NAD - Fender Machete

MadAsAHatter

Roadie
Messages
233
I posted this on another forum yesterday evening and they guessed the amp. The way I did the hint gave it away a little too easily so I'm gonna change that up a little here.
If you saw the answer on the other forum don't spoil it for others trying to guess.

Here we go...

This amp caught my eye a few years ago, but was put on the backburner since there were none for sale. It's one that people seem to forget about and doesn't come up for sale overly often. One popped up on GC's website about 3-4 months back. I was behaving myself and resisting the urge to buy. After sitting on it, the temptation became too much. Called the GC store and worked a decent enough price that I was willing to pay. Hopefully it'll be here by the end of next week and arrive safely.

What is the amp you may be asking. Not going to reveal it until it gets delivered or if someone figures it out. I'll give you some basic info, specs and a hint. Maybe you can guess what it is.
2 channels, 50 watt, 6L6 power tubes. Sort of considered a sleeper amp. Great reviews from those who played/bought one, but poor product launch and it didn't sell very well because of poor marketing. Only produced for 2 years from 2012 to 2013. Company isn't known for high gain amps but this one is in that realm. Came in both 1x12 combo & head form. I got the head. My understanding is a bunch of combos were made, but only a couple hundred heads. Both the head and combo had a somewhat unique tolex wrap.

Hint:
Danny Trejo
 
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Fender Machete combo amp

**** doh! @greatmutah beat me to it. †**
 
Well now that the cat's out the bag...

Does anyone own or have played Fender Machete? I only have old youtube clips to go by and haven't heard in it person. Obviously those clips sounded good enough for me to buy one. Still interested in current opinions and what I can expect.
 
Looking forward to your thoughts on this one big time! Always wanted to play one but never seen it in person anywhere.
 
Amp arrived late yesterday afternoon safe and sound. Maybe Guitar Center is upping their game on packing. The last couple amps I got from them were packed well. Several layers of bubble wrap around the entire amp and in an appropriate sized box. Or maybe I just got lucky.

Anyway, The head is in near perfect condition. No major scuffs or tears. I spent about 20-30 minutes getting to know it. I'm not giving any right out the box initial impressions on tone because frankly I don't know what to make of it yet. The Machete doesn't sound bad by any means. It's just on the opposite end of the spectrum of my normal sound and not really like any Fender amp I've played before. I need a a little extra time with it to figure it out.

That said I did manage a respectable Dimebag, scooped mids type tone. I can tell it's capable of more than that and should sound pretty good. I just need some time to find it's strengths & weaknesses. I don't see the Machete kicking anything off my top favorites; however, I do foresee this one being a keeper. If anything it's one that'll push me out my comfort zone.

I can offer a few tidbits. The damping knob does have a large effect on how the amp feels. Loose it's aggressive with a little bit of bounce. Tight it's smoother and more focused. Notch has a large affect on tone. The tone stack is active and small adjustments can have a bigger impact on boosting/cutting frequencies.

One thing I didn't realize is how few of these amps were made. When looking for suggested settings to start with, I came across some production info. Apparently only 100 heads and 300 combos were made in total between 2012-2014. My head is stamped 09 of 25 First Production Run.

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I'm actually looking at few amps at GC and chatted with their rep about the shipping. So he confirmed that their goal is to safely ship stuff from shop to shop with proper packaging aiming "the amp should arrive to new location in the same state it was" assuring me they will pack it well. :idk

@MadAsAHatter congrats on the new amp. Looks very clean and mint! :love
 
Looks great. I always thought the tones in the Choptones video sounded really good!


Report back once you get more time with it \m/
 
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