Re: Finally...a NAD!
Having had it for a while now I'm even more certain it's never going anywhere lol. I love just about every sound this thing makes! Gives me a LOT of tonal options ...always very usable & more often than not, totally awesome!
It's very touch sensitive & dynamic ...depending on the output tubes can either be crisp & edgy or warm round & sweet...it always stays relatively tight though & bass tends to never get boomy or uncontrollable, no matter the setting, even though there's
plenty of it on tap. The tonestack is perfect in that way..
This amp is very sensitive to different pickups/guitars/cables and the differences are immediately obvious as soon as you change your gear around. It really brings out the tones of the different instruments you're playing (though always maintaining it's own familiar sound all the while)
Tonally, while it's got it's own thing going on, it's pretty easy to dial in a lot of my favourite guiatr tones, both rhythm & lead. The versatility of this little amp is through the roof. It goes from very convincing AC/DC to VH to 70's Priest/Iron Maiden 80's metal to just about anything (doom/death metal ..it's all in there.) The basic tone is really open/thick/meaty ...it roars like a Marshall/Hot rodded JCM 800/Slo, but can also do convincing recto tones on the 2nd lead channel which has a sickening amount of gain on tap. This channel sits somewhere tonally /gain-wise between a (heavily) hot-rodded Marshall & a Dual Recto ....it's that heavy
Lead 1 is quite different & is very dynamic with tons of harmonic overtones, very classic 70's/80's rock/hard rock sounding...with more than enough gain for lead playing of any sort...from Jimmy Page to Michael Romeo. It goes from medium crunch to pretty ****ing heavy..
The Clean channel handles just about any sort of jazz-to-classic rock tone there is...most of them very well. Combining the channel toggle switching options (clean/crunch/sexy) with the 3 Presence presets (1."treble & bass boost" Vs. 2."high mid boost with extra edge" Vs. 3."treble & presence boost") gives literally endless tonal/textural options..
Cons:
It has a tad more idling noise than my other amps (not much..just with your ear to the speaker) ...maybe from being Single ended(?) Nothing very obvious though just a slight barely audible hum when you take it off standby.
Can be slightly buzzy on certain settings with certain output tubes at whisper soft bedroom levels (can be EQ'd out) ...never buzzy when you turn it up a bit though!
Knobs could've had some sort of pointer (They do have a dot/groove....but...) It's tough to tell where they're pointing at without a close-ish look.
Output Tubes I've tried so far:
JJ EL34's (very nice - classic Marshall tones!), Sovtek 5881's (stock tubes..also great..very crisp/crunchy and balanced sound), Chinese coke bottle 6L6's (pretty sweet, slightly scooped in the mids), Shuguang EL34B's (Not bad but sounded a bit brittle...I think they need a bit of burning in first) & the Russian 6P3S-E's that are in there right now (A bit rounder/darker, but sound really great!)
All switching Options (Loop Demo):
Crunch (Running Through Presence Settings: 1-2-3)
Sexy (Running Through Presence Settings: 1-2-3)
Lead 1 (Running Through Presence Settings: 1-2-3)
Lead 2 (Running Through Presence Settings: 1-2-3)
Clean (Running Through Presence Settings: 1-2-3)
EQ/Gain Settings (Unchanged For Demo)
Treble - 4
Bass - 4
Mid - 6
Clean Channel Gain - 7
Dirty Channel Gain - 6
Volume - 1 (Conversation level)
Guitar: Jackson DK2 (Lace Alumitone Deathbucker Bridge) tuned to Eb (9-42 strings / Eric Johnson Jazz III plec)
Brutus Live's Direct/Slave out -> AMT CN-1 Cab Sim Pedal -> Digital Handheld Recorder (Line Input)
No Effects/Pre/Post Production.
Chimes like Big Ben
But the video's clipping a bit (set my recording levels too high or something..). I'll do a better (more varied/less annoying lol) demo in a while. My left pinky is badly swollen/unusable due to a nail infection atm..so I've had to use just the other 3 fingers
