Egnater Rebel 20 vs. Blues Junior - volume

[Rasomaso]

Hi, right now I have 2 amps, a Ceriatone 20W with 2061cx cab and a BJr. The Ceriatone is right now sitting in my bedroom, waiting to get cranked on occassional gigs I get to play on, and choking itself by VVR mod when I play at home. It doesn't sound half bad but it's nothing like stage volume. The BJr is a rehearsal amp I always grab and go.

Now what caught my attention lately was the Egnater Rebel 30 - mainly because of it's direct out - I thought "wow I could use it at night and ditch the BJr for rehearsal use", frankly I don't like the BJr - we play sorta punk rock classic rock with a bit of ska and other styles ("That's a potent mix, gives me the goose bumps..." Col. Miles Quaritch) and it doesn't fit nearly as great in my band as the 20W does, but I want something portable, so I'm not lugging around with it. I was thinking about ditching the BJr for a long time now, been considering getting a Classic 30 instead.

After hearing a few clips on youtube of Rebel 30, I thought I didn't like the sound of the dirty channel, I don't play metal. But I loved the clips of the Rebel 20!! Now my local store is gonna have some Egnaters in about a months or so, so I'll be definitely checking them out, but in the mean time, I need to ask you this:

How does the Rebel 20 compare to BJr in a bedroom setting? I know it has 20 to 1 W settings and also a master volume with a separate gain control. If it does perform better (on 1 W setting - I imagine it's still loud, so with master way down too), I may be probably getting it as I really need to get something like that for rehearsals and I could use a bit more usable bedroom sounds than BJr has, but if it's worse I may be looking at some other amps too before deciding. Still the 30 appeals to me because of the direct out... as you can see I'm kinda confused. Any advice?

[kleydj13]

I've owned both and liked both. The Blues Junior was my first tube amp and so I have a soft spot for it although tone wise it is pretty lacking. I preferred the Rebel 20 in just about every situation. It sounded better at low levels and cranked up. A few things to be aware of (although it seems like you are):

the wattage knob doesn't affect the volume very much. 1w is still loud. It has a much more noticeable effect on feel/compression/headroom. I didn't mind the more spongy settings at lower watts, but I was a little disappointed that it didn't help lower volume. I read the manual though and Bruce says this straight away, so the disappointment was my own doing. It is a great sounding amp in any right. The wattage is useful, the tube mix knob is pretty fantastic imo also, and its pretty stinking versatile for a single channel low wattage amp.

I've also had the rebel 30 for a time and I liked it a lot for what it is. I used the silent recording out quite a bit and was very pleased. I actually felt like it was pretty comparable to how it sounded when I recorded it with a sm57. It definitely got the job done for playing at home. The two channels were pretty sweet too. They both sounded good. The dirt channel was pretty rocking. It has the potential to go heavier than the 20, but not necessarily. Just set it to taste.

Overall my favorite was the 30 because of the silent recording out. My biggest drawback was the two channels - but that's just me. I'm pretty partial to a one channel amp. Perfect situation - a rebel 20 with a recording out :

[Waxhead]

Originally Posted by Rasomaso

Hi, right now I have 2 amps, a Ceriatone 20W with 2061cx cab and a BJr. The Ceriatone is right now sitting in my bedroom, waiting to get cranked on occassional gigs I get to play on, and choking itself by VVR mod when I play at home. It doesn't sound half bad but it's nothing like stage volume. The BJr is a rehearsal amp I always grab and go.

Now what caught my attention lately was the Egnater Rebel 30 - mainly because of it's direct out - I thought "wow I could use it at night and ditch the BJr for rehearsal use", frankly I don't like the BJr - we play sorta punk rock classic rock with a bit of ska and other styles ("That's a potent mix, gives me the goose bumps..." Col. Miles Quaritch) and it doesn't fit nearly as great in my band as the 20W does, but I want something portable, so I'm not lugging around with it. I was thinking about ditching the BJr for a long time now, been considering getting a Classic 30 instead.

After hearing a few clips on youtube of Rebel 30, I thought I didn't like the sound of the dirty channel, I don't play metal. But I loved the clips of the Rebel 20!! Now my local store is gonna have some Egnaters in about a months or so, so I'll be definitely checking them out, but in the mean time, I need to ask you this:

How does the Rebel 20 compare to BJr in a bedroom setting? I know it has 20 to 1 W settings and also a master volume with a separate gain control. If it does perform better (on 1 W setting - I imagine it's still loud, so with master way down too), I may be probably getting it as I really need to get something like that for rehearsals and I could use a bit more usable bedroom sounds than BJr has, but if it's worse I may be looking at some other amps too before deciding. Still the 30 appeals to me because of the direct out... as you can see I'm kinda confused. Any advice?

Suggestion 1 - forget Youtube clips for any tone judgements on anything musical. They are useless for anything except finding info/features on music gear.

2. I own both a Rebel 20 & Rebel 30 and have played the BJr. The Egnaters are soooo much better in every way (at any volume level) it's not worth talkin about.

3. The Rebel 20 is voiced very similar to the R30. Main difference is that the R30 sounds a lot better thru the whole range and it has a little more gain on tap. Plus it has 2 channels, good reverb, more headroom. If you like the R20 tones you'll luv the R30. The R30 is just much better again, especially the distortion - much smoother, fuller, crisper.

[Rasomaso]

Ah, ok thanks. I guess I'll just wait until the store has them so I can check them out. Thanks!

[Rhomco]

on the Blues Jr just yet. I have all three of the Egnater small heads (Tweaker, Rebel 20& 30). I also had a couple of the Blues Jr's some time back. The Egnaters are without doubt my first choice over the Jr's but, if I were you and located where it is difficult to try different amps I would put a Celestion G12-H and a set of JJ tubes in that Jr. You will be very pleased at how much better it sounds.
Rob

[cherrick]

Originally Posted by Rhomco

...I would put a Celestion G12-H [...]You will be very pleased at how much better it sounds.
Rob

What he said. Celestion, baby. Celestion. Especially in a Blues JR.

Also check out the Blues JR modifications designed by Bill Machrone (BillM) whose line of Blues JR mods are talked about a lot on TDPRI.

http://billmaudio.com/wp/

I've done a bunch of these to my Blues JR and the ones I have not done are on order with BillM, so I'm going the full 100 yards on mine. I've done the Octal Sockets, the Output Transformer and mine came with a replaced reverb tank and a Celestion speaker. I will be doing the Clean Boost and using a two step footswitch to operate the FAT switch.

Warning: Once I did the OT and the speaker, my Blues JR is just about as heavy as my SFDR (which has a Celestion speaker in it). So, tone goes up inversely proportional to luggability.

That said, I've heard Rob's Egnator Rebel 30 and ...here's the proviso ... if I had no amp and I were going to buy an amp, I would buy the Egnator 30 over the Blues JR.

I also admit that in terms of resale, doing all the BillM mods on a Blues JR changes the demand population size should you want to sell the amp. Unmolested Blues JRs are going for $325 to $350 day in and day out in Texas. What you'll have invested in a Blues JR with full BillM mods will be much more than that.

If you've not done a mod to your Blues JR and you can sell it for close to what you have in it (maybe you bought it used), then I would suggest you consider the Rebel 30 Egnator.

Or whatever Rob is excited about these days :-)