NOGAD!!!

[KuruPrionz]

New Old Guitar Amp Day!!!

Roland Spirit 10a, a pipsqueak. The pots need to be cleaned, that will be easy and I'll clean the jacks while I'm at it. 8" speaker, stout cabinet and the best power cord (attached) that I've ever seen on a small amp, it would be good enough for an Ampeg SVT.

 

$16 at Value Village. I bought it because it has 2 inputs, one is labelled Overdrive and the other is labelled Normal (whatever that means!!!!).

 

I wanted to see what the overdrive sounded like. It is evil, like a murder hornet. I'll clean it up a bit, play it some and decide what to do with it. I may need to record something with it. Maybe somebody else needs it more than I do, that's OK too. I'll pop a photo up soon.

[Caevan O’Shite]

I wanted to see what the overdrive sounded like. It is evil, like a murder hornet.

 

 

That's a lot for sixteen bucks!

[KuruPrionz]

I wanted to see what the overdrive sounded like. It is evil, like a murder hornet.

 

 

That's a lot for sixteen bucks!

 

Being a Roland product, I'm pretty sure it's a Boss overdrive circuit of some sort. The advantage is that it has a 3 band EQ - Bass-Mid-Treble where most of the Boss pedals just have one tone control.

Photos attached.

[Larryz]

Kuru, I'm wondering if it has a footswitch jack on the back to switch from "normal" to OD? Rabid, was looking for a small practice amp with a footswitch on his thread...this "NOGAD" amp would be a good candidate for a footswitch.

 

+1 on cleaning those NOGAD pots. I had a Fishman 2 channel amp go down on one channel after about 10 years of use. Cleaning the pots brought the channel back to life and as of this week it's back in the lineup!

 

 

Congrats on the find!

[desertbluesman]

Have fun with the cheapo amps Kuru. and a full tone stack is absolutely necessary for my taste in tone as well. The only solid state amp that I have ever tried and bonded with, was the Gallien Kruegar 250 ML

 

https://www.stillkickinmusic.com/products/gallien-krueger-vintage-lunchbox-250ml-gk-250-ml-60164?variant=10235563704356

[KuruPrionz]

Kuru, I'm wondering if it has a footswitch jack on the back to switch from "normal" to OD? Rabid, was looking for a small practice amp with a footswitch on his thread...this "NOGAD" amp would be a good candidate for a footswitch.

 

+1 on cleaning those NOGAD pots. I had a Fishman 2 channel amp go down on one channel after about 10 years of use. Cleaning the pots brought the channel back to life and as of this week it's back in the lineup!

 

 

Congrats on the find!

 

No footswitch jack anywhere on the amp. I do have a Rivera A or B and A+B footswitch so I could switch between the two inputs but there is only one set of knobs and this is 100% analog so zero presets available.

I figured that a Boss Overdrive would be more than $16 and the BMT controls are a value added feature.

 

I may well record just a couple of bits where I want something really nasty sounding and let somebody else own it. I have too many amps already. And I did recommend 3 different footswitchable amps to Sir Rabid as well.

The less on the floor the better for me but I do like having just a few options that are footswitchable.

 

Pot cleaning is part of owning an older amp, especially if the previous owner did not use it much or did the "set and forget" thing. I got the Roland up and running by rapidly rotating the Volume and Master Vol knobs a few times, that probably scraped the wiper/contact surfaces cleaner for now. I have the correct pot cleaner (with lubricant) spray for cleaning pots so I might as well give them a blast. Really easy to take the thing apart and get in there.

[Larryz]

Kuru, +1 having an AB switch to kick the OD in and out by switching channels would be a good way to go on your NOGAD amp since it lacks a footswitch jack while providing two separate channel inputs. I found my pot issue by rotating the pots on my Fishman in the same way you did. Then I just shot the pots using computer air (with electronics duster) and it brought mine back to life. +1 It's nice when it's easy to take the amp apart and you can get to the pots. I didn't recommend my Roland EX4 to Rabid as the footswitch just turns the effects on/off on the reverb/delay guitar channel and another footswitch input to turn the reverb on/off on the mic/inst channel. I'm not sure how he wants the footswitch to work. It's too expensive of an amp to be considered just a practice amp. My new Fender amp has footswitches to turn the reverb and/or the tremolo on/off but I very seldom ever use the footswitches. I always leave the reverb on and can turn the tremolo speed and intensity knobs when I want to use it throughout a song which rarely happens. Anyway, thanks for the info.