NAD- ‘65 Deluxe Reverb

[DrewJD82]

It popped up locally for $600, I wasn’t sure what these even sold for but I know they weren’t popping up on my previous $800 and under search, so when I saw I can’t find a used one for under a grand, I hit up the seller and picked it up this afternoon. Kinda having some immediate regret of not buying via a music store where I have a return policy, but I’ve only got 20 minutes on it.

It’s in mint condition and the clean sound is great, this amp definitely relies on a good sounding guitar cuz you’ve only got a Bass and Treble knob! I can get Channel 2 right at 2 before it gets too loud, what I’m not digging about it is how it’s taking dirt pedals. Maybe it’s a speaker thing, but wow is it not pleasing. It actually sounds closer to an amp model with no cab sim than anything else, regardless of the pedal I used. I dunno if this amp needs to be cranked or not to have a sweet spot with dirt, but yuck.

I plan on grabbing a Torpedo, I figure I can try some different IR’s with that and pick a speaker based off those to try out in it, as well as seeing how it sounds cranked. It was definitely a bit of an impulse buy, but I figure worst case scenario, I can probably flip it and make a few bucks even undercutting every other DRRI out there.

Anyone have any experience with these?

 

[jellodog]

@DrewJD82 "not taking dirt pedals well" is usually an indication that you've got the bright cap in the signal path, especially at low volumes. That's for the Vibrato channel. I don't think there's a bright cap on the normal channel, though. Is it a scratchy / fizzy / sizzling sound that you're getting with pedals?

Many people de-solder or snip just one leg of the bright cap and leave it in place so that they can reconnect it for resale later.

The Reissues are even brighter than the original Deluxe Reverbs. And some of that is down to Jensen speakers which can add a strident scratchyness to the tone of drive pedals.

 

[la szum]

Score!! That'll slay with your Strats. Period.

That is a great price. No returns needed. Those are $1599 new!

Fuzz and OD may sound a bit bright into the Vibrato Channel.
I'd recommend using the Normal Channel for pedals and NOT
modding it.

Also, try the Lo Inputs. Thjose are 2 on each side. Should be a
little warmer and less sizzly with pedals.

Last thought, run into both channels and use a stereo pedal (delay or verb)
to achieve this. Something I love to do with my vintage Fenders.

 

[la szum]

My 3rd cent added to my other 2.

You don't want these amps to clip (at all!) if you are wanting to use dirt/fuzz
in front. You want as much warmth and headroom as you can squeeze out of
them---which is why using Input 2 may give you better results. That said, these
are "bright" amps.

 

[jellodog]

Forgot to say: "happy new amp day!" @DrewJD82 .

But also... I'm amazed - this is last amp I thought you would buy (judging from the music I've heard you make so far).

They are classic and beautiful looking amps. I just like having items like that laying around as retro furniture haha.

 

[jellodog]

Relatedly... on the subject of sparkle-grilled '65 reissues - I just picked up an old RC Booster for the Princeton Reverb.

Pots are really scratchy. Had to spring for some deoxit too .

Currently taking it apart for cleaning...

 

[Stone]

Super Nice Drew
say what camera you use to get these beautiful low light pictures, incredible quality
is that something in your FAS?

 

[DrewJD82]

@DrewJD82 "not taking dirt pedals well" is usually an indication that you've got the bright cap in the signal path, especially at low volumes. That's for the Vibrato channel. I don't think there's a bright cap on the normal channel, though. Is it a scratchy / fizzy / sizzling sound that you're getting with pedals?

Many people de-solder or snip just one leg of the bright cap and leave it in place so that they can reconnect it for resale later.

The Reissues are even brighter than the original Deluxe Reverbs. And some of that is down to Jensen speakers which can add a strident scratchyness to the tone of drive pedals.

Score!! That'll slay with your Strats. Period.

That is a great price. No returns needed. Those are $1599 new!

Fuzz and OD may sound a bit bright into the Vibrato Channel.
I'd recommend using the Normal Channel for pedals and NOT
modding it.

