NAD Crab Marcus

[newholland]

Also: side tangent, I was struggling more with the EVM thiele than with the ported c90 Mesa cab. Sounded much better with the latter. Wondering if the neutralness of the EVM paired with the more sensitive GEQ was giving me guff. Was immediately more satisfying than the thiele

weird- i wonder. i always find c90s to kinda be dark and too thick in the mids.. but they always acted weird in thieles cause they didnt really have the top end to project well out of a ported box which was accentuating what a c90 already did! when i play out of my evm thiele i always haveta crank up the top end and dump the bass.

 

[mbugbee]

looks like independent bias trim pots, less need for matching power tube pairs!

 

[Whizzinby]

Nice dude. Curious to hear some clips and your opinions once the new amp smell wears off.

 

[JiveTurkey]

Nice dude. Curious to hear some clips and your opinions once the new amp smell wears off.

How in the world has this gif flew under the radar?

 

[JerEvil]

How in the world has this gif flew under the radar?

Right??

Man I’m so stoked for my Marcus. I’m glad I went 100 watts but can’t wait to get it here. My JP2C gets here tomorrow.

I’m really looking forward to shooting them out. I can’t wait to see the hate I get on YouTube for the comparisons when I KNOW there will. It be a $2400 tonal difference.

 

[spawnofthesith]

Ok here’s Marcus compared to 3 other Marks same track from my looper and same IR. Just some drop D power chord stuff. I’m honestly kinda over IRs or least my captor as a load box. Guess I’m willing to give the Suhr RL a shot

I wasn’t trying to make all of them sound identical or anything, just dialed in as I have them

Mark "Shoot out:

 

[Genghis]

Sounds great! Thanks for doing that! I dig all of them and the Marcus certainly holds its own against your collection of Mesas. Cool stuff and makes me glad I ordered one of these Crab amps!

 

[JerEvil]

Ok here’s Marcus compared to 3 other Marks same track from my looper and same IR. Just some drop D power chord stuff. I’m honestly kinda over IRs or least my captor as a load box. Guess I’m willing to give the Suhr RL a shot

I wasn’t trying to make all of them sound identical or anything, just dialed in as I have them

Mark "Shoot out:

Sounds like it hangs just fine to me!

 

[spawnofthesith]

Sounds great! Thanks for doing that! I dig all of them and the Marcus certainly holds its own against your collection of Mesas. Cool stuff and makes me glad I ordered one of these Crab amps!

Thanks man!

Sounds like it hangs just fine to me!

Definitely hangs!! Looking forward to using it with the band on Wednesday


These clips are kind of interesting to me. I think the order I like them in from most to least is V, Marcus, IV, and III

But that doesn’t necessarily reflect my real world opinions/orderibg haha (truthfully I don’t have any IRL favorite to least favorite, they’re all a but different and I appreciate the differences). I don’t really love how this load box IR stuff sounds at all lol. I guess I’m just old school and prefer a a mic on a cab

 

[Whizzinby]

Hell yeah @spawnofthesith Sounds dope to me.

If @JerEvil has any luck too I’m going in on the MCII. Ive bought pedals for more than this dude is building them for.

 

[mbugbee]

Ok here’s Marcus compared to 3 other Marks same track from my looper and same IR. Just some drop D power chord stuff. I’m honestly kinda over IRs or least my captor as a load box. Guess I’m willing to give the Suhr RL a shot

I wasn’t trying to make all of them sound identical or anything, just dialed in as I have them

Mark "Shoot out:

daaaaamn! Sounds great dude!

 

[spawnofthesith]

weird- i wonder. i always find c90s to kinda be dark and too thick in the mids.. but they always acted weird in thieles cause they didnt really have the top end to project well out of a ported box which was accentuating what a c90 already did! when i play out of my evm thiele i always haveta crank up the top end and dump the bass.

To clarify, the c90 Mesa cab I have does have some “modern” porting but it’s much bigger dimensions than a thiele and not the same porting hole shape

 

[Genghis]

Thanks man!



