Your attention please. A quick show of hands – who is tired of lugging heavy, fragile tube amps to gigs? If you raised your hand (in front of a magazine, no less) you’d be well served to meet JazzKat. The New Jersey-based company has made its reputation by delivering big, clean sounds in a small, easy to transport package. Their roster of featured artists would elicit pangs of envy from any modern amp builder – John and Bucky Pizzarelli, Randy Johnston and Frank Vignola have either lent their names to specific models or have given the solid-state amps a thumbs-up. Although JazzKat is known for their high quality, MOSFET-based single 8”, 10” and 12” combo amps, the TwinKat is somewhat of departure for the company. Unlike other JazzKat amps the TwinKat uses dual 10” Celestion G10-based speakers, and features two channels, plus built-in effects with line out. This amp is geared towards the professional musician for both live and studio work. Starting at 150 watts, the TwinKat tops off at a stunning 250 watts with the use of extension cabinets.
Upon taking the TwinKat out of its well-padded shipping box, I found the amp to be extremely lightweight, especially for a 2x10 combo. Players who have long suffered from transporting Fender Vibroluxes to far-away gigs will rejoice at this amp’s back-friendly heft, part of which can be attributed to its dual series of ports in the back.
"...JazzKat''s goal was to make a loud, portable, noise-free and fat sounding amp. I believe they''ve succeeded in achieving all of these goals, and have even managed to include some features no one was expecting."
Overall, its look is long and low, more akin to a new Dodge Magnum than any preexisting design. The controls are smartly laid out, with each channel having its own EQ, but featuring special appointments not found on the other channel. The design is clean, business-like and speaks with authority. For a 2x10 combo, the TwinKat is remarkably small (23”x15”x11”) and hovers just around 25 lbs.
Turning the amp around reveals both standard and surprising features, the first and most surprising of which is a voltage regulator, handy for those overseas shows. Other features include an effects loop, an external speaker jack, a 1/4” headphone jack and an XLR line out. Also printed on the back panel is a quick reference guide to each of the amp’s 16 effects settings: two hall reverbs, three room reverbs, three plate reverbs, three chorus settings, one flange, two delays, a single rotary speaker option and a vocal cancel. The different reverb settings determine the depth, length, decay rate and overall ambiance of the reverb selections.
Channel one also features a “Tube Drive” knob that can be bypassed entirely. At the recent Anaheim NAMM show, designer Marty Abbate said that they added a single 12AX7 tube to their amps because certain players insisted that the only way to achieve a great sounding amp was to use tubes. “There it is,” Abbate said, pointing to the Tube Drive option on the amp’s faceplate. The Tube Drive can vary the guitar’s output, volume, compression, tone and drive. It’s easy to dial in pleasing results by striking a balance between channel one’s Gain knob and the Tube Drive. Those who have experience with master volume amps will feel right at home with this feature.
Despite what the name may imply, the Tube Drive is not a built-in TS9 or 808. However, it can be used to add a degree of compression and temper a particularly tinny Strat or Tele; if pushed to its outermost limits, it can add some dirt to the signal. Granted, this level of gain is more akin to Duke Robillard than High on Fire, but obviously this is not the amp’s intent. Balancing the Tube Drive and the Gain knobs can produce a natural overdrive, similar to pushing a 15-watt Princeton to its limits. I am pleased to say that unlike solid-state amps from the Paleolithic era, the TwinKat’s overdrive was rich, satisfying and usable.
Kat Power
For my first test, I used a late-nineties chambered Guild Bluesbird. With the Tube Drive activated and set just a couple of ticks below the halfway point, the sound became somewhat muddy and indistinct. Rolling back the Tube Drive to a lower setting added warmth, a degree of compression and flattened the EQ response. That said, if you are using a big box, especially one with a floating pickup, you’ll want to control how focused the amp’s output is or things will quickly become an unpalatable audio stew. Bypassing the Tube Drive yielded more natural sound reproduction, more dynamic EQ, and, dare I say, more tube-like response. Caution and experimentation are the keys to success when using the Tube Drive.
Channel selecting is accomplished by clicking a diminutive 3-way toggle slightly off center on the amp’s control panel. The toggle enables you to access channels one, two or both, increasing the amp’s tonal pallet. Unlike channel one, the second channel does not utilize the Tube Drive feature. Also unlike some dual channel amps, channel two does not sound radically different from the first channel. Obviously both channels can be set up using different EQ settings, but both channels can be blended, further expanding the TwinKat’s dynamic range.
The TwinKat’s digital effects are controlled by a single indented rotary knob and a Level control. The Effects knob itself uses small print that can be difficult to see in low light situations, so a good ear and fine touch may be needed in order to dial in your desired results. Generally speaking the reverb is very good, but it does sound a bit gated as the signal begins to decay and then comes to an abrupt halt, as opposed to gradually tapering off like a long pan analog reverb unit. This should be fine for live situations, but it may keep some people from using it for recording purposes. In order to better explore the amp’s effect options, I switched to a Michael Dolan Strat equipped with Razor single coil pickups. After a while, I found myself constantly being drawn to the delay, setup in a slapback configuration. I tried as hard as I could but I found it difficult to keep from trying my hand at rockabilly licks and Ry Cooder-inspired slide work. As with Fender’s Jazzmaster, it is unlikely that JazzKat intended the TwinKat to be used for country licks. That said, the single-coils quacked and chimed with enough authority to satisfy even the most dedicated twang aficionados.
Plugging a low-gain, analog overdrive into the TwinKat effects loop was somewhat disappointing. I’ve had problems mating this overdrive pedal with solidstate amps, and unfortunately, this wasn’t an exception to that rule. The analog overdrive pedal sounded weak and harsh through the effects loop. Going direct improved things a bit, but not dramatically – switching to a digital overdrive pedal yielded far better results. Sending an analog chorus pedal through the effects loop was also mixed bag. As with the Tube Drive, caution and experimentation are the keys to success when using the TwinKat’s effects loop.
Last but not least, I plugged in a workhorse of a guitar that you could take to a small club and not worry about – a Korean made D’Angelico clone with a single Kent Armstrong floating pickup. I was able to get very usable big box tones by simply going direct into the amp with a George Lynch vintage cable. Activating the Tube Drive added just the right amount of glow to the D’Angelico’s woody tone. I would have liked to seen a footswitch for the amp, and send/ receive levels or wet/dry blend adjustments for the effects loop. As mentioned earlier, some of the controls may become difficult to read in low light situations – the addition of an LED readout window for the reverb effects would be an especially welcome addition.
The Final Mojo
Overall, the TwinKat is a very good amp with few, if any, drawbacks. Marty Abbate stated that the JazzKat’s goal was to make a loud, portable, noise-free and fat sounding amp. I believe they’ve succeeded in achieving all of these goals, and have even managed to include some features no one was expecting. The TwinKat can occasionally sound a little boxy, but to its credit it is never sterile or shrill. If you’re looking for portability and don’t want to mess around with tubes, look here.
Buy if...
you want a quiet, low weight, good sounding amp that lets you leave the bag of effects at home.
Skip if...
you want to be able to make quick tonal changes with a top of the toe.
Rating...
MSRP $1149 - JazzKat Amplifiers, LLC - jazzkatamps.com |
Our expert has stated their case, now we want to hear yours. Share your comments and ratings below.
![Jerry Cantrell Rig Rundown [2024]](https://www.premierguitar.com/media-library/youtube.jpg?id=53714787&width=1245&height=700&quality=85&coordinates=0%2C0%2C0%2C0)
Jerry Cantrell’s forthcoming solo record, I Want Blood, is a return to beastly form for the legendary grunge guitarist. Featuring spots from Metallica bassist Robert Trujillo and Faith No More drummer Mike Bordin—two old friends who played on Cantrell’s 2002 solo release, Degradation Trip—along with Duff McKagan and more, it’s a glorious, riff-filled reunion.
Ahead of the record’s release, PG’s Perry Bean caught up with Cantrell for an updated rundown of his current touring rig. Watch the whole Rig Rundown to catch all the details, and hear some special stories about how late Alice in Chains vocalist Layne Staley encouraged Cantrell’s singing.
