Incoming practice/recording NAD..

[Phantasmagoria]

Should be a fun little amp

I'm all about recording stuff quickly and with the minimum of fuss. I'm hoping this thing is king when it comes to that :bigthumb:

Now for a bit of thumb-twiddling & waiting...

 

[Rex_Rocker]

I really want a Revv G20 to be able to move back to tube amps while still being able to play through headphones and recording through IR's.

What did you get?

 

[Phantasmagoria]

Well my last couple have been tube & SS amps...so by rotation this time it's a modeler :laugh2:

lol, J/k, but Like I said I got it just so I can avoid as much setting up & can have everything ready to go in one box w/ minimum connecting/setting up..

Also for practice..cuz I want to work on my rhythm chops and get them back up to speed. I like the fact that this thing can apparently produce a really room-filling spread of sound at low volumes since over the last few years I have become a pretty huge pest to the neighbour's (who happen to be big-time land sharks/mafioso) and it's getting harder and harder to crank up anything w/o cops showing up at my doorstep thanks to those crooks

So yeah, w/o further ado :bigthumb:

Skip to 12:00 ^^ for some actual playing/sweet tone :laugh2:

Plus i really like the HOTONE stuff. Just bought the little HeartAttack (Recto) amp & I've had the Ampero for a few years. They make products that don't break the bank & that have a knack for producing great tones imo...

Anyway it was supposed to show up yesterday but did'nt so hopefully sometime today..

 

[Rex_Rocker]

Ah, looks really cool! Yeah, I've got a friend who swears by his Ampero Mini.

 

[Phantasmagoria]

I love my og Ampero. The amps sound killer, though I used it primarily for delay & reverb in my amp's loop, but then I lost the power supply at my last gig. Recently got another but have'nt hooked it up yet.

As for my Pulze amp, no sign of it today either ("network delay" being the reason )

 

[Phantasmagoria]

hmm.....supposedly "Out For Delivery" let's see..
(
( I've had that go on for 2-3 days in the past :laugh2 and I live bang in the center of town. How long can it take?? :angryfire

 

[Phantasmagoria]

Damn. Speak of the Devil :headbang:

 

[Phantasmagoria]

Not yet plugged into it...but I'm guessing it works...cuz it switched on


I also managed to get the really important stuff done first ...it now glows purple :bigthumb:

It was quite a bit heavier & more solid feeling than I expected it to be.I was expecting more plastic but it's all metal. Very cool gunmetal grey sparkle-ish color. Same size as my Laney SS head that it's temporarily replaced above he Laney Studio..I'll give it a try early tomorrow morning when I'm up..
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[Phantasmagoria]

lotsa clips/testing to come

 

[Phantasmagoria]

Well it sounds decent enough..Jazz ballad using a preset (JP Lead) Mic'd one speaker (edge of dustcap) and that's it..

 

[Phantasmagoria]

Gott one of these splitter cables coming in later today so I can record direct in stereo from the headphone out to my interface L/R mono inputs & see what that's like. Apparently it also works as a USB interface so I guess you can record it direct that way too...and while it does have bluetooth connectivity I'm not sure if that works for recording too. I'll have to look it up.

But yeah. It is def a legit recording amp capable of pretty sweet recordings w/ minimal fuss & setup. So, personal goal achived/money well spent.. and the presets are pretty fine right out of the box which makes things even quicker/easier.. I believe most are from the Ampero/Ampero II..

 

[Phantasmagoria]

Same thing direct. With the ^^ splitter cable. Sounds better/is in stereo ,,,and even less hassle w//o the mic'ing. I'll probably stick to this unless there's a way w/ bluetooth or something that's even quicker/less fussy :laugh2:

 

[Phantasmagoria]

First to a single audio interface input -> recorded on a mono track then next -> stereo out to both inputs on a stereo track...

