Egnater TOL 100 212 Combo

I think I purchased it in 1995. It is the most versatile all tube amp I have ever seen. The four individual channel setup is perfect. I use a intellifex digital effects unit that not only changes effects along with amp channel, but the input / output on the effects unit acts as a master volume attenuator.

I use several guitars with it including a PRS Custom 24, Custom Shop Set-neck Strat, and a Les Paul Classic. Each sound great, yet the amp does not dilute the natural tone of the instruments. I play progressive to classic rock and fusion. This amp could suit any style. It is very clean, although I use the noise gate in the intellifex for channel 3 & 4 presets. It sound great at any volume and unlike many other amps, there is no need to tweak all the tone pots once it is turned up. The distortion is all you could want, but never harsh. The Density control is perfect for "loudness" low end compensation, but also helps to equalize different instruments (off for Les Pauls, some for Strats)

I had only one glitch in over ten years and Bruce fixed it immediately (bad capacitor or something). I consider it very reliable and have never taken a back up amp to a gig. In fact, I also own a Natec (Bruce Egnater, pre-Egnater Amplification)head that is 25+ years old that still cranks.

Bruce has always been great on support. I would only have Bruce work on the amp. Fortunately, I live in Michigan to avoid shipping. I think the warranty on this amp is lifetime for the original purchaser.

I have been playing over 30 years. Other than my Egnater & Natec, I have an old 60 watt Acoustic Amp (half solid state / half tube)which is light, but sounds dead by comparison. I love everything about the TOL combo except for the the weight which is pretty standard among 2X12 combos. If I were to get a new amp, it would probably be the new Egnater 50 amp1X12 and the modules. It appears to have even more features in a smaller, lighter package (power settings, individual tone controls). I have played through some other high end amps that also sound great, but none have the variety of the Egnater product.

For a boutique styled all tube amp, Bruce went way beyond what he had to do to get a great amp. Features: MY favorite feature other than the incredible tone is the channel switching of the 4 channels. Using a Randall RM-4 midi footswitch, this thing has no delay in switching, instantaniously. The effects loop,(I'm old school, don't use at present) is pretty versitile dependingon what type effect your using, having both series and parallel. I do wish it had an eq for each channel, but, this is not a negative, just preference. I have used all kinds of amps in live performances and studio, this amp is the most versitle amp on the planet, too bad it isn't made anymore. I believe, not sure this amp was produced in 1999. Unlike some guys who have rated this amp, mine has the Celestion vintage 30's in it, and sound great. Tone controls out the waaazoo, Density,Master presence, 2 bright settings(ch.1 & 2) Master volume, reverb,effects loop blend.

I got this amp and my buddy, a seasoned musician, heard channel 1 and said," that is the cleanest clean sound I have ever heard", I concur. You can crank ch.1's gain and it just gets "beefy", but will not distort, even with a compressor maxed out. I play anything from chickin country to heavy metal, this amp can handle it. With my tele, this thing produces the best tele/country sound I have heard, over Badcats,Matchless and even Dr.Z's. Ch.2 has a more middy deluxe sound to me, and again, gives a monster tele sound, but, crank the gain, and you have SRV'S sound with a strat effortlessly, and don't even talk about using an overdrive, with it...incredible. Ch.3 is a unmodded marshall plexi sound, very responsive, not really distorted to the max, but, overdriven non the less, like the discription says, VAN HALEN 1. Ch.4, Modded Marshall, not a rectifier,( with the help of a metal zone or distortion, it is over the top ). Ch.4 has a modded Marshall 800 sound, just good overdriven tube distortion, again, not over the top just enough, add an overdrive set at low to mid settings, and feedback over tone city and all you will need. The vintage 30's have a smooth dark sound. I tried an BBE Sonic Maximizer for fun and HOLY COW, this amp's great tone becomes untouchable. Crank on the treble and presence and this amp morphs from smooth the edgy, can't say enough about the tonal versitility. Again, I have had Black face fenders,Vox,Peavy's and played on stage with some other boutiques, my opinion,it can't be touched.

I haven't had it really that long, bought it used though. At present, haven't had any problems what so ever.

I did have some concerns about midi switching and just general questions. I met Bruce at the 07 NAMM, great guy, and he answered all my emails and ask me to call him to discuss in depth the answers to my questions. Remember folks, this amp was made in 1999, and Bruce Egnater still stands behind it with support, nuff said.

