Tubemeister 18

jayylmao

New member
Picking one of these up tomorrow. Anyone have any experience with them? I've seen some pretty good reviews online. Tried it out today at the store and it had quite a bit of power behind it for 18w.


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Re: Tubemeister 18

Not much help, so Im sorry... BUT... I wanted one since they came out and played the smaller one and was quite impressed. (want a grand miester now..) Listened to tons of clips and reviews and they seem awesome!!! look forward to your review!
 
Re: Tubemeister 18

I've got the 30th Anniversay Edition, and it's a nice little amp. It has a real sound of its own, instead of being a copy of something else. The power scaling and emulated line out are both very useful. The EQ is a little quirky, and possibly because of it, the amp doesn't take some dirt pedals well. If you like the amp's basic tone, it might be a good choice.
 
Re: Tubemeister 18

I have the Tubemeister 18 combo, the 12" version.

I agree completely with Little Pigbacon's comments. It's not really like other amps. The closest comparisons I can make are that the clean channel is sort of Vox-like (can get chimey), and the dirt channel is sort of like a hi-fi Marshall, with an upper midrange emphasis. I find myself dialing in the same EQ as on Marshall DSLs - treble = 0, mids and bass dimed.

Tubemeisters are sometimes described as hi-fi, and I'd agree. I don't think it's a weakness. And in this case hi-fi does *not* equal "sterile". It's a very intense and pure tone, maybe a higher quality version of what the Blackstar HT amps do. To me, the perfect application would be jazz fusion. By itself without boost, gain-wise, the amp only goes up to up about classic metal or maybe thrash. The boost gets you into death metal territory, but the Tubemeister doesn't do that particularly well, IMO. The extreme high gain feels messy and uncontrolled. For extreme high gain, I would much prefer a 5150/6505-type amp.

The 1 watt setting is really loud but usable for bedroom. It's louder than the 1 watt setting on my Peavey 6505 MH.

The boost is a fixed gain boost, which is my least favorite kind of boost. You can't control it; turn it on, and suddenly you have monster gain. I prefer clean boosts that I can adjust, so the boost is useless to me.

The Tubemeister feature set is best-in-market alongside the Peavey MH series. Both give you attenuation down to 1 watt and high-quality direct recording capabilities.

I didn't bond with my Tubemeister because I prefer darker amps, so I will move it along. But it is a really good amp. OP might want to try pairing the head version with various cabs. I played a Tubemeister 5 through an Orange cab, and it sounded godlike (with an off-the-shelf Squier Strat). I think the Orange cab complemented the Tubemeister by reining in some highs and adding lows.
 
Re: Tubemeister 18

We have one at church, I think my biggest problem with it is the matching cab with the Celestion 70/80, not a fan of those speakers.
 
Re: Tubemeister 18

Man, I just saw that Grandmeister Deluxe 40 on their website, and it's really checking all the boxes for me. I need to get my hands on one.
 
Re: Tubemeister 18

I have the GM40D on backorder since november, also ticked all the boxes for me...
 
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Re: Tubemeister 18

hey guys!
so i got my TM18 yesterday and today i finally got the chance to mess around with it
i am currently running it in no speaker mode with my guitar in the input and my boss gt8 in the effects loop and then into my computer using a usb interface
one weird thing is how i am getting feedback in my signal sometimes if there is too much gain and certain compressor settings
not much of a gear head so im kind of at a loss
should i be running my guitar into my board and then the amp and skip the loop?
is it a problem with my chain order?
sorry im a n00b :P

something to add, playing around for after an hour on no speaker mode made the head really hot. like i could burn my hand if i left it pressed against the top. is this normal?
 
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Re: Tubemeister 18

Have you ever gotten that feedback sound without the GT8 in the loop?

When you run it without a speaker connected, do you have the Power Soak knob set to "No Speaker"?
 
Re: Tubemeister 18

No I haven't. I was messing with it until about 6am. Seems to feedback when the signal level gets too high. I am sitting right beside it and I noticed if I turn my guitar away from the head it stops :s. I was playing with headphones. Also yeah I was running no speaker mode. I did some digging around on the hk forums and I guess that's normal for it to get hot


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Re: Tubemeister 18

Based on your post in the pedalboard about running the wah, compressor, and distortion in the loop, that would the problem, wah, distortion, and in most cases compression should go in front of the amp.

And yeah, when you are running in no speaker mode, it is putting the output power into an internal load so it is dissipated as heat which has to go somewhere.
 
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