MusicRadar

• Review

Bruce Egnater is one of an elite handful of designers who've wielded a significant influence over the development of the modern electric guitar sound in the last three decades, with an enviable artist list that reads like a who's who of the world's greatest players.

In the past few years he's released a breakthrough range of internationally acclaimed amps of which one star is the Tweaker - a small but perfectly formed 15-watter that impressed us enough to pick up a rare Guitarist Gold Award.

Since then Egnater has expanded the Tweaker into a range including a 40-watt version powered by a pair of 6L6s, and the amp that we're looking at here, the mouth-watering KT88-powered Tweaker 88 head.

"The overall impression is one of solid reliability that should easily handle pro-level abuse."

Like the rest of the Egnater range, the Tweaker 88 is designed in the USA and built in China by a specialist factory to exceptionally high standards.

It's a slim, compact head that sits nicely with the rest of the range, covered in a decently thick black Tolex with a straw grille, gold piping and black chrome metalwork.

The electronics live in a heavy-duty, steel fan-cooled chassis that supports two good-sized transformers, four preamp valves and a pair of massive KT88 output valves.

The Tweaker's build standard is equally good on the inside, with most components supported on three good quality through-plated circuit boards. There's one for the power supply and the other two for preamp and power amp, including the valve bases and most of the front and rear panel knobs and switches.

There's a lot of wiring inside and many connectors, mostly spades with several multi-pin Molex-style plugs and sockets; however, it's all tight and neatly bundled.

A dual-channel design, the 88 has two pairs of gain and master volume controls feeding a shared bass, mid and treble EQ network. Each channel features a quartet of toggles: tight/deep cuts the bass response at the front of the preamp, while bright/normal lifts the high-end response.

Mid cut reduces mids for more clarity, often useful on high output humbuckers, and hot/clean presets the channel for high or low gain operation.

The EQ features a special toggle switch that lets you select between three classic American and British tone control circuits: USA is an emulation of the fabled 'Blackface' tone, while Brit offers a stronger low mid-range response.

The AC setting offers an alternative British tone based on an amp with a unique and quirky tone circuit. Both channel master volumes have a vintage/modern switch that reconfigures the output stage from a flatter response to enhanced lows and highs.

Finally, both channels benefit from a two-mode boost that works as either a second master volume (clean mode) or an extra gain boost, adding distortion as well as extra volume.

Despite all those front panel features and tone switches (no less than 13), it's easy on the eye and easy to understand.

At the rear, there's a pair of speaker outs with selectable impedance, a series effects loop with switchable levels and two sockets for the Tweaker's four-button footswitch.

This swaps channels, switches each channel's boost function and toggles the effects loop. The well-written manual is worth a quick read, but we reckon most players will be at home with the Tweaker very quickly - it's one of those amps that feels friendly even before you switch it on.

The overall impression is one of solid reliability that should easily handle pro-level abuse.