Evans RE 300

**Jonathan0996** · 10-28-2015, 08:46 PM

FedEx just delivered my new Evans RE 300 amp today. I can tell you a little about how it performs because I got to try the amp for a week before buying it. Evans has a "Touring Amp" program where an amp goes around to different people to try for a few days. The whole process is very easy; they send it in a shipping crate with latches so there's no packing to be done. There's also no charge to try the amp, but you have to pay to ship it to the next person. There's no obligation to buy, but if you do they give you a $100 discount and free shipping.

I had a chance to use the amp at home and on a gig and I was pretty impressed. The amp is warm, clean and loud and has a little of that tube amp feel. It's 150 watts with the combo speaker and has plenty of clean headroom. It has the most tube-like clean sound of any solid state amp I've used, and it takes pedals really well so it doesn't have to just be a jazz guitar amp. The controls are very versatile, but they take a little getting used to. Scot at Evans called me and spent a half hour on the phone with me walking me through the controls and answering questions. He's a nice guy to do business with.

You don't hear a lot about these amps in the forums, but I'm pretty impressed. It's definitely worth considering if you're amp shopping.

**iim7V7IM7** · 10-28-2015, 08:48 PM

Congrats...(great amp)

**vernon** · 10-28-2015, 08:58 PM

Evans are fine jazz amps. I had a JE-200 for several years. It was the first amp that was able to amplify my ES-335 cleanly... Congratulations on your NAD!

**Groyniad** · 10-28-2015, 09:10 PM

it looks great

i'm torn between evans, mambo and fender DRRI (but i think i've decided against the fender now)

the mambo seeks to provide tube like sounds as well

but i've heard very very good things about the evans amps

enjoy it!

**Greentone** · 10-28-2015, 09:22 PM

Congratulations! The Evans amps are the best I've heard, bar none. I don't own one, but that's just out of inertia and laziness, at this point. Every Evans I have seen has made me a convert.

**jzucker** · 10-28-2015, 09:57 PM

can't wait to hear it. Wanna get together this saturday?

**jzucker** · 10-28-2015, 09:58 PM

Originally Posted by Groyniad

it looks great

i'm torn between evans, mambo and fender DRRI (but i think i've decided against the fender now)

the mambo seeks to provide tube like sounds as well

but i've heard very very good things about the evans amps

enjoy it!

The mambo does not provide tube like sounds. It's pretty much a louder/cleaner version of a polytone. Nothing like a tube amp. I love it though. If you want joe pass joy spring tone, it's got it. Haven't heard any other amp do that sound better.

**Max405** · 10-28-2015, 10:14 PM

Jonathan,
Thats a great amp. I saw I guy using one here at the Borgata 2 months ago. I didn't know what it was but it sounded lush. This is the first time I've learned it's a solid state amp! I would have bet big money that what I was listening to was a tube amp.
enjoy the amp. You got a good one.
JD

**Woody Sound** · 10-28-2015, 11:01 PM

I agree, they are fabulous jazz amps. Very tube-like clean sound. I LOVED mine. But they are definitely a one show amp. Once you get your sound dialed in, it's gorgeous. But then you hate to mess with it. And I needed something with more versatility.

**Jonathan0996** · 10-28-2015, 11:30 PM

Thanks, everybody. I think it's going to work out well for me.

Woody, I agree that they can be a little tricky to dial in. Scot at Evans was a big help with demystifying the controls. I was able to get a very lush tube-like jazz sound, but also bright twang and lots of sounds in between. I used an Ethos pedal to change EQ fast and easy. Worked out really well.

Groyniad, I tried Jack's Mambo and it's a beautiful sound, but different from the Evans. The Evans is a little more tube-like to my ears, and you can get a little edge on the sound if that's what you want. The Mambo is a warm, lush clean machine. I agree with Jack that it's kind of an idealized Polytone sound, although I think it sounds better. The Evans is also an open back cabinet as opposed to the sealed cabinet with the Mambo. It's a little different sound, and I always felt like I could hear myself better onstage with open back cabs. The exception for me was the Corus, but that's a very clean and undistorted sounding amp. A different thing altogether.

It's hard to get your hands on these things for comparison but it's good to do it if you can. That's why the traveling amp thing appealed to me.

Jack, thanks for the encouragement. I'd love to get together to play this weekend, and I think Saturday will be good. I'll get back to you tomorrow. You can smoke me again.

destinytot · 10-29-2015, 04:40 AM

Congratulations!

