In Defense of the Renegade Design-Amp

C

celius

New member
First time poster and just wanted to post this with regard to the Renegade amp. I played in bands in the 80's as a younger man and had access to/played Fender Twins-Marshall Plexis-50W Randall (my main for several years) and we all used pedals (and racks) for variety across the board in those rock and roll days. Pawned off all my stuff around 1989, got married in the 90's, raised my kids, and started playing again after buying a few strats in 2006. Joined a local cover-blues band around 2009 (using another players amp) and needed to purchase an amp, with a reasonable price-tag (I was in the $ 1,000.00 price range). After reading great reviews-videos on the features of the Renegade in 2011 (as well as the background on Mr. Egnater) and playing several at GC, I took the plunge and got my Renegade in May 2012; for the price it had more features than the comparable Fenders (Hot Rod Deluxe, etc) and not as expensive as the better Marshall tube heads. I will say that my transformer did fail in early 2013, but I had a good experience with Egnater (no problem with the RA once I faxed in the receipts) and had the amp fixed at a really good authorized location (I drove the amp there myself about 200 miles rather than pay shipping, etc).....They also upgraded the pre-amp tubes with higher gain ones and I am very happy with the experience.

The amp has sounded great for me the last 17 months with rehearsals and gigs (and compliments from other players), with no problems, and the two channels work wonderfully with the Fendery cleans and Marshally dirty for a variety of songs; I have no idea if a I got an updated tranny (or a bum one initially) but for the price that I paid for the amp, the features and overall construction, and the design of the amp (modelled in each channel after some of the modular stuff that Egnater has done in the past), I am very happy with the amp.

Being a realist, I see the move that GC did getting Egnater to design the amp, and building it in China to cut on costs, but I am not a "name snob" when it comes to my equipment and will use whatever works and sounds good to my ears. I am sorry that they have had so many issues with complaints, but I am not complaining and thanking Mr. Egnater on this forum for designing a great amp that sounds awesome for a very reasonable price for working musicians. I wish you the best of luck with your future endeavors and keep the great sounding gear coming regardless of place of manufacture.
 
Im glad you like it. It was the amp I wanted Bruce to build me 20 years ago after he came out with his TOL 100. I wanted a baseman and a hotrod marshall with a good digital reverb. We worked on the tube mix because I liked the ability to make the clean have the bounce of 6l6 and the dirty have the grit of 34's or mix it! Its my baby and I love mine. I did upgrade the trannies to MM and swapped out some parts and tubes. Every time I play it, it makes me not want to buy another amp. If you can buy one fairly cheap and put new iron and some different parts and tubes in it, you really can't miss!
 
I loved my Renegade so much I ended up buying a Rebel 20 and a Tweaker 15. I haven't had any problems with either amps and If I did, I'd opt for the MM upgrade kit and play on. Kudos to Jeff and Bruce for making a killer amp!

Jeff, care to share that ugraded parts list. ;-)
 
I used the renegade from 2009 until this spring. Loved the features and the tones. I had a 112 combo and a head with 212 cabinet. I ended up trading these due reliability issues. I was lucky, mine quit at home and not at a gig. I am hopeful that when the new TOL 60 comes out that these bugs will be gone for good. I would love to have one that I could rely on. :)
 
I love my Renegade but i would be very interested in the upgraded parts list too.
I changed the el34's to tung sol 6550's and the 5881's to tung sol 6l6.
Hear very good reports about the mm transformers.
Do they make much of a difference?
 
I had Renegades- the combo and head/cab- for a long time. Very nice flexible powerful amp. Needed a change recently so got rid of it, but would recommend it to others. Curious about the Detroit series these days.
 
When my Renegade 112 blew it's power transformer I had a mercury magnetics PT and OT installed. It did sound good...maybe some better, but I was expecting ALOT better. Be prepared to like the tone but you won't be overwhelmed. Just my opinion and your results could be different. Factor in my ears are damaged from playing in a loud band for too long! :D
 
Sooo...what did the MM upgrade tranny run you? My renegade has been a giant paperweight for most of the last 16 months or so, as it's down more often than not.
 
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