NAD, it's a Splawn!

[Gone_Shootin]

I picked up a used Splawn Pro Mod & Splawn 4x12 with Splawn Small Block speakers. The original owner bought it back in 2007, and ordered it with a really nice quilted maple front panel. and recently had new Svetlana 6550s put in the poweramp section. I've been jamming on it tonight with several of my guitars. And yes, it's a very loud amp! I ended up throwing my MXR KFK 10 band EQ in the loop, mainly to attenuate the volume (the amp sounds better with the volume at noon or more. It did alter the tone a bit, but not enough to make me yank the EQ back out. And of course I tweaked the tone a bit with the EQ (didn't take much, just enough to tame the low end rumble a little bit). Another thing I noticed was that at half power the amp is warmer, but at full power it sounds more open and natural, or at least to my ears.

The Small Block speakers are supposed to be based on the UK built Celestion Greenback, and they do have that greenie vibe about them. But I'm kind of on the fence about them at the moment, because I never really have been wild about Greenbacks. Tomorrow at practice I will try it through the two cabs I have at my Drummer's house, the Carvin with the Eminence built Carvin BR12 speakers, and the Avatar Traditional 4X12 with Eminence Swamp Thangs and Texas Heats in an X pattern.

So anyway, here's some pics:

:32:

 

[PFDarkside]

Re: NAD, it's a Splawn!

Cool! Great amps, I'm still jamming on my 06 Quick Rod. :headbang: I ended up with a 2x12 cab with a Small Block and Big Block.

 

[Gearjoneser]

Re: NAD, it's a Splawn!

Nice. That's my favorite look on a Splawn.

 

[TwilightOdyssey]

Re: NAD, it's a Splawn!

Congrats, looks great! That amp will slay!

 

[UberMetalDood]

Re: NAD, it's a Splawn!

Congratulations. I generally like the sound of 6550's more than KT88's so I bet it sounds even better than stock. It has a unique look. Was that aftermarket or done by Splawn?

 

[Gone_Shootin]

Re: NAD, it's a Splawn!

Thanks, everybody, I've been grinning from ear to ear while playing it. It's definetly a fun amp to play though!

Congratulations. I generally like the sound of 6550's more than KT88's so I bet it sounds even better than stock. It has a unique look. Was that aftermarket or done by Splawn?

Yeah, it definetly sounds good with these 6550s. It's nice & punchy and hits you in the gut. And the original owner (the guy I bought it off of) ordered it with the quilted maple front panel, so it was done by Splawn. He said that there was some sort of delay on the wood, so they shipped the amp to him with the standard plexiglass front panel (he gave me that with the amp too), and the panel with the wood showed up about a year later.

On another note, I messed around with the clean channel some more and made a nice discovery. The gain knob seems to act a little more like a compressor than a gain knob. I was able to go from nice normal cleans to some nice Country type spanky cleans. It made my Tele sound great! Not having a mid control does kinda suck, but I worked aaround that with the EQ, and the compression makes up for that for me.

Can't wait for band practice tomorrow.

 

[~Vintage~]

Re: NAD, it's a Splawn!

Congrats on that Splawn acquisition! I've never heard or played one but only heard great things. Do they have over the top crunch like Mesa or classic tone like Marshall?

 

[Gone_Shootin]

Re: NAD, it's a Splawn!

Congrats on that Splawn acquisition! I've never heard or played one but only heard great things. Do they have over the top crunch like Mesa or classic tone like Marshall?

This and the other ones I've heard are definetly in the Marshall camp. This one can go from old school AC/DC to full bore modded Marshall roar. And it does roar, like an unearthly beast that wants to rip your head off! Splawn did a great job of voicing the gain structure too, even in 3rd gear on OD2 with the gain cranked (the highest gain possible with this amp), it doesn't seem to get too muddy, but it does get really crunchy and chewy. But I'm perfectly happy with the gain at noon. All the gain I want or need.

 

[~Vintage~]

Re: NAD, it's a Splawn!

This and the other ones I've heard are definetly in the Marshall camp. This one can go from old school AC/DC to full bore modded Marshall roar. And it does roar, like an unearthly beast that wants to rip your head off! Splawn did a great job of voicing the gain structure too, even in 3rd gear on OD2 with the gain cranked (the highest gain possible with this amp), it doesn't seem to get too muddy, but it does get really crunchy and chewy. But I'm perfectly happy with the gain at noon. All the gain I want or need.

Yeah that's awesome to have some gain in your back pocket! I used to play for years with all my amps' gain on 11 but now I have a head where I can get crushing tones with the gain not all the way up!

Rock on man!

 

[Gone_Shootin]

Re: NAD, it's a Splawn!

Yeah that's awesome to have some gain in your back pocket! I used to play for years with all my amps' gain on 11 but now I have a head where I can get crushing tones with the gain not all the way up!

Rock on man!

Yes, extra gain on tap is always good. In fact, this amp has alot more gain on tap than my Triple Rec.

And thanks!

 

[d1dsj]

Re: NAD, it's a Splawn!

That looks fantastic, the fact you're grinning from ear to ear tells me it sounds even better! Well done, sounds like you've had an early happy Christmas!

 

[Gone_Shootin]

Re: NAD, it's a Splawn!

Well, I ran it through the Carvin and Avatar cabs tonight. It sounded decent through the Carvin, but sounded great through the Swamp Thang and Texas Heat speakers in the Avatar.

That looks fantastic, the fact you're grinning from ear to ear tells me it sounds even better! Well done, sounds like you've had an early happy Christmas!

Thanks, and yes, it's made for a nice early Christmas for me.

 

[Brow]

Re: NAD, it's a Splawn!

My Splawn Quick Rod is my main amp for my 80s Rock/Hair Metal band and it's awesome for that sort of stuff!

