Bare Knuckle Pickups Forum

Forum Ringside => Guitars, Amps and Effects => Topic started by: Twinfan on October 04, 2008, 12:26:37 AM

Title: NAD - Martamp, naturally....
Post by: Twinfan on October 04, 2008, 12:26:37 AM
After waiting patiently since placing my order, it arrived today  :D  The delivery boy took the p*ss by hanging around for a few hours and drinking my coffee though  :roll:  :lol:

It's a 5E3 Fender Deluxe clone with Power Scaling and a Celestion Alnico Blue speaker in a tweed covered pine cabinet.  This is one SERIOUSLY fantastic amp.  The Power Scaling is really well suited to it, and you can get a great 'cranked Marshall' sound out of it at ridiculously low volumes.  It's a really gainy amp, just like the original, but you can roll back on your guitar's volume and it cleans up superbly without losing much volume.  'That' Tele just absolutely sings through it, and my PRS McCarty does a great Rev. Willie G impersonation.  Awesome  :D

Of course, this thread is worthless without pics  ;)

Title: Re: NAD - Martamp, naturally....
Post by: sambo on October 04, 2008, 12:36:22 AM
Niiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiice! :o

Better/Equal to your other Martamp(s)? (JTM45 is it?)

Love the shiny logo too.
Title: Re: NAD - Martamp, naturally....
Post by: Lew on October 04, 2008, 01:23:57 AM
GREAT!!! He can finish mine now  :lol:
Title: Re: NAD - Martamp, naturally....
Post by: FernandoDuarte on October 04, 2008, 04:40:11 AM
Awesome!!!!!! :D
Title: Re: NAD - Martamp, naturally....
Post by: TheDev01dOne on October 04, 2008, 04:45:13 AM
Looks sweet man, can't beat a tweed amp and a Tele.
Title: Re: NAD - Martamp, naturally....
Post by: roland_rat on October 04, 2008, 07:28:27 AM
Was wondering  when this you were going to get this amp.  Got to say its not what I had pictured in my mind, you would be geting but WOW.  Looks a very tasty amp.  I imagine with that one and the other matamp head you can cover most bases.  Is this a model martamp are going to advertizing or one off custom job  for you.   
One final thing can we please have some clips of it?
Title: Re: NAD - Martamp, naturally....
Post by: hunter on October 04, 2008, 07:37:41 AM

Gut Pics!!
Title: Re: NAD - Martamp, naturally....
Post by: 38thBeatle on October 04, 2008, 07:49:48 AM
A beauty for sure( hold on, I sometimes wonder about we guitarists who get excited about aesthetics of amplifiers which are, after all, boxes to accomodate a bunch of electrical components)- does indded look fantastic and I would just love to hear it with your Telecaster. Congratulations- have you got a spare yet?
Title: Re: NAD - Martamp, naturally....
Post by: horsehead on October 04, 2008, 08:20:58 AM
Did you here that thud? That was my jaw...you git Dave for creating GAS
Title: Re: NAD - Martamp, naturally....
Post by: MrBump on October 04, 2008, 08:25:36 AM
Would it be tactless of me to ask about the ballpark cost?
Title: Re: NAD - Martamp, naturally....
Post by: hamfist on October 04, 2008, 08:32:09 AM
Lovely amp Dave.  I, too, would love to hear some clips if it were at all possible.

Fender circuits are definately something that I need to investigate at some point.  I've always considered myself a "Marshall" man for so long but, to be honest, I'm not really sure what the characteristics of the various cranked Fender circuits are. It's interesting that you say it does a great "cranked Marshall" sound.

 All the clips I've ever heard of Fender's cranked to be dirty are exclusively bluesey widdling type clips. I can't relate to those. I'd love to hear some AC/DC for example on your amp.

Reminder to self - must remember tp post about my NAD this week.  :D
Title: Re: NAD - Martamp, naturally....
Post by: hamfist on October 04, 2008, 08:32:41 AM
Would it be tactless of me to ask about the ballpark cost?

Probably, but I'd like to know too !
Title: Re: NAD - Martamp, naturally....
Post by: JamesHealey on October 04, 2008, 09:09:54 AM
i remember meeting you at the leeds guitar show and i said "u got a martamp?" then u reeled off a huge list of amps lol, I think you have a problem mate :P
Title: Re: NAD - Martamp, naturally....
Post by: sgmypod on October 04, 2008, 09:34:39 AM
If I had more cash would have the same problem *L*...nice amp
Title: Re: NAD - Martamp, naturally....
Post by: martinw on October 04, 2008, 10:17:29 AM
Thanks for the coffee (and cheese on toast!  :D) Glad you're happy with the amp. It is indeed a corker, I've never heard anything better for home and recording use, and giggable too.

