Egnater Rebel 20! An "unbiased" look.

BrianFantana · Post by **BrianFantana** » Mon Feb 23, 2009 1:28 am

So, I played an Egnater Rebel 20 head and 1x12" speaker cab.

The thing sounded great! And had lots of cool features. Seemed well built, sounded and looked great!!! Great 3D textures and tone! And the variable wattage and tube mix options are just awesome.

So, if I can ask you to take off the ORANGE tinted glasses for just a minute or two...

What do you think of this amp? Would you trust it for gigging, and do you think it would be an awesome of an amp in 10 years? 20?

ssbmon396 · Post by **ssbmon396** » Mon Feb 23, 2009 1:58 am

It's going to be hard to take off those Orange glasses...

Drdos · Post by **Drdos** » Mon Feb 23, 2009 2:17 am

I got a chance to play the tourmaster 4100 or something like that at GC the other day. Not real impressed. The rebel seems like a nice amp But a TT it is not. I think that's the market Egnater was after with that model.

notagain · Post by **notagain** » Mon Feb 23, 2009 2:36 am

You can laugh all you want, had one, sold it.
Found the Crank Rev Pro Jr much more to my
liking. Two Channels and superior sound IMHO.

jdavis · Post by **jdavis** » Mon Feb 23, 2009 5:13 am

I was actually going to buy the rebel 20 to be the 3rd amp in my 3 amp setup along with my 2 tiny terrors but bought the krank rev jr. Agree with the last post, sounded a whole bunch better than the rebel.

Neiloler · Post by **Neiloler** » Mon Feb 23, 2009 6:36 am

I've not had a chance to play it Mike, cool that you dug it. I like the concept of having two different sets of power tubes, I still would like to see how that's possible without blowing the thing up!

Armchair Bronco · Post by **Armchair Bronco** » Mon Feb 23, 2009 8:06 am

I've played a Rebel 20 (with a Rebel 20 cab) on two separate occasions at Guitar Center, and I wasn't blown away.

On paper, there's a lot to like about the Rebel. But for me, it fell short going heads up against my Tiny Terror. The power tube blending is a killer concept, but the difference from one end of the sweep to the other was modest. Sure, I could tell the difference, but then I can achieve an even greater flavoring change on my TT just swapping around tubes.

And the wattage pot was also very subtle. It's not an attenuator at all -- apparently it only changes the bias. Anyway, I was expecting a really dramatic difference between 1 watt and 20 watts, but I didn't get it.

I also found that the amp is very sensitive to the gain setting. If you turn it down too far, you get nuttin'.

On the plus side, I like the 3 band EQ and the FX loop, but these weren't enough for me to displace the TT which dominated in terms of tone, both clean and dirty.

I would love to hear the Rebel 20 through my own Avatar 1x12 cab loaded with a G12H30. The Celestion speaker in the Rebel cab is a custom designed Lead 80, and I'd like to hear the Rebel with a lower-rated speaker, maybe even a Celestion Blue.

I do think the Rebel 20 is a good value, but I don't think I'd ever trade my TT in for one.

Foef · Post by **Foef** » Mon Feb 23, 2009 8:46 am

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Originally posted by Neiloler
 I like the concept of having two different sets of power tubes, I still would like to see how that's possible without blowing the thing up!

<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">

Ask Marco Brunetti at the Brunetti forum (www.brunetti.it), as he's the guy who invented it. It was developed for a high gain amp called the Pirata Valvemix. Think there are soundclips available, so you can hear the difference.

And check out the CustomWorks series...
I've tried the Mercury and the Wizard. Amazing amps!
Bit expensive though....

Grtz, Bert.

Orphin · Post by **Orphin** » Mon Feb 23, 2009 11:04 am

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Originally posted by BrianFantana
 So, I played an Egnater Rebel 20 head and 1x12" speaker cab.

The thing sounded great! And had lots of cool features. Seemed well built, sounded and looked great!!! Great 3D textures and tone! And the variable wattage and tube mix options are just awesome.

So, if I can ask you to take off the ORANGE tinted glasses for just a minute or two...

