Egnater Rebel-30 1x12 Combo

New amp made in 2009. This amp is totally versatile for my styles, from clean jazz to blues to blues/rock, country, pop, classic rock and this amp will even cover hard rock to 80's metal. (I am a songwriter!)
2 channels with footswitch for channels and reverb, and a VERY transparent effects loop. I use a Boss DD-6 in the loop and NO TONE SUCK is notable!
The features and wattage of this amp is perfect for me. If i could wish for an additional feature, it would be that the power tube blend knob be footswitchable instead- between the 6V6 & EL84 with a footswitch option to blend them both - that would be the ultimate feature! Otherwise, I amp very happy with this amp!
I use this amp at home for recording, at jams and small-medium gigs. With the AMAZING compensated direct out, bigger gigs through a PA is not a problem!
Very nice sounding digital reverb, 30 watts all tube using 6V6 and EL84 tubes, yada yada yada..........

I use my Strat with 2 Texas Specials and SD Pearly Gates (not +) as well as my USA Peavey Wolfgang Special. The amp works flawless with these guitars and very little to no EQ adjustments are necessary.

Music styles listed above.

It is a bit noisy on both channels, a slight hiss is noticable on both channels at all volume levels. I talked to Nate at Egnater and he said that this slight hiss is normal. This does not bother me too much, but I will eventually get a noise gate for the loop.

The amp is the perfect blend of Fender cleans and Marshall crunch/high gain, IMHO! The tone is sonically bold and 3D, sounds wonderful with the Celestion Elite 80! The EQ is THE MOST interactive EQ I've ever played with! Any slight tweak will alter your tone, which makes this amp extremely versatile in attaining a nice array of different tones. Also, this is a very loud amp!

The clean channel is very Fender - between a Princeton and a Deluxe Reverb. Very rich and full sounding with the ability to get plenty of spank and chime on the top end. Want more Fender - turn the blend knob to full 6V6. Want Voxy british clean - turn full to EL84. The difference is VERY noticable. Not a lot of headroom at higher volumes, but I personally like some grit on my cleans. Takes pedals very well on both channels.

The gain channel goes from bluesy break-up to all out shred! The levels of gain vary so much with the gain knob. As said above, this can get into metal territory very easily. Want more gain? This amp takes boosts very well, but I doubt you'll even need a boost! Great note separation even with gain knob cranked!

This amp reacts more immediately with my guitars' volume knobs than any other amp I've owned! I understand that this is a common Egnater characteristic!

Sound clips here:
http://www.netmusicians.org/?section=amp&value=Egnater%20Rebel%2030

So far, so good. Made in Korea (?), but built more solidly than my Marshall JVM!!! It might be made overseas, but it feels like Bruce and Jeff put this sucker together in their custom shop!!!

No issues yet, only the slight hiss on both channels. BTW, this hiss is NOT present when using the line out.

Seems VERY reliable otherwise.

Egnater's customer service equals and even exceeds the quality and tone of their amps! They have been incredibly kind and helpful!!!

This amp at this price is simply a steal when comparing it to others in it's price range and above. I've been playing for 20 years this year. Holy crap, I'm gettin' old!!!

Tube amps I've owned include a Fender Hot Rod Deville, Hughes & Kettner Edition Tube 20th Anniversary, Mesa/Boogie F-30, EVH 5150 III, Fender Princeton NR, Bogner Shiva NR, and a Marshall JVM 215c. IMHO, this amp does what I was wanting all of these other amps to do, but better! This amp is THE PERFECT amp for me, period.

If stolen or lost I would replace immediately! I LOVE THIS AMP!

This is the 1x12 combo version of the Eganter Rebel 30. Dual channels, clean/overdrive with wattage controls on each channel, and a global Tube Mix control to blend the output of 6V6 vs. EL84 tubes. Individual (solid-state) Reverb control on each channel. And only 40 pounds!

Excellent (with the caveats below). Used a PRS Custom. Frankly, this would have been my dream amp, had it not been for the problems.

PROBLEM ... Bought the amp the first day it was available online. Channel 2 was dead on arrival, and the amp was making horrible buzzing sounds to boot. Called Egnater, and they seemed right on top of the issue. The customer service guys triple-teamed me on a conference call, and it sounded like they were going to make it right, and in a hurry. They agreed to do a 2-day shipping turnaround. Great. This would have gotten the repplacement amp to me on the following Monday. I actually waited until Wednesday before I called to see what was going on. Well, the amp had not yet even been shipped. It didn't arrive until the following Wednesday - almost two weeks after I first got the amp. I played it, and it seemed to work great. I was getting over my frustration at Egnater's intrasigence, until another problem revealed itself. After playing for about 15 minutes, a nasty metallic ringing/rattling stsrted to show up. Maybe something physical, but loud enough to ruin any recording, or anything played at low volume. I tried to isolate by shutting down the speaker using the Silent Reocrod Switch (a great feature idea), and sure enough, the rattle did not seem to exist in the recoding output, so perhaps it was a physial problem. But doing this revealed yet another problem. The recording output was heavily distorted, no matter what settings I tried on the amp.

OK, that was enough. I called the eBay seller (Tricked Out Guitar, who was absolutely GREAT though all of this) and he had no problem getting me a refund. The problem came from Eganter, again. It took nearly another week before I could get it sent back, because they were slow to get UPS to pick up. So, it took about a month to get through this ordeal, and get my money untied so I could buy another amp.

