NAD: My Landry G3 arrived! Initial review.

  • Thread starter Thread starter Jayy
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chasintonez":hz8sfj51 said:
I know..... I don't want to come off sounding like a used car salesman for anything LOL

I just know it was tough sorting thru all of the forums and bugging guys PM'ing them trying to find as much as I could about several amps beyond just Bill's G3. I figured I would try to give my honest opinion on what I experienced with it and why I ended up going with the Landry. I am not the type to whip on this or that builder. I think a good many of them are making excellent amps and it is just a matter of finding the right fit for what you are after.

It seems that Jayy and myself have come to some similar conclusions with our experience with the amp. Jayy also has a nice gallery of amps to have a great reference point on where he is coming from (Jealous... :thumbsup: )

Another thing that may be helpful between myself and Jayy is the experience level that we have. Jayy says he is a bedroom rockstar :lol: :LOL: and I am sure being far too critical on himself by describing himself as a hack..

I come at it from the perspective of playing for about 38 years and doing a lot gigging thru those years. Many of those years with middle of the road amps and what not, but I have always managed to try and get the best tone I could with what I had. So there are kind of two ends of the bookshelf for perspective on our reviews.

For a reference point into my style and guitar approach, these clips may help some better understand where I am coming from for my take on the amp. Mostly just a few sample tracks and rough outs of things that I have to put together for project references and gig resume etc. Mostly on the more guitar oriented side of things versus band cuts. I actually like to play a lot of blues style stuff like Beck and Hendrix etc as well. These are the only clips that I could grab quick to throw on and they are on the zippier side of my playing. But that is what I liked about the Landry's versatility. I am all over the map when it comes to music. Top 40 gigs, country stuff, classic blues rock, rock, guitar riffage. I needed an amp that could do all of that and do it very well.

Note these clips are NOT of the Landry as I have not received mine yet. These tracks are not too bad for tone, but the Landry is a much better sounding amp. Recorded these with some various amps I have had over the past couple of years. Just added the clips as I always liked when others attached playing samples when giving opinions on amps for some sort of qualifier or point of reference.

https://soundcloud.com/stringsnthings-1
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LOL. Well, it's true. I AM a bedroom rockstar! I go on "Jayy's House Rattling World Tour" all the time! In my book, I'm a hack. I am too critical and self-conscious of my playing though. I always have been. Put people in front of me or turn on a video recorder and I just freeze up.

I'm enjoying your sound clips! I'm listening to "What Have We Done Rough" now. Sweet man! :rock:
 
Has anybody taken a look inside the chassis at the guts of the G3 yet? I have simply because I wanted to drop the bias a little. For whatever reason the AC supply at my house consistently runs high, which raises the plate voltage and tube bias a little in my amps. I rebiased the G3 a little cooler to compensate as I have my other amps. All amps that I have used with an EL34 power section I like biased at about 30 to 32mA. I just like the feel and response better at that bias point with EL34. I'm not a fan of the whole hot bias thing. Biasing hot takes feel and response out of an amp.

Anyway, the workmanship on the G3 is beautiful. It's as good as my SLO, which is about as good as it gets. Total work of art.
 
Thanks for listening to the clips. I will try and get some sounds clips of some short little song ideas of some sorts once I get my G3.
 
chasintonez":3b2th1uo said:
Thanks for listening to the clips. I will try and get some sounds clips of some short little song ideas of some sorts once I get my G3.
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Yes I definitely want to hear your G3 when it arrives! :rock:
 
Jayy":1hahitvq said:
Has anybody taken a look inside the chassis at the guts of the G3 yet? I have simply because I wanted to drop the bias a little. For whatever reason the AC supply at my house consistently runs high, which raises the plate voltage and tube bias a little in my amps. I rebiased the G3 a little cooler to compensate as I have my other amps. All amps that I have used with an EL34 power section I like biased at about 30 to 32mA. I just like the feel and response better at that bias point with EL34. I'm not a fan of the whole hot bias thing. Biasing hot takes feel and response out of an amp.

Anyway, the workmanship on the G3 is beautiful. It's as good as my SLO, which is about as good as it gets. Total work of art.
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I pulled the chassis on mine (obvious from the video). Mine has a slight 'issue' in that with the reverb pot completely off, I still get a little reverb on the signal. I've been going back and forth with Bill on it and he's working on a solution. He said his test amp is doing it as well (he never noticed it because he always has the reverb on), and he said my amp didn't do it before it shipped (clear in the video he made), and no other amp has done it. Weird. For now, I just disconnected the reverb so I could get a dry signal.

The wiring is very nice and tiddy. Layout makes sense and creates a nice quiet amp. Anyone on the fence about a Landry should just take the plunge. It's a fantastic amp for a Marshall lover.
 
ARZkt.jpg
 
Quite a bit difference from the LS-100 layout & the G3.

I notice the G3 black pcb's look similar to the BE-100 hybrid boards and even some of the R/C components look similar.
 
Chester Nimitz":3gd13lra said:
Quite a bit difference from the LS-100 layout & the G3.

I notice the G3 black pcb's look similar to the BE-100 hybrid boards and even some of the R/C components look similar.
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The black board is not a PCB in the Landry. It's just perf board material. The bulk of the parts are on the under side you can't see. Bill doesn't use a hybrid board like the Friedman does.
 
Here's mine. This one was a later model LS100 that was sent to Bill recently to be updated to current specs. IMHO It's pretty much up there with my Wizard for bullet proof PTP build quality.
 

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Here is the Landry info from his site:

_______________________________________________________
Technical Data

Built on a 16-gauge steel powder coated chassis, mounted in a solid birch cabinet with finger joint construction and black metal corners for a clean look and protection.
Point-to-point wiring and turret board construction combine to make an amplifier that responds to your touch, allowing you to play what you feel.

