Quite often, the phrase “feature rich” (
especially when applied to amplifiers) is code for “
complicated.” Happily, the Zen Tone 7 from Backline
Engineering, which sports an impressively long
list of features for a small, 7-watt, single-ended
Class A design, doesn’t fit in that category—at
least not completely, anyway. I was able to get
a number of useful tones from it right out of
the box. All it took was inserting a supplied set
of JJ tubes—two 12AX7s, an EL84 and a 6V6—
and it was up and running.
knob controls switching between a single stage
preamp, and “low drive” or “high drive” dual-stage preamp.
This is where the clever design of the amp
really shows itself. It keeps the visual presentation of options to a minimum, while laying out
all the possibilities in one place, leaving the
ears and fingers to wander easily through the
tonal territory. While it isn’t perfectly intuitive,
it is logical and well designed; you don’t have
to memorize a manual, or negotiate a mess of
switches and gizmos.
to find the tones best suited to each of the
different guitars I plugged into it: a Fender
Contemporary Tele, a Nash S- 63, a Duesenberg
MC Signature, and an all-mahogany Gibson LP
Studio. The good news is that all that fiddling
need not be repeated. Once you’ve dialed a
tone you find especially likeable, you need only
to push the Preset button twice to assign it to
any of the 64 available preset locations.
Ideally suited as a studio tool that can also
serve as a practice amp with a low-power
mode (for tube tone and a nice overdrive at
bedroom volumes), the amp is essentially a
digitally-controlled device with an all-tube signal path, and offers a geat deal of flexibility in
terms of applications. Very clever. In addition to
a 4- or 8-ohm speaker out, it offers both unbalanced 1/4” and balanced XLR direct outs with
an internal speaker load and speaker emulation, so you if you don’t want to hook up a cab
and mic it, you can run it right into your interface. If you want to use it on stage, you can
send the XLR direct to the board and use the
speaker out for an onstage monitor, or use the
unbalanced direct out into a clean power amp
for a high-volume rig. Talk about flexibility.
Plugging In
As I mentioned, the amp did require some
time, and fiddling, to get the hang of—and
Running through a single 12” Flux Tone speaker
cabinet, the amp puts out plenty of sound
for practice or rehearsal. With the Tele, it
served up bright, warm cleans using the 6V6,
and the 3-band EQ allowed a solid range of
control over the thickness of single notes and
strummed chords. With single-coil pickups, I
In addition to any of the several types of pre-amp tubes (12AX7, 12AT7, 12AU7, and so on),
the octal tube socket also accepts 6V6, 6L6,
EL34 and KT77 output tubes without the need
for rebiasing. This makes tube substitution
is as easy as it could be—a hefty bonus that
makes it useful for yet another application, as
a convenient tone-testing platform for various
members of your tube collection.
Controls
At first glance, the front control panel presents
a traditional layout, with On/Off and Standby
switches, Gain and Master volume controls, and
3-band tone stack of Bass, Mid, and Treble—
the Preset control being the only unusual element. The controls are digital, supplying the
first twist on traditional here: rather than rolling
free through their ranges, each knob has discrete settings as you turn, and an LED readout
to let you know where you are in the rotation.
There are 16 possible settings for both gain
and volume, and 8 each for the tone controls.
This design choice offers very precise tone
shaping potential, even if it is an unusual way
to operate an amp of this type. The second
twist on traditional control panels lies in the fact
that each knob also functions as a push-button
switch for an additional feature: the Master
volume control knob doubles as a switch for tri-ode/pentode operation; pushing in the Treble
control knob selects between EL84 or octal
tube output; the Mid knob is also bright switch;
the Bass, a low-power switch; and the Gain