Definitely hangs!! Looking forward to using it with the band on Wednesday


These clips are kind of interesting to me. I think the order I like them in from most to least is V, Marcus, IV, and III

But that doesn’t necessarily reflect my real world opinions/orderibg haha (truthfully I don’t have any IRL favorite to least favorite, they’re all a but different and I appreciate the differences). I don’t really love how this load box IR stuff sounds at all lol. I guess I’m just old school and prefer a a mic on a cab

I am lucky that I have a space that allows me to mic up my cabs and record at volume. I spent the morning just toggling between my 3 amps and making adjustments in the IIC+ and JP2C and so get things dialed in so that so prefer one and then go over and adjust the other until it sounds better. Not trying to match them, but to play into the strengths of each.

I agree with your order of preference on the clips you posted. The V is killer and Marcus is almost as good, but in a different way. Others are great, just not quite as nice as the B and Marcus.

 

[spawnofthesith]

I am lucky that I have a space that allows me to mic up my cabs and record at volume. I spent the morning just toggling between my 3 amps and making adjustments in the IIC+ and JP2C and so get things dialed in so that so prefer one and then go over and adjust the other until it sounds better. Not trying to match them, but to play into the strengths of each.

I agree with your order of preference on the clips you posted. The V is killer and Marcus is almost as good, but in a different way. Others are great, just not quite as nice as the B and Marcus.

Man I was wishing I had an amp switcher making these clips lol. Especially because I had to start over halfway through because I accidentally unplugged my computer while changing out amps

 

[newholland]

To clarify, the c90 Mesa cab I have does have some “modern” porting but it’s much bigger dimensions than a thiele and not the same porting hole shape

View attachment 38630

ah gotcha- also clarifying what i meant- the thiele cab seems to like a speaker with maybe not a LOT of top end, but north of fully neutral on top cause all the low end it generates can easily overwhelm the box.

i havent met that new mesa 112 though! id bet its probably dialed in FOR that c90!

 

[spawnofthesith]

ah gotcha- also clarifying what i meant- the thiele cab seems to like a speaker with maybe not a LOT of top end, but north of fully neutral on top cause all the low end it generates can easily overwhelm the box.

i havent met that new mesa 112 though! id bet its probably dialed in FOR that c90!

Already discontinued

Well sorta… they have a new version that’s basically the same it just ships with a V30 instead

This c90 model was designed to specifically be a Mk V extension cab I think

 

[MatrixClaw]

But that doesn’t necessarily reflect my real world opinions/orderibg haha (truthfully I don’t have any IRL favorite to least favorite, they’re all a but different and I appreciate the differences). I don’t really love how this load box IR stuff sounds at all lol. I guess I’m just old school and prefer a a mic on a cab

The Captor doesn't actually emulate the natural resistance curve of any real speaker, so it is not unsurprising that you don't like it much. They seem to work particularly terribly with Mesas, as well. I liked mine as an attenuator in the room but for recording it was not good IMO. The Fractal one is probably the cheapest option for a good sounding unit. The Suhr is solid, for sure.

 

[spawnofthesith]

The Captor doesn't actually emulate the natural resistance curve of any real speaker, so it is not unsurprising that you don't like it much. They seem to work particularly terribly with Mesas, as well. I liked mine as an attenuator in the room but for recording it was not good IMO. The Fractal one is probably the cheapest option for a good sounding unit. The Suhr is solid, for sure.

Haha yeah, I absolutely LOVE the captor as an attenuator in the room, which wasn’t even a factor of consideration when I bought it lol. But def not into the curve

It will never go anywhere because it did become a surprise invaluable tool in the attenuation department tho

 

[MatrixClaw]

Haha yeah, I absolutely LOVE the captor as an attenuator in the room, which wasn’t even a factor of consideration when I bought it lol. But def not into the curve

It will never go anywhere because it did become a surprise invaluable tool in the attenuation department tho

I believe if you leave it connected to the cab, it will use the cab as the curve. It's only if you're using it for silent recording that it becomes an issue. Could be wrong though, I know some of the reactive load boxes work like this.

 

[spawnofthesith]

I believe if you leave it connected to the cab, it will use the cab as the curve. It's only if you're using it for silent recording that it becomes an issue. Could be wrong though, I know some of the reactive load boxes work like this.

Interesting! I’ll have to look into that… at some point… lol. I really have a disdain for recording myself and that whole aspect of shit. I prefer to pay someone