What do you think of this amp? Would you trust it for gigging, and do you think it would be an awesome of an amp in 10 years? 20?
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">
 
I don't have Orange tinted glasses, as you might know.. [:p]

I have unfortunately never tried one. Bronco says it sounds good on paper, and I agree. I've heard more negative stuff about the Egnater Rebel too.

My sound tech friend says that Egnater is the best amps he has ever heard, I don't know if he's heard the Rebel though..

But to try to answer your question. You did play the amp, you did like it? Then what's the problem? I can go try an Orange and dislike it for it's mud, then go back here and ask if I should buy the amp, and 100 people will say yes!
If someone come in here and say they play music like Ministry (or whatever), and the answer they get is, buy an RV50, when Orange is in fact not at all what they need.

But if you're asking quality wise, the Rebel is at least as well built as an Orange.
I think that there is a bigger chance that you still like the Rebel in 20 years than an Orange, because its more discrete looks.
Ask yourself how many people wanted to buy an Orange amp in the 80's? No one!

[:p]

greyvents · Post by **greyvents** » Mon Feb 23, 2009 11:09 am

There's a lot of truth to what David has said. The most important point in my opinion is that sound / tone is subjective. What might be heralded as the 'ultimate' tone to one person might only be so-so to someone else right?

I think you have to trust your own ears.

Hgain · Post by **Hgain** » Mon Feb 23, 2009 1:59 pm

This comes up again and again....many chime in but have never played the amp or if they have, for only a few minutes in a store....The Rebel is not a TT ...they are different amps...both have their place.......

:D

Thinline_slim · Post by **Thinline_slim** » Mon Feb 23, 2009 2:49 pm

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">This comes up again and again....many chime in but have never played the amp or if they have, for only a few minutes in a store....The Rebel is not a TT ...they are different amps...both have their place.......<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">

I couldn't agree more. I've been using the Rebel and my TT with an AB box for the last few gigs and I've really liked the results. They are voiced very differently and compliment each other well for the sounds I'm looking for.

As for speakers I've used G12H30 and a Weber blue dog both in the same night. I had to switch from the G12H30 because it had way too much bass for the TT through the Weber to compete. So I run TT->G12H30, Rebel->Weber for my bi-amp setup. Tasty sounds.

Jondog · Post by **Jondog** » Mon Feb 23, 2009 5:22 pm

I own the Rebel and the TT. I almost always play my TT and only play the Rebel to hopefully like it. I wanted it for the effects loop and thought the extra features would be cool, but overall I'm rather dissapointed. I like it when the gain is cranked but halfway it lacks sustain and feel, almost sounds like a noisegate with the threshold set to high. I've tried new tubes, different bias settings (yes they can be biased) and it just doesn't change. Even though the TT is simple as simple just about is when it comes to amplifiers, it gives me much more satisfaction on different levels.

Drdos · Post by **Drdos** » Mon Feb 23, 2009 6:08 pm

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Originally posted by Thinline_slim
 <blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">This comes up again and again....many chime in but have never played the amp or if they have, for only a few minutes in a store....The Rebel is not a TT ...they are different amps...both have their place.......<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">

I couldn't agree more. I've been using the Rebel and my TT with an AB box for the last few gigs and I've really liked the results. They are voiced very differently and compliment each other well for the sounds I'm looking for.

As for speakers I've used G12H30 and a Weber blue dog both in the same night. I had to switch from the G12H30 because it had way too much bass for the TT through the Weber to compete. So I run TT->G12H30, Rebel->Weber for my bi-amp setup. Tasty sounds.
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">Jake what AB box are you using for the 2 heads? Thanks

blackcloud45 · Post by **blackcloud45** » Mon Feb 23, 2009 7:39 pm

I have played the Rebel and I think it's pretty cool for what it is. They didn't have little bad-@ss 20 watt amps w/ good distortion of tap when I was coming up.

Haven't played the Krank but if Mark says it's good, I'm sure it is.

Will I buy either one? No, I'm holding out for a Dual Terror

Egnater Rebel 20! An "unbiased" look.

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