NAD: Last of it's name?

[sandalhat]

It was a very merry Christmas this year! Although it wasn't a Christmas present, the amp I've been waiting for since July finally arrived on Christmas Eve:

A Box!

A smaller box inside the box:

What's this peeking through:

Thanks Santa!

Wow! What an amp! It's all those positive things that people usually explain about high gain amps, but somehow it embodies those attributes more than I have come to expect based on what I've tried so far. Very tight, clear, articulate, etc. The controls do exactly what they're supposed to and nothing else. I haven't had nearly enough time to play this with everything else that's been going on, but so far I'm head over heels.

I took a stab at ReAmping a Feared song off their latest album. Keep in mind I don't know what I'm doing with mixing and I'm trying to learn, so I didn't use the stems for the other parts, I used all raw tracks. I reamped all guitars and used no post effects at all on rhythm guitars and just a little bit of reverb on the guitar solo. I also don't usually play stuff this aggressive, so I probably made it sound a little smoother than people who usually play this stuff would have. I basically borrowed Keith Merrow's settings off a video he did with a Gemini and tweaked from there.

[SC]https://soundcloud.com/sandalhat9/feared-hate-is-everything-1[/SC]

[SC]https://soundcloud.com/sandalhat9/feared-hate-is-everything[/SC]

 

[FretsOnFyre]

That sounds MONSTROUS. I've always loved smoother tones, so this is right up my alley. What cab and mic were you using?

HNAD, that is absolutely sick.

 

[protest]

Awesome! HNAD dude.

I got my Colossus on the 23rd and it wasn't a Christmas present either. I'm just lucky enough to have a wife that will let me make an expensive purchase a week before Christmas lol.

 

[Hachetjoel]

Happy New amp day! it does sound really good, would love more clips.

 

[Endnote]

Excellent choice sandalhat! Reamp demos sound great. Curious what other gear you used for the recording (mic, cab, od pedal?)

 

[sandalhat]

Thanks guys! I'm really loving this amp. I was doing some experimenting with different combinations when recording, and I actually did more combinations than I used so I'm not 100% sure which combos I went with. There are 4 rhythm guitar parts and I made them all slightly different. Speakers are all either V30 or Greenback. Mics are SM57 and M160 because I like that combo, although all tracks are either SM57 only or a blend of the two - never just m160. Channels used were cyan or purple modes which I think are considered the less modern rhythm and lead modes respectively, though I could be wrong. Fat modes were on but I don't remember which setting. Voice modes off and bright switch on. Honestly not 100% sure that amp settings are correct for all 4 tracks since i did it over a few days and did multiples. I used a TS808 for one track, EQ pedal as a boost for one, and a Rothwell Love Squeeze compressor at about unity gain that also rolls off the highs a bit to make it smoother for the other two, I think. Basically just playing around.

And I just noticed my dumb grammar mistake in the thread title - le sigh. Oh and I forgot to mention the point of the thread title is that this is one of Kyle's last amps with a Rhodes logo rather than the new KSR branding.

 

[Warg Master]

hnad! Looks and sounds great! Enjoy it!

 

[Ænima]

HNAD bro!!! enjoy that beast, im getting one soon aswell, but im not sure if it will say Rhodes or KRS? :<

 

[beavis2306]

HNAD. I'm jealous as. I'm waiting on one to get built as well. Does the shared eq work for the lead and crunch channels? I agonised over whether to get a collossus or the gemini because of the appeal of completely independant channels so would be nice to hear some first hand experience.

 

[Lifestalker]

As soon as I saw the packaging, I knew it was a Rhodes/KSR.

 

[Noxon]

HNAD! That is a beast.

 

[sandalhat]

Thanks for the positive comments guys! I've been slow to respond because I came down with the flu and have been doing pretty much nothing but sleeping recently. As I told my wife this morning about last night (because I've been reading Game of Thrones recently) "the night was long and full of terrors."

