Egnater Rebel vs Electradyne

[skunizzi]

Hi All,

As a current Electradyne owner I can honestly say that I've been very happy with my amp. As a guitarist I am always searching for better tone.

I was in a local music shop recently wanting to demo a Blackstar amp after hearing some good things. I liked it but I felt that it was not better than my current Electradyne Combo. It really didn't inspire me more to justify purchasing it. I was ready to leave when the sales person asked me if I would like to try the Egnater Renagade. To be honest, I'd never even heard of it till then. Not knowing it, I said why not.

He plugged me in and began explaining what it could do. It was setup with both EL34'S and 6l6 tubes. He further explained that had the option of blending any combination of tubes via a tube tone knob. I was impressed to learn this and further impressed when I noticed that this option was on both channels of this amp and was also foot switchable. This meant that I could in theory dial in a fender like clean using the 6L6 tubes for the clean channel, and a Marshall like dirty with EL34'S on the dirty channel. I began playing it being skeptical at being able to get the tones I was after but I was immediately impressed upon hearing what was coming out of this amp.

The clean was really nice. I would not say better than Fender, but really quite close. WIth the reverb kicked in it sounded great. I was told that the reverb is digital on this amp and all tough I don't usually like digital, I think it mostly because I hadn't heard one that sounded nice. This one sounded really nice.

On to the dirty channel. I began playing a few classic rock riffs an the amp handled everything I threw at it quite nicely. I put up the gain a little more and tried out some heaver riffs not a problem. I put the gain all the way up and it brought me into nice high gain territory even if this is not be preferred type of music. I kept playing and I wanted to keep playing which is a good sign as not may amps make me want to keep playing this this one did.

A sat back and started to look at more of the features on the amp and I discovered that it had a direct out for recording which I though was a nice addition and not common on most amps. I also liked the foot switch with 4 channels. One for channel selection, one for effects loop, one for reverb and one for main 2 which acts like a solo boost. They even put in an option for each switch to affect channel one, channel two, or both which gave the foot switch a lot of flexibility. Not to mention that foot switch looked quite solid and durable. Unlike other companies foot-switches...we won't name names!

The front panel also sported a 65/15 watt switch as well as two other switches. One for tight/deep and the other for bright/normal. Once again these switches are on both channels so you don't have to give up flexibility or tone.

The only area which caused me some concern is learning that this amp is built in China. With some poorly built products I've seen coming from China in the past, I am not sure how this amp will stack up. When looking at the knobs, speakers cabinet and hardware this amp seems to be very well built.

My question is have any of you owned this amp? Have any of you hear this amp? What do you think of it?

I've included a link to a video clip so you can see and hear it for yourself.

Here is the link http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ToeoDBm3KRI

 

[gummx97]

After reading your post, seems like your sold on the amp except for the place of manufacture. All the options you've stated are very attractive and more so that you actually played the amp yourself. I'll follow your post to see where it will end up, either you buying the amp or holding off purchase. The place of manufacture does have some concerns on my side, then again, reliability depends on other very numerous variables, be it known or unknown.

If there was an Egnater Rebel where I reside, after reading the options on the amp, i'd definitely try it out.

 

[Birdy]

"The only area which caused me some concern is learning that this amp is built in China."

Kinda answers questions right there. Sometimes, you get exactly what you pay for.
I personaly know of 2 people that bought products by Buger'd amps 2 years ago
and now they are starting to self-destruct by only working intermitantly.
Different company I know, but the low price of the "off-shore built" companies will
come back and bite you eventualy..IMO.

When it comes to my hard earned greenbacks, I pay a bit more for a quality piece
of gear just to avoid the BS.
My name is Birdy, I am a gear snob :mrgreen:

ps....anyone that loves and buys off-shore music gear, I'm happy for ya.

 

[JAZZGEAR]

I don't know if any Egnater Rebel model that has both 6L6s and EL34s....you probably meant EL84s and 6V6s. I had a chance to play these...and was ready to snatch one up to be my Grab-N-Go amp....but I have read of alot of reliability issues form other forums....I would do a search on TheGearPage Forum....

 

[flyboy70]

Our singer plays through one that has already had its chassis replaced. It just wouldn't power on at the biggest gig of the year - had to borrow an amp - and the borrowed amp blew his away. I can get some decent tones out of it at rehearsal but it doesn't sit in the mix as well as the Dyne does. EVERY gig I've played with the dyne has resulted in numerous comments and praise about my tone. Not as many good comments about my playing though...

