Garnet Enforcer II 112 Combo

Garnet manufactured guitar amplifiers in Winnipeg, Canada from the mid-1960s thru the 1980s. They were made famous in the `60's/`70's by the Guess Who, and are responsible for supplying Randy Bachmann with the original "American Woman" tone. Their specialty were their hand-wired all-tube combos and heads, of which my Enforcer II is a fine example. My amp was made somewhere between 1979 and 1982.<P>

This is a very basic amplifier. It is a (footswitchable) split channel combo with a cascading gain circuit (like the Mesa Boogie Mark I)... 3 ? 12AX7 in the pre-amp, 2 ? 12AT7 driving the reverb, solid-state rectifier, and 2 ? EL34 in the power stage to produce 85-watts RMS (switchable to 40-watts). The power amp design is similar to the old MusicMan amps, which employed super-high plate-voltages to make 2 output valves put out anywhere from 65-100 watts RMS. Like the MusicMan amps, the Enforcer was originally designed to use the more durable big-bottle 6CA7 (Sylvania) valves in the power-amp. Unfortunately, these tubes are no longer in production. Also there is NO standby switch. As a result, it is recommended that you use very high quality output valves (Svetlana, Electro-Harmonix, etc...). The power is projected via an 8-ohm Peavey Scorpion 12" loudspeaker. This is apparently a great speaker (when it's not hooked up to a Peavey amp). I read that they were modelled after the Electro-Voice EV-M series.<P>

The sound is controlled by 2 Volume controls. Volume #1 drives the lead channel, which is ultimately limited by a master volume. Volume #2 drives the clean channel (no master volume), but seems to work in series with Volume #1 in the lead channel. This makes it tricky to match clean/crunch levels at low volume. There is a single tone-circuit with Bass, Treble, Mid and Presence control. The footswitchable reverb has a control also. There is no effects loop, but there is a "Slave Out" jack for connecting to an external power amp. You are also able to disconnect the speaker for use with an external cabinet (no impedance switching though).<P>

The cabinet dimensions are very compact for a 1?12"... similar to the Boogie Mark I. The original cosmetics borrow from the late-`70's/early-`80's Peavey look with the vertical aluminum borders on the sides of the grill-cloth.... ugly. I have since masked the borders with aircraft-grade striping tape, so the amp looks alot better now.<P>

I play through a J.K Lado 640L (another Canadian company... HSH, set mahogany neck, alder/burled-maple body) which sounds like either an SG, or a Tele (depending on the pick-up settings). My style of music is guitar-fueled rock/pop. I keep the amp switched down to 40-watts. Because of the weird volume setup and the single tone-circuit, I can't switch between a good clean and distortion sound on stage, so I A/B it with another amp for clean sounds (using the Enforcer for overdrive only). On either channel or power-setting, this amp knows only one volume... that is LOUD, but at the full-power, flat-out volume setting, it doesn't really sound like 85-watts (unless I'm going deaf). Perhaps I should try a 4?12" cab.<P>

Otherwise, this baby is a tone dog!! The clean sounds are warm and broad. Excellent for country and/or jazz. The overdrive has that focussed british crunch.... great for AC/DC, the Guess Who (of course), Pearl Jam (last 3 albums), Pete Townsend... even some early-Santana.<P>

Korn/Bizkit/Metallica nu-metal players need not apply here. It is impossible to get that mushy, scooped, hi-gain, Soldano/Mesa Rectifier sounds. I use a Boss SD-1 with the level at full and drive at 9-o'clock for lead work. With the SD-1 engaged, I can get some heavier overdrive that resembles more mid-`90's grunge than any metal. Even with the added gain, it maintains clarity.<P>

At idle, there is very little hum or hiss... even with single-coils.<P>

This is an excellent amp for recording. I will be using it on my upcoming CD (scheduled for release in late-2001). For more info, visit <B>http://www.geocities.com/nealpinto</B>.<P>

This amp is hand-wired, point-to-point... not even a tag-board (if I remember correctly). The chassis and cabinet are rock solid. The Peavey speaker is indestructible... but I've only had the amp for 3 months. According to other Garnet owners, the amp should last me decades of gigging of recording. My only concern was the lack of a standby switch. I was assured by Gar Gilles (the founder of Garnet and the man who BUILT the amp), that the difference in tube life was negligible and that the power supply had some delay built-in (he told me... but I didn't understand). Either way, the new Sovtek EL34WXT (which I hear are pretty-solid valves) are about $16.00CDN ($10.00US) a piece here in Canada.

As I had mentioned, Gar Gilles (the founder of Garnet Amps) lives in my hometown of Winnipeg, Canada. He's 81 years-old and still builds custom-order amps with the same level of quality. He's very easy to contact and he's a genuinely nice person. As other Garnet owners have said, it's like having Jim Marshall, Leo Fender or Randall Smith (Mesa) personally work on your amp. It just doesn't get any better than that.<P>

Because the amp is true point-to-point wiring, any competent amp-tech can work on it. Better to deal with replacing one component, than worrying about a warped circuit-board.

I'm 25 years-old and I've been playing for over 11 years. Until recently, my main stage-instrument was bass guitar. This is my first all-valve guitar amp. Prior to the Enforcer, I had a pre-TransTube Peavey Bandit (which I still use for its great clean sound... the overdrive sucks though).<P>

In 40-watt combo range, I tried the Marshall JCM2000 combos, Mesa Boogie Nomad, Peavey Classic/DeltaBlues and the new Traynor YCV-40 (a great new amp). I also used a Hiwatt Custom 50 (for recording) which sounded awesome, but was too big to shoehorn into my 2-seater. I simply couldn't refuse the Enforcer for its combination of big-tone and portability.<P>

If the amp was destroyed, lost or stolen, I'd simply have Gar custom build me a new one... this time with independent channels and tone circuits, a controllable effects loop, a standby switch, and 2?12" speakers.<P>

early 70's dual wattage (40&85)all tube point to point wired guitar with single 12 made in Winnipeg, Canada. Unbelievable tone, projection and power. Can compete with any amp in the world. Small (but heavy)with dual channel (mixable) and standard settings. Used it for hundreds of gigs.

I use a Strat and Tele with this for mostly classic rock. Clean to Grunge in a second. No Noise, largely tone-driven with good variance in sounds. Warm and sweet.

hundreds of gigs and no real problems

irreplaceable and precious - i own a set of garnet pa mains that are also wonderful!