Splawn Nitro EL34B Playthrough

[skullfxr]

I like the sound and feel of my KT88 Nitro a lot better. I feel it's more balanced and the upper bite is more normal and that from the clip you posted, I find that the bass is more natural and rounded than the EL34 although I realize that what I am saying is contradiction to normal aspects of the two very different power tube characteristics.

Have you been able to compare the differences between the KT88 Nitro and the EL34 Nitro?

 

[DanTravis62]

Didn't quite track the way it sounded in the room. You'd have to play it for yourself before coming to any conclusions

Agreed, while your vid doesn't sounds bad by any means, I dont think it's exactly representative of the amp, either.

IME its a lot more high-endy and aggressive, with a bit of a loose low end - like I said, great for tracking leads.

 

[Nolly]

The overdrive channel of the Nitro has a 10k mid pot, instead of the typical Marshall-derived 22k or 25k that the Quickrod and most other Marshall-derived high gain amps use. This basically means that on the Nitro your mids are a lot more scooped at comparable settings and even on maximum won't be as effective as on most other amps. This is, however, something very easy for a tech to sort out for you by switching the pot, or even just adding a 10-15k resistor in series with the mid pot, though the latter approach would mean you'd lose the ability to scoop the mids as much as other amps (with the knob on 0 it'd be midrangier than how it currently sounds on 10..).
Also, the depth control is different to most in that it reaches up further into the upper bass/lower mids and will also have more effect at lower settings than most other amps.

With all the above in mind, running the mids at close to full, and keeping the depth off or set very low should give you a voicing more akin to other great sounding, Marshall-inspired amps (including the SLO, 5150 etc). From there you can use the treble and presence more normally, and run the bass anywhere up to full to get the low end extension, if that's what you want.

 

[Bad.Seed]

The overdrive channel of the Nitro has a 10k mid pot, instead of the typical Marshall-derived 22k or 25k that the Quickrod and most other Marshall-derived high gain amps use. This basically means that on the Nitro your mids are a lot more scooped at comparable settings and even on maximum won't be as effective as on most other amps. This is, however, something very easy for a tech to sort out for you by switching the pot, or even just adding a 10-15k resistor in series with the mid pot, though the latter approach would mean you'd lose the ability to scoop the mids as much as other amps (with the knob on 0 it'd be midrangier than how it currently sounds on 10..).
Also, the depth control is different to most in that it reaches up further into the upper bass/lower mids and will also have more effect at lower settings than most other amps.

With all the above in mind, running the mids at close to full, and keeping the depth off or set very low should give you a voicing more akin to other great sounding, Marshall-inspired amps (including the SLO, 5150 etc). From there you can use the treble and presence more normally, and run the bass anywhere up to full to get the low end extension, if that's what you want.

I'll give this all a shot. Great info. If I still don't love it, I may switch that mid pot out and see if that does the trick

 

[PDC]

Nolly - I wonder if the mid switch and old/new voicing switches add a resistor to the mid pot as you have described? I’ve got a fully loaded QR and a fully loaded Nitro right now and I can get them to practically ‘channel clone’ each other with these options. I can get really scooped, thumpy tones with the QR in ‘new’ voicing with the mids scooped, and I can get a mid-forward JCM800 type tone with the nitro in ‘old’ voicing with the mid switch engaged. With these voicing options, owning both amps is a bit redundant - 3rd Gear, OD-2, ‘new’ voicing, with the mids cut sounds nearly spot-on to the Nitro, absent the resonance control. Each amp felt and sounded like it really served an independent purposes when these midrange options were non-switchable and hard-wired into the amp’s circuit.

 

[Nolly]

I'll give this all a shot. Great info. If I still don't love it, I may switch that mid pot out and see if that does the trick

Great, let me know how you get on

Nolly - I wonder if the mid switch and old/new voicing switches add a resistor to the mid pot as you have described? I’ve got a fully loaded QR and a fully loaded Nitro right now and I can get them to practically ‘channel clone’ each other with these options. I can get really scooped, thumpy tones with the QR in ‘new’ voicing with the mids scooped, and I can get a mid-forward JCM800 type tone with the nitro in ‘old’ voicing with the mid switch engaged. With these voicing options, owning both amps is a bit redundant - 3rd Gear, OD-2, ‘new’ voicing, with the mids cut sounds nearly spot-on to the Nitro, absent the resonance control. Each amp felt and sounded like it really served an independent purposes when these midrange options were non-switchable and hard-wired into the amp’s circuit.

That sounds probable, yeah. I wonder if your Nitro has the 10K pot with a switchable series resistor or if it's got a 25k with switchable parallel resistor to lower the max resistance - the latter is more sensible since you can still get the mids to "0" that way, though the pot's taper will be less linear as you turn it.