I have had this amp a couple of months, practiced with it alone and with a full band and put it through its paces. I have line 6 flextone , fender(old stuff) bandmaster,crates, peavey's, they all pale in comparison. If it were stolen, I "would" find another and hawk ebay till one surfaced. As I said before, I have compared it to other boutique amps, feature wise, non can touch this amp, let alone versitilty and tone. I heard about Egnater's from seeing Brent Mason one night talking about equipment back in 1999, I checked them out several years ago and then found this one. I found it in a pawn shop that didn't have a clue, it has one,one very small nick in the tolex. I took it home, cleaned it, looks practically new and then fired it up, you know the rest. Like I said, if you want to be really picky, an eq for each channel and to be real real picky, made channel 4 a tick more gainy, just for the nu metal guys, but, nothing a simple overdrive or even compressor can't handle, no biggy. I will tell you this, if its country,blues or metal, if you see one, try it out, then buy it before someone who knows does. If your reading this, heck you know what I am saying already is true, if Brent Mason and Steve Vai liked them, well what does that say? I don't work for nor sell Egnater amps, just a user and now a fan, and I am very hard to impress seeing I have played guitar for 30 years. Find a TOL or try his new stuff, Bruce Egnater's amps are tonal superiority

Before you read anything, this amp is from the Rocktron era. GO!

You've seen the features in the other ones. They're all great. My only want is 4 independent EQ's instead of the two but that's just being picky. It's hard not to make this sound good. I really do love how you can change the channels to go where you want them too. example: I can make channel 2 become channel three on my footswitch and visa versa in any order I can think of. This comes in handy because I like my channels to go from cleanest to heaviest (doesn't everyone though). I believe this feature is standard but I may have a different footswitch than what originally came with it. It sure seems like the original because it says egnater on it.

This amp sounds great. Like I said before it's HARD to make it sound bad. I do have the version that came with two blank Eminence speakers. The only reason why I know they're Eminence is that Bruce told me. They're way to dark and from what I'm hearing to heavy (weight not sound). I'm actually curious if someone knows exactly which speakers these are. Bruce doesn't know because Rocktron was in charge of contracting the speakers through Eminence. But when I contacted Rocktron, they don't know either. hmmm So if any one knows please feel free to email me at David@endeavormusic.com

I am in no way disheartened though. I have played this amp with two different extension cabinets. WOW The first was an 8ohm 2X12 with legend v12's. The second was an 8ohm 2X12 with v30's. I can't decide which one I like better. I think I'll get one of each. Or maybe I'll buy a 2X12 and put one of each in it and then replace one of the dark eminence speakers already in it with a greenback or maybe just a g12h. I'll let you know what I do an how it all sounds later. I'm giving this a 10 based on the sound with the two extension cabs only. I am really not a fan of the speakers currently in it. Based on the eminence speakers currently in it, it would get an 8.

Dunno. We'll see.

AMAZING. I'm emailed Bruce twice and have received a response within 24 hours both times. I called Rocktron once and got right through. They didn't have the answer I was looking for but I didn't have to wait through a computer operated phone system.

I won't lie about my playing skills. I'm average. I won't blow anyone away but I am the biggest gear junky I know.

I am a drummer. That is my instrument. I am a guitarist because I try to write songs. But please don???t look down on me because I???ve only been playing guitar for 7 years and it's not my first instrument. I know what I???m talking about based on the bazillion guitar rigs I???ve played through and the audio engineering schooling I???m taken and just being around music 24/7.

Sidenote, the Eminence V12???s in an avatar cab are possibly my favorite speakers ever. This is because they recorded amazingly in the studio with a multitude of amps and they're pretty darn cheap too. The cab miced up much better than the other 4 guitar cabs which we tried using including a mesa 2X12, a peavery 5150 cab and 2 different marshall cabs with v30's in one and g12's in the other.

So my gear: I have a 69' gibson black beauty (My dad gave it to me), an ibanez crap with okay humbuckers and an Epiphone Standard Les Paul. They all sound very good through this amp. I don't know if that is the amp sounding GOOD or if my guitars don't suck as much as I think they do. My Gibson has never and I repeat never sounded bad through any amp I've played. Keep in mind I would never attempt to play this guitar through a piece a crap such as a crate or line 6 ugh. Spyder = worst amp ever! On the other hand my other two guitars have sounded bad though a few different amps. I'm finding that the Egnater really capitalizes on making each of these guitars sound different (and this is a good thing). When I play through other amps they all sort of sound the same. Needless to say this amp owns.