_________________________________________________________
Here is a very good explanation of point to point wiring from a snippet in an article:

"First, there may be some people that don’t know what PTP (point-to-point) wiring or PCB (printed circuit board) construction are so let’s dive in. PTP wiring is exactly what it sounds like; the point of contact for every component is wired directly to the point of contact for the following component on the shortest possible path. This can be accomplished a couple of ways, some amplifiers and effects have the components directly soldered to the next component in line via terminal strips with no sort of mounting for the components themselves, this is known as “true” point-to-point wiring and since the component usually spans most of the gap between connections, it is a very sturdy design. Another way to achieve PTP wiring is through the use of a turret or eyelet board. A turret board provides an inline plane for wiring circuits. Basically it’s not much different than the direct method but provides a more organized setup for the components and easier access to changing them out. In both cases, chassis mounted components (transformers, pots, tube sockets, jacks) are wired via flying leads (wires) directly to the component they interact with."
 
It's good to see Bill Landry get the recognition he deserves. His amplifier build quality is top notch! The G3 is on my bucket list of "must own amps." His M series amps sound promising as well.
 
I have a Splawn Pro Stock and love it. Has a lot of gain, and some of that lower AC/DC low-to-mid gain stuff is harder to coax at lower volumes. I liked what I heard in the clips here, BUT can it get is gainy and grindy to do something like Alice in Chains or Tool...Maybe Deftones? I'm reading that those tones/amounts of gain could be a stretch.

Also, are these features below ALL standard features. If not, what did you get customized? I keep seeing different variations and some with "Cut" knobs, "Feedback" knobs, etc.

1) "3 position bright switch

2) "resonance knob"

3) "hard/soft switch"

4) "vintage/modern switch you can do a LOT with this amp. The distortion channel has that great Marshall kerrang."

5) "The high gain switch has it's own volume level knob (that is an option I requested) that allows you to use it as a volume boost if you want and allows you to really adjust how much additional gain you want to add on top of the distortion channel."

Thanks!
 
Junk Yard Dog:

"BUT can it get is gainy and grindy to do something like Alice in Chains or Tool...Maybe Deftones?"

Here is a clip of Doug Rappoport checking out the G3 in one of his demo vids.

The Backing track that kicks off the video has a A.I.C. vibe to it with some grind. Not sure if he had the switch in the vintage or modern(diodes in the circuit for some more gain) for the clip, but knowing Doug's style I would guess that it was in the vintage setting. There is plenty of gain on tap in the Landry. When kicking in the diodes and going into the yellow (boosted channel) it has the juice for sure.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Y6MS4M_Tm4

Everything you listed is standard on the amp except for the volume level knob to have more control over the boost for the lead channel (your item #5) in your post. There is a bump in volume and juice when the yellow(the lead 2) channel is selected as the amp comes, but if you want more control on how much of a volume boost happens when switching into the lead 2 channel he has a control knob on the back that can be added as an option.

The hottest pickup that I played thru it was a Duncan Custom Custom and it seemed to have plenty of gain in the first dirt channel. With the Duncan Custom Custom it had more gain than Doug has in the Rhythm backing track in attached YT video.

Hope that helps.
 
chasintonez":3l2xayt6 said:
Junk Yard Dog:

"BUT can it get is gainy and grindy to do something like Alice in Chains or Tool...Maybe Deftones?"

Here is a clip of Doug Rappoport checking out the G3 in one of his demo vids.

The Backing track that kicks off the video has a A.I.C. vibe to it with some grind. Not sure if he had the switch in the vintage or modern(diodes in the circuit for some more gain) for the clip, but knowing Doug's style I would guess that it was in the vintage setting. There is plenty of gain on tap in the Landry. When kicking in the diodes and going into the yellow (boosted channel) it has the juice for sure.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Y6MS4M_Tm4

Everything you listed is standard on the amp except for the volume level knob to have more control over the boost for the lead channel (your item #5) in your post. There is a bump in volume and juice when the yellow(the lead 2) channel is selected as the amp comes, but if you want more control on how much of a volume boost happens when switching into the lead 2 channel he has a control knob on the back that can be added as an option.

The hottest pickup that I played thru it was a Duncan Custom Custom and it seemed to have plenty of gain in the first dirt channel. With the Duncan Custom Custom it had more gain than Doug has in the Rhythm backing track in attached YT video.

Hope that helps.
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Junk Yard Dog: Yep, what chasintonez said. There is PLENTY of gain available between the combinations of the distortion channel, modern switch (diode clipping) and then high gain boost on the distortion channel. There is a ton of gain and tone shaping available with combinations of those.
 
Rev":3vwac5l3 said:
It's good to see Bill Landry get the recognition he deserves. His amplifier build quality is top notch! The G3 is on my bucket list of "must own amps." His M series amps sound promising as well.
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Yes it is. He deserves it. :thumbsup:
 
That definitely should help Junk Yard Dog with the grind side of the Landry. Sounds good.

Mine cannot come soon enough!
 
chasintonez":14q6qm4u said:
That definitely should help Junk Yard Dog with the grind side of the Landry. Sounds good.

Mine cannot come soon enough!
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Yup, that clip sounded pretty good and wasn't the high gain channel. I prefer an amp without boosts, but will use them once in a while.

What really got me on this amp compared to my Splawn was the low gain/Plexi sounds I heard in clips and videos. Sounded pretty damn amazing for those as much as high gain. But I have yet to hear some high gain that matches the Splawn. I really like all these new switches and toggles he's added, and think they should just be standard features. Seems all the builders are going that route.
 
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