At Kedron's Ellaways Music, GEARED runs a couple Gibsons – a goldtop Les Paul and an SG – into the compact EGNATER TWEAKER and REBEL 30 amps and riffs away.

Fast building a rep as lightweight, feature-loaded alternatives to the clunky old-school 50 and 100W heads, the “lunchbox amp” ranks keep growing. From the revolutionary, pint-sized Zvex Nano to the Orange Tiny Terror, Vox Night Train, Mesa/Boogie Transatlantic and the more boutique Suhr Badger 30 (the last two of which we've analysed in the previous issues of Geared), the nifty, EL84-loaded kickers are a godsend for players and roadies alike. With lots of pros – compact, ideal for transportation, generally killer-sounding and great value for money – and very few cons, they're the reason present-day guitarists are increasingly busy getting rid of their trusty old stacks.

All of which brings yours truly to Ellaways Music in Kedron to have a closer look at the Egnater Tweaker and Rebel 30 heads. During my previous visit to the shop, I played a shiny goldtop Les Paul through the amazing M/B Transatlantic (which has since sold out) and – briefly – the Tweaker, whereas this occasion saw me borrow a much-lighter Gibson SG for a more in-depth assessment. But first of all, here's an introduction to our subject.

With over 30 years' experience in building and modifying amps, the Detroit-born Bruce Egnater is a certified guru – and if you don't trust me on this one, fearsome shredders like George Lynch, Ty Tabor and Kirk Hammett will tell you the same thing. Initially inspired by the Motor City's burgeoning rock scene (which counted such icons as MC5, The Stooges, Alice Cooper and Ted Nugent), he sought out to create a tone that would match the one produced by his favourite guitarists – who all cranked up their bitterly-complaining Marshalls to get a menacing overdrive. Both master volume control and high-gain tube amps were still in the distance when Bruce had a “eureka!” moment by jamming the output of his small Gibson amp into the input of a 200W Marshall Major head. The devilish roar he obtained was a precursor to a concert-volume amp distortion – which is these days as common as you can get. The exciting news spread fast through the city and Bruce soon found himself doing the setups of multiple local players and eventually working on his first two-channel amp – which resonated across America and turned him into an in-demand whiz. Since then, he has collaborated with such industry heavyweights as Rocktron and Randall, designed a whole array of amps and preamps and launched Egnater Amplification as well as continuing to run his legendary Amp Lounge shop in Detroit and facilitating amp-building seminars. In a word – legend.

Alright... guitar lead in, power on, standby off, Master up. In a nutshell, the Tweaker is essentially a budget version of the Transatlantic with a couple extra features – but don't let the competitive pricing fool you as tone quality sets it apart from the El Cheapo category. I have to admit to initially feeling a bit sceptical when I ran the goldtop into the amp immediately after being blown away by the more expensive Transatlantic's mojo, but two weeks later, I changed my mind upon unleashing my (mostly non-existent) inner Angus Young with a sleek red Gibson SG through a humble-looking Egnater specimen.

An all-tube 15W hybrid amp, the Tweaker's name speaks for itself as evidenced by the number of switches on the front panel: Vintage/Modern, USA/Brit, Hot/Clean, Bright/Normal and Tight/Deep. Versatility much? You bet. Indeed, the array of sonic options provided by the Tweaker is nothing short of astonishing. This is what I concluded after much switch-flicking and SG-bashing: the Vintage mode gives you a warmer, “classic” sound while the Modern sends the tubes into red, packing the full-bore thrust common for hi-gain amps; the USA and Brit contain the accordingly-coloured “brown” and dirty voicings; Tight and Deep modes respectively compress and thicken the sound.

From jangly cleans and smooth, creamy overdrive to richly saturated rhythm and lead tones, the Tweaker does it all at a very affordable price. The amp's controls may be basic – Master, Treble, Middle, Bass and Gain – but the compact screamer itself is anything but and the trademark Egnater distorted tone is well worth savouring along with all its eminently usable variations and Marshall/Randall/Vox shadings.

Following some more solitary rifforama/ramalama (dammit, I should have learned to play Rocket Reducer by MC5!) on the SG, I unplugged the Tweaker and activated a slightly different bread loaf-sized beast – the Rebel 30. Aside from being a more powerful, two-channel variant of the award-winning Rebel 20, the 30 features a digital reverb, per-channel watts control and a speaker-simulated output for recording while sharing a similar solid-state effects loop. Built with the studio player in mind, the amp is unusual in that it has a Silent Record option and an XLR output – allowing for recording in the bedroom environment without fear of waking up your neighbours (not quite rebellious, but still practical, if you ask me). 

When it came to examining the amp's channels, there was much fun to be had. Channel 1 houses lush cleans with Volume, Treble and Bass controls while Channel 2 took care of the touch-responsive overdrive with Treble, Middle and Bass EQ. The Gain knob did what Egnater amps do best – change the distorted tone from a low growl to a full-throated scream (cue some juicy pentatonic licks). Both channels utilise Bright and Tight switches and own Watts knob, which allows the player to attain both sparkling cleans and low-watt crunch or any of preferred tonal combinations. The 30's piece de resistance, however, is the valve-blending 6V6/EL84 Tube Mix knob, making it a true hybrid Brit/US amp.

The amp's back panel contains individual Reverb controls for each channel, a series effects loop and the speaker-emulated line out, which lets the guitarist go directly to the mixing desk either live or in the studio. The package is completed by dual-function channel/reverb footswitch.

Half an hour later, I was comprehensively Egnated. Aside from carrying a feeling of satisfaction commonly associated with getting a gear fix, I left the shop not empty-handed. That's right, I took home not one, but FOUR groovy delay stompboxes to play with. Fellow gear nuts – stay tuned for an epic two-part delay pedal feature in the coming weeks and keep rockin'!

RRP $895 (Tweaker), $1,695 (Rebel 30). Check out www.ellaways.com.au and www.egnater.com for more information.

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