Sound Pure's Take
The Newcastle 30 is a simple take on a complex sound, an astoundingly good amp recreating the sounds of years past from our friends over the pond!
This amp takes simplicity to a new level - volume and tone and what else do you need? Nothing, except we'll throw on power scaling just to make sure you hit all those perfect tones at any volume deemed fit. This amp perfectly retains a robust and airy clean tone not normally associated with EL84's, but once the preamps are driven and the power tubes are able to express themselves - there's no mistaking the sound. A creamy and saturated breakup with complex harmonic frequencies and a tight low end that never loses its punch. The tone knob is surprisingly useable for such an upfront plug-and-play amp that really helps to dial in the overall sound. There's plenty of clean headroom on the amp and the kicker is the FX loop. Plug your favorite delay or reverb into the FX loop to ensure nothing compromises the signal from guitar to pre's, and assuredly you'll be in tonal bliss.
The Newcastle 30 may be a newcomer to SoundPure's lineup, but it's sure to stay for quite some time as this is one powerhouse of an amp!
From Jackson Ampworks
The NewCastle 30
Perfect Tone. Simplified.
Like the original NewCastle, the NewCastle 30 is a simple tone machine that will cover everything from pristine British clean to straight up Rock and everywhere in between. The clean tones are rich and full of authority with sparkling highs that never become brittle or piercing. The low end was specifically designed to remain tight and punchy even when cranked so you’ll never lose definition when playing at loud volumes. The NewCastle 30 adds to the NewCastle’s tone with increased headroom and low end punch and clarity.
Tonally the NewCastle 30 has an English heritage but is cleaner and more robust than many EL84 based amps. The NewCastle 30 is perfect for the player that uses a lot of pedals and wants an affordable clean platform to work from. In fact the NewCastle 30 remains clean up till around 2:00 on the Volume control and from there breaks up into the most musical overdrive you have ever heard!
One of the best features of the NewCastle 30 is how well it cleans up when you roll the volume on your guitar down. With the NewCastle 30 you may find that you don’t need your overdrive pedals anymore as the volume control on your guitar acts like a gain control on the amp depending on how hard you play. In fact, you may find that your favorite setting is to leave the Volume up all the way on the amp and use your guitars volume to vary between your clean and dirty tones!
Simple Is Better.
The NewCastle 30 is a lesson in simplicity. Someone once asked us, “What’s your secret to great tone?” Answer: “Use good parts, and use as few as possible.” That is what the NewCastle 30 is all about. The design was purposefully kept simple to make it easier to dial in and to keep your tone as pure as possible.
During the design phase of the NewCastle 30 we spent many hours working with artists, producers and engineers and we used their feedback to help dial in the circuit so that the NewCastle 30 would work seamlessly with all types of guitars, pickups and effects and the extra effort was well worth it! The NewCastle 30 is a perfect go-to amp for players looking to capture great tone either live or in the studio!
Special attention was paid during the design of the NewCastle 30 to guarantee that lack of headroom would never be a concern as is often the case with other 30W amps. To give as much power and headroom as possible, the power supply and output section were overbuilt to guarantee that the amp delivers every last bit of power possible out of it’s quartet of
Along with the power amp section, the preamp has been designed to handle single coil as well as humbucker equipped guitars with ease and without becoming flabby in the low end, even when the amp is cranked!
Fully Featured.
The front panel features a single Input, Volume and Tone controls and the addition of a Power control. The Volume control acts as both a Volume as well as a gain control. The higher you run the Volume the more the amp will overdrive in response to how hard the player attacks the strings. The Tone control acts as a master tone control for the entire amp and works similar to the tone control on a guitar. Rotating the Tone control clockwise will increases the high-end response of the amp and conversely rotating the Tone control counter clockwise removes high-end response from the amp which helps when a darker tone is desired or with bright sounding guitars. The full clockwise position removes the Tone control from the amplifier circuit to keep your original tone as pure as possible.
The Power control on the front of the amp is where you can adjust to total output of the amp. Not a master volume though! While the Power does control the overall volume of the amp it does so by varying the high voltage of the amp from full power, 30W Class A to 1/8W Class A. We suggest starting with the Power control at the 30W setting (fully clockwise) and adjusting lower as needed for the band or room you are playing in. Lower settings on the Power control will allow you to increase the Volume control for more gain while keeping the overall volume of the amp at a reasonable volume.
For occasions when the player does not need to Power Scale the amplifier a Power Scaling bypass switch has been included that allows the player to completely bypass the Power Scaling feature and return the NewCastle 30 to stock performance.
WARNING: Never flip the Power Scaling Bypass Switch to the OFF position unless the Power control is in the full clockwise position. Doing so will cause undue stress on the amplifier and switch as the amplifier attempts to rapidly rebias itself.
Like the front panel, the back panel is kept very simple. There are two speaker out jacks with an impedance selector switch that provides outputs of either 8 or 16 ohms. Located next to that are the Power and Standby switches as well as an IEC module with an integrated fuse and a switch for selecting between 120V and 240V operation. With the NewCastle 30 you’ll never have to worry about traveling on the road since the amp is designed to work at all line voltages!
- (2) – 12AX7 Preamp Tubes
- (4) – EL84 Output Tubes
Cathode Bias
Genuine Carling Switches
Carbon Film Resistors
Custom Wound Overspec Power and Output Transformers
13 Ply Baltic Birch Cabinet with Dovetail Joints
Handwired Turret Board Contruction
Anodized Aluminum Chassis
Genuine Neutrik Jacks
Laser Engraved Stainless Steel Panels
Switchable 120V/240V Operation
Front Panel Controls:
- - Input
- - Volume
- - Tone
- - Power
Rear Panel Controls:
- - FX Loop
- - Speaker Jacks
- - Impedance Selector (8/16)
- - Power
- - Standby
Free 3-Year Warranty
Sound Pure stands behind our products. Free three-year warranty on this item. Coverage exclusions live in Terms & Conditions, Section 27.
Level of support and expertise that simply isn't available at big-box megastores. Read the warranty →
Returns
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