NAD: Fender Fire-breather

[Bucster752]

Well, made the mistake of visiting an old friend of mine at his music store and came home with this......a Fender Excelsior Pro......like I need another freakin' amplifier. Plugged into one of these several months ago at an open mic and was impressed and I confess to having been eyeballing them on Reverb since then. Lo and behold one appears before me! It had a rattling V1 and a replacement squared that away quick enough.

13 watts rocks the 15" speaker with a solid low end and the highs just scream. It sounds bigger than it's low wattage. The color matches the Telecaster as well........a visual bonus. I think I like it.

 

[dukewellington]

Those were neat amps. IIRC Bill M. had some mods to that amp.

Don’t you live it when you accidentally come home with more gear?

 

[darkwaters]

Fender’s pawn shop series was great. I have the Gretsch G5222. Love that little thing.

 

[JustABluesGuy]

Those have been on my radar for a long time. I missed one locally for a great price.

I have a couple of little Gretas from the same series.

 

[Flip G]

Wait, it has an "Accordion" input? An "Accordion" input!?!

 

[Bucster752]

Wait, it has an "Accordion" input? An "Accordion" input!?!

It does.......and one labeled MIC. I have yet to experiment much with these inputs but a quick plug in test had the MIC input a little cleaner and the ACCORDION input about the same as the GUITAR input........quick first listen though. I'll explore further......

 

[Flip G]

It does.......and one labeled MIC. I have yet to experiment much with these inputs but a quick plug in test had the MIC input a little cleaner and the ACCORDION input about the same as the GUITAR input........quick first listen though. I'll explore further......

Now I'm picturing Weird Al Yankovic dropping by for a jam session!

 

[blowtorch]

PRO TIP- try setting that switch so it balances in-between the two settings

 

[kuch]

Happy NAD! Nice....

 

[RoscoeElegante]

PRO TIP- try setting that switch so it balances in-between the two settings

+1 this!

Great amp. Once its Eminence 1518 speaker really breaks in, it gets very supple and subtle.

 

[blowtorch]

I believe he's got the Legend speaker in that, as it's the Pro version
I've been curious to swap one into my stock "normal" Exy. Plenty of clips out there show a marked difference

 

[Dan German]

Very nice. I have always wanted (never needed) one of those. I don’t even have a good reason to have one. Still want one.

 

[ruger9]

I believe he's got the Legend speaker in that, as it's the Pro version
I've been curious to swap one into my stock "normal" Exy. Plenty of clips out there show a marked difference

The 1518 IS a Legend...

LEGEND 1518 15

Higher power, vintage guitar tone. Big low-end, with a mellow, but singing top end. Medium break-up modes.

eminence.com

 

[blowtorch]

The 1518 IS a Legend...

LEGEND 1518 15

Higher power, vintage guitar tone. Big low-end, with a mellow, but singing top end. Medium break-up modes.

eminence.com

ahhh, thank you for setting me straight on that.
I'd somehow thought the 1518 was the "normal" one and the Legend was a different spkr

 

[Jakeboy]

Try this: put a jumper between guitar and ACC inputs while plugging into MIC…or plug into Guitar while jumpering ACC and MIC. On old Valco 3 input amps this REALLY brought up the dirt and output.

 

[schmee]

I rue the day those pawnshop amps came out. So cheap and I didn't buy any of them!

 

[stormsedge]

I like mine, though a plain brown. I swapped in a 1518 spkr.

 

[Bucster752]

The speaker has the "made for Fender" label rather than the Excelsior label.......I think that's the correct one for the Pro version.

Thanks for the tips, fellas............I'll be playing around with all this kind of stuff!

 

[Wally]

It does.......and one labeled MIC. I have yet to experiment much with these inputs but a quick plug in test had the MIC input a little cleaner and the ACCORDION input about the same as the GUITAR input........quick first listen though. I'll explore further......

I Have never been around one of those, but try this. Plug the guitar in the so-named Jack. Then use another instrument cable to chain the other two jacks. You may hear a difference. Older single channel amps with multiple input jacks will tie together when done this way. If the inputs have tonal differences, that will show up as well.

 

[RoscoeElegante]

ahhh, thank you for setting me straight on that.
I'd somehow thought the 1518 was the "normal" one and the Legend was a different spkr

Not sure what company made the original one, in the brown Tolex version. And I've never played one. From clips, I can recognize the common complaint of its rattiness, which, of course, can work very well in many situations.

But the 1518 is indeed a beast that can also purr. A friend borrowed it to run vocals through, and it did that well, too.

I just wish that the Excelsior's cab weren't so ugly. I love most retro stuff, but just not that. So I'm rehoming mine into a 1952 Westinghouse TV cabinet. V E R Y slowly. It's in parts on the shelf. As a result, I haven't played my Excelsior in many months. Eager to juice the beast again!