 

[skunizzi]

I don't know if any Egnater Rebel model that has both 6L6s and EL34s....you probably meant EL84s and 6V6s. I had a chance to play these...and was ready to snatch one up to be my Grab-N-Go amp....but I have read of alot of reliability issues form other forums....I would do a search on TheGearPage Forum....

Nope, If you check the Egnater Renegade it defiantly uses EL34's and 6L6 tubes.

 

[skunizzi]

After reading your post, seems like your sold on the amp except for the place of manufacture. All the options you've stated are very attractive and more so that you actually played the amp yourself. I'll follow your post to see where it will end up, either you buying the amp or holding off purchase. The place of manufacture does have some concerns on my side, then again, reliability depends on other very numerous variables, be it known or unknown.

If there was an Egnater Rebel where I reside, after reading the options on the amp, i'd definitely try it out.

I would have purchased it already if I didn't have another 3 amps already. I'm hoping to sell one of the others any maybe get the Renegade. In the meantime I want to gather as much information about it as I can.

Since I already have an Electrodyne and its a hell of an amp I am not in any particular rush.

 

[skunizzi]

"The only area which caused me some concern is learning that this amp is built in China."

Kinda answers questions right there. Sometimes, you get exactly what you pay for.
I personaly know of 2 people that bought products by Buger'd amps 2 years ago
and now they are starting to self-destruct by only working intermitantly.
Different company I know, but the low price of the "off-shore built" companies will
come back and bite you eventualy..IMO.

When it comes to my hard earned greenbacks, I pay a bit more for a quality piece
of gear just to avoid the BS.
My name is Birdy, I am a gear snob :mrgreen:

ps....anyone that loves and buys off-shore music gear, I'm happy for ya.

I agree with you and I would be more hesitant to buy this amp if it were not for the nice low price and the fact that the company offers a 3 year warranty on the amp. A 3 years warranty is quite attractive to me.

 

[skunizzi]

Our singer plays through one that has already had its chassis replaced. It just wouldn't power on at the biggest gig of the year - had to borrow an amp - and the borrowed amp blew his away. I can get some decent tones out of it at rehearsal but it doesn't sit in the mix as well as the Dyne does. EVERY gig I've played with the dyne has resulted in numerous comments and praise about my tone. Not as many good comments about my playing though...

What amp did he borrow which blew his away? If it was that good I would be interested in listening to it.

 

[YellowJacket]

Face the music, the Dyne is the perfect gigging guitar amp. I wish I had $$$s for one. In my dreams, I hope for an ABY switch and a short head to go with my 2 2 x 12s and my Dual.

@ Birdy: Warehouse Guitar Speakers. Made in USA from the same OEM parts as Celestion. I used some in a cab my Father in Law and I built for my brother. They seriously sound fantastic and cost less than Chinese Celestions.

 

[flyboy70]

Our singer plays through one that has already had its chassis replaced. It just wouldn't power on at the biggest gig of the year - had to borrow an amp - and the borrowed amp blew his away. I can get some decent tones out of it at rehearsal but it doesn't sit in the mix as well as the Dyne does. EVERY gig I've played with the dyne has resulted in numerous comments and praise about my tone. Not as many good comments about my playing though...

What amp did he borrow which blew his away? If it was that good I would be interested in listening to it.

A Fender Deluxe. It complemented my Dyne very well. I would suggest he play an ED as well but I prefer the complementary sound of the voicing of different amps.

 

[skunizzi]

Our singer plays through one that has already had its chassis replaced. It just wouldn't power on at the biggest gig of the year - had to borrow an amp - and the borrowed amp blew his away. I can get some decent tones out of it at rehearsal but it doesn't sit in the mix as well as the Dyne does. EVERY gig I've played with the dyne has resulted in numerous comments and praise about my tone. Not as many good comments about my playing though...

What amp did he borrow which blew his away? If it was that good I would be interested in listening to it.

A Fender Deluxe. It complemented my Dyne very well. I would suggest he play an ED as well but I prefer the complementary sound of the voicing of different amps.

The Fender Deluxe is a nice amp for cleans but lacks in gain unless you put some pedals in front of it or crank it till your ears bleed. I once owned a Fender Pro Reverb and I could not sell it fast enough. Way to bright and not smooth at all.

I guess it depends what style of music you play.

 

[theroan]

I own a Rebel 30 and love it. Haven't had any dependability issues at all. Sounds great, perfect grab and go amp for what I need it for. Lets face it, I've read just as many bad things about Mesa's reliability too. As far as the built in China thing. One thing that sets Egnater apart than most companies that build off shore is that Bruce Egnater actually goes to China on regular basis to monitor quality and gives direct instruction on how the amps are to be built. That's how they're able to sport lower prices and high build quality.

For you though, I feel with the ED you've got the bases covered, the Renegade might be redundant. As cool as it is.

There's a lot of talk here about getting Fender cleans and Marshall dirty in one amp. The fact is that none of the companies attempting this are Fender or Marshall. Given the output these two companies are providing these days, I'm not even sure I'd want that amp. But if Mesa or Egnater or whoever are going to try it, it'll sound great, but it will never be dead on.

 

[Tomahawk90]

I had an egnater renegade and just sold it for a dyne. At the end of the day the the egnater did most tones pretty well clean, crunch and lead. However the dyne does all those tones X 10 for me. Getting an Egnater is going back words

 

[skunizzi]

I had an egnater renegade and just sold it for a dyne. At the end of the day the the egnater did most tones pretty well clean, crunch and lead. However the dyne does all those tones X 10 for me. Getting an Egnater is going back words

You may be right. But you know how us musicians can be, always looking for whats better!

 

[MBJunkie]

skunizzi:
I feel your original post title was incorrect as you meant to say Egnater Renegade rather than Rebel....which are two different amps. However, it seems the posters realized you meant Renegade.

Tomahawk90:
I used to own an ED combo and traded it in for a Renegade! Different strokes.
Don't get me wrong folks....the ED is an excellent amp, but I mentioned my frustrations with it in several other posts. Basically, I had difficulties obtaining really good clean sounds with the settings that I wanted for the "blue and red modes" and had difficulties balancing volume levels in all modes while trying all of the clean trim options that are provided. Long story short, the ED didn't work for me as a gigging amp because it didn't have enough flexibility to suit me. Could I get great tones out of all modes....YES, just not at the same settings while footswitching between the modes.

My first impressions with the Renegade is WOW! While it is only a 2 channel amp it offers more useful features to me than the ED did and sounds fantastic. The ability to mix between 6L6s and EL34s in each channel really is cool and is very noticeable regarding tones. My preference is to lean to the 6L6's in channel 1 and lean toward EL34's in channel 2, but I don't usually go hard over in either channel. One of the biggest selling points to me about the Renegade is that it offers a footswitchable boost for both channels. Something that I really missed on the dyne.

Regarding reliability.......Mesa is second to none in my mind, but the Renegade appears to be built well and definitely sounds great to me!

BTW....I am not abandoning MB.......my MkV is still my #1, but am having a lot of fun with the Renegade as well.

I definitely recommend checking one out. It may just surprise you as it did me!

 

[skunizzi]

If I mistakingly mentioned Rebel, then I apologise...It must have been late! What I ment was Renegade!

I like the flexibility of the Renegade and the sound also. I am not saying that it is better or worst than the ED just a different type of amp. I love my ED, but it took some time to find the G-spot of the amp.

With the Renegade I found all the sounds to be very usable and it didn't take me more then a few minuts to get some really nice tones from it. Even with the multiple channels and options it offers.

I don't think I will sell my ED just yet as it really is an awsome sounding amp. But I do have a Marshall 412 JCM800 slant cabinet laying around, so if I can get my hands on a second hand Egnater Renegade Head, I think I will go for it and see which gets used most of the time once I have them side by side.

Only then will I really be able to tell which amp suits me better.

Stay Tuned!

 

[MBJunkie]

I am so pleased with the clean and distorted sounds that I am achieving out of my Egnater Renegade! I love the fact the Renegade is a 2 channel amp with dedicated, treble, mid and bass knobs that work well in all settings. The Renegade also offers very useful toggle switches and a 6l6 vrs EL34 tube mix knob with each channel that dramatically change the sound and feel of the amp.

Channel 1 alone can achieve incredibly great clean tones all the way to nice crunch rhythm tones depending on the amount of gain dialed in and the position of the toggle switches in channel 1.

Channel 2 can achieve nice blues leads with the gain nearly off....to rediculous amounts of distortion. Typically, I prefer my gain setting on Ch2 around 10 to 12 o'clock to achieve a very focused high gain sound. With the gain set as such in channel 2, I can spin the tone knobs however I wish without being too compressed and flubbing my sound.

