In 2019, a small company out of Ile des Chênes, Manitoba shipped an amplifier that quietly rewrote the rules of what a tube head is allowed to be. The Revv D20 wasn’t the loudest boutique amp on the market, or the most gain-soaked, or the most expensive. What it was — and what nothing else had been before it — was a genuine two-6V6 tube head with a fully functioning reactive load and cabinet impulse response system embedded from the factory. Not bolted on as an afterthought. Not sold separately. Built in.
That single design decision changed the argument. The perennial “tube amp vs. modeler” debate — the one that fills forum threads every time a new Line 6 drops — suddenly had a new answer: how about a real tube amp that also does everything you liked about the modeler? The D20 didn’t win that fight by being contrarian. It won it by being quietly, stubbornly practical. Six years later, the D20 MK2 arrives having absorbed everything Revv learned from players in the field, and the formula is better than ever.
This is the complete guide to the Revv D20 family — specs, voicing philosophy, the 6V6 power section that defines its character, the Two Notes integration explained in plain language, and an honest account of who plays these things and why.
The Company Behind It: December 2013, a Winnipeg Basement
Revv Amplification was founded in December 2013 by Dan Trudeau and Derek Eastveld. Trudeau’s background was in electrical engineering; he started hand-wiring Generator heads in his basement. Eastveld ran a screen-printing business. He heard a prototype, understood immediately what it was, and the two formed a partnership. The company is based in Ile des Chênes, a small community southeast of Winnipeg in Manitoba, Canada.
Their early products — the Generator series, the G3 pedal — were aimed squarely at the high-gain boutique market and found an audience in the modern metal and progressive rock worlds. The D20, released in 2019 under the “Dynamis” sub-brand, was something different: a low-wattage tube head built for clean and edge-of-breakup tones, aimed at a wider playing field. It was also, as Revv was happy to announce, the world’s first production tube amplifier to integrate Two Notes’ Torpedo reactive load and impulse response technology directly into the chassis.
What “Two Notes Torpedo Embedded” Actually Means
Two Notes Audio Engineering, the French company behind the Torpedo range of reactive load and cabinet emulation units, had built a dedicated and passionate user base among players who wanted to run cranked tube amps silently and record them direct — without the compromises that standard speaker simulators had always demanded. The core of the Torpedo technology is a genuine reactive load (not a simple resistive load) that presents the amp’s output transformer with something that behaves like a real speaker, allowing the power section to respond correctly, sag naturally, and generate the complex harmonics that come from a tube amp working against a real impedance. Layer impulse responses of actual microphones pointed at actual cabinets on top of that, and you get a recording-ready signal that feels, under the fingers, like a miked amp.
Before the D20, if you wanted this in your rig you bought a Two Notes Torpedo unit separately, connected it between your amp’s speaker output and your DI, and then connected separately to a cabinet if you also wanted to play live through speakers. The D20 collapsed all of that into a single toaster-sized head. The XLR output on the back carries the Torpedo signal — reactive load processed, impulse response applied, mix-ready. The standard 1/4″ speaker output still runs a traditional cabinet if you want one. Crucially, both outputs can run simultaneously: you can drive a cabinet while also sending a clean direct signal to the board, which makes the D20 a legitimately useful stage tool as well as a studio tool.
The D20 ships with six cabinet emulations accessible via a front-panel rotary switch — enough to cover most contexts without touching a computer. Connect it to a Mac or PC via USB and you gain access to the Torpedo Remote application, which opens up full mic placement control, room simulation, EQ, and reverb adjustment, and expands the library to 128 stored presets accessible via MIDI. You can also purchase additional cabinet IR packs through the Two Notes store and load them directly into the D20, which means the virtual cabinet system is not a closed ecosystem — it grows with the market.
