NAD: Evans RE200 - Some Initial Impressions

[iim7v7im7]

BACKGROUND

 

I was looking for a small, light weight, grab-n-go amp with good EQ to use with my archtop to play jazz. I wanted a combo amp for easy transport (amp in one hand, guitar in the other) and set up that had more effective EQ than my AI Clarus 2R Series III. I considered 1x10 options from Acoustic Image, AER, Evans, Henriksen, JazzKat, Mambo and Quilter. Very few of these are available for auditions at retailers. After, web based research and discussions with a few pros who I am friendly with, I ended up selecting an Evans Amp.

 

COMPANY

 

Evans Amps (North Carolina, USA) is a company that has been around (albeit, with different owners and locations) for about 50-years. It has been owned and run by the Buffington family for the last 20-years and exclusively by Scot Buffington since 2010. A few years ago, the company moved away from dealer distribution to direct sales via their website. They are narrowly distributed, solid state amps, but have a long-term, strong following with pedal steel guitarists and jazz guitarists.

 

CONFIGURATION, SIZE & WEIGHT

 

The Evans RE200 is a fairly compact 16.5H x 14.5W x 10.5D (portable, but not the smallest) combination amp weighing in a 27 lb. (again, portable, but not the lightest out there). As a reference it is 33% smaller and 44% lighter than my Redplate Blackverb Standard (1 x 12, tube amp) which is a 48 lb., compact 1x12, 50w tube amp.

 

 

This model has been in production for about 8-years, but has been continuously improved over this period based on field experience and speaker changes. This latest version has been sold for 2-3 years now. The RE is of course named after 7-string jazz guitar virtuoso Ron Eschete, who has used this amp for years and was influential in its design.

 

 

It has a semi-open back cabinet design containing an Eminence Beta 10A speaker (10, 6.8 lb. 8 ohm, 250w speaker, 51-3,800 Hz, with 97 dB @ 1w) which is housed between discrete preamp (above) and power amp (below) chassis. It is about 2 lb. heavier than the prior Emi Neo speaker that they used to use, but Scot B. Prefers its tone.

 

 

The amplifiers digital Class D power section is rated at 100w @ 8-ohms when powering the internal Eminence speaker and 200w @ 8-ohms when powering an external cabinet. The cabinet is made from furniture grade plywood covered in black Tolex with chrome bumpers and rubber feet. The grille cloth is a simple cream color with a chrome plated logo. The amp has a main front facing control panel with some functions accessed from the rear of the amp and pre-amp chassis on the back of the amp. A convenient, small spring-loaded tilt stand is integrated into the base of the amp to allow for tilting the amp back when in use if desired (nice features). A vintage looking leather handle is located on the top of the amp. It also comes with a custom Tuki vinyl amp cover.

 

 

CONVENTIONAL VOLUME & EQ CONTROLS

 

Some of the amp controls are conventional in nature. It has a NORMAL and +6 dB input jacks (I like the normal input with archtop and the +6 dB for a more electric sound). It has a separate VOLUME control which regulates the input signal level to the preamplifier and a MASTER volume control that serves both as an ON/OFF control and gates the output gain of the preamplifier. It also has passive BASS and TREBLE controls which are fairly straightforward to anyone used to operating guitar amps. The REVERB control adjusts the ratio of wet-dry mix of the onboard ACE-8 digital reverb signal like most amps as well. There are other REVERB controls on the back panel which I will describe later.

 

 

NON-CONVENTIONAL EQ CONTROLS

 

Evans RE200 has a number of powerful, "non-conventional", passive sound shaping controls. The BUFF control adds harmonic overtones to the signal and provides some perceived "sparkle-like" euphonic ambiance. The DEPTH control is an upper bass / lower-midrange frequencies EQ control which adds what I perceive as sonic warmth. The BODY control emphasizes the midrange frequencies while rolling-off some high-frequencies as it is engaged. The EXPAND control boosts both high and low frequencies. These controls can all interact to some degree. They sound more complex than they are to operate.