Ballpark figure for one of these is £900 in tweed and with Power Scaling, delivered and with 12 months warranty. The speaker would add more if you wanted the Blue.

Roland, you missed an 'r' out. Important, that!  :wink:

I'll save Dave the trouble and put a couple more pics up. Cheers!
Title: Re: NAD - Martamp, naturally....
Post by: Ian Price on October 04, 2008, 12:11:25 PM
That is an awesome amp - I really want a Fender based amp. This is now firmly on my radar (along with a Feline, a Martyn Booth Special, a Custom Shop Strat, a Custom Shop Tele etc etc etc) and is giving me serious GAS. When I say serious I mean SERIOUS
Title: Re: NAD - Martamp, naturally....
Post by: Twinfan on October 04, 2008, 12:17:04 PM
Cheers for the pics Martin!

I have most bases covered with Martamps now:

* JTM45 and matching 2x12
* JTM45/100 and matching 4x12
* Deluxe 1x12 combo
* Laney Klipp 100w head modded by Martin to Plexi/JCM800 specs with a switchable extra gain stage.  It's very much like the infamous SIR #39 'Appetite For Destruction' amp

All of them have a particular character that I like - slightly bassy, darker sounding but still zingy and expressive.  As Martin will tell you, I play with quite a distinctive tone and all my amps compliment it.

Soundwise the Deluxe is no better or worse than my other amps.  Just different!  For home practice, recording and as a 'take anywhere' amp it's superb.  It can anything from Knopfler to Gibbons to Young to Moore.  I love it  :D

I haven't got a mic, so I can't do any 'proper' clips, but I'll get it hooked up to my Palmer speaker simulator and record some quick stuff through Audacity in a little while and post them in this thread.....
Title: Re: NAD - Martamp, naturally....
Post by: MrBump on October 04, 2008, 12:20:31 PM
Nine hundred quid sounds pretty reasonable .

Mark.
Title: Re: NAD - Martamp, naturally....
Post by: hamfist on October 04, 2008, 12:36:18 PM
Dave, it just struck me - you're going to have to be careful with that Blue !   22 into 15 didn't go when I did maths at school !!
Title: Re: NAD - Martamp, naturally....
Post by: Elliot on October 04, 2008, 12:40:56 PM
OOHHHHH - I salivate!!!!!

Now if only I had some money I could get Martamp to build the 2x12 Brown era Super clone that I have always dreamed of......
Title: Re: NAD - Martamp, naturally....
Post by: martinw on October 04, 2008, 12:43:46 PM
Dave, it just struck me - you're going to have to be careful with that Blue !   22 into 15 didn't go when I did maths at school !!

Not true. the Blue will be fine. The 15 watt rating of an Alnico Blue is a nominal value, not an ultimate limit, and quite conservative.
Title: Re: NAD - Martamp, naturally....
Post by: hamfist on October 04, 2008, 12:59:51 PM
Dave, it just struck me - you're going to have to be careful with that Blue !   22 into 15 didn't go when I did maths at school !!

Not true. the Blue will be fine. The 15 watt rating of an Alnico Blue is a nominal value, not an ultimate limit, and quite conservative.
I hope so. It would a pity to fry such an expensive speaker  :gib:

I've never killed a speaker in my life before, and I hope never to. I'm aware that 2 blues is a traditional pairing for an AC30, so there must be a little bit of leeway in it's rating, as an AC30 will surely put out more than 30W at full chat.

I'm a natural worrier, so I tend to listen to other people's horror stories, and end up staying on the rather safer side of the fence myself.
Title: Re: NAD - Martamp, naturally....
Post by: FELINEGUITARS on October 04, 2008, 01:01:23 PM
Very tasty !
How close to a Marshall can it get?
I know Ace Frehley used to secretly use a Deluxe hidden behind the Marshalls for some of his tone

I'm all excited and eagerly awaiting my poweramp that Martin is making me
Should get it next week....... :D

(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v662/felineguitars/amps/Slavestar10W014.jpg)
Title: Re: NAD - Martamp, naturally....
Post by: Twinfan on October 04, 2008, 01:54:53 PM
As promised folks, here's some clips.  I'm no recording expert, so there's some clipping etc.  But you'll get the idea of what the amp can do:

