NAD- ‘65 Deluxe Reverb

[jellodog]

EMG’s hit that thing really hard

Even in the #2 -6 dB "low" input, with nothing else plugged in?

( If #1 is unused, then #2 has -6 dB gain. But if #1 is also being used, #1 & #2 are identical in gain)

 

[jellodog]

Having said that, I reckon those amps are better off with traditional single coils.

 

[-BOOGIEMAN-]

Duel Rec…

Congrats!!!

 

[DrewJD82]

Even in the #2 -6 dB "low" input, with nothing else plugged in?

( If #1 is unused, then #2 has -6 dB gain. But if #1 is also being used, #1 & #2 are identical in gain)

Having said that, I reckon those amps are better off with traditional single coils.

Yep, I haven’t even tried jumping the channels. My Old Man Strat (the one pictured) has low-output, vintage voiced single coils, it’s not hitting the front end as hard as the EMG’s, but being that I play that Gilmour Strat just as much, if not more than the Old Man, I need it to sound great with both guitars!

No biggie, I’m having a blast trying out these amps! I’m sure I can unload this DRRI pretty quick and still make a profit on it, so I’m not bummed. Now I just get to try out more amps! I spent 25 years in high gain land, only playing through these kinds of Fender amps on rare occasions, now that I’ve got guitars that’ll actually sound good with them, I’ve got no problem tasting the rainbow.

I’ve got my Fractal stuff to keep me satisfied until I find the right amp. I’m going to laugh if I can’t find a Bassman or JTM45 that’s able to sound like my Fractal presets. There’s a couple I have that it’s just my favorite tone I’ve ever achieved. I should make a clip of those sounds, I’m playing through them more than any other sounds I use but I‘m always uploading chugga chugga stuff.

 

[spawnofthesith]

Congrats!!


I love deluxe reverbs



EDIT: oh wait you don like it

 

[la szum]

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.

Yup. Really have to accept amps for what they are, and if it is not what you want then it is usually time to move it
for something else. Great find regardless!

The older I have grown I seem to be more accepting of different amps, and how they force me to play differently
and not bust out my usual bag of tricks. Same with guitars. I want more diversity (in guitars, amps, people, food)
in my life not less.

But yeah, no chugs to be found on a DR. You can probably avoid the 6th string on a guitar altogether. Still a
great amp (much like an AC15) but also very limited. That said, a Rectifier ain't gonna do what a DR can do either.

As for the EMGS. Man, you are not pushing through all that gear and needing all that signal to get through those
long cable runs and buffers, and pedals, and rack units. I bet by the time Gilmour's signal hit his amps it was nowhere
near what the typical DG20 user hears when it hits theirs. That's something few players ever consider. Sorry if that
sounds a little (or a lot) pompous. Just an FYI.

 

[JiveTurkey]

Duel Rec…

Congrats!!!

 

[DrewJD82]

Yup. Really have to accept amps for what they are, and if it is not what you want then it is usually time to move it
for something else. Great find regardless!

The older I have grown I seem to be more accepting of different amps, and how they force me to play differently
and not bust out my usual bag of tricks. Same with guitars. I want more diversity (in guitars, amps, people, food)
in my life not less.

But yeah, no chugs to be found on a DR. You can probably avoid the 6th string on a guitar altogether. Still a
great amp (much like an AC15) but also very limited. That said, a Rectifier ain't gonna do what a DR can do either.

As for the EMGS. Man, you are not pushing through all that gear and needing all that signal to get through those
long cable runs and buffers, and pedals, and rack units. I bet by the time Gilmour's signal hit his amps it was nowhere
near what the typical DG20 user hears when it hits theirs. That's something few players ever consider. Sorry if that
sounds a little (or a lot) pompous. Just an FYI.

Hahahahah well I don’t want to get chugs out of this thing, I wouldn’t be playing single coil Strats into it if that were the case.

I just thought this amp would be able to take pedals well, I’ll have to make a clip tonight, it’s really atrocious. I mean, if the Dovers sound like gold going into a modeler, you’d think they’d at least be workable through a nice Fender combo. I’m curious if this speaker is broken in at all, I was reading some posts about it and a lot of people said it was really stiff when new. This has got to be the stiffest amp I’ve ever played through.

And a huge part of the reason I started playing Strats again was for the playing/tone change, I’m all for that, I just gotta dig the tone and it’s gotta work for more than just one thing. The way it seems now, this amp does CLEAN and dat’s it!

 

[spawnofthesith]

I think certain drives can be hit or miss in vintage fender circuits. My favorites:

EQD Dunes
J rockett blue note
zen drive
Blues driver

The mxr 5150 OD sounded brutal AF through my old twin RI, but at band volume/in the mix the open back presented limitations for those chugs. I bet it would've been no issue running through a closed back cab

 

[la szum]

I'll bet you can net an easy $300 in cash or trade value and put it towards something else.

To me gear is a lot like the proverbial Princess kissing frogs in the hopes of finding her Prince.
Kiss as many frogs as we can and we only increase our odds of discovering our Princes of Tone.

 

[la szum]

I think certain drives can be hit or miss in vintage fender circuits. My favorites:

EQD Dunes
J rockett blue note
zen drive
Blues driver

The mxr 5150 OD sounded brutal AF through my old twin RI, but at band volume/in the mix the open back presented limitations for those chugs. I bet it would've been no issue running through a closed back cab

That's so true. Hello, Timmy, or any other kind of low-to-medium "transparent" overdrive. Things like the
Greer Lighspeed and Southland. Lovepedal AMP 11..... or a..... uhmmmm.... Klon/Klone.