The 'gain' control on the clean channel is mis-named though as you've discovered. Id've renamed it something like 'body' as it just seems to fill the sound out the more you turn it up.

Does your amp have the FX Loop Master volume control? I'm going to try my MXR-10band in the loop to tame the volume and see if I like it any better to the FX loop master volume.

 

[Gone_Shootin]

Re: NAD, it's a Splawn!

My Splawn Quick Rod is my main amp for my 80s Rock/Hair Metal band and it's awesome for that sort of stuff!

The 'gain' control on the clean channel is mis-named though as you've discovered. Id've renamed it something like 'body' as it just seems to fill the sound out the more you turn it up.

Does your amp have the FX Loop Master volume control? I'm going to try my MXR-10band in the loop to tame the volume and see if I like it any better to the FX loop master volume.

No, mine doesn't have the loop volume control, which is why I used the EQ. But at band practice I didn't need to attenuate the volume as long as I was on half power. But, then again, I only had the distortion channel volume around noon.

And yes, the clean channel is very nice. That country style spank I was getting out of it and all the calssic Plexi tones it's capable of makes me wonder why Splawn hasn't made a bigger splash amongst Country guitarists. Because those two tones are heard alot in modern Country music.

 

[Gone_Shootin]

Re: NAD, it's a Splawn!

I realize that I failed to mention this, I assumed it went without saying, but the mids on these amps are....intense. Which is great if you're belting out some classic riffs, but not so much with modern metal tones. When I tried it at band practice I did end up scooping the EQ a little more than I wanted to, because the other guitarist's tone is so scooped that I was drowning him out with very little effort, lol. :headbang:

So, this made me wonder about those three Dimebuckers I have that are collecting dust (I took them out of my guitars after my tastes changed and no longer liked really really scooped mids). So tonight I took one and threw it in my Ibanez RG320DX. I figured it would be a good guinea pig since the stock pickups suck and I've been wanting to throw some Duncans in it anyway.

It turned out great. It put the mids of the Splawn in a nice sweet spot for a more modern tone. Not too scooped out, but not too many mids either, I love it! It feels kinda good to have a reason to like those Dimebuckers again. :banana:

 

[thunderkyss]

Re: NAD, it's a Splawn!

The thing about mids... we use the term as if it describes a narrow frequency range. But, it actually refers to a fairly wide range of frequencies. The "Marshall" sound, to me, is a pronounced mid range.... a very particular mid range frequency (I've never gone so far as to specifically define that range).

The Dimbuckers, to me, also accentuate a particular mid frequency.

I'd love to hear a clip of your new Splawn with the Dimebuckers, for the life of me I can't imagine how that would sound, with the mids scooped out.

 

[BloodRose]

Re: NAD, it's a Splawn!

Awesome amp! Congrats! I LOVE that front panel!! I HAVE to know if that is a factory option or not! I assume it is cuz of the logo. I Drool everytime I see those new PRS amps that have the black flame front panels and Randall had that Kirk hammett amp out that had the black flame. But I love my Quick rod, so perhaps I could have the best of both!!! Ill contact Scott and ask! Tho I prolly cant afford it now.
I have a splawn cab with the small blocks too. sounds good to me. and I have a carvin with the british series speakers. Did you say those are made by Eminence?

 

[Gone_Shootin]

Re: NAD, it's a Splawn!

The thing about mids... we use the term as if it describes a narrow frequency range. But, it actually refers to a fairly wide range of frequencies. The "Marshall" sound, to me, is a pronounced mid range.... a very particular mid range frequency (I've never gone so far as to specifically define that range).

The Dimbuckers, to me, also accentuate a particular mid frequency.

I'd love to hear a clip of your new Splawn with the Dimebuckers, for the life of me I can't imagine how that would sound, with the mids scooped out.

I'll grab my mics next time I go to practice and try to get something recorded.

Awesome amp! Congrats! I LOVE that front panel!! I HAVE to know if that is a factory option or not! I assume it is cuz of the logo. I Drool everytime I see those new PRS amps that have the black flame front panels and Randall had that Kirk hammett amp out that had the black flame. But I love my Quick rod, so perhaps I could have the best of both!!! Ill contact Scott and ask! Tho I prolly cant afford it now.
I have a splawn cab with the small blocks too. sounds good to me. and I have a carvin with the british series speakers. Did you say those are made by Eminence?

Thanks! The original owner said that he ordered it with the amp, but he talked like it was a custom thing that they don't normally offer. And yes, the BR12s in my Carvin cab were made by Eminence, but sometime a few years ago they started making them in China. I don't remember when they made the switch, but the older (better sounding) US made BR12s are 100 watts, whereas the Chinese version is rated at 70 watts.

 

[ginormous]

Re: NAD, it's a Splawn!

"Lucy, you got some Splawn'in to do!!!"

 

[PFDarkside]

Re: NAD, it's a Splawn!

Awesome amp! Congrats! I LOVE that front panel!! I HAVE to know if that is a factory option or not! I assume it is cuz of the logo. I Drool everytime I see those new PRS amps that have the black flame front panels and Randall had that Kirk hammett amp out that had the black flame. But I love my Quick rod, so perhaps I could have the best of both!!! Ill contact Scott and ask! Tho I prolly cant afford it now.
I have a splawn cab with the small blocks too. sounds good to me. and I have a carvin with the british series speakers. Did you say those are made by Eminence?

Just FYI, I had a black Quick Rod, and was ordering a 2x12". I decided to go all out and get a white 2x12" and a white head shell for the amp. I also went with a custom plexi panel for it. I feel like at the time it was $100 extra for the custom front panel? Either way give him a call, definitely one of the best gear purchases I've made, class act and great to work with.

Here's an old pic from when it arrived.