My heavily upgraded Epiphone SG with Riff Raffs:  Deluxe_SG (http://www.doppelganger-rock.com/Twinfan/SG_Riff_Raffs.mp3)

My #2 PRS McCarty Korina (stock):  Deluxe_McKorina (http://www.doppelganger-rock.com/Twinfan/McKorina_stock.mp3)

And finally, my favourite pairing.  This is my Fender Custom Shop '58 Heavy Relic as seen in my avatar (stock):  Deluxe_Tele (http://www.doppelganger-rock.com/Twinfan/Tele_stock.mp3)
Title: Re: NAD - Martamp, naturally....
Post by: sgmypod on October 04, 2008, 02:20:59 PM
Yup thats pretty
Title: Re: NAD - Martamp, naturally....
Post by: dave_mc on October 04, 2008, 04:42:07 PM
oh wow. i was expecting another marshall clone (not that there's anything wrong with those :lol: ), but that's awesome. i think it might be my grass is greener syndrome acting up (i don't have any speaker cabs or combos in tweed), but that looks great.

listening to the clips, sounds pretty good thus far. i think i prefer tweed fenders to blackface, assuming i've got the right end of the stick regarding what the differences are (tweed = gainier and warmer, blackface = sparklier and cleaner, right?)... EDIT: just got to the la grange clip, excellent! :D

Title: Re: NAD - Martamp, naturally....
Post by: PhilKing on October 04, 2008, 04:43:14 PM
Very nice looking amp.  I'm sure it sounds cool - but a good thing you have power scaling I think.  If it is anythink like my Deluxe it will wail.   Martin seems to make really nice amps with some great ideas - like the lower powered Marshall with 6V6's.  I might corner him next time I visit Matamp - I still have a couple of amp ideas I would like to go over!!
Title: Re: NAD - Martamp, naturally....
Post by: tomjackson on October 04, 2008, 05:10:44 PM
Twinfan, are you happy you went with the Blue instead of the greenback in the end?

The clips sound great....
Title: Re: NAD - Martamp, naturally....
Post by: noodleplugerine on October 04, 2008, 05:13:47 PM
Awesome! GIMME!
Title: Re: NAD - Martamp, naturally....
Post by: Philly Q on October 04, 2008, 05:39:13 PM
Looks so sweet, sounds so mean!  :)  Sounds really great with the Tele.
Title: Re: NAD - Martamp, naturally....
Post by: opprobrium_9 on October 04, 2008, 05:49:06 PM
I am not particularly enamoured with it, but then again, it isn't my thing.  Since its Martamp though, i am sure it is NICE.  Great buy.
Title: Re: NAD - Martamp, naturally....
Post by: Elliot on October 04, 2008, 09:12:24 PM
OMG - those were great clips - not being a person who cares for Marshalls or thrash amps - did they have powerscaling on?

That Brown Super turned Twin dream of mine really must become a reality after hearing that!!!!
Title: Re: NAD - Martamp, naturally....
Post by: Will on October 04, 2008, 09:24:37 PM
That tele sounds so sweet.
I never thought I would say that :P
Title: Re: NAD - Martamp, naturally....
Post by: Twinfan on October 04, 2008, 11:09:34 PM
l think i prefer tweed fenders to blackface, assuming i've got the right end of the stick regarding what the differences are (tweed = gainier and warmer, blackface = sparklier and cleaner, right?)

Yep - you got it right Dave  :)

Twinfan, are you happy you went with the Blue instead of the greenback in the end?

I am yep, but I'd need to try it with a Greenback to see if a Blue is really worth the extra cost.  I decided to go 'no expense spared' for this amp so it got the Blue, but I reckon a Greenback would sound pretty good anyway.  And cost a LOT less!

just got to the la grange clip, excellent! :D

The clips sound great....

Looks so sweet, sounds so mean!  :)  Sounds really great with the Tele.

That tele sounds so sweet.
I never thought I would say that :P

OMG - those were great clips -

Thanks guys!  Sorry they're a bit rough and ready, but I'm no home recording expert.  I just plug it in, press record and hack a few tunes about  :oops:  So you get bum notes and some slopping playing, but hopefully an idea of what the amp can do.  I always play much better with a full band for some reason....?

I'm sensing some Tele love here by the way.  It's such a perfect combination though, so I can see why!  :D
Title: Re: NAD - Martamp, naturally....
Post by: Twinfan on October 04, 2008, 11:13:26 PM
Did they have powerscaling on?

