Egnater JTM45 kit

I just got home from the Egnater Amp Building Seminar in Berkeley, Michigan. Maybe "JTM45 Kit" is a bit misleading..cosmetically it LOOKS like a JTM45 but inside it is closer to a JCM800 50 watt, except made more versatile with more gain and channel switching. Three inputs, Hi gain, not so high gain, and clean. It does have channel switching between two distorted sounds. But I think getting to the clean sound might require an external a/b switch. The latest rev in this evolving design includes an effects loop and a "density" control, which is a low-end fine tuning control that is kind of the mirror of the presence knob.

Tested with a Les Paul Studio, but will probably used more with an ASAT. The head will suit my musical style when I really want to rock out, although the clean is a very good sound as well. But the gainy sounds are the reason to attend the Amp Building Seminar in Berkeley, Michigan.
It is not noisy at all.
It will go from a wonderful warm clean to ferocious high gain. Even the clean input will give up some good, 70's style distortion when you set it past 3 o'clock of so. Overall, it retains quite a bit of string to string clarity when pushed into distortion.
How brutal is the distortion? Brutal. A couple of the people at the seminar were metal players, and they were quite satisfied. Skwisgaar Skwigelf would be pleased, as would anyone looking for a wide-range of Marshally sounds.
I will probably use the hi-gain setting at about noon with my ASAT equipped ever-changing sets of noiseless pickups. The nature of the ASAT will allow above-average string to string clarity, although a Suhr strat and a Frankenstrat with a Duncan JB in the bridge position both sounded great.

This is an n/a, it's way too soon to tell. Bruce Egnater supplied us with quality components, no I do not foresee trouble. He checked over everyone's work and redid anything that needed fixing. All amps were thoroughly played through before it was over. If it breaks down and I can determine which part needs replacing, I imagine I can replace it.

Terri Egnater knows where to buy good pizza.

How long have you been playing?
32 years, although thoroughly out of practice. I will want to practice more with this head.
What other gear do you own?
Teles, an LP, various fender amps. I wanted a new sound and this amp fill that need.
If it were stolen or lost, would you buy it again or get something else?
I'd replace it with another Egnater.
What do you love about it?
SOUND SOUND SOUND SOUND SOUND
What do you hate?
It looks like every other Marshall head on the face of the planet. A little zazz like different colored tolex or control panel couldn't hurt.
Did you compare it to other products? Which ones?
I played a modern Marshall head about a year ago and my ears rang for a week. I gave up on Marshalls until I saw demos of the Egnater Amp Building Seminar on youtube. The Egnater version of a Marshall is tweaked to get rid of the painful high frequencies, but maintains definition and presence.
Why did you choose this one?
See above.
Anything you wish it had?
A really really hot sister.
Anything else you'd like to share?
On the surface, it might seem a little high for an amp head, but consider that you're getting experience building your own amp with the helpful tutelage of a guy who's been building amps for 30+ years. You will know the insides of your amp and get tips on possible future modding projects you might want to try. Or just leave it as is, it sounds great.

I built this amp in a recent Egnater Amp Building Seminar. It has 2 channels (Clean, High Gain with hi and low sensitivity inputs), tube buffered effects loop,4, 8, and 16 ohm speaker output, presence control and depth control - it essentially a classic modded Marshall without channel switching. What makes it different is that I know the reason for all the components, put them in place myself and feel confident doing tone shaping and even advanced mods (power management. The amp looks like a store bought amp inside and out: plexi style front and back panels, Marshall-style Egnater logo (I left mine off) standard, high quality, small head box from Mojo

This amp sounds the way I wanted it to sound. I configured mine with 5881 tubes and it has a slightly more classic tone - still definately in the Marshall vain though because of the transformer. The gain is in the Bogner Soldano range. It is pretty flexible in gain range and the range of the tone controls is completely usable. Every setting sound interesting and "good."

