Garnet Revolution

this amp gets low marks for features, but that is not what this amp is about. it's your basic 1x12" tube combo, 2x 6l6's 2x 12ax7's and 2x 12au7's. There is reverb and tremolo (speed and depth), volume (pull for bright), bass, and trebble. it's from about 1973 i believe. there are two inputs, and a footswitch jack. 45 watts.

sounds amazing. it has a really nice overdrive sound, and it gets pretty loud for a little 1x12". this is a blues or classic rock amp, not suited all that well for metal. i use an epiphone casino (archtop with humbuckers), and a fender tele (single coils), and both sound better than usual with this amp. it is very responsive, and just feels 'right' to play through. i can't explain, just feels natural, responsive, groovy. i would use it for recording for sure, because it breaks up a bit earlier than my larger 4x10" tube combo. I dont know if it would be loud enough for certain heavy handed drummers, but the drummer i play with now is not too brutal, and i can hear myself just fine over him in practice settings. i've never giged with it because i have a larger amp for that, but i'm sure it would do fine in that department too, as long as the band is not TOO loud, and you have a good sound man workin' for ya. the best way to describe the distortion is "classic." it's very 70's rawnchy rock n' roll. it's got balls for sure.

i haven't had it for too long, but hey, it's lasted over 30 years so far, so it can't be all bad. never broken down on me, and sounds super cool.

n/a

overall, i would like to give it a 10, but i can't. it is super nice, but i am sure i could find something better out there. for the price, this is one sweet amp. i really love comming home, and flipping it on to wail away on some ballsy rock n' roll.

Made in sixties or seventies, I am not sure, single channel amp with a 12" speaker, footswotchable reverb and tremolo, master volume, pull bright on normal volume and the master volume has a 2 stage sort of control, normally it is kinda quiet, but if you pull the knob out the volume level doubles... (probably a volume dampener or something) it has 2 inpouts, the 1st input sounds a little brighter than the second. uses 2 6l6 power tubes, 2 12ax7's and 2 au7's (probably for the trem and verb)
all hand wired, point to point all tube.. (ss rectifier) pretty well a killer little amp though, no too many features so it doesn't get a 10, but i've got a marshall DSL head that has channel switching... All in all pretty good, footwitchable Verb and trem, multiple speaker outs, selectable ohmage. a good 12" speaker, could be a LOT worse!

Mostly using this with my main guitar, a Washburn (I call it unknown, but I am told it is a falcon) has DiMarzio Super Distortion pickups in it, splitable. I play blues and hard rock, this amp doesn't really do the rock thing unless you crank it really loud, so I use it mainly for blues, I've only had it a day now, but it has really shined through! It has a nice round tone, but that's about it. The controls aren't too useful, they don't do too much. Can't really do the scooped mids thing or crank the bass and treble too high that they totally bottom or top out the sound. Not to say it isn't a great sounding little amp, cause it is, but it is kind of a one trick pony. It'll break up if you push it hard enough, but i usually keep it quiet (again, my marshall is what i use for high gain playing)

as for a comparison, it sounds a lot like an old fender... nice tone, but not too much you can do besides dirty it up (my opinion) I really like it and it complements my Traynor guitar mate (another amp from the sixties that i love) and is a nice alternative to my marshall. It drives a 4-12 niely too. I rate it high because of the quality of the tone, not because of the avaiable sounds

Can i rely on it???? I don't know!

It sounds great, weighs a ton and Garnet amps are known to be reliable, but with vintage gear you never know.

Garnet is gone... I hear the owner is still in operation in Winipeg, but I can't be sending my amp halfway across the country!

Funny story, last night i was sitting around the house and my girlfriend's brother says "Hey Dave, the next door neighbor just tossed out some speaker cabinet thingee, maybe you could use it for your guitar, or we could make a radio or something for the garage!" I looked out at it, (back side) and thought, "I'll look at it after dark so I don't look like some idiot!" later I looked and it has changed position... I think "SOMEONE ELSE HAS LOKED AT IT!!!! I ETTER LOOK TOO!" I go out and grab it, see it's a garnet, and think it probably doesn't work (my neighbor is a guiarist too) I bring it downstairs plug it in and it works okay, fix a bad ground, replace a few tubes and clean the dirt out of it,a nd it sounds GREAT! funny thing is I was going to go look at a used garnet head this week anyways!


Don't know why the neighbor tossed it, but a little work and it is a shining example of canadian Amplification! Sounds great!

My rating is partially based on the bang for the (no) buck!

I picked this up at a pawn shop. The dude there said it was the type of amp used by Bachman Turner Overdrive, maybe he had a over active imagination but why lie about something like this? It's canadian made as far as I can tell, it's all tube. One channel with spring reverb, vibrato, low, mid and high controls, master volume. Completely basic. I wanted something that would sound good without ANY effects and it does a great imitation of a Fender Princeton reverb, not ear splitting and just enough grit when maxed out. No high gain out of this amp, just nice, clean and bluesy.

I play a Les Paul Studio Lite and a 63 Melody Maker with duncans thru it. Mostly roots rock and blues for styles, the amp suits them fine. The distortion is just mildly overdriven and very Fenderish and with reverb and vibrato engaged, real trippy, swampy sounding. nice. It has one 12 inch speaker which sounds flatulent when the bass is maxed, I don't know if it's a blown speaker or bad tubes or what. It's also super bright sounding, there is a pull bright (like a princeton) which I NEVER engage because I must keep the treble below 4 or it's icepick- in-your-ear time. These factors aside, I dig what it does; 50's, 60's 70's, 80's and retro 90's tones for CHEAP!

Have not pushed it that hard for any duration of time, I'd trust it, but it would need to be serviced to spec first.

This is a 70's era amp, build by a Canadian company who most american or others know NOTHING about, I wish I knew more about them.

I like this amp because it sounds good with no effects in the front end. Just guitar and amp, I have a RP7 floor unit which can do everthing else, and played through the amp, sounds pretty good. I especially like the fact that across the street in a music shop the dude was selling some blackface Princeton for $500 with no reverb or vibrato...freaking ripoff. I get a super close sound to this amp for a fraction of the price. Screw the vintage market, go for off brand funky equipment and get your own uniqueness. If anybody can offer me any info about this brand amp, I'd like to know more...even BTO members themselves :^)