AMP DESIGNER BRUCE EGNATER HAS BEEN INthe biz for three decades now, and he is per-haps best known for the tone tweaker’s nir-vana he created with his Egnater Modules—swappable tube preamps that plug directly intoa special tube power-amp chassis. It’s a designthat both Egnater and Randall (with its MTSseries amps) still employ. Egnater’s new Tour-master amps aren’t of the modular variety, butwith four completely independent channels,and a slew of thoughtful features, the Tourmas-ter aims to give you a ton of tonal flexibility in

a bulletproof, gig-worthy package. I tested boththe 2x12 combo and 4x12 Tourmaster half-stack with a Fender Telecaster and Stratocaster,as well as a Gibson Les Paul and SG, and a PRSSC 245.

The imported Tourmaster is a handsome,well-constructed tonemachine. The beige/blackcolor scheme is sweet as hell, and the Tolexcovering on the Baltic birch cabinet is flawless.The amp’s color scheme also carries over tothe grille cloth, which, along with the Brit-styled white piping, is a nice touch. Included

EgnaterTourmaster4212Comboand4100Half-StackT EST ED BY DARR I N FOX

Although the Tourmastercombo is violently heavy,Egnater does ease theburden somewhat with theaddition of side handles anda rad set of heavy-dutydetachable casters. But still,getting this thing up into atruck bed is a dicey one-manproposition.

Even with four channels,the Tourmaster amps are

a cinch to dial in.

ELECTRONICALLY REPRINTED FROM JUNE 2008

GEAR Bench Test

with the Tourmaster is a rugged six-buttonfootswitch that controls channel switchingas well as Reverb and Effects Loop on/off.

The hippest feature of the Tourmaster isthe Power Grid wattage control. Basically,this function allows you to set the outputwattage for each of the amp’s four channels.First, you decide if you want the amp’s maxpower at 100 watts or 50 watts via the Half-Power switch located next to the Power Grid.Set this switch to 100 watts, and you canchoose between 100, 50, or 20 watts. Set itto 50 watts, and you can choose between 50,25, or ten watts.

For an amp with four independent chan-nels, the Tourmaster is inviting and simple toget around on. Each channel offers aModern/Classic switch that revoices the preamp. Clas-sic mode yields a barkier, more old-schoolmidrange snarl—think vintage Marshall upto a JCM800—and theModern setting scoopsthe mids and bumps the bass response up abit for a character more akin to, say, a Mesa/Boogie Dual Rectifier. Each channel alsosports a push-button Contour function andan accompanying control that cuts themidrange.

Plugging in a Gibson SG, and dialing ina clean tone on the Tourmaster’s first chan-nel, I was actually taken aback with howeasy it was to pull crystalline tones from ahumbucker-equipped guitar. Suffice to saythat Strats and Teles yielded evenmore shim-mering top-end detail, but the Tourmasterwas able to deliver bold, fairly complex cleantones with every guitar I used. Even withthe Gain control cranked, this channel stayedpretty darn clean unless I really dug in with

a heavy attack. With the Voicing switch setto Classic, the tones are decidedly British,with a strong barky midrange and cantan-kerous top-end bite. Back off your pickingattack, however, and the notes pop and pingwith wonderful clarity. Lay into your guitar,and a subtle crunch enters the picture for acomplex “in-between” tone.

Switching to Channel Two, the tonal char-acter is a lot like Channel One, except it hasa tad more delectable grind that ebbs andflows with your picking attack or your gui-tar’s volume setting. Again, these tones aremore British than the typical Fender clean

thing, as they exhibit a brutish yet musicaltoughness that still sports a healthy dynamicrange—from Stic ky Finge rs -era Keef to amildly overdriven chime akin to the Edge’s.While I preferred leaving the Voicing switchin Classic mode and using the Contour con-trol to adjust the mids, I found myself actu-ally getting everything I needed without theContour control engaged.

