NAD | AD30TC combo

[afjungemann]

I know I have been all over the place with my latest posts but here goes nothing. I am in a newer project that is a 3 piece and have been utilizing the stereo guitar amp rig as I posted before. It sounds incredible and doing what I had hoped it would. I am a rockerverb fanatic and always dismissed the AD30 because it didn't have enough gain or an fx loop. About a year ago I tried out an AD30TC head and was blown away. How could I have overlooked this amp so much before?! Another local guitar store has had an AD30 combo for about 10 years or more just sitting there. The price was never really that enticing especially for something that will likely need new tubes and a look through. I began looking for a used one and found several at a pretty good price. The issue as always... shipping. It would add a pretty penny to get it shipped and kind of defeated the savings.

The local store for better or worse is closing after being family owned for 40+ years. Pretty tough to see that happen but they now were selling the AD30 for cheaper. I stopped in and they named their price. I was interested but still kind of on the fence. Then I saw they posted about the amp today for an absolutely unbeatable price. I drove there immediately and picked it up.

I love it. I am so excited to get it to practice tonight so I can really open it up.

I had posted about possibly trading my RV head for a RV combo but now that I have this, I will keep my head.

[Wired]

The AD30TC was one of my favorite amps. congrats!

I was in the same boat tho, no FX loop.... I didn't mind the lower gain it had than the RV because it suited me, but the lack of FX loop really bothered me. I ended up setting the channels for a bright clean and a dark clean (for switching between my les paul or my telecaster). eventually I sold it for my RV50.

[fiveightandten]

It's a nice amp, and you will enjoy it if you can get the master volume above halfway. Below that, the amp is too loud for you. I find it to be somewhat brittle at low volumes, but it *really* opens up into a living breathing organic thing at high volumes.

I've owned 3 of these amps, and I've found them to be inconsistent in terms of sound. As I've measured the voltages in them, I believe this is due to wide variance in the power transformers. Some are putting out way more voltage (and power) than intended, others are running much cooler than intended, and everything in-between. Add in the fact that they changed transformers throughout production, and changed PCBs, and supposedly the heads and combos have different B+ rail dropping resistors, and you get further variance between amps.

It's a nice sounding circuit regardless, and if you like the sound of the amp, stick with it. However, if you don't like the sound of it, you may run across a different AD30 that sounds great to you.

[Ronnie Robinson]

Wow fantastic, I have the head version and it's my favourite Amp. Sounds great.

OK no effects loop but set the gain low and volume high on channel one and it is the most pedal friendly orange Amp I've used.It also works well using the gain knob as a volume control after dialing the volume fully. Turning up the volume really does make a huge difference in tone and dynamics.

Plus it will cut a band mix better than yourRV IMO, that was easily the case when I had mine.

[Les Paul Lover]

Congrats on the AD30 and on keeping your RV head!!!!

I loved the AD30 I briefly had. I still have my AD15, and it's a lovely amp.

[afjungemann]

Had practice tonight and used the new AD30.

First off, that sucker is loud. I was really expecting to be able to turn it up almost all the way but not a chance.

As others have said, there is the AD30 at bedroom volume and there is the AD30 at band volume and the two are hardly even the same amp. So much presence and bite when you get it cooking a bit. Just fantastic.

One thing I noticed is that there is an odd rattle noise that happens with it. I have a 212ob so I disconnected the internal speakers and it seemed to take away the rattle sound quite a bit but I was still noticeable (the combo was stacked on top of the cab).

I assume it is from the junky tube holder brackets rattling against the tube? It is actually amplified too so it isn’t just a loose screw or anything.

Thoughts?

[Ronnie Robinson]

That's a shame, no idea what it is but could be worth taking a look at each valve and retainer, taking each valve out and putting each valve and retainer back in, ensuring each is seated properly.

[Les Paul Lover]

Had practice tonight and used the new AD30.

First off, that sucker is loud. I was really expecting to be able to turn it up almost all the way but not a chance.

As others have said, there is the AD30 at bedroom volume and there is the AD30 at band volume and the two are hardly even the same amp. So much presence and bite when you get it cooking a bit. Just fantastic.

One thing I noticed is that there is an odd rattle noise that happens with it. I have a 212ob so I disconnected the internal speakers and it seemed to take away the rattle sound quite a bit but I was still noticeable (the combo was stacked on top of the cab).

I assume it is from the junky tube holder brackets rattling against the tube? It is actually amplified too so it isn’t just a loose screw or anything.

Thoughts?

Microphonic valve.....

[afjungemann]

[quote=afjungemann post_id=660942 time=<a href="tel:1526617999">1526617999</a> user_id=18544]
Had practice tonight and used the new AD30.

First off, that sucker is loud. I was really expecting to be able to turn it up almost all the way but not a chance.

As others have said, there is the AD30 at bedroom volume and there is the AD30 at band volume and the two are hardly even the same amp. So much presence and bite when you get it cooking a bit. Just fantastic.

One thing I noticed is that there is an odd rattle noise that happens with it. I have a 212ob so I disconnected the internal speakers and it seemed to take away the rattle sound quite a bit but I was still noticeable (the combo was stacked on top of the cab).

I assume it is from the junky tube holder brackets rattling against the tube? It is actually amplified too so it isn’t just a loose screw or anything.

Thoughts?

Microphonic valve.....
[/quote]

I was wondering if it was that as well so I pulled the tubes from my TH30 to see if that would fix it and it may have. Possibly from my handling or some other element, one of the tubes did blow after powering it on with the other tubes so I had to use one of the original tubes with it again. I suppose it is possible I grabbed the microphonic tube by sheer bad luck. The other tube blew before I could really get a good feel of if it fixed it or not.

[afjungemann]

I woke up realizing I had missed an important part of the equation... les Paul lover mentioned the microphonic valve and I was always focused on the power section, not the preamp section... my mistake...

I am ordering a full new set of tubes for the amp because it hasn’t been serviced in the 10+ years it sat in the store.

Hopefully that fixes it all.

[bclaire]

While you're at it, tighten all screws including the screws holding the chrome loop handles on.