I got this head as the head for my first real amp, because I loved old-school H&K stuff. Rather than spending the money on this, I wish I would have saved up a little more and bought a second-hand old H&K model instead. As somebody else also mentioned in the comments, after a few months the amp started to whir. The clean is actually pretty awesome for a tube amp, especially considering it had just come out when I bought it. The crunch and lead channels can be an absolute nightmare. The distortion seems to come factory-standard as light and fizzy -- which normally isn't the sound that folks who purchase this amp are looking for. EQing and using other guitars didn't solve this problem. Our front-of-house guy said my tone sounded better going directly through a $30 Joyo California Preamp pedal than from this amp. You are most-likely going to get whirring, microphonics, a thin and whispy tone and sound guys asking you to either fix your amp or get another one. My advice for anyone who wants to buy this amp would be: Consider spending a little more and getting an H&K that sounds great out of the box, or, make sure you buy some ECC81 pre-amp tubes, at the very least, when you purchase this amp and swap at least one out the stock standard ECC83's out for an 81 to kickstart improving the tone. It is truely one of the worst tube-amp distortions I've ever heard. But the amp is small and powerful, and can be made to sound killer if you're willing to invest in swapping out parts.
I think, that you only have to change the Tubes, dependend out of the Volume and the amount of playing, they have to changed after a while. Often after a year. Sometimes later or more often
Now this is quite on point. Thank you! I tested it several years ago, and was SO disappointed! The digital reverb had a rush/hiss?, and i thought "that's more noise than a distortion pedal has, this reverb is DIGITAL; what the hell?)... AND the tone-knobs: For me, the mids-point/range was wrong, and treble also...tried to tweak it to my favourite sound, but didn't get it at all. Very disappointed i sent it back and played again my EDITION TUBE 25th. What happened to H & K?! 😢
Fantastic amp but please please please.... If you're gonna get one do not judge it with the standard valves it's shipped with - to say they're complete **** is an understatement, however, after putting some 1959/1960 mullards in... Well it is a completely different beast - absolutely fantastic in every way - I have never heard a nos tube change have such a tremendous effect! Now this sounds immense...
@Nick Jones - Would like to hear that sonic difference. I've experienced that w several other amps myself. The chinese tubes these ship with are ok, very early breakup and be can be a bit thin sounding.
I'm looking to get a new Tube Amp in the 20w-40w "No Hybrids or Solid States" range that i can use for home and small gigs (nothing professional mainly jamming with friends at outdoor parties & get togethers), the style of music I play the most is 70s-80s hard rock, southern rock with an occasional AIC & Soundgarden thrown in. I've narrowed it down to two amps that have the features I'm wanting, they are the Hughes & Kettner TubeMeister 36 and the Peavey 6505 Mini. There's a few hundred dollar price difference between them but the reason I chose the Tubemeister 36 over the similarly Peavey priced Tubemeister 18 is because the 36 has Reverb and if my info is right it's the only Tubemeister thats made in Germany and NOT CHINA, which brings me to the downside of the CHINESE made Peavey. I Do Not mind the added cost of the H&K (it's not like I'm buying one every other month or evennevery year) as long as it covers the style of music I play and is reliable. I know the full size 6505/6505+ aren't known for having the cleanest clean tones and I'm guessing the Mini follows suit but I would like a fairly clean tone for use with pedals. I'd like to hear what others have to say & think of these two amps and if I'm making too much to do with Made in China part, even if i am I Hate giving that country anymore money than I absolutely have to. Now I know most will say go down to G.C or another store and try them out, only thing is where I live the closest music store is over an hour each way. Thanks.
I swapped my DIY Explorer in exchange for a tubemeister36 and I love it. Any suggestions what cab/ speaker suits it best? 🤔 I have a cab box (from Harley benton -.-) with a 12" celestion speaker, I'm not sure what is wrong with the speaker but I MUST change it at least. Ps: the way you played the "day tripper" riff on high gain... 😎🤙 Bruhaha...I got goosebumps
Would it be a bad idea to use this amp for gigging? I mean, is this amp really "built like a tank", I've heard tube amps are kind of "fragile" for live sound environment.
I've been using this amp live for over 2 years now, and it is awesome. Just let it cool down before moving it after the gig and you will be fine. The light weight makes this a great choice for gigging.
