Still loving my Nomad ...

[bgh]

Most of the playing that I do nowadays is for our group at church. We play during the service. And, some of us meet to form a separate group through which we present originals that we have written.

For a while, I was lugging my Mark IV back and forth, and using it to play through. I love what that amp can do and what I can get out of it. Fantastic amp! The only problem was that it was heavy. My son would usually carry it for me, but I had to carry it a few times when he was not there. With my age and arthritis, it was more than a challenge.

Because of that, I chose to take my modeling amp (a Peavey Vypyr tube amp) to church and leave it there. It worked out pretty well. The amp got close on a lot of the tone I wanted. Plus, I did not feel too bad leaving it there.

Then I decided to carry my Nomad 45 1x12 to church once and try it. Wow. What a surprise. I was able to fit in and be easily be heard above the mix. I dialed in three different tones on the three channels, and simply switched as needed. The cleans were very nice! They produced a real cool echo. I used channel two for a crunch rhythm. It rode the mix a lot better than did my Peavey. Channel 3 has a great lead tone. I am able to get very expressive playing my SG through it. (Strangely enough, my LP doesn't sound as good through the Nomad as does my SG. Weird, huh?)

The Nomad is considerably lighter than the Mark IV. Plus, it fits rather nicely in our trunk.

You don't see a lot of threads about Nomads. I must have lucked out and gotten a good one. All of the pots work. The reverb is nice and can be heard on all three channels. (Those were the two most common issues I hear being reported concerning the Nomads).

Anywho, thought you might be interested ...

PS: Anybody else care to share about their Nomad use?

 

[NomadExpress]

I love my Nomad 55. I did mod it and added the extreme switch.

Do you use it in "extreme mode?"

 

[bgh]

Sometimes. The clean channel (both normal mode and pushed mode) take on a whole new dimension in extreme mode. Not just in volume either. It seems like a get a whole new set of dynamics. I use normal mode, though, for softer cleans.

For channels 2 and 3, I still have not completely made up my mind as to which mode I like best.

PS: Do you get a slight hum when you switch to extreme mode?

 

[NomadExpress]

PS: Do you get a slight hum when you switch to extreme mode?

Yes, the hum does increase in extreme mode.

 

[bgh]

Mine too.

How do you differentiate between your use of channels 2 and 3.

I use 2 for my lead work, and 3 (with the mids pushed) for my crunch rhythm work. I love the bass response I can get on leads on channel 2.

 

[Tommy_G]

I don't use my Nomad much since I discovered how great my heartbreaker sounds with EL34's, but....one day I will trade my Nomad 100 (overkill) for a Nomad 55, and mod it. Its got a lot of potential and I'm pretty sure that with some small circuit tweaks I could get it to where I'd like it more than the HB.

What speakers and cabinet style are you guys using with your Nomad?

 

[lespaulguy32]

Nomads are some real kickass amps, I tell ya hwat...

 

[Garyh153]

Love my Nomad 55, but the handle is starting to wear badly. Anybody know where I can get a replacement? Cheers.

 

[bgh]

What speakers and cabinet style are you guys using with your Nomad?

I have the Nomad 45 1x12 cabinet and the stock Black Shadow MC-90 speaker. Some people have indicated that they do not like it, but, it sounds pretty good to me. My SG sounds a lot better through it than my LP (not that the LP doesn't sound good!).

I was playing some at lunch earlier. I love how the gain on channels 2 and 3 is such that you can really control the note decay with your finger. I believe it is actually a little more sensitive than my Mark IV! Anybody else notice the control that the Nomad gives you on note decay?

I have been noodling with channel 3 and have come up with a setting that sound like my old Marshall MK-II Lead amp used to sound like. Now, this is going back a number of years. However, the Nomad is giving me that screech and chunk melded together. That was one of the things I liked about the tone that I got out of my old Marshall.

 

[bgh]

One thing has come up that I do need to ask about. Last night, after playing for over an hour, I found that the gain and presence controls for channel 2 were harder to turn. It was like the pot was swollen and was hard to move. They did loosen up after I powered off and the amp cooled down.

I am worried that I have done something to my amp (by trying to force them to turn).

Has anyone else run into this? If you have, what did you do (if anything)?

I am considering taking one of our portable house fans an pointing it toward the back of the amp to try to move the air around. Has anyone done this?

Should I look at adding an old CPU fan to my amp?

 

[jaynthia]

That's strange, never came across. But I don't think the working temperature will affect the pots.
It's pretty simple mechanical structure in the pots and nothing in it will swell up by high temperature or someway else.

BTW, what's the hi-gain lead and rhythm sound like, compared to Mark series, I'm a Mark user and just searching for something new. Thx.

 

[bgh]

BTW, what's the hi-gain lead and rhythm sound like, compared to Mark series, I'm a Mark user and just searching for something new. Thx.