This amp is very solid - Bruce Egnater makes sure the build quality is up to snuff. He is willing to put his name on it. If you take a look inside you will be impressed with the neat appearance, perfect layout and optimal wire lengths. The difference is that if it does break, I can fix it!

Bruce, Jeff, Frank and the other folks at Egnater care and do their best to be helpful.

This is an incredible bargain! You get the fun of working on the amp, being with a bunch of like-minded folks, play guitar, try different Egnater products, get lessons and tips from a Pro and you walk out with an amp that would cost you $1900 in a store - all for $1650! Oh, I forgot the mention that the food was good both days, the setting was comfortable and conducive to building a quality product. You ahve all the tools and parts you need. Terrific. If you are at all interested in amp build, you can do this. One of the guys in the class was in there for a second time - he wanted a stereo set-up using the power sections of his two amps (through the effects loop return). But, I am not sure he didn't really came back for the cinnamon crunch bagels!

I recently attended the Egnater amp building seminar at The
Amp Lounge in Berkley Michigan to build a modified JTM 45. Feb 2007. A single channel with 4 inputs. There are 2 identical low level inputs that have a dropping resistor just inside the jacks & 2 high level inputs that are identical as well. This varies from the original construction. Bruce informed us that the rectifier was been changed to diodes to help with reliabilty issues. No effects loop. Impedance switch. Not many frills, but we were all informed of that going in. I,m a rock & blues player & this amp is great for this type of thing. Approximately 60 watts when Bruce bench tested these kits after assembly. 2 El34's with 12ax7 preamp tubes.

This amp has a ton of gain and it has great sustain. It cleans up nicely when the guitar volume is rolled back for blues stuff. A bit cleaner on the low inputs.I'm using a single 12" V30 cabinet for now but I was able to test drive this thing with an Egnater 4-12 & 2-12 cabinets in the sound room. Both had V30's. I loved it right away and the other guys in the class liked the big sound they were getting also. I am using a Carvin Bolt with humbuckers, A Strat with single coils & A Duncan Invader, Ibanez RG w/humbuckers. I find that no distortion pedal is needed for that nice distortion I was hoping for with this amp. Some noise when the gain is near full. Frank hooked me up with a BB AC & RC boost pedals for an extra gain stage that put the distortion over the top. ( Lynch, Satriani, Demartini type growl)

It is probably to early to tell at this point but during the assembly stage Bruce inspected all the work we were doing and made changes as he deemed necessary.Each amp was bench tested before we plugged into a cabinet. JJ tubes were used as he has had the best luck with this brand. It is really quite an experience to build your own amp knowing Bruce will help at any time. All questions were welcome. Day 2 was theory of operation and Bruce provided many details & a booklet on how to make modifications for tonal tweeks. Very Cool. Assembly instructions and diagrams were provided that Bruce had put together himself.

The Egnater group was very helpful and a pleasure to work with. I have spoken to Bruce on the phone about tube changes & he was very willing to talk amp stuff. I was informed that replacing the EL 34's with JJ6V6's will reduce the power to approximately 18 watts if needed. This thing is LOUD. I believe Bruce told me the warranty was 10-15 years or something like that. Just Kiddin' Bruce.

I am an intermediate player and have a Fender 75 combo, Marshall Valvestate 8280(That is now for sale)and this beast. I am very happy with this amp and the whole experience at the Amp Lounge. It was a relaxed atmosphere and you work at your own pace. If something happened to this amp I wouldn't hesitate to do this whole thing over again. Thanks to everyone at the Amp Lounge for your hospitality and patience with this seminar and the amp sounds great.

I also attended the amp-building seminar in October to build the hot-rodded JTM45 kit. It was described as a ... "JCM800 master volume model on steroids. You get more gain, smoother tone (no ice pick to the forehead high end) and more punch than any stock JCM800. If you are familiar with our Egnater amps, the sound is basically channel 3 of the TOL100 or IE4 or our current EG3 module", which (having owned a TOL100) is a very accurate description.

