NAD / finished Ampmaker P1800

Corvus

I got this finished up today, Ampmaker P1800. There's been 2-3 so not going many pics and I'm bad with a camera anyway:

http://alleykat.co.uk/images/stuff/p1800/1.jpg
http://alleykat.co.uk/images/stuff/p1800/3.jpg
http://alleykat.co.uk/images/stuff/p1800/4.jpg

Adam_MD

Awesome I was literally looking at these today it looks excellent.  How long did it take you to build @Corvus?  Also where did you buy the head shell? 

Corvus

Got to sort out a badge for it I think, looks naked without one.

So far, the normal channel is excellent, just could do with more headroom if anything. Not very fond of the hot channel as yet. If anyone's reading that's done a P1800, what speakers did you use? I've got a single Creamback 65 at the moment with nothing else spare to try. The hot channel is too fizzy but early days, have only had one session with it.

Test values were close to Barry's suggestions so bias seems OK.

Couple more with the cab -

http://alleykat.co.uk/images/stuff/p1800/5.jpg
http://alleykat.co.uk/images/stuff/p1800/6.jpg

Corvus

Cheers @Adam_MD , I'm not sure altogether - I did it in smaller chunks spread over several days, with breaks doing other stuff in between. I'm sure with your pedal skills you'd rock through it PDQ! So very nice to solder the board compared to pedals, just the wiring is the fiddly bit.

The shell came from Chris Uff who's linked on Barry's site, it's the wider of the two choices. Barry's off on hols from yesterday for two weeks by the way.

Adam_MD

Yeah I noticed they were closed for 2 weeks when I was looking earlier.  I fancy a little Marshall to go with my fender and thought this might be more fun than a class 5.  Ill have a look tonight and check out the shells from Chris Uff I didn’t notice that when I was looking earlier.  

Also is that a Zilla cab underneath it?  If so which one?  I’ve got a g12h30 loaded zilla in the house which is looking mighty lonely not being used and I think will be perfect for a little Marshall style head.  

Corvus

Its just an email address I think, lurking somewhere on there. If you can't find it I'll look it out, got the emails from him.
The cab's a Zilla Fatboy I think, the large 2x12 convertible one.

Adam_MD

Thanks I’ll have a look tonight.  

GoldenEraGuitars

The fatboy doesn’t have the strip along the front of the cab. Could be a studio pro as it looks as though the baffle is angled?

Great build btw, I had a pp18 years ago. I always regret selling it.

Corvus

Ah cheers Lonestar, I've lost the old emails so you're most likely right there.

Danielsguitars

i love 18watt amps but found they didn't have enough headroom live so went 36watt

Just tweak the channel you don't like into something else

I'd also consider a 2x10 cab, they sound good to me

SteveF

Looks great  

Corvus

Cheers muchly Steve.
Darren there are some suggested tweaks I believe but mostly iirc about gain & amount of bass. Don't want to spend ages on it but I'll have a chat with Barry when he's back mebbe.

Danielsguitars

Corvus said:

Cheers muchly Steve.
Darren there are some suggested tweaks I believe but mostly iirc about gain & amount of bass. Don't want to spend ages on it but I'll have a chat with Barry when he's back mebbe.

I'd like to hear it when it's sorted out, I've got a 2x12 slant back marshall cab with 2 x 70's celestions g12h and g12m, love this cab btw

Corvus

Mini review / early impressions:

The build was enjoyable, glad I did it and ticked that off the list, sort of thing. Barry's a top guy.
The test routines are great, made me pick up a couple of errors. Instructions are great apart from possibly the input socket wiring which was a mind-bender at first.

Thanks to someone's comment on the forum (forgot who, sorry) I added a separate earth to a dedicated tag for the power sock and cable-tied the wire.

Lots of volume on tap but breaks up very early.
Takes pedals well but have to consider the breaking up.
It's pretty quiet. Someone more experienced could probably make it quieter still.

Was disappointing sound-wise at first with a Creamback 65 on it's own, unless seriously loud - way past "house loud". Fizz and lots of it, no punch, weak bass. The only other speaker to hand is an Emi as per Blues Jnr, Blues Deluxe and whatever else. I hated it in the BDRI and my boy hated it in his BJnr. But solid bottom end to it, so I nailed it in the cab and man what a difference! - the amp sounds just great. Meaty, punchy and that zinging Marshall thing all there.

Going to look for another speaker or two, sell the Creamback. Although it was great with another head it sucks with this one.

Don't know about mini-plexi but it's Marshally with decent gain in the hot channel. The channel switch mod would probably be very handy for gigging but looks daunting for me.

All in all pretty chuffed with the thing, build and results both.

Danielsguitars

Is it 1 or 2 channel Bill, an ABY box is good with these amps

I bought a celestion out of lean business for £50 and it's really good, can't remember the model but it's got an x in it,  they were on offer not long ago

Corvus

Its single channel with 2 inputs Darren, switching needs mods to it. There's vague details on his site but not confident I can figure out what he means. I've got an ABY, will be running this alongside a Fender combo just to see what gives.