Bold aesthetics and simple but flexible controls make this extroverted 2-channel amp a star.
When it comes to aesthetics, most modern amp design has been lacking for a long time. Go way back to the middle of the 20th century, and you’ll find amps with serious flair. I’m talking about cute little vintage lap-steel combos cranked out by Valco for brands like Oahu, mid-mod-styled early-’60s Gretsches, short-lived watermelon-and-tree-bark ’50s Ampegs, and Fender’s early woody amps, which presaged the bachelor-pad era. By the mid ’60s or so, amp designs coalesced into an assortment of black boxes and have, with some exceptions, remained that way.
When Philly-area amp tech Josh Strange started building his own Strange Audio combos, their candy-colored cabs and technicolor grilles quickly caught the eyes of the Instagram set. The sheer variety of offerings, from grille-cloth options that range from floral to cloud-cover to cowboy, had some of us non-builders wondering, “Has it really been possible to make an amp look this cool all this time!?”
Strange’s latest, The Eloise, comes in a head-and-cab form factor that is stunning. More importantly, Strange’s knack for design goes well beyond the visual. The Eloise’s original circuit design, with switchable preamp tubes and a unique EQ, meets the demands of both players who want a straightforward plug-and-play amp and those who need to capture a wide range of styles or prefer a pedal platform scenario.
Outside the Box
The 35-watt Eloise head is eye-catching for its red vinyl covering and multi-colored starburst grille-cloth, but also for its more subtle but still noticeable control set. There are a pair of triangularly arranged control sets for the bite and bold channels, each of which include tone, gain, and mid knobs. The channels are selectable via a switch on the panel or a footswitch. There’s also an attenuator that brings the power down to about 7 watts, and a 3-way meaner/cleaner/both switch.
The Eloise is ruggedly constructed using top-notch components, including Soursound transformers, and capacitors from Jupiter, Vishay, and F&T. Strange offers matching cabs in 2x12 and 2x10 configurations. I demoed the 2x12, which was loaded with a pair of Weber Legacy Series ceramic speakers.
A pair of 6L6s power the fixed bias circuit, and there’s a GZ34 tube rectifier. Channel switching determines preamp tubes, however. The bold channel uses an octal 6SL7, delivering a robust voice with deep lows, warm mids, and rounded highs. The bite channel utilizes a 12AX7 for a brighter, more cutting high-mid voice. Within each channel, there’s a wide range of tones to explore via the tone control and a unique mid control. The tone knob controls high/low balance, while the mid knob sweeps the midrange voice from scooped to boosted.
Boosted and Balanced
Within each channel, the tone, mid, and volume controls work in conversation with each other, not unlike the tone and volume controls in a tweed Fender, which balance lows, highs, and mids, but also push the circuit to a saturated, overdriven state. As such, I spent lots of time with all three controls pretty near to full-on, manipulating the amp with my guitar volume or playing dynamics.
The meaner/cleaner/middle switch fine tunes output by adding or subtracting negative feedback and a preamp stage bypass cap. Cleaner selects negative feedback with no bypass cap, offering the most headroom; middle offers a medium amount of gain with neither negative feedback nor the bypass cap; and meaner has the least headroom and delivers the most overdrive by adding the bypass cap.
Between these options, the voicing of each channel, and the versatility of each channel’s controls, I dialed up a very wide range of tones. I could find saturated, cutting lead sounds using the bite channel in meaner mode and cranking all three controls, or throaty, neck-pickup tones with the bold channel in cleaner mode, the mids in the upper range, and the gain pulled back to about 60 percent.
Since The Eloise is a cool 35 watts, the natural overdrive is loud enough to hang alongside a rock rhythm section, but not so loud that you’ll get kicked out of the band. And there’s enough headroom that The Eloise can serve as a pedal platform and deliver effect-driven distorted and fuzz tones. The attenuator is effective, too, for keeping overdriven tones ripping without sacrificing tone at lower levels.
The Verdict
The look of The Eloise—and the entire Strange Audio line—helps set a high bar for amp style, and hopefully more builders will take note. Its unique control set and approach to channel voicing is compelling, and the interactivity between the controls gives it a wide range of tone options that are fun and intuitive to explore.
At 35 watts, The Eloise hits a sweet spot for those who want to push their amp while keeping volume manageable. Ultimately, Strange strikes a nice balance between familiar 6L6 territory and a novel approach to how to widen the sonic playing field.