Specs: Original D20 and D20 MK2 Compared
| Specification | D20 (2019) | D20 MK2 (2025) |
|---|---|---|
| Power | 20W / 4W | 20W / 4W |
| Power Tubes | 2 × 6V6 | 2 × 6V6 |
| Preamp Tubes | 2 × 12AX7 | 2 × 12AX7 |
| Channels | Single (push/pull gain boost) | Single + footswitchable gain boost |
| Tone Controls | Gain, Treble, Mid, Bass, Master | Gain, Treble, Mid, Bass, Master, Bright switch |
| Reverb | No | Yes (digital, with level control) |
| Virtual Cabs (rotary) | 6 | 6 |
| Virtual Cabs (MIDI) | 128 | 128 |
| FX Loop | Buffered series | Buffered series |
| Speaker Out | 1/4″ (4Ω or 8Ω) | 1/4″ (4Ω or 8Ω switchable) |
| Direct Out | XLR (Torpedo) | XLR (Torpedo) |
| Headphone | 1/8″ with level control | 1/8″ with level + clip warning LED |
| MIDI | In (Type B) | In (Type B) |
| USB | Yes (IR editing) | Yes (USB Type B) |
| Weight | ~9 lbs (aluminum shell) | ~15.5 lbs (tolexed Baltic birch) |
| Dimensions (H×W×D) | Compact lunchbox | 10″ × 14.75″ × 8.75″ |
| Footswitch | Optional | 2-button included |
| Street Price | $1,199 (launch) | $1,349 |
The MK2 was announced in 2025, six years after the original. The most practical changes are three: the gain boost is now footswitchable rather than operated by a push/pull pot (which means you can switch between clean and pushed tones mid-song from a pedal), the reverb is built in, and the voicing has been refined throughout. Revv’s own notes say the MK2 increases both the total gain available at the top of the range and the total headroom at the clean end — meaning whether you want pristine sparkle or a driven, compressed crunch, you have more of both extremes to work with. “We took 6 years of feedback onboard,” Dan Trudeau noted, and the circuit shows it.
The weight increase from 9 to 15.5 lbs comes entirely from the switch to a tolexed Baltic birch headshell from the original aluminum chassis. This also changes the look substantially — the original D20 had a utilitarian industrial look that matched its “studio tool” mandate; the MK2 looks like a proper boutique amp head and sits visually alongside the Generator 120 MKIII at a gig.
The 6V6 Power Section: Californian by Design
The choice of 6V6 output tubes is not accidental, and it matters to the sound in ways that extend beyond simple wattage. The 6V6 is an octal power pentode with a long American history — it powered the tweed Deluxe, the Princeton, the early blackface Fender designs, and the Super Reverb in its 6V6-era configuration. It runs at lower plate voltages than the 6L6GC and breaks up earlier in the power cycle, generating a characteristic warmth and sag that the higher-headroom 6L6 doesn’t replicate easily. Against EL34-equipped European designs, the 6V6 sounds warmer and rounder in the low mids, with less upper-harmonic aggression and a more forgiving compression arc.
Revv describes the D20’s preamp voicing as inspired by “classic Californian amps heard on countless albums” — a careful phrase that points toward the Dumble-derived, D-style lineage without naming names. The D-style character is a mid-forward bloom that pushes fundamental frequencies to the front of a mix: it cuts through without brittleness, sits in the 800Hz–3kHz window where a guitar voice needs to be present, and rewards single-note lead lines and clean chord work equally. Where a Marshall-style preamp emphasises the attack transient, the D-style design sustains the note through its mid phase. On the D20, this preamp character running into a 6V6 power section produces a result that is unambiguously American in flavour, excellent with single-coils and P-90s, and genuinely responsive to pick attack in a way that cheaper lunchbox amps at this power rating often are not.
The 4-watt mode drops the power section’s output by reducing plate voltage to the 6V6s. This is a genuine tonal change, not just a volume reduction — at 4 watts the power tubes are working harder relative to their headroom ceiling and the compression comes in sooner. For home playing through a cabinet it is substantially more useful than 20 watts. Through the direct XLR output the wattage setting still affects the feel and response of the power section even though no speaker is connected, because the reactive load is presenting the correct impedance.
What the D20 Sounds Like: An Honest Account
Premier Guitar’s Joe Gore reviewed the original D20 in August 2019 and described the tones as “realistically amp-like” but noted that “they sound a bit two-dimensional compared to a well-miked cabinet” on clean and dry material. He gave a specific, useful qualification: “it’s best-suited for high-gain tones — especially with ambient effects added.” Those two data points define the D20’s operating sweet spot with precision.