Everyone uses tube amps live. I found out that spinning hard drives actually stop working in our rehearsal room due to vibration, stil the tubes are some WW2 technology, they'll survive that.. If you wanna be careful, make sure you have a case for you amp, so they tubes dont cool off too fast after playing or get shaken a lot
Valve amps have been the preferred amp for most touring guitars with the amps being thrown in the back of a trailer or van and driven across the country. With regular servicing, most tube amps will put up with alot of punishment. I've had more solid state equipment fail than tube amps.
@3:48: The reverb is a digital spring reverb.... OMG! Mind you, it's either digital or spring, never heard of a digital spring (wonder what that would look like....)
Great review man! I've been wanting a H&K for quite some time. I have other combos but this will be my first head/cab. Did you try a H&K cab vs the Ampeg you have in the review? Thanks again!
Thanks and glad you enjoyed the review! I did try the H&K 2x12 in the store with this amp head and it sounds fantastic! Better than the equivalent Orange cab with the same speakers, so I guess the wood/design matters. I wanted a 1x12 with a Celestion V30, however, for gigs, and the Ampeg was a great price used, so I went for that. If you are willing to spend the cash, get the H&K one!
I tried this amp, loved it, but after a month the amp started making whirring sound. Was replaced, 2nd one volume pot on crunch channel went bad. #rd one still defective. No confidence left for H&K.
Great question. I'm not sure, as I don't really operate it that way. However, in my readings about power tubes, it sounds like selecting certain tubes to achieve the goal you outline might be the right way to go. I hear Mullard EL 84 tubes are great for getting dirt from harder playing/picking. Try investigating that option.
I doubt it does it right off the bat but you could program something that manipulates the midi value of the gain knob based on the amplitude of the guitar signal. I plan on doing this myself. I'm going to feed the guitar signal into a single board computer running Max MSP which will have a patch that manipulates the midi values of the amp.
Hi Chris Now when you had the amp for a couple of years. What's your thoughts today on it? I have a chance on used Tubmeister so to hear how it is after a couple of years is important.
@@Cerotonin Thanks Chris for a fast answer. Many of these more hightec products has issues after some time. The fact that you can do so much with sound and effects on the proper amp is strong argument.
Would this work well with grunge music / gear? I have a Squire Mustang, a DS1, and a Big Muff, and I mostly play Nirvana, Smashing Pumpkins, Green Day, and similar bands, and I’m wondering if this would be a good choice for me.
Glad you enjoyed it! It has a pretty high gain lead channel, but for death metal, you might want to add more gain with a pedal into the gain channel. Should do the trick.
Another review that manages to make a great fokken amp, sound "not so great" ... and almost non-existent demo of the lush beautiful sounding reverb in this head ... yikes
I guess we shouldn't expect anything but hyperbole from someone who goes by the moniker of "VoiceOfGood". Amp sounds great to me, so not sure what kind of speakers you have, and if you think the reverb on this head is "lush" and "beautiful" you have clearly never played a Fender amp with reverb.
@@Cerotonin Yes. I own this amp and the reverb is almost non-existent, so I use a reverb pedal in the effects loop. I'm not sure what that guy was talking about.
great demo - thanks for all of the information!!!! well done! Thanks!
Thanks very much! Glad you enjoyed it!
My pleasure, my friend! Glad it helped you out! All the best!
Simple yet deep review. Thanks a lot!
+Daniel Libuy Mena Cheers! Glad it helped!
The tube self biasing /redirect current thing is just great. That with the blue glow, midi, DI, atenuator, lightweight... price... what not to love?
I got this head as the head for my first real amp, because I loved old-school H&K stuff. Rather than spending the money on this, I wish I would have saved up a little more and bought a second-hand old H&K model instead. As somebody else also mentioned in the comments, after a few months the amp started to whir.
The clean is actually pretty awesome for a tube amp, especially considering it had just come out when I bought it. The crunch and lead channels can be an absolute nightmare.
The distortion seems to come factory-standard as light and fizzy -- which normally isn't the sound that folks who purchase this amp are looking for. EQing and using other guitars didn't solve this problem. Our front-of-house guy said my tone sounded better going directly through a $30 Joyo California Preamp pedal than from this amp.
You are most-likely going to get whirring, microphonics, a thin and whispy tone and sound guys asking you to either fix your amp or get another one.
My advice for anyone who wants to buy this amp would be: Consider spending a little more and getting an H&K that sounds great out of the box, or, make sure you buy some ECC81 pre-amp tubes, at the very least, when you purchase this amp and swap at least one out the stock standard ECC83's out for an 81 to kickstart improving the tone. It is truely one of the worst tube-amp distortions I've ever heard. But the amp is small and powerful, and can be made to sound killer if you're willing to invest in swapping out parts.