Anyway, the amp is a tweaked-out MOJO JTM45 kit. Features are relatively basic... 4 inputs (2 for each channel), presence/bass/mid/treble/gain/master volume controls, a couple speaker jacks and impedance selector around back--for anyone who's owned an Egnater TOL100, it's quite the low-tech departure. It will channel switch if you plug a guitar into INPUT 1 and a standard 1/4" footswitch into INPUT 2, which provides a fixed gain/volume boost.

So it's not the most feature-laden amp ever made, but hey... it's a JTM45 clone... I wasn't expecting a laundry list of features. If I wish for any features, it would be reverb and an FX loop. I've got the schematics and a soldering iron, so technically, there's nothing stopping me from adding those features on my own. Bruce provided us with a book of suggested mods, so I actually feel encouraged to try to add/change features on my own.

Thick. Warm. Aggressive. Smooth. Every guitar sounds unique through it. Every dynamic nuance of playing comes through. Technically the amp can produce clean tones if you roll back your guitar's volume, but let's face it... this amp was not meant to be played clean. We're talking about a crunchy rhythm tone that will take paint off the walls and a singing solo tone that sustains for days. Plenty of gain, heavy on the mids and low-end--sounds like it has a built-in Density/Depth circuit dialed up to '10'. It shakes my house better than any other amp I've owned.

So far I've used the amp in the context of two bands... one 60/70/80/90's cover band, one original "mainstream" rock. The amp works well in both contexts. I also recorded a few original progressive rock tunes and guitar-oriented instrumentals with the amp, and it's delivered stellar results. The simplicity, while it feels limiting at first, is a blessing... with only 6 knobs, it's a relatively quick effort to dial in the tone you're looking for. Try that with a Mesa Mark IV!

For what it's worth, I typically run the amp with presence on 5, bass/mid/treble tone controls on 8, and gain on 4--it's strangely reassuring to know that there's more gain on tap if needed.

Well, this is hard to rate... I built the amp with guidance and assistance from Bruce & his crew. I followed the instructions in meticulous detail, Bruce checked over my work several times and burnt the amp in before I brought it home. 3 months later, no problems at all. If it blows up tomorrow, I'd blame myself and my shoddy soldering skills. Good news is that I feel like I have just enough knowledge to try to repair it myself first. But if I couldn't fix it, read on...

The amp-building seminar was my first direct interaction with the Egnater crew (though I'd owned a few Egnater designed amps), and it was a great experience all the way around. Prior to the seminar, some components were swapped out and pre-assembled to save time during the seminar. Also, Bruce sent out a survey in advance to better understand attendees' experience with soldering & electronics. Certainly a lot of pre-work went into this.

The seminar was a day-long event that kicked off with breakfast (lunch was provided as well). Every attendee was loaned a complete set of tools to use for the day. Bruce, Frank, and several other folks were available to provide assistance and check work throughout the day. Nobody went home without a fully functioning amp (which was a bit challenging, since we had a few problematic JJ rectifier tubes). Bruce even provided a booklet of potential post-seminar mods for the amp.

While support was great the day of the event, I'm confident if any problems did pop up with the amp that I could call or e-mail Bruce and he would walk me through fixing it. I believe he even mentioned that we could ship the amps back to him for troubleshooting if necessary. That's the kind of guy Bruce is... Clearly knows his stuff, but takes care of people and stands behind his work.

I've been playing for about 15 years. I've got more gear than I know what to do with... close to two dozen PRS, G&L, and EBMM guitars, a Vox Tonelab for FX, several other amps (Rocktron Vendetta, Fender Deluxe Reverb, Hughes & Kettner Edition Tube 20), and Avatar cabinets (2x12 with V30's, 2x12 with G12T75's). I typically use the Fender DRRI (for cleans) and this amp (for rhythm/leads) together, which is a match made in heaven. While the multi-amp setup is more complex than a 3 or 4 channel head, it's worth it to have two stellar tones with no compromises. I've tried a lot of amps over the years (Egnater TOL100, Randall MTS, Marshall TSL, Mesa Triaxis/Nomad/Recto/Marks, H&K Triamp II, Rivera Knucklehead Reverb), and this one is a keeper. Partially because of the killer tone, but also because I can take a lot of pride in the fact that I built it. Interestingly, it's given me enough confidence in my amp-building skills that I'm planning on assembling a Super Reverb clone later this year.

