EH .22 Caliber

[newey]

I just bought one of these from MF. I'll give a full review, and perhaps some sound clips, once it arrives. It ought to be just the thing for using with my effects processors/preamps into a cab. I've been contemplating a rackmount power amp for the processors, but they're expensive and way more power than I need. I figure I can just velcro this thing to the top of the cab.

www.ehx.com/products/22-caliber

[newey]

This arrived today, and while I didn't get a chance to really put it through its paces- my wife is sleeping- I was favorably impressed at first blush.

I plugged it in (using a guitar cable, gotta get an actual speaker cable) to a 1X10" open-backed cab with a stock Fender speaker which formerly occupied my Frontman 25R. This is probably too little speaker, and not a particularly good quality one to boot.

I plugged in my Tele and had at it. Up to about 5 on the knob, it gives a decent clean sound up to a good practice level. Beyond that, it starts to drive fairly nicely, with good sustain. The bright switch does just that, and makes a real difference in the tone, not at all subtle. Adds a good deal of high-freq bite.

With the knob set to WFO (briefly, didn't want to wake the wife!) it gets into AC/DC powerchord distortion territory- but still usable, with a good sustain. It has a much more usable overdriven sound than my Fender.

No, it's not going to replace your Marshall stack or tube amp. But it definitely does what EH claims, anyway.

A few points:

- Obviously, part of the program is to keep things simple, but a power switch would have been nice.

- The "In" and "Out" jacks are labelled with tiny markings, so I think I'll put a dab of Day-Glo on one side to avoid mix-ups.

- The speaker is unprotected, so you have to remember to plug in the cab before powering it up (remember, no power switch!).

- While their advertising states that it can be used with speakers from 4Ω to 16Ω, the manual states that 8&Omega is optimal, and that if it is overdriven at 4Ω, a protection circuit shuts it down. Didn't matter to me as I had an 8&Omega, but it's a bit misleading in their ad copy.

- It's very small, the size of one of EH's Nano-sized pedals- smaller than just about every pedal I own! And, I'd say that it does produce a real 22 watts, it gets fairly loud in overdrive mode.

More definitive run-thru to follow, and I'll do some sound clips when I get a chance. But, all in all, big fun.

[JohnH]

Sounds like a great little unit newey. It would make my PowerBlock feel good about itself by making it look like a monster-sized head.

Would you mind terribly if we asked you to take it bits so that you can determine whether it works in Class A, AB, C or D mode?

Actually it would be good to know that - I believe Class D, is how the Powerblock works, which is a switching mode in which the amp dissipates very little heat, and allows a large amount of smallness.
cheers
John

[ashcatlt]

That's pretty neat. If I had a use for a dedicated guitar amp...

Wanted to mention that if you've got a guitar cable and an old brown extension cord both to spare, you've got the makings for a completely overkill speaker cable. You'd even be left with some shielded cable to use in your next guitar build!

[sumgai]

John,

They're a Class D amp, same as your CPB. Actually, the EH .22 is a slightly newer derivative design, but when all is said and done, it's still a switcher. Mighty little heat, super light weight, and nearly no wasted power (equaling high efficiency) - what's not to love?

I think I'll mosey on down to my local GC and check one out.....




sumgai

[newey]

I should also mention that there's some noise added to the equation once you start to OD the thing. Probably no moreso than my Fender with the gain switched on.

And the noise level may also have been partially due to my Tele, which is unshielded (as yet) and does have a bit of SC noise anyway.

I also just plugged it in and played, didn't bother to worry about placement or the outlet I used, so there may be some other factors implicated as well.

[newey]

An update:

I'm still using my .22 Caliber, I use it with my pedalboard into a 2X10" Peavey cabinet. It continues to work as advertised, and it's fun to play with, but its limitations become more nagging as time goes on.

• It desperately needs a power switch. Plugging and unplugging the power to turn it on/off is no good. I haven't popped the lid yet to see whether a power switch is a doable option; it might be possible to add one without too much trouble.
  
  
• Even though it looks like a stompbox, it's really not- there's no good way to put it on your pedalboard, there's no footswitch control. At least the Bright function could be done with a footswitch . . .
  
  
• The "One-knob-wonder" aspect of it is fun, but serious shaping of the tone is out of the picture, apart from the aforementioned Bright switch.
  
  
• It requires a dedicated 18V power supply and so can't be powered off a standard 9V pedalboard power supply.
  

But the idea of the SS "stompbox amplifier" has been taken up recently by others, solving some of the .22 Caliber's limitations.

EH themselves have since introduced the "Magnum 44", which is functionally the same as the .22 caliber but with double the power.

But now some new entrants:

Diago Little Smasher 5W Amp



This one solves the power supply problem, it's 9V powered. But, only 5 watts output. It also adds tone controls. Although it also doesn't have a power on/off switch, it does have an on/off switch for the speaker output.

However, Traynor has taken the "amp-as-a-stompbox" to a whole new level- two channels, reverb and trem, three footswitches, all at 25 watts.

Traynor DH25H Quarterhorse



So, I think we're seeing the beginning of a trend here. I'm anxious to try one of the Traynors.

[reTrEaD]

Price on the new ones you've posted is quite a bit higher than the 22.