Nice new neoclassical ballad backtrack & that's always fun for me cuz the neoclassical ones always lend themselves to a bit of tapping & shred... :bigthumb:

I guess i will have to move on to some of the other presets soon...the Plexi one is pretty sweet, SLO too ..lots of nice tones in this box to get through.. Man, it's obviously going to take a while

But that's the thing about NAD's...so much to explore . :bigthumb:

Then I will move on to a couple new threads (NCD/New Cab day's) cuz I just remembered I forgot to open individual threads for those up here ..damn :laugh2:

 

[Phantasmagoria]

The trick is a little tweaking. The Presets are all pretty decent & "usable" out of the box but w/a little bit of adjustment they can sound pretty spectacular :bigthumb:

This is the "Soloist 100 Lead" amp/patch. All I really did to it was adjust the reverb/delay a little & turn off the "spactial/stereo" thing (sounds great in the room but I prefer to record w/o it)...really opened it up & sweetened it... The issue I have with the lead presets is they're all a bit too crisp/bright/edgy for my tastes. I Ilke a touch of "roundness" to my tones. Anyway that's easy enough to achieve w/ some (very basic) tweaking :bigthumb:

SLO 100 amp model after editing (sounds sweet af to me)..

 

[Phantasmagoria]

Hotone vs. Hotone :bigthumb:

My 5W SS Hotone Heartattack through My Laney 2x12 w/ V30's AND my 1x12 Cab w/ a Creamback 65 (in stereo). Mic'd w/ an SM 57 (Laney) & Audio Technica MB2K (1x12). TC Elecronic Spark boost in front + rev & delay from Reaper.

​

 

[Phantasmagoria]

Vs. my 15W Goldea tube head + Laney 2x12 w/ V30's (single mono track)

Did'nt want to chance an impedance mismatch disaster by hooking up the Creamback cab as well...though I doubt much would've gone wrong in 5< mins..

 

[Phantasmagoria]

Ibanez S Series (S520BBS) w/ my Laney SS 60W head & two Cabs (Laney 2x212w/ V30's & 1x12 Cab w/ Craemback 65) ~ Neoclassical Ballad (Kerry KIng style..)

Yesterday I was jamming with this setup before lunch & it sounded absolutely amazing cranked in the room. It's insanely loud (Laney head) too...60Watts is 60Watts ...no kidding :bigthumb:

 

[Phantasmagoria]

Also I just discovered something after I recorded that clip. While this amp sounds great & feels great, it was always really noisy when idling , like, a lot of hum (50hz). I thought it was maybe bad grounding in the amp or a dirty poweroutlet but It's even louder through the two linked cabs I'm using now than my Vox 1x12 w/ a Redback I had it hooked up to earlier.which is kinda irritating to be honest.

So I thought I'd just take a proper look at the back see if anything was loose or something

Well, I just discovered it has a 'ground-lift' slider switch at the back..so I flipped it. Did'nt really have high hopes cuz they often do nothing, but damn!! Everything has gone dead silent....as in no fucking noise at all...even on the highest gain settings! And the tone is hella better too. It was great before though w/ a tendency to sound a bit brittle in the highs. But now it's even thicker (like insanely thick & meaty) /feels smoother, the highs are incredible and it's just phenomenal to play tbh...

This blows away the little Soldano SS head I tried a couple of years ago.. Makes it sound like a toy while this bad boy on the other hand actually sounds like a large tube head pretty much..and yes, it is shockingly LOUD \m/



EDIT: Ok, so after playing it a while there's still a bit of noise (acceptable for a gainy amp) but it's like 80% quieter now.

 

[Phantasmagoria]

First clip after flipping the switch. Laney SS head into my Creamback cab (mono track):

 

[Phantasmagoria]

Also found/edited a pretty sweet Recto patch on my Hotone Pulze. Time to move on fromthe neoclassical ballad though. Ballads can be fun but after a while all the tasteful restraint gets to me....yeah, some whammy helps but even that can only take it so far..

Funnily enough, the Pulze also had a grounding 50hz (60hz in the US) buzzing issue whicjh was due to it coming witha two-prong Euro plug (they have the third/ground prong in the wall outlet, not on the plug) for the power cord. All the buzz disappeared after I switched it to a standard three prong Indian power cord/plug so it was properly grounded.