newbie ?: 4212 tourmaster

[Guitardo]

Hi, guys. First post here. I bit yesterday and bought the Tourmaster 4212 at GC!

Ihave a few general ???? about the amp.
1- Is it possible to change power tubes to EL34, 6550, KT 66s-77s-88s etc. If so what are the limits? Will it take as low as a 6V6 or as high as 6550?????

2- i know the Celestion speakers are to Egnater specs....what were they going for here as far as the sound of the speaker? athese seem a little top end sizzly to my ears.

3- Can anyone tell me the preamp tube layout????? what I am specifically wondering is if there is a tube I can change to AT7 or 5751 that will tame the 4th channel a tad? Does 4th channel have its own dedicated preamp tube?

Overall I love the amp....there are some great sounds here....I am not sure at this point about whether the speakers are voiced right for me.....i like a round, brown tone....cant tell if the high end sizzle is a by-product of speakers or 5881s or a combination of both. plugged it into a cab with Celection Gm 80s....seemed to warm it up some.
I think I will probably exchange the combo for a head only.....i went against my gut instinct and bought the combo as opposed to the head. For a coupls hundred, i thought the speakers would be a cheap perk....maybe they are just not for me.

Any input at this point would be greatly appreciated. Thanks, Guitardo

 

[Jeff Hilligan]

Hi, guys. First post here. I bit yesterday and bought the Tourmaster 4212 at GC!

Ihave a few general ???? about the amp.
1- Is it possible to change power tubes to EL34, 6550, KT 66s-77s-88s etc. If so what are the limits? Will it take as low as a 6V6 or as high as 6550?????

2- i know the Celestion speakers are to Egnater specs....what were they going for here as far as the sound of the speaker? athese seem a little top end sizzly to my ears.

3- Can anyone tell me the preamp tube layout????? what I am specifically wondering is if there is a tube I can change to AT7 or 5751 that will tame the 4th channel a tad? Does 4th channel have its own dedicated preamp tube?

Overall I love the amp....there are some great sounds here....I am not sure at this point about whether the speakers are voiced right for me.....i like a round, brown tone....cant tell if the high end sizzle is a by-product of speakers or 5881s or a combination of both. plugged it into a cab with Celection Gm 80s....seemed to warm it up some.
I think I will probably exchange the combo for a head only.....i went against my gut instinct and bought the combo as opposed to the head. For a coupls hundred, i thought the speakers would be a cheap perk....maybe they are just not for me.

Any input at this point would be greatly appreciated. Thanks, Guitardo

Yes you can use any tube. The power grid becomes on 50 or 100 watts and nothing else.

We went for a smoother and bigger low end with the CL 80. It seems to be the magic speaker with this combo.

The pre amp tube layout is on page 17 or 18 of the manual I believe.

 

[Guitardo]

Thanks for the info, Jim....oh yeah.....the manual....how silly of me. I have spent a little more time today with the amp. One thing I`ve noticed is that plugging into the low input (with a clean boost on the guitar) smooths thing out quite a lot. Not sure if thats the best option for inputs, but it did warm up for me a lot and some of the sizzle is tamed for sure. it is one hell of an ampfor sure! Thanks, Guitardo

 

[kccheers]

Um, ya, Thanx , Jim....oh, nevermind

 

[Buckeyedog]

Give the speakers ample time to break in. Especially the 80's.....they need to be beat on with some volume for many hours, then they will smooth out. Many speakers have that "high end fizzle" out of the box.

 

[Jeff Hilligan]

Give the speakers ample time to break in. Especially the 80's.....they need to be beat on with some volume for many hours, then they will smooth out. Many speakers have that "high end fizzle" out of the box.

OMG...you are still alive..I thought maybe you were living in the mountain and we all didn't realize that something major was happening with the Air force!

 

[RockStarNick]

Nothing is worse than a brand new speaker. You gotta break that sucker in to get the high end to sound rounder.

 

[jmgman69]

Give the speakers ample time to break in. Especially the 80's.....they need to be beat on with some volume for many hours, then they will smooth out. Many speakers have that "high end fizzle" out of the box.

OMG...you are still alive..I thought maybe you were living in the mountain and we all didn't realize that something major was happening with the Air force!

O.K. Jim

 

[Guitardo]

Thanks for the input, guys. Yeah, I shoulda known I need to give the speaker some playing time.
the last new speakers I bought were some Axatar Hellatone 60s which were pretty happenin` right out f the box. After spending a couple more days with the amp, my percieved harshness issue has changed.

I do have to say that the amp is a monster.....defifitely the best amp I have ever owned. The last few years I have been playing on Riveras (mostly a TBR1 & TBR1M) , and I think its time to give them a rest.

this amp just howls when I play it with my Warmoth hollow body strat....even at low volume. Thanks, guys. Great amp.

 

[TheGrooveking]

Thanks for the input, guys. Yeah, I shoulda known I need to give the speaker some playing time.
the last new speakers I bought were some Axatar Hellatone 60s which were pretty happenin` right out f the box. After spending a couple more days with the amp, my percieved harshness issue has changed.

I do have to say that the amp is a monster.....defifitely the best amp I have ever owned. The last few years I have been playing on Riveras (mostly a TBR1 & TBR1M) , and I think its time to give them a rest.

this amp just howls when I play it with my Warmoth hollow body strat....even at low volume. Thanks, guys. Great amp.

How do you feel the Tourmaster compares to the TBR1M?

TheGrooveking

 

[Guitardo]

Hi, Grooveking....that`s a good ????! I havew owned all 3 models of the TBR1, and the middle version (TBR1-M) is my fave of the three.

As far as comparison, the tourmaster is much more versatile on the front end. The tone and variation I am getting on the rtourmaster really is working for me.

The TBR outshines the tourmaster on the interfacing/loop options. The TBR has built-in clean pickup booster with a dedicated stomp box loop on the front that is nice to have. Then it has a line out with send level and two (a&B) returns that hit the twin 60 watt (stereo) power section. This loop work GREAT for rack stuff.
Power amps can be switched between Pentode and Triode (nice) and can be biased for many types of tubes.

The TBR is only 2 channels, but they are really great sounding. Standard Fender clean and Marshall type. They are vioced nicely especially the clean channel. Put some stomp boxes in the loop and you can gat a LOT of mileage out of this amp...and they sound great!

I am enjoying the tourdmaster a lot, but am wanting to try a nice set of 6CA7s in it to brown it up a tad.

I wound up taking the 4212 combo back to GC and swapped it out for a 4100 head only and ordered a 2x12 tourmaster cab. I think its going to work out real nice for me and am jonesin` for the Rebel and a coupla 1x12 cabs. Obviously I am happy with the amp.

I put a vintage Blackburn Mullard 12AX7 in the V1 spot this morning and hoo-boy is it smooth. Looking forward to a long weekend eith the amp....oh yeah and the wife & kids!