NAD - Fender Bassbreaker 30R

Starting tweaking it today after getting it last night but not having time to do much yesterday.

It's a lot smaller than I thought and seems quite light compared to my Blackstar. Very easily carried around. I played through with my American Standard Fender Strat with stock bridge, locking tuners and noiseless DiMarzio SCs.

Keep in mind, everything is brand new, so I'm curious how the tone will change as it breaks in. I also don't have the ideal set up just yet, but was jut moving knobs around.

Clean channel: It's not Vintage Fender, but it is very fendery. Clear and sparkly and VERY articulate. Much more so than the Blackstar. I like my tone rather trebly and have the treble set to about 2 O'clock and it's not ice picky at all. It seems like every tone control makes things more articulate in that EQ setting. So mess with the Bass, and it doesn't get spongy and boom, but the notes just seem to articulate more to the Bass tones. Very happy with the clean sound, as that can be the basis for any kind of pedal shenanigans.

Dirty channel: The way I can describe stage one is smooooth. Almost Mesa/Boogie-ish in it's milder gain settings. I hear an early, thicker Santana-ish gain, but I set the gain kinda high just to see what it can do. I'll have to mess with that a bit. It's a tad squishy for me, but I also need to see what it sounds like on the middle and bridge pick ups, as I tend to live on the Neck and neck/middle positions.

The Dirty channel has a boost/second gain stage and it SCREAMS. Very edgy with just the right amount of volume boost. When I hit it and starting playing, I literally said "WOW", out loud. Love it. Can't wait to put my analog delay through it to see how it sounds.

I can say that this little guy is LOUD. I have the volume at about 10 O'clock and it was easily as loud as the Blackstar 40W at that same volume, but the Bassbreaker doesn't have an MV knob.

Lastly, was the reverb. I traditionally don't dial in a lot of reverb, so for me it sounded really good at a low setting, and fit my room very well. I know people will balk because it's not a spring reverb, but I really couldn't care less. The fact that it is digital is not a factor for me. I'd been using digital reverb through the Axe Fx for a decade so it's nothing I really nit pick about. Sounds good. Does its job.

I personally love the sounds I got quickly from the amp. I think if you are looking for "vintage" Fender sounds, this really isn't it. It seems like a testosterone fueled Blues DeVille that I remember a friend had, that I borrowed. If you played through the Bassbreaker 15, you will be very familiar with how the 30R sounds. Just louder, and the dirty channel is meaner, LOL.

Eventually will put a full video demo and review on my YouTube channel.

 

Thanks!!

 

Awesome, man!! Congrats!!

I am about to put new pickups in my Tele, so can't wait to put the amp through its paces with the new pickups in place.

I also just got a PRS SE and it's the first humbucking guitar I've had in YEARS. Looking forward to some Led Zep!

 

I think so, too. It will appeal to absolutely everyone needing a versatile amp that is also a pedal platform.

The only people that won't like it are the super high gain users and also the Fender purists who think every amp should sound like a Vintage Bassman/Deluxe Reverb, blah, blah, blah.

 

This is why they released the 30R. It addresses these issues as well as more volume to keep up in a band setting.

I can tell you that it has really opened up in the last couple of days. The clean channel is really coming into its own, and with the bright switch engaged, it does that classic Fender shimmer.

I'm hoping to get a full demo up on my channel in the next couple of weeks. It is the best amp I've ever owned, bar none. And even after having an Axe Fx for a decade, this amp is all I need.

I haven't put the effects loops through its paces, yet. That's the next "project", but I did a little trial recording with the amp and two mics last night and it sounded AMAZING.