NAD Skunkworks SVT content!

[basey]

Hi,
Just wanted to share the new (to me) amp.
Also, wandering if I should think about recapping it? Also Do these come with only 4 feet on them originally?
Anyway....

 

[pfschim]

ha! I was casually looking at that item myself. Cool, hope it works out for you.

 

[basey]

The guy selling it was just a couple miles from me. It was hard to resist.

 

[agedhorse]

If there are no identified cap problems, leave it alone.

 

[basey]

If there are no identified cap problems, leave it alone.

Sounds good to me. Thanks!

 

[JimmyM]

Yes, they have 4 feet. Great score, very low number, too!

 

[Wasnex]

Look forward to your comparison review against your other SVT .

 

[Arthur U. Poon]

Look forward to your comparison review against your other SVT .

Me too!

 

[ardgedee]

Out of curiosity: Why do you have the Bright 1 and Normal 2 inputs bridged?

 

[Hundred proof]

I love words and how they originated ... "Skunk works"


The term originated during World War II when the P-80 Shooting Star was designed by Lockheed's Advanced Development Projects Division in Burbank, California, under similar circumstances. A closely guarded incubator was set up in a circus tent next to a plastics factory in Burbank. The strong smells that wafted into the tent made the Lockheed R&D workers think of the foul-smelling "Skonk Works" factory in Al Capp's Li'l Abner comic strip.[3]

 

[Wasnex]

Out of curiosity: Why do you have the Bright 1 and Normal 2 inputs bridged?

That basically just allows you to use both channels simultaneously for more tone options. By bridging the controls you can open up the high end a bit more with channel 2.

 

[JimmyM]

Out of curiosity: Why do you have the Bright 1 and Normal 2 inputs bridged?

So you can use both channels at the same time.

 

[Smooth_bass88]

I love words and how they originated ... "Skunk works"


The term originated during World War II when the P-80 Shooting Star was designed by Lockheed's Advanced Development Projects Division in Burbank, California, under similar circumstances. A closely guarded incubator was set up in a circus tent next to a plastics factory in Burbank. The strong smells that wafted into the tent made the Lockheed R&D workers think of the foul-smelling "Skonk Works" factory in Al Capp's Li'l Abner comic strip.[3]

Saw a entire show on this topic on PBS. Very cool stuff.

 

[Chris 'Wighat' Jordan]

I had been eyeing that one too! So cool. Greetings from Port Aransas and congratulations.

 

[basey]

Look forward to your comparison review against your other SVT .

That's agreat idea! I'll try to set up something. I'm going to retube it first though. It has a few chinese off brand ( TNT) tubes in it. I can hear distortion develop fairly quickly. Which isn't what I going for with it. Also, the gain on this svt is considerably lower than the blueline.

 

[Wasnex]

Also, the gain on this svt is considerably lower than the blueline.

I think the gain on my Skunk is a little lower than my blueline but not a lot.

I wonder if someone threw 12DW7s in it without updating the circuit.

Here are the directions to convert from 12DW7 to 12AX7 if you want to reverse engineer it.

Vintage values for R25 was 1.5K. R6 was 47K and R7 was 100K.

 

[agedhorse]

Sometimes leaving a properly working amp alone rather than "fixing a problem that doesn't exist" is a better way to approach things.

What was the amp shipped with from the factory originally?

 

[basey]

I read that they originally came with nos us tubes. Here's a picture of one of the TNT tubes. I've never heard of this brand before.

 

[bobyoung53]

That's agreat idea! I'll try to set up something. I'm going to retube it first though. It has a few chinese off brand ( TNT) tubes in it. I can hear distortion develop fairly quickly. Which isn't what I going for with it. Also, the gain on this svt is considerably lower than the blueline.

I had one years ago and yes the gain is a lot lower than a 70's head. Mine came with 12AX7's and I switched it to 12DW7's and the tone and gain was exactly the same. I thought my 70's heads sounded more aggressive, it was a very well made head, quiet.

 

[JimmyM]

Sometimes leaving a properly working amp alone rather than "fixing a problem that doesn't exist" is a better way to approach things.

What was the amp shipped with from the factory originally?

Here's something I totally forgot about...only the 12dw7's were swapped out to 12ax7's. The 6c4 cathode follower and the 12bh7 driver tubes remained. And according to an ad on Reverb for a used one, they used US made Philips Sylvanias. But in the Ampeg book, they talk about buying all the GE 6550's they could find at the time because the tube plants were all closing down and they didn't know what was going to happen. Anyway, this thread from a few years back talks about the tubes it uses and their functions:

SVT-HD Tube Functions?

Now if SLM's claim that the Skunkworks SVT-HD's was the exact same signal path otherwise, I suppose converting it to use 12dw7's could fix the gain being lower than the originals. However, I think an easier fix would be just to turn the volume knob up Unless you're looking to crank it all the way up into fuzzland and it's not hitting the same level of distortion as an original or VR, I wouldn't sweat it even a little.