# I just tried an Egnater Rebel 20 head! (In Depth Review and my silly opinons too!)



## bulb (Mar 20, 2009)

Went to guitar center today to give it a good test. I tried it briefly last time i went, because i was looking for the blackstar ht-5 but those are all backordered for the next 27 years, so those are nowhere to be found, and i figured it would be a good amp to test against it.
I brought my blackmachine b6 with me so i could really give it a good test, and since i have no interest in the 1x12 cab and would just use it with one of my 4x12s i tested it through a pretty sweet Budda cab they had there.
Now let me preface this with the fact that i have never tried any egnater stuff except for their cheaper (what i call "made for guitar center") line of stuff like that 4 channel head and whatnot. And that 4 channel head in particular did not and currently does not impress me in the least!

First thoughts:
Man this thing is responsive! Like really articulate and clear. The gain knob really covers the whole range of sounds, and although you have to have it fully cranked to get some serious gain, there is still some serious gain!
Its voiced the way i like as well, very musical distortion that rings out with a lot of rich harmonics, making complex chords shine, and yet its not fizzy. The eq is very intuitive and the controls do what they say they will do, its responsive as well and starting from flat settings its really easy to dial it in the way you want, which is important since it can cover A LOT of ground. 
It also has Bright and Tight switches, bright seems to up the upper mid response and and tight seems to cut the bass response a bit which ends up giving a tighter tone.

Now onto the cooler stuff, i didnt know how much of a difference the 1-20 watt knob and the el84-6v6 knobs would make. Although they arent DRASTIC differences, they are kinda cool. To be honest they affect the feel more than anything imho, but thats a very important thing. The 6v6's seem to be a bit more compressed feeling and sounding, and have a bit more controlled highs where as the el84s are more dynamic and a bit brighter and "bigger" sounding, but once again, nothing really drastic, just final touches, so the knob is nice, and in between it does sound good though i tend to leave it a bit on the el84 side. The wattage side affects the volume a bit, but moreso the feel again. You can feel yourself digging into the strings more and getting slightly more dynamics (headroom) especially on lower notes and palm mutes when its at higher wattages. Now increasing watts to increase loudness is usually a pretty inefficient way to get your amp to be louder as it takes 10 times the power to get double the volume from the same setup. However going from 1-20 watts is 20 times the wattage and therefore slightly more than twice as loud, so you do get a substantial volume boost, but then again you can get that from the master. Its really more changing the feel, and you can tweak that to your taste.
Now i didnt get a chance to crank this amp, but man i definitely got it going pretty loud, didnt dare turn it up past 2 for more than a split second, but i have a feeling it would sound great cranked!

Now for the sounds themselves. If you set it up for clean tone, it sounds absolutely fantastic, warm and glassy tones, and the eq really can shape your sound here as well. I honestly didnt play with clean settings as much because i was digging the dirty sounds so much! The mid gain tones are amazing as well, so responsive and dynamic and they sound like the perfect extension of both the clean and the full on distorted sounds. And of course i loved the dimed gain sound, but with a tubescreamer in front, this thing turns into a DJENT MACHINE!! I couldnt believe how much tight and djenty gain was coming from this thing! And yet it remained so musical and tight. Absolutely loved it, so it cant just handle metal, it frickin' excels at it!

Now this brings me to my one (sort of) gripe, this thing has everything you need (even an effects loop) except for one thing: a second channel!
The amp's single channel is so good that literally cloning it to a second channel and just naming them one and two and having them be EXACTLY the same would make for an amazing amp. But the only reason this is only sort of a gripe is that at this price (600 bucks!) you could just buy two and get an amp switcher. The heads are so small and light that you could set them both up on your 4x12, and have your individual setups for clean and dirty and just switch between the two if you really wanted two channels and it would cost you less than an 2 channel amp of this caliber!

So that about concludes this review, and honestly i was all about the blackstar HT-5 which is an amazing amp still and at half the price is still making it a tough call on which to buy. But honestly i have to say i prefer the sounds and versatility of this amp. If the blackstar sounds like a 1000 dollar head for 300 bucks, than this one sounds like an expensive boutique head for 600 bucks! Im in the process of selling some stuff i dont need as much, and i will probably be picking one of these amps up soon!


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## BigPhi84 (Mar 21, 2009)

Check out the Egnater Renagade 50 coming out soon! Two channels and digital reverb.

http://www.premierguitar.com/Video/20081030/417/LA_Amp_Show_Egnater_Amplification_Renegade_50.aspx


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## budda (Mar 21, 2009)

dude, just buy both amps. seriously. $900? you can swing it.