I think, that you only have to change the Tubes, dependend out of the Volume and the amount of playing, they have to changed after a while. Often after a year. Sometimes later or more often
Now this is quite on point. Thank you!
I tested it several years ago, and was SO disappointed!
The digital reverb had a rush/hiss?, and i thought "that's more noise than a distortion pedal has, this reverb is DIGITAL; what the hell?)...
AND the tone-knobs:
For me, the mids-point/range was wrong, and treble also...tried to tweak it to my favourite sound, but didn't get it at all.
Very disappointed i sent it back and played again my
EDITION TUBE 25th.
What happened to H & K?!
😢
Thanks for this great review my friend! I'm bying that amp start next week probably - can't wait to mess around with it! 🤘
Muskelvand, 1998 You are most welcome my friend! It’s a great amp! You will really enjoy it!
Chris Kesner I'm sure I will, thanks! :)
Fantastic amp but please please please.... If you're gonna get one do not judge it with the standard valves it's shipped with - to say they're complete **** is an understatement, however, after putting some 1959/1960 mullards in... Well it is a completely different beast - absolutely fantastic in every way - I have never heard a nos tube change have such a tremendous effect! Now this sounds immense...
@Nick Jones - Would like to hear that sonic difference. I've experienced that w several other amps myself. The chinese tubes these ship with are ok, very early breakup and be can be a bit thin sounding.
I'm looking to get a new Tube Amp in the 20w-40w "No Hybrids or Solid States" range that i can use for home and small gigs (nothing professional mainly jamming with friends at outdoor parties & get togethers), the style of music I play the most is 70s-80s hard rock, southern rock with an occasional AIC & Soundgarden thrown in. I've narrowed it down to two amps that have the features I'm wanting, they are the Hughes & Kettner TubeMeister 36 and the Peavey 6505 Mini. There's a few hundred dollar price difference between them but the reason I chose the Tubemeister 36 over the similarly Peavey priced Tubemeister 18 is because the 36 has Reverb and if my info is right it's the only Tubemeister thats made in Germany and NOT CHINA, which brings me to the downside of the CHINESE made Peavey. I Do Not mind the added cost of the H&K (it's not like I'm buying one every other month or evennevery year) as long as it covers the style of music I play and is reliable. I know the full size 6505/6505+ aren't known for having the cleanest clean tones and I'm guessing the Mini follows suit but I would like a fairly clean tone for use with pedals. I'd like to hear what others have to say & think of these two amps and if I'm making too much to do with Made in China part, even if i am I Hate giving that country anymore money than I absolutely have to. Now I know most will say go down to G.C or another store and try them out, only thing is where I live the closest music store is over an hour each way. Thanks.
I swapped my DIY Explorer in exchange for a tubemeister36 and I love it. Any suggestions what cab/ speaker suits it best? 🤔 I have a cab box (from Harley benton -.-) with a 12" celestion speaker, I'm not sure what is wrong with the speaker but I MUST change it at least.
Ps: the way you played the "day tripper" riff on high gain... 😎🤙 Bruhaha...I got goosebumps
Not sure can you match the clean channel volume to the dirty?
This or the Statesmen 6L6 both $600AUD??
I can get the matching 212 cab for the TM 36 head. The statesmen is a combo.
Thanks for the super informative video!
+Kat Cheng Thanks stranger! Hope you're enjoying your time off ;p
Would it be a bad idea to use this amp for gigging? I mean, is this amp really "built like a tank", I've heard tube amps are kind of "fragile" for live sound environment.
I've been using this amp live for over 2 years now, and it is awesome. Just let it cool down before moving it after the gig and you will be fine. The light weight makes this a great choice for gigging.
Everyone uses tube amps live. I found out that spinning hard drives actually stop working in our rehearsal room due to vibration, stil the tubes are some WW2 technology, they'll survive that.. If you wanna be careful, make sure you have a case for you amp, so they tubes dont cool off too fast after playing or get shaken a lot
Valve amps have been the preferred amp for most touring guitars with the amps being thrown in the back of a trailer or van and driven across the country. With regular servicing, most tube amps will put up with alot of punishment. I've had more solid state equipment fail than tube amps.
Lol
Great review! Can you please tell me the difference between tubemeister 36 and grandmeister?