The D20 is, above all, a pedal platform. Its clean channel has ample headroom and an organically responsive quality — Gore noted the amp handles “fuzz and distortion pedals” with “strong definition and aggressive attack, even at ultra-high gain settings.” Ambient effects run through the FX loop “retain their detail,” with “a nice sense of space.” The amp adds body and response without imposing its own colour on every signal that enters it. This is exactly what you want from a pedal-forward rig: a foundation that works for the pedals rather than against them.
Played direct and dry with stock cabinet presets, the D20 is competent but not spectacular — this is not a criticism specific to Revv, it is an honest description of the state of the art in software cabinet simulation at any price point. The moment you engage a good overdrive, run delays into the loop, or add some amp-style reverb (built into the MK2), the picture becomes substantially richer. The format rewards players who travel with a pedalboard; it is less satisfying for players who want the pure acoustic signature of a mic’d cabinet with nothing in between.
The gain range on the D20, especially the MK2, is wider than the “clean amp” positioning might suggest. At moderate gain with the boost engaged, the D20 can produce convincing rock crunch tones — not boutique-metal tightness, but the kind of driven grind that suits blues-rock, indie, and country leads. At high gain it compresses pleasantly without becoming woolly. It is emphatically not the tool for scooped-mid metal or djent — the Generator 120 MKIII sits alongside it in the Revv lineup for precisely that purpose.
Famous Players and Verified Connections
The spreadsheet brief for this article flags that the D20 “lacks a clear individual artist connection” — which is honest relative to the Generator 120 MKIII’s documented roster of heavy hitters. The story here is different, and it starts in Winnipeg, where Revv and one of Canada’s most critically regarded guitarists have a well-documented ongoing collaboration.
Joey Landreth (The Bros. Landreth) is the D20’s most directly verified player — and ultimately its co-designer in meaningful ways. Landreth is a Juno Award-winning guitarist and songwriter from Winnipeg known for his baritone slide work, impeccable phrasing, and deep attention to the mechanics of tone. He plays slide in Open C on strings as heavy as a .019–.065 set, which creates significant demands on clean headroom and low-end tightness. As fellow Winnipeg residents, Revv and Landreth’s relationship predates the D20: “Dating back to the earliest Dynamis amps, as fellow Winnipeg natives, we’d bounce ideas off of him & ask his opinion on tones,” Revv states on the D20JL product page. Landreth himself confirms: “I was pretty involved in the R&D of the original D20 and gave feedback on the D25 too.” That is a primary-source quote, from the man himself, tying him directly to the D20’s development from the outset. A signature edition, the D20 JL ($1,499), was later released with custom voicing — tighter low end, warmer midrange — to match his specific needs as a baritone slide player.
Joey Landreth is not in the GuitarGangsters guitarist DB at time of writing. His brother Sonny Landreth — the celebrated Louisiana slide player — appears at sonny-landreth.html and s3-033-sonny-landreth-gear-guide.html; the two players share a family surname but occupy entirely different stylistic territories. Joey’s context is Canadian roots rock and baritone slide; Sonny’s is Deep South electric slide, and his amp choices have historically run toward Fender territory, not Revv.
Jeff Loomis appears in brand-level Revv marketing materials (“go-to backline for artists as diverse as metal god Jeff Loomis”). This is a genuine Revv brand connection, but Loomis’s documented high-gain work — Nevermore, Arch Enemy, his solo records — places him firmly in the territory of the Generator 120 MKIII, not the D20. No primary source review, rig rundown, or interview places Loomis on a D20 specifically. At this tier of separation between clean-to-crunch and high-gain within a single brand, brand endorsement is not SKU endorsement. Mentioned in the article for accuracy; not counted as a D20 player.
Dann Huff — Nashville session legend and producer — is confirmed on Revv’s Dynamis D40 head (a different model with a different voicing). That connection was established in the Rank 536 article via Premier Guitar (Ryan Reed, Jun 11, 2026). The D40 is a 40-watt single-channel head; the D20 is its 20-watt sibling with the same Torpedo integration. Huff’s documented use of the D40 is relevant context for understanding the Dynamis family’s appeal to studio professionals, but the D20 is not his confirmed instrument.
