Rebel 20 Owners, a Few Questions

[srinivassa]

First off, sorry for the long post.

I am looking for something in the lunchbox size range to serve as home use and as a backup for stage. I only play small gigs, and it's sort of understood that people still need to be able to talk over the music. Loud talking is usually acceptable. I live in an apartment building for practice/recording use. Most people are cool with my volume levels, but I'm careful.

I have a 40W Traynor that fills both these roles now, but I have to keep the volume dialed way back. I was looking for something in a back-up for both situations. I was wondering, how does the variable wattage work? Is a VVR? How well can you dial back to bedroom levels? How well does scale up to sort-of medium volume playing?

I think I will like the tone of a Rebel 20, but I'm not convinced about having only one channel? How limiting is it? I like to run clean, especially for pedals, but I'm also used to dialing in a dirt channel with a footswitch. What do most people do with a Rebel 20? Do you just dial in a gain level for a song and run with it? How does that work out?

Probably too many questions, I know. It just looks like the Rebel 20 could be as good as buying two amps, like a 5W for home and a 20W for stage backup. It would be really nice to have just one that I could change the voltage on at will. I'm just not convinced of its versatility.

 

[dan desy]

I own a Rebel 30, but I think it's close enough to the 20.

First of all the power control is kind of useless to play at bedroom levels. It only really makes a difference when you run your amp pretty loud.
It can only lower the power if you're playing with more power to start with, and 1 W is really pretty loud. Playing at bedroom levels will be considerably less than 1W, so the power control will not really help you out.

That being said, I think that the Rebel can be turned down to bedroom levels and sound pretty decent.
Also, the 30 will give you two great, foot-switchable channels, reverb, an XLR output that can be run silently, etc.

I think it's a great amp, and should serve you well.

 

[bbrodie]

I own a Rebel 20 and I think it one of the most versatile amps out there. Turning down to one watt can still be pretty loud but with less headroom. The tube mix dial is way more noticeable at higher volumes. It can sound great at bedroom levels once you learn how to use the controls. I gig, rehearse and record with mine and it has been rock solid reliable for the past year and a half. I think it's a great sounding amp. I've been playing guitar for over 40 years and owned a lot of amps, and it's nice to finally buy an amp with controls that are useful. The 30 has even more versatility for recoding.

 

[viking22]

It just looks like the Rebel 20 could be as good as buying two amps, like a 5W for home and a 20W for stage backup. It would be really nice to have just one that I could change the voltage on at will. I'm just not convinced of its versatility.

Hi ! Yes ,you really can get anything from 1W to 20W .But you said "a 5W for home" and i think you would be surprised how loud a 5W tubeamp really is !It's about the same with a 1W...so,it's still loud !The Watt knob is not like a Power Scaling device,it's only changing the wattage.But it's useful when you want some "higher" gain and the Rebel,like most Egnater amps,has a VERY good Master volume .Since it takes pedals very well,it's also versatile.

 

[stephen sawall]

Like everyone said .... 1 watt is loud.
I use the watt knob to change the tone, attack and feel. Not the volume.

It is so small and light I always bring it as a back up if not the main amp.

 

[stephen sawall]

If you are not familiar with using a single channel amp this is how it is done ....

Set the amp clean and use pedals for the rest.

Or do what I do most of the time...
Set the amp for the most gain you are going to need....
From there your guitar volume and pickup selector.

You can use a volume pedal or many pedals can be set for a volume level (more or less than bypassed). Just set the effect level off.
You can use a pedal like this much like a foot switchable channel on a amp.
The pedal I use for this is my Roger Mayer Voodoo Vibe.

 

[srinivassa]

Thanks guys. That's a good idea about the volume pedal as a sort-of analog footswitch. I hadn't thought of that.

Still deciding what I want in a 'lunchbox' amp. I might like the Tweaker better. I am seriously considering getting a little 1x8 combo with selectable wattage for home use. It seems like you just can't get low enough wattage for home use. 0.1 or 1 watt should be pretty low with a dedicated volume knob.

I might take the 8" combo to whatever stupid open mic night I do. People really just want me to be quiet enough that they can still talk easily. I like the idea of breezing to a gig with a Tweaker and a pedalboard though. I may have to wire up my micro combo, so it has a speaker jack. Fun.