NAD- Its the D-D-D-Devil....and No its not Vicki Vallencourt ;)

[JOEBACCA]

Its the Genz to the MF'in Benz El Diablo 100. I bought it used but in damn near Mint Condition with the Padded Cover and 5 Button Footswitch. Original owner swapped the EL34's for 6L6's. I took it for a 15 minute Test Drive in my Man Cave and got the Master to about 3 out of 10 before realizing that if I went any louder my wife would have me sleeping in the Litter Box...Lol. I'm gonna bring the Beast to band practice on Monday and let it rip at Gigging Volumes and give an in depth review on Tuesday. Till then here's a few pics.

[xxxplorer]

Awesome!

[Surgeon]

Amazing amp indeed. I miss mine sometimes, the sheer versatility of that amp is amazing. Keep a few of each type of tubes around. When you hit a plateau where you can't find a satisfying-enough tone, swap for the other one just for kicks.

Hope you enjoy it!

[guitarkid]

Haha! I just have to LOL at your thread title! Congrats man!

[TheLivingDead]

Goldayum.

[Gamera]

Congrats. I have the 60 watter and before I learned the EQ was active I had a bugger of a time dialing in a tone I liked. Avoid the typical maxing out of the bass and remember everything past 12:00 boosts that frequency, sometimes into unpleasant territory. And as the poster said in the other thread, you may find yourself shopping for a good OD just to top things off.

[Juanhanglo]

Congrats man!

Nice paneling BTW!

Enjoy. Looking forward to the review.

Advice: eq settings at volume sound gainy, compressed and off when you turn down.
Definitely spend some time exploring the eq options on the hot channel.
Especially the way the contour, treble, and global attack work in relation to each other.
Engage the global attack when using it at low volume. Don't know why..... just works.

[JOEBACCA]

Amazing amp indeed. I miss mine sometimes, the sheer versatility of that amp is amazing. Keep a few of each type of tubes around. When you hit a plateau where you can't find a satisfying-enough tone, swap for the other one just for kicks.

Hope you enjoy it!

Hey Surge, Did you try EL34's and 6L6's? If so which did you prefer and why? Also what Type of Tubes did you use? I was thinking of going with JJ EL34's & 12AX7's but would like to know your opinion. Thanks !!

[Gamera]

I'm running mine with 6L6's for what it's worth. I'm told they're crunchier but I haven't tried EL34's. I think I might since I'm all about the Marshally crunch lately.

[JOEBACCA]

Congrats. I have the 60 watter and before I learned the EQ was active I had a bugger of a time dialing in a tone I liked. Avoid the typical maxing out of the bass and remember everything past 12:00 boosts that frequency, sometimes into unpleasant territory. And as the poster said in the other thread, you may find yourself shopping for a good OD just to top things off.

I am familar with Active EQ, it is super sensitive. The Bass really punches on

this amp, I have it set to about 2'oclock and you can feel the Palm Mutes

hitting you in the chest. Any further on the Bass Knob and I can fire my

Bassist As for OD's I have the MXR Classic Overdrive which I

Love so much that I ended up selling my Fulltone OCD V4 because it was

sitting off on the sidelines collecting dust. I haven't used the MXR as a

boost on the Hot Channel of the Diablo yet but I'm sure its gonna be sick!!!

[JOEBACCA]

Congrats man!

Nice paneling BTW!

Enjoy. Looking forward to the review.

Advice: eq settings at volume sound gainy, compressed and off when you turn down.
Definitely spend some time exploring the eq options on the hot channel.
Especially the way the contour, treble, and global attack work in relation to each other.
Engage the global attack when using it at low volume. Don't know why..... just works.

Thanks for the Compliments Man!!! I agree with you on all counts. I've been

screwing around on the Hot Channel a lot, I'm starting to get a feel for what

this amp can do. I'm digging the Contour Knob at about 11' oclock, Bass at

2'oclock, Mids at noon, Treble at 1'oclock with Compression turned on, Gain

at 3'oclock, and Global Attack On Full Blast. With the Master at 9'oclock.

Played through my Avatar 2x12 with a Vintage 30 & G12H30. Kick @$$ !!! Oh

and the Clean Channel blew my mind!!! Set on Vintage with Bass at 1'oclock,

Mids at 10'oclock, Treble at 2'oclock with just a hint of Reverb......Beautiful.

[Surgeon]

Hey Surge, Did you try EL34's and 6L6's? If so which did you prefer and why? Also what Type of Tubes did you use? I was thinking of going with JJ EL34's & 12AX7's but would like to know your opinion. Thanks !!

I,ve used both types regularily for 3 years.
The 6L6s really turn the amp into a metal machine. Amazing low-end with thump and aggression, while the cleans really tend to be very fendery: scooped and depp sounding.
The EL34s made it less metal-amazing but very crunchy and present. The cleans were chimier as well.

I like both, it was just a question of situation: when I was playing in a metal band, the 6l6s (on full power mode mind you) were great. When I wanted a more rock'n'roll sound, the el34s sounded great.

As far as brands: I'm really partial to the Electro Harmonix EL34s. They are inexpensive but sound very creamy, have a killer overdriven tone and an early break-up. They're by far my favorite current production EL34s (even tung-sol and, mullard other, while good sounding don't have that magic to them to my ears).
6L6s: I loved the Tung-Sols in that amp. The SED winged-C sounded really good too.
Pre-amp: I use Tung-sol all the way in any amp I used and I've never been disappointed.

Have fun!

[Juanhanglo]

Joe: IMO, the global attack is needed (almost full up) to balance the muddiness the compression circuit can impart. I lower the gain a bit to avoid this.
Strangely, the 60 watter doesn't react this way. I have a 100w head and a 60w combo (i use the combo more because of it's triode mode). I will be modding my head with a triode switch soon.

What speakers/cab are you running thru?

Surgeon: did you ever try any other speakers in your combo? I am running a wgs et65 currently. Definitely a better choice over the stock one.

The difference in sound and feel is similar to changing between pentode
and triode modes. It gets rid of that stiff upper mid thing that the stock speaker has. It is more of a classic to hard rock speaker. The cleans are also markedly better.


Any preamp tube recommendations? I was considering a 5751 type tube so i can get mid gain tones easier as i never go above 3/4 gain.


Can't wait for the full report!!

[JOEBACCA]

Im running the Amp through my Avatar 2x12 with a Vintage 30 & a G12H30.

At Band practice I'm running my Line 6 4x12 Cab with Custom Celestions (not sure which ones?)

[Surgeon]

I never swapped speakers. However, for my applications, I aleays felt the triode mode too dark, muddy and spongy, which defeated the whole lower-wattage option for me.

[Juanhanglo]

Surgeon, that dark and spongy character is exactly what i look for! I can see it being too loose and dark for modern metal music. Pentode definitely has that sharp attack and tightness in spades.

i go for more of a 70's sounding warmer od, so triode gives me what i need.
ditto for the et65s. I can get an almost dead on C.O.C. deliverance tone. That is about as heavy as i get. Maybe some A.I.C. type heavy too.

To my ear, the triode mode seems to get close to post production album sounds that i know were originally recorded with 100w marshalls dimed out. I don't hear or feel that centain something in pentode mode. Overall i can compensate for the slight lack of brightness with the more than ample eq.

Are you a v30 guy by any chance?