Your comment into the redundancy of owning both amps is a great realisation about just how little an amp designer can alter a circuit and end up with a new amp that gives users drastically different sounds especially if they stay around "normal" tone control settings.
This cuts both ways - some designers use one basic platform and change just a handful of parts to design their whole range in which the models are then described as wildly different in their marketing, while other designers can take ("steal"?) pre-existing circuits and change just a few components to get their own sound that few people would trace back to the original. You'd never guess a Rectifier and an SLO share almost identical preamps (especially in the early Recto revisions).

 

[311splawndude]

Hey Nolly

Good to see you again. Great info!

To add on to what you were saying, Scott Splawn created his own design. A lot of people see Scott as a Marshall cloner. Maybe it was because of how he describes his Gears. I think it is safe to say that Scott's treatment in the power section and preamp design is different enough to claim it is not a copy. Would you agree? I mean, there is no cathode follower on V2 and the voicing is pretty unique. He doesn't use clippers either to get his sound. Many say it is sort of a cross between a Marshall and a Recto. What are your thoughts on that.

BTW - we have a new Splawn Sub Forum in the manufacturers section

 

[Nolly]

Hey Nolly

Good to see you again. Great info!

To add on to what you were saying, Scott Splawn created his own design. A lot of people see Scott as a Marshall cloner. Maybe it was because of how he describes his Gears. I think it is safe to say that Scott's treatment in the power section and preamp design is different enough to claim it is not a copy. Would you agree? I mean, there is no cathode follower on V2 and the voicing is pretty unique. He doesn't use clippers either to get his sound. Many say it is sort of a cross between a Marshall and a Recto. What are your thoughts on that.

BTW - we have a new Splawn Sub Forum in the manufacturers section

Hey!
Yes, please don't read that I'm bashing Scott in the above, or any other designer for that matter. The schematic only tells a part of the story - taking an amp to market involves a huge amount more factors, and aspects like circuit layout and being careful what voicing options you give the user are areas where designers can really push the envelope in making an amp sound great and operate practically.
Splawn amps clearly have a distinct voicing and feel that speak to a lot of experience and understanding of their target user base, and while there are obviously a large amount of similarities to the Marshall circuitry that they are based on, Splawn has built upon and arguably improved them to a great extent.
I think the Marshall/Recto comparison is fair, though personally I'd prefer to say Marshall/Soldano since the Recto preamp really is a direct rip of the SLO. I like the use of 1uF cathode bypass caps a lá Soldano for slightly thicker mids than the Marshall-style 680nF caps, and as you say, there's no cold clipper stage so the saturation does feel more open. One nice feature in the Splawns that you don't get in Marshalls or the SLO is to not put a bright cap across the overdrive channel gain control and instead hardwire it earlier on, so that you get coherent voicing throughout the gain range.
The 10k mid pot on the Nitro is a bit of a headscratcher though. I think that alone must be largely responsible for a lot of people's dislike of that amp.

 

[311splawndude]

That's great info Nolly, and I absolutely did not get the impression you were bashing Scott or other builders

 

[Bad.Seed]

Hey all, looking the change the mid pot out on the Nitro here. Would the 25k pot be audio or linear taper? Newb question!

 

[ClintN667]

Hey all, looking the change the mid pot out on the Nitro here. Would the 25k pot be audio or linear taper? Newb question!

I would use a linear. Keep the Audio for volume, bass, and gain pots

 

[Bad.Seed]

I would use a linear. Keep the Audio for volume, bass, and gain pots

Got it, thanks my man.

 

[Bash_Man]

Hey all, looking the change the mid pot out on the Nitro here. Would the 25k pot be audio or linear taper? Newb question!

Kyle.. did you get a chance to mod or change the Pot on your Nitro from a 10k to 25k?

 

[Bad.Seed]

Haven't gotten to it yet! Too many amps, too little time. Lol

 

[Bash_Man]

Haven't gotten to it yet! Too many amps, too little time. Lol

I hear ya.. I'd be happy to borrow some of those amps for permanent testing . LOL

I had the same idea for my Nitro but I thought maybe adding the switch of 15K resistor to bring in and out to hear the difference. that way the stock 10K mids knob remains in the same.

 

[Bash_Man]

Haven't gotten to it yet! Too many amps, too little time. Lol

I am taking my amp to a tech this weekend to get a few tweaks done on it. Will share once I get it back.

 

[Bad.Seed]

I am taking my amp to a tech this weekend to get a few tweaks done on it. Will share once I get it back.

Please do! I actually got the e83cc in this week and plugged it into v2. It definitely added mids, but almost seemed like it was affect by my guitar signal in a weird way. Added this weird, almost like clipping effect when I listened closely. Not sure why, but that was a 10 minute playthrough. Need to revisit when there's some more time.

 

[Bash_Man]

Please do! I actually got the e83cc in this week and plugged it into v2. It definitely added mids, but almost seemed like it was affect by my guitar signal in a weird way. Added this weird, almost like clipping effect when I listened closely. Not sure why, but that was a 10 minute playthrough. Need to revisit when there's some more time.

that's weird. what tube did you replace with the JJ E83CC?