The D20 JL: Joey Landreth Signature Edition
The D20 JL is not simply a re-coloured D20 MK2. Revv is clear about what was changed: the voicing is modified for “a tight low end & fast attack that can handle lots of pedals & effects.” In Landreth’s own phrasing, the JL has “voicing changes to achieve a warm but clear sound.” Players who have tried both report the JL midrange sits slightly differently — less scoop, more presence in the 1–3kHz zone — which is exactly what a baritone slide player needs to cut through a mix without the fundamental frequencies becoming muddy.
Beyond voicing, the JL gets Landreth’s personal choices on tolex, grille cloth, chassis colour, and knob styling. At $1,499 against $1,349 for the standard MK2, the $150 premium buys the voicing change and the aesthetic customisation. For players who primarily use clean-to-crunch tones and run heavy pedal boards, the JL’s voicing characteristics will be appealing regardless of any interest in Landreth specifically. For players who want more gain range or use the amp without a pedalboard, the standard MK2 is the stronger choice.
Tone Recipes
1. Pedal-Platform Clean: Strat Into D20, Drives in the Loop
This is the D20’s intended use case. Start with Gain at 9 o’clock, Bass at noon, Mid at 1 o’clock, Treble at 11 o’clock, Master at noon, Bright switch on. Cabinet preset 2 or 3 on the rotary (typically a Vintage 30 or Greenback emulation on most Revv presets). Run your primary overdrive, compressor, or fuzz through the front input — the amp gives you a clean foundation that absorbs the pedal’s character rather than competing with it. The FX loop handles time-based and modulation effects. The result is a pedal rig on a stage with no cabinet needed: one XLR to the board, done.
2. 6V6 Edge-of-Breakup: Slide Tones, Open Tuning
Inspired by Joey Landreth’s documented approach. Tune the guitar to Open C or Open D. Set Gain at 1 o’clock (in the boost-engaged position on MK2, or pull the gain pot on the original). Bass at 10 o’clock (compensates for the fundamental weight of open tunings), Mid at 1 o’clock, Treble at noon. 4W mode engaged for earlier power-tube compression. Volume pushed into the power section. The 6V6 sag creates a slightly wobbly, breath-like compression on sustained slide notes that has no easy equivalent in a modeler. This is where the D20 sounds most like an amplifier, not a software box.
3. Recording Direct: High-Gain Plus Ambience
Per Joe Gore’s PG review: the D20 earns its keep on driven tones. Gain at 3 o’clock (boost engaged), Bass at noon, Mid at noon, Treble at 10 o’clock (tighten the high end for direct monitoring), Master at 10 o’clock. Select the Torpedo cab preset that gives you the closest approximation of your preferred cab (typically a 4×12 V30 emulation for this voicing). Run a delay in the FX loop at 350ms, dotted eighth, long trails. Record via the XLR into your interface. The combination of real tube compression and good cabinet IR produces a result that holds up in a mix in ways that purely digital high-gain signals often don’t.
4. Headphone Practice: 4W Mode, Tight Voicing
D20 MK2 in 4W mode, Gain at 11 o’clock, Bright switch on, Bass at 10 o’clock, Mid at noon, Treble at 1 o’clock, Reverb at 9 o’clock. Headphones into the 1/8″ jack, level at comfortable listening volume. Cabinet preset 1 (the brighter setting on most rotary positions) for a slightly more open sound in headphones — the closed-back monitoring of headphones emphasises low mids, so cutting bass slightly compensates. This is a late-night, apartment-friendly setup that still responds and feels like a real tube amp, because it is one.
5. Dual Output Stage / Wet-Dry Rig
Run the 1/4″ speaker output to a 1×12 cabinet (Celestion Creamback for warmth, or a Vintage 30 for cut). Run the XLR output simultaneously to a PA mixer or audio interface. The XLR receives the Torpedo cab simulation; the speaker output is the raw miked signal. The audience gets a blend of real cabinet air and a direct processed signal — the classic wet/dry approach without a second amp or a splitter. Gain at noon, Mid at 1 o’clock (slightly pushed helps the cab cut in a live mix), Master to taste against the room. This use case is documented in the PG review: “It sounds an awful lot like the direct sounds — testimony to the realism of the Torpedo emulations.”
