What’s That In Your Pocket? Review of Electro-Harmonix (EHX) 22 Caliber Guitar Amp Head

Marc Johnson | Mar 29, 2010 | Comments 6

March 16, 2010

What’s That In Your Pocket?

Review of EHX 22 Caliber Guitar Head

by Marc Johnson for TheToneKing.com

Yep, it’s an amp that fits in your pocket. We know what you’re saying. “How does it sound?” Well, TheToneKing.com recently got our hands on the Electro-Harmonix 22 Caliber guitar amp, and we have to say: “It sounds pretty damn good.”

The 22 Caliber is pedal-size 22-watt Class D amp. It’s rated for anything between 8-16 ohms. So, you can plug it into any speaker cabinet, even a 4×12, and this little beast will run it. With a single Volume and a Bright switch, the 22 Caliber reacts well with your guitar to offer you a full range of dynamic tones from clear cleans to raging distortions.

For a contrast between different clean tones, check out what we got at the beginning and near the end of the video. Around the two-minute mark, the 22 Caliber was at twelve-o’clock and the volume on the guitar was rolled back, and we were getting a warm clean tone, great for some dark minor chords. Later on, about six and a half minutes in, even though the 22 Caliber was cranked, we were able to get something with a little more clarity.

The 22 Caliber definitely had some guts to it, too. Just as easy as it was finding some cool cleans, we were able to get some meaty gain when we cranked the guitar. Plug into it with some high-output pickups, crank everything to eleven, and wail away! This thing will roar and sing with the best of them. And check out the feedback at about five and a half minutes in!

You know at TTK we like gear, so it was easy for us to take this thing home, but the 22 Caliber is hard to turn down for any musician. It’s less than a hundred bucks – good luck finding anything else at even twice that price – and it fits in your pocket. Whether you’re looking for a first amp or you’re looking for a backup for your regular rig, the 22 Caliber is hard deal to pass up.

Watch the video review by clicking PLAY below :

Tiny URL for this post:

Filed Under: Reviews • Amps

About the Author: Marc published his first novel Becoming in 2010. It’s a kick-ass book with monsters and dreams and stuff, and you should buy it. Since then, he’s written thousands of articles for TheToneKing.com, many of which have been picked up for circulation by manufacturers and other news outlets. His next book, Drugs and Pancakes, should be available early 2014 if his alcoholic editor can find time to work on it in-between destroying his liver and screaming about punctuation. He graduated from Roosevelt University with honors, which means that he’s not as dumb as he looks. He’s been playing guitar for over 25 years, which is almost twice as long as most of his students have been alive.