My thoughts after playing the Egnater Renegade

[Variable]

I got a chance to muck about with one last weekend for a decent amount of time, and here are my thoughts... I tried it out with a Les Paul Standard.

The amp will do a lot of different tones, there is no doubt about that. I thought the EL34->6L6 knob would be cooler than it actually was, which is likely because I just do not like 6L6s all that much. I wish I could be more specific about the tones, but I honestly was pretty disappointed with the whole amp (which is the polar opposite of how I felt about the Rebel 20). It doesn't sound bad, but it really felt "generic" to me. Like it was lacking positive defining characteristics, you know?

The clean was good in a utilitarian way, but didn't jump out at me like, say, an AC30 with P90s does. I didn't care for the bright switch as it made the clean too brittle. Digital reverb was nice.

The drive channel reminded me more of a hot-rodded Rebel 20 tone than the drive on the Tourmaster (which I think is a fantastic amp for the money), but it was really lacking in the "kick you in the nuts" category. Granted, I didn't have the chance to crank it since there was no real amp room in the GC where I demoed it, but I did have it fairly loud to drown out the shitty stock GC music Didn't notice a huge difference between the wattage settings for this channel, just less volume. It can get loose or tight depending on the toggle switches. Enough gain for metal, though I found it somewhat fizzy at higher settings.

Overall I felt like it had an overly processed quality. There are a ton of options, but no spectacular tones that immediately jumped out at me despite all my fiddling. Unlike the Bogner Alchemist (which I think is a good comparison considering they're both trying to do the "budget boutique" thing), there really isn't any one awesome tone that defines the Renegade. I left the amp scratching my head and thinking "Meh..."

If it sounds like I had high expectations for this amp, it's because I did. After the Tourmaster, Rebel 20 and Mod series, they've really been on a roll. I just feel like this amp was a dud

 

[celestion101]

I got a chance to muck about with one last weekend for a decent amount of time, and here are my thoughts... I tried it out with a Les Paul Standard.

The amp will do a lot of different tones, there is no doubt about that. I thought the EL34->6L6 knob would be cooler than it actually was, which is likely because I just do not like 6L6s all that much. I wish I could be more specific about the tones, but I honestly was pretty disappointed with the whole amp (which is the polar opposite of how I felt about the Rebel 20). It doesn't sound bad, but it really felt "generic" to me. Like it was lacking positive defining characteristics, you know?

The clean was good in a utilitarian way, but didn't jump out at me like, say, an AC30 with P90s does. I didn't care for the bright switch as it made the clean too brittle. Digital reverb was nice.

The drive channel reminded me more of a hot-rodded Rebel 20 tone than the drive on the Tourmaster (which I think is a fantastic amp for the money), but it was really lacking in the "kick you in the nuts" category. Granted, I didn't have the chance to crank it since there was no real amp room in the GC where I demoed it, but I did have it fairly loud to drown out the shitty stock GC music Didn't notice a huge difference between the wattage settings for this channel, just less volume. It can get loose or tight depending on the toggle switches. Enough gain for metal, though I found it somewhat fizzy at higher settings.

Overall I felt like it had an overly processed quality. There are a ton of options, but no spectacular tones that immediately jumped out at me despite all my fiddling. Unlike the Bogner Alchemist (which I think is a good comparison considering they're both trying to do the "budget boutique" thing), there really isn't any one awesome tone that defines the Renegade. I left the amp scratching my head and thinking "Meh..."

If it sounds like I had high expectations for this amp, it's because I did. After the Tourmaster, Rebel 20 and Mod series, they've really been on a roll. I just feel like this amp was a dud

I just picked up one of the more rare 4x10 combos and I am not sure if it is the speaker config, or the fact that I was using a Nocaster...but the amp really sounded amazing at gig volume. I picked it up just a few days before taking it on a 3 night gig at a huge country bar (1000+ people). It was the first time where I left my pedal board and only used a delay in the loop. Even the soundguy who is typically without opinion gave the amp a few huge unsolicited compliments. The dual master really made it more like a 4 channel and the tube mix feature became more noticable when used at stage volume. Anyway, everyone has different taste and that's all good, I just wanted to share my experience.