Yep, the settings were as follows:

Mic volume - off
Instrument volume - around 2
Tone - 10 (except for the SG clip, where it was on full = 12)
Power Scaling - around 11 o'clock, just under half

Volume in the room was medium-loud TV level.  Valves fitted are:

Electro-Harmonix 12AY7 Gold Pin in V1
JJ ECC83S Gold Pin in V2
JJ 6V6s in the power section
Sovtek 5Y3GT rectifier

Everything was guitar -> amp -> Palmer 'The Junction' speaker simulator -> soundcard -> Audacity.  No tweaks as I don't know how to do them!

The tone changes on La Grange were just different pickup selections on the Tele and the rolling back of the volume to clean it up.  Makes it quite tricky to do all that on the fly!  Tone on the guitar was rolled back a touch to around 9/10.
Title: Re: NAD - Martamp, naturally....
Post by: 38thBeatle on October 05, 2008, 01:03:14 AM
Great clips there Dave- especially liked the Tele.
Title: Re: NAD - Martamp, naturally....
Post by: Twinfan on October 05, 2008, 10:37:57 AM
Thought you might!  There's so much range of tone available with that guitar and amp combination......
Title: Re: NAD - Martamp, naturally....
Post by: roland_rat on October 05, 2008, 11:01:21 AM
Bugger I want one.
Great clips Dave.  I perfer the Tele  one out of the three, but they are all very good.  When you get board dont think you will have trouble selling that one.

 
Title: Re: NAD - Martamp, naturally....
Post by: Plexi Ken on October 05, 2008, 11:21:44 AM
 8) Great Tele tone, love it, could listen to that guitar all day.
Title: Re: NAD - Martamp, naturally....
Post by: Twinfan on October 05, 2008, 11:22:09 AM
Nope, it would certainly sell easily.  The Power Scaling works really well, and the amp is just way too loud for home use without it.

To answer the earlier question, it was a custom order for me to my spec - 5E3 Deluxe, Power Scaling, Celestion Blue, tweed and a pine cabinet Martin had on one side for me.  Everything Martin does is a custom order to a certain extent, so you dream it (like I did!) and he'll build it  :)

The new amp for his range that Martin and I are working on is still in development  ;)
Title: Re: NAD - Martamp, naturally....
Post by: Twinfan on October 05, 2008, 11:22:48 AM
8) Great Tele tone, love it, could listen to that guitar all day.

Thanks Ken  :)  That particular guitar just makes you want to play it all day too, so I get lost for hours.....
Title: Re: NAD - Martamp, naturally....
Post by: dave_mc on October 05, 2008, 12:57:24 PM
ah, thanks for that dave, i'll get the hang of these vintage amps yet! :lol:

i definitely like teles, i passed on a couple of tokai breezysounds when i was just new to ebay about 9 months ago, as they seemed to come up all the time when i first registered... little did i know that they actually come up pretty rarely, and i just happened to start looking at ebay when there was a glut of them for some reason... there hasn't been a decent one for sale there in ages... :( :lol:
Title: Re: NAD - Martamp, naturally....
Post by: AndyR on October 05, 2008, 01:14:44 PM
Whoa! Looks cute, sounds great :D

That tele clip sounds exactly like I thought it should. The SG clip surprised me a bit - wasn't expecting it do AC/DC so well.

You almost got me going for a while there (GAS-wise)... :lol:

If I was gigging, it sounds like one of these would be exactly what I needed - much more so than any of the other amp stuff I've been reading on here since I joined up. But seeing as I'm not gigging, my modellers must do me for the moment... I will, however, be investigating the "tweed" models a little closer now though - you'd already converted me to the "JTM" models some months back.
Title: Re: NAD - Martamp, naturally....
Post by: Twinfan on October 05, 2008, 02:12:40 PM
There's loads of great stuff out there, try them all and see what you like!

By the way, anyone who wants to try my amps out is welcome to drop me a PM  :)
Title: Re: NAD - Martamp, naturally....
Post by: opprobrium_9 on October 05, 2008, 05:23:20 PM
Just listened to the clips and the Tele did sound best.  The other two were WAAAY too middy for my tastes.  Good for AC/DC though, i'm sure.
Title: Re: NAD - Martamp, naturally....
Post by: FernandoDuarte on October 05, 2008, 05:55:59 PM
By the way, anyone who wants to try my amps out is welcome to drop me a PM  :)
You shouldn't have said it :twisted:
Title: Re: NAD - Martamp, naturally....
Post by: hamfist on October 05, 2008, 06:25:21 PM
By the way, anyone who wants to try my amps out is welcome to drop me a PM  :)
You shouldn't have said it :twisted:

