Surprise NAD and a couple questions...

dystrust

dystrust

Well-known member
I really haven't been in the market for much of anything lately, but when this popped up on the local CL for only $200 I couldn't say no.

red_mini_zpsintidgik.jpg


I haven't decided if I'm going to keep it yet; it looks damn cool but I'm not 100% sold on how it sounds. Condition-wise it's really clean except for a small tolex tear on the bottom cab, and seems to be in working order for the most part.

Now for the questions...
1. The master volume and midrange knobs are REALLY difficult to turn even after cleaning the pots. Are there any other things I can try besides just replacing them?

2. The taper on the gain knob seems a bit strange. I haven't tried hot pickups yet, but using my 335 with '59s plugged into the high input the amp stays almost clean until 6 or more on the gain and doesn't really start to cook until 8 or higher. Then between 8 and 10 it goes from dirty to REALLY DIRTY. I haven't played a lot of these, but I don't seem to recall any of the others acting like that. I also hear intermittent scratchiness or crackling while playing. Maybe I need to clean the input jacks as well?

3. Tone-wise it's pretty gritty and a bit harsh in the high end. Does this indicate anything besides the stock speakers not being the best? I'm going to try my ported 1x12 with the Eminence Private Jack tonight or tomorrow and I'll probably end up selling this if the tone doesn't improve. If it does, are there any good 10" speakers I should look into? I'm leaning toward Eminence Ramrods, but I'd love to have more options to consider.
 
Re: Surprise NAD and a couple questions...

Never seen one of these before but it looks cool! I love the red tolex!
Is is solid state? If so the SS Marshalls are kind how you describe, the the older ones didn't sound very well, they are kinda fizzy and harsh..
 
Re: Surprise NAD and a couple questions...

Congrats on the new amp day!

1. Have you tried WD40?
2. I would say cleaning the input jacks wouldn't
3. I wish I could be more helpful
 
Re: Surprise NAD and a couple questions...

1. Let me throw this disclaimer out, I KNOW you are an intelligent guy, but this IS The Internet.....you pulled the chassis and shot cleaner Into The Pots.?

2. I have done it MANY times.....sometimes, some knobs are Real Sensitive to proximity, and they get Real Hard To Turn if you do not back them off of the face-plate a bit.

Yeah. I doubt the jacks as well.....but they are Fast/Easy to clean.
I see no reason the Ramrod would not be a good choice, but THAT is Very Subjective. I Love Eminence. What else do they offer in a 10.?
Maybe mix a Ramrod and a Red Fang.?
good luck
 
Re: Surprise NAD and a couple questions...

Update time.

1. I did pull the chassis and clean the pots with contact cleaner / lube. It helped somewhat with the midrange knob, but didn't do much for the master. They were equally difficult to turn with the chassis removed, so I doubt that over-tightening is the cause. I've heard that WD-40 can cause pots to gum up, but I suppose they can hardly get any worse than they are now. Anyone have any other ideas I can try?

2. I did some more research, and It turns out that the gain knob on these amps IS supposed to act like that. They use a pair of opamps for clipping which have a rather hard clipping threshold unlike the softer onset of diode clipping. I didn't have any crackling or scratchiness today, but I'll go ahead and clean the jacks next time I pull the chassis.

3. It turns out that the stock speakers aren't great and this is a pretty cool little amp. I was using longcat's LP with the JB/Jazz set tonight and the Lead 12 really reminds me of the dirty channel from a JCM800 2205/2210. Once I got the tone / gain interaction figured out, I was able to dial in a pretty badass RATM / Badmotorfinger tone. In terms of clarity the Private Jack was much better, but its frequency emphasis was totally wrong. I don't like G12Ms with a 2205/2210, so this doesn't come as a huge surprise. I can't use Eminence Ramrods either as they're 8 ohm only and the amp needs a pair of 16 ohm speakers.

Comparing the stock Celestion G10-D25s to the Private Jack I prefer the more modern tone of the Celestions, but their poor clarity and harsh high end is a deal breaker. I really like G12-65s and Vintage 30s with a 2205/2210, so I'm now looking at the WGS ET-10 & Retro 10. Does anyone have any experience with either of these or their bigger brothers (ET65 / Retro 30)?
 
Re: Surprise NAD and a couple questions...

dystrust said:
1. I did pull the chassis and clean the pots with contact cleaner / lube. It helped somewhat with the midrange knob, but didn't do much for the master. They were equally difficult to turn with the chassis removed, so I doubt that over-tightening is the cause. I've heard that WD-40 can cause pots to gum up, but I suppose they can hardly get any worse than they are now. Anyone have any other ideas I can try?
Click to expand...

Rereading that now it isn't entirely clear, but I completely loosened all of the pots / jacks and pulled the pots / jacks / board out of the chassis as well.
 
Re: Surprise NAD and a couple questions...

Had that exact micro stack. Color and all. Ended up giving away with my Charvel M7 to a young teen who wanted to play.

Indeed they do ramp up toward the end of the gain knob. Also they do sound great with big cabs. I ran mine through a g1265 loaded cab.

And heres Johan running one through some old old cabs.

https://m.youtube.com/?#/watch?list=WL&v=S0PY8irDHSo
 
Re: Surprise NAD and a couple questions...

I'm just going to say this:

DO NOT PUT WD-40 NEAR ELECTRONICS.

That **** is for door hinges and stubborn nuts (jokes!) contact cleaner all the way.
 
Re: Surprise NAD and a couple questions...

I've got the combo version. The stock 10" speaker pretty much sucks - those cabs probably have the same one. I tried to switch it out once with another celestion 10" (tube 10 or something like that) and it didn't help much. It sounds better through a 12" speaker though.

Yeah, the gain knob really is only good cranked up nearly or all the way. Still, the circuit is such that the amp doesn't sound that great unless there's a TS or super OD in front of it. Then, it does a pretty nice jcm800 thing. On it's own, it's mud city.
 
Last edited:
Re: Surprise NAD and a couple questions...

I had one in.black. It was cool. Sold it to my buddy. We've since replaced the stock 10" speakers with a Greenback and a V30. The amp sounds much smoother and more pleasing now. It's also got more thump.
 
Re: Surprise NAD and a couple questions...

LLL said:
Caig Deoxit D5 for pots and tube sockets.

Caig Labs
Click to expand...

I picked up some D5 over the weekend and gave it a shot. The midrange pot turns much easier now; it's still more difficult than the others, but much less than before. The master volume pot OTOH is still very difficult to turn. Is there anything else I can try, or should I plan on ordering a 1M audio pot?

In terms of speakers, I'm leaning heavily toward a pair of WGS ET-10s at the moment. I'd love to use Eminence Red Coats, but their 10" speakers are 8 ohm only and I need 16. I'm not really interested in Celestions as they're just too expensive for what they offer, and I don't want to throw a ton of $$$ at this thing.
 
Re: Surprise NAD and a couple questions...

WD-40---water displacement...as the cranky Canadian says...not really for electronics.
The speakers are not so good...but as also said, on a bigger cab it has some good tones!
 
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