I have an Evans RE200, and I think it sounds great. Fantastic preamp. (On gigs with a Hammond player, I've tried running a line from the preamp to a Polytone - love it.)

**Groyniad** · 10-29-2015, 05:45 AM

that's one uber-jazz mod. destinytot!!

cool

i think i need a mambo AND an evans

oh dear

maybe the fabulous henriksen will have to go to pay for one of those

thanks for the help jonathan and jack

**jzucker** · 10-29-2015, 06:29 AM

jon, we can do a shootout: Mambo vs. Evans vs. Kemper

**disco~juice** · 10-29-2015, 06:55 AM

Jonathan, happy amp day, but, without a soundclip or a video we can't believe you that it sounds good!!!

**Jonathan0996** · 10-29-2015, 11:24 AM

Originally Posted by jzucker

jon, we can do a shootout: Mambo vs. Evans vs. Kemper

Ha! Pretty sure the Kemper wins on all criteria except price and convenience.

**Jonathan0996** · 10-29-2015, 11:26 AM

Originally Posted by disco~juice

Jonathan, happy amp day, but, without a soundclip or a video we can't believe you that it sounds good!!!

I'll get on that. Maybe record something with Jack this weekend so everybody can hear me get smoked. It won't be pretty. :-)

**ESCC** · 10-29-2015, 01:13 PM

Originally Posted by Jonathan0996

I'll get on that. Maybe record something with Jack this weekend so everybody can hear me get smoked. It won't be pretty. :-)

Please do, look forward to hearing it!

(PS you know how your fellow forum members are - we'll want to know which guitars, strings, picks, amps, cables, pedals, the $$ of each and where they were purchased and when, so please take thorough notes when you Jack get together and have fun)

**Jonathan0996** · 10-29-2015, 01:20 PM

The thing is that it's very hard to judge an amp by a video clip, in my opinion. Lots of amps sound beautiful at bedroom levels, but that sound often doesn't hold up at gig levels, especially with a loud rhythm section.

There's really no substitute for getting the amp out on the gig and seeing how it behaves. I realize that's not always possible, but otherwise I think it's something of a crap shoot.

**nopedals** · 10-29-2015, 01:22 PM

It's my recollection from years ago that you had to turn the treble all the way down on Evans amps, which kind of removed the purpose of having a treble control in the first place ... am I remembering wrong?

**bmw2002** · 10-29-2015, 02:07 PM

Originally Posted by nopedals

It's my recollection from years ago that you had to turn the treble all the way down on Evans amps, which kind of removed the purpose of having a treble control in the first place ... am I remembering wrong?

I've owned three Evans over the years and that's been my experience, although my understanding is that Evans has tweaked this latest iteration to tame the highs.

**Jonathan0996** · 10-29-2015, 02:13 PM

Originally Posted by nopedals

It's my recollection from years ago that you had to turn the treble all the way down on Evans amps, which kind of removed the purpose of having a treble control in the first place ... am I remembering wrong?

I can't say you're wrong, but that hasn't been the case with my amp. I've also heard that Evans amps can be midrangy and honky, but I haven't encountered that either.

I don't know how long ago your amp was made, but I recall reading that they made some changes to the EQ controls somewhere along the line.

**Marty Grass** · 10-29-2015, 02:13 PM

Originally Posted by nopedals

It's my recollection from years ago that you had to turn the treble all the way down on Evans amps, which kind of removed the purpose of having a treble control in the first place ... am I remembering wrong?

You are half way there.

The best approach IMO is to start with all of the dials at zero and then slowly adjust upward. I don't think you'd level the treble at zero though. Mine varies from 1.5 to 4.

Here's a great demo video.

**Jonathan0996** · 10-29-2015, 02:24 PM

What's unusual about the Evans is the number of controls and how one affects another. Besides the usual controls there are depth, expand, buff and body controls. They can affect highs, midrange, lows or all of the above.

That's not exactly intuitive and they do take some getting used to, but Scot at Evans spent a lot of time with me on the phone dialing in sounds and explaining how the controls interact. I now find that I have no trouble getting the sounds I want out of the amp, but it's definitely not as simple as just setting bass and treble.

I joked with Scot, saying PLEASE don't put any more controls on the amp. He said he'd take some off if he could figure out a way to get all the same sounds with fewer controls.