Thinking About a Nitro…

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ape2000

Member
I’ve sent a few people here DMs but it’s probably a good idea to get as much info as I can!

I’ve been interested in possibly getting a Nitro. I’d love to find one used and save some coin, but I’m leaning towards going Fully Loaded if I get one. The B+, new/old, and mid boost all seem like options I’d genuinely use.

I’m basically looking for a thicker hot rodded Marshall sorta thing with a nice clean channel, good master volume and effects loop that can give me both the Marshall growl and some chunk. I’m not looking for a vintage Plexi. I know they can do modern based on Killswitch Engage and Protest the Hero. I’ve seen a recent video of a guy using it as a non-metal amp, and those tones sounded killer. Sorta feels like the Marshall and Mesa combination on so many records I love. Kinda gives me a Cantrell or Adam Jones vibe. So I know it can hard rock. Idk how well it handles lower mid-gain crunch, but worst case, there are a million pedals that get that pretty bang on. I gig with a pop punk cover band, so sometimes I need less of a full throttle sound.

The Nitro seems to have a killer growl. The voicing almost seems like a parallel to an Uberschall? I’ve kinda always wanted to try an Uberschall, but the mediocre clean, iffy effects loop, and it doing one trick (really well) kinda gives me pause.

I know Splawns have a rep for being stiff or dry. I know the Nitro is more saturated than the QR, and the B+ would probably add in some squish?

I have a cabinet with a vintage 30 and an alnico cream (which may turn into another v30 some day).

I’ve seen videos and heard clips where they sound proper big, but clear and present, while they sound dark in others. YouTube isn’t the best source of truth, but it’s good for getting a general sense.

So, all that said - what would you compare the Nitro to?
How are the cleans?
Volume manageable for smaller clubs?
What’s the feel under the fingers?
Any benefit to the Fully Loaded updates?
Would a Nitro get along with a v30 cab, or is there a preferred speaker pairing?
 
Great question.

I would ask MonkeyMan to move this to the main forum :yes:

I think you would be happy with the Nitro based on what you've described. Even the QR was an attempt at getting some Recto into a Marshall. As you can see in our Splawn Clips thread there are some great Nitro clips in there. I think the main complaint with the Nitro was it is very bass heavy. Also, it won't be as greasy under the fingers as say a Bogner or Friedman but more so than a Quick Rod. Most the guys here will attest that the new features are worth it. Not sure I'd go with a V30 cab but you can always start there. Most guys, myself included, are going with Splawn Small Blocks, Creambacks, Scumbacks, etc.
 
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@Monkey Man any chance I could have this thread moved to the main forum?

@311splawndude yeah, there are some really killer Nitro clips out there. The QR sounds pretty great too. I don't need the grease to quite reach Friedman/Bogner land, but I definitely prefer more of it than less. The new feature sets seem really killer, and I dug the clips with the Small Blocks for sure.

There's a couple Nitros for sale here and a few on Reverb, but all are older models. Lot to think about. There's a few other amps I'm considering outside of Splawn but so far, Splawn feels like a front runner if I get the right one.
 
I had a Nitro with EL34's back in like 2010. I also had a Competition and 6505+ at the same time. I really liked the Nitro from the moment I plugged in. The 6505+ was always good, but there just seemed to be something missing for me. The Nitro was exactly what I was missing from the 6505. All the things I liked about the 6505 plus that extra something I felt I was missing.
When it came time to sell of some stuff I ended up keeping the Competition over the Nitro because I could get the Competition to sound similar to the Nitro by adding a boost (wasn't really a booster), but I couldn't really get the Nitro to get the Competition tones.
I didn't really use the clean, but I remember it being a fine basic/vanilla clean.
 