THat sure would be an expensive amp-testing session for you Fernando !!
Title: Re: NAD - Martamp, naturally....
Post by: phlip on October 05, 2008, 06:26:37 PM
Thats sounds bloody great in the clips as i woudl have expected it to.
Title: Re: NAD - Martamp, naturally....
Post by: _tom_ on October 05, 2008, 06:31:50 PM
Sounds a bit thin and fizzy in the clips to me :? Sure it sounds great in person though, looks nice as well. I reckon the tele sounds the best as well :)
Title: Re: NAD - Martamp, naturally....
Post by: FernandoDuarte on October 05, 2008, 06:50:45 PM
By the way, anyone who wants to try my amps out is welcome to drop me a PM  :)
You shouldn't have said it :twisted:

That sure would be an expensive amp-testing session for you Fernando !!

:lol: Would be seriously GAS inducing... His luck is that I'm 10000 Km away :lol:
Title: Re: NAD - Martamp, naturally....
Post by: Twinfan on October 05, 2008, 07:30:12 PM
Sounds a bit thin and fizzy in the clips to me :? Sure it sounds great in person though, looks nice as well. I reckon the tele sounds the best as well :)

It's a bit fizzy due to my dodgy recording skills and the low Power Scaling setting.  A bit more experimentation and a proper mic would sort that  :D
Title: Re: NAD - Martamp, naturally....
Post by: opprobrium_9 on October 06, 2008, 12:38:05 AM
Sounds a bit thin and fizzy in the clips to me :? Sure it sounds great in person though, looks nice as well. I reckon the tele sounds the best as well :)

It's a bit fizzy due to my dodgy recording skills and the low Power Scaling setting.  A bit more experimentation and a proper mic would sort that  :D

what kind of mic?
Title: Re: NAD - Martamp, naturally....
Post by: hamfist on October 06, 2008, 07:16:27 AM
Sounds a bit thin and fizzy in the clips to me :? Sure it sounds great in person though, looks nice as well. I reckon the tele sounds the best as well :)

It's a bit fizzy due to my dodgy recording skills and the low Power Scaling setting.  A bit more experimentation and a proper mic would sort that  :D

what kind of mic?

No mic !   He used the Palmer speaker sim/DI box  (PDI-09) connected inbetween the amp and speaker to connect into the computer. It's in there (page 3, I think) somewhere.  :D
Title: Re: NAD - Martamp, naturally....
Post by: opprobrium_9 on October 06, 2008, 03:32:47 PM
Sounds a bit thin and fizzy in the clips to me :? Sure it sounds great in person though, looks nice as well. I reckon the tele sounds the best as well :)

It's a bit fizzy due to my dodgy recording skills and the low Power Scaling setting.  A bit more experimentation and a proper mic would sort that  :D

what kind of mic?

No mic !   He used the Palmer speaker sim/DI box  (PDI-09) connected inbetween the amp and speaker to connect into the computer. It's in there (page 3, I think) somewhere.  :D

O ok, i didn't think you could actually get a tone that well done (nevermind my personal preferences) from DI.  That is pretty ridiculous.  I can't even imagine if it was done with a real mic.
Title: Re: NAD - Martamp, naturally....
Post by: Twinfan on October 06, 2008, 05:09:24 PM
The speaker sim is pretty darn good!  Palmer stuff is used in studios all over the place, and I believe Joe Satriani swears by them.

If I'd bothered spending a couple of hours tweaking stuff I reckon I could have solved the fizziness issues and got more bass through.  The amp itself has a tone of low end that doesn't come across in the clips.

Maybe using input '2' would have helped with the 'bucker tones too  :roll:
Title: Re: NAD - Martamp, naturally....
Post by: Lew on October 07, 2008, 02:09:59 AM
I'll be showing off some pics of my Martamp in the not so distant future  8)
Title: Re: NAD - Martamp, naturally....
Post by: Twinfan on October 12, 2008, 11:37:02 PM
Here's a couple more clips I did earlier tonight for another thread.  Same again, just the Deluxe into Audacity, but with my new PRS McCarty (mahogany body + maple top):

Bridge position (http://www.doppelganger-rock.com/Twinfan/McCarty%20bridge.wav)
Middle position (http://www.doppelganger-rock.com/Twinfan/McCarty%20middle.wav)
Neck position (http://www.doppelganger-rock.com/Twinfan/McCarty%20neck.wav)