NAD! Amplified Nation Ampliphonix & Gain - VIDEO ADDED

fretmaster

fretmaster

Active member
It's a been quite a while since I've posted any kind of gear review, but this amp has been such a shock and inspiration to me that I had to post something. I've owned nearly every notable manufacturer there has been over the last 30 or 40 years. Plexi clones, Fender clones, AC clones, Trainwreck clones, and of course I've run the gamete of Dumble clones. I've been through some really killer gear over the years. I've written many reviews and I had been pretty settled for a long time on my core staple of gear and as a result haven't done a lot of gear buying or reviewing for quite a while.

Well, I have been reinvigorated! Amplified Nation came onto my radar fairly recently. Having gone through nearly every "D" style amp out there I had given up on finding one that really spoke to me - until now! This amp hit that nerve that makes you close your eyes, listen to your tone, feel every nuance and just play the hell of a guitar with a huge smile on your face, never wanting it to end.

This amp is the Amplified Nation Ampliphonix & Gain, EL34, 50 watt head. The Ampliphonix (Bassman) channel is the most ridiculously good Fender tone I've ever heard or felt. The pristine cleans are amazing. The overdriven cleans are so good it takes all I have to make myself stop and put the guitar away. The Gain (hot rodded plexi) channel, has more gain than I need by 12:00 on the gain knob. And she's super dynamic and tasty with the gain rolled back to about 09:00, which is still plenty hot even with a single coils. She sounds amazing with a strat, a tele or a Les Paul. A truly remarkable and versatile amplifier to say the least.

Yes, this is a honey moon rant, but I've been through enough gear in my nearly 60 years that I don't get too excited even during the honey moon phase at this point in my life. But, this amp really has hit my ears and fingers in a way I haven't experienced before and I'm loving it. I will do my best to post some clips in the not too distant future when time allows.

I am now thinking I need an Overdrive Reverb and a Steel String Stinger!!! I think Taylor Cox and I are going to have a long and wonderful relationship. And speaking of Mr. Cox; he's been one of the most accessible and friendly builders I've had the pleasure of conversing with. He was incredibly helpful and patient when discussing which amp to choose going on my description of what I was looking for. He's quick to respond and enthusiastically answers any questions. A real top notch individual.
 

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The reviews I’ve seen on this amp sound incredible. I don’t use real amps enough to justify the expense or I would be seriously interested in this one. Congratulations and enjoy that bad boy.
 
fretmaster said:
It's a been quite a while since I've posted any kind of gear review, but this amp has been such a shock and inspiration to me that I had to post something. I've owned nearly every notable manufacturer there has been over the last 30 or 40 years. Plexi clones, Fender clones, AC clones, Trainwreck clones, and of course I've run the gamete of Dumble clones. I've been through some really killer gear over the years. I've written many reviews and I had been pretty settled for a long time on my core staple of gear and as a result haven't done a lot of gear buying or reviewing for quite a while.

Well, I have been reinvigorated! Amplified Nation came onto my radar fairly recently. Having gone through nearly every "D" style amp out there I had given up on finding one that really spoke to me - until now! This amp hit that nerve that makes you close your eyes, listen to your tone, feel every nuance and just play the hell of a guitar with a huge smile on your face, never wanting it to end.

This amp is the Amplified Nation Ampliphonix & Gain, EL34, 50 watt head. The Ampliphonix (Bassman) channel is the most ridiculously good Fender tone I've ever heard or felt. The pristine cleans are amazing. The overdriven cleans are so good it takes all I have to make myself stop and put the guitar away. The Gain (hot rodded plexi) channel, has more gain than I need by 12:00 on the gain knob. And she's super dynamic and tasty with the gain rolled back to about 09:00, which is still plenty hot even with a single coils. She sounds amazing with a strat, a tele or a Les Paul. A truly remarkable and versatile amplifier to say the least.

Yes, this is a honey moon rant, but I've been through enough gear in my nearly 60 years that I don't get too excited even during the honey moon phase at this point in my life. But, this amp really has hit my ears and fingers in a way I haven't experienced before and I'm loving it. I will do my best to post some clips in the not too distant future when time allows.

I am now thinking I need an Overdrive Reverb and a Steel String Stinger!!! I think Taylor Cox and I are going to have a long and wonderful relationship. And speaking of Mr. Cox; he's been one of the most accessible and friendly builders I've had the pleasure of conversing with. He was incredibly helpful and patient when discussing which amp to choose going on my description of what I was looking for. He's quick to respond and enthusiastically answers any questions. A real top notch individual.
Click to expand...
yes Fretty!
 