You basically have to decide NOT to try and turn it into something it won't ever do or be well.

 

[Whizzinby]

Only one thing left to do with it @DrewJD82

 

[metropolis_4]

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.

The Deluxe Reverb is much more about nice crunchy breakup that you can ride with your volume knob. It doesn't really do loud cleans with a lot of headroom, that's what the Twin Reverb is for.

The classic setting is the "Magic 6's" setting:

Volume: 6
Treble: 6
Bass: 2
(Mids: 3 for amps with a mid control)

Adjust to taste.

Those amps get nice and crunchy, then you can pull back for cleans or hit it with a tubescreamer to bump it out front for leads.

But it's old-school-gig loud to use that way.

They're also one of the most famous pedal platform amps of all time, almost a de facto standard. But as some others have noted the bright cap on the Vibrato channel of new DRRI models makes that particular channel harsh with a lot of drive pedals. The Normal channel works much better on those particular versions of the Deluxe Reverb.

 

[DrewJD82]

I might see if I can trade this for a Bassbreaker combo. I really dug the little 15w one I tried one day, I don’t know why the hell I bought the damn HDR instead of that Bassbreaker, but I probably would have been fine and dandy 3 months ago if I just bought the damn Bassbreaker.

 

[jellodog]

I just thought this amp would be able to take pedals well

In your photo, your treble is on 9

To take pedals well, apart from swapping the bright speaker (and avoiding the bright cap), it helps to tame the harsh note attack and treble.

Before you give up on it completely and sell it, have you tried:

Treble 3 - 4. Yes, dialled right back at lower volumes
Bass 5
Low gain input

Lowering the treble will also bring back some mids.

As you raise volume, you can start to dial back the bass and raise the treble. Sounds like you won't get to that stage at home, though.

 

[DrewJD82]

The Deluxe Reverb is much more about nice crunchy breakup that you can ride with your volume knob. It doesn't really do loud cleans with a lot of headroom, that's what the Twin Reverb is for.

The classic setting is the "Magic 6's" setting:

Volume: 6
Treble: 6
Bass: 2
(Mids: 3 for amps with a mid control)

Adjust to taste.

Those amps get nice and crunchy, then you can pull back for cleans or hit it with a tubescreamer to bump it out front for leads.

But it's old-school-gig loud to use that way.

They're also one of the most famous pedal platform amps of all time, but as some others have noted the bright cap on the Vibrato channel of new DRRI models makes that particular channel harsh with a lot of drive pedals. The Normal channel works much better on those particular versions of the Deluxe Reverb.

Hahahahahaha yeah, I can’t get this thing past 2 in my apartment. 6 would be rattling windows!

Unfortunately, the Normal channel doesn’t have reverb on it, which I suppose is fine, but there’s also no effects loop on the amp so everything has to go in front of it.

I’m curious, does pushing the amp harder have more to do with pushing the tubes, or pushing the speaker? If it’s a tube thing, I might wait until I snag a 2-notes, but if it’s a speaker thing, I’ve gotta move it.

 

[DrewJD82]

In your photo, your treble is on 9

To take pedals well, apart from swapping the bright speaker, it helps to tame the harsh note attack and treble.

Before you give up on it completely and sell it, have you tried:

Treble 3 - yes, dialled right back
Bass 5
Low gain input

Lowering the treble will also bring back some mids.

I’ll give it a shot, I was having a hard time coming up with the spanky 2/4 sounds on both my Strats without cranking the treble up.

 

[spawnofthesith]

Hahahahahaha yeah, I can’t get this thing past 2 in my apartment. 6 would be rattling windows!

Unfortunately, the Normal channel doesn’t have reverb on it, which I suppose is fine, but there’s also no effects loop on the amp so everything has to go in front of it.

I’m curious, does pushing the amp harder have more to do with pushing the tubes, or pushing the speaker? If it’s a tube thing, I might wait until I snag a 2-notes, but if it’s a speaker thing, I’ve gotta move it.

AFAIK and can tell with mine that classic DR crunch comes from cookin those lil 6V6s

Thats really where the magic comes from is cranking these for that nice crunch. Mine doesn't work for the context of my band and I also live in an apartment so I don't get to crank it often, but I had a sit in gig a couple weeks ago that was perfect for the DR and I got to have some fun with it

 

[jellodog]

I have learned (from Cliff no less!) that reverb before the preamp stage in amps like that, is little different to reverb after the preamp v1 stage; it's commutative. So it doesn't matter that there's no FX loop, and you can put reverb in front of the amp just fine, if you're using the Normal channel when reverb isn't available in the amp.

 

[metropolis_4]

Hahahahahaha yeah, I can’t get this thing past 2 in my apartment. 6 would be rattling windows!

Unfortunately, the Normal channel doesn’t have reverb on it, which I suppose is fine, but there’s also no effects loop on the amp so everything has to go in front of it.

I’m curious, does pushing the amp harder have more to do with pushing the tubes, or pushing the speaker? If it’s a tube thing, I might wait until I snag a 2-notes, but if it’s a speaker thing, I’ve gotta move it.

Haha, welcome to the world of old school amps

IME these amps sound pretty anemic with the volume below 3 or so. They really want to be let loose with volume. That's where they shine and what made them legendary.

Yeah, original blackface Fender amps only have reverb and tremolo on the Vibrato channel. And no effects loop. Back in this amps day there were no pedals to put in an effects loop.

The drive sound is sort of a combination of everything together. Some of it's preamp, some power amp, some speaker.

It only really works if you like the classic thing it does. I always dug putting analog pedals in front of a dirty amp, but it doesn't work for everything or everyone. It all depends on what you're trying to do with it.