NAD Something a little special

MattG

Just a little teaser as i have new amp coming in tomorrow and i'm feeling pretty amped

its got reverb,

its got tremolo,

its the polar opposite of the Orange i just sold,

and its a damn site louder than it has any right to be!

just a lil pic that doesn't give too much away...

http://i1370.photobucket.com/albums/ag280/That_Mohawk_Guy/ScreenShot2014-07-31at231653_zps1871be06.png

Oh and its made in the good ol' US of A, can you guess what it is yet?

Also to the couple who do know don't pipe in just yet please

Well you guessed it, it's a sSwart AST2 head and matching cab.

There is a long review in the comments

capo4th

I like a bit of tweed is it an adidas ?

Dave_Mc

6505

Bidley

Peavey Bandit.

ThePrettyDamned

Peavey delta blues?

monkey42

Swart

gubble

Burberry 10 watt solid state special edition?

MattG

Dave_Mc said:

6505

It would be worth it just to see the look on people faces when i fired it up!

especially if i debadged it...

CHRISB50

monkey42;308961" said:

Swart

+1

BluesyDave

Defo Swart......Lovely amps. Possibly an AST Head?

MattG

ah you ruined my fun

yep its a swart AST2 and matching cab

im counting the hours until i can go pick it up

RaymondLin

Very nice !

 

Is it the one from Peach Guitars?

MattG

RaymondLin said:

Very nice !

 

Is it the one from Peach Guitars?

indeed it is and it is absolutely stunning!

BluesyDave

Lucky Boy.....we shall look forward to a full review with video

MattG

BluesyDave said:

Lucky Boy.....we shall look forward to a full review with video

If you had heard my playing you wouldn't be looking forward to a video  

Dave_Mc

MattG said:

Dave_Mc said:

6505

It would be worth it just to see the look on people faces when i fired it up!

especially if i debadged it...

LOL yeah that'd be awesome

EDIT: oooh nice a swart

MattG

Dave_Mc said:

MattG said:

Dave_Mc said:

6505

It would be worth it just to see the look on people faces when i fired it up!

especially if i debadged it...

LOL yeah that'd be awesome

EDIT: oooh nice a swart

I suppose the other thing to do would be to buy a swart head cab and put a jet city amp in it, now that would freak out the bluesers!

and tenner says total guitar would give it 5* because of the badge on it xD

Wazmeister

MattG said:

RaymondLin said:

Very nice !

 

Is it the one from Peach Guitars?

indeed it is and it is absolutely stunning!

Matt, 

I was at Peach the other day and saw your Swart - it looked stonking !

Enjoy and report back on the sounds...

Waz

MattG

Oh my god, i remembered that it sounded good but it always just leaves me speechless.

I was using a '96 MIM tele loaded irongear gear steel twins with 4way switching and upgraded electrics.

I set everything to 12 oclock and was presented with a lovely chimey clean with an incredibly tight bottom end that was masked in the slightest amount of gritty overdrive I was instantly throwing into superstition and sir duke, with the tremolo on i couldnt help but play scooby snacks by the fun loving criminals.

By digging in abit with the pick i had full on clapton tones perfect for sunshine of your love and again by engaging the tremolo (maximum depth now) and thrashing the strings like i hated them I was rewarded with just the perfect sound for the Smiths how soon is now.

By backing of the volume on the guitar most of the overdrive disappeared and i was left with a crystal clear shimmering clean tone with massive amounts a bright top end and it retained that fantastic low end and just by varying the pick attack I had access to every clean i could ever want from RHCP funky sound to brighter than bright Brian Setzer style rockabilly.

now I got curious and up the volume went all the way to 11! (no seriously the volume control does go up to 11)

And there it was Clapton Layla- The Animals Wild Thing and the kinks all day and all of the night as well as every Kings of Leon song ever written, it sounds fantastic and huge!

While maintaing its clarity and low end the Swart throws itself into all out rock overdrive as found on countless records, but somehow there was just more of everything abit more clarity and low end still and even more growl than any self respecting tweed should have it sounds vicious perfect for punk, blues, brit pop, indie, alt and even classic rock.

The reverb is beautiful and spacious without being too much and I have never liked tremolo but now i hate the idea of switching it off.

All in all the amp with just a guitar and no extra effects will take you from clapton and the stones up to the kings of leon and the red hot chilli peppers with every british indie and mod band in between with enough tweaking its more than capable is ska,reggae,rockabilly and funk tones too (not that i can play them).

Briefly using my board and Framus Streetwalker here are the sorts of sounds I got:

Rotosound RBF1 (Tonebender mk2): straight into classic rock territory perfect for paige tones as on cashmere and whole lotta love.

R.ATTACk RT-2 (Vintage Rat): British alt/Indie and britpop Graham Coxon and the Arctic Monkeys , while briniging in the flange made for some great oasis tones like those on some might say.

Danelectro CCF1 (Peach Frantone) : with the gain down low and the volume up abit more on the amp this gave some real hendrix sounds especially with the vibe pedal going while riding the gain up high on the pedal and keeping the amp clean was great for early sabbath tones.

Monkey FX Valvesporker vs 1.6 : I have found that my favourite position on the amp are having the volume at around 4.5 and the tone at 6, I use this to push the amp and add abit more hair to the sound giving me undertones and clapton style sounds but honestly this pedal will push it into anything except metal.

Fulltone OCD V4.1 (18V) : Classic rock and 80s hair rock, this gave great Van Halen (you really got me) and Gary Moore (parisienne walkways) tones while by hitting the front of the OCD with an Angry Troll instantly gave Santanas smooth tone with the neck pickup.

DOD FX65 Flashback Fuzz : just dirty filthy fuzzy nastiness so perfect for jack white or Edwyn Collins.

And there thats it congratulations you made it to the end of my poorly written review but in a nutshell:

Beautiful looking lightweight amp.

beautiful cleans and almost cleans with an incredible driven crunch sound and plenty of singing top end and a very tight low end.

Takes pedals beautifully and has the best tremolo and reverb i have ever heard.

10/10 5* or what ever these amps are just something that little bit special and and are louder and more versatile than they have any right to be!

I shall use it in anger this tuesday and report back on that

capo4th

And a bargain too thanks for the review

Bellycaster

Lovely amp, enjoy.