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Post by gotmojo on Nov 16, 2019 21:51:40 GMT -7
This freaking Nova is made for rock and roll. I been having the best time rocking this amp. Running heavy with distortion and controlling slight grit to full on rocking distortion with a twist of the guitar’s volume knob, a rocking machine. I’m preparing for some sort of Tom Petty tribute gig coming up in a few weeks and this amp, with the Z Drive, is the balls for that genre!!!! Fun as can be. Doc, you have done it again. I ordered a Cure and Nova together, and although the dang Cure is a monster in its own right, beautifully implemented, its barely got used so far as I’m addicted to getting crazy on the Nova.
Hope to record a video with it soon A/B’ing with my old tweed Deluxe! This Nova can be very tweedy. I’ll post it here if I can remember how.
Thanks again, Doc. You rock. My man.
jj
did I mention the z drive also freaking rocks. and that coming from a fuzzpedalaphobia picker. love the thang.
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Post by gotmojo on Nov 16, 2019 21:55:38 GMT -7
Tonight I ran through our Petty set with a Strat, Tele, and sitar; all rocked supreme at about 85-90 dB. Drop D: Killer through this thang!
jj
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Post by doctorice on Nov 17, 2019 7:06:50 GMT -7
jj, it seems we've ended up in a similar place. I've found that always-on OD still cleans up nicely with guitar volume rolled down and, depending how the amp is set, everything from clean to full-on drive is available directly. Are you using the Z Drive for more push, eq re-shaping or both?
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Post by KeithA on Nov 17, 2019 8:33:02 GMT -7
I always wanted a Galaxie back in the day. That GAS was driven by T-Rock's clips from the days of old! I actually ordered one but 2 slip ups by my dealer at the time meant I never did get it 😜
I assume the Nova is the Galaxie and more 😎
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Post by doctorice on Nov 17, 2019 12:00:06 GMT -7
I always wanted a Galaxie back in the day. That GAS was driven by T-Rock's clips from the days of old! I actually ordered one but 2 slip ups by my dealer at the time meant I never did get it 😜 I assume the Nova is the Galaxie and more 😎 There is a large overlap. Doc's casting the OD into a blendable "adjacent channel" (my words) and having a master volume without giving up the presence control makes the Nova more user friendly. But the Galaxie does have a triode/pentode switch.
I have a blonde Galaxie head, btw, but I'm undecided whether to keep it or let it go.
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Post by gotmojo on Nov 17, 2019 19:57:05 GMT -7
Back a hundred years ago, I had a Galaxie and it was great, but I ended up not using it much because of an addiction to the Remedy at the time, and sold it. The Nova doesn't really remind me of the Galaxie at all, but then I can’t remember shite anyway. The dial-in distortion channel makes this a very unique amp in my opinion!!! This amp has grown on me monstrously!
LIVE USE REVIEW:
Used the Nova tonight with full band rehearsal at fairly low volume in my living room/studio tonight, was most excellent (no ear plugs kind of low volume!). Working up a set of Tom Petty tunes for an upcoming fundraiser. Tele, Andersen strat, Jerry Jones sitar (Don’t Come Around Here No More). Z Drive, Flint, Aquapuss delay. Superb for every song, clean volume @ 2:30, distortion knob at 1:00. Clean vs dirt with guitar volume knob. Nova with no Z Drive on quite a few tunes, and the Z Drive jacked a few tunes up into creamy oblivion (e.g. listen to Petty’s “Good Enough”). Tele slide with Z Drive: sublime. Sitar I actually ran with the Z Drive on, guitar volume down quite a bit - excellent tone, smoothed it out almost like a compression thang. Loved it.
Once again, thanks go out to the Doc.
jj
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Post by gotmojo on Nov 17, 2019 20:22:31 GMT -7
jj, it seems we've ended up in a similar place. I've found that always-on OD still cleans up nicely with guitar volume rolled down and, depending how the amp is set, everything from clean to full-on drive is available directly. Are you using the Z Drive for more push, eq re-shaping or both? Right! Similar place. Not the first time, Mike, this seems to happen repeatedly! The Nova by itself is really everything I would need, really, in fuzz, and I could gig all night with ease just plugging straight in with no pedals. I run my OD at 11:30. Actually, with the clean channel volume at 2:30, I could actually play all night straight in with no pedals without the OD channel, it’s sounds great by itself. Dialing up the OD is just a different tone of greatness, so this amp has a lot of sounds in it!!!! A ton of tones! Who cares if the presence knob is subtle!!!! (Well put, Doc!) i have the Z Drive set VERY modestly! The green I have set at nearly the same distortion as the amp (way low drive), but some mids rolled off, a little treble and bass added. This green one changes my EQ just a tad, and just adds some extra creamy smoothness when the guitar volume is up, still cleans up when guitar volume is down, could run it as “always on” with ease. The red I have set for just a little extra nazz, but it comes across so creamy that it, again, is simply yet another great tone at one’s disposal. So with this set up I have essentiall 3 different most excellent tones. But as I previously said, I’d be happy as a clam simply plugging straight into this amp, with my two volume knobs set as above, and rock the whole night away, not a pedal in sight! Also, one of the best aspects with this amp is that, as you dial up your guitar volume, it doesn’t really get much louder, it just dials in the creamy smooth distortion, and a lot of the volume changes you get is with your string attack. Really a stupendously usable sound. So you have everything from a lil crunch to literally any amount of smooth distortion that you want, with just a twist of a knob. I take many solos with just a modest increase in my guitar volume knob. I’ve raved enough. jj and may i say yet once again, that though i have owned many, i have NEVER used distortion pedals to speak of for the past 50 years! this Z Drive is a different animal and i am loving it. so malleable and useful. i am kind of shocked that i’m actually using it!
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Post by doctorice on Nov 18, 2019 7:38:56 GMT -7
^^^
Great description, jj. Gonna have to try my Z Drive!
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Post by benttop (Steve) on Nov 24, 2019 22:29:00 GMT -7
Didn't I say so? Didn't I?
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Post by gotmojo on Nov 26, 2019 10:58:05 GMT -7
Didn't I say so? Didn't I? You did! And you were right!!! I love this amp! Very tweedy. jj
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