NAD (x2)

Kalimna

I picked up a couple of lovely boxes last week, and thought I would share them. Unfortunately, due to working nightshifts and family duties, I have had very little time to stretch their legs - about ten minutes each. So a detailed review won't be found within this post. What you will find are two very different amps built by two very talented builders. These have been about a year in the making, and are the result of me selling a few bits of gear and tools, alongside a £2 coin-filled terramundi pot (I kid you not!) From the little I have played them, I genuinely don't expect to buy another amp (though if a Decatone or Rivera rears it's head at the same time as funds.....) ever.

First off is a lower-than-standard-wattage DriveKing combo from 633 Engineering. It is a single channel amp with an added gain section and variable headroom (as I understand it, a means of achieving power-stage overdrive at lower volumes by means of altering the power valve voltages). My version is a 2x10 combo with Celestion G10N-40's, built-in digital reverb with a choice of reverb 'length' and 'tone' alongside the more usual level control.
The cleans are crystaline to smooth (I'm useless at audio descriptions), and the crunch/overdrive sortof Dumbley to Marshall. I havent found a bad tone yet with either my Les Paul Custom or homemade single-coil hollowbody. It is around 25 watts, and is nothing short of ear-bleeding loud at full pelt at home.
Build quality is superb, and Cliff Brown has been an absolute pleasure to deal with.

https://i.imgur.com/J9FXNKv.jpg?1

https://i.imgur.com/SFa5ieB.jpg?1

https://i.imgur.com/j6EtsWO.jpg?1

Second is a Dexter combo from Thornton Amps, built by a chap in Yorkshire by the name of Andy Thornton. I was introduced to these amps by DrBob from this forum (very kind of him after I failed to buy his Budda). The Dexter has an extraordinary level of individual attention to detail - as much as possible parts are UK sourced (for instance the Fane speaker is a custom device whose voice coils are made by a lady called Mary!) or designed/made by Andy - he hand casts the control knobs, feet and speaker grille plate from resin.
The Dexter is a 2-channel amp built around EL-84's of about 22 watts, with 2 further channel options whereby the first channel is either cascaded into the second, or they are both run in parallel and give a combined clean/crunch output.
The cabinet on this combo was made from the same rippled ash that I have posted about on the forum before, and has been beautifully made. The slightly blingy blue stain may not be to everyone's appeal, but I like it. 
Soundwise it runs the gamut from sparkly clean to growly Marshally crunch, and once turned up a bit is extraordinarily responsive to guitar volume control and attack. This has been something of an eye-opener for me - a 'Ahaaa, so thats what they mean' moment.

https://i.imgur.com/uzYATda.jpg?1

https://i.imgur.com/BdMzkfP.jpg?2

Close-ups of the fine cabinetry and ergonomic control knobs - the coarse finish is superb

https://i.imgur.com/LFisf9D.jpg?1

https://i.imgur.com/xlGwtEm.jpg?1

https://i.imgur.com/uo4bJbD.jpg?1

A little tweaking of the pre-amp valves was required when I picked the amp up, and much like Cliff, Andy Thornton is profoundly passionate about his amplifiers and 'good tone' in general. Plus he makes an excellent banana loaf

I will, at some point, try and record some sounds, but for anyone near Stirling (or anyone considering a custom amp purchase), you are more than welcome to pop along for a cuppa and a trial of either amp - neither of which you are likely to find in a shop.

Cheers,
Adam

Teyeplayer

Both look fantastic buddy and if they sound even half as sweet as you describe, well you’re a very lucky man indeed. Enjoy!

ecc83

Nice to see Cliff is still turning great stuff out!

If you are looking in, howdy Cliff hope you and yours are well (some trouble at 'old Mill I hear?)

Dave.

Modulus_Amps

Lovely, very nice amps!

Sassafras

And your lucky colour is blue.

p90fool

Lovely stuff!

