Guitars

Joined: 27 Feb 2006 Posts: 13400 Location: Earth

I was recommended this head yesterday by a friend that works at my local shop. He got one and said it's an awesome head for everything from country to metal. He said it's loud enough to gig with and the Red Box is really awesome. Yes I know I have my JCM800 but I'm getting into GAS mode again and I'm about to pull the trigger on a 5150III head. Any thoughts on the Tubemeister 18? I have watched videos and read reviews but I don't know those people who are blabbing about them. What say you?

Joined: 03 May 2008 Posts: 6668 Location: Minnesota

It's my favorite. I love them.

Joined: 27 Feb 2006 Posts: 13400 Location: Earth

I see Tommy Thayer is using the 18 with the power soak set to full and the Red Box to the PA for his main FOH tone. I was thinking, since we use an in ear system I could Red Box it to our desk and then just use the head on full 18 for stage sound supplement. I don't need to hear it over the drums at shows or rehearsals since we're in-ear but people standing at the front of the stage would need so hear a little where the FOH doesn't hit. I'm just spitballing ideas here. Thoughts?

Joined: 27 Feb 2006 Posts: 10221 Location: New Jersey USA

ScottMexico has one and loves it.

Joined: 27 Feb 2006 Posts: 13400 Location: Earth

I ended up going with the Tubemeister 36. They ordered me in a new one though. I'm not taking a floor demo lol... I should have it in a few weeks. I figure the extra wattage for just a tiny bit larger chassis was worth it. Plus reverb and midi control. These things rock hard!

Posted: Fri Nov 16, 2012 11:46 pm

Heard the 36 was indeed a very cool amp. If I remember correctly you can run the channels at different wattages. Clean full on..dirty at lower watts if you wanted to. Think it actually goes down to one watt and you can go right to in ear if you want to. REALLY want to hear more about this when you get some time with it. Midi soak too right?

Joined: 27 Feb 2006 Posts: 13400 Location: Earth

Exit13 wrote:

Heard the 36 was indeed a very cool amp. If I remember correctly you can run the channels at different wattages. Clean full on..dirty at lower watts if you wanted to. Think it actually goes down to one watt and you can go right to in ear if you want to. REALLY want to hear more about this when you get some time with it. Midi soak too right?

The power soak is assignable to each channel if you run a midi controller. I got this because I can run it straight to our in-ear rig which splits to FOH without needing a cab. So now I can run it with a cab for gigs where I need one and at shows with better FOH support I can just leave the cab in the trailer. I also can mic both the cab and run the red box for 2 channels of guitar to FOH. I'm pretty excited to try this with the band. Many different options which I'll have to feel out. I have even considered mounting the head into our monitor rig in a drawer and run it in there. Tommy Thayer's demo initially sold me on this head. I love my Marshall but this just has so many options and weighs under 20lbs lol...

Posted: Sat Nov 17, 2012 12:54 am

Lanning is Killdozer wrote:

Exit13 wrote:

Heard the 36 was indeed a very cool amp. If I remember correctly you can run the channels at different wattages. Clean full on..dirty at lower watts if you wanted to. Think it actually goes down to one watt and you can go right to in ear if you want to. REALLY want to hear more about this when you get some time with it. Midi soak too right?

The power soak is assignable to each channel if you run a midi controller. I got this because I can run it straight to our in-ear rig which splits to FOH without needing a cab. So now I can run it with a cab for gigs where I need one and at shows with better FOH support I can just leave the cab in the trailer. I also can mic both the cab and run the red box for 2 channels of guitar to FOH. I'm pretty excited to try this with the band. Many different options which I'll have to feel out. I have even considered mounting the head into our monitor rig in a drawer and run it in there. Tommy Thayer's demo initially sold me on this head. I love my Marshall but this just has so many options and weighs under 20lbs lol...

I hear ya man. I only play out once in a blue moon now and have no need for something like this but it has caught my attention on a few times. In theory it has just about all the means a person would want to use it or apply it. Like I said I'm very interested in hearing more about it after you use it in a bunch of settings to hear how it reacts in all the various methods you can use it. The price is not bad at all if it does what it says it does really well.