Comparisons and the Revv Ecosystem
The D20 MK2 sits within the Revv lineup alongside the Generator 120 MKIII and the G20 at radically different price and power points. The Generator 120 MKIII is a 120W, four-channel, 6L6-powered flagship with four fully independent EQ sections and the full Torpedo integration at $3,499 — it shares the Torpedo DNA with the D20 but is built for stage power and multi-channel high-gain versatility. The D20 is its studio and portability-focused counterpart: one clean-to-crunch channel, 20W, 15 lbs. They coexist rather than compete.
Against the Friedman Runt 20 — another boutique 20W two-channel head in a similar price bracket — the D20 MK2 trades the Runt’s two fully independent channels and hot-rodded Plexi voicing for the Torpedo direct integration and the Californian clean character. If you need a traditional live amp with two switchable voices and no intention of going direct, the Runt 20 is arguably the better tool. If direct recording, headphone practice, or silent stage operation is part of your workflow, the D20 MK2 has capabilities the Runt simply does not offer at any price.
The Friedman Pink Taco V2 offers a different flavour — EL34-powered, more British voicing with significant high-gain range — at a similar weight class. The Pink Taco is a better choice for rock and hard rock players who need genuine channel-switching between clean and lead. The D20 MK2 better serves players whose gain comes from pedals rather than the amp itself, and who prioritise the direct output capabilities.
The Friedman JJ Junior, Jerry Cantrell’s signature design at 40W and two channels, is larger, heavier, and more expensive — but represents the benchmark for a boutique lunchbox head used by a specific player for a specific live purpose. The D20 JL is the closest Revv equivalent in the “signature artist shapes the circuit” category, though Landreth’s slide-and-pedals context is fundamentally different from Cantrell’s British-crunch high-gain application.
For players considering the Soldano SLO-30, the comparison is instructive in what each amp prioritises: the SLO-30 is a lower-wattage version of one of the definitive high-gain preamp circuits, built for playing through a cabinet without electronic speaker simulation. The D20 MK2 is the opposite philosophical approach — clean tones, pedal platform, and first-class direct capability. They are both small boutique heads; they are not targeting the same player.
Buying Guide: Original, MK2, or JL?
The original D20 (2019–2024) appears on the used market in the $600–900 range. If your priority is the Torpedo integration and the 6V6 voicing — which remain unchanged in the MK2 — the original is a genuine value. The trade-offs are: no built-in reverb, no dedicated footswitchable boost (you operate the push/pull gain pot by hand), slightly different preamp voicing, and the lighter aluminum shell. For a home studio setup where the amp lives on a desk, these trade-offs are minimal. For live use, the MK2’s footswitchable boost and included 2-button footswitch are meaningfully more practical.
The D20 MK2 at $1,349 is the current production recommendation unless the JL voicing specifically addresses your style. The Bright switch and the footswitchable boost are genuine improvements over the original’s feel, and six years of voicing refinement are audible — the MK2 has a slightly more authoritative low-end response and a cleaner high-end extension with the Bright switch disengaged.
The D20 JL at $1,499 is the correct choice for players who find themselves using the D20 primarily at low-to-moderate gain with heavy pedalboards, particularly those playing in open tunings or with string gauges heavier than .011s. The tighter low end and warm midrange voicing are substantive, not cosmetic. Joey Landreth’s stated reasoning — “slide in Open C with 19-65 gauge strings” — describes a specific physical demand, but the voicing characteristics he asked for (fast attack, warm mids, controlled bass) translate usefully to any player who finds clean tube amps tend to get muddy at lower gain levels.
Ownership Notes
The D20 MK2 ships with a standard IEC AC cable and a 2-button footswitch. Bias is externally accessible without disassembling the chassis — there are easy-access bias test points and a fuse on the rear panel. Revv specifies fixed bias; if you retube, check and adjust bias before first use. The amp includes a ground lift switch (useful for eliminating hum loops in recording environments), a Pre/Post switch for the XLR output, and a speaker/load selector. The headphone output includes a clip warning LED — a small detail that matters for protecting hearing during long headphone sessions.
The Two Notes Torpedo Remote application is available from Two Notes at no additional cost and connects via USB. It requires a Mac or Windows computer; there is no mobile app for live IR editing. Loading custom IRs requires the desktop software. Factory cab presets are accessible without any software at all. The 6-position rotary on the front panel covers the core use cases without a computer: a clean room simulation, a couple of different Vintage 30 emulations, a Greenback voice, and broader modern cabinet options depending on the firmware version loaded.