Schmo

Superb builds, nice covering work too. Greetings from Dundee !

BluesyDave

Both amps look great (and different, in a good way).  Congrats.

Kalimna

Thanks for the the comments
Im slowly playing around with them, and ive found a couple of things. The 633 doesnt take my homemade pedals as well as i thought it might (mucho interference/hiss with stacked OD's - my builds at fault i suspect), deficiencies in my playing (many and deep) highlighted, my LP Custom is a little muddier than i thought. And 22watts is staggeringly loud at close range.

Anyway, blue is certainly a favourite colour. Dont know about lucky tho.
Hello back to Dundee - I used to live in Scott Street years ago in the time of Sound Control!

Adam

Chester

633 Drive King is on my GAS list big time. Enjoy ..

Kalimna

Cheers - you're welcome to try it out if you're near Stirling.

guitarfishbay

They both look great

joeW

Kalimna said:

Cheers - you're welcome to try it out if you're near Stirling.

So ... 3 years on, what's the verdict Adam?  I have had a 633 Groove King for 2 years now and think its superb.  Really do think its a 'lifer' esp as any tweaks can be organised with Cliff.  Had been thinking of looking into a Drive King too, was such a tough call at the time.  Would love to know your thoughts.

Kalimna

Necrobump

In a nutshell, my verdict is that it is still one of the nicest sounding amps I have played through. I have explored the interaction between both volume controls and drive a it more, and it is never going to be a full-on-distorto-fest. However, that is not a criticism. The cleans (especially with the reduced reverb time - a tweak that Cliff performed for me a year or so ago) give a pretty damn good impression of Gilmour on the 'Coming Back to Life' intro.

Drive-wise, I find myself using the second-from-top headroom setting, and about 3/4 on the Drive control. Very rarely do I add pedals to it, but sometimes one of my homemade clones - a Timmy or a Shredmaster - sound rather good.

Mostly I play at home, and the tones remain excellent at late-evening-with-kids-in-bed volumes. The few times it has been in a band situation I have struggled with balancing the clean vs driven sounds - though that is absolutely a reflection on me rather than the amp.

Overall, I don't think it is a super-versatile amp if you are after a myriad of different tones, but what it does do ('thick' cleans and creamy overdrive) it does supremely well. Cliff had originally voiced my amp to work better with humbuckers, but I actually find I *slightly* prefer single coils. I don't know how it would compare to the Groove King, but I suspect there isn't too much difference. It is another piece of equipment far beyond my ability as a player, but that bothers me not a jot. I enjoy owning itm, and I get pleasure from it every time it is switched on,

So much so that my second 633 amp, a customised version of the Custom 45 head (2channels, tremolo) is waiting for me to collect whenever travel allows.

Cliff is another real gent amongst the pantheon of UK builders of musical gear, and I truly think he (and the rest) should be wholesale supported by us guitar enthusiasts.

I also note, from his facebook feed, that he has some kind of overdrive pedal in the works...…

As always, and once restrictions allow, I am more than happy for anyone to have a play through it if they are in the area of Doune in Scotland

Adam

joeW

Kalimna said:

Necrobump

Yeah - bumped from when Snickers were Marathon bars!  Really appreciate the info, I still find my Groove King to be everything I had hoped.  Hes also doing a 1w amp and the 2 drive pedals ... you gotta support the UK builders, well thats my excuse to justify more 633 gear. 

Kalimna

Ok, the bugger never mentioned about a 1W amp! Damnit. Im not sure i could justify a 3rd 633! Im not sure there is anything i would change about my DriveKing - *possibly* more control over the reverb (such as room type, spribg vs plate, tone shaping etc), as i like tweaking things. But really, its not necessary

I knew about a drive pedal from the fb posts, do you know any details?

I wholeheartedly agree about supporting UK builders - whether amps, guitars, kits or fx. There is such a wealth of talent this side of the atlantic.

Adam

joeW

pm'ed