 

REAR PANEL

 

The back of the PREAMP has a number of jacks: an INPUT JACK for a cable from the POWER AMP, an EFFECTS LOOP SEND/RETURN and a PREAMP OUT jack for unbalanced line level signal out. The effects loop is passive and placed after all of the tone shaping and reverb controls in the pre-amp. A reverb DWELL control is located on the rear panel to adjust dwell time between 0.5 to 5.25 seconds. There is also a 3-position switch to select between reverb alone + flange or reverb + chorus. The amp uses a ACE-8 integrated chip for these functions. It also has a convenient built-in chord caddy to hold the15-foot power chord that comes with the amp.

 

 

The rear panel of the POWERAMP has 15 non-detachable power cord and two-jacks for HEADPHONES and external SPEAKER. A screw removable panel acts as a reflective acoustic baffle for the built-in speaker.

 

 

COST

 

As a small, grab-n-go, solid state amplifier, the Evans RE200 is not inexpensive at $1,350. There are many options in this category between $900 to $1,500 range.It is however very well built, made in North Carolina, USA by Evans Amps in small volumes (built to order); so labor and cost-of-goods are commensurately higher than large manufacturer import SS amps. Whether it is worth the price, likely depends on your size/weight/tone/playing goals.

 

HOW DOES IT SOUND?

 

I will caveat my comments that they are based upon only a few hours of home volume auditioning.

 

I am experienced with the warm, open, scooped midrange sounds of a Fender BF style amps (Redplate and others) the colored, somewhat musically nasal timbre of a Polytone and tight, immediate almost PA-like fidelity of an Acoustic Image/ Raezers Edge rig when playing jazz. The Evans RE200 falls between the AI + RE and the Fender BF style in terms of its inherent timbre. It does not have the dark timbre of a Polytone. It is more like the AI + RE than a BF, but with some added musical euphonic midrange emphasis.

 

In terms of its tone-shaping, it really stands out as being a versatile EQ that allows a player shape ones tone to suit. The result is a very musical, clean tone with some euphonic warmth and even some sheen if desired. The reverb is actually very usable (not top-shelf pedal good) once you find the dwell time that you like. I play mostly dry with the REVERB set low at 2 to 3 for ambiance at lower dwell times.

 

The amps control scheme sound more complex than it really is once you go through it once or twice. The amp sounds best to me with my archtop played with the volume and tone rolled down to 7 or 8 inputted to the NORMAL input. It is more of a natural archtop sound than a traditional electric jazz sound.The amp is reactive to touch and can expose or feature the nuance of ones right-hand technique. The amp has tremendous headroom, less than the AI + RE rig, but more than enough for almost any gig that I can imagine taking a small 1x10 to ( fine for solo, trio or quartet work in restaurants/clubs).

 

I have not tried the external speaker option yet, so no comment here. I also find the semi-open back cabinet emphasizes slightly less bass than the port 1x10 RE cabinet and is less directional in how I perceive its sound projection which I like. I have not tried any OD pedals (upfront) or time-domain pedals (in the loop) because I plan on using it for jazz playing. I have also tried it with my semi-hollow body and solid body guitars and its clean tones are quite good (whereas my AI + RE sounded a bit PA like with a Strat) once you find the right EQ settings. I will play with some ODs and let you know at a future time.

 

CONCLUSION

 

Any player seeking a high-quality, grab-n-go, solid state 1x10 amp, with powerful tone shaping, a clear but warm sound, good dispersion with adequate headroom to play out with should consider the Evans RE200.

 

[Vanschoyck]

That's a great review, and matches my impressions after using my Evans for more than 10 years now. If anything were to happen to mine, I would want to get the RE like yours. Well done on the review!

 

Here's a photo of mine, it's the AE 200, and has two 8" speakers, 200 w.

 

[Gitfiddler]

Excellent, pro level review!

[Kuz]

Great review and I hope it brings you years of enjoyment, Bob.

 

The only SS jazz amp I ever consider was an Evans, and I LOVE Ron Eschete's music & tone. But in the end for me, a guy that doesn't really play that much jazz, when I need an amp to play my archtops through my Headstrong Lil' King, '67 Deluxe Rev, and '67 Vibrolux Rev sound grand. If I was a gigging jazzer and weight was a concern, I would probably own an Evans.

