Summer NAMM 2019: EHX Dirt Road Special, a transistor combo with in-house reverbs
The 'Holy Grail' of transistor combo amps?
Electro-Harmonix has unveiled a small 40W combo named the Dirt Road Special at Summer NAMM 2019.
EHX Dirt Road Special
EHX promises “Sweet Clean Tone” from the new Dirt Road Special, a remake of the 1970s amplifier from the company’s past that has been given some modern improvements. The power amplifier delivers 40 Watts via unspecified transistors into a 12 “speaker.
Sonically, this amp be able to master not only the “Sweet Clean”, but also deliver smoother overdrive sounds. I would describe it as “US crunch”. The controls are: Volume, Tone, Bite (Distortion) and Reverb. A pretty simple layout, but enough to dial in your tones nonetheless.
EHX Dirt Road Special control panel · Source: Electro Harmonix
Holy Grail inside
Lurking behind that single Reverb control are four digital emulations from EHX’s excellent Holy Grail Max effect pedal. To be precise, the Spring, Plate, Hall and Reverse algorithms have been used here. These can be selected using a dedicated switch, while a Time control sets the length of the reverberation. A reverb footswitch is included.
Otherwise, this amp is very straight on: One channel, a speaker, a basic sound. And it’s a great sound, too, judging by the video demo (below). And if this amp eats pedals without twitching, bring it on!
RRP – TBC
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