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I’ve gotten some feedback from a few folks on Evans amps. Any owners of newish gen Evans have advice on these if one was looking? They ain’t cheap! Pros or cautions welcome..
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08-12-2022 12:17 AM
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Although they haven't had a lot of "action" on this Forum for a bit -- compared to other, newer SS amps on the market -- you probably won't find a lot of naysayers, either: owners tend to love their Evans amps!
"Advice" is often related to function: what are you looking for/needing in an amp right now? Bedroom performances, or on-stage with a quartet/big-band, or what? What kind of sound/"vibe" are you looking for in an amp? Are you also exploring Henriksen, Raezer's Edge, DV Mark, tube amps, et al.?
Thanks!
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I’ve bought 2 Evans amps, both new - 150 and 200 12” combos. They were both versatile amps that gave me great jazz tone but handled blues and pop / commercial gigs with no problems or reservations. With a decent O/D pedal (Danelectro Daddy-O), creamy lead tone was easy. Neither one gave me a minute of trouble, and I only sold them when I didn’t need them any more. I liked to use pairs of similar amps in stereo with my Roland guitar synths, and this pair even pumped out a convincing B3 with Leslie.
I’ve thought about buying one of the new 8” Evans, but I don’t need another amp. I love my Blu 6 in part because Pete H reminds me of the Evans team, and the Henriksen amps are in the same price range as the current Evans guitar amps. Either is among the best you can get and I wouldn’t hesitate to buy a new Evans if it fit my needs.
The best thing about Evans is the company. They actually cared about customers, integrity, and communication - I even got a call after buying the 150 to get my thoughts and feedback. I assume and hope that the family still own and run it because they truly went the extra mile to do the right thing and make the best product they could.
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Good points.
Originally Posted by marcwhy
I'm currently using a Quilter 101R through a 12" C. Rex housed in a homebuilt cabinet. I do like it, and I can get it to have some great sounds, but I get a feel of it being a bit on the thin side. It certainly seem so to be loud enough for hotel conference room gig. I think it'd be nice to have a full combo to 'grab and go' instead of a head with a cab like I'm using now.
I guess I've really liked the sounds I've heard online of Evans and read a lot of good things. I think my goal would be to get something that can be a little bit thicker than what I'm using, but also something that has a nice super clear, articulate tone as well with some volume. Evans being high-wattage should have months of headroom and it'd be nice to have for the occasional outdoor jam. I'd mostly still be playing in the house/indoors where I won't need a ton a volume, so I wonder if it'd be an overkill to play at lower volumes or if it doesn't matter that much.
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If the issue is that you'd prefer a combo to a head/cab arrangement, maybe try your Quilter with one of their block dock cabinets? To thicken the sound, try something like a Joyo American Sound pedal (set to be voiced like a tweed amp). Cheaper and lighter than an Evans. Otherwise, I haven't tried any Evans amps, so can't comment on them. Originally Posted by sbeishline
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A small, powerful combo is ideal for gigging. After years of considering my Boogie Mk1 to be that, I was thrilled when serious amps got small & light. And after years of thinking that a 12 was a small speaker, I’m thrilled at how good 8s and even 6.5s sound in well designed cabs driven by good electronics. So a new Evans has a whole lot of appeal. I just grab my Little Jazz or my Blu 6 and head out the door. Originally Posted by sbeishline
As long as weight isn’t a problem for you, there are so many good gear bags for lighting, sound equipment etc that you can certainly find one to hold both your speaker cab and head. I have lighting bags that exactly fit my RevSound 8 cab and a small SS head. I got custom bags from StudioSlips for my RE cab plus a mini head and for my GK MB150 extension cab plus an MB150 head (probably the first pro quality mini head - I loved it until the day it died). So a one bag carry is practical even for separates. I have the choice, but if I had to give up one or the other, I’d go combo. FWIW, the Quilter combos are also great. I think a 200W even with one 8 would be powerful enough for almost any gigging. A friend has a 12” version and I like it - I just favor the sounds I can get from my DV Marks and my Blu 6 a bit more.
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I've owned a number of Evans amps over the years, mostly when I was pretending to play pedal steel, but continuing as I pretend to play jazz guitar.
