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Download Example 1
Raw rock rhythm (Epiphone Sheraton)
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Download Example 2
Clean with vibrato (Godin Dorchester)
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Download Example 3
Neck roll-off and bridge lead tones (Gibson Les Paul)
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All clips recorded with a Chandler LTD1 mic pre into an Apogee Symphony I/O to Pro Tools HD9. SM57 off axis to Evil Robot. Slight addition of Lexicon hall reverb in mix. |
Unless you’ve purposefully dodged
guitar-related forums or YouTube
product demos for the past couple of
years, you’ve likely beheld the work of
madman guitarist Phil X. With millions
of views of hundreds videos to his credit,
Phil X is an online guitar-culture fixture
who plays and showcases the stunning
collection of vintage guitars available for
sale at Fretted Americana in Calabasas,
California. Every episode is chock full of
ripping guitar, renditions of classic rock
songs, and Phil’s gregarious humor and
encyclopedic love of music. And typically
he’s plugged into a ’60s Vox AC30 or
his beloved-but-rare 1950s Magnatone
Tonemaster 1x12 combo—the inspiration
for Fretted Americana’s first amp offering,
the Evil Robot.
The decision to build the Evil Robot
was prompted by demand from Fretted
Americana viewers wanting to know
more about the mighty little Tonemaster,
an amp that was originally made for
accordion. Recognizing an opportunity
to resurrect a great design and meet a
burgeoning demand (and the reality that
Phil’s ancient Tonemaster might not live
forever), Fretted Americana brought in
engineer John Kasha to design and build
an updated version of this classic. Enter
the Evil Robot!
A Bionic Clone
While Kasha took care to replicate the
Tonemaster’s sound and looks, he made
the Evil Robot more robust with modern
components. The 40-pound amp is packaged
in a 20" x 9.5" x 15" cabinet made
of Baltic birch ply and covered in a cool
brown vinyl that’s complemented by a
gold-mesh grille. Ivory-colored chickenhead
knobs and a heavy-duty handle add
an air of mid-century authenticity. The
hilarious “EVIL ROBOT” logo is prominently
displayed on a gold panel where the
Tonemaster logo appeared on the original.
And production amps will have a gold
plate on the back of the semi-open back
cab commemorating the amp with signatures
by Phil X, Fretted Amrericana owner
David J. Brass, and John Kasha.
Powered by a pair of 6V6s, the cathode-biased
amp produces 18 watts. A pair of
12AX7s, one 12AU7, and a 6AV6 complete
the all-tube signal path, and the true
point-to-point wiring (no circuit board)
incorporates premium American-made
components. The 8Ω 12" speaker is handmade
in the US and rated at 30 watts.
The Evil Robot will put you back in touch with the nuances of your instrument—it’s incredibly satisfying to play through, regardless of what guitar you plug in.
From left to right, the control panel
consists of four inputs (High and Low
inputs for channels A and B), followed
by a 3-way switch for voicing (Mellow,
Normal, and Bright). Loudness A and
B knobs share a single Tone control for
both channels, while the Vibrato circuit
consists of Intensity and Speed knobs
with a footswitch jack located just below.
Finally there is an orange power indicator
light, remote speaker output, a 2A Slo-Blo
fuse, and a power toggle with no standby
switch.
Play That Funky Music
To say the Evil Robot is funky is an understatement.
Its overdriven, throaty, low-watt
voicing will appeal to anyone who digs
the sound of Valco, Supro, Airline, or
Silvertone amps. But the ER has a lot of
style and versatility too. This is an amp
that begs to be played and explored with
each guitar you plug in. Its clean front end
highlighted the personality of each axe I
employed over the course of the review,
revealing the effects of different pickups,
wood, and even picks on the tones leaping
from the speaker. The Evil Robot will
put you back in touch with the nuances of
your instrument—it’s incredibly satisfying
to play through, regardless of what guitar
you plug in.