 

[memberzonly]

I played the head through the TM 2x12 yesterday. Similar to the OP, I thought that the gain channel was Rebel influenced. I had and really enjoyed the Tourmaster head and TM2x12 cab. Just too heavy to be practical. I also had the Rebel but ditched it for the TM. I found it to be too throaty.

IMO, the Renegade head IS NOT like the TM head.

 

[Variable]

I got a chance to muck about with one last weekend for a decent amount of time, and here are my thoughts... I tried it out with a Les Paul Standard.

The amp will do a lot of different tones, there is no doubt about that. I thought the EL34->6L6 knob would be cooler than it actually was, which is likely because I just do not like 6L6s all that much. I wish I could be more specific about the tones, but I honestly was pretty disappointed with the whole amp (which is the polar opposite of how I felt about the Rebel 20). It doesn't sound bad, but it really felt "generic" to me. Like it was lacking positive defining characteristics, you know?

The clean was good in a utilitarian way, but didn't jump out at me like, say, an AC30 with P90s does. I didn't care for the bright switch as it made the clean too brittle. Digital reverb was nice.

The drive channel reminded me more of a hot-rodded Rebel 20 tone than the drive on the Tourmaster (which I think is a fantastic amp for the money), but it was really lacking in the "kick you in the nuts" category. Granted, I didn't have the chance to crank it since there was no real amp room in the GC where I demoed it, but I did have it fairly loud to drown out the shitty stock GC music Didn't notice a huge difference between the wattage settings for this channel, just less volume. It can get loose or tight depending on the toggle switches. Enough gain for metal, though I found it somewhat fizzy at higher settings.

Overall I felt like it had an overly processed quality. There are a ton of options, but no spectacular tones that immediately jumped out at me despite all my fiddling. Unlike the Bogner Alchemist (which I think is a good comparison considering they're both trying to do the "budget boutique" thing), there really isn't any one awesome tone that defines the Renegade. I left the amp scratching my head and thinking "Meh..."

If it sounds like I had high expectations for this amp, it's because I did. After the Tourmaster, Rebel 20 and Mod series, they've really been on a roll. I just feel like this amp was a dud

I just picked up one of the more rare 4x10 combos and I am not sure if it is the speaker config, or the fact that I was using a Nocaster...but the amp really sounded amazing at gig volume. I picked it up just a few days before taking it on a 3 night gig at a huge country bar (1000+ people). It was the first time where I left my pedal board and only used a delay in the loop. Even the soundguy who is typically without opinion gave the amp a few huge unsolicited compliments. The dual master really made it more like a 4 channel and the tube mix feature became more noticable when used at stage volume. Anyway, everyone has different taste and that's all good, I just wanted to share my experience.

And that's the reason why I really wish there had been one in a closed amp-room. I'm sure it would be a different beast cranked, but at the above-apartment level I was playing, I couldn't get it to do what I wanted... then again, I'm used to the Guytron's always-cranked EL84 power section, so I am in no way unbiased. For an amp that pays so much attention to power tubes, I think a built in attenuator would have made it much better.

-Russ

 

[glassjaw7]

I much enjoy the tones from the amp in this video

 

[crwnedblasphemy]

That thing kinda sounds like my legacy.

 

[TX6Strings]

I agree with the OP. I wasn't real impressed with the amp and was a tad disappointed. For all the bitching the TM gets I thought it blew away the Renegade. I tried the Renegade head (at first) through the matching 2x12 and the gain channel ABSOLUTELY sucked so I tried it through the Egnater 4x12 and it sounded worlds better but still not as versatile as the TM. The gain characteristics were similar except that the Renegade had a tighter bottom end. After cranking it a bit and pissing of the guy next to me at GC I came away feeling it was really just an 80's modded Marshall with a better than Marshall clean channel.