# Played some amps today (Egnater, Randall, Peavey)



## TMM (Aug 30, 2008)

So, I was going to meet up with someone from a local classifieds posting to buy an amp, and while I was waiting, I went into the music store we were supposed to meet at (never happened), and tried out some amps - the Egnater Tourmaster 212 combo, a Randall RH50T head, and a Peavey Triumph 60 head (both heads played through an Ampeg V4 412). I hadn't heard of any of the 3, and all 3 blew me away. Anyone else tried these out?

The Egnater was the nicest of the 3 (also had the 'nicest' pricetag, of course, $1450 new). It has 4 channels, and you can actually set the power level of the amp per channel (have 50w for clean 1, 100w for OD2, etc). All 4 channels sounded rich, with a really nice midrange, and plenty of low end (an impressive amount for a combo) - I actually never turned the lows up past around 6-7. The reverb left a little to be desired, but it wasn't bad.

The Randall, at a little more than a 1/3 the price of the Egnater, actually had a very similar tone. Both had a very rich, punchy overdrive. The Randall's clean wasn't quite as buttery and warm as the Egnater, but the reverb blew the Egnater away. Really impressive amp for ~ $500 new.

The Peavey was used (I don't think they've made these since the '80s), but I'd never heard of it, and upon seeing it was part of the Ultra series, I thought I'd give it a shot. It sounded awesome! It was different from the round, midrangey sounds of the Randall and Egnater, with a very aggressive and 'growly' tone, and a lot of gain. Plus, it also had (good) reverb built-in (!)... don't see that often on tube Peaveys.

Definitely, check the Egnater out if you haven't heard one before. It's been a long time since an amp impressed me that much.


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## Apophis (Aug 30, 2008)

thanks for info


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## playstopause (Aug 30, 2008)

How was the gain on the Egnater?


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## TMM (Aug 30, 2008)

playstopause said:


> How was the gain on the Egnater?



Plenty of gain in both OD channels... wasn't one of those amps where it has 2 OD channels, but only one with any gain. Both OD channels sound similar, but with a 3-band EQ and full contour control on each, you could definitely make them sound very different.


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## canuck brian (Sep 2, 2008)

Did you get a chance to crank up the Randall? I had one of the RH250's (really high wattage) and it just lost all the meat at high volume.


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## playstopause (Sep 2, 2008)

TMM said:


> Plenty of gain in both OD channels... wasn't one of those amps where it has 2 OD channels, but only one with any gain. Both OD channels sound similar, but with a 3-band EQ and full contour control on each, you could definitely make them sound very different.





I NEED to try the Rebel when it comes out. It should be around here in October.


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## budda (Sep 2, 2008)

thanks for the quick review!


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## Kakaka (Oct 29, 2008)

I heard many bad things about this Egnater 4212 combo. Many who bought it, said it's noisy as hell on the OD channels, rated its sound quality below 5 in a 1-10 range.

By the way, does anyone confirm that it is chinese made?


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## darren (Oct 29, 2008)

P2P: I was at Twelfth Fret in Toronto last week, and they already sold out of their initial allocation of Rebels. They had three of them in last week and sold all of them. Apparently the next run are going to be in the CAD$749 range because our dollar has taken a shit against the American Dollar, so when they come in to your L&M, grab one fast.

The printed circuit boards on the Egnater amps come from China, but i was told that the final assembly and testing is done in the USA.


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## Kakaka (Oct 29, 2008)

That's sad, cause the features are promising, but they had to be delivered with higher quality, actually far higher.


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## playstopause (Oct 29, 2008)

Darren, I already paid a deposit on mine 3 weeks ago, before the dollar fall, so I guess price will stay the same (for me).

New vid!


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## playstopause (Oct 29, 2008)

Kakaka said:


> That's sad, cause the features are promising, but they had to be delivered with higher quality, actually far higher.



Man, if it was all made in the U.S., the amp would cost around 5000$ (Mr. Egnater quote).


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## Kakaka (Oct 29, 2008)

Oh, might be true, but I wasn't necessarily saying that it should be all done in the US or that China is the problem...

