Man, those dang Chinese!

[crustycabs]

I gigged for several years with an Egnater Renegade head thru my trusty 1X12 cab. I loved the way that head sounded. It was "My Sound", that I finally found after going thru gawd knows how many production and booteek amps. At some point the power transformer on it failed, and I had to have it replaced. Wasn't cheap, and luckily it happened far enough back you could still get replacement transformers.

Fast forward to this year, when I finally felt well enough to stat playing again. Got on GC used site and scored a Renegade for a half decent price.

Get it home, and two days later, it shits the bed. Take it back, find ANOTHER on GCs used site for an even lower price, so I jump on it. Same deal. Get it home, it's blowing fuses.

I ended up having to return both of them. I don't know if its endemic in any of their other models, but man, I really loved the sound of that amp.

 

[Devin]

Pretty much all of the Chinese Egnaters aside from the Vengeance and Armageddon seem to have constant issues from what I've seen

 

[Orvillain]

Man that sucks. I always wanted a Renegade or Armageddon, but could never find one for a good price. But if they're dodgy designs or whatever, probably pass anyway.

 

[crustycabs]

Sorry to hear that. I have a Rebel 30 combo that has behaved so far, but my ENGL gets all the use these days, so I'm thinking about unloading it. Prolly wont get jack for it.

 

[la szum]

It's a bummer. Bruce is a legend, but whoever was handling is manufacturing/distribution
chain shit the bed on him, and now his entire line is Kaput!

 

[crustycabs]

It's a bummer. Bruce is a legend, but whoever was handling is manufacturing/distribution
chain shit the bed on him, and now his entire line is Kaput!

yea, from what I heard, they switched transformer manufacturers without telling anyone to get a cheaper price.
The dollar always f*cks everything up.

 

[crustycabs]

..Speaking of Bruce, anyone here ever attend one of the amp building classes he's always offering on Facebook? Curious how it was.

 

[Devin]

..Speaking of Bruce, anyone here ever attend one of the amp building classes he's always offering on Facebook? Curious how it was.

I wanna say @greatmutah has but maybe I just imagined that


Always wanted to myself!

 

[greatmutah]

I wanna say @greatmutah has but maybe I just imagined that


Always wanted to myself!

I have attended one! It was great. I think they changed the format a little bit but it’s awesome. You have a choice of a 20 watt 6V6 amp or a 50 watt EL34 amp. Both are hot rodded Marshall based amps with some additional options for mid shift, tight/loose, gain boost and brightness. Also has a footswitchable volume boost and tube buffered loop. I got the 50 watt. A couple guys in my class did the 20 watt and that thing was cool too. It did not give up much to the 50 save for some volume.

You’ll be effectively doing a ton of soldering yourself. Previous class was doing the heaters, sockets, transformers and board connections with pre populated board. Now it’s more of the board itself. I should take a second class to get the full experience. Bruce goes in and checks your work so you can’t fail. There’s breaks so Bruce checks work, sees where you are, cleans things up as needed. There’s also another day post building the amp where you get a lot of theory and teaching from Bruce on what you’ve worked on. They also provide you with a flash drive with documentation, schematics for your amp, suggested mod areas and things of that nature. They also provide food. His wife Terry makes an awesome apple crumble.

It’s about the cost of a boutique amp, especially if you have to travel but you keep what you build, you get a cool amp and you get the experience of learning from one of the best designers in the business. Bruce is also an exceptionally nice guy. Highly recommended.

 

[GuitarBilly74]

If you send it to Bruce, he can sort it out for you. It adds to the price, of course, but if it's "your sound" , it may be worth it.

 

[la szum]

Need to change thread title to "Bruce Egnater Appreciation Thread!"

 

[JiveTurkey]

Need to change thread title to "Bruce Egnater Appreciation Thread!"

"Man, that Dang Bruce Egnater and his one time unfortunate choice of off-shore subcontractors?"

 

[Alex Kenivel]

Knowing Guitar Center you probably got that same amp twice

 

[Boudoir Guitar]

"Man, that Dang Bruce Egnater and his one time unfortunate choice of off-shore subcontractors?"

“…and failure to quality control what he received from the contractor before sending the whole lot out to a GC near you”.

 

[crustycabs]

Knowing Guitar Center you probably got that same amp twice

nah, I had them both at the same time.

 

[crustycabs]

"Man, that Dang Bruce Egnater and his one time unfortunate choice of off-shore subcontractors?"

Pretty much...and I'm not sure he was aware of it. The Distributor was probably handling all that. His only involvement was the design and the use of his name.
Damn shame. That Renegade was one of the best sounding amps I ever played thru. Awesome design. I especially loved the depth control. That thing made my 1X12 sound like a 4X12 stack at micable volumes.

 

[laxu]

I used to have the Tourmaster head and liked it a good bit. I guess it's kind of like Renegade with double the channels. But I don't think it's necessarily particularly special sounding.

These amps were ahead of the times when they came out with their mixable tubes, power scaling etc features. I especially loved that the Tourmaster had several channels that were nearly identical, and the per channel power scaling options in the back.

You can find tons of amps that combine a Fenderish clean channel with a Marshall overdrive. Of course, depends on what you're willing to pay for them...

 

[LeftyLoungeLizard]

Isn't everybody offshoring everything nowadays?

Next time you call a Customer Service number, ask the person on the line where they're from.

 

[Shredder777]

I gigged for several years with an Egnater Renegade head thru my trusty 1X12 cab. I loved the way that head sounded. It was "My Sound", that I finally found after going thru gawd knows how many production and booteek amps. At some point the power transformer on it failed, and I had to have it replaced. Wasn't cheap, and luckily it happened far enough back you could still get replacement transformers.

Fast forward to this year, when I finally felt well enough to stat playing again. Got on GC used site and scored a Renegade for a half decent price.

Get it home, and two days later, it shits the bed. Take it back, find ANOTHER on GCs used site for an even lower price, so I jump on it. Same deal. Get it home, it's blowing fuses.

I ended up having to return both of them. I don't know if its endemic in any of their other models, but man, I really loved the sound of that amp.

Ones that are having problems are more likely to be dumped on a major music chain like GC.

Because they are budget amps, they are unlikely to be serviced properly. Finding a good one 20 years after manufacture may be difficult.

 

[Boudoir Guitar]

Isn't everybody offshoring everything nowadays?

Next time you call a Customer Service number, ask the person on the line where they're from.

Its not the "offshoring", its the searching for the cheapest possible manufacturer and then not providing any quality control over the work of that shoddy operation that is the problem. Those dang Chinese are perfectly capable of making quality stuff when the folks asking them to make it are paying for quality materials, quality facilities, and quality...control.