As something of a happy coincidence, this new Electar combo represents a meeting of one of the newest names in the industry with one of the most established. The online store MusicYo has collected a diverse selection of brands that include Kramer, Steinberger, Shadow and Tobias, among others, and due to its virtual existence, is able to offer products at a fraction of their High Street RRP - in theory at least.

At the other end of the evolutionary scale, the Electar name is closely linked with the earliest incarnation of Gibson Musical Instruments. Electar Labs, their Nashville facility, was set-up in 1934 and the very first electric guitars designed there by Epiphone were introduced three years later under the Electar name. Another important claim to fame was their invention of the first pickup with adjustable polepieces.

Before we go any further, though, it's worth mentioning the shipping costs that will be incurred by buying from MusicYo. If in the EU you should use MusicYo.co.uk (use MusicYo.com for elsewhere in the world) which will automatically price everything in Euros. But bear in mind that the prices do not include the cost of shipping. The prices we have quoted within this review are in Sterling and also don't take shipping into account.

The simplest way of getting the correct price is go through the site's shopping facility, which allows you obtain a full amount before actually parting with any money. If you were to buy this combo from the UK at the time of writing, it'd cost a total of £162.38 excluding VAT. MusicYo also offer a 30-day money back guarantee.

The contemporary Electar range includes one bass combo and a total of five guitar combos, as well as all manner of mics and PA systems, and this Korean-made Century 30DR is a hybrid 30-watter loaded with a single Electar Labs 12-inch speaker. The grille cloth, resplendent with a silver plastic Electar logo design, and the actual look of the amp, protected by chrome corners and a black Tolex-a-like covering, are both similar to that of the older and squatter Fender combos.

Split into two channels, the preamp features a single Jan Philips 12AU7 tube along with a solid-state power amp stage. The uncluttered top panel bristles with an array of small chicken-head knobs. The channels - labelled clean and lead - share a three-band EQ and digital reverb, and can be selected either via an on-board switch or an optional one-way footswitch. The lead section is provided with a gain control to augment the single level control, although frills such as extra boost or bright functions are conspicuous by their absence.

Sounds
The beauty is that, after bemoaning the lack of any bells and whistles, the Electar 30DR doesn't seem to require them to obtain a very decent basic tone. This facet of any amp depends almost totally on the quality of its EQ section, and the simple three-band featured here is surprisingly efficient.

The combo does its stuff very well on the clean side of things and the 12-inch speaker is perfectly suited for producing just the right amount of sparkle from single-coils and warm depth from humbuckers. In fact, every one of our test guitars was served well and the amp's performance with styles from country, through reggae, to indie and beyond was admirable.

There's a hefty amount of dirt available too, and most rock and metal sounds are just dandy.

As you'd expect, the addition of an external cabinet allows the combo to find its full voice. We used a stock Cornford pine 4 x 12" loaded with a quartet of Celestion Vintage 30s and the additional depth turns the Electar into an amp you could easily use live, regardless of your band's PA situation.

Verdict
Electar may be a new name to some, but the brand goes back to the dawn of the contemporary electric guitar. The Century 30DR, with its good dirty tone and excellent clean options, would be perfectly suited for those intimate jamming moments and scaled-down band sessions, while the addition of an external cab raises its potential to full-time gigging status.

Many similar amps are loaded with 10-inch speakers, which don't allow the full breadth of EQ to be reproduced. Couple this with the price and this should go on your 'must try' list.

Simon Bradley