Egnater Renegade Designed by Bruce Egnater, the Renegadeis armed with independent controls andcomes with a four-button footswitch forselecting channels and activating the reverb,effects loop, and secondary master volumeon either or both channels. The power stagehas two EL34s and two 6L6s, which can beused separately or blended together via theTube Mix control on both channels. The ideais to give the player the ability to use theglassier sounding 6L6s or the more muscu-lar EL34s, or any combination of the two.The Renegade’s flexible control arrange-ment also provides the ability to configureeach channel for 65-watt or 18-watt opera-tion, set the low-end response for “tight”or “deep,” and the high-frequency responsefor “bright” or “normal.” In addition to allthis is a Master section, which has reverband secondary master-volume controls foreach channel, as well as global Density andPresence controls.

On the Renegade’s rear panel we finddual speaker outs, a balanced line out, a serieseffects loop, and meter test-points and adjust-ment screws for setting the bias on the twopairs of output tubes. The manual detailshow to adjust the bias for optimum perform-ance, and also provides recommended biassettings for other types of power tubes thatcan be used in the Renegade, such as the6550, 6V6, KT66, and KT77.

The Chinese-made Renegade is an easyamp to get comfy with thanks to its dis-tinctly voiced channels, which serve up abroad assortment of American- and British-style sounds. Channel 1 is the more Fendersounding, and with the Tube Mix knob inthe full 6L6 position it can deliver every-thing from pristine clean to mildlyoverdriven tones. This channel easily cov-ers the bases from jazz to blues to country,but the timbral difference between the full6L6 and full EL34 positions is surprisinglysubtle—even at higher volumes—and evenmore so when blending different ratios ofthe tubes. (Bruce Egnater responds, “Thedifferences can be more noticeable at highervolumes where the distortion characteris-tics of the tubes become most apparent.

The 5881s may also make for a bit tighterfeel, while the EL34s may tend to have amore focused midrange. Of course, userscan install any variety of tubes to createsome interesting effects. For example,blending a pair of high voltage 6V6s witha pair of 6550s creates an interesting andunique combination of tones.)

The digital reverb sounds good on thischannel, and the “spillover” function keepsthe sound consistent when you switchbetween channels. However, if you’re a hard-core ’verb freak you’ll probably wish for asmoother decay than it provides.

Switching to channel 2 uncorks the

Renegade’s distortion side, and this chan-nel can elicit everything from grinding,JTM-45-inflected blues tones to full-boreshred mayhem. The gain range was veryaccommodating to single-coil and humbuckerguitars, and the Tight/Deep switch and Den-sity control make it easy to dial in thelow-end response to suit your needs. Again,I found the Tube Mix control to be more sub-tle than salvational, though the 18-wattsetting proved very handy for situationswhere you want to run the amp hard, butvolume is an issue. The Renegade has a lotgoing for it, and in terms of bang-for-the-buck, it’s a tough act to follow.

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