Joined: 04 May 2005 Posts: 2059 Location: Wallingford, CT

BradWorld wrote:

ScottMexico has one and loves it.

And still loving it! I have a friend visiting this weekend and he's really good at tweaking amps and maximizing what they can do. We played around on it for a couple hours yesterday and I'm even loving it more now.
At the time I bought this I thought about waiting a few more months for the 36w version, but the 18w had all I needed, so I jumped on it. Living in an apartment, I use mostly the 1w setting, and I'm so impressed with what it can do at 1w.

Joined: 27 Feb 2006 Posts: 13400 Location: Earth

ScottMexico wrote:

I have a friend visiting this weekend and he's really good at tweaking amps and maximizing what they can do. We played around on it for a couple hours yesterday and I'm even loving it more now.

Just remember one thing when tweaking a German amp bro... They are the kind of amp that needs an odd EQ shape... The normal frown or smile EQ shape usually doesn't work on them. I remember on my old ENGL I had to run the bass almost off and mids almost gunned to get the sound I wanted. These amps are no exception. Not that you need to run the EQ that extreme but just experiment. Don't be afraid to turn the knobs the opposite of what you're used to.

Joined: 30 Nov 2003 Posts: 10625 Location: Canada

The Tubemeister 18 is more of a high gain Hard Rock tone, then Scooped Metal tone... much more Marshall low mid roar.

Joined: 27 Feb 2006 Posts: 13400 Location: Earth

Armitage wrote:

The Tubemeister 18 is more of a high gain Hard Rock tone, then Scooped Metal tone... much more Marshall low mid roar.

Which is exactly what I want. I use a JCM800 right now but it's just too damn loud. I have to turn the cabinet backwards just to get the tone where I want it. The Tubemeister solves that issue. That and the Redbox which was a huge selling point since I love that thing. I don't want the scooped out Mesa sound. I love high gain vintage tone. I bought the 36 instead of the 18 also which is class A/B instead of A as well which changes the feel a bit too. But high gain Marshall tone is my weakness. I just love it.

Joined: 04 May 2005 Posts: 2059 Location: Wallingford, CT

Lanning is Killdozer wrote:

ScottMexico wrote:

I have a friend visiting this weekend and he's really good at tweaking amps and maximizing what they can do. We played around on it for a couple hours yesterday and I'm even loving it more now.

Just remember one thing when tweaking a German amp bro... They are the kind of amp that needs an odd EQ shape... The normal frown or smile EQ shape usually doesn't work on them. I remember on my old ENGL I had to run the bass almost off and mids almost gunned to get the sound I wanted. These amps are no exception. Not that you need to run the EQ that extreme but just experiment. Don't be afraid to turn the knobs the opposite of what you're used to.

Thanks for the tip. I appreciate any advice people want to give. I had already found out this is a much different beast in that regard than the Krank was.That's why it was good to have my friend around- he thinks of the kinds of things you talked about.

Posted: Mon Nov 19, 2012 9:23 am

I'd looked into these before and this thread made me research them again.

I watched this video demo and I'm in love.

I really want something that's easy to record with at home and this sounds amazing. It's also got the versatility to crank up to 5 or 18 watts for gigging and a nice 1 watt power soak for home use.

What more can you want?! Shame the footswitch isn't included, mind you.

Anyway, they sound like amazingly versatile amps. If I can find one to demo, I'll probably pick one up with my tax rebate.

Does anyone here have any experience with how much more quickly the power soak would affect the tube life?

Joined: 27 Feb 2006 Posts: 13400 Location: Earth

muckers wrote:

Does anyone here have any experience with how much more quickly the power soak would affect the tube life?

It affects it like any other power soak. You can knock down the wattage so you can crank the amp up, making the tubes work harder, thus lowering their life. But since you don't have to bias the amp and EL84s are relatively cheap it shouldn't matter much.

