First gig with the GM

Well, I had my first gig with the GM. One of my bands is a '50s through current cover band that plays blues, rock, soul and a little jazz. We played the City of Boulder, Colorado's 4th of July festival. It was a hot, outside gig at a lake. We were on a mobile covered stage, and the temp hit about 95.

I had ten banks of tones saved at 18 watts and 36 watts both, going through a Mesa Thiele 1x12, and mic'd with an SM57. For guitars, I only ended up using the PRS Singlecut Hollowbody (with piezo) and the Asher lapsteel. Since the foot controller doesn't really work well for volume, I ended up going back to using a small pedalboard--Maxon vintage compressor, Jetter Jetdrive (on the board, but not used for this gig), Boss TU-2, Morley mini Vol/wah. I also have the single switch set to toggle the amp's boost function.

The amp rocked! It never got any hotter than it does during practices. I tried running the 36 watt presets, but it sounded better on 18 watts and the master at noon than it did at 36 and the volume at 10:30. And, it was loud! One thing I was really happy about is the balance of the presets in the face of large changes in the master volume. Everything was created and balanced at 18 watts and the master at 9:00 sounded the same, but with a little bit more harmonic content at noon. Very cool.

I had some concerns with the amp, but ended up very happy. The heat doesn't seem to be an issue. The flexibility is still impressive. The various levels of drive definitely sound better as the volume goes up (and they sound good with the master low). All in all, it's a great amp.

Awesome report! And interesting, about the 36w vs 18w... I will say, when I had my TM18, I never ran the volume any higher than about 9-10 o'clock, no matter what size stage it was. That was always PLENTY enough stage volume, and then Red Box DI to the PA.

I hope to get my Grandmeister onto a stage soon so that I can try it out!

I have not messed with 18 versus 36 watts. I will give that a whirl sometime soon!

I think a lot of players don't understand the relationship between wattage and loudness. It takes about a tenfold increase in wattage to double the perceived volume. Everyone can appreciate that a 100 watt amp is loud. What they don't get is that same 100 watt amp is only twice as loud as a 10 watt amp. With that in mind, 18 watts can be frickin' loud! Even on an outdoor stage, with lots of dispersion, it's LOUD!

Nice to hear of another Colorado GM36 owner. What band are you in? I'm with Vivid Fiction.

I've played several shows with the GM36 now. Outside at the Bolder Boulder, outside at the People's Fair, outside at a work jam, and several other inside shows. The Bolder Boulder was 4 hours in the sun! While the amp does get very hot, and H&K responded to my inquiry that it gets hot by design, I am confident this little amp will continue doing well at shows.

I've had so many compliments on the tone of this amp. I have it paired with the H&K TM112. Still on the fence about the V30 speaker though...can't get the Lead or Ultra channels to sound as warm as the Crunch channel. So right now I'm just using the Crunch channel at different gain levels for all of my patches.

I may test out a darker speaker in the TM112 cabinet someday.

Hey Ral8667. I'll keep my eye open for you guys. PM me when you are plying locally again.

Big Otis Surf Club is the band of mine that played the Fourth of July event. I'm the young guy in that band (at 42!), and we play blues, soul, and rock. We mostly play Denver, but I'm trying to get us Boulder/Louisville gigs, since they are closer to home for me.

Even with my heavier originals band, I have yet to find an use for the Ultra channel. Maybe your idea of it being the speaker, but it's just too over the top for me. I can get super-sustaining leads from both the Crunch and Lead channels, both of which can cut through without sounding mushy.

First open air gig with my grandmeister! Played in 18W Mode and this beast was amazing loud!
I love it...and love it...and love it! :-)

Are you standing in water? Ouch... Those amps look hot...

It was yet another shitty german summer day 2014 and at the end of the gig it began to rain like hell. I like the pic, cause it looks like I'm standing in the rain.  

My grandmeister had been run in 5W Mode from the rehearsal room, but this was too quiet for the gig...although the master volume was set to max. But this problem had been solved in 3 Minutes with my Ipad. Just plugged in, changed all presets from 5W to 18W and master volume at noon or a little above. The grandmeister ran not just louder, it also sounded more "vibrant" or brilliant...so it seems that the loadbox cuts more through the sound that I thought. But this could also be the sound of the louder speaker.