NAD an ALMOST dream amp

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peterherman
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NAD an ALMOST dream amp

Post by peterherman » Sat Aug 28, 2021 12:28 pm

I came to realize that I was never, unless I suddenly got a lot better at soldering and electrical engineering, going to get a 5F10 narrow panel Harvard. Originals are $4k+. Few reproductions exist, although there are more and more “inspired by”s out there now (Louis HD10, Victoria Ivy League, Carr something-or-other) which are all usually $1500+.

And then…

Someone not too far away was selling a Goodsell one-off 5F11 a/k/a narrow panel Vibrolux a/k/a 5F10 with bias-modulating tremolo. Except this has a 12” speaker. And a solid pine cab.

And it was $800.
And I’d just sold nearly $800 worth of pedals.
AND it’s wired for 16ohms of load, same as my AC10 and, as one might presume, Torpedo Captor X.

And, well…cross that one off the list! Close enough to the dream to count it.

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marqueemoon
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Re: NAD an ALMOST dream amp

Post by marqueemoon » Sat Aug 28, 2021 1:46 pm

That looks great.

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Embenny
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Re: NAD an ALMOST dream amp

Post by Embenny » Sat Aug 28, 2021 2:29 pm

Congrats. Very cool. I've always wanted to try a Harvard but have never had the opportunity.
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Re: NAD an ALMOST dream amp

Post by wproffitt » Sat Aug 28, 2021 6:51 pm

Congratulations! I don’t doubt that it sounds fabulous! The tweed Vibrolux is a REALLY nice sounding amp. I hope you’re playing the heck out of it. Any chance of gut shots?

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Re: NAD an ALMOST dream amp

Post by wproffitt » Sat Aug 28, 2021 6:52 pm

Also, what do the controls look like? Does it have three inputs like the originals? Or some other layout?
Are you looking to cop some Steve Cropper tones or are you going for something else altogether?

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peterherman
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Re: NAD an ALMOST dream amp

Post by peterherman » Sun Aug 29, 2021 5:17 am

wproffitt wrote:
Sat Aug 28, 2021 6:52 pm
Also, what do the controls look like? Does it have three inputs like the originals? Or some other layout?
Are you looking to cop some Steve Cropper tones or are you going for something else altogether?
Standard controls: Volume, Tone, Speed, Depth.

3 inputs that are astonishingly different! Input 1 is muddy in the 1950s kind of way. 2 is probably the best for headroom, and 3 is quite hot. Too much really with my P90 LP Special Tribute, but OK with my Ric 330.

I love Cropper’s tone, but have 0 Teles right now (also do NOT have his hands!). The tremolo on this amp is :? :? :?

So far I’ve found it doesn’t particularly care for my MKIII Tonebender (Keeley Tesla), but is fine with a Hot Cake. Reverbs (Old Blood Minim, Neunaber Wet, Walrus SLO) are lovely. The seller had dug up Rich Goodsell’s Facebook post about the amp that had some gut shots: https://www.facebook.com/richard.goods ... 9580244102

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Re: NAD an ALMOST dream amp

Post by wproffitt » Sun Aug 29, 2021 6:29 am

That’s a really nice build! Looks like Goodsell was using some premium components, too. Have you tried jumpering any of the inputs? I’ve done this one my tweed Tremolux and it yields even more tonal options, but have no idea what effect, if any, it would have in a three input setup.

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peterherman
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Re: NAD an ALMOST dream amp

Post by peterherman » Sun Aug 29, 2021 8:41 am

I haven’t tried jumpering here, but I have done on other 4-input amps. Yeah, I don’t know what it would do here, since there’s only one set of controls. One way to find out, of course…

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Re: NAD an ALMOST dream amp

Post by hexes » Tue Aug 31, 2021 4:41 pm

heck yeah, congrats! i’m building a 5f10 right now. people got hip to them the past couple years. i really like the bias modulated tremolo in these and the brown amps. my 6g2 clone’s tremolo is rather lovely (and the younger sibling to your 5f11)

that being said, a 5f10 amp is a very simple amp to build, should you decide to try your hand.

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Re: NAD an ALMOST dream amp

Post by peterherman » Thu Sep 02, 2021 5:40 am

hexes wrote:
Tue Aug 31, 2021 4:41 pm
heck yeah, congrats! i’m building a 5f10 right now. people got hip to them the past couple years. i really like the bias modulated tremolo in these and the brown amps. my 6g2 clone’s tremolo is rather lovely (and the younger sibling to your 5f11)

that being said, a 5f10 amp is a very simple amp to build, should you decide to try your hand.
Maybe one day. I'm only OK at soldering at my best. I've made a couple of pedals over the years, but those don't have a habit of storing lethal voltages.

I fell in love with the bias-mod tremolo on a 6G11 I used to play through. I had that modded out to be an absolute BEAST of a clean amp: Weber ceramic California speaker and KT66s at the output stage.

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Re: NAD an ALMOST dream amp

Post by infiniteposse » Sat Sep 04, 2021 2:26 am

I've got the Victoria Ivy League and it's a great amp. I think this circuit is pretty perfect for almost anything. I love it with a pedalboard, I love it with a guitar plugged straight in, I love it quiet and I love it loud.

Congrats!
Lee

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