The RK50 marks the successful collaboration between the British amplifier company and the US guitar virtuoso Richie Kotzen. The result is a single-channel amplifier top unit in compact format, tailored to Richie's needs. Despite its unusually simple gain and tone controls, the 50W RK50 offers enormous flexibility thanks to switchable boost and integrated reverb and tremolo effects, which can be activated using the included footswitches.
Equipped with an EL-34 duet, the output stage of the RK50 Head offers adapted power settings for every application. Switched to 'Low', the amplifier offers 9W of power for samples and smaller venues and can be driven into tube saturation at tolerable volume ranges. Its full power of 50W can be heard by engaging 'high' mode.
Thanks to on-board reverb and tremolo effects, the RK50 Head is much more flexible than its single-channel design suggests. At the front, the signal component of the reverb effect can be determined, while the tremolo effect is controlled via speed and depth. Both effects are activated independently by footswitch and offer the extra portion of ambience for every sound. Further effects can be used via a serial effect loop between preamp and output stage, while the speaker damping function adapts the bass response to the respective loudspeaker used.