Brought to you by D’Addario.The Ones You Know
The G&L Rampage has been one of Cantrell’s top choices for decades, and he brings his vintage, well-used, and colorfully decorated iterations on the road along with his newer signature models. G&L announced earlier this year that they were reviving the Rampage—thanks largely to Cantrell’s impact.
Feel the Champagne
This Gibson Flying V finished in champagne sparkle is another of Cantrell’s go-to stage axes.
Amp in the Box
Cantrell tours with this rack amplifier setup, which features a Fryette Two/Ninety/Two Stereo Power Amp, a Fryette LX II Stereo Power Amp, and a Bogner Fish All Tube Preamp.
Rack 'Em Up
Save for his signature MXR Jerry Cantrell Firefly Talk Box and his Dunlop Jerry Cantrell Firefly Cry Baby Wah which stay at his feet, Cantrell keeps his pedals in a rack configuration, including a handful of MXR Smart Gates, MXR Timmy, Strymon Ola, MXR Six Band EQ, MXR Ten Band EQ, Barber Electronics Direct Drive, Boss DD-500, MXR EVH Flanger, Boss CE-5, MXR Poly Blue Octave, Ibanez TS808HW, MXR Reverb, Line 6 MM4 Modulation Modeler, and MXR Talk Box. A Custom Audio Electronics RS-T MIDI Foot Controller, manned by Cantrell’s tech, handles the behind-the-scenes switching.
As long as humans have been creating art, they have also been inventing new tools for expressing that art. From the paintbrush to the synthesizer, new technologies have driven paradigm shifts, providing artists with fresh creative avenues. Technology drives the art, as they say.
That’s certainly been the case with Line 6’s DL4 Delay Modeler. Originally conceived as a humble digital delay, the Big Green Monster has created a niche of its own, serving as ground zero for entire new genres of indie and experimental music. Since its release 25 years ago, the DL4 has enhanced the creative palettes of artists ranging from Joe Perry, Mike Campbell, Dave Grohl, and Joe Satriani to Bill Frisell, Thom Yorke, and Ed O’Brien.
Nearly a quarter century later, Line 6 has introduced the DL4 MkII. The updated version features a smaller footprint, as well as increased delay time, sampling and recording via built-in micro-SD card reader, MIDI functionality, and a host of new effects algorithms from Line 6’s legendary HX family of amp and effects processors.
Inauspicious Beginnings
In the late 1990s, fresh from making a disruptive splash with their eye-catching POD amp modeler, the fledgling startup Line 6 set their sights on creating a series of pedals that would further extend their reach into digital emulations of effects. Plans called for the DM4 distortion modeler, the MM4 modulation modeler, the FM4 filter modeler, and the DL4 delay modeler.
The DL4 would include models of classic delays like the Echoplex and Roland Space Echo, as well as Line 6’s own innovative delay algorithms. But it was the DL4’s other features that would pique the interest of adventurous musicians, including a first-of-its-kind tap-tempo function and, of course, its now-legendary looper.
Jeorge Tripps was running his own boutique pedal company, Way Huge, when he was invited to consult with Line 6 on modeling vintage pedals. A few months into the project he was offered a position with the company. “Line 6 was like college for me,” Tripps recounts. “I had worked on things on my own, but developing a product with a team was really an education. Ideas are easy, but bringing a product to fruition as a team was a whole different experience.”
The team comprised the cream of the Line 6 brain trust, including co-founders Michel Doidic and Marcus Ryle, as well as product developers Greg Westall, Jeff Slingluff, and Patrick O’Connor, engineers Nigel Redmon and Kevin Duca, industrial designer Lucien Tu, and numerous other contributors. As Tripps observes, the input of those different perspectives was critical to the project.
“Most of us were also players, and that made a difference. You can create a product that’s great from an engineer’s perspective, but when you put it the hands of an artist, they might see something completely different in it.”