Joined: 27 Feb 2006 Posts: 13400 Location: Earth

The Tubemeister 36 finally got here today. I played it for about 45 minutes to make sure I liked it. Like it I did. These things are really loud too. I don't know that I'm keen on the blue lights as much but it's not anything that detracts from the tone so it's a non issue.

Here is a short rhythm clip I recorded for you guys. It's set on the lead channel and the power soak is set at 1watt since it's about midnight and I didn't want to kill the old lady next door. When you crank it on 36 watt mode it gets much thicker and some of the high end fizz goes away. This little amp is bad ass. I'm glad I got the 36 over the 18 since it's got reverb and is midi controllable.

Watch it in HD for the best sound.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KHRWnvjj89E

Joined: 06 Jun 2007 Posts: 12291 Location: Twin Cities

sounds like there is some potential there, sir

Posted: Tue Dec 04, 2012 8:10 pm

god damn son!

Joined: 13 Apr 2005 Posts: 1077 Location: Finland Hellsinki

Sounds killer, I´ve been hunting small tube head and can´t decide between H&K tubemeister and Orange Dark terror.

Joined: 27 Feb 2006 Posts: 13400 Location: Earth

Mika wrote:

Sounds killer, I´ve been hunting small tube head and can´t decide between H&K tubemeister and Orange Dark terror.

I tried the Dark Terror yesterday and it sounded like a turd box to me. It was like a jar of angry bees. I compared this with the Mini Rec 25 (which I have already owned but considered going back to), Dark Terror and the Tiny Terror (already owned as well). Not only is is 36 watts with a huge output transformer (equates to more low end and punch) it's also midi switchable, has reverb, is 3 channels and has the Red Box DI and a 4 stage power soak. Oh and it sounds amazing. Plus it has the tube monitoring and auto biasing circuit. In my book it's far more of a value.

Joined: 27 Feb 2006 Posts: 10221 Location: New Jersey USA

Your clip sounds killer Lan.

Posted: Tue Dec 04, 2012 10:50 pm

Ok ??? Lanning I'm confused now...... I talked to you had just got rid of the Soldano and got the EVH Mini......Now the H&K what happened with the EVH?

Joined: 27 Feb 2006 Posts: 13400 Location: Earth

mesa8699 wrote:

Ok ??? Lanning I'm confused now...... I talked to you had just got rid of the Soldano and got the EVH Mini......Now the H&K what happened with the EVH?

The H&K has just about the same amount of gain. Same amount of channels, also has midi but adds reverb and auto tube biasing and monitoring, is half the size and about the same power output. It has the H&K RedBox DI in the back too... Oh and came with a travel bag. It cost me $75 more to get the H&K... For a guy travelling and gigging it's a blessing and easier on my back and mental stability when it comes to tube changes. I can just travel with my guitar and this head to gigs now. I can borrow/share cabs with one of the other bands and plug DI into our in-ear system so no more mic'ing.

It has a 5 stage power soak 36, 18, 5, 1 and full ∞. I can even run the head with NO cab and it automatically turns the power soak on full ∞ to protect the power amp and then I can run DI to the board for live gigging and recording. Since we use in ear monitors live I don't need or care about floor wedges. I'm going to get a small midi controller for it which can control the channel selection, power soak modes and reverb. It can also turn on and off the effects loop. This head basically just shrunk my rig from a half stack to a miniature box.

It's 36 watts but the output transformer is the same size as the one in my JCM800... This thing pumps harder low end punch than the EVH did. They didn't have the Tubemeister 36 in when I got the EVH. They only had the 18. I went to look around yesterday and they just got it in. I tried it out and was sold. It outdoes the EVH in every way.

Joined: 30 Nov 2003 Posts: 10625 Location: Canada

I missed him getting rid of the little Soldano... couldn't imagine he'd be happy with one. The Tubemeister is pretty cool.

Joined: 29 Nov 2003 Posts: 12280 Location: PEORIA ILLINOIS

very cool

Posted: Wed Dec 05, 2012 1:43 am

I suppose it's a minor thing but does it have a means to get rid of the blue glow?

