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I just picked a Zwengel half stack.
Zwengel amps are a boutique brand, manufactured by Carl Zwengel in Illinois. There are probably only 25 Zwengel amps currently in existense. I tried a 2x12 combo out several months ago and knew that one of these amps was in my future. I then found a guy who was unloading a half-stack for a price too good to pass up. Here's a pic with a few of the kids:
The head is a two channel (vintage and modern) configuration using four 12AX7s and two 6L6s. It has a shared EQ, with mid and bright boost switches for the clean channel. It also has a parallel effects loop, and can drive 4, 8, or 16 ohm loads.
The cabinet contains four pre-China Celestion V30s, and has 4 ohm and 16 ohm inputs.
Sound-wise, the vintage channel is reminiscent of a Fender. The gain structure sends it into crunch fairly early, so the EMGs in my Rhoads are not the pickups to use for a clean sound. The stacked double coil in the middle position of my PC1 produces a great clean tone, however.
The Modern channel is so sweet on this thing. The Bridge position on my Rhoads into the Modern channel is an unreal experience. Palm-muting the low E is like getting kicked in the chest when playing Metallica or Megadeth. This would not be a good death metal amp, but for my style of music (Rush, Megadeth), there is plenty of gain. The sound is more similar to a Marshall than Mesa, and the high gain is far less "buzzy" than a Mesa as well; which is one of the things I liked about it.
The amp is entirely hand wired, and the wiring job is a work of art. It is wired entirely point-to-point, and there is not a circuit board to be found. The only boards present have just been drilled through to accept the component which are wired below the board.
I doubt many, if any, of you have had a chance to hear one of these, but I highly recommend audition one if you get the chance.
- E.
Zwengel amps are a boutique brand, manufactured by Carl Zwengel in Illinois. There are probably only 25 Zwengel amps currently in existense. I tried a 2x12 combo out several months ago and knew that one of these amps was in my future. I then found a guy who was unloading a half-stack for a price too good to pass up. Here's a pic with a few of the kids:
The head is a two channel (vintage and modern) configuration using four 12AX7s and two 6L6s. It has a shared EQ, with mid and bright boost switches for the clean channel. It also has a parallel effects loop, and can drive 4, 8, or 16 ohm loads.
The cabinet contains four pre-China Celestion V30s, and has 4 ohm and 16 ohm inputs.
Sound-wise, the vintage channel is reminiscent of a Fender. The gain structure sends it into crunch fairly early, so the EMGs in my Rhoads are not the pickups to use for a clean sound. The stacked double coil in the middle position of my PC1 produces a great clean tone, however.
The Modern channel is so sweet on this thing. The Bridge position on my Rhoads into the Modern channel is an unreal experience. Palm-muting the low E is like getting kicked in the chest when playing Metallica or Megadeth. This would not be a good death metal amp, but for my style of music (Rush, Megadeth), there is plenty of gain. The sound is more similar to a Marshall than Mesa, and the high gain is far less "buzzy" than a Mesa as well; which is one of the things I liked about it.
The amp is entirely hand wired, and the wiring job is a work of art. It is wired entirely point-to-point, and there is not a circuit board to be found. The only boards present have just been drilled through to accept the component which are wired below the board.
I doubt many, if any, of you have had a chance to hear one of these, but I highly recommend audition one if you get the chance.
- E.
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