[H555rocks]

Hey I've been looking around at jazz amps and was wondering how the evans compared to brands like jazzkat and henriksen when you were doing your search. Like you said there isn't a ton of stuff about these amps online but it sounds like you've done your research.

P.s. congrats on the buy also.

[pressure]

Fab review Bob.

[peterbright]

Great review!

[iim7v7im7]

Hey I've been looking around at jazz amps and was wondering how the evans compared to brands like jazzkat and henriksen when you were doing your search. Like you said there isn't a ton of stuff about these amps online but it sounds like you've done your research.

P.s. congrats on the buy also.

There are solid state 1x10 options from Acoustic Image, AER, Evans, Henriksen, JazzKat, Mambo, Phil Jones, Quilter and Schertler that I considered.

 

Regarding JazzKat, the TomKat ($1,499) is supposed to be a fine sounding amp, but it hybrid amps with preamp tubes and I have heard the onboard effects are not the best.

 

The Henriksen JazzAmp 110 ($899) is also a great amp, very much in the darker Polytone school of tone (classic to jazz, but dark and somewhat nasal to my ears). I had played a Polytone for about 8-years and was not interested in going back to that. It has a nice EQ controls and a reverb that gets mixed reviews. It is an older design (not a class D) and Bud Henriksen, the amp's creator has passed away.

[H555rocks]

Thanks a bunch!

[yavuz]

Here is a recent show with evans clean tone

 

 

Here is another show with my evans je200( open air concert ) with both and some drive tones ( drive used was a maxon ts9 )

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NtquBPboIF8

 

 

[Vanschoyck]

Here is a recent show with evans clean tone

 

Very groovy. Love it.

 

 

[Keith7940236]

Very nice, thank you

[yavuz]

I just want to add a few things to the original review since I am an official endorser and Evans user since 2001.

 

You can actually get Polytone-ish tones from Evanses as well.

 

If you lower the body control all the way to 0.5 and use bass around 6 and treble around 1-2, you will have your polytone sound.

Also, you get a very thick top E string sound at high volume when Body is around or less than 1!!!

 

You can get a fender type sound as well as a Vox.

 

You just have to do a lot of experimenting since higher volumes changes the sound a lot.

The EQ is very sensitive and works different in every volume level.

 

I have a Gibson 57 classic pup in my Millie and I use my evans like this.

 

Volume 6

Bass 6

Treble 2

Depth around 25%

Expand 0 ( my older model has expand on/off switch )

Body is around 0.75 ( little less than 1 )

Master 5 to 7 ( depending on the drummer )

[peterbright]

Great info!

[iim7v7im7]

For lower volume solo play with my pickup volume turned down to 7-8 with my archtop, I like these settings. This produces a very natural instrument tone.

 

Master = 5

Buff = 3 (adds harmonic content to highs)

Reverb = 3

Bass = 4

Depth = 40% (adds to bass/mids)

Body = 3 (adds to mids and rolls off highs)

Expand = 40% (bumps up bass & highs)

Treble = 3

Volume = 2

 

More electric sounding with master down and volume up. playing with Dwell time also helps reverb.

 

[smurph1]

I'm not really a jazz guy, but it sounds like a great amp!! Thanks!!

[iim7v7im7]

It is a great sounding little amp!

 

Very natural sounding, small, grab-n-go, lots of headroom and disperses sound. Great for straight ahead jazz. Definitely suitable for solo club gigs or with a trio or quartet. Its different from my tube amp. I actually prefer the solid state amp for clean jazz tones (heresy) Particularly with my archtop I feel like I hear a truer reproduction of the guitar's natural sound with enough tone shaping to not sound like a PA. For rock and blues, their is no replacing a tube amp for me, but for jazz the new amp is close to perfect.

 

I adore tube amps, their dynamics, feel (bounce, touch sensitivity), euphonics (warmth, chime etc.) and overdriven tones. But my compact 50w, 1x12 combo is almost 50 lb. and I am getting too old. As a hobbyist player with a day job, the number of times each year that I take the tube amp out can be counted with the fingers on both hands, but its enough to make me dread the cartage trip each time.