Driftwood Mini Nightmare Any Info?

[Elric]

Searching for an amp for home studio but is also capable for playing out here and there.

This thing looks pretty amazing. Love the size, look, features are awesome (IR loader option, etc). I’ve only heard a couple of clips, but I like what I hear...

Anyone have any pointers to more info or better yet, experienced this beast? I am looking at getting KT77s in it, I have only owned 6L6 amps for big bottle amps...

Wanting Modern Metal type sounds down to ‘80s metal’ (i.e. Priest, Scorpions, etc) and then the pristine clean thing. I don’t care much about edge of break up sounds, blues tones all that. Basically just an inspiring crystal is clean, crunch, and rip your face off.

Looked at Mezzabarba skill 30, Revv 7-40, 5150 III 50S, Badlander 50, TC50.

 

[DeathByButterslax]

Besides those amps listed have you considered the Victory Kraken? I have played all the amps you’ve listed above, except the Mezzabarba, and none of them really do that 80s Marshall thing very well. The Driftwood is a little underwhelming at its price point, it’s very polished

 

[Kyle Jordan]

@BadSeed just mentioned he's trying to nab one for his YouTube channel. Keep an eye out for that demo. He's doing good stuff. Wish I could be more help here.

 

[Elric]

Thanks guys... I definitely appreciate all input. The Super Kraken, I have considered.... Maybe I should look at a few more demos. I know the one channel is supposed to be JCM900 like and the higher gain is 5150 like. It is nice and compact, too in the form factor.

For the Driftwood I listened to the John Browne Demo on YT and dug the Mini more than the big one. I also thought the Ola demo was pretty killer of the Purple Nightmare and they should be similar. The Lasse Lamert YT vid sounded good. Although, wish he had gone more in depth with it.

 

[Emperoff]

Thanks guys... I definitely appreciate all input. The Super Kraken, I have considered.... Maybe I should look at a few more demos. I know the one channel is supposed to be JCM900 like and the higher gain is 5150 like. It is nice and compact, too in the form factor.

For the Driftwood I listened to the John Browne Demo on YT and dug the Mini more than the big one. I also thought the Ola demo was pretty killer of the Purple Nightmare and they should be similar. The Lasse Lamert YT vid sounded good. Although, wish he had gone more in depth with it.

I haven't heard anything even remotely close to a british crunch from any Driftwood Nightmare demo. If it can do it, I haven't seen anyone do it yet.

 

[seekfreed]

So I own a Driftwood MiniNightmare with 6L6 tubes and let me tell you, this little monster is best amp I've ever played.
I have the older version without the IR loader but the rest of the features are incredible: built in TS, record out, speaker sim, noise gate, different gain characteristics etc...

Soundwise the amp is actually very versatile. The clean channel is surprisingly usable (for a "metal amp") and very clean, maybe a bit sterile at times but that can be helped with some reverb. I don't really play with crunch, but when I boost the clean channel with the TS and play my strat through this amp I feel like SRV (minus the chops ofc).
But where it really shines though is the high gain stuff. It amazes me how tight and clear sounding the distortion is. Chugging on lower notes feels incredibly tight without any flubbiness and complex chords sound very even without one frequency dominating.
You can overdo it though. When you push the amp too hard it sounds kinda fizzy, but the remedy for that is turning down the gain knob a bit.
For the 80s sound you can switch to the lower gain mode and it should work as well.

All in all I can only recommend this amp. Amazing list of features and a sound that blows me away!
If you consider ordering it directly from Marek (the guy who designes and builts em) you can always mail or call him and talk about your wishes. Be it the tolex/front wood you want to pick or which tubes will be the best match for your ideas, he will help you out.

Go for it mate!

 

[Elric]

Thanks @seekfreed I have spoken with Marek online and he is very helpful.

Seems like a lot of owners have talked about how the amp can actually do a lot even though it gets a lot of billing on YT, etc, as a metal amp. That happens though.

Been watching a lot of demos of the Purple nightmare which is basically the same amp but 100W, too. I like the flexibility of the low/high mode + T/S being switchable, a few of the other amps I have looked at were three channels, etc.

I am not looking at this as a mini amp at all... Only in footprint (at 45-60W depending on tubes choices, etc, better not). Will be running it properly attenuated if I am doing low volume. I've only been looking at big bottle tube amps, no EL-84s or 6v6s.

 

[shredmonster76]

I own the Mini Nightmare. Mine doesn't have the sizzle switch or noise gate. It's a great amp, but since I got the evh stealth 50w, I haven't used it. It can do pretty much any metal tone you want just using the in built TS circuit. Kyle is going to demo one soon with the sizzle switch and I'm curious to see how that sounds. I will sell it, if you are interested, hit me up.

 

[tstern66]

Evh. I had a Driftwood.

 

[shredmonster76]

So I just plugged back into this the other day, after having played nothing but the evh stealth for months, and its actually pretty badass. I threw my Eiris effects savage od 3 in front and was pleasantly surprised. It sounds quite a bit different to the evh, it has a darker tone with less fizz/saturation, but it has a huge bottom end and boosted its very tight. I might even say the bottom is bigger than the evh. I found myself running the gain up much higher, around 2-3 o'clock and likewise for treble and presence. It has a nice growl and feels great for chugging, very tight and percussive, but not metallic and harsh. For reference, all my guitars have fishman moderns and I play threw a mesa 4x12 v30 cab. My 6 string in C standard loves this amp, the 7 string in Eb or D standard isn't quite as good. Just thought I would put out some more info on this amp as no too many people seem to have them.