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The Hughes & Kettner User Forum

The Unofficial guitar amp and cabinets forum for users of Hughes and Kettner products. We are not affiliated with Hughes and Kettner!!


2 posters

    Love the tubemeister 36 head

    nikko.stuntman
    nikko.stuntman


    Posts : 4
    Join date : 2017-01-29
    Location : Mauritius

    Love the tubemeister 36 head Empty Love the tubemeister 36 head

    Post by nikko.stuntman Wed Feb 22, 2017 11:00 pm

    Hi everybody,

    It my first post here but have been looking around for quite some time now.
    I have to say that I love the tubemeister 36 head since I got it nearly 2 months ago.

    I'm using it with a Marshall 1960ax cab loaded with g12m-25 greenbacks and it's been working great so far.
    I must say that at first I found the amp quite trebly (I had all knobs on noon except for gain which was whatever was needed to get the gain I needed) and I rolled off quite some treble but when I started rehursing with my band, it was too dark and I had to add the treble again.
    So now everything on noon seems perfect. Very Happy
    Tomorrow is my fist gig for 2017 and its going to be the final test for the tubemeister.

    I play in a classic rock band (everything form chuck berry to guns n roses to white stripes) and I must say the amp is doing great so far Very Happy

    One thing I would like the sat to you guys who have been using the tubemeister for far longer than me, what's your thought on the tubemeister 36 crunch channel? Does it sound marshally to you? (Plexi! , jcm800!)
    I come from a Marshall jvm410h which is not considered very classic Marshall by many.

    So I just want to hear your thoughts about it.

    Thanks and sorry for the long post.
    bordonbert
    bordonbert


    Posts : 1772
    Join date : 2015-01-28
    Age : 72
    Location : Southern England

    Love the tubemeister 36 head Empty Re: Love the tubemeister 36 head

    Post by bordonbert Thu Feb 23, 2017 7:38 am

    Hi Nikko.  Good to see you here.  I've got a lot in common with you, and I mean a lot.  We both started our H&K journey with a TM36, (I still have it), I moved on to a GM36 when I saw the potential but they do have a "family sound".  We both use a Marshall 4x12, mine is an original mid/late '60s 1959 with retired G12Hs replaced by G12M-25 Greenbacks just like yours.  We both play classic ro.....   Woah, hang on a bit!  Chuck Berry, Guns & Roses, WHITE STRIPES?  That's Rock 'n Roll, late hairdo rock and sh...  errrmm, undefinable to me. Wink In my world classic rock is the late '60s to mid '70s, after Humble Pie split there was just a slow dying of the light. Sad   Anything later is just plain weak in comparison. Laughing

    We also have another thing in common but it is kind of mirror image.  You have come to H&K via a JVM410 and I've changed away to a JVM205.  When I joked about the classic rock thing, (and I would argue the issue purely out of interest but it was a joke as posted), there was a serious point behind it.  I find that the H&K sound is wonderful for the sort of stuff you list.  For early Rock 'n Roll or Country rock sounds, the Clean is awesome.  For later G&R type Spandex rock with its high high high gain sounds, the Lead is awesome.  That creamy original Marshall growly sound you hear with bands like Free/Bad Company, Humble Pie, Zep, in fact virtually every Brit band of the late '60s to mid '70s, the H&Ks are poor!  And I know of someone who would say that for the Allman Brothers, Little Feat, Skynyrd type American Fender Rock sound it isn't too good either.

    If you look back over the old posts in this site you'll see that I tried every way I could to get that sound out of the GM36, and I couldn't.  I could improve things and get closer but still not really in the zone.  It is what it is and it is that brilliantly.  But it isn't what it isn't and it's stubborn in not being what I want.  I love the functionality, the level of MIDI control is amazing, but soundwise I'd sooner play through my '68 JTM100 or the new love in my life, the JVM205 I found at a knockdown price in a pawnshop.  (Yes it really does happen.)

    Incidentally, you may be interested in this.  I've just designed and tested a footswitch unit for the JVM which does away with all of the programming of a limited number of buttons you find on the original.  It works on the normal footswitch line not the MIDI line.  It gives you two modes, a Stompbox mode with a button for each option on the amp to alter it directly, and a Preset mode which allows you to store banks of 3 presets and set them up on the amp just like the FSM432.  I chose 3 patches in a bank because that was what I found was the maximum I ever used on the H&K, and it fits the number of existing buttons perfectly.  I've just got a test bed version working controlling the amp last week and I'm waiting to get a display worked in so it will show names for the presets too which the FSM432 can't do.  I'm sourcing cases at the moment.  But I digress, as usual....  Embarassed

    As regards the JVM being Marshally, I will say this then watch out for the flak.  Marshall owners are often very intrasigent about their gear.  There should be a pride and loyalty for good gear by owners but it can slip into a state where you can't hear or consider any criticism logically.  I find the classic owners will generally look down on the "latecomers", often unfairly.  I have that '60s JTM100 here to compare with and I can tell you the JVM does a very good impersonation.  Why wouldn't it?  Internally it's configured to be very similar to the original on its Clean Green channel.  Issues like "handwired v PCB" or "bumblebees v ceramic caps" are not real issues in the real world at all, they are snobbish ways of saying "mine is bigger than yours".  The way you mentioned that point, "...which is not considered very classic Marshall by many." makes me suspect you don't agree with the view that it isn't Marshally either.  I'd be interested to hear?

