From the November/December 2022 concern of Acoustic Guitar | By Mark Goldenberg

Squarely within the good-things-come-in-small-packages camp, the Swiss-made Schertler Giulia X is a compact and great-sounding amplifier providing nice flexibility and ease of use. Placing out 70 clear watts, it’s excellent as a rehearsal or studio amp, and may also be used as a preamp or DI in a bigger setting. 

At first blush, the sound popping out of the audio system is surprisingly clear and heat, with loads of low finish, because of the two-way bi-amped bass reflex cupboard, which homes a 1-inch dome tweeter and coaxial 5.5-inch woofer. However the Giulia X does extra than simply present a dependable amplified sound. I examined it utilizing a handful of various guitars and pickups and was impressed by the abundance of nice tones the amp delivers. 

Strong Construct and Intuitive Operation

The Giulia X is accessible in both a black or dark-brown wooden end. I reviewed the latter and, eradicating it from the transport field, was happy as a lot by the amp’s good-looking look as its mild weight (16.5 kilos) and clear development—to not point out its cozy leather-based deal with.

The amp is intuitive to make use of. All the controls, inputs, and outputs are logically organized on the highest panel. From left to proper, there’s an XLR enter for a mic; two phantom energy buttons, 24 and 10 volts, respectively; a 1/4-inch instrument enter jack; achieve controls for the mic and instrument channels; three-band EQ; a Heat button; reverb and grasp quantity controls; 1/4-inch insert and line-out jacks; and eventually, an XLR DI out. All the controls and buttons really feel strong and tight.

The EQ part contains low, center, and excessive knobs, with a middle detent for flat frequency response; to spice up flip proper, and to chop flip left. These knobs—together with the Heat button, which cuts the excessive finish a bit—have a variety and can be utilized subtly or to radically form the sound.

Pure Sounds and Nice Flexibility

I attempted out the Giulia X with quite a lot of guitars: a Collings 001 Mh outfitted with a Trance Audio Amulet pickup-and-preamp system; a 1929 Pickguards–modded Recording King Soiled 30’s 000 with a rubber bridge and each a classic DeArmond magnetic pickup and piezo pickup; and a Maegen Wells archtop with a Lollar Johnny Smith–type mini-humbucker pickup. Additionally, I used an Ear Trumpet Labs Edwina microphone to examine the mic channel and despatched the DI out to my Common Audio Apollo Quad interface, linked to a pair of Mackie HR824 audio system.

I began listening to the guitars with the amp set flat. The Collings sounded nice by means of the Giulia X—extraordinarily pure, with a reasonably correct tackle the low finish, and crisp however not shrill highs. I utilized a bit of little bit of excessive finish, for that crystal-clear modern sound, and solely once I maxed out the management did it get a piercing impact. Arrange with flatwound strings, the Recording King sounded fairly darkish with the DeArmond, however adjusting the amp’s midrange management and including a contact of enhance cleaned issues up properly. On the different finish of the spectrum, utilizing the guitar’s piezo pickup I received an undesirable icepick sound, however I used to be capable of tone it down by merely attenuating the treble a pinch. 

My Wells archtop is a transparent, open-sounding instrument, and the Lollar mini-humbucker is pleasantly vivid. By rolling the tone again on the guitar and interesting the Heat button, I went from a transparent, trendy guitar sound to a smoky Wes Montgomery–like jazz tone that was fats and buttery. 

The Edwina mic sounded full and correct on the guitars; there was a little bit of suggestions at greater quantity ranges, however I used to be capable of suppress it with the EQ controls. One might feasibly use a vocal mic with this amp, too. There may be loads of energy on faucet right here, definitely greater than sufficient for a rehearsal or small gig—although maybe not sufficient in case your band has a drummer who’s a basher. On a much bigger stage, you may use the Giulia X as a monitor or preamp and ship that sign to the home. The DI sound is just about what I heard by means of the audio system and is buzz-free. 

My solely grievance in regards to the Giulia X is that whereas the reverb sound is sufficient, I can hear particular person repeats within the impact and it sounds pretty metallic at greater ranges. However tucked again into the combo a smidge it does the job. And the amp’s 1/4-inch insert turns out to be useful if one would wish to use a extra deluxe reverb impact pedal. 

The Takeaway

Total, the Schertler Giulia X is great-sounding, inspiring, enjoyable, and straightforward to make use of, with loads of energy for rehearsals and small gigs. Comparatively simple on the pockets and positively simple on the again, it’s good for anybody in search of a cool and versatile grab-and-go amplifier. Extremely advisable!

Specs

AMP 70 watts pure analog energy; XLR and 1/4″ instrument inputs; XLR DI out; 1/4″ line out

SPEAKERS 1″ dome tweeter; coaxial 5.5″ woofer 

OTHER Reverb; three-band EQ; Heat button; 10v and 24v phantom energy; 10 2/3″ x 7″ x 11″; 16.5 lbs

MADE IN Switzerland

PRICE $1,188