As for future amps from Kyle having Rhodes branding or KSR, I do know that I got the last or one of the last lit metal panels that says Rhodes, but since I was set on the metal panel, I never asked how many acrylic or non-lit panels he still had that has the old branding.

To answer beavis, I actually wanted this amp primarily for recording and home use, so I don't plan on gigging it. So for me, it was easy to decide to go for this over the Colossus just because it basically captures all sounds of the colossus including the woods mod without paying as much. After playing with it somewhat though, I really think the versatility available at the step of a MIDI preset of this amp is incredible. The Fat, Voice, and Bright settings basically mod the lows, mids, and highs respectively, and gain 2 only affects the lead modes, so having the same eq settings across all 4 modes of the lead channel is not restrictive. In other words, you could have a low gain 1 setting for a crunchier rhythm tone, and have it scooped a little with the voice setting to "off" and have lead tones with gain 2 turned up and voice set to either 1 or 2 to have a significant gain and mid boost when going to a lead mode. The only thing I'm not sure of is if the Colossus has a lower gain channel than the lowest gain mode of the Gemini, because it seems to me even the first mode of the Gemini's lead channel has quite a bit of gain.

I'll try to get more clips up soon, as soon as I feel better I'll be either doing some recording or more reamping.

 

[beavis2306]

As for To answer beavis, I actually wanted this amp primarily for recording and home use, so I don't plan on gigging it. So for me, it was easy to decide to go for this over the Colossus just because it basically captures all sounds of the colossus including the woods mod without paying as much. After playing with it somewhat though, I really think the versatility available at the step of a MIDI preset of this amp is incredible. The Fat, Voice, and Bright settings basically mod the lows, mids, and highs respectively, and gain 2 only affects the lead modes, so having the same eq settings across all 4 modes of the lead channel is not restrictive. In other words, you could have a low gain 1 setting for a crunchier rhythm tone, and have it scooped a little with the voice setting to "off" and have lead tones with gain 2 turned up and voice set to either 1 or 2 to have a significant gain and mid boost when going to a lead mode. The only thing I'm not sure of is if the Colossus has a lower gain channel than the lowest gain mode of the Gemini, because it seems to me even the first mode of the Gemini's lead channel has quite a bit of gain.

I'll try to get more clips up soon, as soon as I feel better I'll be either doing some recording or more reamping.

Thaks man, very informative.

 

[Lifestalker]

Thanks for the positive comments guys! I've been slow to respond because I came down with the flu and have been doing pretty much nothing but sleeping recently. As I told my wife this morning about last night (because I've been reading Game of Thrones recently) "the night was long and full of terrors."

As for future amps from Kyle having Rhodes branding or KSR, I do know that I got the last or one of the last lit metal panels that says Rhodes, but since I was set on the metal panel, I never asked how many acrylic or non-lit panels he still had that has the old branding.

To answer beavis, I actually wanted this amp primarily for recording and home use, so I don't plan on gigging it. So for me, it was easy to decide to go for this over the Colossus just because it basically captures all sounds of the colossus including the woods mod without paying as much. After playing with it somewhat though, I really think the versatility available at the step of a MIDI preset of this amp is incredible. The Fat, Voice, and Bright settings basically mod the lows, mids, and highs respectively, and gain 2 only affects the lead modes, so having the same eq settings across all 4 modes of the lead channel is not restrictive. In other words, you could have a low gain 1 setting for a crunchier rhythm tone, and have it scooped a little with the voice setting to "off" and have lead tones with gain 2 turned up and voice set to either 1 or 2 to have a significant gain and mid boost when going to a lead mode. The only thing I'm not sure of is if the Colossus has a lower gain channel than the lowest gain mode of the Gemini, because it seems to me even the first mode of the Gemini's lead channel has quite a bit of gain.

I'll try to get more clips up soon, as soon as I feel better I'll be either doing some recording or more reamping.

