Nomad Questions

[Monsta-Tone]

I've been thinking about picking up a Nomad 55.
I am very disappointed in my Express 550+. The switching glitches and lack of gain have me rethinking things.

I have a few questions, hopefully someone here has the answers:
1. Are there any pops, drop outs, delays, glitches, etc. when changing channels on the Nomad 55?

2. I've seen the reverb mod that increases the amount of reverb in channels 2 & 3.
- Has anyone come up with a mod, or experimented with different tanks to improve the sound of the reverb in channel 1?
- I'm a huge fan of tube driven reverb and every amp I've owned with solid state driven reverb has not lasted very long.

3. How touch sensitive is the amp? Especially channels 1 & 3

 

[bgh]

I've been thinking about picking up a Nomad 55.
I am very disappointed in my Express 550+. The switching glitches and lack of gain have me rethinking things.

I have a few questions, hopefully someone here has the answers:
1. Are there any pops, drop outs, delays, glitches, etc. when changing channels on the Nomad 55?

I have a Nomad 45, and I have no sounds at all (other than the sound of the switch itself) when I change channels.

2. I've seen the reverb mod that increases the amount of reverb in channels 2 & 3.
- Has anyone come up with a mod, or experimented with different tanks to improve the sound of the reverb in channel 1?
- I'm a huge fan of tube driven reverb and every amp I've owned with solid state driven reverb has not lasted very long.

I have not done any mods yet on my Nomad. (Although I am contemplating the "mud mod"). But, having said that, I am satisfied with the reverb w/o any mods to it.

3. How touch sensitive is the amp? Especially channels 1 & 3

My 45 is quite sensitive. Not to the same degree as my Mark IV, but it does have good dynamics. The alternate mode in channel 1 does have good dynamics too.

 

[Crowbar]

I sold my 55. I don't recall any switching glitches with it, it worked smoothly.

I remember I could dial in the gain channels in a way that was sensitive, a light touch and I could hear chords clean, then dig in and it would break up nice.

I kept gain settings as low as I could, didn't go for massive crunch sounds.

Never tried a reverb mod, it sounds like good idea. Channels 2 3 I kept the reverb up to ten and it was barely there. I got just enough of it channel 1

 

[NomadExpress]

I have a Nomad 55 1x 12....

- It was fairly touch sensitive but became way more touch sensitive once I put in the switch to strip out the negative feedback. (this function is on the 45).
- I reviewed and posted the mods for the reverb but have not decided to do the mod (I am not sold yet, I guess). The parallel resistor mod seems hopeful. The reverb options are so great these days, there is no reason you can't put a good unit in the loop. It is a parallel loop so you can dial the strength and mix of the loop.
- I do not recall pops or switch glitches. I had a bad cable once and it cost me $30 to replace it. It was the source of random ghost switching as the amp heated up..

 

[Monsta-Tone]

Thanks guys!
I appreciate the info.

I don't use Verb on my distortion channels, just the clean. I would probably just want to mod the verb to sound the way I like on the clean channel and leave the rest alone.
What other Mesa amp would you compare the distortion to on Channels 2 & 3?
How warm sounding are the cleans?

I bought an Express 550 Plus, but the cleans are not nearly as good as they were on the original Express to me. The original Express cleans were much warmer sounding. The Plus is too bright.
I did really like the cleans on the Lonestar and Roadster, but the switching glitches drove me nuts and the Lonestar just didn't have decent distortion.

 

[NomadExpress]

The clean channel actually has decent reverb. It is channels 2 and 3 that have the reverb issues.

Cleans are OK - Pushed cleans are fantastic. I like the clean on my 5:25 better.

I modded my Nomad (FX loop capacitor) and the cleans are amazing, now.

For reference...
http://forum.grailtone.com/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=57495