What I am most surprised at....is how easy it is to dial in fantastic sounds in both channels at low volumes and high volumes. The footswitchable features on this amp are fantastic....including a solo boost for both channels, reverb in/out, and effects in/out.

It offers a digital reverb that sounds great when used sparingly!

The Renegade has the flexibility that I want, is simple to dial in, and sounds very good in various settings for both channel 1 and 2. Only time will tell regarding reliability, but so far I am very impressed with this amp!

The ED is also a great amp, and I do understand why so many love it. The ED just wasn't as flexible for me as I had hoped while playing with a band. YMMV

 

[MBJunkie]

I have a couple other tips if any of you are interested in giving the Renegade a go.

1. The "Tight or Deep" toggle of each channel makes a big difference. I choose "Tight" for more urgency and focus and "Deep" for more ambience and soul. Generally speaking, if you are after a very nice clean sound in Ch1 or a minimal gain sound in Ch2...the deep setting is my choice. If I am after a higher gain sound in either channel (Ch1 gain near maximum or Ch2 gain above 9 o'clock) I prefer the "Tight" option.

2. The "Bright or Normal" toggle selection is not as easy of a decision for me compared to "Tight or Deep". This is because the setting of the treble and even mid in each channel along with the gain setting can have a significantly different sounds with the "Bright and Normal" toggle setting. Try "Bright on" with a lower treble setting and "Bright off" with a higher treble setting in both channels. The differences are very noticeable in each channel and this feature alone adds to significant flexibility in tones that are achievable through this amp in both channels.

3. Don't think of the 65W to 18W power switch option in each channel as a volume reduction switch. Instead think of it as the opportunity to achieve more power tube amp breakup at a reduced volume (in the case of the 18W mode). Alternately, consider the 65W setting as the maximum headroom available in the amp. Personally, I prefer the 65W option with this amp even when playing fairly quietly, but that is just my preference. The nice thing is you can seamlessly footswitch between both channels (without pops, etc) regardless of your power settings in either channel. Both power settings can still be quite loud as well.

4. Master 1 and Master 2 are not independent overall volume controls for each channel. The independent volume knobs of each channel handle that task. Master 1 is the overall master volume of BOTH channels...Master 2 is the amount of overall volume boost when selected on the footswitch for BOTH channels.

5. The "Density and Presence" knobs are universal knobs to the poweramp section and thus, impact Ch1 and Ch2 equally. Note: These knobs only ADD more presence and bass to the overall sound in the power amp section. (i.e. set completely counter-clockwise they are off as opposed to the independent channel tone knobs which are neutral or "off" at the 12 o'clock position. In other words the "Density and Presence" knob only add more high end and bass to the sound....they are not capable of cutting the high end or bass). Typically, I prefer these set in the lower ranges for optimum sounds. The tone knobs and toggle switches of each channel allow incredible versatily. In other words, you can easily wreck an otherwise great tone in both channels by setting the "Density and/or Presence" too high.

6. The reverb set moderately sounds great. I typically set them at 9 - 10 o'clock in for a great clean tone in Ch1, and 8 - 9 o'clock for Ch2 WHEN I opt for adding reverb via the footswitch in Ch2.

Over and Out!

 

[skunizzi]

Hi MBjunkie,

I just bought a Renegade head and I'm running it into my Marshall 412 JCM800 cabinet loaded with 20 year old Celestian G12-65's If your interested in hearing what these speakers sound like here is a link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CIoob_pE-gc .

So far the Egnater sounds really really nice. And when I say that I want you to know that I am very picky when it comes to sound. I appreciate your tips on setting the amp. I did notice that playing with the settings didn't make a huge difference but their is a difference non the less. I was a little disappointed to discover that the fan is a little on the loud side and can be heard when you are not playing. That said it does the job well and keeps things very cool. The Egntaer head doesn't heat up like like my ED.

Now the fun begins. I finally get a chance to A/B both the Egnater and Mesa side by side. I think that all-tough I've only had the Renegade a few hours. I can already tell that the amps are very different in tonal qualities. The Mesa is more meaty and ballsy in overall tone and sounds more vintage plexi to me. The Egnater is more boutique sounding and not as ballsy but offers many tonal possibilities. I think it will be fun to see which I end up playing most of the time!

In the end I see owning multiple amps like having children. They are all very different and you love them all just as much for different reasons!

I'll keep you posted.