NAD VHT Special 12/20h

The title is probably deceptive as, Ive had this amp for 4 days but, work has been busy so Ive not had a chance to really try it out.£241 from Thomann shipped.
Cranked it tonight with the stock tubes though an open backed 1x12 cab (Eminence legend 1216a) Oh my!!! Sounds great. Up loud smooth mids. Really nice bottom end. Sparkly treble. Not played many BF Fenders but, heard quite a few. I would say, its in that ball park. Now have a pair of TAD 6L6GC-STRs burning in. Cant wait!!!

 

Thanks fender62custom. Only got a pic of the rear panel a shot earlier. Will post more when I get chance. 6l6s burning in

 

Gigging with it Sunday. With hopefully have more to report after that. Hoping 20w can hang with the drummer (very loud)

 

Gigging with it Sunday. With hopefully have more to report after that. Hoping 20w can hang with the drummer (very loud)

 

Yeah, me too.Works really well too.Not noisy at all. Played a jam with the amp yesterday. Really impressed. Clean all the way up the dial with an 12AT7 PI.Very nice for some tele twang . Bit of hum but, could have been the pub wiring. The boost switch works with a slight volume boost but, thats managable giving some really cool grind. Hung with a (loud) drummer in a 5 piece easily without being cranked (3 oclock) It also loved every pedal I threw at it (mainly OD) I would say that it would prob need miking in a very noisy venue but, plenty loud in smaller places. The head is also VERY compact and fits into a large holdall. Overall VERY good piece of kit

 

Thanks filmix2
I found a bit of diligent preamp tube tweeking can go a long way. As I said.Cleans can be had very easily cranked (20w with 6l6) Dirt on tap with the footswitchable boost which bypasses the scooped tonestack.
I really had to turn down the tone knob as this is a rather bright amp. Alternatively the 3 way texture switch takes off quite a lot of top end but, seems to increase mids a fair bit.The depth rotary is VERY effective and adds A LOT of bottom end.
I used my dirt pedal to take it over the edge but, the boost adds some nice crunchy overdrive. The amp is def american voiced scooped mid

 

Re FX loop. Havnt really messed with it (to run FX through) but, what is quite interesting is using the controls in conjunction with the Watts control (power scaling) Lots of different drive settings to be had using send level, return level, volume and Watts setting. Crunch to bluesy cream at bedroom level. Very versatile

 

Steve G, Is that the special 6 or the special 6 ultra?

 

Good stuff my friend. The 6 looks like a great amp. The Ultra is nice but, Im pretty sure I wouldnt use the extra features myself (ymmv) Are you planning mods or just leaving it stock? The samples sound pretty good as is imo

 

In full agreement Steve. The 12/20 is very moddable but, personally I love the way it sounds anyway. Did you get the head or the combo? I really like the boost BTW. May knock a Tubescreamer or two off the board