Plus, what's it worth to spend a day with an amp guru like Bruce? Priceless. I mean, you could spend $900 on the stock MOJO JTM45 kit and end up with a decent amp. But for a couple hundred dollars more, you get the experience of working with Bruce for a day and the end result is an amp that smokes all the genuine Marshall JTM45/Plexi/JCM800 re-issues for several hundred dollars less. Totally worth it. If Bruce offered another seminar based on another amp model (e.g., a Fender design, something class A, etc), I'd be there in a heartbeat.

This amp was just made this past weekend... with my bare hands! Bruce Egnater held his first 1-day AMP BUILD SEMINAR at his store in Michigan. It's based on a JTM45 amp kit offered by the reputable Mojotone that includes very quality components. Bruce basically changes some values of the passive electronics and adds his special flavors such as the transformers used on his other Egnater products.

Amp is incredibly versatile... sounds killer for rock, metal, nu-metal, blues and even country/funk (if you like a little dirt) with the right settings.

Very straight-forward design... 50W, one channel with the following controls - presence, bass, mid, treble, gain, master. No fancy-shmancy BS like effects loop or headphone jack. If you know how to work the volume/tone pots and select the right pickups, you don't even need any distracting footswitches.

This is a real, hand-wired tube guitar amp that sounds better than any Marshall currently in production - including their recent hand-wired series. I'm not kidding... it blows away even the old JCM800, JCM900. Ears aren't fatigued after playing a long time.

The beauty of this amp is that you build under the personal supervision of Bruce and his closest associates. It's obvious that they're very dedicated to the success of each student. Not only do you get a kick-ass amp, you gain a confidence level that you cannot easily acquire no matter how long you've wished or thought about building your own amp. Trust me, I've been there for a long time.

With more dedication and study, you can start to play with changing the values of various components to further tweak the tone. Too freaking exciting!

Yes, there's the Mesa RoadKing and Diezels out there... but this amp doesn't try to pretend to be everything. But, the cool thing is that the amp will let you to 'shift' if you know how to use the settings on the amp, guitar and, most importantly, your playing. You'll understand if you've been screwing around since the mid-80s like I have.

Which reminds me... you're playing better be good. It's reminded me that I need to practice more... I need to take my Steinberger with me more on my business trips so I don't have to 'start over' all the time.

As mentioned in the Features section, this amp is very versatile if you know what you're doing. It's not something you hit a button or a preset. If you know how the various controls interact, this guitar can be very flexible.

Basically, you can have the amp gained up pretty hot and cover any rock, heavy metal and nu-metal tones. Actually, 'cover' is not appropriate since this blows away alot of amps out there that attempts to cover these territories. Rectumfiers... can only chug and have no dynamics to speak of. Marshalls... too buzzy and raspy.

This true hand-wired amp is helluva alot deeper... smoother if you want it to be. Crank up the presence, mids & treble and it can shred extremely well. There were other students who had many different guitars and they all sounded killer. One guy had a very diverse style that mixed in some drop-D playing... man, he sounded heavy and tasty at the same time.

I own a pre-Rocktron Egnater TOL100R and this amp can sound like Channel 3 on the TOL. But, as I told Bruce, I think this amp sounded more 'open' and less compressed than the original TOL Channel 3. That's saying alot since I spent alot of time on Channel 3 when I needed to get heavy or play lead.

With my '86 PRS Standard, this amp sounded sick. Unbelievably fat and thick.

