NAD - I'm now playing with a little Statesman

McToot

No, not a reference to an autobiography by any one of a number of Italian callgirls, but my new Hughes & Kettner Statesman.  Its the Dual EL84 model at about 20w and I have been keeping an eye out for one for about 4 years, ever since playing one at GAK. I bagged this second hand one last week (mint condish, but with an issue with the reverb tank) for a very nice price. 

By 'eck it has been worth the wait.  I likes it A LOT.  I'll make a decision after the honeymoon period ends, but I reckon that this will mean shifting my Cornford: it's that good. 

Really nice, warm, shimmery cleans.  Not perhaps quite the 3D glassiness of a Fender HRD, but not a million miles off.  Maybe a touch of the Vox in there too.  It loves Strat types and my P90 loaded SG Classic sounds great through it too.  Haven't tried my LP yet.  It doesn't have a huge amount of clean headroom and a bit of grit starts to come through after about 4.  Wound right up it actually does a really nice light crunch. 

The Drive channel is also very useable too as long as you don't want all out metal (which I don't).  I would hesitate to describe it as Marshall-like, as I have read others doing; I would say that it is more of a Vox-like crunch - quite nasal and distinctive, but really quite useful.  I'm camping out at the M-in-Law's while our house is being mauled by some very expensive hairy-arsed builders so I have not been able to use it with any pedals, but I'm hopeful that the drive channel will be useful as a 'third' option.

So not only is Fritz very good at football, but he makes a mean amp too - the clever bratwurst.  Some pics:

57Deluxe

Oh - so not Hillary Clinton then...?

http://msnbcmedia.msn.com/j/MSNBC/Components/Photo/_new/pb-120118-hillary-jabbar-1120a.photoblog900.jpg

Wazmeister

Very very well kept garden that....

And a gorgeous looking amp !

Dave_Mc

Nice

I thought you were talking about sarko

monquixote

I quite fancy one of them. 

Wish they had the Redbox out like some of the other H&Ks

57Deluxe

...where does the gate lead to?

McToot

57Deluxe said:

...where does the gate lead to?

Can't take any credit for the garden, the mother in law employs a chap to sort that out for her. The gate basically just goes to a stream. It was put there. To stop my kids from plunging to their icy doom...

thomasw88

The statesman is a superb amp. I have two, the 6l6 2x12, and the dual el34 head. Cured my amp obsession buying obsession for the last 6 months.

McToot

thomasw88 said:

The statesman is a superb amp. I have two, the 6l6 2x12, and the dual el34 head. Cured my amp obsession buying obsession for the last 6 months.

I can understand why you'd have a couple of these. Makes me want to play all the time, to the extent it's rather winding the wife and kids up. Shame they are discontinued to be honest. The only downside that I can see at the moment is that it's a bit heavy on the bass, which is fine at living room levels, but might be a bit of an issue at louder volumes. The bass control doesn't do a huge amount...

Fortheloveofguitar

I always played with the presence knob nearly all the way down. Sounded superb like that.

Too fizzy with it up.

Cracking amps.

Adji

I gigged a Statesman Quad EL84 version for a year solid with a part band. Was a fantastic amp, real versatile with a handful of pedals.

The only thing that went on mine was the reverb tank also. Maybe a weakness in the design? But they are easy enough and cheap enough to replace.

McToot

Adji said:

I gigged a Statesman Quad EL84 version for a year solid with a part band. Was a fantastic amp, real versatile with a handful of pedals.

The only thing that went on mine was the reverb tank also. Maybe a weakness in the design? But they are easy enough and cheap enough to replace.

Took the amp to the tech today and he fixed the connection to the reverb tank, which had simply broken. What struck me, though, was how fiddly it is to work on it. About two dozen screws to come out - a real PITA. Surprising, really, you'd have thought the Vorsprung Durch Technik brigade would have been far more cunning.

Adji

McToot said:

Adji said:

I gigged a Statesman Quad EL84 version for a year solid with a part band. Was a fantastic amp, real versatile with a handful of pedals.

The only thing that went on mine was the reverb tank also. Maybe a weakness in the design? But they are easy enough and cheap enough to replace.

Took the amp to the tech today and he fixed the connection to the reverb tank, which had simply broken. What struck me, though, was how fiddly it is to work on it. About two dozen screws to come out - a real PITA. Surprising, really, you'd have thought the Vorsprung Durch Technik brigade would have been far more cunning.

My main amp (and has been for many years) is a H&K Trilogy. Takes about a fortnight to take it apart.

funny you mention the German thing, my car is a VW Golf and that has a million components to it too.

dindude

Really like that, nice gas.

thomasw88

They sit superbly with a band as well.. And the other thing i like about them is the fact that the controls aren't uber sensitive.. Nothing worse Imo than an amp that you can't even look at in case it changes the tone massively.

Agree with the comment about the presence control, I have set off permanently.

Kebabkid

Nice purchase Jules and these are great amps, as is the Statesman range, and I nearly went for the Quad myself a few years back.

It's nice to have an amp that delivers good cleans and a nice overdrive in one package.

Not seen the Charvel before - that's nice too.

Happy NAD

McToot

Kebabkid said:

Nice purchase Jules and these are great amps, as is the Statesman range and I nearly went for the Quad myself a few years back.

It's nice to have an amp that delivers good cleans and a nice overdrive in one package.

Not seen the Charvel before - that's nice too.

Happy NAD

Cheers Cos. The Charvel was originally HH and very dark brown. @Iamf68 of this very forum did a fine nitro over poly finish for me and I lost the neck pup in favours of two Oil City Stone Tones. It's not quite the finished article yet: I think I need to fit a new cap and maybe different pots (everything sounds super bright) and I need to sort the neck out with a nice lacquer. But it's still very nice and looks cooler than a penguin in a Porsche.

StefB

thomasw88 said:

The statesman is a superb amp. I have two, the 6l6 2x12, and the dual el34 head. Cured my amp obsession buying obsession for the last 6 months.

@thomasw88 - do you find a marked difference in tone between the 6L6 and the head?  I've got the 6L6 too and use it as my main gigging amp together with the matching extension cab when needed, and am sorely tempted to hunt down a head also to use with the cab.

I'm worried that the two might sound quite similar though despite the different output valves - what is your experience of this?

thomasw88

They sound slightly different to me, the head has a bit more gain in the dude channel and maybe slightly more vox like on the Clean. But is not a massive difference between them tbh.

McToot

thomasw88 said:

They sound slightly different to me, the head has a bit more gain in the dude channel and maybe slightly more vox like on the Clean. But is not a massive difference between them tbh.

I love it: 'the dude channel'

I gotta get me one of those heads...

Fortheloveofguitar

McToot;311912" said:

thomasw88 said:

They sound slightly different to me, the head has a bit more gain in the dude channel and maybe slightly more vox like on the Clean. But is not a massive difference between them tbh.





I love it: 'the dude channel'I gotta get me one of those heads...

Mine was for sale for ages on here at a bargain price yet nobody wanted it.

Now everyone suddenly wants one. I could have done with this much promo at the time
>:D<