Bare Knuckle Pickups Forum
Forum Ringside => Guitars, Amps and Effects => Topic started by: Jazz Rock on June 07, 2011, 01:46:50 PM
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I just received my new Egnater Tweaker 15W head... It's just brilliant.
At work right now so will post pics later on. I can't wait to receive the parts to make the cable between the speaker of my Laney to the new head. Hopefully it arrived at home this morning.
I will let you know how it sounds when I get a chance to play it... which probably won't be tonight :( as I am catching up with a friend :)
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I'm really interested in hearing some more about the Egnater Tweaker.
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Wow guys!!!
The parts for the cable arrived today as well. Came back from the pub, it took me the time of a Taggart episode to put it together, which in light of my latest attempt "behind the workbench" with the Epi is quite a feat.
And as Frank Black said in one of his song: "Man, that was a different... kind of world".
First it was getting on the late side to do a full blast test, so I kept it quite. Well, believe it or not but even at this very low level, the sound was much better than the Laney, and I never been able to play at such low level with the Laney. Don't get me wrong, the amp is a more than descent amp.
It might be the novelty effect, but the AC and USA settings feel much more inspiring than the British mode. It is this or I have been in the wrong all my guitar player life in thinking that teh british sound was where it is at for me. To be noted as well, I have only played with the Tele tonight, so maybe it will be a different story with the LPs. But this amp will definitely awake the Tele player in me, who was getting a bit frustrated so far by not getting he wanted out of the Tele, sound-wise.
Cranked up the gain, on all three channels, still with the volume ridiculously low, and it was quite inspiring as well. I can't wait for a daytime session where I'll be able to displace a bit more air. I think I can already see how I am going to use the AC and the USA sound in some of my songs.
The pairing of the Tweaker with the V10 in the Laney seems to be working a treat. That makes for a neat wee half-stack.
More thorough review to follow, along with soundclips, hopefully at the week end.
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:D Congrats ! I would love to try the Tweaker myself 8)!But i must confess i'm perfectly happy with the Renegade :) !But the Tweaker could replace my Rebel :?...Waiting for your clips/review now :)
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Sweet, dude. Glad that setup worked out for you in the end! The temporary end, that is. What did you end up using as the wire portion of the speaker cable?
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Looks great. How much did it set you back?
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I had ordered a 2x1.5mm conductors cable from Studiospares, along with banana plugs and a neutrik right angle jack. Got the whole package for about a tenner, shipping included.
The box came at £369.00. Which is more than I would normally allow myself to splash on an amp (espacially as I didn't really need a new amp), but trust me it is worth every single penny... and then some. The subtle sound variations the various switches offer are brilliant. I can see myself tweaking for a while before actually getting on with some serious playing... Will see how it fares.
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I can see myself tweaking for a while before actually getting on with some serious playing
The bane of my existence.
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Plugged in the Studio tonight. Been able to up the volume a tad... Well to be fair, the first impression wasn't memorable. I was switching from one tone stack to the other with the clean setting I used with the tele... Not too impressed. Then I remembered that on the Laney I always put a bit more grit playing the LPs than with the Tele. The secret for amazing tone with a Paula plugged in the tweaker is if on the clean setting, the gain control shall never be lower than halfway through... And it works!
But where it gets very interesting is with the hot channel. Be it the USA, AC or Brit setting, it just sounds amazing. The AC sound keeps growing on me, and the USA stcak in full gan blast is quite good to play the metal-ish song I wrote. I am wondering at th emoment if I will still need the FOD. The Egnater is obviously not as fat as the FOD but I would say it can get fat enough. No that may just be the be all end all piece of kit I need to amplify my guitars. To be continued...
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Very interersting stuff. I'm really beginning to GAS for a Tweaker. How would you rate it as a gigging amp. Is it possible to gig with it without a mic in front? I'm especially thinking about the clean volume. A 15watter might now have the headroom for gigging... But if not there's always the Tweaker 40 and 88 :D (which of course pushes the price in the air :()
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Beginning to GAS, well just hang for a few minutes than:
Indeed, here comes another update to my review of the Tweaker.
First, I have to declare right here, right now, that it is by far the best piece of gear I have ever laid my hands on. This thing is just phenomenal (... get him!)!!!
I have taken the Tele again, to play at the same volume as the LP yesterday. When I said I would be tweaking for ages before getting on with playing, I couldn't have been more wrong. Fairly quickly I have found THE sound for the Tele... I am pretty sure of that. It was so inspiring I didn't even try to note down all the ideas I came up with.
