Driftwood Darkest Nightmare

  • Thread starter Thread starter Texhex
  • Start date Start date
It just kinda sucks that there is no loadbox. However, if the added IR loader doesn’t drive the price up more than $50, then I wouldn’t care about a loadbox because it’s not something I would necessarily want to pay extra for.

Isn’t the driving force of releasing this amp in the IR loader though?
 
Starts at $3147 US plus shipping. But I'll be damned if I don't want one. Gate has a cool option where it turns off when 2nd master is engaged. Bunch of spaces for loading IRs. Stopped buying amps years ago,but would love to have one of these.
 
These amps are the real deal. I owned the standard purple nightmare and it's the one amp I regret selling the most. Now, I did have some funky level issues with the FX loop. Like many amps, the channel volume controls the FX loop send level and I had to have the channel volume really low to prevent clipping on the clean channel with the boost engaged. Luckily there is some clever switching built into this amp with the second MV so I found a workaround, but I think separate FX send/return pots would be much appreciated here.

The amp's built-in boost is phenomenal, and maybe the best boosted tone I've played for heavy rhythm. Some day I'll own one again!
 
Played a Purple Nightmare and was fairly underwhelmed. Even with the boost engaged. For me it should check all the boxes it just sounded boring, and didn’t feel great. Maybe too sterile? I don’t know what it was, but played a VH2 right after and although wasn’t as brutal just felt so much better. Interested to see if there’s a difference with the new model
 
DeathbyButterslax said:
Played a Purple Nightmare and was fairly underwhelmed. Even with the boost engaged. For me it should check all the boxes it just sounded boring, and didn’t feel great. Maybe too sterile? I don’t know what it was, but played a VH2 right after and although wasn’t as brutal just felt so much better. Interested to see if there’s a difference with the new model
Click to expand...
I owned a Purple Nightmare and felt the same way. It was one of those amps that sounded quite good to me until comparing it to my other stuff. The clip posted here still sounds good though
 
I mean, I did sell the damn thing but I wouldn't call it boring. I had to crank treble and presence to get the aggression that I wanted, but it delivered in spades. Not to mention the clean channel is crazy good. I am pretty curious about this update and the voicing switches.
 
Meeotch said:
I mean, I did sell the damn thing but I wouldn't call it boring. I had to crank treble and presence to get the aggression that I wanted, but it delivered in spades. Not to mention the clean channel is crazy good. I am pretty curious about this update and the voicing switches.
Click to expand...
I also found myself having the treble and presence up high. The clean channel I thought was pretty good for a high gain amp, but paled next to the cleans of my iic+ and Wizard MTL. I was initially impressed with the amp when I had it, but those 2 amps and a few others I had at the time made it come off uninspiring in comparison. Maybe the Darkest Nightmare is better, but I bet it’s not
 
braintheory said:
I also found myself having the treble and presence up high. The clean channel I thought was pretty good for a high gain amp, but paled next to the cleans of my iic+ and Wizard MTL. I was initially impressed with the amp when I had it, but those 2 amps and a few others I had at the time made it come off uninspiring in comparison. Maybe the Darkest Nightmare is better, but I bet it’s not
Click to expand...
Haha nice, 2 of the most sought after amps I can think of...hard to beat those for sure. At the time I sold mine I was digging the Herbert Mk I more, although I do think the high gain tones on this head are legit and can hang with the best...at least from what I've played. I've heard some people describe it as 5150ish and I can see that comparison, maybe a touch more sag on the attack but still compressed in a pleasing way. I'd love to add one to the stable again but currently on a Synergy binge :D It will have to wait.
 
braintheory said:
I also found myself having the treble and presence up high. The clean channel I thought was pretty good for a high gain amp, but paled next to the cleans of my iic+ and Wizard MTL. I was initially impressed with the amp when I had it, but those 2 amps and a few others I had at the time made it come off uninspiring in comparison. Maybe the Darkest Nightmare is better, but I bet it’s not
Click to expand...

Having to crank the treble and presence high is never a good sign. Usually the kiss of death for me. Not sure why so many amps are designed with that sort of tone stack and negative feedback circuit.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top