Gravel and Grail

ELECTRO-HARMONIX DIRT ROAD SPECIAL

- Paul Riario

SOLID STATE AMPS tend to fall into two categories: your meat-and-potatoes “clean and dirty with reverb” bundles — and “everything but the kitchen sink” ones with amp and effects modeling. I have no problem using either type as of late because, frankly, solid state amplification has come a long way from some of the sterile and anemic-sounding tubeless amps of yore. Case in point: Electro-Harmonix’s brand-new Dirt Road Special isn’t an exact reissue of the late-Seventies “Mike Matthews Dirt Road Special” — a rare 25-watt solid state combo with Electro-Harmonix’s Small Stone phaser circuit built in — but rather, a capable 1x12 combo that builds upon the original’s design by bumping the power up to 40 watts and replacing the phaser with four built-in reverbs pulled from EHX’s Holy Grail Max pedal instead, making it a far more practical and gig-worthy amp. But more importantly, its updated circuitry provides a more authentic tubelike response and feel that may almost make you forget it’s a solid state amp.