mctallica1
Well-known member
Got my Renegade a few days ago and have been putting it through it's paces pretty extensively.
First off, my overall impression is that the amp is a keeper. I love both the gain and clean tones available. The amp is incredibly versatile for a 2 channel jobber. My main tones are high gain (thick thrashy type tones are my favorites) and clean. I don't do a lot of in between stuff, so...even though I really like the mid gain tones I am hearing, I am not a mid gain expert, so will limit my comments to high gain and clean.
A few initial points in general.
The footswitch is the bomb! You can set it up in MANY ways. Really like this
I pulled ALL the preamp tubes and replaced them with Mullard reissues, Chinese 9th gens and RFT's. This combination seems to work best to my ears. With that said, I REALLY wish manufacturers would not ship amps loaded with Sovtek preamp tubes. Maybe it is just me, but I think they suck in every amp I have ever heard them in (with the exception of VHT's
)
I really like the Ruby EL34's it shipped with, but traded out the Sovtek 5881's for a pair of SED 6L6's.
The tube mix knobs on each channel do much more to the tone than the one on the Rebel I had did. Very nice. For the record, I prefer more of a 6L6 vibe for clean tones and full on EL34 for my high gain tones (not what I expected...I typically prefer 6L6 power sections for high gain tones as well.)
The amp looks to be VERY well built.
My Renegade HATES my ISP Decimator pedal
....No matter what I do, when I put the Decimator in the chain, I get a TON of hiss. With that said, I don't need it, even at VERY high gain settings the amp is very quiet. Just thought this was worth noting.
My chain is:
Guitar----HBE Power Screamer (only use it to change the flavor of the tone, the amp does NOT need a boost to do metal)---Renegade. I also have a MXR 10 band EQ in the loop (I set the mids on my gain channel around 1 oclock and cut the 500k band about 6 and the 1k band about 3)
The Reverb is exceptionally good. Good enough that I am not using a touch of chorus on the clean channel (probably will at some point, but the on board reverb has controls for each channel and can get a very nice warm verb going on). Love it on the clean channel (have it set about 9 oclock) and even use a touch on the gain channel (have it just cracked enough to barely notice it).
Clean channel thoughts:
Very nice thick lush clean tones. If you dig in hard, you can get some grit...very pick responsive. LOVE IT. I keep all the toggle switches set in the down position on the clean channel. If you keep the gain low, it does NOT break up no matter how loud you play. GREAT clean tones.
Gain channel thoughts:
I prefer this channel with the tight and bright switches in the UP position. I like a nice tight low end and with the tight switch in the bottom position it gets a bit flubby for my taste. The Bright switch adds some sizzle and top end, which I like. With the switches in they up position, this channel sounds very similar to the SL2 module, which I love. I run my gain right around 3 oclock to get the saturation I want, but still retain good clarity. Very smooth gain.
I am still experimenting with the 18/65 watt switches....just looked at the amp and they are both in 18 right now. I like the master volume around 2 oclock and use the volume on each channel to set the overall volume.
There is also a second master that would be GREAT for lead work.
As many of you know, I have owned a crapload of amps and would rate this beast right up there with any I have owned for what I like. When you add in the fact it is less then a grand NEW, it is shocking how good it is. I don't have it here to compare side by side, but it remindes me A LOT of the MOD50 I had, which I settled on the Bman and SL2 modules as my go to pair.
Great amp. Period.
First off, my overall impression is that the amp is a keeper. I love both the gain and clean tones available. The amp is incredibly versatile for a 2 channel jobber. My main tones are high gain (thick thrashy type tones are my favorites) and clean. I don't do a lot of in between stuff, so...even though I really like the mid gain tones I am hearing, I am not a mid gain expert, so will limit my comments to high gain and clean.
A few initial points in general.
The footswitch is the bomb! You can set it up in MANY ways. Really like this
I pulled ALL the preamp tubes and replaced them with Mullard reissues, Chinese 9th gens and RFT's. This combination seems to work best to my ears. With that said, I REALLY wish manufacturers would not ship amps loaded with Sovtek preamp tubes. Maybe it is just me, but I think they suck in every amp I have ever heard them in (with the exception of VHT's
)I really like the Ruby EL34's it shipped with, but traded out the Sovtek 5881's for a pair of SED 6L6's.
The tube mix knobs on each channel do much more to the tone than the one on the Rebel I had did. Very nice. For the record, I prefer more of a 6L6 vibe for clean tones and full on EL34 for my high gain tones (not what I expected...I typically prefer 6L6 power sections for high gain tones as well.)
The amp looks to be VERY well built.
My Renegade HATES my ISP Decimator pedal
....No matter what I do, when I put the Decimator in the chain, I get a TON of hiss. With that said, I don't need it, even at VERY high gain settings the amp is very quiet. Just thought this was worth noting.My chain is:
Guitar----HBE Power Screamer (only use it to change the flavor of the tone, the amp does NOT need a boost to do metal)---Renegade. I also have a MXR 10 band EQ in the loop (I set the mids on my gain channel around 1 oclock and cut the 500k band about 6 and the 1k band about 3)
The Reverb is exceptionally good. Good enough that I am not using a touch of chorus on the clean channel (probably will at some point, but the on board reverb has controls for each channel and can get a very nice warm verb going on). Love it on the clean channel (have it set about 9 oclock) and even use a touch on the gain channel (have it just cracked enough to barely notice it).
Clean channel thoughts:
Very nice thick lush clean tones. If you dig in hard, you can get some grit...very pick responsive. LOVE IT. I keep all the toggle switches set in the down position on the clean channel. If you keep the gain low, it does NOT break up no matter how loud you play. GREAT clean tones.
Gain channel thoughts:
I prefer this channel with the tight and bright switches in the UP position. I like a nice tight low end and with the tight switch in the bottom position it gets a bit flubby for my taste. The Bright switch adds some sizzle and top end, which I like. With the switches in they up position, this channel sounds very similar to the SL2 module, which I love. I run my gain right around 3 oclock to get the saturation I want, but still retain good clarity. Very smooth gain.
I am still experimenting with the 18/65 watt switches....just looked at the amp and they are both in 18 right now. I like the master volume around 2 oclock and use the volume on each channel to set the overall volume.
There is also a second master that would be GREAT for lead work.
As many of you know, I have owned a crapload of amps and would rate this beast right up there with any I have owned for what I like. When you add in the fact it is less then a grand NEW, it is shocking how good it is. I don't have it here to compare side by side, but it remindes me A LOT of the MOD50 I had, which I settled on the Bman and SL2 modules as my go to pair.
Great amp. Period.