Hey, what a coincidence. I went to Texas a week or two ago and played one of these amps in a music store there. First time I'd played any of this company's amps. It was the 6V6, 22-watt combo version in turquoise suede. I think the one I played is up on Reverb now actually.

Normally I'm not a fan of combo amps, but this one sounded great. The clean channel was big and warm, with some bounce to it, not tubby or boomy at all but still very big and round sounding, and could get some bite if you turned it up. And the gain channel had kind of like a tight, slightly-higher-gained-plexi-in-the-preamp kind of a thing going on. Not quite "high" gain but on its way there. Very Marshally and lean (in a good way) but still easy to play, very detailed, very articulate. I really liked it a lot, didn't want to stop playing. And that turquoise suede was weirdly awesome, lol.

Congrats on a fantastic sounding amp!
 
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I haven't had GAS for amps for several years but have to admit that this is the only amp I have been thinking about. I would love to try one someday. I am into combo amps at this point and this would be a great one.
 
Hit us with some clips playa :love:


Only Dumble-type amp I've ever played was a Welagen but that thing was pretty mindblowing.


HNAD!
 
Message I just sent to Taylor: "Damn it, man!!! This thing is freakin' ridiculous!!! This is going to cost me a lot of money and time!! LOL Just finished another session running through various cabinets and guitars and I can honestly say I've never experienced anything quite this good on so many levels. I'm going to be ranting about this beast for a long time, I think. Just WOW!!!"
 
There is so much to say about this amp as I continue to feel her out. I am still wrapping my head around this amazing piece. It is so reactive to every aspect of your rig and playing that every cab / speaker sounds & feels substantially different. Every guitar / pickup selection sounds & feels substantially different. And of course, it is hyper responsive to every tiny nuance of your playing style. This is not the amp for those who want to hide behind loads of compression and distortion. This amp is ultra-transparent and can make you want to throw your guitar out the window out of frustration with your own playing prowess, but at the same time, actually motivates you to play better. In other words, if you have the desire, this amp will not only allow, it will force you to become a better player.

When you truly can get everywhere you want to go with subtle changes in your right hand, left hand and the volume knob on your guitar, it inspires in a way that VERY few amps out there can. This is going to be a long (and extremely fun) process with this amp as every combination of signal chain I've tried has been unique, had it's own merits and is so much fun to play that I end up spending an entire session with that set up and fail to move on with my experimentation. Then, the next session I have to force myself to move onto the next experiment which then ends up sounding and feeling so good that it takes up that entire session. With all the guitars and cabs I own I will be months feeling out everything this amp can do but, it's going to be a blast.

Here is my quick and subjective take thus far: the A&G has the attack and attitude of a cranked non-master Tweed Deluxe with the muscle and bark of a pissed off plexi and a clean channel that is like a Fender Bassman that has been exposed to radiation and turned into Godzilla. Every clean tone one could want, from pristine clean to shockingly huge, overdriven, fat and spanky is in there. Tone's with such breadth that even when playing single note solos with a bridge position single coil, above the 12th fret, you have to glance down to see that you're not actually on the neck pickup because the tone is so thick and rich you can't believe your own ears. And it LOVES pedals, too!!! That's all for now. More to come as I determine my favorite signal chains and eventually get some clips up.
 
Dialed in some of the most insane hotrod plexi tones I've had in my life last night with the A&G into a Marshall Greenback 4x12 and a Custom Shop Gibson Les Paul with custom shop Slash pickups. Maybe the most fun playing experience I've ever had in my nearly 60 years. This amp continues to leave me astonished after every session. It was LOUD, but the harmonics, the punch, the dynamics were all so good I didn't care if I went deaf, it would've been worth it. o_O:loco::rock:
 


Please be kind. No planning or production. Just did this with my phone quickly for a distant friend, but couldn't share it due to size, so I just put it up on YouTube so I could share it with him. The playing is full of clams, but the tone still comes across pretty well despite the YouTube filters. This is only one very very small example of what this amp is capable of. It truly could be considered 2 amps in one box. The Ampliphonix side is the best Dumble Bassman ever and the Gain side is the best plexi every. This amp defies verbal description. It just has to be played to be fully appreciated. It's so tactile, and it sounds dramatically different with every cab, guitar, speaker and pickup change. If you can't find your sound with this amp, you're just not looking hard enough. It can do it all, IMHO.
 
BTW... I guess I should've explained that was the "Gain" channel with the gain set at 09:00. This amp has FAR more gain than I could possibly ever need. For me, between 09:00 & 12:00, and that would easily cover everything from southern rock to EVH - seriously!
 
CME has one of these with the matching cab in their used section. I wish it was within my budget right now...

Local pickup only, that cab must not be light.
 
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