EH 44 magnum

kaomao

kaomao

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Feb 26, 2003
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Bareggio - Milano - Italy (Shitty Town)
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Do yourself a favor, if you need a really good guitar power-amp for few bucks, buy this.
I love mine, it's so tiny and sounds so great! I gotta record something and post it over here.
Last but not least at band rehearsal is so fucking loud and has a good headroom.
Totally advised!
 
It is pretty decent for the price and size. I have a small spares box with strings/tape/tools, and I put my 44 Magnum along with a Blackstar HT Dual in it (and their power supplies) as my 'backup amp'.

I tested it at rehearsal a few weeks ago and it worked ok. It really depends how loud you play though. It is pretty loud but it is not a substitue for a big high wattage head / higher wattage power amp if that is what you really need.

My band rehearses pretty loudly and the 44 Magnum could not quite achieve the same volume as I'd usually set my Ironheart 120h. But it was loud enough to be able to rehearse with through a 1960B (mono 16 ohm), providing others turned down slightly (another guitarist with 100 watt halfstack, bassist with 500 watt 4x10). I think in theory it is slightly louder in 8 ohm, but I didn't have time to try that. The manual states not to use 4 ohm. If at a gig that was miced, I wouldn't need to be that loud, so the 44 Magnum has enough power for a backup as far as I'm concerned.

It is a power amp though - some people I know have tried to use it as a clean amp and it really doesn't work IMO. It is really dull in the regular mode and just sounds like a loud DI. Using the HT Dual as a preamp I felt I was able to get useable tones with it, IIRC I had to use it on Bright mode to get it to cut with the band. It doesn't have comparable bass to a big wattage head at high volumes, so it depends what tones you want to achieve. But it is loud enough to play with a band if you play at a sensible volume.
 
I use one with an AMT s-1 (soldano pre amp clone). Sounds great and it's very handy. I find it to be more than capable of reaching the volumes I need, I play in an instrumental band with a loud drummer so that's pretty loud! I've used it a couple of times in places where there was no mics on the cabs going through the PA and it was fine. I use a Joyo American Sound ( clone of a Tech21 pedal) for a clean preamp, sounds really nice and even at gig volume is very clean.

I've a few other power amps I can use and this wins out for me. I've a tube poweramp that sounds a little better but weighs a ton and is huge. It sounds better than the solid state poweramp I had being using.

I've also busted it out on a couple of occasions as a backup for other people to use. Helped a few unfortunate bands at gigs I was running/playing at when they had gear failures. Sansamp into it makes a really handy tiny bass rig with an XLR out for the PA! If I switch back to using a regular head set up I will still definitely bring this around with me as a backup.
 
I use one with my Kemper - it rules! It's small, leight weight, fits in the back of the Kemper and is loud enough even for bigger stages - I just used that setup in a pretty big venue at a festival. Comparable in loudness to 5150 on 3-4 at around 10 o'clock. It will break up a little though and give clean tones a little of extra crunch. I use it for on stage monitoring only though and the Main Kemper signal goes to the FOH - it's perfect for that.
 
Yeah I guess at 16 Ohm it's not that loud (didn't test it though), but at 8 Ohm as I tested, it was great! loud enough for my band rehearsal.
Of course it can't top a 100 watt tube power-amp, but I was surprised how loud it can get, and yeah it adds some nice breakup.
Last but not least it doesn't sound like a bad solid state, it warmed up my Kemper, if only they could make a 100 watt lol
I'm gonna write to Electro Harmonix if they are going to release a higher wattage version.
 
kaomao said:
Yeah I guess at 16 Ohm it's not that loud (didn't test it though), but at 8 Ohm as I tested, it was great! loud enough for my band rehearsal.
Of course it can't top a 100 watt tube power-amp, but I was surprised how loud it can get, and yeah it adds some nice breakup.
Last but not least it doesn't sound like a bad solid state, it warmed up my Kemper, if only they could make a 100 watt lol
I'm gonna write to Electro Harmonix if they are going to release a higher wattage version.
Click to expand...

I have no problem getting mine to insane volume, I was using a 100 watt tube poweramp before it and this thing definitely does "too loud". I use a 16ohm cab for gigging and an 8 ohm for jamming, haven't noticed a significant difference with one getting much louder than the other.

I really can't speak highly enough of these. One of the most useful products I've ever gotten. Every band should have one as a backup for their guitar/bass amps.

My only gripe with it really is that the usable range on the volume pot is quite small. I get all my volume in the first 1/4 turn or less of the pot, after that it gets more compressed and distorted.
 
if6was9 said:
My only gripe with it really is that the usable range on the volume pot is quite small. I get all my volume in the first 1/4 turn or less of the pot, after that it gets more compressed and distorted.
Click to expand...

Well I can get a clean volume till 11 o'clock, after that it distorts as you say.
I guess it's lacking some headroom, a 100 watt version maybe can take care of that.
 
I occasionally toy with the idea of one of these and one of those dual channel AMT pedals, for a really light touring setup. Still need a cab in that equation though.
 
Got one of these the other day and I've been using it with my Kemper jamming with some friends. REALLY impressed. I was not expecting this thing to be as loud as it is - It actually gets over drums in a small room! Pretty awesome too that it's so tiny and fits in the back of the Kemper. I can keep it plugged into it all the time without taking up anymore space than it already does. This is the first time I've gotten to try the Kemper through an actual cab, too, and man does it sound awesome. MUCH more impressed with it than I was with the Axe-FX II!
 
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