Squeezin the best tone out of my Nomad 45

[Jakob]

Hi there. I bought my first boogie last year, and I've been experimenting alot with tones and recording lately. I'm kind of a Recto-sound guy, but I can't afford a Recto+cab yet, so I went for the Nomad instead, since I got it pretty cheap. I didn't know it was so mid-y and "mellow", though.

Anyway, I have got some pretty cool tones out of it with and EQ with some scoop in the FX-loop, since this amp is very mid-ish and low-mid-ish. What I'm looking for now is some more "bite", some more heaviness and some more compression and sustain on riffs and chords.

I'm running my EMG equipped guitar right into it, with a Boss EQ in the loop, and a Rode NT-1a condenser and/or a SM58 on the speaker. I have switched a bit between the orange Modern and red Modern channels, with the extreme switch engaged, but they both seem kind of "saggy" and not very tight.

So basically I'm looking for some tips to make it sound better, more like a recto/bogner/powerball/5150 etc... Any tips to EQ settings, preamp vs poweramp distortion, etc?

 

[musicbox]

I have a favourite setting with my 45, but it didn't work as well on other nomad's, so I'm not so sure itll work on yours. Engage the Extreme poweramp mode and set the eq as so:

Gain: 12:00-2:00
Volume: To taste
Presence: Dimed
Treble: Off
Mids:12:00-3:00
Bass: 11:00
Master: LOTS

oh ya, this is on the 3rd channel, modern. the el84's in the poweramp mean that this amp should not be saggy in the least. infact, a recto should seem a bit sluggy compared to these bright snappy tubes when they're cranked. perhaps they need replacing? jj/testlas seem to bring out the more agressive poweramp distortion that el84's are famous for when the time comes.

also, if your looking for the scooped recto sound, you bought the wrong nomad. this amp is deffinlty more british than american in its eq.

 

[Jakob]

Hm, I use Sovteks. They're maybe getting old too..

Treble - off? I always end up using 12-14 treble, 12+ bass and 9-11 mids... And not much more than 10 o'clock on the gain.

 

[musicbox]

On my old amp, when you scooped off the treble, it bassically just cut out the pot and allowed all the mids and bass to flow through. the presence controll compesated for the lack of top end, and i just ended up with this screaming chunky tone that couldnt be touched live. it was like a marshall on steroids and cut through everthing, whie still retaining the mesa character. turning the treble up just a few degrees added some compression if the all out mids were to much.

 

[dylan7620]

i have that nomad now, the mid and treble controls all interact with how the gain responds. for me keeping my mids at around noon is cool, but if its cranked and i go to about 1 it starts to lose itself and everything there after is mush. ill get some clips and settings recorded and ill show u some recto like tones :wink:

 

[dylan7620]

Hm, I use Sovteks. They're maybe getting old too..

def. new tubes, it transformed my amp into a tone beast afterward

 

[Jakob]

*Bump* Any more tips out there?

I was considering a 4x12, new tubes, booster, etc.. Any thoughts?

 

[rs70chgrrt]

I have the nomad 45 and couldn't get a bright enough sound from it for my liking. I tried the eq in the fx loop and it helped but was to noisy for me. I bought a boss ds-1 and sent it to keeley to get it modded. I just got it back yesterday and tried it out. I am really happy with it. I can get tons of sustain and chords ring very clear. I use it in front of channel 2 set on vintage setting with the following settings

Gain 12
Master 11
Presence1-2
Treble 1
Mid 10
Bass 10

Settings on DS 1
Tone 12
Level 11
Gain 10-1 works for me

Sounds good at low and high volumes.( to me anyway, but everyones different)

 

[j37nm]

I have a nomad 100, and love it! Fortunately for me, there is an onboard graphic eq, so I have the option of scooping the mids. Although, i love the Mid's on the nomad and tend not to use the eq. The mids allows the tone to punch through. The mids may sound bad by itself (too overbearing), but once you put it in a band setting or a mix, you will hear your tone very distinctly.

The nomad 45 will probably not get any of your desired tones because of the power section (EL 84). The EL 84 have more of a chimey character, much different than 6L6 & EL 34's. With the El84's, you will get closer to a vox style sound. If you want more of a recto tone, you need some 6L6 power tubes!

Channel 3 modern is basically a recto tone w/o the low mid thump & excessive gain. If you crank the gain 1 - 3 o clock, it tends to even out the highs & mids, for a more balanced tone.

I discovered that JJ & Groove Tubes preamp & power tubes are darker sounding (will tame the mids). The groove tubes more vintage sounding, and the JJ more modern sounding. You may want to consider these options to darken the tone. Mesa tubes, on the other hand, tend to be very bright.

You can try changing your speakers. The celestion GT-75 is a nice mid scooped speaker. Consider the Eminence man o war as a cheaper, but pretty good alternative. The eminence red, white, and blues & black powder are american speakers (based on jensen models) that are mid scooped, and will definitely darken the tone a bit. Finally, playing through an oversized cab, such as the recto 2 x 12, will darken the tone (tame the mids), and give the sound a bigger vibe (ala recto).

hope this helps
j

 

[dylan7620]

the GT75s in my 1960A are good by themselves but in a mix situation, my other guitarist uses an alder jackson through a soldano and he sets his tone up just to cut through. im thinking about getting some vintage 30s and placing them in an X patten like the uberschall cab and that would brighten it up quite a bit. some new JJs would also help.

 

[musicbox]

i've always found the gt75's in the marshall cabs to be quite abit brighter and cuttier than the vintage 30's...they should serve more to warm up the tone and add some character to the mids of the gt75's.