Zvex Nano Head User Manual

Congratulations! You’re the proud owner of the Z.Vex Eects Nano Head™.

Overview

Bravo! You are the owner of the world’s smallest production tube amp,
the Nano Head by Z.Vex Amps. This little marvel is a one-half watt
(distorted) powerhouse that will surprise you with its apparent volume.
Plug it into a 4X12 (or any 8 to 16 ohm speaker) and listen to it roar!
This amp is voiced to deliver classic rock tone, with a very high level
of crunch available if it’s wanted. Just crank the volume knob around
to the level of distortion you desire, from a very quiet (one tenth watt)
clean mode to a micro-Marshall (TM) blast when cranked up. I am
making myself a little ill (gag!) trying to describe the tone of my Nano,
using the same tired old phrases that all the amp and distortion box
makers use, but I think it’s true... it does a great job of emulating big
amps at very reasonable volumes, which makes it exceptionally nice
for recording.

In a recording situation, you stick microphones in front of guitar amps
and hope for the best, but often the sheer sound pressure level neces­sary to get what sounds like a really cool tone is so ungodly high that
it causes mic distortion that wrecks the sound. You might try putting a
nice Coles ribbon or a Beyer M160 in front of the amp, but at 140 dB
it could easily cause weird sounds as the ribbon rattles around in the
magnetic eld, stretching and possibly striking the magnet as it goes
past the boundaries of its gap. A classic condenser microphone under
that kind of crushing pressure can end up with a stretched diaphragm
that can touch from front to back, suddenly shutting down, or over­loaded preamp circuitry, adding unwanted harshness. Even a dynamic
mic like a Shure 57 or 58 can have problems as the severe magnetic
eld developed by high-wattage amps couples through the air into the
mic’s own windings, causing a blistering crispiness that seems very
unnatural when it shows up in your recording. You can spend hours
trying to nd a safe spot to put your mics when trying to accurately
capture the sound of a roaring high-wattage amp, and in the end, nd
that the best sound is miced so far from the cab that you begin to hear
the room and everything else that’s bleeding in. By the time you’ve got
a sound you like, someone has called the cops and you have to shut
down for the night.

The Nano Head eliminates many of these microphone problems
instantly because it is at least 20 dB quieter than a 50 watt head,
so that the volume levels coming from your speaker cabinet are very
close to the levels that a loud singer can produce. The amp is capable
of going into total saturation, struggling like crazy and sweating up a
storm at this moderate volume, so no matter where you put the micro­phone it’s safe signal level that won’t overload your preamps or strain
the microphone’s element. The result is a crystal-clear reproduction
of the speaker’s sound. The other high-volume factors that can mess
up your ears (there’s something called the Fletcher-Munson curves
that change the way your ears hear things at high volumes) are much
reduced, too, so the characteristic of the sound you hear in the room
will be much closer to the recorded sound. The rst time I put a mic in
front of my Orange 4X12 with greenbacks while it was connected to
a Nano Head, I was stunned at how accurately the recording matched
the tone of the cabinet on playback, and was delighted that I could set
the mic position while wearing headphones in the same room and nd
the exact spot I wanted to capture. After 10 years working full-time as
a recording engineer (my former job), this is one of the rst times I’ve
been able to get a great guitar tone on the rst try. I have such painful
memories of trying to capture huge tones and just failing miserably…

gahh!

Model: NANO HEAD™

SPECIFICATIONS

Power Supply: 12VDC 1.5 A wall wart, included.
Output Power: .5 W dirty, .1 W clean.
Output Impedance: 8-16 ohms.
Input Impedance: 1,000,000 ohms.
Internal Speaker: .4 Watts.

WARNING: DO NOT CONNECT OUTPUT OF NANO

TO ANOTHER AMP’S INPUT. THE NANO IS AN AMP,
NOT AN EFFECT, AND MUST BE CONNECTED ONLY
TO A SPEAKER CABINET UNLESS AN ATTENUATOR
SUCH AS THE THD HOTPLATE IS USED TO PROCESS
THE SIGNAL AND PROVIDE A LOAD. CAREFUL,YOU
COULD DAMAGE OR DESTROY BOTH AMPLIFIERS!

BATTERY CHANGE:

If the performance of your pedal seems diminished or the
LED becomes very dim, it’s time to change your battery.
Remove the four screws on the bottom of the pedal and
carefully remove and replace the old battery, putting it back
exactly in the center of the pedal on edge so that it is gripped
tightly by the lid when it is screwed back in place.

SPECIFICATIONS:

Uses one 9V battery (preferably alkaline, but the unit is
shipped with a carbon-zinc battery.) The low current opera­tion of this pedal’s circuit will give you extraordinarily long
battery life. Current draw is approximately 2mA. A DC power
jack (standard Boss conguration with center negative) is
provided on the side of the pedal. Use a high- quality 9V
adaptor for all high-gain eects!

WARRANTY & SERVICE

Your Nano Head™ has a 1 year limited warranty which can
be extended to 2 years by contacting Z.Vex amps within
one month of purchase by fax [phone] or by email
to [e-mail]. For any repair questions, consult
http://zvex.com/website/repairs.htm for information.

ZVEX EFFECTS

P.O. Box 16078
Minneapolis, MN 55416
www.zvex.com | [e-mail] | [e-mail]

Enjoy!

Last Updated: October 2013