NAD

[HairyChris]

This is a weird one. After our last gig it was kind of decided that we needed small combos that take pedals... just in case (I'll leave it at that, the gig in question was... interesting with borrowed kit). Generally skanking through ebay on Wednesday I had a bit of a moment and bought this:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=130423937501

Basically a Chinese built tube combo that's been given the beans by the dude at www.ratvalveamps.com

Mid gain at best. Needs cranking for gain as no master volume. Variable boost (mod) and bias selection (mod) plus lo & hi inputs give plenty of options.

As a high gainer this is a completely different amp for me. Got it home today - good service! - and plugged my PRS Standard into it and I have the following thoughts:

I really need to try it with pedals  :P
It weighs a ton. Very solidly made!
The cold bias gives really pristine cleans, hot is fuller
Loves the PRS 5 way/sweet switch combo
Runs completely silent up to full volume & boost

Diming it on hot gets you to a really nice singing SRV-esque tone, but at an almost usable home volume. Almost home volumes. I'm lucky with where I live... :D

Now as I've mentioned I'm a high-gainer, with cleans being for the quiet bits between noisy bits. I would probably, if I'd have thought about it, gone for a combo that mirrored my normal usage more. In some ways just buying on impulse is making me think a bit more about my playing. I think that I'm going to be playing at lower levels of gain quite a bit now which should really help my technique. Which is cr@p.

Has anyone else bought/modded low wattage amps via Andy from Rat? He seems to have done some nice upgrades on imported Far Eastern kit. Oh, and a great sounding amp for 200 quid plus shipping when I was looking at forking out much more? Bargain!!

[AndyR]

Interesting reading, very interesting, wondering about getting my Vox AC4TV power-scaled now! :lol: (and it's re-assuring to read that he likes what's inside it apart from the output power switching)

I've recently acquired a Laney Cub12 (which I absolutely adore) because I just couldn't drive the AC4TV like I want to at the moment. But if I could get the little Vox doing the business I know it can, but at managable volumes, then it might be worth getting the surgery done...

Good luck with the lower gain levels, btw. I've never been one for very high gain anyway, but I've been gradually reducing the amount I do use over the years. It's a little exposing each time you reduce it, but I'm certain it benefits your playing, no matter what musical style you play.

[PPPMAT]

I have had 2 amps from Martin at MJW with power scaling and it is escellent. Its like a really good master volume with the added thump of the power section working. Its the best solution I have tried for getting those tones at any volume level.

Martin is your man - and he is a gent  :lol:

[Philly Q]

I've got a "Rat" modded Harley Benton GA5 with power scaling, upgraded transformer, Celestion speaker and a few other bells and whistles. 

Soundwise  :? ....  it's so rare that I actually plug into a "real" amp and my playing is so very bad.... it sounds OK, but I honestly don't know if it's "good" or not.  I seem to be able to get a more instantly decent tone out of my Tiny Terror, but I think there's more luck than judgement involved.  The TT has less knobs and switches for me to $%&# up the sound.

[dave_mc]

nice! I have the non-modded vht special 6... i actually spotted that he was modding these last night... might consider it. :)

[HairyChris]

nice! I have the non-modded vht special 6... i actually spotted that he was modding these last night... might consider it. :)

There's no power scaling in this one, just the variable boost and bias mods.

I'm interested to know, actually, do you get any background noise at full boost from your amp? Curious because this one has apparently had work done and is dead silent all the way up, so not sure what to benchmark it against!

[dave_mc]

mine has a ton of background noise regardless of where the controls are. :lol: I actually think mine might be slightly faulty, the taper on the volume control is weird (like, I get overdrive, without the boost engaged, with the volume at about 9 o'clock even with low output single coils :lol: ), I might send it back if I can get enough info from people who own it (the stock version) to tell me that it's definitely faulty (as I don't want to be out the postage to thomann if it turns out not to be faulty- if that's normal it'd make more sense to just send it to rat amps to get it modded).

EDIT: Just out of interest, how fendery does yours sound? I bought mine because I wanted a fendery vintage style amp, and while it's fairly fendery, it's not quite as fendery as I'd like. If the rat mods made it more fender (ideally more blackfacey with the boost disengaged, then tweedy with it engaged), that'd be another reason to get the mods done.

[HairyChris]

Dave, no idea. I don't really know as I've not really played vintage Fenders!  :?

[dave_mc]

neither have i :lol: But I just know the general sound based on soundclips and guitars who I know use Fenders. Have you tried any modern Fenders?

[MrBump]

I've got a Rat modded Blackheart Little Giant, and I really like it.  Not completely sold on the power scaling, but as a low powered valve jobbie, it's just the jobbie.

Mark.

[HairyChris]

neither have i :lol: But I just know the general sound based on soundclips and guitars who I know use Fenders. Have you tried any modern Fenders?

Nope, none of them either.  :D

I play thrash/sludge/etc, why do I want cleans????

[dave_mc]

ah, no worries, lol :D