Congratulations on your new amp Great to see such a positive review. Now please turn the gas off Mitch
The SC20H I tried a handful of new production tubes but stuck with the stock tubes they were fine. My 2204 I run the GE preamps the amp came with and my favorite power tubes with this amp being Groove Tube EL34M.
Happy NAD Michael . I just purchased one of these last night , could not help myself. I might be hittin you up with some questions when it gets here.
Probably sound a lot like your 2204,.... @pedecamp has a 2204 and had a Jcm800Studio for a while and he said they're very similar, (I'm paraphrasing here). I love mine, it's the sound I've had in my head for quite a while now. To me it has those classic vintage Marshall tones, great sizzling Marshall goodness that is warm and rich sounding. Not much headroom though, but it does have some nice cleanish tones with a bit of hair on them. I play mine thru a 12 Creamback and it sounds phenomenal! This is my main home rig now. I'm a play at home musician now, my gigging days are long over.
Hey scozz, that's highly unlikely . The 2204 I have was built point to point with some extra stuff added in. That thing is a beast! Built by a MF member. I still have high hopes for the SC though and think it will deliver. I've got a 2061 clone with alnico creams all broken in and waiting.
HNAD! I guess the experience with the SC getting muddy above a certain gain knob position is as one would expect. Why? The SC most likely has a bright or treble bleeder capacitor across the gain pot (the SJ too), at least the big ones do (2204, 2203, 2555, a.s.o.). The effect of this cap is most present on lower knob positions: for lower knob positions treble and middle content is "passed through" to the next stage, or one could also say: the cap bypasses the pot for higher and middle frequencies. The point in the spectrum, where this effect sets in, depends on the cap and pot value, the knob position, and of course the surroundig circuit. Dialing the pot further clockwise will "blend in" lower frequencies, thus making the sound more bassy or duller. Depending on the guitar, or better: pickup being used, and depending on the preamp circuit (considering that many amplifiers have a bright/treble bleeder cap) this effect can be very strong - or not.
Well that certainly makes sense. I would guess that many of the amp modders have played around with that part of the circuit. Is this what they call the "bright cap" mod?
I can't say if there is the typical bright cap mod. I'd say many times a bright cap mod would be just clipping off the cap because many amps are said to be too bright or too thin sounding. Leaving the bright cap out of the circuit would simply negate what I said above, how the bright cap works. Maybe many amp modders play with that part of the circuit. But most likely they will also touch other parts, because most often it is the sum of it all.
Wow! I didn't notice the Studio Series have 2 EL34... Probably the reazon it's louder than other 20W amps... And a stupid question here: Considering 2 EL34 can give much more power than 20W, should I be worried about the tubes are not working in their greatest power (=sweetest spot?)... I mean, would it interfere in the tone quality?