The Yellow (Crunch) channel on the Colossus is the lower gain option. However, it has a Mode switch (Red) for added gain. I wanted a Gemini initially, but I'm super happy I upgraded to the Colossus.

 

[protest]

The versatility on demand in these amps is incredible. I've never seen anything like it. I use an OD pedal with the Colossus on the Lead 1/2 (mode off) and it gives me a tighter and brighter alternate rhythm and lead. You can go from a 90's rock sound to all the way through to gained out doom/stoner metal with a tap of the foot, and no eq changes.

 

[sandalhat]

Here's a new clip of a reamp I did using Jaymz' kindly offered Opeth - Deliverance DI pack from ultimate metal forum. I can't get it to where I'm quite happy with it yet, but here it is at the moment: [SC]https://soundcloud.com/sandalhat9/deliverance-intro-reamp-2[/SC]

As for the Colossus vs. Gemini thing, I'm happy I went with the Gemini as it gives 2 new lead modes that include another gain stage that's controllable using the gain 2 knob. I was playing with it again tonight. I tested the idea that Ryan Bruce mentioned in a video where he said he thought the gain 2 knob sounded like you were using a boost. I basically dialed in a boosted tone using the lead mode 2, then turned the boost off and switched to mode 3 and tried to dial in a similar tone using the gain 1 and 2 knobs and honestly I got pretty close, so I do see where he was coming from.

 

[sandalhat]

I wanted to update this for clarity's sake if anyone is looking into the Gemini and comes here for information. In my previous post where I mentioned I felt there wasn't really a lower gain mode, I actually just missed how to activate it initially. I missed the fact that if you switch to the lead channel, then flip that same lead channel toggle again, you'll go into a crunch version of the lead channel that has two modes. So basically as far as the lead channel goes, there are two crunch modes and four lead modes. All of them have many permutations of fat, voice, and bright settings as is detailed on the website, although the crunch modes have less options for fat if I recall correctly. This amp is really over the top awesome and I'm so glad I took the plunge and ordered one!

 

[beavis2306]

Is the crunch channel any good? I remember reading somewhere that it wasn't particularly useful for whatever reason.

 

[sandalhat]

Is the crunch channel any good? I remember reading somewhere that it wasn't particularly useful for whatever reason.

I like it quite a bit but I can see how someone might say that for two reasons. First, this amp is overall a modern amp and generally very tight. You can add a little looseness with switches and settings, but I can see that being a shortcoming or at least a different crunch sound that one might expect. Second, when you do alter those settings in particular (not switchable things like fat, mode, etc since those are all MIDI switchable so a non-issue for live use) to get a really great crunch sound, it may not work well with your higher gain sounds. At least for me the amp seems to want a darker crunch sound although that's certainly not a limitation, just where my ears want to take it. To get that I end up boosting the bass and bottom (a.k.a. resonance) more than I would for the higher gain sounds and those are shared controls. Kyle really did an amazing job compacting all these features into two channels and compensating with the different switching options, especially the gain 1 and 2 knobs make it super versatile. However, I think the crunch may be personally the only sound that might require a compromise if trying to set it all up for instant access, but again that is mostly driven by my ears taking the crunch to a darker place than the lead channel modes.

I should probably qualify this by saying to answer your question I had to be pretty critical of the crunch modes. I really don't think I would even consider it a compromise in a live setting, where at least to my ears those minor adjustments make nearly no difference. Most of my experience is going to be in a studio type setting where I have pretty much complete control of the sound.

One thing I really love about the crunch channel is to use the approach that many 5150 users take, which is to boost the crunch mode of the clean channel. Doing just that with both crunch modes of the Gemini has produced great results so far! I also really love that I can get something much like the Mesa Mark I lead tone on the crunch channel (although again probably not instantly recallable with the settings I used vs. any normal high gain sound).

 

[beavis2306]

Thanks again for the detailed response, much appreciated.