NAD: Ampman Classic (edit: updated with video).

[GuitarBilly]

So I went to Atomic Music and they had a pedal sale, 30% off. Since this is technically a pedal I asked if they would give me the discount. It was originally marked at $250 (it's used) so I got it for $175:





Pretty good sounding little amp, depending on your expectations. Obviously it's not going to replace a 100w head like my DSL or 2203. But for a good sounding portable rig for band practice, fly gigs etc.. yeah it's cool. Unsurprisingly, it sounds very much like a Hughes and Kettner amp. Kind of Marshall-y but darker and smoother.

Compared to the BluGuitar, I think that maybethe BluGuitar sounds slightly better, but again, expectations. The BluGuitar is like $899 new while this is $399.
This is definitely good enough to work as a portable rig, so I may sell the BluGuitar and pocket the difference. I have practice on Thursday and I will give it a try for a few songs. It seems to be loud enough to go against a drummer, but we'll see.

The RedBox out seems cool too and it's easy to get a good DI sound either through the XLR or headphones.

Overall I like it. Cool little rig to have on the side.


Video Demo:

Just going through all the modes and playing whatever:

[greatmutah]

That’s pretty sweet! How’s it sound so far?

[GuitarBilly]

That’s pretty sweet! How’s it sound so far?

I had pressed Enter too quickly so I updated the post with a quick review.

It's cool. Nothing groundbreaking, but definitely decent and gig worthy. Sounds like a legit H&K amp.

[GuitarBilly]

So after playing this for a while, I like it quite a bit. Its definitely loud enough for playing with a drummer.
There are a few features I wish it had:

A separate gain knob for the boost. The boost is a fixed level and it's fine, but having a dedicated knob would be great. As it is, I have to set the regular gain a bit higher than I'd use for rhythm in order for the boost to be right for solos.

I also wish there was a way to tie the Boost and Solo switches together so pressing one would activate both functions.

A remote channel switch jack would be nice to be able to switch channels with a multi-effects with relays like the MS-3 or HXFX.
Or maybe even a MIDI out.

Finally, a digital reverb would be nice to make the unit more of a standalone unit. But the effects loop is very good so that's not a big deal.


But these are all minor things that would've certainly added to the size and cost, so overall I think the unit has a good price/size/features ratio. And I like the fact that it's all analog.


On the plus side, I like the fact that the DI output level is independent of the master volume. This is a main issue I had with the BluGuitar, the DI was controlled by the master and it made it hard to use the DI with a cab at the same time since to give a strong enough signal to the mixer, the volume would be too loud on the cab.

Here the channel volume controls the DI volume and the Master Volume controls the cab volume so you can set them completely independently. And the headphones output has a separate volume control too. So technically you can send 2 DIs and a cab signal with completely different volume levels. Very cool.

I also that there are 8 different cab options for the DI and you can assign a different model for each channel.

Overall I'm happy with this, for what it is.
It's not going to be my main gigging amp ever, but I didn't expect that. But it's a cool thing to take to practice or to travel with.

[GuitarBilly]

Given that this is a highly popular thread overflowing with insightful comments and replies, I will make a video demo of it, because in my experience, actually playing guitar on a guitar forum brings even more insights and comments and doesn't make the thread sink at all.




I will brb.

[greatmutah]

Dude for what it is, it sounds great. Really versatile little unit and a hell of a flyrig if needed. Obviously other units are more featured but also more expensive. It sounds great though and seems workable with pedals and effects too. Can’t beat it for the price.

[Dave]

Dude that sounds surprisingly good!

[GuitarBilly]

Yeah it's pretty cool for what it is. Definitely a solid backup/fly rig.

I will try it at band practice tomorrow and see how it fares in a band mix.

[Dave]

Wait, this is a powered 50 watt pedal rig?? dude... that's a steal for that price.

[VTM]

Liked and commented on youtube.

[GuitarBilly]

Wait, this is a powered 50 watt pedal rig?? dude... that's a steal for that price.

Yeah the Ampman is an actual 50w amp with 2 channels, loop etc.
It's pretty cool. It really doesn't hold a candle against my Marshalls, but that's to be expected.
But we're doing shows in CA and LV this summer and it will be the ideal rig to take with me and use it with whatever backline cab they have.
It's also great for when I'm practicing at my drummers house... that kind of stuff. Just a cool grab and go rig.

[GuitarBilly]

Liked and commented on youtube.

Thanks man!!

[GuitarBilly]

so I took this to practice today. It performed really well. I am actually surprised, it exceeded my expectations.

It's certainly loud enough. My Marshall 1960 cab has both 4ohm and 16ohms outputs. As we all know SS amps wattage will vary with impedance, the lower the impedance the higher the wattage. At 4ohms ( the full 50watts), I didn't have to get past 12 o'clock on the Master and channel volumes to get my stage volume, which is pretty loud. I had no issues getting this to sound and thump like a proper half stack.

At 16ohms, the amp is only pushing 12.5w and it's still loud enough. I don't know how H&K rates their power amps but this is way louder than I expected. I did have to max out the channel volume (master still at 12 o'clock) when playing at 16ohms, but it had no problem getting over the drums.

I will say that the amp seemed to "breathe" better at 4ohms. With the higher impedance it gets more compressed and less dynamic, which is normal for SS amps, since the headroom is reduced. It's always better to be as close as the minimum impedance rating as possible. I haven't tried it at 8ohms yet, but I am sure it would be fine, given that it worked at 16.

As for tone, Channel 1 (the cleaner channel) is really good and gave me a great rock tone with the gain set high and the boost on. It also cleans up really well with the guitar volume and takes the SD-1 for a solo boost like a regular amp should. It sounded very much like a good Marshall.

Channel 2 (the "heavy" channel) is not my favorite. It sounds ok but it's a bit too warm, wooly and smooth for me. Maybe I can dial it in better, but frankly, I can get everything I need on channel 1, so I don't know if I will even bother tweaking the second channel.


I wish they made a single channel version of this but with all the features of the dual channel version (boost, RedBox etc). They do have a single channel version but it's too stripped down.

tl;dr: Good shit. Loud enough. Recommended.

[GuitarBilly]

This thing really turned out better than expected. I used it on the second half of practice today again and it worked really well. Not as good as my Koch though.