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NAD: Egnater Armageddon


Chrisjd

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Purchased this guy about a month ago from loop @ Sweetwater, who was pleasurable to deal with. The footswitch that came with it didn't work, so i had to wait a week for Egnater to send a replacement. They sent a replacement, which was the wrong footswitch for a different model. After informing egnater, they finally shipped out the correct switch, but what blew my mind was that they didn't overnight or two day ship it, they chose standard ground. I called out one of their sales guys on it and he didn't care in the least.

In short, i didn't get a working footswitch for about 3 weeks after i received the amp.

Anyways, onto the good stuff.

This amp is awesome. I agree with many who say it sounds like cross between a 6505 and an Engl. The thing that really sold me on it was the flexibility, along with the built in ISP decimator. I made this suggestion on hcaf about a year ago(building decimators into amps) and everyone laughed at me like i was a {censored}ing fool. Funny how things work.

Three channels...

channel one: best clean i have ever gotten out of a high gain head. Each channel has independent reverb controls, which i like to use heavily on this channel. TONS of headroom.

Channel two: Goes from mid gain to high gain metal riffing. Very tight and percussive. Has a walloping punch and galloping on the low string is seriously addicting. I use this channel for all my rhythm.

Channel three: A slight darker, saggier version of channel two, with more gain. Still great for rhythm work, but this channel is a little smoother i think which makes it nice for leads.

I love this head through my Marshall mode 4 v30 cab. Everything is controllable through the footswitch. This is probably the best high gain, 3 channel head I have owned. I got to play it at band practice last night, and it held it's own against my other guitar players 6505. They were all very impressed with the sound of the Armageddon.

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I used to have the a Rocktron Vendetta [which was designed by Bruce] and I was hoping that I could get something like the Armageddon is. Granted, the shared eq's between channels 1/2 and 3/4 were kind of a killer for me... I could get one side of the shared eq to sound great, but the other was meh as best... It was really disappointing, because it was a pretty good sounding amp, with plenty of versatility.

The reason I am talking about the Vendetta is because I liked it and have been wanting to find an amp some day that was similarly setup but had a better use of eq's... The Armageddon seems like it would be a good fit with the different eq switches... The other cool thing about the Vendetta was that it could accept any power tube [except EL84 - without a converter]... I don't know if the Armageddon does that or not, but it was cool to play around with different power tubes!

The Tweaker 88 seems like it would be another viable option...

Anyway, congrats on the new amp!!! I would love to hear some clips!! Also, I love the pictures Totally_jammin_out.gif

Cole

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Quote Originally Posted by colejustesen View Post
I used to have the a Rocktron Vendetta [which was designed by Bruce] and I was hoping that I could get something like the Armageddon is. Granted, the shared eq's between channels 1/2 and 3/4 were kind of a killer for me... I could get one side of the shared eq to sound great, but the other was meh as best... It was really disappointing, because it was a pretty good sounding amp, with plenty of versatility.

The reason I am talking about the Vendetta is because I liked it and have been wanting to find an amp some day that was similarly setup but had a better use of eq's... The Armageddon seems like it would be a good fit with the different eq switches... The other cool thing about the Vendetta was that it could accept any power tube [except EL84 - without a converter]... I don't know if the Armageddon does that or not, but it was cool to play around with different power tubes!

The Tweaker 88 seems like it would be another viable option...

Anyway, congrats on the new amp!!! I would love to hear some clips!! Also, I love the pictures Totally_jammin_out.gif

Cole
Yep. We both had the Vendetta, and while liking it....never quite bonded.
I now have a TOL100, which is similar to the Vendetta in most ways, but the difference is that it actually pulls off some really great tones. It's much better in nearly all respects. Great cleans, and great high gain.
I find the gain tones a touch smoother, but the EQ is effective enough to adjust for it.....unlike the vendetta. The channels are voiced a lot closer too, which helps maintain similar settings with the shared EQs.

That said, the modern Egnater stuff is nice.
Had a Tweaker 40 for a while, and the higher gain tone was awesome.....but didn't really open up and grow balls until it was too loud. Would have kept it if it had some ballz.
Even though it had a bunch of voices, I mostly used one setting........the Marshall voicing.....

I can only imagine the 88 is like that too.....gotta get the volume and gain above 1pm on the dial to achieve awesome.

I been interested by the Renegade, as it's touted to have really nice cleans and really good gain tones.....plus all the cool options.


Egnater gain channels all seem to be a bit smoother and darker at non-extreme settings.......it's too bad......his amps would have godlike status if the gain channels were brighter and punchier.
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Quote Originally Posted by tech21man View Post
Concerning the amp list you have/had, you preffered it to the nitro and 6505 and even the deliverance?
It has the nicest cleans, in my opinion.

As for distortion, it's top 3, i'd say. The 6505 and Cobra were/are the benchmarks i used for judging high gain tone. The Armageddon, with the right speakers, is on par with those two.
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Quote Originally Posted by shane159 View Post
How would you compare it to the Nitro? Obviously a little more flexible, but does it have that huge punch and growl like the Splawn? Also, is the Decimator just for the OD's or does it affect the clean if it is on?
The decimator is footswitchable, so you can toggle it on or off, plus it has a sweep control..


I would say my kt77 nitro had a little more low mid, but not by much, if any. The Armageddon hhas just as much punch and seems a little more cutting.

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Quote Originally Posted by Dewysoss View Post
What speakers are you running it through? It's my go to amp for high gain stuff when I'm demoing/noodling at work
definitely like the vintage 30 with this head. I think it needs a speaker with that upper mid grit.

Quote Originally Posted by ke2 View Post
Does it have an international transformer? (i.e 110/220V selector on the rear)

Looks damn cool!
Yes, I saw that.
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