NAD ptII - Louis Electric Buster

StuartMac290

After receiving the Louis Electric Columbia Reverb a wee while ago and using it on a few gigs and sessions, I've been absolutely blown away by it. It's the best new amp I've ever bought, frankly, and I've been through a LOT of them in the last 20 years. Really does remind me of a couple of 60s Fenders I had in the past.

I'm a big fan of small amps that sound huge, and they're pretty rare. I'm also a big fan of running a small blackface amp alongside a small tweed amp (at the moment my profile pic has a Redplate CDS2 and a Lazy J20 in exactly that role) and blending the sounds.

Which led me to…the Louis Electric Buster. Thought I'd give it a whirl, and bloody hell, it's every bit as good as the Columbia. Might be the best tele amp I've ever had, and with any guitar it's big, clear and lively-sounding, laden with harmonics.

The Columbia has something very special going on, and the Buster has it in spades too. Both have a really bold, punchy attack, and they sound massive and yet really clear. They're loud - neither one is a home amp at all - but so, so rich and three dimensional.

These are my keepers at long last (alongside my Bad Cat Black Cat 30, but that's another story). Wonderful amps.

Thanks yet again to Doug at Coda Music for the usual flawless service

BluesyDave

Bloody hell, what a rig!!  Very jealous.

monkey42

Wow. What a great rig combo Nice one

Wazmeister

Superb mate.

I agree about the blackface/tweed mix - I use it myself.

They look great

Trude

Oh God. Amp-boner here!

mburekenge

Sweet.

nickb_boy

What an incredible set up! Congrats on the NAD.
With the Buster being in the 5e3 genre how does it compare up against the J20?

StuartMac290

Well, both are undoubtedly great amps, and in some ways they are quite different, albeit slightly different takes on essentially the same thing. I used the Lazy J live for a bit (generally in mid-size theatres) and on many recording sessions and I really enjoyed it, but ultimately it wasn't quite right for me for a few reasons which the Buster addresses.

I use mainly p90s or vintage-output humbuckers, and the Lazy J didn't quite have enough headroom for me. My Buster has more, even though mine is fitted with 6v6s for now. I found that below 3-ish on the volume control the J20 sounded a little lifeless and it really started filling out at about that point on the pot, by which time it was getting pretty gritty. The Buster pretty much goes from off to on at about 1-2 on the volume pot, and at that point it sounds rich and fat AND clean with humbuckers.

The J20 is a bit darker and thicker in the mids, meaning I always had the tone pot cranked up a good bit even in the bright channel to get the crispness and clarity I wanted from my 335 - which of course added gain and ate up headroom. I found it a little cloudy in the mids and it had a "ring" to it sometimes that couldn't be dialled out - it's just in the nature of the amp, really, and it really came into its own once it started to crunch. The Buster is clearer and less congested in the mids around 400-600 hz or so, and I can run the tone pot lower which buys more headroom.

I ended up running the J20 live as the dirty side of a two-amp clean/dirty setup, and it excelled at that. The VAC control is incredibly useful for being able to run it as dirty as you like at useable volumes - even in a decent-sized 500-odd seater theatre I had the VAC scaled back, to avoid overpowering our drummer, and he is a BIG hitter! So the J was great for that purpose live, probably better than the Buster for a no pedals setup. In the studio where I can crank the amps to my heart's content, I ended up not really using it that much because I have other amps I preferred for that purpose (a Bad Cat Black Cat 30 sounds incredible wound up! As does the Budda Superdrive 45).

Ultimately though my preference live is for a straight blend between a blackface and a tweed both set clean with single coils and very close to clean with humbuckers. As contrary as I am, one of my favourite tones is a tweed amp played clean and clear with a 335, and I just couldn't get that with the J - when I played it next to the Imperial or the Bad Cat in the studio it never came near their clean tones, so I ended up rarely using it. The Buster sounds glorious clean, every bit as good as the Columbia or the Imperial, just different - and for my admittedly very picky and specific needs it's a much, much better fit.

It also sounds fantastic cranked - the little gain switch is like a great boost pedal - but it really is LOUD. The J is perhaps a little chewier and saggier (all the Louis Electric amps are very, very punchy) and a little easier to play. The Buster has more impact and sounds bigger.

The Buster also sounds phenomenal with telecasters. I believe Lou Rosano is a tele guy, and I love how his amps deal with the top end of them - it stays fat and still has that dry bite from the bridge pickup.

It's not a home amp in any way, though - his amps are designed to be loud, and the J20 has a significant advantage there.

I also thought I'd miss the reverb and trem from the J20, but again in practice I always preferred these on my Imperial anyway so I hardly used them and the ones on the Columbia are even better.

In short (at last!) for MY needs, this is the perfect small tweed amp. It addresses the things I didn't get on with about the J20 and is a more versatile, useable amp - for ME - in a wider variety of situations. If you're in the market for that style of amp I'd strongly recommend you check one out. I think Lou's amps have a certain magic to them - the Columbia is by FAR the best Princeton I've ever heard, and sounds massive, and I'm looking forward to trying out some of the others (there's a KR12 in my future somewhere!)

JohnPerry

Great review, thanks

monkey42

JohnPerry said:

Great review, thanks

This

nickb_boy

@StuartMac290 Cheers for such an honest and reasoned insight!

JGC

I recently picked up a Columbia and can honestly say that it sounds amazing...best amp I've ever had, and takes pedals beautifully. I think the cabinet and Jupiter speaker come into play in a big way, such a big resonant sound stage....glorious......and I've had a few - Fenders / Marshalls / Mesa / Bogner / Redplate ..... the Louis is so musical and a joy to play through.

lukedlb

Nice review. I'll be sure to check them out.