As noted above, Evans is a terrific company with excellent support. The amps are well built and seem to last forever. If you're looking for an amp mostly to use around the house, perhaps check out a used RE (Ron Eschete) version with the smaller speaker. I believe each of their amps has the same electronics, and the speaker/cabinet size is what differentiates the models. The SE stands for Steel Enclosure (for steel guitar), the JE for Jazz Enclosure, etc.
Their controls are a bit idiosyncratic vis-a-vis other amps, but once you get used to them you can dial in your sound pretty easily. Takes some experimenting though. I did find their overall tone very bright (typically I kept the treble control at 1 or 0) and that was the reason I ultimately sold them on.
And I was surprised at how expensive they've gotten new. I think there would be very little risk in buying a used one, so you might put a "want to buy" posting on the Steel Guitar Forum to see what turns up.
Hope this helps.
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As a longtime user and former dealer (1980's) for Evans amps, I can't say enough good things about them. It's a family operation and Scot and his wife really care abut their customers and go above and beyond to make them happy. Scot loves to talk, and you can get him on the phone and talk amps for an hour - he'll tell you everything about the history of all the amps. He's even called me back to see if I solved a particular problem I was having with tone settings. I currently own (and it'll probably be my last amp) an RE200 with a 10" Eminence. I also built a matching external cabinet so I have a 'mini stack' if I want to remove the paint from the walls of whatever venue I happen to be in. You have to learn to work the tone controls as they're different from you're basic Fender but Scot has a chart on his website that explains it and, I think, there's a video on You Tube showing it. The reverb is adequate and there's a depth control to make it a little more useable but I, generally, use an Earthquake Systems Dispatch Master in the effects loop. Can't comment on how it takes pedals because I don't use them and I think you can overdrive it but not sure how it sounds as I've never used it - I only do clean. I started using Evans back when I was playing pedal steel full time and it and Webb were the two greatest steel amps in existence back then - they were the next step above Peavey Session 400 for steelers.
I think Scot has a 'traveling amp' deal where you can sign up to have a loaner shipped to you for a week and then you ship it to the next person on the list - a great deal for you to try before spending big $$$. Oh, and BTW, my RE200 is 200 watts and weighs 27 pounds.
Great amps and nice people.
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Being that the amp power is the amp power, does the 8” vs 10” vs 12” really make much of a difference? Meaning, aside from the increasing cab size what would the advantage be for AE vs RE vs JE?
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Yes. Originally Posted by sbeishline
[In all seriousness. Speaker size is apples and oranges!]
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For the evans users, how would you describe the sound and feel. Advertising literature always seems to say just like a tube amp, but that never seems to be the case with other solid state amps.
Are the evans amps more warm and organic (like a tube amp), or direct and precise and sometimes thin (like other solid state amps).
Any other thoughts for a wannabe convert away from tube amps.
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There’s no such thing as an amp that’s perfect for everyone, but I’ve been very happy with my Evans RE 300. When I first bought it, Scot from Evans called me and talked me through dialing in the sound I wanted. That was extremely helpful. Their controls are somewhat unique and seem confusing at first, but they’re very flexible. One I got it dialed in I haven’t had to fuss with it much. It has plenty of headroom for a warm, clean sound even with a loud rhythm section or big band. The character of the amp doesn’t really seem to change much with volume. It’s pretty consistent.
Aside from the warm, clean jazz sounds that most people buy Evans amps for, the amps also work very well with pedals. It’s a very neutral sounding clean platform that can be very malleable. I have an Ethos Clean pedal on my board that makes a nice Fenderish preamp. A good drive pedal or two will give you all the funk you need. Running that board into the Evans input jack works nicely and gives the amp an entirely different character for pop/rock/funk gigs.
I’ve also used it with a modeler. The Evans has an amp in jack that bypasses the preamp and allows the modeler to act as the preamp without any additional coloration. I’ve heard people use PA and FRFR cabinets with modelers, but I think using the amp in jack on the Evans sounds better. It just sounds and feels more like an amp, probably because that’s what it is.
So I’ve found the Evans amp to be pretty useful in a wide variety of situations. I don’t really think there’s such a thing as a perfect piece of gear. It’s about what works for you. There are a lot of nice amps out there, each with its own unique charms, but I’ve found the Evans to be solid, reliable, toneful and versatile.