Joined: 27 Feb 2006 Posts: 13400 Location: Earth

Exit13 wrote:

I suppose it's a minor thing but does it have a means to get rid of the blue glow?

Just open the top and unhook the LED bar.

Posted: Wed Dec 05, 2012 2:30 am

Cool. Nice to hear its easy to do.

Joined: 27 Feb 2006 Posts: 13400 Location: Earth

Exit13 wrote:

Cool. Nice to hear its easy to do.

I don't plan on it though. It's cool looking. Kind of a conversation piece. On stage people will be curious what it is too. One of the coolest features is if you turn it on without a cab attached it automatically defaults to full on the power soak so you don't hurt the power amp. I know I have made that mistake with my other amps once or twice in the past so just the added convenience of that makes this amp even cooler. I just ran it into my mixing board and into my studio monitors without no cab to see how it sounded and it was really neat. I was nervous turning it on with no cab attached but the manual said it's OK to do so I just held my breath and did it. Laughing

All was fine.

Posted: Wed Dec 05, 2012 3:54 am

Did you plug straight in for the clip or the usual badass OD and descimator?

Joined: 27 Feb 2006 Posts: 13400 Location: Earth

lordkronos187 wrote:

Did you plug straight in for the clip or the usual badass OD and descimator?

Straight in... Guitar, cable, amp. The EQ knobs are almost at noon (just slight adustments, no extremes) and the gain is at about 1 o' clock. No pedals, no frills. This is an amp I can gig with nothing more than a tuner in line.

Joined: 13 Apr 2005 Posts: 1077 Location: Finland Hellsinki

Lanning is Killdozer wrote:

Mika wrote:

Sounds killer, I´ve been hunting small tube head and can´t decide between H&K tubemeister and Orange Dark terror.

I tried the Dark Terror yesterday and it sounded like a turd box to me. It was like a jar of angry bees. I compared this with the Mini Rec 25 (which I have already owned but considered going back to), Dark Terror and the Tiny Terror (already owned as well). Not only is is 36 watts with a huge output transformer (equates to more low end and punch) it's also midi switchable, has reverb, is 3 channels and has the Red Box DI and a 4 stage power soak. Oh and it sounds amazing. Plus it has the tube monitoring and auto biasing circuit. In my book it's far more of a value.

Ok, Your clip pretty much sold it Smile

. I´ll go and try one in the weekend. I just started to play with the band again and I need good sounding small head that doesn´t weight a ton. thanks dude!

Posted: Wed Dec 05, 2012 9:06 pm

It could be that I am old and blind but where is the fuse for it? If it's inside is there a way to get at it quickly?

Joined: 04 Jun 2012 Posts: 366 Location: South-West Ohio

I stopped trying to kill my myself ages ago. I LOVE the sound of tubes being pushed real hard, but HATe rattling my filling out of my teeth.

My current fav is a blackstar 20 watt amp. All the tone without the dental fees.

If you were near by I'd offer you to come by and try ti uot sometimes - I think you'd like it.

Posted: Wed Dec 05, 2012 11:14 pm

pariah2 wrote:

I stopped trying to kill my myself ages ago. I LOVE the sound of tubes being pushed real hard, but HATe rattling my filling out of my teeth.

My current fav is a blackstar 20 watt amp. All the tone without the dental fees.

If you were near by I'd offer you to come by and try ti uot sometimes - I think you'd like it.

I'm not sure if the H&K does it as well but the Blackstar was very reactive when you used the "tone" dials. It seemed like it soaked up or expanded lows and mids depending on where you set it. My guess is the H&K does the same thing because of how it's built. My Blackstar ht5's were great little beasts.

Joined: 27 Feb 2006 Posts: 13400 Location: Earth

Exit13 wrote:

It could be that I am old and blind but where is the fuse for it? If it's inside is there a way to get at it quickly?

It's next to the power plug. Part of the same piece of plastic the plug is attached to.

pariah2 wrote:

I stopped trying to kill my myself ages ago. I LOVE the sound of tubes being pushed real hard, but HATe rattling my filling out of my teeth.

