NAD!! **Warning, KT88 Content**

[ryjan]

I finally got her in this morning! I have to sit and stare at it until I leave at 5 tonight. Going to be a long day. She's a 2009 model with the loop volume and Ruby KT88's. The cab is loaded with Splawn small blocks. **** just got real!

 

[Riff Blister]

Kick A$$!!!!
I'm looking forward to a full review.

 

[Gtr_Pkr]

That just looks mean. Awesome!! When you Ruby's run out, try a pair of Gold Lion KT88's. A quad is about 25% less than when they came out a year or two ago. They are finally starting to be affordable.

 

[ryjan]

First impressions after full band practice.
Well...I had no problems being heard. This amp is LOUD!!! The bottom end is rediculous but tight. The gain is angry and massive but stays articulate. It chugs metal like a recto but still has a smooth lead tone as well (not quite as good as my old Mark IV but miles ahead of a recto). With an EMG equiped guitar and the gain at noon I was getting Hetfield-esque tones without a problem.
This sucker was surprisingly difficult to dial in considering the simple knob layout. After a half hour or so I was starting to get how they interacted with each other. I was amazed by how much gain there was available. All very useable also. From 9-11:00 it went from bluesy classic rock to cranked Electra Dyne territory. I found my sweet spot at about noon where it had a Metallica Load album tone. 1-2:00 and you're in hardcore Br00tz land and anything after 3:00 was total saturation Vai style.
I'd say the overall voice of this amp would be a 50/50 mix of wall o' Recto and modded JCM. Great metal amp. I really like it.
The only bad things I can find so far is a weak clean channel but I didn't buy this amp for the cleans. And the effects loop isn't foot switchable. This means that If I want to run effects I'll either be tap dancing or I'll buy a GCX or something. That's it. If you're like me and just want an amp you can plug straight into and use the lead channel 98% of the time then this is your amp.

 

[Gtr_Pkr]

That sounds wicked cool dude! :twisted:

Now you can experiement with some different tubes!

 

[ryjan]

It's $150-$200 for 4 KT88's. I'll probably keep the experimenting to a minimum. :wink:

 

[ryjan]

One month later and I finally got to A/B my Nitro against a Roadster and a Mark V.
First, if you're looking for versatility then the Nitro is not for you. It can go from plexi-ish to Uberschall with only a gain knob adjustment but it's still a 2 channel amp.
That being said what you get in these 2 channels more than makes up for any shortcommings.
The Mark and Roadster's cleans are very clear and chimey. The Nitro's clean is a little more jangley if that makes sense. It's not as clean as the Mesa's but it has it's own personality. I only use my clean channel about 5% of the time so it's not as important to me as the OD channel and that's what the Splawn was made for.
If you could add a subwoofer and about 50 more watts of headroom to the Extreme mode of the Mark V then you would have the Nitro. I didn't realize how much low end was in my Splawn until I got to hear it next to an amp that I know very well (I played a Mark IV for the last couple years). The high end of the Nitro isn't quite a smooth as the Mark (what is?) but a lead player could still enjoy this amp immensly. It has a footswitchable od1/od2 and a solo switch. Switching to od2 seems to add even more thickness and almost sounds like you've switched from your bridge to your neck pick up. The solo button just adds volume and it has a knob on the amp that allows you to dial in the ammount. All really useable features for anyone who gigs. And gigging is what the Nitro is for. :twisted:
To all the threads that say "Roadster needs moar gain!" get a Nitro. It goes from punchy and woody with the gain at 9:00, snarly and huge at 12:00, to crazy and mushy at 3:00. I liked the Roadsters gain at about 1:00 and the same level of saturation is about 10:30-11:00 on the Nitro. I was expecting these two to be more alike but I think the Nitro is closer in voice to the Mark. It did share the recto hugeness and low end aggression with the roadster but that was about it.
The Nitro is a great amp for me because when I had my Mark IV I always wanted more thickness and bottom end and whenever I played a recto I'd always miss the creamyness and fast articulation of the Mark series. The Nitro has a little of both. It has more low end and a tighter one at that than a Rectifier and a nice smooth mid/high tone for the higher single note stuff.
It's a one trick pony for sure but I'm a one trick player. :lol:

 

[zodiac272]

saw this... scott splawn... awesome. at about 1:10 in the video it kicks ***

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YFEd342t5Ig

scott

 

[ryjan]

saw this... scott splawn... awesome. at about 1:10 in the video it kicks ***

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YFEd342t5Ig

scott

That on had KT-77 tubes. The KT-88's are even more insane.

 

[lolzgreg]

You'll probably like 6550s in that amp better than KT-88s; what brand tubes are in that beast?

 

[ryjan]

You'll probably like 6550s in that amp better than KT-88s; what brand tubes are in that beast?

Why? Because they're cheaper?
Right now I have Sovtek's in her but I'm getting some Ruby's comming next week. I've tried Tung-sol, Mesa, JJ, and EH 12AX7's and I like the Tung-sols the best.
I'd really like to mod the bias resistor to have a switch that I could flip to run EL34's or KT88's. That's just because I'm a cheap-*** and could throw some cheapy JJ's in there for when I'm just noodling around at bedroom volumes and save the wear and tear on the KT's.
I still love this amp.

 

[YellowJacket]

I think Mesa amps stop a bit short on aggression for the sake of versatility. I had the opportunity to try an ENGL not too long ago and I can totally see why Metal players prefer them over a Recto for teh br00talz. I'm not really a metal player but trying that amp with a Jackson Flying V made me WANT to play metal. I'd imagine with the Splawn it is much the same.

Did you ever have a chance to compare a 2 Channel Recto to the Splawn? I find that the orange channel has a more elastic feel which makes for a very good high gain lead tone while the red channel is great for biggie-sized crunch. WIth this head, I basically run into the same problem as you do with the Splawn; It really only focuses on high gain at the expense of everything else. BUT if I was into more extreme styles I would definitely want an amp suited to that.

 

[ryjan]

I tried a Savage and a Fireball from Engl. They are great for metal but I didn't care for them either. Too sterile and the distortion sounded like solid state.
I actually did get to play a 2 channel Triple Recto less than a week before I got the Nitro. I liked the orange channel the best for general high gain riffing. The red channel was over the top for my style but it was still one of the top 5 favorite amps I've ever played. The Nitro is a way different beast than a Recto. It's more of a hot-rodded JCM800 with a subwoofer.
I was always a Mesa Mark guy. I had a Triaxis and then a Mark IV for a long time. I always prefered it's smooth, middy voice over the scoopy, gainy recto voice. My only problem was that I sounded kind of thin in our band mix. I tried my buddy's Roadster out but then I got completely lost in the mix.
The Nitro fits in between these two. It has as huge bottom end that gives you a powerfull chug when you want it and it sits great in our mix. It has a really nice smooth lead tone also. Not legendary like the Mark IV but better than any Recto that I've played through.
The downside...
$170.00 for a matched quad of power tubes. :shock: