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Fireguy8402 « AWESOME TWO CHANNEL AMP »
Published on 11/19/11 at 13:21The Egnater Rebel 30 is the answer from Bruce Egnater when customers wanted more from their Rebel 20s. The Rebel 30 still has the tube mix knob that allows you to blend between all 6V6 tubes or all EL84 and everywhere in between. 12AX7s are in the preamp. This amp is a two channel head that has a variable wattage control on each channel letting you crank from 1 watt to 30 watts on each channel. The clean channel has volume, bass, and treble, while the overdrive channel adds a middle and gain knob. Both channels have Egnaters signature “Tight” and “Bright” switches. The Tight switch tightens up the bottom end of the amp and the Bright adds extra sparkle to the high end. There are individual reverb controls on each channel with a spillover feature which is footswitchable. A buffered effects loop is included for use with outboard effects. Egnater also added a line/xlr out for silent recording or live use without needing to mic the cab.
UTILIZATION
This amp is lightweight and easy to transport. It’s hard to find an amp with low wattage with this many features and to have it actually sound great too is just unbelievable. The amp is covered in two tone tolex which looks very classy and the knobs and switches are sturdy. It’s a well built amp and it looks great. The XLR out is very handy in a gig situation where stage volume can be an issue. This amp actually lets you get the sound from the head and take it straight to the board without the need of a cab being hooked up. This is a first for a tube amp as far as I know because most, if not all, other tube amps need a speaker load or damage will occur to the head, not this amp. This allows you to get those cranked tube amp tones without blowing the windows out of small clubs. You may not think 30 watts is much power but this amp is very loud, with a 412 cabinet it can get unbearably loud. The wattage control on each channel doesn’t change the volume much, think of it more like a clean headroom control.
SOUNDS
The clean channel on this amp is to die for. I’ve never had an amp that sounded this great clean. You can get Fender sounds or Vox tones depending on how you set the tube mix knob, or mix the two for a hybrid sound. The distortion on this head is very British sounding, though the tube mix knob isn’t as effective on this channel. Definitely more Marshall sounding than Mesa Boogie. Having a 30 watt head you can really get those power tubes cooking and get those fat saturated tones without blasting away. The reverb, though digital, sounds very lush and warm. To have two great channels in one head is just amazing, usually one channel is considerably lacking. If I had to chose which channel is the worst, I’d have to go with the dirty channel. Not because it is lacking, but because the clean channel is just so good. It takes a little more tweaking to get the dirty sound right.
OVERALL OPINION
The Egnater Rebel 30 is great amp all around. It is way louder than I expected it to be, but also sounds way bigger than it’s size would make you expect. The tone of the amp can only be met by the portability and the great features of this amp. I didn’t know tones this great could come out of a package so small. I’ve played this through the Rebel 112 cab, Avatar 2 12 cabs, and Marshall 412 cabs and it sounds great through all of them. (The Rebel 112 cab’s original speaker seemed a bit stiff so I replaced it with a 25 watt Greenback and it’s much better ) The price is a bit steep, but you are getting something that sounds great and hopefully will last a long time. I’ve only had mine for a few months, but other than a tube change every now and again I don’t see anything obvious that would worry me about failure. Egnater also throws in a padded gig bag for the amp to keep that sweet two tone tolex looking brand new gig after gig. Nice touch Egnater.
UTILIZATION
This amp is lightweight and easy to transport. It’s hard to find an amp with low wattage with this many features and to have it actually sound great too is just unbelievable. The amp is covered in two tone tolex which looks very classy and the knobs and switches are sturdy. It’s a well built amp and it looks great. The XLR out is very handy in a gig situation where stage volume can be an issue. This amp actually lets you get the sound from the head and take it straight to the board without the need of a cab being hooked up. This is a first for a tube amp as far as I know because most, if not all, other tube amps need a speaker load or damage will occur to the head, not this amp. This allows you to get those cranked tube amp tones without blowing the windows out of small clubs. You may not think 30 watts is much power but this amp is very loud, with a 412 cabinet it can get unbearably loud. The wattage control on each channel doesn’t change the volume much, think of it more like a clean headroom control.
SOUNDS
The clean channel on this amp is to die for. I’ve never had an amp that sounded this great clean. You can get Fender sounds or Vox tones depending on how you set the tube mix knob, or mix the two for a hybrid sound. The distortion on this head is very British sounding, though the tube mix knob isn’t as effective on this channel. Definitely more Marshall sounding than Mesa Boogie. Having a 30 watt head you can really get those power tubes cooking and get those fat saturated tones without blasting away. The reverb, though digital, sounds very lush and warm. To have two great channels in one head is just amazing, usually one channel is considerably lacking. If I had to chose which channel is the worst, I’d have to go with the dirty channel. Not because it is lacking, but because the clean channel is just so good. It takes a little more tweaking to get the dirty sound right.
OVERALL OPINION
The Egnater Rebel 30 is great amp all around. It is way louder than I expected it to be, but also sounds way bigger than it’s size would make you expect. The tone of the amp can only be met by the portability and the great features of this amp. I didn’t know tones this great could come out of a package so small. I’ve played this through the Rebel 112 cab, Avatar 2 12 cabs, and Marshall 412 cabs and it sounds great through all of them. (The Rebel 112 cab’s original speaker seemed a bit stiff so I replaced it with a 25 watt Greenback and it’s much better ) The price is a bit steep, but you are getting something that sounds great and hopefully will last a long time. I’ve only had mine for a few months, but other than a tube change every now and again I don’t see anything obvious that would worry me about failure. Egnater also throws in a padded gig bag for the amp to keep that sweet two tone tolex looking brand new gig after gig. Nice touch Egnater.