Tell Me About The Driftwood Purple Nightmare

[SavageRiffer]

Looks like a very well designed amp. Some videos sound real good, not great, and others sound phenomenal. Don't know much about it. Anyone played one or own one?

 

[reilly]

Great cleans very dimentonal sounding. Dirty channel reminds me of a diezel with more low mids (similar to the Einstein I had) The fx loop (at least on the one I had) was a little picky as to what it liked and didn't like, it did not like my fractal fx8 which was a deal breaker for me.

Built really solid and looked great. If I was using a regular pedal board I probably would have kept it. Overall a really cool amp.

 

[Wizard of Ozz]

It's got a built in Tubescreamer.

Like you said... some of the clips sound good... others not so much. I'd like to try one... but not enough to spend that much w/o playing it first.

Doesn't sound like any Diezel to me... more like a boosted PV5150II.

 

[reilly]

Yeah imo it really didn't sound like a 5150 to me but to each their own, the built in tube screamer is really cool. Had a fuller sound and better cleans than a 5150

 

[braintheory]

I owned a Purple Nightmare for a bit and it was a very solid amp, but I much preferred some of my other amps, especially my Mark IIC+. The Driftwood for my taste was too smooth and lacking in growl, aggression, and rawness when playing powerchords. It had that polished quality to it that many German amps tend to have, but still very different sounding than the Diezel or Engls, but closer sounding to the Diezels if I had to choose. It also didn't have enough attack or tightness for my taste when playing palm mutes or fast single note type metal riffs. It was also a quite dark sounding amp. It had a very big bottom end, but still not as much as something like a Herbert. I liked that amp was open/uncompressed sounding and obviously the features like the built od pedal and others are great. The cleans were nice, but my Mark IIC+'s were considerably better and sounding more organic/lively. And it sounded nothing at all like any of the 5150's. No where near as much gain, compression, saturation, or attack as those amps. The 5150's are also way less polished sounding, which I prefer. The Driftwood seems to appeal to metal guys, but if you talk to Cliff at Destroy All Guitars, he will tell that it's more of a blues/classic rock amp, and I guess Doug Rappoport seemed to also love using it for that

 

[Wizard of Ozz]

I owned a Purple Nightmare for a bit and it was a very solid amp, but I much preferred some of my other amps, especially my Mark IIC+. The Driftwood for my taste was too smooth and lacking in growl, aggression, and rawness when playing powerchords. It had that polished quality to it that many German amps tend to have, but still very different sounding than the Diezel or Engls, but closer sounding to the Diezels if I had to choose. It also didn't have enough attack or tightness for my taste when playing palm mutes or fast single note type metal riffs. It was also a quite dark sounding amp. It had a very big bottom end, but still not as much as something like a Herbert. I liked that amp was open/uncompressed sounding and obviously the features like the built od pedal and others are great. The cleans were nice, but my Mark IIC+'s were considerably better and sounding more organic/lively. And it sounded nothing at all like any of the 5150's. No where near as much gain, compression, saturation, or attack as those amps. The 5150's are also way less polished sounding, which I prefer. The Driftwood seems to appeal to metal guys, but if you talk to Cliff at Destroy All Guitars, he will tell that it's more of a blues/classic rock amp, and I guess Doug Rappoport seemed to also love using it for that

... well you just killed my interest in it.

 

[lowmantotempole]

I owned a Purple Nightmare for a bit and it was a very solid amp, but I much preferred some of my other amps, especially my Mark IIC+. The Driftwood for my taste was too smooth and lacking in growl, aggression, and rawness when playing powerchords. It had that polished quality to it that many German amps tend to have, but still very different sounding than the Diezel or Engls, but closer sounding to the Diezels if I had to choose. It also didn't have enough attack or tightness for my taste when playing palm mutes or fast single note type metal riffs. It was also a quite dark sounding amp. It had a very big bottom end, but still not as much as something like a Herbert. I liked that amp was open/uncompressed sounding and obviously the features like the built od pedal and others are great. The cleans were nice, but my Mark IIC+'s were considerably better and sounding more organic/lively. And it sounded nothing at all like any of the 5150's. No where near as much gain, compression, saturation, or attack as those amps. The 5150's are also way less polished sounding, which I prefer. The Driftwood seems to appeal to metal guys, but if you talk to Cliff at Destroy All Guitars, he will tell that it's more of a blues/classic rock amp, and I guess Doug Rappoport seemed to also love using it for that

... well you just killed my interest in it.

Man that dude is smoking crack... I love my Mini-Nightmare. Absolutely amazing amp with the most USEFUL options I've ever seen. It does have a big bottom end but it's completely manageable. Of course it doesn't sound like a 5150. Wow... Definitely not a blues/classic rock amp. Ummmm not sure where the heck that came from.

 

[rottingcorpse]

I would really like to try one of these. I'm a sucker for a pretty face like that.