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Longtime Evans user here - currently I own an RE200 combo amp which is in regular use when my Henriksen BUD is a bit too small/not hefty enough. Cuts through a loud Organ Trio with my Super-400 like a hot knife through butter and gives me the classic Burrell/Benson tone every time. Originally Posted by Campbell_jazz
I find your statement "... warm and organic (like a tube amp) ..." a bit too biased - maybe it was closer to reality some 25/35 years ago but even back then you had the very popular Polytones, the Yamaha G50/100 series, The LAB series amps by Gibson, the Roland Cubes, Pearce, the british Peterson amps and surely a few other SS amps that were/are anything BUT direct, precise and thin sounding, quite the contrary. Provided you judged the amps sound primarily based on the clean tones they had to offer (Holdsworth got his signature clean + overdrive tones with the SS Pearce 19" rack-unit) . At the same time I played MANY Tube amps (starting in the mid 70's until this very day) that were extremely direct, precise and cold, even anemic sounding, at least when played at normal small stage volume levels.
Like always, in the end you have to deal with the gear guitar-in-hand, an open mind, time and a willingness to explore, experiment and maybe even adapt your playing technique.
I'd choose my Evans and BUD amps over your basic Fender Blues/Twin/Concert/Princeton/Deluxe lines every time. If size and weight were no issue, then the modern Twin Tonemaster would be my choice for big(ger) stages.
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I don’t disagree with any of your comments, which are spot on. Originally Posted by gitman
I think I struggle with how to describe how I hear and feel the difference between tube and SS amps. The differences can be great or minute depending on user, context, how the guitar sits an ensemble ….
I guess as long as music is being made that I am proud of, I shouldn’t fuss so much.
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Here are some links.
Years ago I got a JE300 (12" speaker) used from a local guy who played pedal steel. It has been very reliable and really does sound great. I haven't tried a 10" version.
JE300 - Evans Custom Amplifiers
I had posted a great youtube video that demonstrates dialing in an archtop. It's fun once you get an orientation to what each dial does. That video is no longer available. Here is a similar but abbreviated on with pedal steel. The sequence in adjusting each pot is good to develop the habit of. It's not mandatory but is efficient.
Here are some old threads.
Evans amp settings
Evans Amps
I got my Evans at the near insistence of the departed Patrick. I had never heard of the amp before. He called me to tell me that there's one on Craigslist in my area and that I'd be a fool if I didn't get it. I've never regretted it.
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You won't ever regret purchasing an Evans amp. Wonderful products with unmatched tone, and the ownership are top-notch and honest people. I currently use a 12" JE200 for 6- and 7-string guitars. You will get what you pay for, and then some.
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Amen and same here---I've used them for 20+ years, bought from Scot's Dad at L.I. Guitar conference in the 90's. Excellent! Originally Posted by jasguitar
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I agree. I like the Evans a lot, but to say it sounds like a tube amp is a bit much. It’s more tube-like than some other solid state amps, but it doesn’t sound like a great tube amp. I don’t think the older amps mentioned above quite nailed that tube amp sound either. A really good tube amp gives you a warmth, sparkle and smooth attack that you can’t get out of a solid state amp, even with a modeler, but you can get close. Originally Posted by gitman;[URL="tel:1213769"
If weight, maintenance and long-term reliability weren’t considerations I’d probably be using a boutique tube amp. If that’s the sound you really crave and the satisfaction of having that sound outweighs the downsides, you should definitely buy a great tube amp. But in the real world in which I live, the Evans has been a good choice for me.
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I've had two Evans E150 combos. Both late 90s. Both 1x15.
I ended up selling both, in each case for purely financial reasons. In fact, these were two of the best SS amps I've played. The newer ones can get pricey. Older ones go for quite reasonable prices. I've owned polytones, a Lab Series L3, Yamaha G50, three or four Quilter amps, and now a DV Mark Micro 50 CMT.
Both Evans were tubelike, in terms of warmth, depth of sound. A slightly different feel from my favorite tube amps. Not better or worse. Just different. Tonally, those Evans amps are way up there in sound quality.
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I liked my Evans. (And I like the way they look, if that matters to you.) But I think they are around 10 lbs heavier than Quilter, so I switched.
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My RE200 is the second EVANS amp I own and I like it a lot ! It has an authoritative sound, quite more so than my other go-to SS amp, the BUD 6. The BUD can't be beat in terms of sound/size/weight and flexibility ratio but when it comes to filling a larger stage or room then the EVANS with the partly closed back and hefty 200 watt power amp is the much better/more useful option.
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