My current fav is a blackstar 20 watt amp. All the tone without the dental fees.

This amp has a power soak that lets you go 36watts, 18watts, 5watts, 1watt and null to DI. I'm not sure if that was directed at a different amp but this amp can be cranked on a lower power setting. At home on 1watt cranked up it's really juicy sounding. With a full band 36 watts is perfect. This amp crushes due to the big transformers. We cranked it up yesterday and it's gut shaking loud and retains all it's low end.

Joined: 04 Jun 2012 Posts: 366 Location: South-West Ohio

Lanning is Killdozer wrote:

This amp has a power soak that lets you go 36watts, 18watts, 5watts, 1watt and null to DI. I'm not sure if that was directed at a different amp but this amp can be cranked on a lower power setting. At home on 1watt cranked up it's really juicy sounding. With a full band 36 watts is perfect. This amp crushes due to the big transformers. We cranked it up yesterday and it's gut shaking loud and retains all it's low end.

Exactly - I'm agreeing with you. Lower wattage is truly the way to go these days in my opinion. get all the tone of of pushed ubes without having to make people in alaska complain about the noise, ha ha ha.

My blacktar is 20 watts, so I can crank it in a live setting and really poush those tubes hard, but only be on the volume of my ol Marshall TSL when it was on say '4', yet it is still more than loud enough for any good mic/pa to use [not much se to you since you DI], as well as stage volume [more your interest].

Actually, cranking it up real high and pushing those tubes should actually increse your low end slightly, if I remember correctly. I was SO close to buying the tubemesiter18. I decided on the blackstar just because it suited my style better, but I think it was more of a personal preferance - I would NOT consider that tubemester a bad choice at all! in fact it sounds like it was the better choice for you/your style based on your clip!

Still, if you ever get Cincinnatii way adn want to try out a blackstar head ;et em know. I also run an avatar cabinet with "hella-tone" vintage 30's [essentially an "aged" vintage 30], so you can try that as well or ru through your cab, or both, if you like.

Joined: 29 Nov 2003 Posts: 12280 Location: PEORIA ILLINOIS

how bout a clip with the redbox Very Happy

then switch to mic to hear the difference

btw i think the tone is in the beard not the fingers. Razz

Posted: Thu Dec 06, 2012 3:59 am

While we are on the subject, which tubes are you guys "pushing hard" "cookin" etc. Preamp? Power tubes? And how for that matter? Channel volume, or master volume or all of the above?

Joined: 04 Jun 2012 Posts: 366 Location: South-West Ohio

I can't speak for Lanning, but I'm referring to power tubes - which you can really onl get by pushing the output hard [i.e. volume on or near '10']. Now if the volume were to loud you can use attenuators like lnning is doing and still get that nearly that same sound at lower volume.

Pushing pre-amp tubes can be done by simply turning a gain knob and channel knob to '10' but have your master very low - it does affect tone, but not as dramatically as the power tubes.

That being said, its not a sound everyone likes - many do, but not all.

Joined: 04 Jun 2012 Posts: 366 Location: South-West Ohio

this guy sort of explains it though his micing is bad]
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5pgOzjKhXww

This is a better sound version;
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=guSL1zjYhiA

Posted: Thu Dec 06, 2012 4:37 am

Excellent! I kinda thought that was the case.

Joined: 27 Feb 2006 Posts: 13400 Location: Earth

pariah2 wrote:

Lanning is Killdozer wrote:

This amp has a power soak that lets you go 36watts, 18watts, 5watts, 1watt and null to DI. I'm not sure if that was directed at a different amp but this amp can be cranked on a lower power setting. At home on 1watt cranked up it's really juicy sounding. With a full band 36 watts is perfect. This amp crushes due to the big transformers. We cranked it up yesterday and it's gut shaking loud and retains all it's low end.

Exactly - I'm agreeing with you. Lower wattage is truly the way to go these days in my opinion. get all the tone of of pushed ubes without having to make people in alaska complain about the noise, ha ha ha.