By the way if anyone is looking for a JCM 900 I have two that I'm selling. The 50 watt is a one channel with a completely separate boost channel and the 100 watt has two completely different channels. They both have a ton of life left on the tubes (both Groove Tubes). Feel free to email me with any inquiries at David@endeavormuslc.com

One more thing. I took off the logo on the front which says Egnater rocktron and it looks 10 times better. woot

Awesome! Nothing has touched it and it's getting pretty old but not yet vintage.

I found the PERFECT combination to make these amps even more desirable than in its original state. Put in the new Celestion Celestion Vintage speakers in this and you can cut the weight in almost HALF!!!! Personally, I also think it's better sounding... check out HC review on these speakers. Some say that it's even sweeter sounding than the industry standard, Vintage 30s.

Try it and you'll love the amp more... at least your back will!!

Whew.... smoking, smoldering, snappy, and many other sounds all from one amp.

No need for a backup. It's built like a tank despite it has some slick MIDI connection.

Heard that the original designer is now with Randall. Don't need to contact him yet.

I'm telling you, nothing beats an Egnater that's half of its original weight. That's the problem with most 2x12 combos.

But not anymore!!! Celestion, thank you for saving me poor back!

Not exactly sure about the year but it's from the mid to late 1990s. Long before Rocktron era.

Amazing in its versatility - 4 channels, MIDI controllable, wonderful reverb, Density control that fattens up the combo to sound like a close back on Channel 3 & 4, effects loop.... yeah and it's all 100% TUBE. No fake digital modeling.

Sorry to sound repetitive but simply amazing tones and flexibility.

Channel 1 - Fender Twin, Vox AC30

Channel 2 - Fender Super Reverb, Vox AC15 cranked

Channel 3 - Plexi, JCM800/900, Budda, etc

Channel 4 - very Soldano like butter

Like I said, it's been around for about a decade. I've had it for the last 7 years and gig with it heavily without too much care. Very well made and durable.

I know everyone has their favorite boutique experience but Bruce Egnater has to be up there on the list. I can still contact him by phone or email. When he's not too busy, he has done various mods.

All around great guy.

Like many, I've tried many different amps - both that I've owned and tried for hours at various stores.

For the versatility, reliability, tones and compactness, there is no other amp like it. How many tube amps do you know that you can control via MIDI and go head2head with classic tube amps both vintage and modern? NONE.

I just wished Bruce stayed with it and didn't go with Rocktron... bad idea. The stuff with Randall is marginally better since he's differentiated his product from his original products.

This amp was made for me by bruce egnater back in 1998 before the rocktron era. It is a four channel, 100 watt 2x12 combo with celestion vintage 30's. Channels one and two share a four knob eq and a three position bright switch, with separate gain and master for each channel. Channels three and four are similarly configured except for a three position switch that chooses modern 1, modern 2, and vintage voicings. There are two tiny buttons, one that selects channels and one that is used to store midi commands. There are four more knobs used to control all four channels- a master volume, a density control, and two reverb knobs. It has had enough features to keep me experimenting for six years. The bright switch is very subtle in its differences, while the lead voicing switch turn this into three different amps. I've played this amp at large outdoor festival and small rooms and power is never a problem. Just for fun, my friend, who owns an original black face twin, and myself decided to see who's amp was louder. He boosted his signal with a tubescreamer and a zvex octane, and I just put the egnater on channel four. We laughed out loud as the egnater completely eclipsed the remarkably loud twin. I don't think I need to ever hear something like that again!

I play through a hand made, semi-hollow electric baritone mandolin built by Ron Oates in Boulder Colorado. It has two pickups which can be selected to be single coil or humbucker with a push-pull knob. Through channel one and a neck position humbucker I get the most elegant, warm jazz tones I have ever heard. A blend of neck and bridge single coil gives fantastic country twang tones. I know Brent Mason has used this amp and I can see why. Next the pre-CBS black face twin, the clean tones are quite a bit darker. No matter whatn I do, I cannot get the egnater nearly as bright. My friend plugged his telecaster into my amp and liked the clean tones better than his holy grail twin. I can't think of a better clean tone compliment.
I hear people call channel two the Stevie Ray channel. I guess there's validity to that, but I set this channel to be my clean sound. Break-up will occur when I really dig in, but a lighter touch yields a beautiful, spongy warmth. The Keeley compressor I use really brings out the best of the clean channels. Channel three is plexi reborn. It reminds me Mick ronson's sound on ziggy stardust or hendrix if you play a strat. Very chunky, with a very pleasing growl. Channel four is worth the price of admission on its own. Single notes are three dimensional and complex, yet completely clear and articulated. Its a lot like VH's "eruption". It amazing how you can still hear the qualities the instrument at high gain settings- It doesn't color your instrument's sound the way most amps do. If you're into metal, this probably not the amp for you. It is not a "saturated" type of gain like a vht for instance. It is more refined. It makes high gain sound pretty.

