UberMetalDood
New member
Whew! I just came off a 2 hour round with my new Tubemeister 18 head. I opened it up, as shown in the pics, unplugged the speaker from my Raider and plugged it into the Tubemeister. It came factory set with all controls at 12:00. The first thing I heard was the clean channel.
Man it was exactly like I imagined. The clean channel was fantastic. It's very similar to a Duotone or Triamp. I'm not saying it's as good as those amps, but close. Wait though, it got even better when I raised the gain. Oh man, then it was magical. I switched my HSS strat up to the neck single coil and it had that Fendery SRV thing going. I switched back to the humbucker and it had some gain on it, but smooth and sparkly. Reverb? No need for reverb on this amp. Seriously, I'm not just saying that.
I went on to the gain channel and WOW! It's great. It really is like a tiny Duotone. It just has great, great tone and fantastic touch response. The EL84's behave so well in the Tubemeister. I find EL84 amps to be kind of muddy or loose on the low end, but this amp isn't like that. It's even better than the Mini Rectifier in that respect.
I expected the gain channel to have a bit more gain, and I didn't expect the boost to be so gainy. The Tubemeister can do fairly high gain with the boost engaged. So far, my favorite lead tone on it is with the boost on but the gain backed down with mid-output humbuckers. With high output pickups, it's pretty great sounding without the boost. Even better, I used a few overdrives and it was awesome.
Here's the thing. It doesn't seem to be as loud as I thought it would be on the clean channel. In fact, the gain channel is much louder than the clean channel. I don't think the clean channel can keep up with a loud drummer and still be clean. Even with the gain all the way up on a full 18 watts, it's not any louder than my Blues Junior. In fact, the Blues Junior is louder.
That's kind of disappointing, but it could be the speaker. I'm sure it's loud enough on a 2x12 cab. Until I get my 2x12 back, I'll be running it through the speaker attached to my 1x12 combo amp.
One way to get more volume out of the clean channel is to turn the gain down to about 1:00 and use a transparent OD or boost. That seems to give me just enough volume boost with still enough clean headroom for humbuckers to keep up with a moderate drummer.
The gain channel is pretty loud and should keep up with a rock drummer without needing to be miced up.
The FX loop and power settings were the next thing I explored. I used my M9 effects stomps and it works out so beautifully. I'm getting some awesome effects through the Tubemeister.
The power settings are important because this amp is designed to utilize the power settings depending on how you set the volume and gain. The clean channel seems to sound good at pretty much any volume and any power setting. I could probably leave it on 18 watts all the time for pristine cleans, or kick it down to 10 or 5 watts to get a real bluesy breakup.
The gain channel benefits most from the power settings. If the gain goes past 1/2 or so then the volume needs to go up or the power has to be knocked down to 10 or 5 watts. It still sounds good on 18w, but really sounds warm and sustaining at 10 watts.
I have not tried the direct out, but I did record a few tones with an SM57 pointed at my speaker. I'm excited about trying out the direct out because it can be a great way to get some awesome lead tones when everyone else is asleep.
The Tubemeister is a real hit. It exceeds expectations. For he price, everyone should have one.
SOUND SAMPLE Blues Junior vs. Tubemeister - same Jensen speaker
SOUND CLIP Tubemeister Lead Tone
Man it was exactly like I imagined. The clean channel was fantastic. It's very similar to a Duotone or Triamp. I'm not saying it's as good as those amps, but close. Wait though, it got even better when I raised the gain. Oh man, then it was magical. I switched my HSS strat up to the neck single coil and it had that Fendery SRV thing going. I switched back to the humbucker and it had some gain on it, but smooth and sparkly. Reverb? No need for reverb on this amp. Seriously, I'm not just saying that.
I went on to the gain channel and WOW! It's great. It really is like a tiny Duotone. It just has great, great tone and fantastic touch response. The EL84's behave so well in the Tubemeister. I find EL84 amps to be kind of muddy or loose on the low end, but this amp isn't like that. It's even better than the Mini Rectifier in that respect.
I expected the gain channel to have a bit more gain, and I didn't expect the boost to be so gainy. The Tubemeister can do fairly high gain with the boost engaged. So far, my favorite lead tone on it is with the boost on but the gain backed down with mid-output humbuckers. With high output pickups, it's pretty great sounding without the boost. Even better, I used a few overdrives and it was awesome.
Here's the thing. It doesn't seem to be as loud as I thought it would be on the clean channel. In fact, the gain channel is much louder than the clean channel. I don't think the clean channel can keep up with a loud drummer and still be clean. Even with the gain all the way up on a full 18 watts, it's not any louder than my Blues Junior. In fact, the Blues Junior is louder.
That's kind of disappointing, but it could be the speaker. I'm sure it's loud enough on a 2x12 cab. Until I get my 2x12 back, I'll be running it through the speaker attached to my 1x12 combo amp.
One way to get more volume out of the clean channel is to turn the gain down to about 1:00 and use a transparent OD or boost. That seems to give me just enough volume boost with still enough clean headroom for humbuckers to keep up with a moderate drummer.
The gain channel is pretty loud and should keep up with a rock drummer without needing to be miced up.
The FX loop and power settings were the next thing I explored. I used my M9 effects stomps and it works out so beautifully. I'm getting some awesome effects through the Tubemeister.
The power settings are important because this amp is designed to utilize the power settings depending on how you set the volume and gain. The clean channel seems to sound good at pretty much any volume and any power setting. I could probably leave it on 18 watts all the time for pristine cleans, or kick it down to 10 or 5 watts to get a real bluesy breakup.
The gain channel benefits most from the power settings. If the gain goes past 1/2 or so then the volume needs to go up or the power has to be knocked down to 10 or 5 watts. It still sounds good on 18w, but really sounds warm and sustaining at 10 watts.
I have not tried the direct out, but I did record a few tones with an SM57 pointed at my speaker. I'm excited about trying out the direct out because it can be a great way to get some awesome lead tones when everyone else is asleep.
The Tubemeister is a real hit. It exceeds expectations. For he price, everyone should have one.
SOUND SAMPLE Blues Junior vs. Tubemeister - same Jensen speaker
SOUND CLIP Tubemeister Lead Tone
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