imperium H- 150
CiCoGNaNi
all-tube circuitry. Rounding out the front
panel are a two mode buttons: one switches
between classic and modern voicings. The
other, labeled Hi, Mid and Lo, allows you to
switch between the three different output
power levels: 150W, 50W and 11W. This is
an innovative approach to allowing you to
achieve the tone of a cranked valve amp at
lower volumes.
The back panel provides a MIDI In and Thru
for the footswitch to control the user-created
presets. There are three mono speaker outputs
provided at 4, 8 and 16 Ohms. Also, there is a
Slave Out, which is interesting—for one, I don’t
know of any companies using that term since
the ‘70s. This is cool for guitarists who may own
a vintage amp with a Slave In but no Slave Out,
such as the Sound City 120 that is my workhorse. This would allow the Cicognani to be the
master, providing the tones, while still utilizing
the power of the other amp. The wheels did
begin turning in my mind about running both
the amps together this way, but the prospect
of having to listen to my neighbors complain
curbed the thought.
On the back, five individual effects loops
are provided; one is a post-preamp loop for
running an equalizer or other rack effects.
The other four are pre-preamp effect loops
for stompbox effects, which can be selected
from the front panel of the amp. Two knobs
control the mix and level of the effects connected to these four loops. Individual ground
lift switches are provided for the effect loops,
plus a ground lift for the amp itself. There’s
also a 9V (1500ma) wall wart-type power supply input with four 9V outputs, so you can
power each stompbox individually, as long as
you provide external power by plugging a 9V
supply into the back of the amp.
ready to rumble
I first plugged into directly into the Imperium
H- 150 using a Gibson Les Paul DC with
Burstbucker pickups and a Monster cable.
Selecting the bridge pickup with the volume
and tone all the way up, I started out in 11W
to see what the amp could do at a lower wattage. With the Clean preset setting, Treble at
12 o’clock, Middle at 11, Bass at 12, Gain at
11, Master at 10 and the Volume dialed all the
way clockwise, the amp was very transparent,
with most of the tone of the guitar coming
through. There was a small amount of distortion on the overtones, so I rolled back the
volume on the guitar a quarter of a turn and
backed off the Gain to 9 o’clock. This helped
with the distortion on the overtones for
cleaner tone. With the volume on the guitar
still the same, I pushed the Clean 2 preset,
which backed off the Middle to 11 o’clock and
pushed the treble to about 1. The sound was
still warm on the bottom end and provided a
little more presence on the high-end frequencies. While still in the same setting, I decided
to switch from the Classic to the Modern
setting. This setting seemed to compress the
tone, which made the guitar and amp sound
a bit flat, so I switched back. Selecting both
pickups, I backed off the bridge pickup a
quarter of a turn but still felt that the tone was
a bit too dark and flat. It seemed that I wasn’t
really using the tubes at their full potential at
11W. So, I switched to the 50W power setting and was treated to a more responsive
amp, with the sparkling cleans I was trying
to achieve at the lower power level. Turning
up the heat to 150 watts the volume didn’t
change much, but it provided more bass and a
punchier midrange.
Bringing it back down to 11 watts, I decided
to move on to the Sexy preset. Backing off
on my bridge pickup just hair, I wanted to
see if I could get the same sound of lower-wattage valve amps. Cranking up the Master
volume to 3 o’clock to light up the tubes, the
sound that came from the amp was a classic blues tone with a good amount of sag.
Although not as musical as lower-watt amps
loaded with EL84s, the H- 150 did deliver a
nice blues tone with great responsiveness.
Moving on to the higher gain settings, I
switched to the Crunch preset. In the 11W
mode the amp really lit up, delivering a
healthy dose of classic British rock tone. The
Imperium H- 150 would be especially useful
for recording at low volumes, or for the bedroom player who needs the sound of a valve
amp, but can’t reach the volume necessary
to hit the “sweet spot” in the tubes. Moving
on to higher volumes, I pressed the 50-watt
switch, which raised the volume, reminding
me of the Marshall DSL50 I used to own.
Heading away from the Classic Crunch, I
decided to venture into Modern territory.
In Modern mode, I found that the sound
fell somewhere between a Marshall and a
Bogner. Delivering smooth bass response and
a good amount of precense from the midrange without sounding too shrill.
The Final Mojo
The Cicognani H- 150 is very innovative and
very versatile. The three different power set-
tings worked out wonderfully. While you may
get lost at first among the flashing lights,
it was easy to dial in a good tone, or just
tweak the amp’s six Sound presets a bit. The
EQ controls are straightforward, but don’t
allow a great amount of range when turning
them left or right. The effects loops worked
outstandingly well—both delay and modula-
tion effects sounded lush, and without affect-
ing tone. They also reduced the stompbox
noise compared to plugging directly into
the effects and then to amp’s input. Using
the effects loop coupled with a MIDI foot-
switch controller offers a lot of possibilities
as well. You’ll need one to access the 127
user-definable presets, and you can use it
to switch through the six amp “sounds” as
well. Cicognani makes one for use with the
H- 150 with heavy-duty steel casing, a numeric
LCD screen and a 9V output to power your
stompbox effects, but you can use other MIDI
switches if you prefer.
The only thing I would change is the speakers
in the cabinet. I found the Jensens somewhat
thin-sounding, so the choice of them is a
little puzzling to me, especially from such
well-thought-out amplifier. I will say that the
amp is matched well with the cab, which is
beautifully built out of 13-ply poplar plywood,
and the added option of closed or open
back allows for a lot of experimentation. The
Imperium H- 150 from Cicognani seems to be
a one-stop amplifier and effect switcher that
provides good tone at all volumes.
Rating:
you’re looking for an analog
all-tube amp with modeling
amp versatility.
Buy If...
Skip If...
you’re looking pure simplicity, or a
cab with more low end.
Cicognani
Street $1999 (Head);$999 (Cab);
$319 (MIdI footswitch)
fbtusa.net
cicognaniamps.com
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