As fantastic as the Gray Box can sound in these applications, this isn’t an overdrive for everyone. Even with all the EQ flexibility, some soft clipping devotees will find it shockingly immediate and even harsh. But if you crave overdrive tones that inhabit the, well, “gray” area between civilized and brutish, you’ll dig what Big Tone has in store.
Test gear: DeArmond JetStar, Fender Stratocaster, silverface Fender Bassman, ’64 Fender Tremolux
Fender Telecaster Custom with silverface Fender Bassman and 2 X12 cabinet with Warehouse G-12C/S speakers.
Ratings
Pros:
Thoughtful, practical EQ section. Heavy-duty tones make a great match for bassy amps. Diode switching versatility.
Cons:
Can sound harsh with bright amps. EQ can be tricky to master.
Street:
$199
Big Tone Music Brewery Gray Box Overdrive
bigtonemusic.com
Tones:
Ease of Use:
Build/Design:
Value:
Stomp-Head 5
Designed with both fly rigs and everyday use in mind, this 40-/90-watt, 3-channel amp boasts a tube preamp, a Master Tube Design power section, noise gate, boost, and mode switch. The amp’s mix mode allows all three channels to run simultaneously.
Tone Block 200
This compact-yet-powerful solid-state amp delivers tube-like tone up to 200 watts and features gain, master, and contour controls, a proprietary direct out, and a universal power supply.
44 Magnum Power Amp
Able to fit in the palm of your hand, this box delivers 44 watts into 8 or 16 ohms, has a tone switch for toggling between neutral and a top-end boost, and can be driven to a natural, true-amplifier saturation.
Little Smasher
This 5-watt, full-fledged amp head has four, analog-modeled cascading gain stages with a range from chime-y clean to rock crunch. With its 4- to 16-ohm output impedance, this pedal-sized enclosure can drive up to a 4x12.
AMP1
This 100-watt amp features four channels (clean, vintage, classic, and modern), switchable and adjustable boost and reverb controls, three integrated footswitches, and a speaker simulation output for recording/headphones.
TGA-1-180D Mighty Minnie
Originally designed for Sonny Landreth, who needed a sized-for-pedalboard amp, the handbuilt TGA-1 can deliver 180 watts into 4 ohms and houses a full range of controls for gain, bass, midrange, treble, and master.
Mojo Diamond
This 5-watt, class-A/B amp was inspired by the sound of the Fender Tweed and manages to fit a 3-band EQ onboard its svelte enclosure. Other features include an effects loop, headphone out, and auxiliary in.
RG13
Features on this 3-channel, 1-watt floor amplifier include a switchable effects loop, volume-boost function, auxiliary in, headphone out, and a speaker-emulated XLR direct output with ground lift.
QuarterHorse Microamp
This 25-watt amp features a 2-channel design for delivering both clean and lead tones, and tape-delay and tremolo effects with full control. A micro-toggle selects the desired effects while the three integrated footswitches allow quick, one-touch channel selection.
Ethos Overdrive Amp
This compact, 30-watt (at 8 ohms) amp offers two independent channels with EQ and high-cut, tone-stack toggles for brite, modern/classic, and jazz/rock. Upgrades are available including a 3-band, post-overdrive EQ and/or an active effects-loop mod.
Portable Power, Infinite Customization
One of the main focuses in designing the BN6210 was to keep the weight of the combo down for the utmost portability. The plywood enclosure houses two neodymium 10" speakers that are 40 percent lighter than their ceramic-magnet cousins, bringing the BN6210 to just a hair under 60 pounds—a manageable weight that should assist in back-grief prevention during load ins and outs. But don’t judge an amp by its enclosure. This class-D combo is all about power, with its 600 watts of wall-shaking punch.
Unlike some other 2x10 combos in its class, the BN6210 offers a wealth of tone-tweaking tools to achieve the sound you’re after and thoughtful features for various playing situations. There’s the 6-band graphic EQ that’s engaged at the touch of a button, built-in Acousti-Comp compression, an overdrive section, super-lo and super-hi frequency boost switches, a notch enabler switch for mid-range scooping, and a -10 dB pad switch to for use with active basses/high-output pickups.
The back panel is just as well equipped. It houses an XLR direct out, output-level knob, pre/post EQ switch, a ground-lift switch, footswitch jack, tuner send, effects send/return, and a link in/out for use with another head as a slave/master.
With so many bells and whistles to dig into, I eagerly plugged in a trusty Fender American Precision Deluxe to give the amp a go with a passive bass. Starting out with the EQ set flat, I was impressed right away with the level of note clarity. Each note up and down the neck was equally pronounced, and projected with booming sharpness. The amp pushes a notable amount of air and reached some impressive depths for a pair of 10" speakers, while the punchiness of the highs made playing in upper registers equally moving.
Ratings
Pros:
Lightweight and powerful. Highly customizable tone shaping. Ready to sub for a much larger rig.
Cons:
A little pricey for a combo, even with all the options. Overdrive lacks a little in the grit department.
Tones:
Ease of Use:
Build/Design:
Value:
Street:
$749
Acoustic BN6210
acousticamplification.com
Before activating the 6-band EQ switch, I set the EQ levels to a typical “U” shape with the lows and highs topping off around 75 percent and the mids curving down to about 25 percent. I tested several variations with the sliders, and the 6-band EQ showed its worth for precise tone tweaking. The front panel also features low, high, and notch dials that ultimately serve the same function as the graphic EQ, but with quicker adjustability on the fly.
Variations in Tone
The super-lo, super-hi, and notch enable switches are excellent options for quick sound shifting through the touch of a button. Engaging the super-lo added a low-frequency boost of 3 dB at 40 Hz that enhanced the deep end and immersed my tone with rich lows, while the super-hi’s 2 dB boost at 7 kHz provided a dose of brightness that was great for soloing higher up on the neck. The notch enable button—and its accompanying dial for maneuvering the notch-filter frequency—proved to be the most diverse and dynamic of the three switches by filling out the body of the tone from the center out for the entirety of the bass.
When I activated the Acoustic-Comp switch, it added a nice—albeit light—level of compression that didn’t overly dry out or weaken the tone. Nope, it’s not going to replace a top-flight compression pedal, but will have you covered in a pinch when you need a little squeeze. The onboard compressor was most useful when playing heavily in the midrange or aggressively using a pick.
The BN6210’s overdrive section consists of an on/off switch and dials for blend and gain levels to fine-tune the amount of grit. With the low, high, and notch knobs all set to noon, I rolled the overdrive to 2 o’clock and kept the blend at 50/50. The overdrive tone was a little thin with this setting, but pushing the low and notch dials to about 2 o’clock gave the overdrive the bottom it needed. Balls-to-the-wall distortion isn’t on tap here, but the overdrive section of this versatile combo is a handy tool for mustering up some respectable grind for those heavier moments.
The Verdict
The Acoustic BN6210 is a powerful, solid combo with a wonderland of tone-shaping tools. Its sound is booming and clear, and the amp is portable and light enough to take to just about any gig. Players who want a simple control set they don’t have to fuss with might want to opt for a more basic combo. But when you consider all the sonic-sculpting options and the many tone junkies who love to tweak and craft their tone from the ground up, the compact BN6210 combo could be an ideal pairing.