By and large, 10-25 watt amps aren't the world's most exciting prospects. In fact there's some utter rubbish available in this power band, mostly because such products are built down to a price in an attempt to make them affordable for the impoverished beginner. In production cost terms it doesn't take much more time or component money to build a 50 or even 75 watt combo, so practice/beginners' guitar amps are often made inexpensive by the use of low quality components or shoddy manufacturing.

Of course, where a manufacturer has a reputation to protect, they daren't make poor quality practice amps — the customer for a mini combo today could be next year's buyer of a 100 watt stack, so their future trading-up potential is at risk if they make a poor beginners' amp. Session are a typical case in point. Their inimitable Sessionette 75 remains one of the highest regarded transistor combos on the market, and yet they've just launched the Rockette 20 watt practice combo. If it's bad, they risk getting a poor reputation among beginners, who may later be customers for Session's professional class amplification. But how good a small amp can be made at an affordable price? We sampled one of the first production Rockette 20's to find out.

Construction & Facilities

Clad in Session's distinctive grey cloth, with a woven fabric speaker grille protecting the Celestion 10" speaker within, the Rockette 20 certainly looks well made. No outward signs give the impression of this newcomer having been built down to a price. The carrying strap on the Rockette's approximately 17½" x 15" x 10" cab is as strong as you'll find on most 100 watt combos; likewise the generous provision of metal corner protectors and four sturdy rubber feet. The casing too is sturdy and utterly workmanlike (in the best sense of that phrase). The sealed enclosure, incidentally, has a back cut-out inside which the mains cable neatly stores. Better than an IEC any day — you can't leave it behind when you're on a gig!

The top mounted control panel, meanwhile, bears the typical hallmarks of Session's unusually user-orientated design approach. For example, the screen printed wording reads the right way round when you look at it while playing — i.e., from the front of the amp. Admittedly it's only a little touch, but it bears out the impression one gets from Session's products that they design them from a players' viewpoint, rather than that of the average amp design engineer, who too often wouldn't know a Strat from a hole in the ground! No doubt it helps that Session's owner, Stuart Ward, is a guitarist himself.

Twin jack inputs ('Normal' and 'Super Drive') are followed by a single volume control, then Eq for treble, middle and bass, with an overdrive pot ending the control array. Facility skimping as you can see, isn't a feature of the Rockette 20, and this impression is reinforced by the provision of jack sockets for FX send/return, headphone, and extension speakers at the end of the top panel, just by the large illuminated on/off rocker switch. As you can see, you're getting a lot for your money with this amp.

The Sound

One of the commonest cries from guitarists today is 'more top, more top!'. Well, here's an amp that delivers it! Even with a fairly bassy guitar the Rockette delivers gallons of top, and with a Strat or a Tele on its back pickup the sound is astonishingly clean and clear, far and away more professionally sparkling and clean than any small amp we can recall having tried. This 'transparent' reproduction suggests a very well developed speaker, as does the Rockette's exceptional loudness. Mere watts mean nothing when judging one amp against another, of course. All the wattage tells you is what energy the power amplifier is putting into the loudspeakers. What reaUy gives you sound quality and audible volume is the quality of the speaker itself. Give a low efficiency speaker 20 watts and the sound will be X loud. Give an identical level to an efficient type and the sound pressure level could be three or more times louder; not to mention the sound quality criteria. The Rockette's Celestion, therefore, is very efficient — the amp is at least twice as loud as many similarly rated combos we've tried, and the sound is so pure, so clear with the overdrive off that we were all exceptionally impressed by its performance.

The tone controls have less obvious effect than those on many tranny amps these days, but they do have a 'real' sound. Tested with a Gibson SG, a Strat a Nadine 'super Strat' and an early (and grotty!) Hondo, the Rockette 20 not only performed well, but got a superb clean sound from each of them. It rang clear and true with the Strat, sounded Jazzy/Bluesy with the Gibson, and sharp and aggressive with the 'super Strat' — even the fairly feeble early Hondo sounded good! Having an overdrive control seems a bit old fashioned in these days of pre-amp gain/master volume systems, but this one works. The normal input has been designed for higher output guitars (Gibsons, Kramers and other 'hot' guitars), while the 'Super Drive' is perfect for typical Strat level, single coil pick-upped guitars. If you're trying this amp in a shop then go ahead, wind up the Overdrive control to get your lead sound, but take a little extra trouble getting the setting right. Too much distortion and the Rockette will sound rough and nasty; take your time, balance the tone controls, and you'll get a very satisfying overdrive indeed, almost regardless of the instrument you're inputting.

As transistorised overdrives go, this isn't the smoothest, most valve-like we've heard. Some bigger (and much more expensive) amps can do better, but few (if any) at the Rockette's power/price level can hold a candle to it.

Conclusion

There are many cheaper 20 watt beginners' combos around today than Session's Rockette 20, but only a tiny minority can even approach its level of performance. For clean rhythm sounds it's unsurpassed, and the overdrive stands comparison with any practice/rehearsal amp we've yet tried. For the beginner wanting a flexible amp with a professional-quality sound (and we're not exaggerating here!), or for those players who need a small amp for home recording rehearsals and practice, this amp has few, if any, equals. Yes, there are cheaper 20 watt combos than the Rockette 20, but none that we've tried can beat it. Further, we're hard-pressed to think of its equal. Pro-Amp's HM special Demon is no more (and it had nothing like the Rockette's superlative clarity anyway), Carlsbro's Scorpion 20 has the advantage of reverb, but still, to our tastes, doesn't equal the Rockette's clarity and volume, and neither does Marshall's 20 watt. In fact, the only amp that we'd set against the Rockette would be Custom Sound's Cub 30, which is one of our favourites. Personal taste alone would decide between these two, although the Cub does have a reverb.

This is an exceptionally fine amp: out on its own in most respects. Our only possible quibble regards the lack of a reverb for the money; but, reverb or not, it represents superb value for money and is thoroughly recommended.

RRP £135 inc. VAT

More on Session amps from the manufacturers, Axess Electronics Ltd., (Contact Details), or distributors Musimex, (Contact Details).