NAD...the wife won't be happy

What amp should I have bought?

  • VOX AC4C1-12

    Votes: 2 14.3%

  • Fender Super Champ X2

    Votes: 3 21.4%

  • Laney TI15 - 123

    Votes: 1 7.1%

  • Marshall DSL5

    Votes: 6 42.9%

  • VOX AC10

    Votes: 2 14.3%
  • Total voters
    14
eSGEe said:
SO WHAT ONE DID YOU GET GRUMP?
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It arrived a day early!

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The wife was asleep in the next room, so I couldn't plug it in, had to shoot back to work, but errr, a quick 2 minutes wouldn't hurt would it?

My reference points are my old Bugera 5w head with an engl 10" cab and my old Randall RD 1, both of which were really nice.

Turned it on, volume down, 5w, shouldn't be a problem - blimey it's loud! Switched it to the 1w setting mid-volume - blimey it's loud. Left the P90 junior next to the speaker - blimey that feedback/hum is loud. If you didn't know better then you'd think this was some kind of rock n roll Marshall stack or something...

I didn't wanna pay the $780 for the new version that's charged locally, so I paid a still expensive $500 for this (Korea is not cheap...). Was it worth it? First impression is a big Yes.

Love the footswitch. 5w is freakin loud, but lovely. The 1w still sounds really nice. Everything was a bit trebly for my liking, so I dialed the bass up and treble down - sounded great. I was, bearing in mind the wife was sleeping in the room next door, feathering the strings, but decided to dig in for a couple of power chords and... well, you Marshallers will know how that sounded with the P90 on the higher ultra channel!

I'll report back later after playing more, but it's all good so far.
 
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I have that same amp and really like it. You may notice the gain can get a little fizzy past about 2:00 on the Ultra channel. I leave my gain around 1:00.

Don’t be afraid to play around with the Deep and Tone Shift buttons.

You’ve probabaly noticed this amp has an effects loop, so now you can experiment more with pedal placement. You can run to an external speaker, as well. So, you’re not confined to what came in it.

This amp does take pedals nicely, too.
 
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Mr Grumpy said:
Good advice, Smitty - I will pay around a you suggest. The Amp does have a lot of options.
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Cool. Just make sure that if you connect to an external speaker, that you make the speaker connections BEFORE powering the amp on. The same is true when you reconnect the built-in speaker. Turn the amp off before disconnecting anything and make sure the speaker is reconnected before turning it back on.
 
smitty_p said:
. Turn the amp off before disconnecting anything and make sure the speaker is reconnected before turning it back on.
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Thanks, Smitty - I will take care.

RVA said:
Very nice! I have a bunch of amps, but my Marshall is still my favorite
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I have to say that just got home (the wife was not happy...), had 15 minutes on the amp, and it's absolute filth of the finest order. I really like it. 1 watt setting, volume and gain only on 2 and it sounds really nice. Wait til the wife goes out and I turn it up...

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So, I found this lovely tone, kinda bluesy overdrive with a tad more if you dig in (1 watt setting; ulra-gain channel; deep switch in; gain & volume at 9am; treble at 10am; middle at 12; bass at 2pm; guitar tone on 8; guitar volume on 9 - the amp does have a fizzy edge, but that's easily taken away by just backing off the guitar volume a tad which leaves you with lovely grit) - it was all very enjoyable until the wife came in and said that she couldn't take it any more - much louder than the THR10...

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That was on volume and gain setting 2 of 10 - 1 watt setting... It's borderline home practice levels even when quiet; good job it has the headphone socket.

Sounded great to my ears, so reactive to play that I was enjoying digging in a bit.

Looks like I'll be using the headphones more from now on in; I'll report back on how the emulated output sounds. Suffice to say that when the wife is out, I'll be getting complaints from the neighbours...

I feel like I wanna take it to a rehearsal room and really open it up, just to see what we can get.

The 1w setting is massively louder than the 1w Randall RD, and the 5w setting is soooooo much louder than the Buger 5w. To give some direct comparisons:
1w Randall Diavlo; volume dimed then pulled back a tad to get the best powertube saturation; gain at about 9am-10am - similar level, maybe slightly lower than I'm playing the Marshall at now.
5w Bugera through a 10" cab; 5w setting (sounded a lot better than the other settings); gain at midday; volume at around 10am (say level 3 of 10) was similar or slightly lower volume than I am at on the Marshall now.

Much fun being had. I should have gotten one of these years ago.

I have found the compromise (I don't like headphones...): just leave the classic gain channel on a low volume setting, roll the guitar volume down a tad and a nice clean sound is there at acceptable late night practice volumes just by stepping on the footswitch - still has a tad of bite, so it's not a boring glistening clean.
 
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The low watt amps have been the hot ticket for a time now. That Marshall 5 watt will keep your ears ringing as much as and of its big brothers. Congrats dude and enjoy!
 
Hackmaster said:
I have the DSL15 and with just one simple tube change, (ECC823 for V1) the amp is a keeper, even with the $hitty stock speaker.
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Can I ask why, as I'm up for a mod or two. Also, what speaker would you put in? I noticed the stock speaker costs about $30, but I'd happily throw in a $100 speaker if it'll add to the pleasure.

Not that it's lacking at all in sound, but this place is modding central...

smitty_p said:
Is this to be taken as a serious question?
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Nope. Iy was my poor attempt at a joke... :D

smitty_p said:
I have that same amp and really like it.
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Did you, are you likely to, make any changes, Smitty?

smitty_p said:
You can run to an external speaker, as well.
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Is the reverse true too? I see the speaker cable plugs into the head - could I put another little head on top and plug the speaker cable into it? (I know it begs the question of why didn't I get a head and cab, but the heads weren't available locally...)
 
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