Dirt Road Special 40-watt 1x12" Combo Amp Review

Well worth the money!

Easy to use-without a bunch of on board effects that are useless. The Reverb is top notch to say the least. Enough power to get you through the mix loud and clear. It weighs less than half the weight the tube amp I was using for live shows. I play Country and Blues and it is great for both. I have played a couple of shows with it so far and have no complaints at all. It was… read more used at Festival of the Red-pic below with our band Morril Tavern.

---

Cancel Comment

Incredible amp!! Great tone!!

I wasn't really looking to buy another amp while browsing through Sweetwater's amp selections, but when I came across this one, it immediately grabbed my attention. First, it was the price, which is in my affordability wheelhouse. Then it was the 5 star reviews it was getting. Then it was the convincing videos. Then it was the weight and smaller size (only 29 lbs!!!). Then it was… read more the wattage and speaker size. I have been using a much heavier and larger Blackstar Club 40 (which I absolutely love), but I was looking for something lighter with a 12" speaker for the smaller venues. So I bought it, and guess what--this 40 watt EHX Dirt Road is now the amp that I use in a stereo combination with my Boss Katana 100 (the Blackstar will be used for bigger venues this summer). I couldn't be more satisfied. Not only is my guitar rig more compact, but as other reviewers have noted, it takes pedals extremely well and delivers a very well-rounded sound. I love the simplicity of the electronics (volume, tone, bite, reverb). Great technology for a solid-state guitar amp. It's powerfully loud and clean as needed, and when I kick in my Red Dirt overdrive, it sustains beautifully. The richness of tone is unbelievable even at a lower volume. So, here's another 5-star review for the EHX Dirt Road!

---

Cancel Comment

And The EHX Speaker Is Pretty Neat Too...

had to correct myself with a second review. ( be careful not to boost into it too hard ) i found a schematic online of the old DRS circuit.the diodes are just biasing diodes, not soft clipping zeners. so you do not actually want to clip this amp,because it would apparently sound like crappy solid state clipping. so it turns out that the topping out distortion is entirely in the… read more magic of pure speaker cone break up...the same schematic had a speaker note spec-ing a Celestion G12M,( which is a 20 watt speaker, with no pole piece vent. ) so it seems to me that EHX made their own "G12M-ish" speaker with a vented pole piece to get 20 watt cone breakup in a speaker that could thermally handle 75 watts, ( which is what you would want for thermal dissipation in a speaker on a 40 watt amp if it ever accidentally got solid state clipping )

---

Cancel Comment

Congratulations

having gotten this far in your search for the perfect workhorse solid state amp.. ( Note: this is Not a digital modeling amp, if you get a modeling amp, Do Not boost into it, because your just hitting a ADC with something it's not designed for if you do. ) the EHX Dirt Road Special is Pure Solid State, there is a big difference.. Q: what distinguishes the EHX-DRS from inferior… read more solid state amps ? 1) it Has a quiet Liner Transformer Based Supply. 2) it has a Discrete Transistor and Diode Circuit that is designed to sound like a compliment of Tubes, and you can actually boost into this amp; as that same Tube Like circuit protects the 40 Watt power section from peaks, and keeps it running clean, topped out at 38 Watts. 3) it is quality built like a tank, with 11 ply birch, in the USA 4) quality electrical components;( all the through hole resistors are 1% tolerance,for example ) 5) if you don't run boost, the volume control has enough to push it into responsive tube amp sounding overdrive, or it can also be easily be backed off to run clean out of a compressor peddle. --- on the might be a down side: don't think your going to stuff an alnico 12" into this, it won't fit.. for the speaker swapping junkies, it's a smidgen over 5-1/2 inches between the 4 Bolt baffle and the amp chassis. ( that's your Mounting Depth Max ) on the upside there, Neo Drivers are forecast to become more common, and it's easy enough to retrofit the baffle to an 8 Bolt..

---

Cancel Comment

Small but powerful!

I did lots of research on the design of the DRS 40W against every other solid state in it's class and I'm glad I did it's sounds like heaven! One channel with three interactive controls make easy to dial in a usable superior tone, it mates well with my pedal board and also has the EHX Holy Grail Max reverb built right in and it's very usable as well. It's small and plain but very… read more handsome. No bells and whistles but a very powerful tone responsive to touch and nuances. If your into Death Metal I suggest you go for a Randall, anything else this is the one!

---

Cancel Comment