 

[braintheory]

I owned a Purple Nightmare for a bit and it was a very solid amp, but I much preferred some of my other amps, especially my Mark IIC+. The Driftwood for my taste was too smooth and lacking in growl, aggression, and rawness when playing powerchords. It had that polished quality to it that many German amps tend to have, but still very different sounding than the Diezel or Engls, but closer sounding to the Diezels if I had to choose. It also didn't have enough attack or tightness for my taste when playing palm mutes or fast single note type metal riffs. It was also a quite dark sounding amp. It had a very big bottom end, but still not as much as something like a Herbert. I liked that amp was open/uncompressed sounding and obviously the features like the built od pedal and others are great. The cleans were nice, but my Mark IIC+'s were considerably better and sounding more organic/lively. And it sounded nothing at all like any of the 5150's. No where near as much gain, compression, saturation, or attack as those amps. The 5150's are also way less polished sounding, which I prefer. The Driftwood seems to appeal to metal guys, but if you talk to Cliff at Destroy All Guitars, he will tell that it's more of a blues/classic rock amp, and I guess Doug Rappoport seemed to also love using it for that

... well you just killed my interest in it.

Man that dude is smoking crack... I love my Mini-Nightmare. Absolutely amazing amp with the most USEFUL options I've ever seen. It does have a big bottom end but it's completely manageable. Of course it doesn't sound like a 5150. Wow... Definitely not a blues/classic rock amp. Ummmm not sure where the heck that came from.

I never said it wasn't a good amp. I said it was a very solid amp and of course has terrific options and features, but I just preferred my other amps, which is why I didn't end up keeping it. And I didn't say it's not a metal amp. It does metal just fine. I was saying that Cliff from Destroy All Guitars told me it was more of a blues/classic rock amp, which surprised me, but I can see why he would think that. If anything, that just shows how versatile the amp can be. Anyway, no need to get offended. It's a very fine amp, just not what I was looking for. I just wanted to chime in with my thoughts on it (both the pros and cons), so those who are considering it can make a more informed decision (since it seems that not many people have tried this amp), but we all have our preferences.

And I didn't say the bottom end was unmanageable either. I was saying that I appreciated that it had a lot of bottom end on tap, but some amps like the Herbert have even more and not only more, but also a considerably tighter bottom end, but the trade off with that is a much more compressed sounding amp, which some guys don't like

 

[lowmantotempole]

I owned a Purple Nightmare for a bit and it was a very solid amp, but I much preferred some of my other amps, especially my Mark IIC+. The Driftwood for my taste was too smooth and lacking in growl, aggression, and rawness when playing powerchords. It had that polished quality to it that many German amps tend to have, but still very different sounding than the Diezel or Engls, but closer sounding to the Diezels if I had to choose. It also didn't have enough attack or tightness for my taste when playing palm mutes or fast single note type metal riffs. It was also a quite dark sounding amp. It had a very big bottom end, but still not as much as something like a Herbert. I liked that amp was open/uncompressed sounding and obviously the features like the built od pedal and others are great. The cleans were nice, but my Mark IIC+'s were considerably better and sounding more organic/lively. And it sounded nothing at all like any of the 5150's. No where near as much gain, compression, saturation, or attack as those amps. The 5150's are also way less polished sounding, which I prefer. The Driftwood seems to appeal to metal guys, but if you talk to Cliff at Destroy All Guitars, he will tell that it's more of a blues/classic rock amp, and I guess Doug Rappoport seemed to also love using it for that

... well you just killed my interest in it.

Man that dude is smoking crack... I love my Mini-Nightmare. Absolutely amazing amp with the most USEFUL options I've ever seen. It does have a big bottom end but it's completely manageable. Of course it doesn't sound like a 5150. Wow... Definitely not a blues/classic rock amp. Ummmm not sure where the heck that came from.

I never said it wasn't a good amp. I said it was a very solid amp and of course has terrific options and features, but I just preferred my other amps, which is why I didn't end up keeping it. And I didn't say it's not a metal amp. It does metal just fine. I was saying that Cliff from Destroy All Guitars told me it was more of a blues/classic rock amp, which surprised me, but I can see why he would think that. If anything, that just shows how versatile the amp can be. Anyway, no need to get offended. It's a very fine amp, just not what I was looking for. I just wanted to chime in with my thoughts on it (both the pros and cons), so those who are considering it can make a more informed decision (since it seems that not many people have tried this amp), but we all have our preferences.

And I didn't say the bottom end was unmanageable either. I was saying that I appreciated that it had a lot of bottom end on tap, but some amps like the Herbert have even more and not only more, but also a considerably tighter bottom end, but the trade off with that is a much more compressed sounding amp, which some guys don't like

Okokokokokokok... I'll tell you the pickups you are using make a world of difference.