First biffed up clean sound. And the winner is the AC channel in vintage, bright and deep modes. Add a bit of bass with teh " band EQ and I could have played all night if I didn't have to go to work tomorrow. I came up with a sweet 2 chords progression with open strings, which I will try to record at the week end. The sound is spanking and dry at the same time. It is exactly the sound I was after when I bought the Tele. I am jubilating as I type this review, just thinking again of this sweet singing.
Second, before turning it off, I thought I would give a try to the hot channel, with the gain maxed out, to compare with the sound I got with the Studio. Switched the Tele to the both pups in series, and I was floored: The thickest sound I ever heard, and yet it retained a certain clarity... I dubbed this sound the "peanut butter sound". Noodled around an A pentatonic and almost every single note sounded amazing, with a sustain to kill for. I couldn't believe my hears. Started to play some of my songs with this sound and I can tell you they never sounded this nice before. THE riff and solo sound by excellence. Probably will never ever need the FOD again... but will give it a try at some point.
Finally I wound off the volume pot on the Tele, almost by mistake, and it claned up as I have never heard a saturated sound clean up... Sorry if this part of the review is not very descriptive, I think I am still spellbound by the amp.
Let's finish though by saying, I am not giging myself so am probably not the best person to give you an opinion on that, but I am confident it can get loud, yet I seem to remember that the Laney was louder. Now, don't forget that I am using it with a single V10 in a small enclosure, it probably would be a different story with a 4X12 cabinet.
I think I have been in the fog all my life, guitar-wise, a Tele plugged in an AC30 is where it is at... Bliss!
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:headphones1: :band1: :band5: :drink: :good:
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I'll take this as a compliment :)
So here it comes! I have been busy recording stuff yesterday and I have mixed some of the material (a bit more to come during the week) today.
I have taken some of my songs (which are still ongoing work) to use as samples to test the various modes of the amp, exclusively showcasing Bare Knuckle Pickups 8).
Check out the songs of the "Tweaker series" in the following link and let me know what you think about how the beast sounds (please, do not mind the sloppy playing, I really wanted to have some stuff for you guys to check out so I did on the fly... not that I can actually play a lot better than this... nevermind).
http://www.soundclick.com/bands/default.cfm?bandID=693640&content=music
It sounds pretty good if you ask me. It is the first time I am recording some songs and when I do come back to it for mixing the mp3s I don't have this nagging feeling that it sounds good, but somehow not quite as I wanted it to. With the tweaker, I am impressed, even the brit setting which I thought at the time of recording was a tiny bit "boomy", turns out to be fairly nice.
So! what say you?
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Congrats! That looks like a fine small package with great sound.
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I've read some reviews of the Tweaker where owners complain about the FX loop draining the sound - often described as throwing a blanket over the amp and cab. Have you experienced this, Jazz Rock?
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I have never really used the FX loop of an amp before. I gave it a try on the Laney but did prefer the sound when just stacking up pedals in front of the amp. So I haven't tried it on the Egnater yet. But I'll give it a try just to let you know how it goes. I'll plug the chorus and the wah and see what happens.
Nonetheless, so far I am very happy with just the amp on its own. And appart from the wah, which is a must have IMO, I doubt I will be using many pedals with it... (famous last words).
I have added 2 clips on the soundclick website. A classic rock song played with the Studio. The other song I wanted to add is so awfully played that I will not "publish" it just yet. I'll give it another go.
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Mr Air,
I have tested the FX loop with the Wah. There is definitely a substantial drop in volume level when the FX loop is connected, but it doesn't seem to alter the sound, despite what I thought at first. Will probably need to do some recordings to make sure. But it sounds good to me either way, I wouldn't compare this as muffled under a blanket. And the wah effect sounded better, smoother and more airy/open when used through the FX loop.
Now I can see though how the drop in volume can be an issue if you want to use the amp un-miced at small gigs... As far as I am concerned, it won't be an issue, the headroom is way more then I need anyway.
WIll do the same with the overdrive pedal to see how it goes.
I have been inspired by the latest album for Robin Trower and found a nice setting to find a similar sound out of the neck Boss pup of my Tele. So cool! I didn't use the Brit mode though, still partial for the AC mode at the moment. Listening to this album and reading his interview in the last issue of guitarist have opened new tonal/playing horizons. This guy is brilliant.