I have toured for several years with this amp without a case. The tolex is shredded, and it even had a guiness spilled all over it. It has never broken down though. I simply had a good tech replace the tubes and clean it out and it is good to go. A friend of mine also has a pre rockron TOL, and his was switching channels randomly. He serviced it and the problem stopped. The channel switching button on mine got knicked and would stay depressed when I pushed it in. I fixed it myself and it works fine now. I've tried to use different midi foot switches to change channels, and the amp doesn't respond to some of them. If the amp had an achilles heel, it would be the midi functions. But, I don't really care about midi so long as the amp doesn't change channels by itself.

I've emailed Bruce Egnater with questions and he responded promptly. Never really needed anything from the company since a great tech in Denver (fat willy) is quite familiar with the amp and can seemingly fix anything.

I've tried matchless, bogner, boogies,cornford, tone-king, marshall, fender, dr.Z, and many other high end amps. The best out there tend to be one-trick ponies. The egnater does a lot of things superbly. I don't really like to even try other expensive amps anymore for they inevitably end up disappointing me. I'll never sell this amp and if it were stolen, I would probably just play my acoustic mandolin and forget about electric music. I consider it irreplacible. They don't make them anymore, so consider myself very lucky to own a piece of amp-making history. What can I say? It's true love!

All Tube, 4 Channels, Midi, 100 watts, 2x12 combo. Same as the head in a combo setup. Head listed for 1799.00. Not sure what the combo price was. One of the last 5 amps built by Bruce when he entered into Rocktron. Belive I paid under a grand for it direct from them. Solid, Solid amp, comes with casters. Play everything from RATT to Garth.

Use everything from a 77 Les Paul to a Tele to an Ibanez Destroyer. THE MOST versatile amp I own, and I own around 15 or so. This amp is the ONLY one I have ever heard that seems to incorporate its tubes into your style. What I mean by that is when you play any of the channels, you feel and hear the tubes. So you play to them and the sound that comes out is a mixture of your guitar and the amp!..Unbelievable! The cleanest tube sound to Hard Rock, this amp is the perfect device for a Top Forty type guitarist. I hook it up to a Mesa 4x12 bottom and it just cranks!! Has the toridal (? spelling)transformers as in the Plexi Marshalls, heavy amp. You just have to either find one or play one, it is hard to descibe the sound. I played thru my buddys Matchless Chieftain and he agreed that this is one hell of an amp, said he could definitely go for one. They are no longer made, (either of them) so get one if you can!!

Built like a freankin TANK!! Never a problem. Plug in, turn it on, and make your own hit record!!

I have emailed Bruce a few times asking his opinions on things about this amp and he ALWAYS emailed right back! I will not give out his personal email though. Never had any kind of problem with it, powers on and is ready to go.

Playing 20 years, Have around 25 guitars, 15 amps CURRENTLY! Have owned almost every single amp that is supposed to be THE amp, from 5150s, Mesa Triaxis, Peavys, Carvins, Sunn, Ampeg, Fenders, Silver Jubilees, 2 Plexis, Tremoverb, and I have a 3 thousand dollar rack mount setup. Guitars, 5 USA Kramers (love em) #4 Jackson Soloist ever made, Gibson ES-347TD (Man those pickups are HOT), Deans from the 80s, Strats, Schecter Jimi model with EMGs from the factory, Guild neck thru with EMGs from factory, Carvins, Mid 80s Ibanez Explorer neck thru abalone, binding cherryburst(My favorite!!),factory rep guitar from Chandler, David Scott of the band Tuff Luck(Pink Tele.look him up!!) A HUGE closet full of original stomp boxes, Original MXR stuff such as Phase 100, Dist+, an original Big Muff given to me from my father in 1973 or 74, anothe Big Muff from 80 or before, cry babys, Electro harmonix boosters, Boss stuff, the list goes on an on. Lost or stolen?..where can I find another?..