If anyone wants the holy grail of high gain tones, it's pretty much this amp. The amp honestly goes from clean to vintage overdrive / light crunch all the way to searing leads and crushing rhythm tones spanning 4 channels. The two high gain channels are voiced independently and infinitely configurable.
Congrats. Layout looks a bit like a Boogie Roadking. All the features indicate that this is a Swiss armyknife.
Thanks so much! I just realized that this is my second time ever making a NAD post and that this is the third amp I have ever owned haha. I won't be doing this again for awhile! ;)
There is certainly a similarity there. What the Generator 120 cannot do is:
1) Select Tube vs Silicon Diode rectifier. It only has a solid state one.
2) Select channel assignable power tubes. Duet of EL34s and quad of 6L6s. The 120 has two push pull circuits in the power section, both of which can be independently biased. This means that the amp can run many power tube combinations.
3) It does not have multiple, channel assignable cabinet outputs.
So in a way, it is more similar to a roadster. But, it is also different for several reasons.
1) 10 / 100 watt switch for each channel. The power cut reduces headroom and is executed using a proprietary technology that does not fall under any other company's patents.
2) Channel 1 is more of a very clean / clear 'metal' sort of clean. It's not 3D, breathy, and swirling. It's great but for particular applications.
3) Channel 2 is quite different from channel 2 on a road king or roadster. It's a very dynamic crunch -which overdrives nicely at 10 watts- and it can be used for vintage blues tones, an alternate clean tone, or even a fuzz tone when the gain is cranked.
4) The high gain channels each have 3 aggression levels: Green, Blue, and Red. It's like being able to switch modes on a Roadking from the footswitch. The channels are revoiced with the 'aggression' levels but unity volume is achieved which allows for live use.
-The Green aggression level has quite a bit of gain but it is very dynamic and responsive to pick attack, much like a Dual Rectifier or Electra Dyne. As the gain level comes down, there are some vintage tones to be had. You can create the effect of power tube breakup on the 10 watt setting which opens up some opportunities for more vintage tones, especially with the gain turned right down.
-Blue is balanced, articulate, heavy, and angry. Great for rhythm tones.
-Red is pretty much full on metal lead on channel 3 and rhythm on channel 4. It's balls heavy and rip your face off aggression. Very VERY saturated but still plays nice. Mostly. Very high output pickups sometimes have to be put through the 'active' input but I found with my juggerset, simply lowering the pickups a bit made it play nice with this absolute monster.
5) The voicings of channel 3 and 4 are quite different but they still sound like the same amp. Channel 3 sounds like a cross between a Marshall JCM2000 DSL and a Dual Rectifier while Channel 4 sounds like a cross between a Peavey 5150 and an Uberschall. More modern and low mid focused.
6) the amp is very tight and the feel is not stiff. Somehow there is the correct balance between feel and tightness. Notes just leap off of the fingerboard and chord definition is maintained. The amp manages to sound huge -especially as the global depth control comes up- and the low end is phat, open, and huge sounding. No mud.
We're talking Mark V levels of tightness and feel here.
7) The dual master, FX Loop, and voicing toggles Fat, Brite, and Aggression Levels- are all programmable and channel assignable. The 6 button footswitch can be used for channel 1 - 4, FX Loop, Master / Mute but in program mode, you can set up specific voicing options which gives some crazy versatility and flexibility with minimal tap dancing. In standard operation, you'd have to trigger the brite and fat switches on the face of the amp while the masters, FX Loop, channels, and aggression levels are all accessible from the face of the amp.
Additionally, the contour switch on channels 3 and 4 does effect the shape of the mid band but it is not an inane mid scoop button. It just change the overall character of the amp.
8) Global presence and depth controls shape the overall voicing of the amp. I haven't messed around with this much, but I bet with the contour knobs set up and the gain down a bit with these controls at zero would give a way more vintage vibe to the tone. More mids and smoother. In terms of global tone, the ReVv sound is brighter and with more mids than what you hear with the usual dark and crazy mid scooped modern tones. You can scoop a ReVv with aggressive EQ settings, but why would you want to?
I think overall, the amp is quite astounding and with the price point being similar to Mesa in the US, it completely undercuts Soldano, Diezel, and Bogner while simultaneously outperforming them in terms of tone and feature set.
Additionally, the lack of a European distributor means that there are Europe friendly prices.
Dealer support from Guitars Rebellion in France and Musik Produktiv in Germany.
http://revvamplification.com/dealers/In closing. If you want an amp that sounds great, performs great, and has an addictive feel, I highly recommend this one.
