NAD! Fryette Ultralead + Clip!

[braintheory]

Of the many amps I've owned, this is the one amp that surprised me the most upon plugging in. For years I read comments about how unforgiving and dry the UL is and when I finally got my hands on one it was the polar opposite.

UBER saturated and very very compressed to the point of sounding dare I say processed like and Engl. I'm not saying I didn't like it, just that it was a shock. Mean and tight but no where near as tight as the countless forum reviews/comments led me to believe. In the end I actually prefer the 50CL and sold the UL. Guess I was expecting a very open/uncompressed gain structure and this one was the complete opposite. FWIW it was a 2001 & I tried about 10-12 different preamp tube cocktails.

I felt the same about the older UL’s. I owned a more recent one and have tried other recent ones and found them to be more open, not as tight and a bit less saturated, but I think still that guys on the forums have greatly exaggerated them in terms of tightness, dryness, openness and being unforgiving

For my taste, I found the Fryette’s too smooth/lacking growl on powerchords, a bit sterile and cold sounding, and also one of those modern amps that always has a brittle quality to it. The Fortin’s I’ve tried had some similarities and didn’t care for them either

 

[Speeddemon]

Of the many amps I've owned, this is the one amp that surprised me the most upon plugging in. For years I read comments about how unforgiving and dry the UL is and when I finally got my hands on one it was the polar opposite.

UBER saturated and very very compressed to the point of sounding dare I say processed like and Engl. I'm not saying I didn't like it, just that it was a shock. Mean and tight but no where near as tight as the countless forum reviews/comments led me to believe.

I've just listened to the clip and could pick up some VHT traits that my Sig:X also had. Its saturation is more stiff and 'coughing' sounding (kinda hard to describe, I know) than that of a typical Engl (or Mesa Mark, which have even more 'liquid' saturation).
That was one of the main reasons I sold my Sig:X. I guess that's the dry aspect, even in saturation. Could be that I'm probably not a huge fan of KT88's then. I prefer tubes with a bit more give...
I like errrrl's clip, but at the same time, it reinforces why like Engl's and Mesa's a pinch more.

Note: when you talk about Engl's 'processed' sound, I assume more the Powerballs than a Savage, no?