KT88 swapped Nitro with the added new/old switch and drop B+ is back!

War_in_D

Well-known member
Got the Nitro back today, and everything is working good! Scott braced the OT when it shipped back and it's probably a really good thing he did. That's not to say that the carrier didn't try to jack it up though. "Brown" delivered today, and watching it on the cameras, the driver just dropped it out of the back on it's end when he took it out of the truck. Proceeded to just leave it there by the garage door, out in the open on the driveway and couldn't be bothered to put it under the 25' of covered porch by the front door. Never even knocked on the door to let us know he had dropped it off.

Jury is still out on how I feel about the sound of it though. It's not the same amp it was when it left, not necessarily a bad thing but just different. I had a little time to mess with it a bit tonight and got it sounding pretty decent to my ears, but I think I may need to do some more tweaking with controls and preamp tubes to see if I can get it sounding a little more to my liking. Anyway, it's back and I'm happy with it!
 
Glad you got it back.
Sucks that UPS treated it that way.
I'd let the know what you saw.
You didn't really play it last time right?
So is the only change the KT88s?
And new/old? Does the new/old change the voicing altogether or
Is 'new' the base Nitro and 'old' adds sag or what?
 
No, never got to play it at all when I first got it back. It was DOA.

It's got KT88's and Scott added the "fully loaded" mods to it. The new/old does change the voicing on it, it's noticable for sure. Not sure which way is on or off for the mid switch, but to my ear it sounds better in the up position and I had the B+ switch engaged. Right now I've got three EH gold pins in it, and a Mesa tube in the PI. Going to try some different stuff though. I did some knob tweaking, and switch flippin' last night for about 20 minutes but at times with certain settings the highs were getting pretty harsh. Totally unlike the Nitro that I had before I sent it in. Could have been the guitar somewhat too. I'm just going to have to experiment with it.
 
So, fired up the Nitro again tonight. But, with a different guitar and HOLY SMOKES! I can't believe the difference. Didn't change anything else yet, no tubes, etc. Massive, that's the only word I can think of to describe it. Not sure what the deal was with the other guitar, but it just didn't jive with the Nitro at all. Sounded thin and shrill and had me really rethinking my choice to go with the KT88's. The guitar I tried last night was an EVH Bumblebee that sounds pretty good with the QR and other amps I have. I strapped on one of my Warmoth builds, chambered Alder body with mahogany neck and ebony fretboard. Dimarzio Super 3 in the bridge and a Liquifire in the neck and it's a completely different animal.

Now that I have a guitar that sounded good, I was able to really explore the new/old switch and mid switch. They seme to make it much more versitile, but still a Nitro at heart. With the mid switch up and the new/old switch up it's very compressed and liquid sounding. With both down, it brightens up and sounds more "Marshally" to my ears. That's without doing any EQ changes but with the B+ switch engaged.

This amp made me smile tonight!! LOL
 
Cool!!!!
mid cut/shift is up
Old is up
I find similar results with my SuperSport
I usually leave them both down but my band plays classic rock so my gain usually sits around 10:30
Tube screamer if needed but rarely
 
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I actually cranked the gain up on the Nitro last night, into territory that usually never go. I usually never go past about the 1-2 o'clock position. I find that beyond that, it becomes harsh and pretty much unusable in just about any amp. But, I cranked the Nitro up to around 3:30 to 4 o'clock last night just out of curiosity and it stayed really fat and usable all the way to that point. Super impressed by that.
 
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