The crunch and high-gain from the Nomad are good, but not as good as my Mark IV. They are different. The lead tones from channel 3 of the Mark IV are great. The lead tone's from the Nomad channel 2 are a little more raw. They are not as creamy as the Mark's leads. The Nomad has more of what I would call a "brown" sound. I find it to be a nice complement to the Mark's sound.

Channel 3 on the Nomad can get very high gain, but it can get away from you easily and turn into rubbish. It's lead tone does cut through a mix nicely.

Both channels 2 and 3 can give some nice crunchy rhythms. Channel 2 for vintage, channel 3 for modern.

By the way. your quote describes exactly why I got my Nomad. I had a Mark and wanted something close, but a little different. For me, the Nomad filled that void.

 

[rumpel]

Hi!

I also love to play may Nomad 45 Head. "Extreme" mode sounds pretty fine, but I also have some humming. The humming is so load that it really disturbs me. Has anyone of you an idea, what I could do to reduce humming in "Extreme" mode?

 

[bgh]

Mine does it too in extreme mode. Not sure what can be done about it. Luckily, the amp is loud enough that I don't hear the hum when I play. But, it is a distraction when I am not playing. I have taken to hitting the standby switch in between songs (when in extreme mode).

 

[rumpel]

Hi bgh!

Thanks for the hint. I wrote an email to Mesa Boogie, but I'm also afraid that there is not much that can be done, except switching into standby between the songs. I will play in extreme mode nevertheless. The second chanel sounds so dynamic and bright in extreme mode, makes the amp a bit more british in my opinion

 

[soundguruman]

Most of the playing that I do nowadays is for our group at church. We play during the service. And, some of us meet to form a separate group through which we present originals that we have written.

For a while, I was lugging my Mark IV back and forth, and using it to play through. I love what that amp can do and what I can get out of it. Fantastic amp! The only problem was that it was heavy. My son would usually carry it for me, but I had to carry it a few times when he was not there. With my age and arthritis, it was more than a challenge.

Because of that, I chose to take my modeling amp (a Peavey Vypyr tube amp) to church and leave it there. It worked out pretty well. The amp got close on a lot of the tone I wanted. Plus, I did not feel too bad leaving it there.

Then I decided to carry my Nomad 45 1x12 to church once and try it. Wow. What a surprise. I was able to fit in and be easily be heard above the mix. I dialed in three different tones on the three channels, and simply switched as needed. The cleans were very nice! They produced a real cool echo. I used channel two for a crunch rhythm. It rode the mix a lot better than did my Peavey. Channel 3 has a great lead tone. I am able to get very expressive playing my SG through it. (Strangely enough, my LP doesn't sound as good through the Nomad as does my SG. Weird, huh?)

The Nomad is considerably lighter than the Mark IV. Plus, it fits rather nicely in our trunk.

You don't see a lot of threads about Nomads. I must have lucked out and gotten a good one. All of the pots work. The reverb is nice and can be heard on all three channels. (Those were the two most common issues I hear being reported concerning the Nomads).

Anywho, thought you might be interested ...

PS: Anybody else care to share about their Nomad use?

The deal with the Nomad is the power supply capacitors.
The power supply is not stiff enough.
When you stiffen that power, the amp behaves like never before.
It's 10 times more useable. The highs are way clearer. The mud is gone.
That Sir, is the ticket.

 

[bgh]

The deal with the Nomad is the power supply capacitors.
The power supply is not stiff enough.
When you stiffen that power, the amp behaves like never before.
It's 10 times more useable. The highs are way clearer. The mud is gone.
That Sir, is the ticket.

Is this true on the Nomad 45? I have read threads about mods for removing the mud from the Nomad 55 and Nomad 100. I may have to go back and re-read those threads to see if I missed something.

 

[soundguruman]

The deal with the Nomad is the power supply capacitors.
The power supply is not stiff enough.
When you stiffen that power, the amp behaves like never before.
It's 10 times more useable. The highs are way clearer. The mud is gone.
That Sir, is the ticket.

Is this true on the Nomad 45? I have read threads about mods for removing the mud from the Nomad 55 and Nomad 100. I may have to go back and re-read those threads to see if I missed something.

Yes

 

[bgh]

Thanks!

I went back and looked at the "Nomad mud mod" thread again. (http://forum.grailtone.com/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=57495) In that thread, they did a bunch of things. But, their "mud mod" (mod #2) looks like it might be the one you are referencing.

It seems that the combination of the "Fx mod" (mod #1) and the "mud mod" (mod #2) have the greatest impact.

I need to do some more reading!

Thanks again.

 

[Jimmy James]

Does the mod for changing the cap in the Fx loop only work on the loop? Or does it work on the amp even without the loop?