@3:48: The reverb is a digital spring reverb.... OMG! Mind you, it's either digital or spring, never heard of a digital spring (wonder what that would look like....)
I guess it means that its digital, but emulates spring sound
Does anyone know if this has a tube rectifier?
I believe it has a solid state rectifier.
Great review man! I've been wanting a H&K for quite some time. I have other combos but this will be my first head/cab. Did you try a H&K cab vs the Ampeg you have in the review? Thanks again!
Thanks and glad you enjoyed the review! I did try the H&K 2x12 in the store with this amp head and it sounds fantastic! Better than the equivalent Orange cab with the same speakers, so I guess the wood/design matters. I wanted a 1x12 with a Celestion V30, however, for gigs, and the Ampeg was a great price used, so I went for that. If you are willing to spend the cash, get the H&K one!
Thanks for your thoughtful response. I'll definitetly try the H&K cabinets as well!
Best of luck!
I tried this amp, loved it, but after a month the amp started making whirring sound. Was replaced, 2nd one volume pot on crunch channel went bad. #rd one still defective. No confidence left for H&K.
I'd like a head that would get an overdriven sound the harder you play. The orange thunderverb does that. Would this? ideal for bluesy solos.
Great question. I'm not sure, as I don't really operate it that way. However, in my readings about power tubes, it sounds like selecting certain tubes to achieve the goal you outline might be the right way to go. I hear Mullard EL 84 tubes are great for getting dirt from harder playing/picking. Try investigating that option.
I doubt it does it right off the bat but you could program something that manipulates the midi value of the gain knob based on the amplitude of the guitar signal. I plan on doing this myself. I'm going to feed the guitar signal into a single board computer running Max MSP which will have a patch that manipulates the midi values of the amp.
Hi Chris
Now when you had the amp for a couple of years.
What's your thoughts today on it?
I have a chance on used Tubmeister so to hear how it is after a couple of years is important.
Great question! I still love it for live usage as it is very versatile, light weight, and solid tone. It’s worth the money!
@@Cerotonin
Thanks Chris for a fast answer.
Many of these more hightec products has issues after some time.
The fact that you can do so much with sound and effects on the proper amp is strong argument.
Would this work well with grunge music / gear? I have a Squire Mustang, a DS1, and a Big Muff, and I mostly play Nirvana, Smashing Pumpkins, Green Day, and similar bands, and I’m wondering if this would be a good choice for me.
Hart Davis It sure would! I love 90s alt rock and this amp will get you there!
Chris Kesner Thanks!
Good review! Thanks!
Brian Stewart My pleasure!
Thanks for the great review! Would you recommend this amp for some death metal stuff?
Glad you enjoyed it! It has a pretty high gain lead channel, but for death metal, you might want to add more gain with a pedal into the gain channel. Should do the trick.
Chris Kesner Thanks for responding, still, great amp
My Tubemeister 18 crapped out after minimal use wasn't that impressed, good luck returning it.
how could you compare this to the Vox ac 30 ?
Go to a store and try them both out.
Opposite end of the spectrum in so many ways
the first guitar what is?
I built it out of various parts. Some of the pieces appear in other videos.
Good for metal?
Spetznaz Ninja It will do the job, but more of a hard rock machine.
Not a bad rock tone. But I wouldn’t attempt to shoot for any modern hard rock or metal with it. Blue leds kinda make it look like a kids toy imo
If it’s good enough for Of Mice & Men, it works for Modern Metal
Ty zkreslený zvuky nejsou moc pěkný :-(
Another review that manages to make a great fokken amp, sound "not so great" ... and almost non-existent demo of the lush beautiful sounding reverb in this head ... yikes
I guess we shouldn't expect anything but hyperbole from someone who goes by the moniker of "VoiceOfGood". Amp sounds great to me, so not sure what kind of speakers you have, and if you think the reverb on this head is "lush" and "beautiful" you have clearly never played a Fender amp with reverb.
@@Cerotonin Yes. I own this amp and the reverb is almost non-existent, so I use a reverb pedal in the effects loop.
I'm not sure what that guy was talking about.
Is this enough to play Classic Metal? I mean, stuff from Black Sabbath to old Metallica.
More of a classic rock amp IMO. Maybe look at a Blackstar for more of a metal tone.
The guitarist for Grave Digger uses them, so yes, it's enough.
I believe Jeff Waters used this amp for a couple of years playing all the Annihilator goods. This amp can do metal no problem.