HomeIs Lead channel in Hughes&Kettner tubemeister 18 more like crunch or lead channel in Tubemeister 36? Which settings and pedals do you think would be the best to get high-gain sound on tubemeister 18? And how schematically boost button works?
2 posters
Is Lead channel more like crunch?
Gibus- Posts : 21
Join date : 2022-04-07
Location : Ukraine
bordonbert- Posts : 1787
Join date : 2015-01-28
Age : 72
Location : Southern England
Hi again Gibus.
Most of the schematics for the H&K amps are not freely available. The TM18 is and you can find it on the internet if you dig a little. We have a strict policy on this forum that we will not share the H&K schematics in order to respect their intellectual property rights. They do make their living from those circuits after all. I do own a Grandmeister36 and I have owned a Tubemeister36 before that but the other models in both ranges I don't know. I can't advise you whether the TM18 Lead is more like the TM36 Crunch or Lead. Others may help here.
I did not find a lot of difference in the basic character of sound between my TM36 and GM36. I upgraded in order to get the MIDI capability for easier use on stage. The GM was definitely a little smoother but the overall character was very similar. There is a basic H&K sound which all of their amps use as a starting point. It has a natural leaning towards high gain right from the off. The H&K team are German and they love their high gain metal music. I don't find the earlier H&K amps very useful for softer more classic sounding rock and I have never had a GM40 to play with. You can't dial in Marshall/Fender type tones and the answer is simple, if they are what you want then get a Marshall or Fender. H&K amps have their own sound and if it is what you like then you use them.
In terms of their circuitry, all of the TM/GM amps seem to share a lot of solid state circuitry. I can tell you that there is an input buffer/Tubescreamer circuit at the input which seems to be exactly the same for all of them. (It is definitely exactly the same for the TM18 and GM36.) This is a part of the amp which very few people wver bother to use properly. I have posted about it before in the GM36 forum but it is exactly the same for your TM18 too. You should read this: Using the Input Buffer If you get those aspects correct your sound will improve.
The preamp valve stages are different between models. The smaller models only have 2 x 12AX7s giving them 4 triode stages while the bigger models have 3 giving them 6 triodes. Those extra triodes mean that the circuitry can be designed to have less compromises. Your TM18 valve circuitry has a lot of similarities with the GM36 but has important differences. The TM18 uses only 3 triodes in its preamp design and uses the fourth for the phase inverter of the power amp. The GM36 uses 4 triodes in the preamp with the fourth one being a Direct Coupled Cathode Follower, (this has no voltage gain at all), to add softer distortion and to drive the tone control circuitry. The phase inverter is then made from the other two triodes.
There are two ways the valves in the preamps are set up. For the Clean channel the first triode feeds its signal to the third triode leaving the second triode idle. For the drive channels this is changed to include the second valve between them so the gain is increased. The design of the stages is almost identical in the TM18 and GM36. At the same time as this, channel selections can also change the stage component values to increase their gain. The Boost function works by increasing the gain in the solid state input buffer and in the first triode stage. It does this by using FET transistors as switches to add in parallel resistors to reduce the value of those which are there permanently.
I can't imagine why you would want more gain from pedals. There is more than enough usable gain available in the amps without any additional boost or distortion pedals. I would strongly advise you to read that link I posted above, get to understand the input buffer stage and how the signal level fed to it changes what it does, and also consider how confusing things sound when you have too many sources of distortion. Laying distortion on top of distortion a number of times does not give you a very well balanced sound, even in a high gain setting. You are better deciding what will be your main source of distortion then adding others to that in very small quantities.
Most of the schematics for the H&K amps are not freely available. The TM18 is and you can find it on the internet if you dig a little. We have a strict policy on this forum that we will not share the H&K schematics in order to respect their intellectual property rights. They do make their living from those circuits after all. I do own a Grandmeister36 and I have owned a Tubemeister36 before that but the other models in both ranges I don't know. I can't advise you whether the TM18 Lead is more like the TM36 Crunch or Lead. Others may help here.
I did not find a lot of difference in the basic character of sound between my TM36 and GM36. I upgraded in order to get the MIDI capability for easier use on stage. The GM was definitely a little smoother but the overall character was very similar. There is a basic H&K sound which all of their amps use as a starting point. It has a natural leaning towards high gain right from the off. The H&K team are German and they love their high gain metal music. I don't find the earlier H&K amps very useful for softer more classic sounding rock and I have never had a GM40 to play with. You can't dial in Marshall/Fender type tones and the answer is simple, if they are what you want then get a Marshall or Fender. H&K amps have their own sound and if it is what you like then you use them.
In terms of their circuitry, all of the TM/GM amps seem to share a lot of solid state circuitry. I can tell you that there is an input buffer/Tubescreamer circuit at the input which seems to be exactly the same for all of them. (It is definitely exactly the same for the TM18 and GM36.) This is a part of the amp which very few people wver bother to use properly. I have posted about it before in the GM36 forum but it is exactly the same for your TM18 too. You should read this: Using the Input Buffer If you get those aspects correct your sound will improve.
The preamp valve stages are different between models. The smaller models only have 2 x 12AX7s giving them 4 triode stages while the bigger models have 3 giving them 6 triodes. Those extra triodes mean that the circuitry can be designed to have less compromises. Your TM18 valve circuitry has a lot of similarities with the GM36 but has important differences. The TM18 uses only 3 triodes in its preamp design and uses the fourth for the phase inverter of the power amp. The GM36 uses 4 triodes in the preamp with the fourth one being a Direct Coupled Cathode Follower, (this has no voltage gain at all), to add softer distortion and to drive the tone control circuitry. The phase inverter is then made from the other two triodes.
There are two ways the valves in the preamps are set up. For the Clean channel the first triode feeds its signal to the third triode leaving the second triode idle. For the drive channels this is changed to include the second valve between them so the gain is increased. The design of the stages is almost identical in the TM18 and GM36. At the same time as this, channel selections can also change the stage component values to increase their gain. The Boost function works by increasing the gain in the solid state input buffer and in the first triode stage. It does this by using FET transistors as switches to add in parallel resistors to reduce the value of those which are there permanently.
I can't imagine why you would want more gain from pedals. There is more than enough usable gain available in the amps without any additional boost or distortion pedals. I would strongly advise you to read that link I posted above, get to understand the input buffer stage and how the signal level fed to it changes what it does, and also consider how confusing things sound when you have too many sources of distortion. Laying distortion on top of distortion a number of times does not give you a very well balanced sound, even in a high gain setting. You are better deciding what will be your main source of distortion then adding others to that in very small quantities.
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