My blacktar is 20 watts, so I can crank it in a live setting and really poush those tubes hard, but only be on the volume of my ol Marshall TSL when it was on say '4', yet it is still more than loud enough for any good mic/pa to use [not much se to you since you DI], as well as stage volume [more your interest].

Actually, cranking it up real high and pushing those tubes should actually increse your low end slightly, if I remember correctly. I was SO close to buying the tubemesiter18. I decided on the blackstar just because it suited my style better, but I think it was more of a personal preferance - I would NOT consider that tubemester a bad choice at all! in fact it sounds like it was the better choice for you/your style based on your clip!

Still, if you ever get Cincinnatii way adn want to try out a blackstar head ;et em know. I also run an avatar cabinet with "hella-tone" vintage 30's [essentially an "aged" vintage 30], so you can try that as well or ru through your cab, or both, if you like.

I thought you may have been referencing something else. Yah next time I'm in Cinci you'll know for sure. I haven't played in Cincinnati since 2009 man. It's long overdue. Another forum member came and got crazy with the band I was touring with. I took him to an after party and got him all tore up lol... I'll not name him to protect his innocence lol..

BLOODROOT wrote:

how bout a clip with the redbox Very Happy

then switch to mic to hear the difference

btw i think the tone is in the beard not the fingers. Razz

I will work on that here in the next little bit. I have our rig at my house right now since we unloaded here after our last show. I'll work on getting a vid done. I have used the RedBox quite a bit since I got the amp and it sounds fantastic. I remember I played a show a few years ago where the sound guy had me use a RedBox instead of a mic and that sounded great too. This amp is tuned to be used with it so it's even better.

Another cool feature of this amp is if there is no speaker plugged into the speaker out in the rear it automatically defaults to Full Soak on the attenuator. So if you're going to record silent with the head you don't even need a cab. The manual even says that if it's on Full Soak you can use it with no cab. When we play somewhere with really great PA support I'm just going to run DI and not even worry about a cab at all since stage sound doesn't matter to me. I tested it by playing into my cab and then unplugging the cab... I was looking in the rear and as soon as the cable was pulled the power soak switched over to full soak.

I also asked H&K support about the auto biasing. The guy said the system monitors and continually adjusts the bias of each tube over the length of its life. In the event that one tube blows it will automatically shut it's paired tube down to protect it and halves the power of the amp and you can continue playing. When you replace the tube with a new one it will automatically set it's bias.

For a guy gigging it's an indispensable feature. I think for the $1k and under amp choices out there, this is on top as not only one of the most versatile but definitely the most reliable.

Also, as I said above, the power soak modes, reverb, effects loop and all three channels are midi controllable. So you can set the clean channel on 36 watts for really clean, chiming tone and then have the lead channel on 18 watts for a heavy, saturated rhythm and then kick it into 36 watt mode for a solo boost! Then you can have the crunch channel set at whatever you feel the need for and if maybe you play with another guitarist who doesn't have a solo boost you can click to a lower power setting to give him the ability to cut through. I want the most clean headroom on my lead channel since my tone is pretty chunky yet not too saggy. So I use 36 watts and it's super tight.

Joined: 27 Feb 2006 Posts: 13400 Location: Earth

Here is another video I did tonight. Man I love this amp... This is on 1 watt mode on the lead channel with the master volume on the lead channel at about 1/3rd of the way up. This is essentially what it sounds like at "Bedroom" volume levels into a 4X12.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ig4Eghyn370

Posted: Thu Dec 06, 2012 9:09 am

Gain at half? Devastating still!

Joined: 27 Feb 2006 Posts: 13400 Location: Earth

lordkronos187 wrote:

Gain at half? Devastating still!

A little over half.

Posted: Thu Dec 06, 2012 10:36 am

Lanning is Killdozer wrote:

lordkronos187 wrote:

Gain at half? Devastating still!

A little over half.

hoooooow did I know you'd correct me on that? D!ck Laughing