So, I will be buying a used Fender and getting mods done. Don't need customer service - anybody can work on a Hot Rod Deluxe ...

PROBLEM ... (See the Reliability discussion.)

Great little amp, horrible quality control, crappy customer service. Best stay away from these guys. Admittedly, I was an "early adopter," a term used in the computer industry to desribe those who like to live on the bellding edge of new technology, and are willing to pay for it. In this case, I paid in a lot of wasted time, frustration, and disppointment. Maybe it's the Chinese subcontractors that are the issue with quality control, who knows (an excuse that's working for Boeing these days, too). But if your QA sucks, then your CS had better be ready to backstop.

Newly released July/August 2009.

I play in a Classic Rock band. We play everything from pop and blues, to hard rock and metal. I've been playing guitar since 1975 and have gone through my share of gear.

The Egnater Rebel 30 is the newly released "bigger brother" to the acclaimed Rebel 20 head. The key difference, besides the increased wattage, is the channel switching. Specs are on the Egnater site: www.egnater.com

It has a very well thought out feature set including power scaling from 1 - 30 watts for EACH channel. What the specs don't say is that the amp is 30 watts when the Tube Mix control is set to the 12:00 position, accessing both sets of tubes. When set to only the EL84s or only 6V6s, the amp is only 20 watts. Still, even at 1 watt, the amp puts out some serious volume. (See the article on Egnater's site regarding the relationship between watts and volume.)

I first saw (and played) this amp at the "NY" Amp Show in New Jersey back in May of 09. Of all the multi-thousand dollar boutique amps at the show, this combo was a standout for me. At one point, I had it connected to three additional 1 x 12 cabs and it just sounded awesome! It's not heavy-laden with useless features. Everything here is practical, useful, and actually works well. The EQs pots actually affect the tone. How about that?

I'm using the amp with a variety of guitars including a Music Man Silhouette, Music Man John Petrucci JP6, Les Paul Standard Plus, and Fender Custom Shop Strat. Each guitar's individual character comes through in both the clean and OD channels.

I needed a small club amp to cover a range of styles and this fits the bill perfectly. I am using the combo atop a matching Egnater 1 x 12 extension cab. The additional speaker improves the already great tone of this amp. The clean channel has that full-bodied, but chimey tone characteristic of many sought after Fender amps. The OD channel can do mild to mid crunch and full out ROAR with the Gain control up all the way. Roll the volume on the guitar down, and you get that great classic crunch tone for rhythm work.

It's touch sensitive in both channels and articulate. Fast legato style runs are no problem. The clean channel, IMO, is stellar for an amp of any size, let alone a 1 x 12 combo. The distortion is more than adequate for most applications. It's not an over-the-top death metal monster, but will cover 80s and 90s metal with ease. If you want more OD than the amp can put out on it's own, you can get an OD pedal and push the preamp. It will go where you want it to go! The clean channel is super quiet. With the power scaling, you can get some nice break up in the cleans at less than 30 watts, or plenty of clean headroom at the 30 watt setting. The OD channel does have that characteristic high-gain "hiss", but it's not over-the-top or annoying by any means and is less present with the gain rolled back.

I'm using a Boss ME-70 currently and it performs perfectly through the effects loop. Some pedals just don't play nice with loops but in this case, everything works great!

The speakers are a special Celestion design based on their Lead 80, which is as "clean" a speaker (doesn't color the sound) as Celestion makes. The combo could use a little more bottom end, but atop the extension cab, it really fills out the spectrum nicely.

I have gigged with the amp and so far it has performed flawlessly. I have never been happier with my live rig sound. That's a rave having been playing in bands since 1980! I don't expect many problems with the amp and Egnater is a company that listens to, and has respect for, their customers. I would use the amp without a backup, but an extra set of tubes and fuses is always a good idea no matter what tube amp you are using.

I have not dealt with Egnater except for speaking with their reps at The Amp Show. They were helpful and very enthusiastic about this new addition to their line. I sent an e-mail congratulating them on a great new product and Bruce Egnater responded personally. The warranty is 3 years on materials and workmanship and 90 days on the tubes.

I have owned (and still own) lots of gear, most notably a 1979 Silverface Twin Reverb, a Mesa Dual Rectifier Roadster Head, and a Splawn Quick Rod, (had a couple Marshall combos, a couple Peaveys and a Carvin over the years too). I wanted a small footprint amp that I could use both for rehearsals and stage use at small and medium club gigs. It had to have good tone at reasonable volumes and have a simple but useful feature set. The Egnater Rebel 30 fits the bill perfectly. I will no doubt be using this amp at all my gigs regardless of stage size, and am so grateful that I don't have to set up or try and "tame" a 100 watter anymore.

The bottom line is the amp sounds great and has a great "feel". You all know what I mean when you come across an amp with a great sensitivity to the pick and all the dynamics and harmonics, etc. In this area, the amp's a winner in my opinion. The only thing I wished it had was a clean/solo boost, but the Eganter rep said, given the size of the amp and everything they wanted to put in, they just couldn't do everything. Not a big issue as my pedal board has a clean boost built-in and you can add your own if need be.

If nothing else, if you are even mildly interested in this amp, do yourselves a favor and go try it. I think all the guys that bought the 20-watt Rebel head and cab, will want one of these too. The footprint is 18.5" wide by 12.5" deep. You just can't find an amp with better tone in a this small a package for the money.

I'm giving the amp a 9 just because there is always some other amp that does something a bit better in some area, but honestly, it's a great product with a highly successful pedigree and I highly recommend it.