I was test casting a rod I just built for a buddy, using the new 5600C4 he bought. I set the rod up for this reel and used a spriral wrap. At first I was concerned the spiral wrap was contributing to backlashes, but when I put one of my old reels on it, the problem went away. I am getting the impression this reel is really FAST with the factory oil. Do they use the yellow label Rocket Fuel as their original lube?

Are both the friction brakes on the reel's side set the same?

I'm not sure what you mean. This is a new reel and only has an adjustment knob on the right side. Maybe I don't understand what I need to be looking for.

I would say that it might be the new "Hot Sauce" reel lubricant. It's very slick stuff.

Bill in WV

You need to educate you thumb. A good bait caster usually uses a negative break controll.
Good Wraps Bob

marty pull the spool out and look on the left side of the spool. there should be 2 brake blocks on a piece of wire. make sure they're free enough to slide back and forth on the wire, they'll help slow the spool down. if you want you can change them out for the red blocks which i believe will slow down the reel even more. just make sure the flat side is out if you decide to change them out

oh and to answer your second question i don't believe anybody uses rocket fuel straight from the factory and only quantum uses hot sauce

The Abu factory juice is Red Rocket oil

I have never heard of ABU using anyone else's oil. They supposedly have their own "rocket lube" that the CS/pro rocket/blue yonder reels come with, but I think that most of ABU's reels come with some other kind of oil on the bearings.

The only current model Ambassadeur that I own is a 5500C3. In 2006 they changed the centrifugal brake design with 2 blocks, to a setup with 6 blocks that looks similar to what's inside a Shimano.

The C4 reels are pretty fast right out of the box, I don't know if the additional bearing on the levelwind screw is responsible for that. All of ABU's small levelwinds in the 4000-6000 size have had an extremely fast freespool setup since the early-mid 90s. The spool is mounted on an axle with the bearings inboard. The only thing that slows them down is the fact that it uses the spool to drive the levelwind. If you take your reel apart, mount the spool on the axle sometime and give it a spin while it's not hooked up to the levelwind gear. You may be suprised!