Hughes & kettner Tubemeister 18 ?

  • Thread starter Thread starter sandman
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sandman

sandman

Well-known member
Anybody played one of these? Looks good and has great features. It has me gassin' a little.
 
Personally, I've seen the prices on the TM36 down to almost where the TM18 is and I'd go that route, MIDI, all the great features, and more EQ options. Hughes & Kettner are great amps, but you have to be patient with them, pair them with the right speakers, and dial them in. Small changes go a long way -- this isn't a knob-twister...
 
I played the Tubemeister 36 yesterday. For a 1000$ it is great. Loved the sound and so the features. Recommand. I tried it in the 1 x 12 H&K, sounded great and in the 4x12 H&K sounded awsome. Both cab had V30 on them.
 
I had a TM 18 combo before but returned it after a month. It's okay for rock tones and a compact little amp (head or combo), but I didn't get along with the high gain settings for metal. The cleans are very H & K "hi-fi" or sterile as some say, it didn't take distortion pedals well straight in (into FX loop was fine but the pedal controlled the overall volume), and the EQ is all interdependent. Note I played through a 1x12 EVH 5153 cab (G12H30), I should have got a V30 instead. My personal opinions aside, the TM 36 has 2 EQs and more features as mentioned if you like the TM sound.
 
I had the 18. Good clean and overdrive tones but it got a little to grainy with the boost kicked in. The boost is weird as you can't adjust it. Its either on or off. The shared eq kinda sucked too. It really needed a presence control IMO. Also when you kick it down to 5 watts or 1 watt I didn't like what it did to the sound. Very compressed. Also the blue neon thing wore on me after a while. I would recommend you check the 36 as it has better eq options. Try before you buy. I did not and I disliked it right away. I swapped the tubes for JJ's and it took away some of the shrillness. I eventually got it dialed in,but it was to grainy for me, I ended up selling it after about a year. Also changing tubes sucks on the head,you have to take the whole box apart.
 
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