    On the subject of tone controls, with the exceptin of theMid control I find the Marshall's to be far more effective than the H&K ones.  It's almost like the TM/GM doesn't think you should need to alter its tone by much.  It remains toppy and hard sounding to me on the non-Clean channels.  That's great for in your face 30 notes per sec lion's mane hairdo rock but not for what I want.  It may seem odd that I would be here on the H&K site so much and talk about them this way, but I really believe you show more respect to the amps by being honest about your thoughts on them.  And as I said, I rate the GM at least, (the TM close behind), as amongst the best amps available for other genres of music.


    Last edited by bordonbert on Thu Feb 23, 2017 7:43 am; edited 2 times in total


    _________________
    Newcastle Brown, can sure smack you down
    You take a greasy wh*re, and a rollin' dance floor
    You know you're jailhouse bound!

    Rock On Humble Pie
    bordonbert
    bordonbert


    Posts : 1772
    Join date : 2015-01-28
    Age : 72
    Location : Southern England

    Love the tubemeister 36 head Empty Re: Love the tubemeister 36 head

    Post by bordonbert Thu Feb 23, 2017 7:40 am

    Oh, and don't ever apologise for the length of a post. If people don't like it then they don't have to read it. It takes time to get a post to say what you really want and being accurate, clear and diplomatic in the way you put something is a dying art. Wink


    _________________
    Newcastle Brown, can sure smack you down
    You take a greasy wh*re, and a rollin' dance floor
    You know you're jailhouse bound!

    Rock On Humble Pie
    nikko.stuntman
    nikko.stuntman


    Posts : 4
    Join date : 2017-01-29
    Location : Mauritius

    Love the tubemeister 36 head Empty Re: Love the tubemeister 36 head

    Post by nikko.stuntman Sat Feb 25, 2017 3:22 pm

    Hello bordonbert,

    I really appreciate your honest reply. Nowadays it's becoming very hard to get non biased opinions on guitar gear, unfortunately.

    I think the jvm sounds Marshall to me and it covers a lot of ground for me as I mainly play in a cover band. I had long hesitate between the vintage modern and the jvm and back then I preferred the vintage modern, but the jvm made more sense to me because of the number of channels, midi, etc... and also I need working tools that I can use and abuse everyday   Very Happy  

    I became interested in the tubemeister because I wanted a relatively cheap small wattage amp that I can push more than my jvm and I can say I made the right choice  Very Happy

    I don't believe in magical components, i play mostly off the shelf gear and so far it's been all good.
    It's true that the eq is not very flexible but I play in a 2 guitar cover band and it fits what I need right now.

    First gig done last night and I can say that the tubemeister brillantly passed the test Very Happy
    nikko.stuntman
    nikko.stuntman


    Posts : 4
    Join date : 2017-01-29
    Location : Mauritius

    Love the tubemeister 36 head Empty Re: Love the tubemeister 36 head

    Post by nikko.stuntman Sat Feb 25, 2017 3:29 pm

    I like the pedal concept you are working on, i would love to see the end result Very Happy
    bordonbert
    bordonbert


    Posts : 1772
    Join date : 2015-01-28
    Age : 72
    Location : Southern England

    Love the tubemeister 36 head Empty Re: Love the tubemeister 36 head

    Post by bordonbert Sun Feb 26, 2017 7:25 am

    Excellent! Pleased the TM is working out. It may not be as flexible as the GM in terms of MIDI control but you can get some great sounds out of the TM series, and if it does what you want....

    I'll keep you up to date with progress on the pedal. As I said the control aspects are up and working exactly as they should. I have a full set of switches and LEDs at my feet matching all of the switches on the amp now and I can select channels exactly as I would via the amp's own. I have added a small 20x4 LCD screen now and I'm exploring that at the moment to see if it actually adds anything, (their visual response is actually very slow which may be a problem - or not).


    _________________
    Newcastle Brown, can sure smack you down
    You take a greasy wh*re, and a rollin' dance floor
    You know you're jailhouse bound!

    Rock On Humble Pie
    nikko.stuntman
    nikko.stuntman


    Posts : 4
    Join date : 2017-01-29
    Location : Mauritius

    Love the tubemeister 36 head Empty Re: Love the tubemeister 36 head

    Post by nikko.stuntman Mon Feb 27, 2017 12:07 am

    I play in a cover band but I do not try to replicate the exact tone of each song.
    I mainly use clean channel on the edge of breakup, the crunch channel is setup for ac/doc type of crunch (which cleans up quite nicely when I play softly) and lead channel for a sweet child o mine lead tone. The rest I do with my guitar pots and a few pedals (ts mini, crybaby, big muff, chorus, flanger, phaser, talkbox) that's it. I use a delay only for u2, the intro to welcome to the jungle, a slapback for brian setzer. That's it quite simple rig Very Happy

    Had to make it clear so that people who read the forum later don't think that I get a million different tones from the tubemeister Very Happy

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