NAD: 2015 Fully Loaded Splawn Mini Comp

Junk Yard Dog

Well-known member
Grabbed this on a whim. I had a 2014 Pro Stock 100w and it was my gigging amp for 3 years. I moved to Friedmans and still love those, but wanted to see what the new switches do to the tone on the Splawn. Mid-cut and Old/New do make a substantial difference to the tone and feel. I dig it.

Since I have tinnitus now, I have to be careful with the volume. The head is in snakeskin tolex and in great shape. Lucked out with it. This amp fuckin jams. It came with brand new EH 6CA7s. Not sure what pre's are in there.

Mid-cut: switch up is engaging the cut of the mids and it's pretty significant. I like it on and off. Since I have a V30/CBH75 cab, if I have the mids engaged as normal, I'm dialing back the mid and treble knobs. Engage the mid-cut and I have a lot more wiggle room with the mids. Great for handling certain speaker frequencies. It can darken up the amp a lot, in a good way.

New/Old: I'm not sure which is 'new' and which is 'old', but I think I prefer the switch down. Can anyone tell me which is which? Down adds a bit more grit and it's slightly tighter. Up makes it a little rounder, punchier/bassier, looser, maybe...

It takes boosts well like I remember. I'm liking my big Spark Boost with it. My Savage Drive I did not like at all. SD 805 is cool, but I had to turn down the mid knob on the pedal for my taste, but it sounded and felt good with the Comp.

The amp is in a mini headshell and maybe weighs 40lbs, and I love that it's easier to carry than a 100watter. My buddy came over and we played it through my cabs and this thing has a lot of punch: a lot. I love anything this small, light, that, and punch as this one does. My buddy was pretty amazed. He's never played or heard one in person.

I was worried it would feel too tight compared to the Friedman camp I'm in and this one feels like it's got the right amount of tightness and saturated bounce for me. A boost only makes it better.

FX loop works great as my last Splawn did.

Overall, I just scratched a huge itch by giving this a go. About 3 months after I got my 2014 Pro Stock, Splawn announced the new switches: ugh... So for years, I've been wanting to try one with the switches and I gig regularly and have grown weary of lugging heavy 100watt heads for now, so the mini head format with this much balls and power is hard to beat.

I'm not sure I'll keep it as Dave F. has a donor amp to mod for me similar to a JJ50. But I'll enjoy jamming on this thing for a bit.

Do any Splawners have recommendations on preamp tubes? I don't know what's in there now but may just throw some newer ones in there.

Cheers.
 
Congrats :cheers:

I know this has been a long road for you. Glad to hear it has the right amount of bounce and tightness. That's a hard thing to find sometimes. I'm really curious about these full featured smaller heads.

Can't speak to the new/old but seems like a great feature. Many swear on chinese pres but I like all JJs. What trannys does it have? What I would do is just take the back plate off. You don't need it. Get an assortment of JJs, NOS, Chinese, and also try a 5751 in PI. Bounce some stuff around. Get a good glove and you don't even need to turn the amp off.

Also try the Treble on '0' and report back. I have Small Blocks now but used to have an Avatar with a CL80 + G12H30

Have fun JYD!
 

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Nice!!!! Small blocks in my Splawn 2X12 cab sound great as do the Scumbacks in my Marshall 4X12.
just another FYI if you didn't already know, when you kick on the solo boost it also automatically kicks you into OD2
enjoy :)
 
Color me impressed. First gig down with it. Cut great. Solo boost and FX loop were great. From the first chord, the sound guy ran over and said "Jaysus, what the hell amp is that?"

  • I could only have the volume at 9:00, where it starts to shine, no loop volume used, going through my V30/CBH75.
    • This venue is pretty large for a local bar; bigger room, not a cramped stage at all. If I ran the volume louder, it would have overpowered. Sound guy said "that may be the limit on your stage volume, brother", so it worked perfect. So even though it's 50 watts, it's Loud AF.
      • I did experiment with the Loop volume to about 12:00 and it still kept an inspiring tone, so as it tends to be, Splawn volume knob on 9:00+ and use the Loop Volume to manage stage or home volumes.
        • I will say that in my apartment, once I got that Loop Volume around 3/4's 'down', the more I would have to turn up the front volume to keep it sounding the way I wanted.
    • Bass, mids, treble, presence all at 11:00. Gain at 1:30 maybe. Gear 2 all night, mode 1, unless I stepped on the solo boost.
    • New (vs. Old). No mid-cut; full mids.
  • Have to admit that coming from the JJ100, this amp held its own and then some. The punch from a 50w Splawn is pretty remarkable.
  • My biggest two worries:
    • It wouldn't sound good or controllable with my speakers: not the case. V30s and H Creambacks no problems, just backed off the mids and highs a bit. Sounded great with my cab.
    • Saggy, bounce, saturation, feel were all there. The Splawn 50watters are already in B+ mode, so they sag a bit more. It had the right blend of tight bounce for me.
  • EDIT: Clean Sounds: I never used clean channels...I roll my guitar volume down to get a clean tone. I use hot PAFs like Duncan Custom 8's and Schecter Super Rock II's in all my guitars. Also treble bleeds to keep it clear when rolling down the volume. The Splawn cleans up VERY well. I was really impressed by this. So for the mini headshell format with all the full QR features on the gain channels, the Competition is perfect for me.
  • Solo boost worked great.
  • The ease of transporting with the mini headshell is just perfect. It's not heavy for the amount of iron in this little thing.
The risk paid off. Great amp!
 
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So was this a 50 watt? what are the differences between just getting a 50 watt QR? I want to get another Splawn at some point in my life. Sounds like this one is more in my wheel house.
 
So was this a 50 watt? what are the differences between just getting a 50 watt QR? I want to get another Splawn at some point in my life. Sounds like this one is more in my wheel house.
Yes, it's a 50w mini Competition: no clean channel. Just edited my comments on how well this amp cleans up with guitar volume. I tend to run all my amps with the Gain around 2:00 and use it as a rock/hard rock tone, then boost that for more chuggy metal tones, and use guitar volume to back down and get my clean tones. Hence, I've always preferred single channels for my simple needs. This amp cleans up very well.

You cannot get the Pro Stock in a mini headshell, just the 50watt Competition, which again, has no clean channel. I do highly recommend this amp. ...I prefer it over my 2014 Pro Stock for sure, and I loved that amp despite some things I didn't like about it, it was an awesome gigging amp for 3 years.
 
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