I had a Nitro for a moment, to my ears it was more like a 5150 with all the stiff fizz & low mids than it was a hot rodded Marshall. When I think HRM I think QuickRod. Or, I actually had a 6V6 SuperSport once that killed at the Marshall cut with Recto balls thing. If that thing was small form factor I might have kept it, but having a 20w head in a full size shell for some reason was off-putting to me.. Kind of like pistol caliber rifles. If I'm going to carry something the size of a rifle, dammit I want it to have the balls of a rifle.
 
bubbastain said:
I had a Nitro with EL34's back in like 2010. I also had a Competition and 6505+ at the same time. I really liked the Nitro from the moment I plugged in. The 6505+ was always good, but there just seemed to be something missing for me. The Nitro was exactly what I was missing from the 6505. All the things I liked about the 6505 plus that extra something I felt I was missing.
When it came time to sell of some stuff I ended up keeping the Competition over the Nitro because I could get the Competition to sound similar to the Nitro by adding a boost (wasn't really a booster), but I couldn't really get the Nitro to get the Competition tones.
I didn't really use the clean, but I remember it being a fine basic/vanilla clean.
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I’ve definitely heard the clean is nothing to write home about. Interesting you mention a 6505+. I feel like I’ve seen a person or two draw some comparisons. I’ve also talked to a few people who mentioned some of the other Splawns being able to get into Nitro territory with some EQ and boosting, but it being harder to the inverse.
 
GJgo said:
I had a Nitro for a moment, to my ears it was more like a 5150 with all the stiff fizz & low mids than it was a hot rodded Marshall. When I think HRM I think QuickRod. Or, I actually had a 6V6 SuperSport once that killed at the Marshall cut with Recto balls thing. If that thing was small form factor I might have kept it, but having a 20w head in a full size shell for some reason was off-putting to me.. Kind of like pistol caliber rifles. If I'm going to carry something the size of a rifle, dammit I want it to have the balls of a rifle.
Click to expand...
I think I may have watched a video of yours comparing the Nitro to some of your Mesas. Love your Mesa videos in general dude. I feel that though. The idea of carrying a full-on head shell for 20w of power just doesn’t sit well with me. I’d gladly take the opposite. Those SuperSports do sound killer though. More food for thought.
 
GJgo said:
When I think HRM I think QuickRod. Or, I actually had a 6V6 SuperSport once that killed at the Marshall cut with Recto balls thing. If that thing was small form factor I might have kept it, but having a 20w head in a full size shell for some reason was off-putting to me..
Click to expand...
I had both a 2020 100w full sized QR (EL34's), and 2022 22w QR (6V6's) in the smaller head shell and was able to A/B them side by side. Both set up identically with the "fully loaded" mods, etc.. The only difference was the 100w had Classic Tone iron, and the 22w has whenever current trannies that Scott is using now. Sold the 100 watter, and kept the 6V6 loaded QR. Not that it means anything to anyone else because tone is so subjective, but it was an easy choice for me to make. That little QR is a keeper.
 
ape2000 said:
I think I may have watched a video of yours comparing the Nitro to some of your Mesas. Love your Mesa videos in general dude. I feel that though. The idea of carrying a full-on head shell for 20w of power just doesn’t sit well with me. I’d gladly take the opposite. Those SuperSports do sound killer though. More food for thought.
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Let me know if you find that.

Here is my ABY and the Splawn just kills the Recto with dat tight bass and CUT

 
311splawndude said:
Let me know if you find that.

Here is my ABY and the Splawn just kills the Recto with dat tight bass and CUT

Click to expand...

Dude. Yeah, so Splawn + Recto is fucking awesome. ABY-ing them, you really hear where both shine and what they bring or lack. But the sound of a Marshall circuit and something in the Recto realm as a pair is always killer.

Tbh, I think that’s much of why I’ve been thinking Nitro. I know the lows can be hard to dial out, but it seems like a pretty close attempt at getting that sort of tone.
 
Never tried a Quickrod. Tried Mesa Rectifier and couldn't bond with it. Bought the Nitro back in 2007 (if recall correctly) and never looked back to be honest. I had an Egnater Armageddon at one point and I sold it 2 weeks after buying it and went back to using the Nitro.

Tried Marshall TSL and Peavy 5150 and tone wise, neither did it for me and stayed with the Nitro.

That's just what my ears liked.. besides, you cant get anywhere near the support and service you get from Scott him self.

Good luck
 
I had a KT88 Nitro and it had a huge low end with super strong low mid focus. Ended up selling it cause it was just too much growl in the low mids for me. Been wanting to try the QR since as I think it would suit me better.
 
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