Revv’s two-year limited warranty is standard for Canadian boutique production. The amp is built in Ile des Chênes, Manitoba, which means service and parts availability follow North American supply chains. The company is responsive on their support channels and active on social media for technical questions.
FAQ
Do I need a speaker cabinet to use the Revv D20?
No. The D20 MK2 includes a reactive load that allows the amp to operate safely without a speaker connected. You can run the XLR output directly to a mixing desk, audio interface, or PA system, and the headphone output works independently of the speaker output. The amp is fully functional as a silent-practice and direct-recording tool with no cabinet anywhere in the signal chain.
What is the difference between the D20 MK2 and the D20 JL?
Both share the same fundamental specs: 2×6V6, 2×12AX7, 20W/4W, Torpedo integration, buffered FX loop, digital reverb, footswitchable boost, and the same chassis dimensions. The JL differs in preamp voicing — tighter low end, warmer and more forward midrange — designed around Joey Landreth’s specific requirements for baritone slide in open tunings with heavy strings. The JL also has a unique tolex, grille cloth, chassis colour, and knob set. It costs $150 more than the standard MK2.
Can the D20 MK2 do high-gain tones?
It can reach convincing rock and blues-rock crunch with the gain boost engaged and the gain control high. It is not a high-gain metal amplifier — the Generator 120 MKIII is Revv’s tool for that. The D20’s gain range stops well before the kind of tight, scooped-mid saturation you’d expect from a Peavey 5150-style circuit. If you play in a band that needs thrash or modern metal tones, the D20 is not the right head.
What does the 4W mode do to the sound?
Switching from 20W to 4W reduces the plate voltage to the 6V6 power tubes, which lowers the power-section headroom and brings compression into the signal earlier. It is not purely a volume reduction — it changes the feel. At 4W the amp breaks up sooner in the power section and the response becomes more yielding and compressed. For home playing through a speaker cabinet, 4W is far more useful than 20W. Through the XLR output, the power mode still affects the feel of the amp even without a speaker, because the reactive load correctly responds to the changed output stage.
Is the D20 MK2 noticeably heavier than the original?
Yes — significantly. The original aluminum-shell D20 weighed approximately 9 lbs, which made it genuinely portable in ways few tube heads are. The MK2’s tolexed Baltic birch headshell brings the weight to 15.5 lbs. This is still lighter than most conventional tube heads, but the portability advantage is substantially reduced from the original. If weight is your primary concern, the original D20 on the used market is worth seeking out. The trade-off is the older voicing, no reverb, and the push/pull boost control.
Can I use third-party impulse responses in the D20?
Yes. The Torpedo Remote application allows you to import and manage IRs from any source, including the large library of free and commercial guitar cabinet IRs available from producers like Ownhammer, Lancaster Audio, Celestion, and others. The amp stores up to 128 presets internally, accessible via MIDI. You are not restricted to Revv’s or Two Notes’ own commercial library.
What pedals work best with the D20 MK2?
Because the D20’s clean channel is an open, responsive platform with D-style mid character, it takes overdrive and distortion pedals exceptionally well. Transparent overdrive pedals (Klon-style clones, the Ibanez TS9 Tube Screamer run with the level up and drive down) work naturally with the amp’s own gain range. Fuzz pedals — including heavy, high-gain fuzz — pair well with the 6V6 power section’s natural compression. Time-based effects (delay, reverb, chorus, tremolo) work best in the FX loop to preserve definition. Modulation pedals in front of the amp add a slightly more saturated, smeared quality — some players prefer this, others prefer the cleaner modulation that comes from loop placement.
How does the D20 compare to a modeler like an Axe-FX or Helix?
This is the question the D20 was built to complicate. A high-end modeler offers more voices, more control, and more flexibility at similar or higher price points. The D20 offers one thing a modeler does not: genuine 6V6 power tubes responding to genuine speaker load under genuine voltage, with all the tactile and harmonic properties that flow from that physical reality. Whether you can hear that difference in a mix is debatable. Whether you can feel it under the fingers, especially at 4W pushing the power tubes, is less debatable — most players with tube amp experience notice the difference in pick attack response. The D20 is not the choice for players who need ten amp models; it is the choice for players who want one real tube amp that also does everything a modeler does for the output stage.