The Tourmaster’s third channel has a tonof gain at the ready, making it perfect forlead or rhythm. And as with all of the chan-nels, the Modern/Classic voicing switch willultimately determine the character of the

GEAR Egnater

SPECS | Egnater, (323) 277-4119; egnateramps.com

PPrriiccee Combo $1,599 street/retail price N/A; Head $1,399 street/retail price N/A; 4x12 cabinet $599 street/retail price N/A

CChhaannnneellss Four

CCoonnttrroollss Independent Gain, Bass, Mid, Treble, Volume and Contour; Contour Select button; Classic/Modern switch for each channel. Master Presence, Volume, Reverb, and Density.

PPoowweerr 100 watts

TTuubbeess Four Groove Tube 5881 output tubes, eight Groove Tube 12AX7 preamp tubes.

EExxttrraass Power Grid wattage control, Half-Power switch, assignable effects loop (with Series/Parallel switch), speaker simulated Record Out withLevel control, outboard Tube Bias Adjust.

SSppeeaakkeerr CCaabbiinneett Combo: Two Celestion Elite 80 12" speakers; 4x12: Four Celestion Vintage 30 12" speakers

WWeeiigghhtt 60 lbs (head), 95 lbs (combo)

KKuuddooss Good tones. Very flexible. Logical layout. Nice construction and feature set.

CCoonncceerrnnss Extremely heavy. High-gain tones take more time to dial in with single-coils.

The Tourmaster ampssport tons of back-

panel features.

tones. Switched to Classic, I conjured sear-ing, mid-engorged high-gain tones thatscorched the earth with my humbucker-equipped guitars. I found plenty of overdrivewith the Gain halfway up. Higher settingswere do-able with my humbucker-loadedguitars, but with Strats and Teles the superhigh-gain sounds tended to get a bit smearyand less usable. Kicking the Voicing switchto Modern, the tones became even more sin-ister and punishing as the mids get scooped,the lows get a bit deeper, and the gain getsupped rather substantially.

Finally, the Tourmaster’s fourth Channelis about as subtle as a flying mallet. Offer-ing distortion for days, this channel is a tadover-the-top—especially with with Teles andStrats, as their tones tended to get splatty.This was easily fixed by backing off the Gain,and patiently working with the Treble andMidrange controls. This channel reallyexcelled with humbuckers, however, yield-ing wicked ultra-modded Marshall rocktones to savage scooped-metal mayhem—especially when kicking the Voicing switchto the Modern position. As with all of the

Tourmaster’s tones, the low end is tight andfocused—even in extreme volume settings.Even though I tended to get midrange optionanxiety with the Egnater’s dirty tones, thesetonal tools help make the Tourmaster anamazingly versatile machine, affording youheavy, modern rock tones, as well as gnarlierclassic timbres.

The crux of the Tourmaster’s tonal bis-cuit, however, is the Power Grid feature. Buteven though you can bring this bad boy downto ten watts, don’t think you’re going to getfunky, cranked-amp-meltdown bedroomtones at reasonable volumes. The Tourmas-

ter is still very loud. On a gig, however, I wasable to set my clean tone (Channel One) to50 watts for maximum clean headroom, andChannel Two’s dirty rhythm tones were setto ten watts for more power tube grind. Then,I turned Channel Three up for a crazy, uber-sustained lead tone by cranking the Gain,and dumped the power to ten watts for someserious power tube mashing. Lastly, I set upa loud n’ proud honkin’ lead tone on Chan-nel Four with the wattage set to 50, so nomatter how saturated it got, I would surelybe heard. Look out!

Once you factor in all of the tonal com-binations for each channel—from preampvoicings to midrange tweaking to powersection options—the Tourmaster is indeeda veritable Swiss Army Knife of tube tone.And compared to other four channel, high-powered combos, it is priced very compet-itively. If you’re a gigging guitarist whoneeds to cover a lot of tonal ground, or thekind of player who is itching to bouncebetween low and high-wattage power sec-tions, Egnater’s new Tourmaster amps aretough to beat.

GEAR Egnater

The Power Grid function allows you to selectthe wattage for each of the Tourmaster’s fourchannels.

Posted with permission from the June 2008 issue of Guitar Player ® www.guitarplayer.com. Copyright 2008, New Bay Media, Inc. All rights reserved.For more information about reprints from Guitar Player, contact Wrightʼs Reprints at 877-652-5295.

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