Also, try the Lo Inputs. Thjose are 2 on each side. Should be a
little warmer and less sizzly with pedals.

Last thought, run into both channels and use a stereo pedal (delay or verb)
to achieve this. Something I love to do with my vintage Fenders.

Forgot to say: "happy new amp day!" @DrewJD82 .

But also... I'm amazed - this is last amp I thought you would buy (judging from the music I've heard you make so far).

They are classic and beautiful looking amps. I just like having items like that laying around as retro furniture haha.

It almost sounds like a broken speaker or clipping when a pedal hits it, the Gilmour EMG’s hit that front end HARD. I risked pissing off a neighbor and cranked it for a second to ensure the speaker wasn’t actually blown, it’s all good. It’s just a very unpleasant sound, shrill, brittle….the total opposite of what these pedals sound like into a Bassman in Fractal land.

I’ll keep working with it!

I need to find a manual to go through how the channels work, I’m not getting any reverb when I use Ch 1 and I actually like the sound of this reverb.

Hahahah as for this being the last amp you think I’d buy, I’m more into Gilmour/EJ tones these days than I am metal tones, I just still love writing metal music! I’d rather get high gain tones from a modeler than I would an amp, for the most part!

 

[DrewJD82]

Super Nice Drew
say what camera you use to get these beautiful low light pictures, incredible quality
is that something in your FAS?

iPhone 13! Same thing I record all my videos with. Hahahah I think it trained itself to take pictures in this vampire environment.

 

[jellodog]

@DrewJD82 Channel 1 (Normal) has no reverb or vibrato. That's just how these amps are.

Reverb and Vibrato (Tremolo, Fender... FFS!) are only available on Channel 2, the "Vibrato" channel.

The vib channel also has an extra gain stage for reverb recovery so there's more gain and colour there; but unfortunately it has the bright cap.

 

[la szum]

Input 2 for the last motherfucking time!!!!

 

[JiveTurkey]

Very nice!

 

[la szum]

It almost sounds like a broken speaker or clipping when a pedal hits it,

That's vintage Fender distortion, Brotha!!

They do not LIKE hot pickups. At all. Those are for Marshalls.

 

[la szum]

My expectation is once you get it dialed you'll love it.

Oh, and if you are gonna use the Gilmour Strat regardless with the DR then
buy 150 feet of instrument cable. That'll help take the edge off.

 

[jellodog]

I didn't like the Jensen in mine when I had it. It made drive pedals fizzy / buzzy.

It ended up with a Creamback Neo.

buy 150 feet of instrument cable. That'll help take the edge off.

Ahh... ye olde "Setzer mod". Vintage AF!

 

[la szum]

Yup. A Creamback. A WGS ET-65. A Scumback. An Eminence. Anything but that Jensen.

Still gonna be a "bright" amp. And still gonna be a great deal at $600!!

 

[jellodog]

Yup. A Creamback. A WGS ET-65. A Scumback. An Eminence. Anything but that Jensen.

Still gonna be a "bright" amp. And still gonna be a great deal at $600!!

Agreed - so many great speaker choices that aren't the stock Jensen!

 

[2112]

Congrats. Those amps are totally a thing. Great deal!

 

[jellodog]

@DrewJD82 I'm circling back around to check in with you this evening, as is my civic duty as a citizen of TGF City.

You got that DRRI figured out yet?

 

[DrewJD82]

@DrewJD82 I'm circling back around to check in with you this evening, as is my civic duty as a citizen of TGF City.

You got that DRRI figured out yet?

Hahahah I haven’t even plugged it back in since that day. My head is already floating towards a Bassman or a JTM45. I’m getting my Christmas bonus next week and holding off a bit before I start really looking seriously.

A few of my buds were telling me my experience mirrors theres as far as these things not taking dirt pedals well. While some Fenders are great for it, this amp is just too clean and too stiff. It’s GREAT if you want some really loud cleans with a lot of headroom until you switch to that 2nd channel. The EMG’s hit that thing really hard, it sounds like a compressor clipping the front end then backing off really quick.