In low input side, I was able to get some great Hendrixy and RHCP tones with my single-coils in my late-60s Strat. It's a Marshall-based circuit so don't expect a Fender clean/glassy snap. However, I asked Bruce to seriously consider another seminar based on a BF Fender Pro Reverb or SF BandMaster Reverb. I hope he goes for it since that would cover the tonal demand of at least 80% of all guitarists in the world.

As far as noise, I took time in wiring my amp and asked for Bruce's inspection at key points in the assembly. Actually, I was the last to get the amp done but my careful approach paid off. After various burn-ins and playing tests, we put a foil shielding on the bottom of the head and there was little noise or radio interference. I've been playing for several hours and it still hasn't made any excessive noise. It'll be interested to get it in a bar full of neon lights and see how it holds up.

Well, this is where it'll be interesting.

First of all, this is not the first time in dealing with Bruce. In his industry, there's many amp designers/builders... some of them who have developed a 'mystique' or ego well beyond the amp themselves. I won't mention any names but, trust me, I've dealt with them since I'm very interested in tube amplifiers.

This is where Bruce is ABSOLUTELY top notch... a regular, family guy who obviously loves what he does. He has a very balanced and patient approach with his customers and now students. I've been exposed to various people in the music industry since Ken Hoshino (Ibanez/Tama) hired me as a warehouse grunt and took me to backstage shows in Philly. For some reason, most people in the music industry lose perspective and lose balance with their ego. Bruce is one of those rare guys in the crazy music industry that is very balanced and even-keeled.

So, going back to this Reliability issue... Bruce was very attentive to every students' assembly work. He inspected everyone's amp and put each one through an intensive burn in and had each student play their amp.

The joke some of us student said about future reliability issue was... "You built it!". But, I can say with confidence that Bruce will not turn his back... he repeatedly told all of us to feel free to email him if there's any issues and, more importantly, any questions that you may have later on to continue this great learning opportunity.

Anyway, I've played it for two days and not a damn thing... problems, that is. Keep in mind, this is hand-wired and I made sure that each solder joint was done very carefully... maybe used a little extra solder to make sure it was absolutely solid. Although Bruce may have a different opinion, this amp can probably take more abuse and much more easier to repair than any circuit-board tube amp.

Well, if it's not obvious by this time... this is where Bruce and the Amp Lounge team hands-down blow away most music manufacturers.

All emails are promptly answered and always complete in detail... not some cryptic BS to get you off their back.

Bruce even modified my TOL100R with a complicated request that was technically challenging but he didn't refuse it due to the complexity. After some thought, he took it on and got my modification idea to work.

Again, Bruce is one of the best in his industry. And, you don't even have to be a blazing guitar hero or rock star.

Trust me, this 1-Day AMP BUILD SEMINAR has inspired me in many ways - practice more (even if I have a crazy business trip schedule), study more (about amp design & technical electronics) and build another amp kit!

The max rating on this section is inadequate... I'd give a solid '20' for Bruce's brand of customer support.

In summary, this seminar was worth every red cent I paid for it. As mentioned by several other students, the finished amp is worth much more than the total cost of the kit and seminar. Although it's your time (including burnt skin and scratches), this is a hand-wired amp that's based on a custom circuit designed by Bruce Egnater.

If you don't know his history, Bruce knows great tones and a relentless innovator of amp technology & design.

The fact that someone with his creativity, experience and knowledge is willing to open his door and share his time to take you on a journey (that's just a dream for most of us) is incredible by itself. What's even more mind blowing is that, at the end of the day, you're carrying out an amp that totally kicks ass that you built yourself.

Most students kept saying how they'll have to beat others off their amp once they hear it. I have no doubt how true this will be once one of us gets it out there to gigs, practice or showing it off to friends.

Actually, what most of the students will probably experience is skepticism... "how can something that sounds so good be built by you?".

I just figured out why this past weekend was so incredible... Bruce is actually leading a paradigm shift in the whole amp building process and experience. (Read Thomas Kuhn's 'Structure of Paradigm' and you'll know what I'm talking about)

Well, I can't wait for the next seminar... BF Fender Pro Reverb! Sign me up!