kmd amps

[Nickster12]

I was wondering if anyone out there has a kmd guitar amp? If so do you like the

sound of it? Is it loud? How does it compare with other amps? I have a kmd gs 75 I just purchased and I am getting the footswitch fixed and haven't played it yet. Thanks for a reply Nickster:wave:

[thenakedarab]

I was wondering if anyone out there has a kmd guitar amp? If so do you like the sound of it? Is it loud? How does it compare with other amps? I have a kmd gs 75 I just purchased and I am getting the footswitch fixed and haven't played it yet. Thanks for a reply Nickster:wave:

 

I've got a KMD XV100SD, which runs five 12ax7 in the preamp and 4 6550 in the power amp. To me it's a great sounding amp. It's got a really nice clean channel, and great crunch channel too, though it needs a boost to do the br00tal metal tones.

 

I've played it on it's own, but usually I use it as a power amp for the second side of my stereo fx that are run in my Mesa's fx loop.

 

Is the gs one of the hybrids with the solid state preamp, or is it all tube?

 

Jerry P told me they are very close circuit wise to a JCM800 if that tells you anything.

[Nickster12]

I think it is solid state but not sure, do not see tubes

[Puddlegum]

I used to have an old solid state KMD back in high school. That bugger was loud. I got all of my tone from a few pedals, the onboard distortion on that thing sounded terrible if memory serves me correctly.

[NomadFromGonad]

I 've had 3 kmd amps. 2 remaining. I got one out of them out of a trash bin from behind a music store that my friends and I used to raid daily (no. we weren't poor by a LONG shot, but, the {censored} they thought was trash is amazing).

 

I recently bought their flagship xv100sd tube head from a friend of mine who plays death metal and had no use for that amp. He wasn't happy with the gain of it. There is none. Its a mid gain amp. Very marshall sounding. If they could have just given the thing a little more gain, growl, balls and mojo I think kmd would have been more successful. The reverb sucks and never put the presence on 10. bleah. There is a bright switch which basically sounds like you are covering and uncovering the amp with a wet blanket. I prefer the amp brightened. I'll probably never touch that switch again.

 

 

I retubed it with old unused tubes I had laying around and it came to life. Its a totally new amp now and I like it alot. I don't think it will replace my marshalls ever (its basically a marshall on estrogen) but I can definately understand why sambora liked it for at least a short while.

 

if you buy one, change the tubes if they say "groove tubes" and the labeling is very faded as if they are 20 years old. Thems the originals and they is prolly day'ed.

 

The xv100 is a 6550 tuber. That tube can kiss my ass. This amp is begging for the midrange growl of El-34's. I keep asking myself "what is this amp missing? its missing something". El-34's I theorize.

 

I think putting 6550's in it was KMD's biggest mistake (but since marshall was using 6550's at the time the kmd was made, I can understand why kmd did. They were aiming for the marshall market.). I have kt-88's in it now. Preferred the 6550's so those are going back in, temporarily.

Anyways, if you like marshall-like tone and dont mind paying chump change for an amp few people have...... get one. You'll like it. I saw one selling for $350. Well worth that price. They are rare though. Don't expect to find one tommorrow.

 

I have a solid state (pre) head with 6l6 power tubes. That one has more apparent gain than the tube version. I always keep the gain of that amp on 10. I hate every other number on that dial. Whether or not I like this amp depends on which guitar I'm using (it hates single coils, loves my high output pickups). Most people I've run into online describe the KMD solid states as "harsh" But thats what makes the amp sound mean (can't say I disagree with the "harsh" claim though). It is a mean loud offensive amp one either loves or hates.

The clean channel, meh.

These amps sell for as much as some distortion pedals ($150-200). Not a bad buy at all for a general practice amp. (dont expect to play the blues with it though).

The "all SS" kmd amp I had, sounded like my hybrid head's line out. That was redundant and I saw no reason to keep it.

 

generally I like kmd's but acknowledge that these amps probably never took off for a reason. They didnt win over guitar players. I havent tried their newer "staxx" amps they marketed before they went out of business.

prolly just more of the same.

 

And yes, KMD built their amps for ROOF SHAKING LOUD.

[NomadFromGonad]

 

I think it is solid state but not sure, do not see tubes

 

 

 

 

 

GS models are all solid state.

GV models are SS but have valves in the power section (hence the V)..

XV model was the only all tube model.

[Nickster12]

Thanks for the info and by the way I just got a charvel jackson model 4 guitar on ebay

and I love it! Only thinb is it has some fret ware but doesn't affect the performance of it. Do you think I could replace the frets myself if I wanted to?

Thanks Nickster:love::love: