amp (TC G-Major 2 in the Loop) into a 2x12 vertical Marshall cabinet with Vintage 30 speakers. My cables from guitar all the way through to the amp is all Mogami 2524.
Please keep in mind that what I am posting below is basically based on my experience with the amp tonight. Its what
I experienced.
My findings:
Functions/Options: The Egnater Wins on this one. lots of tonal options to get many different sounds, especially with having that additional Midrange Control in there that can be either integrated into each of the channels or can be used as a Solo boost. This is definitely something the Armageddon wins over the Splawn.
Gain (Amount and Structure
Both amps have great amounts of gain that go from low drive, to in your face heavy gain to "just useless" gain. I do find the Splawn Nitro's gain to have more grit to it and more aggressiveness, while the Egnater Armageddon still has a bit of an aggressive gain, I found the overall gain structure is smoother.
Clean: Both amps have nice clean channels, but with "default" tube setup, the Egnater has a cleaner clean sound that no matter how hard I strummed, it didn't break up. The Splawn Nitro with a 12ax7 in V1 can have a bit of a breakup on the clean channel, BUT that was easily remediated by swapping the 12ax7 to an 12at7 and it cleaned up the Clean channel on the Splawn very nicely.
Tone (sound and controls Both amps basically have 2 "true" channels and on both amps, the 2nd and 3rd channels share an EQ. The bonus to the Egnater is it has a separate Gain and Volume for Channel 2 and Channel 3, which is great because it allowed me to use the same guitar volume and tone (bass/mid/treble) on both the low drive settings and heavy settings, without having to sound weak or loose sustain because you have to turn down the guitar volume. Aside from that, both amps can get some great sounds, the Splawn can get very heavy and tight without needing all those additional controls, but they're definitely a bonus to have to produce more sound/tone options.
Noise: the Egnater has a built in ISP Decimator G-String in the amp, which is great not having to carry an extra pedal. The Nitro I use an actual ISP G-String with. With the ISP Engaged on either the Egnater or Splawn, both amps are quiet, even on the high gain sounds. However, I do find the Egnater to be quieter amp overall, even without the ISP Decimator engaged, I barely had any buzz or feedback while muting the strings. I couldnt say the same about the Splawn. The Splawn I found to have "amp noise/hun" when everything is muted and ISP Is on.. but in a live situation, no one is gonna notice (except for the guitar player playing the amp
)
Options: The Egnater definitely has more options built in and no contest sadly between the Egnater and the Splawn. Egnater has Midi controlled channel switching and other features switching such as loop, reverb, mid boost. The Egnater also has a direct out as well for recording or run into a mixing board. Loop on the Egnater has 2 separate volume controls for each of the Send and the Return as well as a Master Volume. The Egnater also has a master volume. The Splawn has a "Master volume" that's on the Effects loop circuit, which works great by allowing you to drive the amp harder without making your ears bleed. The egnater allows manual channel switching via front panel button, which is great. Splawn however requires the Foot switch to switch channels. The Egnater also has additional toggle switches on each channel that are Tight, Bright and Gain. All 3 switches make quiet bit a difference, but its a matter of taste when using these switches. I found my self using the tight switch on the Clean channel, but not on the Gain Channels. same with the Gain switch, I have it ON on the clean channel to give it more volume but its off on the Gain Channels.
Volume/Power/Tubes: Splawn is a 100watts with a selectable 50watts switch on the back. Egnater is 120watts with a selectable 60watts switch on the front. To be honest, I cant tell you how loud 100watts and 120watts can get.. but even with the splawn 50watts mode, its LOUD. They're both powerful amps. Splawn has 4 12ax7s/4 EL34s and Egnater has 6 12ax7s/4 EL34s.
"Cool Factors": the Splawn i had ordered was a plain black chasis with White chicken head knobs. only light on it is the power light. The Egnater has lots of fancy lights, channels have dedicated lights to them and the full tone control panel is top lit with an LED strip. that LED strip also seems to somewhat light up the inside of the Egnater's chasis... now I think if I switch the Nitro's chassis to one of the ones that have the front mesh or glass, I could install some LED lights and make it fancy.
Overall/Final Thoughts: Both amps are great amps. Even with all the above content I wrote, I truly believe both amps are great. They both excel at what they do and they both do it well. There's a reason why I've owned and still own the Splawn Nitro (bought it in 2008 or so), I fell in love with the Nitro from the first video Scott Splawn posted on youtube 12 years ago (
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YFEd342t5Ig). My main reasons for getting the Egnater is I wanted to get a 2nd amp because I wanted something different to play with and try out that's not marshall, peavey, or Mesa (though i would've liked a Mark IV or V
).
I hope the above gives you guys some ideas. Feel free to ask any questions that I didn't answer above.
Cheers and thanks
