Electro-Harmonix 22 Caliber 22 Watt Power Amp Reviews
Though they're not who immediately leaps to mind when you think of guitar amps, electro-harmonix's 22 Caliber is an evolutionary leap forward in guitar amp technology. Not only does this mighty mite fit into the palm of your hand, but it drives virtually any 8- or 16-ohm speaker cabinet with 22 watts of power. At lower volumes, the 22 Caliber is sweet and musical; open 'er up a bit and you get fat overdriven tones. Flip the Bright switch and add an aggressive edge to your tone. The 22 Caliber is an amazing amp head you can carry in your pocket — and every guitarist should have one!
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Highest Rated Reviews
EH 22 cal is one great little amp
I bought this little device to build myself a compact, tough and portable amp rig for local jam nights and small venue performances.
It has exceeded my expectations. I paired it up with my old Boss VF-1 processor and scavenged a decent 12" speaker that I mounted in a homebuilt plywood box.
This setup really sounds pretty good. The volume output from the 22 Cal micro amp is really impressive. It is small enough to fit in my guitar case or back pocket, and while it might not be the tonal bliss of a vintage Fender Deluxe Reverb, it definately has good tone and sure is easier to tote around. I got tired of hauling my more expensive gear around town and letting nimrods play on my rig, always worrying about some sort of damage. This little amp is perfect for those situations. I think that short of dunking it in water or throwing it against a concrete wall, you can't hurt it.
Back years ago I found Electro Harmonix effects interesting, but horribly noisy and prone to problems, this little 22 Cal has certainly helped sway my opinion of EH products.
Excellent amp!
Amazing amp. Don’t let the size fool you. Or the fact its ss either. Very powerful with lots of headroom. 22 big watts. Probably pushing around 25 at fullbore. When cranked the od is very natural and a very class A style. Gorgeous tone. With the bright switch activated its even better. Grittier. The beauty is when you add your favorite distortion or overdrive pedal. Set the 22 Cal. at 12 noon and you have lots of clean volume. Your pedal will sound like your pedal. Start turning the 22’s volume up a little at a time and you start to blend in the amps od into the mix.
I bought my first 22 thinking it would be great as a head for a single 10” cab. It is. But now it sits on top of two 12” cabs. Sort of a mini stack. And wow, what a mini stack. I liked it so much I bought another and now have twin 22 Cal mini stacks. This setup is absolutly awesome for smaller, primitive venues. Of course you could just use one cab and mike it if that is an option. I have yet to try running the 22 into a board.
Alot of folks like the 22 for a great backup amp. It is. But I think the 22 is just a great amp period. Great tone, more flexible than what it seems to be and way to easy to lug around. The only gripe I have is that I wish EH had put an on/off switch on it. Right where a normal stompbox switch would have gone. Other than that there is nothing I would change. Excellent job EH!
Must have for a gigging guitarist
For a 22 watt guitar amp the size and price of a normal stomp box, I was expecting 22 watts of direct inject sound. Not so.
I plugged it into a single Weber 12 to start with, and was immediately impressed that the 22 watts was not exaggerated. At 9 o'clock, it has a clean sound at a volume just under that of a Blues Junior run clean (remember 22 watts of solid state is MUCH different than 22 watts of tube). At noon, it actual starts to saturate in a tube-esque fashion. Running it at 3 o'clock gave a thicker, fully distorted sound. Without any pedals, the bright switch would never be off for me. It adds some necessary definition to the tone.
But it does not end there.
I brought it over to my buddy's house and ran it through a 412 cab... everyone in the house stopped and came to see. It was officially gigging volume just under noon. Absolutley blown away. At about 1 o'clock it gives a good approximation of a classic 70's distorted guitar tone.
Granted, this can never replace a good tube amp, or for that matter a mediocre tube amp. But imagine being at a gig and your head blows up. Walk over to your gig bag and pull out your back up amp. Not only pull it out of a gig bag, but still maintain the sound of a guitar being put through an amp instead of a PA. A MUST for any gigging guitarist.
22? Is that all?
A friend lent me his for a bit, and he hasn't gotten it back yet. Believe it: sounds terrific. I run a Line6 floor Pod into it and out to a Vox ACTV 1x12 cab. Lower volume yields pretty uncolored tones; crank it and get hairy. Simple, a potential lifesaver, hilariously impressive to skeptics. I might try stereo setup with 2 of these.
