Tubemeister

**Munk** · 11-26-2013, 03:14 AM

Hi. I've now got a Koch Studiotone XL, which is very nice amp, but a little too bright for my taste and I want a more quiet bedroom when iddle, (it has a noisy fan).

So I get inspiration in this forum and find the Hughes&Kettner Tubemeister, which sounds interesting in some videos. So I would like to know if its also on the quiet side when iddle. And if it would be better for darker coloursa to buy a Tubemeister head and a cabinet (which one for example) instead of the Tubemeister 18 combo.

**Chimera1to1** · 11-26-2013, 07:44 AM

Hi munk,

I've got the 18 head which I use with an open backed cab. The amp itself makes no noises. It does great cleans that sound very Fender when you scoop the mids. Dark jazz tone suits it well

The only "downside" to the head is no built in reverb but I prefer a HOF in the effects loop.

**Munk** · 11-26-2013, 08:05 AM

Thanks Chimera1to1.
Great info with no noise. I also use HOF with Henriksen jazzamp. About fenderish I have had both twin reverb and blues junior. Twin was very nice but heavy. Junior my worst amp ever.

I dare to order the Tubemeister from internet, but not sure if head or combo.

**Chimera1to1** · 11-26-2013, 02:03 PM

Hi Munk, I ordered off the net too, just going on reviews in Guitarist and Sound On Sound mags. I was after a bit of Vox EL84 drive too so I paired it with a Vox Night train 2x12 cab with greenbacks. Eventually I will get a single alnico blue and run as a single 12 with a switch to both as the H+K is variable impedance output.

I guess its obvious I'm smitten with the H+K but the best bit is using the Red Box xlr out into stereo reverb and then stereo monitors giving a wet/dry/wet stereo setup. I love it for jazz but I also come over a bit Dave Gilmour sometimes.

Let me know what you think when you get it

Pete

**Munk** · 11-26-2013, 03:12 PM

Hi Pete, I have always had combos, and no knowledge at all about cabs, impedance, ohm etc. Only I have read that open cabs provide a more open sound. Well, a 2x12 cab would be nice or a stereo setup, also it would be great only to change heads in the future, when I want to try new amps, but the H&K 212 box seem a little pricy, so maybe I will end up with a combo again.

About the xlr and use it with stereo monitors. Can the amp connect direct to monitors or through sound card/mixer?

Henrik

**guitarman3001** · 11-27-2013, 10:35 AM

I briefly owned a Tubemeister 18 combo. It's hardly what I'd consider a warm or dark voiced amp. As a matter of fact, it was one of the brightest amps I've ever played through. So bright that I had to turn the tone controls on most of my overdrive pedals almost all the way down.

Personally I would steer clear of the combo. They have a design/engineering flaw where the reverb circuit makes a whistling noise when the reverb is turned up. It's most noticeable on the 18 watt setting. I returned three of them because of that problem. HK and H&K's US distributor even got involved and discovered that all of the TM18 combos they had in the US warehouse had the same issue. I sent the third one I had directly to them to see if they could fix it and after having it for a week or two they gave up and said there was nothing they could do to fix it.

If you never use reverb or if you don't mind a reverb that when turned up sounds like a whistling tea kettle, then you should be ok with the combo. Otherwise, get the head. BTW, all of the issues I had with it are documented on video. Just search for tubemeister problems on youtube and you will see my videos.

That said, based on my own individual experience, they have way too many design and quality control issues so I would steer clear of H&K and look for something else. My own experience aside though, I know a lot of people seem to like them so ymmv....

**Munk** · 11-27-2013, 11:08 AM

Thanks a lot guitarman3001.

It makes me think twice. I tried a H&K few years ago in a shop, and I really liked the atmosphere, but unfortunately it had a strange periodic error with sharp hissing, so maybe not just one of a million which escaped their quality control.

I will try to research others on my list, which I can also not try before buying; Brunetti Singleman, Brunetti Marinello, Rivera Clubster or Rivera Jazz suprema.

**Chimera1to1** · 11-27-2013, 11:18 AM

Hi Henrik,

The H + K cab was over £500 here the vox considerably cheaper and there is a 1 x12 too. I hadn't heard any bad press about H+K but I can understand what you're saying guitar man. I don't find it bright though and normally play through it with all the tone controls at 12 o'clock. My chambered tele is quite dark and sounds best with the tones at 3,12,3 giving a scooped tone. The tone pots are very interactive. I only ever need to turn the tone down on the guitar.

Regarding plugging the emulated red box out into something that's pretty flexible. If you have something that will take a balanced input then use that otherwise I use a pseudo balanced cable that goes from xlr to standard tip sleeve 1/4 inch jack. Prior to getting a mixer I ran the xlr line out into the HOF mono input and the stereo outputs of the HOF to the monitors.

The reason i use a mixer is that if I want to use my jazzking I use the line out from that amp to the mixer so I can use the same reverb/fx without having to rewire everything and I can route either amp or dry signal into a small USB interface.

**Munk** · 11-27-2013, 11:42 AM

Hi Chimera, I have trawled youtube for TM examples with archtops, but only found one, which was on the brighter side, but maybe due to settings, so if you have a sample of the sound, it would be great.

**Chimera1to1** · 11-29-2013, 08:19 AM

Hi Junk, (isn't it funny what the tablet spellcheck changes words to!! Munk!!)

I was doing some for you yesterday when I had a crash with my Cubase upgrade. I post some as soon as..

**Chimera1to1** · 11-29-2013, 10:34 AM

Guild X170 into H+K Tubemeister 18 head. Tone controls at 12. Red box out to mixer to PC with Cubase. I don't do a lot of recording DAW's are far too complicated. EDIT new sound file, bit of an improvement

**Munk** · 11-29-2013, 10:59 AM

Thanks a lot! Well it sounds warm to me, great playing and a very good recording too. Much value for a little money if you ask me.

I will forgive you calling me junk

**Broyale** · 11-29-2013, 01:22 PM

I own the combo and I like it alot.
I haven't had any experience with other tube amps (other than the Fender Princeton at school), so whether it's dark or bright sounding I dunno. I like the way it sounds, only use it at home for practice so I can't speak on quality control issues. Bummer about the reverb, but I don't use it anyways. The reverb on this unit doesn't seem to have much presence. I also like the blue LED glow, suck you can't switch 'em out according to the H&K rep I spoke to.

**Chimera1to1** · 11-29-2013, 03:47 PM

You can't have a soundtest without a tele can you?

**Chimera1to1** · 11-30-2013, 07:19 AM

Originally Posted by Broyale

I own the combo and I like it alot.
I haven't had any experience with other tube amps (other than the Fender Princeton at school), so whether it's dark or bright sounding I dunno. I like the way it sounds, only use it at home for practice so I can't speak on quality control issues. Bummer about the reverb, but I don't use it anyways. The reverb on this unit doesn't seem to have much presence. I also like the blue LED glow, suck you can't switch 'em out according to the H&K rep I spoke to.

Does that mean that if the LED's break then you can't replace them?

**Broyale** · 11-30-2013, 05:31 PM

Originally Posted by Chimera1to1

Does that mean that if the LED's break then you can't replace them?

Only if you're a tech. According to both the H&K rep and guitar tech at the store I bought my amp from, its not an easy job. Doable, but not easy. I'm sure someone with some decent electrical savvy could work it out.