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## bulb (Mar 21, 2009)

but i wouldnt need both
hell i dont need this one
its just a fun amp to jam on!


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## budda (Mar 21, 2009)

Since we've already established that there is in fact no need for this amp aside from the different tone it offers... You should buy a used rebel and a new HT-5 

I have yet to test out some of these lower wattage beasts (orange TT as well) and i wouldnt mind, being of the "I boost mid-gain to get high gain" camp and all.

Lookin' forward to the NAD pics


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## yingmin (Mar 21, 2009)

These are definitely awesome. I sold one to a guy with two of the matching 1x12 cabs, and a week later he comes back to buy a second head so he can A/B them.


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## TomAwesome (Mar 21, 2009)

I haven't played one, but they do seem like neat little amps. Any opinion on the Rebel vs the Axe-FX sim of the Rebel?


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## 7 Strings of Hate (Mar 21, 2009)

i hate paying 600 bones for a chinese made amp though, thats my only beef.

i'v been looking at those blackheart amps. the 5 watt little giant and the 1 watt little ant


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## stuh84 (Mar 21, 2009)

If the tone is there and its reliable, it doesn't matter where it comes from. It's still made by humans just like anywhere else.


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## bulb (Mar 21, 2009)

7 Strings of Hate said:


> i hate paying 600 bones for a chinese made amp though, thats my only beef.
> 
> i'v been looking at those blackheart amps. the 5 watt little giant and the 1 watt little ant



dude, the computer you are using to type that response is probably made in china, maybe assembled in the us, but made in china haha!
its not a reason not to buy something, the build quality seemed good to me (but i didnt inspect it thoroughly).
has anyone had issues with it?


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## Piledriver (Mar 21, 2009)

in the lower wattage settings,is it still good for playing at home or even if you lower the wattage the amp is still loud as hell?


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## 7 Strings of Hate (Mar 21, 2009)

stuh84 said:


> If the tone is there and its reliable, it doesn't matter where it comes from. It's still made by humans just like anywhere else.


 
but who said they are reliable?




bulb said:


> dude, the computer you are using to type that response is probably made in china, maybe assembled in the us, but made in china haha!
> its not a reason not to buy something, the build quality seemed good to me (but i didnt inspect it thoroughly).
> has anyone had issues with it?



thats not very good reasoning. computers are their bread and butter, but everyone knows that cheaper products come from china. like it or not its a fact. i'm not saying its not reliable, but its a gamble, where as you get a mesa, vht, ect.. that you know has killer standards, you dont have to worry.
at the very least it probably has lead paint comming from china 

also, for the record, a mesa or something made in a country with good labor standards will last decades. Theres a reason you have to buy a new computer ever few years aside from the fact that they get out dated. Its because they arent built to last








I agree with both of you, as in just because it was made in china doesnt mean it makes it shitty, but lets live in the real world and not try to act like china makes the best products, theres a reason they are cheaper usually.
but if your digging it go for it. i was interested in a rebel 20 before too, but i just cant pay 600 for something that you'll get a much better value out of if you went with a different brand.


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## playstopause (Mar 21, 2009)

Piledriver said:


> in the lower wattage settings,is it still good for playing at home or even if you lower the wattage the amp is still loud as hell?



It still is pretty loud, but very usable. I bring the overall volume down with my EQ in the loop.


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## MF_Kitten (Mar 21, 2009)

i would buy the blackstar, just because it&#180;s cheap AND all tubes. though if i wanted something high quality that happened to be less expencive, and low wattage, i&#180;d get the egnater. but when it comes to this new "bloom" in the low wattage/small sized tube amps, i wouldn&#180;t get one for the sake of high quality and all that, i&#180;d get one because it&#180;s small, cheap, doesn&#180;t need to be super loud to get power tube distortion, and is practical.

but of course, if i could choose between the two, i&#180;d definitely get the egnater 

i&#180;m envisioning a NAD from bulb some day now, with pics of both a blackstar and an egnater perched on his orange 4X12


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## budda (Mar 21, 2009)

I'd get the amp that sounds best for my applications.


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## Nick1 (Mar 21, 2009)

I run my Rebel 20 into the 212 Egnater cab and then into a 412 avatar and its awesome! I hardly ever have the gain up half way. I usually use a TS9 or something like that (also set half way or less). Its a great amp for sure. Im thinking of trying some JJs in it tho. Not that GTs are bad but JJs are the best.


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