NAD Cornford MK50 II (now with pics, and question!)

firks91

hey guys, so yeah i ended up buying that mk50 that was on ebay (for those who i was talking to) 

clean sounds very nice so far, and im undecided about the overdrive seeing as i'll should really crank it before i judge! overall definitely better than the victorys, although the earl was easy to get a nice tone out of at low volumes. 

A few not so special pictures:

http://s1317.photobucket.com/user/Nathan_Firkins/library/Cornford MK50 MKII?sort=3&page=1

i have a question about power tubes for the relevent guys:

how would you compare clean and o/d tones from el34 and 6l6's in the mk50 ii?

i have a feeling i may prefer the o/d tones with el34's but i dont want to sacrifice clean headroom or the clean tone really!

cheers

GIJoe

Pictures!

firks91

all in good time! (tomorrow)

GIJoe

Accidental wisdom (I'm on my phone!)

EdGrip

I always thought I might get on with one of these. 

Cacofonix

Good GAS.

Lovely amps.  It would be my first port of call for a 50w amp.

chillidoggy

As Cacofonix says. Well done on that!

firks91

cheers guys, yeah I'm looking forward to seeing how it sounds at tonights gig. I'm sure i will realise just how bad my playing is too haha. 

pictures shall be up later!

firks91

id love some feedback on my question if anyone can chime in ^^

gigged it last night. overall very pleased, cleans are lovely with plenty of bass as well has high's. good definition, you can hear every note very well.  overdrive sounds great, although it is a tad fizzy fro my tastes with the overdrive kicked in. this is one reason why i initially suspected i may like el34's in it. 

the only downside to the amp so far is that its an unforgiving beast! i think it takes enjoyment in pointing out when you make a mistake haha. im also wondering if el34's or maybe a different tube in v1 may help that?

Cacofonix

firks91 said:

the only downside to the amp so far is that its an unforgiving beast! i think it takes enjoyment in pointing out when you make a mistake haha. im also wondering if el34's or maybe a different tube in v1 may help that?

My mate had a cheapo hi fi system.  "Sensoria" by Cabaret Voltaire sounded amazing on it.  It sounded crap on my separates system. (I would actually like to find his system because I loved the song when he played it).

The better the reproduction, the better you have to be.  It is good, because it makes you up your game.

If you don't like it, of course, I'll deal with disposal to the local tip for you.  Just cover postage to me, and I'll do the rest....  If I'm feeling generous I might even let you off the postage.

firks91

thats true! it just make me feel like crap when i hear how sloppy my technique is haha. 

haha well thats very kind of of you, i will keep it in mind  

Cacofonix

firks91 said:

thats true! it just make me feel like crap when i hear how sloppy my technique is haha. 

haha well thats very kind of of you, i will keep it in mind  

Don't worry. 

1.  Your technique will improve now you are benchmarking it properly.
2.  You will make up for any problems with great tone.
3.  You always think your technique is worse than it is.  You notice your mistakes more than anyone else does.
4.  You feel better because you're playing through the best equipment money can buy.
5.  You will be encouraged to play to keep hearing the toanz.

So you're better off overall.

firks91

you make a compelling list  

cheers. looking foward to gigging it again tonight!

dunstanmus

It was designed with 6L6's. I had a friend who tried EL34's then swapped back. With 6L6 amps you just don't get power tube break up and it is designed with a good pre-amp circuit. Will you get it loud enough to cook the EL34's? I would keep it as it is. 

I had an early MK50 and it was good sounding with the stock tubes. 

Cheers Rich

CHrisP86

Congrats on the purchase! I was exactly like you when I first got my MK50, thought I'd forgotten how to play it sounded so bad. It does pass quite quickly and definitely improved my technique as I got used to it.

leerocker

The best sounding mk50ii i had was one i bought from karltone of this parish and from what i recall it had jj el34s in and jj pres and a golden dragon tube in v1 and it sounded absolutely lovely, Im normally a 6l6 guy but i thought it was great with 34s

firks91

dunstanmus said:

It was designed with 6L6's. I had a friend who tried EL34's then swapped back. With 6L6 amps you just don't get power tube break up and it is designed with a good pre-amp circuit. Will you get it loud enough to cook the EL34's? I would keep it as it is. 

I had an early MK50 and it was good sounding with the stock tubes. 

Cheers Rich

thats a fair point. it does sound great and i could easily live with it. yeah it should get loud enough

firks91

CHrisP86 said:

Congrats on the purchase! I was exactly like you when I first got my MK50, thought I'd forgotten how to play it sounded so bad. It does pass quite quickly and definitely improved my technique as I got used to it.

cheers yeah i think it improved yesterday actually haha. i was certainly a bit more pleased with my playing anyway

firks91

leerocker said:

The best sounding mk50ii i had was one i bought from karltone of this parish and from what i recall it had jj el34s in and jj pres and a golden dragon tube in v1 and it sounded absolutely lovely, Im normally a 6l6 guy but i thought it was great with 34s

hmm interesting, didnt you notice a loss of clean headroom? to be fair, as of last night id say im very happy with the crunch. overdrive is good too but im just wondering if it can be even better seeing as that i tend to prefer el34 for overdrives these days

KickTheHabit

As a man who plays plenty of gigs each year with one of these bad boys the key IMHO is keeping an eye on the treble content as the 6L6's definitely accentuate them. Bit more mid perhaps? It's an unforgiving amp technique wise as it constantly reminds me every weekend! I'm gonna give el34's a whirl soon so will feedback once I've tried the switch :-) If the settings on your pics are real world a bit less presence might help with a bit more resonance and bass? I use the cornford cabs and I find v30's very bright also..

firks91

KickTheHabit said:

As a man who plays plenty of gigs each year with one of these bad boys the key IMHO is keeping an eye on the treble content as the 6L6's definitely accentuate them. Bit more mid perhaps? It's an unforgiving amp technique wise as it constantly reminds me every weekend! I'm gonna give el34's a whirl soon so will feedback once I've tried the switch :-) If the settings on your pics are real world a bit less presence might help with a bit more resonance and bass? I use the cornford cabs and I find v30's very bright also..

they were pretty much my settings last night. it was a horrible sound in that place, very boomy so i had to try and compensate. i do like mids but more like the searing mids you get with the rk100 (another reason i wondered about el34's).  so far theyve been a bit of a chunky honk, but that may well be the boomy bass of the venues and the mids of the mahogany guitars. 

i shall have to continue with experimentation at todays gig!

yeah let me know what you think of the el34's