NAD: Roccaforte Custom 80

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scottosan

scottosan

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Picked this up cheap. What's originally thinking about using it as a mod platform since parts alone cost more than what I paid. I forgot how much balls these have. The circuit is very close to a Marshall JCM 2203, except a a few component changes and a 400v plate voltage. I'm torn weather to keep it stock or not. It does have a high/lo switch on the second cathode for a tad more gain. This thing is beautiful.




 
If it were me, I'd mod it. I don't personally need another JCM800.
Maybe add another selectable gain stage or... ? I dunno. Plenty of room in there for anything.
 
I wouldn’t change a thing. One of my favorite amps of all time. To my ears, it’s like a cross between superlead and jcm 800 with some Hiwatt mixed in. Set it for edge of breakup, hit it with a good clean boost and it will positively blow the doors off of most other amps as is.
 
Congrats! I played one long ago and they are BEASTS! One steamroller of an amp.
 
That's a tough one. I had a 100 watter and holy shit the volume on 2 was insane. I thought that he must use a linear master.
I remember there was some areas I might improve with mods but never did. You could play around with it with your skills.
Try a couple different cathode combinations. Up the plate load resistors. Maybe tighten the bass up a little and add a little more gain. I can't remember the values he used.
 
Crank the Master and slowly bring up the Gain.
SRV tone baby

Out of all 3 Roccaforte's I have owned,
the Custom 80 was my fav.
 
FourT6and2":1242mzo0 said:
If it were me, I'd mod it. I don't personally need another JCM800.
Maybe add another selectable gain stage or... ? I dunno. Plenty of room in there for anything.
Click to expand...


And if you did mod it, I am sure it would sound amazing as your builds all do!!
 
Very nice acquisition!

I would absolutely mod it. Maybe turn that cold clipper switch into a 3-way. You can add a 4.4k resistor for more headroom. Also consider a pentode/triode switch if you want an easy way to drop the wattage without pulling tubes and messing with impedances.

Either way it's a killer amp! Congrats!
 
The zip ties alone made it worth the money. Lol.

I thought I used a lot lol
 
V2a":3j60r0u1 said:
Doug sure loved his zip ties and 715s!
Click to expand...
Yeah :lol: :LOL: , unless it's signed on top by him though it wasn't built by Doug, he had a place doing 'em to his spec...even the amount of zip ties.
Forget modding it, keep it stock dude, just throw a...well I use an Analogman silver modded Maxon Od 808 into a Timmy pedal and the thing sounds incredible. I have the Jenelle which has that circuit in there.

Congrats!
 
Mod or not, I always like Doug. Seemed like a straight shooter.
 
This one was signed by Doug. The ODs are 715Ps. I'm going to mod it. I've always been of the opinion that the tone of the donor amp before the mod is critical to the mods tone after the mod.
 
What ever happened to Doug? IIRC, he got into hifi audio stuff?? Haven't seen him around in awhile.
 
Nice! I’be always heard those are great.

Not to derail, but how are those different from his HG100 amps?
 
Did a bit more playing and made some schematics. A few notes. I also added a clip of a Friedman modded Custom 80

1. The reason I suspect the amp is so loud is the lack of any voltage dividers between the first and second stage (outside of the gain pot). As such the gain has a large effect on the volume. The volume pot is actually 500k audio taper.

2. The amp sounds thick at all volumes. This is becuase the coupling caps on the first 2 gain stages are .022uf. While this works great in this amp, it does tend to sound a bit bassy/loose stock at higher gain setting. Kinda like running the Fat switch always on on the BE100. Typically, one of the first 2 stages should have a smaller cap for tighter tone. The 2nd and 3rd stages have no cathode bypass caps. I found some clips online of a Friedman modded Custom 80. I think the clips sounds decent. The amp already has a switch for the second gain stage, with a hole drilled for the switch and another for a chassis mounted ground lug for that mod. I can mod it similar to the clip below with minimal parts and no added holes, unless I ad a loop.

Thoughts?


 
Clip was okay... but he needed the presence almost cranked. The Friedman mod must be very dark for the need to crank the presence.

Since I’ve bought the VFE Standout and Dragon, my stock JMP sounds as good as any amp mod. I’m not saying I’d get rid of my modded amps, just making a strong statement. :thumbsup:
 
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