Keep It Simple
Simplicity was part of the design goal of the DL4. “The idea was to create a digital pedal with analog functionality,” explains Tripps, adding that he had limited input into the design. “Much of it was already planned out by the time I joined the project. The industrial design was there. I had to figure out how to map functions to the existing hardware.”
The interface was straightforward: a 16-position mode selector knob, five knobs to adjust parameters, and four analog-style footswitches: Record/Overdub, Play/Stop, Play Once, and 1/2 Speed/Reverse. It was Tripps who suggested the fourth button be used for tap-tempo function.
The DL4 also incorporated stereo outputs, which was something of a last-minute addition. “When the DL4 first came out, very few guitarists were playing stereo rigs,” Tripps reports. “We put it in there just because it was cheap and easy to implement. Only after it was out for a while did people start discovering it.”
Tripps also played a key role in promoting the looper, which was in some ways almost an afterthought. Of course, looping itself was nothing new. The Echoplex and other tape-based delays had been around for decades. But analog delays were expensive and unwieldy for live work, and the early digital pedals didn’t have a lot of memory—certainly not enough for looping.
In fact, it was digital’s limitations that contributed to another of the DL4’s characteristic sonic features. “Technically, we couldn’t get quite 15 seconds of loop time; it was like 14 and change,” Tripps recalls. “So we decided to take that remaining few hundred milliseconds of delay time and run that through the looper.”
A Slow Build
Despite Line 6’s aggressive advertising, the DL4 and its siblings were not an immediate hit. “People didn’t really know what it was at first,” says Tripps. “It didn’t really explode until a handful of people started doing stuff with it.” Slowly and steadily, artists as varied as Dimebag Darryl, Ed O’Brien, The Edge, and Thom Yorke started squeezing whole new sonic landscapes from the diminutive box.
Minus the Bear’s David Knudson made the DL4 an integral part of the band’s sound. “At first I was mesmerized by the rad stereo sounds. Playing in a hardcore/metal band at the time, in the beginning I was using one half-stack amp. At some point down the line, I realized that as the only guitar player I should get another half-stack for the other side of the stage. Once I plugged in the DL4 to each half-stack and found the Ping Pong delay, my mind was instantly blown. The melodic guitar parts had never sounded so huge and epic. It was the beginning of an epic journey to discover what all the delays were about.”
For Joff Oddie of indie rockers Wolf Alice, the experience was equally liberating. “I actually don’t think I’d even used a delay pedal before and it blew my mind. There were sounds that I expected, and then other settings like the Sweep delay and reverse sounds, which to me sounded so otherworldly yet at the same time organic. I never gave my manager the pedal back. I hope he doesn’t read this.”
As Knudson notes, it was many years later and a happy accident in the studio that led to his discovering the DL4’s looping function. “We were recording some demos after our first LP came out and I think out of boredom I played a little tapping lead into the looper. That song would become “Fine +2 Points,” which features a re-triggered loop section in the bridge that really opened the door for me. After that little successful experiment, for our next record, Menos El Oso, I was in full-on loop and sampler mode. I realized that with multiple DL4s I could emulate some of my favorite cut-up and glitchy sounds coming out of artists like Four Tet, DJ Shadow, Caribou, and other early EDM pioneers. The one-shot function allowed me to re-trigger samples and create riffs that sounded like they should have originated on an MPC. Eight of the 11 songs on that record have sampled riffs and re-defined what guitar playing meant for me.”
Of course, looping was only part of the DL4’s broader appeal, which also offered sounds and tactile control previously unavailable on most effects pedals. “I loved how cranking the feedback knob made it go crazy,” opines Oddie, “how the time knob sounded when you wiggled it and the delays pitch shifted. Part of its charm is how incredibly tactile it is.”
“I’ve yet to find another sampler pedal that works as well as the DL4,” adds Knudson. “It’s super easy to use and so straightforward that it’s perfect for the live setting. I don’t want a bank of digital menus to scroll through, and the fact that it can get everything I need done with four buttons is perfect. If it were any more complicated I don’t think it would have been nearly as successful as it has become.”
Like most legends, the DL4 has spawned a host of imitators. Looping and sampling have become powerful tools for guitarists and other musicians, and while the DL4 may not have been the first, it’s largely seen as the big daddy of the art form.
“The DL4 didn’t really break any new ground, yet it was a major leap,” observes Tripps. “It didn’t improve on existing delays as much as it created a whole new instrument. It put a lot of power on the floor for guitarists, along with a really intuitive interface. Almost by accident, it made looping accessible for live performance.”
It’s hard to believe it’s been nearly 25 years since the DL4 made its debut. Technology has obviously come a long way since then, and Line 6 has recently unveiled a new commemorative 25th Anniversary edition of the iconic pedal. The Mk II version adds to the legend without taking away the features that made it what it is. “The MkII just improves upon an already great pedal,” Knudson observes. “Honestly, one of the best things is just the smaller footprint on the pedalboard. As we know, boards are increasingly becoming competitive as to how much stuff you can squeeze on there! But I love the additional delays and reverbs. The classics are obviously my go-to choices, but I love how it has evolved and elevated with current trends with guitarists but still stayed true to form in what made it so wonderful in the first place.”
The quiet impact of the DL4 is something no one would have foreseen. Much like a band making a record, all the best laid plans won’t predict the public’s response. Will it thud like a tree in an empty forest, or be gone tomorrow like a flash in the pan? Like a hit single, only time will tell if it has the staying power to become a legend. As Tripps concludes, “It was the right combination of great minds, great ideas, and great execution, at the right time.”
Celebrating 10 years of Revv & 5 years since the release of the G2, Revv is debuting V2 circuit revisions of the G2, G3, & G4, implementing new designs for more tone in 3 little pedals, in a limited edition colorway.
The Revv Amplification 5th Anniversary G-Series V2 Lineup features:
- 3 Fresh Flavors of Boutique Canadian Tone - G-Series pedals are sonic recreations of 3 of Revv’s boutique amp channels used by Nashville session stars & metal touring artists alike.
- The Standard, Redefined - V2 circuit revisions are based on the Generator 120 MK3 Rev. B & incorporate new design elements for the most tube-like response & tone ever.
- Limited Edition - Exclusive new colorway featuring a black enclosure w/ custom graphics, embossed Revv badge, & color-coded knobs.
- Find Your Sound - The G2 is a powerful & versatile overdrive capable of everything from touch-sensitive boost to organic vintage stack tones, taken from Revv’s Green Channel.
- High Gain Clarity - The G3 utilizes Revv’s legendary Purple Channel, a tight & responsive high gain tone perfect for drop tuning & cutting through any mix.
- Fat Solo Tones - The G4 is based on Revv’s thick & saturated Red Channel, the ideal sound for chewy crunch, modern rock wall of sound, & liquid sustaining solos.
- Made in Canada - 100% analog circuit w/ top jacks, true bypass, & 2 year warranty.
Revv’s G-Series pedals have a street price of $229 & can be ordered immediately through many fine dealers worldwide.
For more information, please visit revvamplification.com.
Revv G3 Purple Channel Preamp/Overdrive/Distortion Pedal - Anniversary Edition
Huge shocker incoming: Zach Broyles made a Tube Screamer. The Mythos Envy Pro Overdrive is Zach’s take on the green apple of his eye, with some special tweaks including increased output, more drive sounds, and a low-end boost option. Does this mean he can clear out his collection of TS-9s? Of course not.
This time on Dipped in Tone, Rhett and Zach welcome Tyler Bryant, the Texas-bred and Nashville-based rocker who has made waves with his band the Shakedown, who Rhett credits as one of his favorite groups. Bryant, it turns out, is a TS-head himself, having learned to love the pedal thanks to its being found everywhere in Texas guitar circles.Bryant shares how he scraped together a band after dropping out of high school and moving to Nashville, including the rigors of 15-hour drives for 30-minute sets in a trusty Ford Expedition. He’s lived the dream (or nightmare, depending on the day) and has the wisdom to show it.
Throughout the chat, the gang covers modeling amps and why modern rock bands still need amps on stage; the ins and outs of recording-gear rabbit holes and getting great sounds; and the differences between American and European audiences. Tune in to hear it all.