The first guitar I tried was an Epiphone
Sheraton with Tom Holmes 455s (8.55k
in the bridge). Running into the Robot’s
Channel A High input with the Loudness
A and Tone cranked and the switch in the
Bright position, I was rewarded with a lush
but ragged and boxy grind in the fashion
of Alex Lifeson’s 2112 tone—all at a tolerable
volume. I quickly became addicted to
exploring picking dynamics, and digging
in or backing off was often all I needed
to clean up the tone or coax a little grit.
I also found that it was great for refining
and exploring the details and dynamics of
hybrid picking. If you’re a stickler for precision,
the Evil Robot will reward the detail
and touch in your technique. Likewise, it
certainly won’t help hide your mistakes if
you’re a sloppy player.
Probing the capabilities of the 3-way
voicing switch, I found the Mellow setting
quite dark. With the Tone backed down it
was a little too mellow for my tastes. But
with the Tone at its mid setting, the amp
gave me a little more top-end bite that was
great for jazz chording and leads.
The Normal setting opened up the
ER considerably, and I spent most of
my time tinkering with the amp in this
mode. Without dedicated bass and treble
controls, it can be a balancing act to get
precisely the voice you’re looking for. But
it’s never difficult to get a great sound, and
the range is still quite wide—especially for
a low-power amp.
It’s worth noting that the 3-way
switch is only a 3-way on Channel A. On
Channel B, you only have the use of high
and low tone settings. And the 3-way
switch is constrained by the Tone knob
in the sense that you must back the Tone
down to 4 o’clock or so to engage the
Normal and Mellow modes. It’s a quirky
circuit, but useful and expressive once you
get the hang of things.
Moving on to a Fender Strat revealed
the Evil Robot’s range of clean tones and
spank. I got all the quack you’d ever want
out of the bridge-plus-middle pickup
position, and the neck pickup was biting,
chiming tonal bliss—perfect for serious
chicken pickin’. In the same mode, I tried
my Creation Audio Labs Holy Fire pedal to
see how the amp sounded in high-gain territory.
With the extra boost, the Evil Robot
howled, screamed, and kicked its way into
beautiful fits of musical rage where rich
harmonic feedback knocked me off my
feet. Meanwhile, a Richmond Dorchester
wired with Lace Alumitones helped me
crank out some gutsy slide tones that could
run with the dirtiest old, vintage combos.
One of the really special bonuses of the
Evil Robot is the fantastic Vibrato circuit.
It can be taken out of the chain any time
with the included footswitch, but I found
myself pretty addicted to the effect over
time. Unlike a lot of vibrato circuits, it
doesn’t overpower the signal, but remains
strong as notes fade. And belting out big
power chords or ripping lead lines with
a tasteful, controlled vibrato blend really
expanded the amps available colors.
The Verdict
In an increasingly airbrushed, homogenized,
and antiseptic world, it’s easy to forget
that you can’t always model the magic
of pushing an amp beyond its limits. The
visceral impact of an amp ready to blow
is always an inspiration to me. And the
funky character that the Evil Robot communicated
in this operating environment
was right up my alley.
The Evil Robot is overflowing with
potential for many kinds of players. It
doesn’t do modern scooped mids or endless
high gain. But it’s uncommonly responsive
to pick attack, drive, and dynamics. The
simple but effective circuit and excellent
vibrato is more than enough to justify
the price, and from what I witnessed, this
amp is built to last. It’s almost impossible
to capture the mojo of an amp as battlescarred
as Phil X’s Tonemaster. But this
amp will certainly outperform the original
in terms of stability and power. Coming
together on a project that many people
have been asking for, Kasha, Brass, and
Phil X have done an outstanding job.
Buy if...
you want funky, cool, retro tones and more in a stable, solid, compact low-watt combo.
Skip if...
bells, whistles, knobs, and FX loops are an absolute necessity.
Rating...