Also, the RoadKing doesn't cost all that, and is top quality, and U.S. made.

By the way, I was just thinking: if China is the problem they could look for Korea or even Canada to make it, if it'd cut costs.


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## playstopause (Oct 29, 2008)

Egnater are kind of boutique amps, not factory made by the hundreds like Mesa. Of course Mesa's are going to be cheaper, they make 1000x more amps than Egnater.

A Roadster is something completely different, you can't really compare the Rebel with a Roadster imo. For me, a Roadster would be complete overkill for house practice, with 2 kids under 3. 

It's the first time that a small tube amp has ALL the features I wish for (especially the 1 to 20 watts setting).


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## Kakaka (Oct 29, 2008)

Oh, sorry, man. I wasn't talking about the Rebel, I'm talking about the TourMaster series' 4212 combo, which was the combo I thought our thread starter had tested.

By the way, boutique for me should imply quality, and I'm only saying this based on tons of terrible reviews I read.

And it's kinda weird that you commented on Egnater being boutique in comparison to MESA, cause MESA is still handmade in the US, which would pretty much define a nice boutique character for me (despite the large production number).


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## playstopause (Oct 29, 2008)

Kakaka said:


> Oh, sorry, man. I wasn't talking about the Rebel, I'm talking about the TourMaster series' 4212 combo, which was the combo I thought our thread starter had tested.
> 
> By the way, boutique for me should imply quality, and I'm only saying this based on tons of terrible reviews I read.



Ah, ok! 

Where did you read the reviews on the Tourmaster? I'm curious to read them ...


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## Kakaka (Oct 29, 2008)

Usual harmonycentral, that isn't the most reliable some times, alogn with some online stores' buyer's reviews like in music123.com and musiciansfriend.com.

What I notice is that only a few, low-gain dudes liked it, rock and blues players.

At one the reviews I read at harmonycentral the guy even talked to Egnater's customer service when he returned the amp, and complained about the excessive fizziness of it, and the Egnater man admitted their amp was noisier in comparison to others they A/B'ed it with. Sad, the features are tempting.


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## playstopause (Oct 29, 2008)

Well, I hope it's not too noisy. Anyway, got a nice Decimator sitting right here...

And can't wait to hear what it sounds like boosted with my Bloody Murder! I'm sure it's goin' to bring it in nice high gain territories... 

Anyway, if I don't like it, I will just sell it with a profit! (thanks to the dollar fall! ).


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## petereanima (Oct 29, 2008)

if the PV triumph is similar to the Ultra, then it must be an ass-kick machine. 

i tried the Randall RH50T some time ago, and i thought it was really good for a low budget tube amp and it beats imho the living shit out of the valveking (which is the only tube head i know in the same price range). for real high gain the one i tried really needed a boost, dont know if newer ones have more gain, but this one was lacking some.

never tried an Egnater amp but only heard good things. also kudos to Mr. Egnator for the Module-system-thing, people are fraeking over here over the egnater modules in their Randall RM heads.


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## darren (Oct 29, 2008)

Amazing sounding little amp. The guy at Twelfth Fret i spoke to had the Tourmaster and he seemed pretty thrilled with it.

And why is the country of manufacture a "problem"? Lots of quality stuff comes out of China with proper QC, and lots of junk comes out of American factories as well. It amazes me how some people just can't get past this "everything produced in country _x_ is crap" mentality.


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## D-EJ915 (Oct 29, 2008)

none of them that I've played have been noisy, granted I've just played 2


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## budda (Oct 29, 2008)

darren said:


> Amazing sounding little amp. The guy at Twelfth Fret i spoke to had the Tourmaster and he seemed pretty thrilled with it.
> 
> And why is the country of manufacture a "problem"? Lots of quality stuff comes out of China with proper QC, and lots of junk comes out of American factories as well. It amazes me how some people just can't get past this "everything produced in country _x_ is crap" mentality.



some people are stubborn.

that said, i listened to the Rebel clip that PSP posted and now i have GAS to: buy that amp, get my strat from my brother, and practise bluesrock like a mofo.


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