63 Supro has been going on and on about the Egnator Rebel 20 for ages now and today I finally tried one. I tried the head and 112 cab version. I believe there is also a head and 212 cab version and a 112 combo but don't quote me on that as I didn't see any other configs in the store that I went to today. I can't remember which one Supro said he's got. Think it might be a 212.

Supro is bang-on in his assessment. That is one awsome little amp. My plans to buy the Rivera Venus 3 when I get around to selling my BillM modded BJ have been put on hold until I get a chance to A/B the Rivera and Egnator side by each. It's a definite contender. It's great clean and it's great dirty.

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Just think of how awesome a guitar player you could have been by now if you had only spent the last 10 years practicing instead of obsessing over pickups and roasted maple necks.

A lot of great suggestions. All great amps for >$500. One amp to avoid would be the Carvin Vintage 16. I own one and it is a disappointment: tweed cover is actually vinyl, the speaker is too big for the cabinet and it sound mostly all mids and boxy, it’s EL84 so forget getting a classic Fender tone out of it, and due to the lack of gain you can forget about getting any tweed tone or British tone out of it, there is a “Soak” control which acts more like a “tone suck” control, and for 15 watts it is not as loud as a blues jr. The good points about this amp are few: good cabinet (birch ply), quality knobs and decent speaker, and the reverb is fair at best.

If you have the ability to solder and can follow a wiring diagram, I would suggest building a 5e3. It is one of the easiest amps to build and as for tone, sound and volume, it will not disappoint But the kits go for about $600+.

The Rebel is for sure something that's on my list in the future, thanks to rave reviews by 63Supro and WayCoolJr I went and checked them out and loved them. But I'm looking to spend a little less and I know there are several nice amps in my price range. Jet City is at the top of my list right now, and I'm liking the Ibanez TSA15 Tube Screamer amp too, but it has no reverb and that is one requirement for whatever amp I choose.



My main gripe with Marshall is that their sound has been copied on so many cheap effects pedals and modeling amps, that they just sound cheap to me. However I agree that there are some players (Bonamassa comes to mind) that make them sound awesome, but I'm not one of them. And I think they are more suited to guitars with humbuckers and most of mine are single coil.

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yeah he got me too. im a Proud Egnator Rebel20 owner since Dec 21, 2010
and havent looked back either.

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63supro
"The good thing is in a club situation, most of the patrons are trashed and really can't tell the difference."

Hmmm....
Not many replies as far as Fender amps, except the Blues Junior, If you are going that route look for a Tweed Blues Junior. More difficult to find than the black tolex, but it is a different sound due to the Eminence speaker.

As far as the Hot Rod Deluxe, I have had no problems with it in the two years I have had it, however it doesn't fit in with your initial requirements of 15 to 30 Watts. At 40 watts the HRD is extremely loud, it is a gigging amp for small to med size clubs, I have cranked it in the house and it is too much, to get to the natural distortion settings I like. Deafness is not something I aspire to. That being said it does give you a great sound when the preamp is used but you do have to tweak it quite a lot to find your range.
It most definitely is not a plug in, hit the footbox and cruise. experimentation is key which is probably why so many people seem to not like them.

A small all tube 10 to 15 Watts or even better one with variable wattage up to 30 watts will be a much more versatile amp for recording as well as rehearsals.

I admit, I am biased, there isn't a solid state or modeling amp that sounds like a natural tube amp. A replication is just that.
I understand the idea behind the G-dec and the Mustang series, but it isn't for me. IMHO

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53magnatone, the hot rod deluxe is an amp I've always liked the sound of, but it is probably a little much for what I intend to use it for. And I do like a pretty aggresive blues tone, so it's probably counted out unless I was to find one for a price I couldn't pass up.
Thanks for the input magnatone.

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ok tim,

go get you a pignose, a FullTone OCD pedal, and a CarbonCopy.
you will love the tone lol. ive been kicking this setup around for over a month now
and just cant get over it.

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63supro
"The good thing is in a club situation, most of the patrons are trashed and really can't tell the difference."

Hmmm...that sounds like a cool setup too. I'm pretty much dead set on the Jet City jca2112rc at this point. There've been a lot of good suggestions from all you guys, but I love the tone of the Jet City. I play bluesy rock with a little country influence and the Jet City seems to cover all those bases very well.

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jet city is a good amp and i plan on one towards the end of the yr myself.
they are good quality and affordable now too. hell just look at the name behind the amps
will ya.

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63supro
"The good thing is in a club situation, most of the patrons are trashed and really can't tell the difference."

Actually it is ( HRD ) a great amp for Blues, my set up right now is a Black and Tan HRD, a Champ 600 ( so much fun ) and a Magnatone 410 Custom Classic ( No not the same as Phil X's ) but an equal killer Tone-maker
THe HRD is versatile enough so I can play Savoy Brown tunes one minute, George Lynch tunes the next and still go and get that Steve Miller or Tom Petty sound and then back to Climax Blues Band or right to Stones or Clapton.
Those are very different settings but the HRD does lend itself to a wide variation of tone colors.

I know of 2 HRD's in that golden tweed for around $500 for sale. I'll PM you the link if you wish to check them out.

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Please do send that link 53. I'm interested in checking them out for sure.

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Jet City and the Egnater Tweaker might be in your price range.

There are different levels of Chinese manufacturing. I guess you get what you pay for as anywhere else. I've been gigging the Rebel 20 for over a year with zero problems. I use two 112 cabs in bigger clubs and one in smaller places.

I was really impressed with the Soldano designed Jet City amps. Nothing fancy, just great tone. Guys like Mike Soldano and Bruce Egnater have their names and reputations on the line with these budget amps. Egnater inspects all there amps in the states.

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I agree. Jet City and Egnater are putting out some awesome high-quality, low-price stuff these days. For the time being, I'm going with the Jet City. I've been considering many different options, but that's the one I keep going back to, so I'm going to follow my instinct on this one.
Thanks again everyone for the suggestions.

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Supro, forgive my dumb question but your situation brings up an issue I've oft wondered about but never had to deal with personally. I'm guessing you just use a splitter cable when using both cabs and plug into the 8Ω jack, right? Prolly what I would do. But what if you were to use one 16Ω cab and one 8Ω cab? Could they both be plugged in at the same time to their respective jacks? I'm usually a combo guy so I don't know heads very well. (Some of my combos have rivalled heads and cabs for sheer size and power back in the day) Can you use more than one impedance jack at the same time on a head?

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Just think of how awesome a guitar player you could have been by now if you had only spent the last 10 years practicing instead of obsessing over pickups and roasted maple necks.

good question BMW, im interested in what he has to say on this as well.

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63supro
"The good thing is in a club situation, most of the patrons are trashed and really can't tell the difference."