After trying a great many amplifiers, it seems that when you sit down to play a new one, you don't have many expectations. Especially when you're a tube fan with a soft spot for more traditional sounds, full of dynamics and punch. Well, once again preconceived ideas have hit the floor now that we've tried Egnater's 4212. It offers things I haven't seen in any other amp to date. Here's the story.
Introduction
The model we're looking at today is the 4212, which is exactly the same as its sibling the 4100 in terms of controls and options. The difference is that the former is a combo with two 12-inch Celestion Elite 80 speakers, while the latter is the head format, to which you'll need to add the matching cabinet.
I think the line that struck me most from this maker, from company president Bruce Egnater, went something like this: “Our amplifiers are designed so that you can find and get exactly the sound that's in your head.”
First Look
Several things hooked me as soon as I saw it. Obviously, its finish suggests a high-end custom model even before you switch it on, thanks to the quality of its construction and the materials chosen. It has a retro/vintage look, though it hides quite a few surprises in its arsenal.
At first glance you notice its four channels... Four? Yes, yes, four. Plus a series of very tempting controls to experiment with. Besides the ones everyone knows (bass, mid, treble, gain, presence, etc.), we find knobs such as “Contour” and “Density,” and switches to go from “Classic” to “Modern” voicing. Let's take it one piece at a time.
It's initially surprising to find switches that adapt and shift the sound between a more retro voice and a more current one on a custom tube amp. That tells us that despite its retro looks, its insides are “updated” and well prepared for the year we're living in.
Now, by Section: Front Panel
We find four clearly distinct channels, each with its own EQ controls (bass, mid, treble), gain, a switch and contour knob, and volume. There's no need to explain how the EQ section works, so we'll focus on the rest.
Clean/Vintage 1 Channel
This is the most transparent and cleanest of the four. It delivers crystalline sounds, with a clarity and transparency that's hard to find in a tube amp, but with personality and without the plinky tone you get from a guitar played straight through a line. Pressing the “contour” switch opens up even more bright, exceptionally clear tones. An outstanding clean channel.
Clean/Vintage 2
Similar to the previous one but with a touch more gain. Something subtle that moves these tones toward a classic rock and "blue" blues vibe. I love it. For nearly clean rhythm parts, slightly ragged arpeggios and solos alike. Powerful, folks, I assure you. Once again the contour makes significant changes to the tones, offering wide sonic possibilities.
Overdrive 1
On another amp, this would probably be my favorite channel. Here, I think my favorites are all four. When we play in this mode our sound fills with adrenaline and the saturation wants to scream, but we can rein it in, from a very crunchy, classic AC/DC-style load to (with the gain wide open) truly heavy-hitting stuff. I think it covers everything from British to metal, especially when we play with the Classic/Modern and contour parameters to vary our resources.
Overdrive 2
This channel comes as an added “gift.” We're used to the heavy stuff living on the third channel, period. On the Tourmaster we have a fourth option that's even more aggressive than the last. From 80s tones to the most cutting-edge sounds of modern metal. Hyper-saturated channels tend to be, to my taste, rather tricky, since many of them produce very artificial, buzzy sounds. In this case, I really enjoyed this contraption in all-out war mode. Excellent.
Master Section
After running through what we can set independently on each channel, we head to the general section, common to all four channels. Besides each channel's independent volume, handy for dialing in each sound and switching quickly with a pedalboard, on the right we have four master controls: Reverb, master volume, presence (brightness and closeness) and density. This fourth control is powerful for fine-tuning the thickness and consistency of our guitar's tone even further.
As you'd expect on a high-end amp, it has metal switches for power and tube standby.
Don't Go Away Yet, Folks... There's More
When you turn the thing around, that's when you really start to freak out. Beyond the powerful sound given by the combination of its preamp and power tubes working with the Celestion 12" Elite speakers, we can still chew on every detail of our instrument's sound a whole lot more. How?
Rear Panel
- Power control. There's a bank of switches that let us shape the power of each channel separately. Yes, separately. Here are the options:
• Channel 1, mode 100/50 W – 50/25 W – 20/10 W
• Channel 2, mode 100/50 W – 50/25 W – 20/10 W
• Channel 3, mode 100/50 W – 50/25 W – 20/10 W
• Channel 4, mode 100/50 W – 50/25 W – 20/10 W
- Footswitch output
- Effects loop: return level and mix control, send level, input and output, parallel/series switch, and a switch to control the loop effects in Remote/off, master, channels 1 and 2, channels 3 and 4 modes.
- Record out. Output for direct line recording. With a powerful simulation for taking our guitar to the console without going through a mic. Next to the 1/4" TRS output is an output level knob.
- TUBE-BIASING. Adjustment of tube bias and energy.
- Impedance control. As it couldn't be otherwise on a top-shelf amp, we have a wide impedance selector for adding various speaker/cabinet sections. 4, 6 and 16 ohms
- Fuse replacement compartment
- Voltage selector (230 / 114 V)
Conclusions
The company offers various options in prices, sizes and power levels. This combo is without a doubt a great, powerful tool for any guitarist. I'd especially highlight the high quality of all its channels, which makes it a very versatile amplifier. Often, if we go with British-style tubes, we'll get great tones in that vein, but we'll probably run into some difficulty with modern metal sounds, for example. With the Egnater 4212, we'll handle ourselves with great ease in every setting: from the most transparent clean to the heaviest, most modern thrash tones. The change produced by the Classic/Modern switch on each channel is truly significant. Although I have clear preferences between one mode and the other, that's personal, and the fact that it lets me choose according to my needs makes it a perfect, extremely high-quality, do-it-all companion.
The scariest part is its price. It's impossible to get an amp with these characteristics at a cheap transistor-amp price. That said, although its suggested price is 2,310 €, we saw it (without searching too hard) for approximately 1,900 € at a domestic store, so with a little looking around and haggling, we might land it at a jewel's price, but a well-bought one.
A magnificent amplifier.
