Talk me back into a Tourmaster

[jedisb]

First of all - this is a long post so you've been warned. Also, please don't take this as a slam against Egnater as I really love the company and its products.

I went to GC and played the Tourmaster last week and was pretty impressed. Unfortunately I only had about 15-20 minutes with it as my wife was anxious to be elsewhere. But the time I spent on the amp was enjoyable. I didn't quite get all the sounds dialed in as I had hoped but with more tweaking I'm sure I could. They are on sale through the end of this month so they are an even better deal.

Since then I've been checking the reviews (all glowing in the magazines, not so much in the online communities) and some of the comments made around the net. Here is some of what I'm reading that concerns me (typos left uncorrected).

Noise issues:

Amp crakcles, pops at wierd intervals & experiences strange shorting sounds.

I was way beyond disappointed with the two overdrive channels though. They are both capable of providing tons of gain and sustain, but like some of the other reviews here state, they are incredibly noisy, and don't have much punch to them at all. ... This thing squeals like crazy with the gain only about half way up at live volumes.

This is a love-hate thing for me. It has a cool clean, and some very cool classic rock and rock-n-roll crunch going on, especially on OD1. But manits noisy as hell, even with the guitar's volume turned all the way down there's just a nasty hum filling the room.

When the notes would decay, there was a distortion on the end of the notes that was really annoying, you couldn't record with it because of the noise. As it turns out, the manager of my local GC said they had three of the amps returned for the exact same problem.

Also be aware there are noticeable noise levels with this amp even at lower settings which I didn't notice in the noisy store.

It seems to pick up external noise despite using a Furman line regulator, and all Mogami 2524 cables. My pickups are dead quiet in all my other amps, but squeal like pigs in this head.

My deal breaker is the noisy distortion channels in this amp. I talked to the manufacturer about this as well. They said that they have heard this complaint before.

Quality Control issues:

While in the store I allso played the 2x12 combo and it broke after 10 min. with a deafing noise.

My first one was a 4212 combo, and it had an issue with a loud static noise, just tap the top of the amp and it would come and go. I suspected a bad tube, but GC said they replaced all the tubes and it was still doing it. I upgraded to the 4100 head and the half stack slant cab. The head sounds great, but the cab has an issue where it generates distortion as the note decays.

I should have followed my gut when I was testing the first one out and it died right there in the store. I had played on it a somewhat low volume and it farted out....and didn't come back!

Warranty/support issues:

The warranty is an absolute joke. There are stickers on it and notes in the manual everywhere you turn telling you "the warranty is completely void is you remove this sticker...or do this...or do that" ANY excuse to void the warranty and it's gone. The actual terms of the warranty weren't that great either. Warranty is worthless and I was struck feeling they aren't willing to back up their product if they can help it. I contacted them about an issue I had. They didn't answer at first. Repeated emails and I finally got back a response but then they didn't seem to understand my question so I gave up.

Egnater's support is notoriously unreliable. It's the typical case of a small, over-scheduled, understaffed company.

first they tell you one thing then send another e-mail with totally contradictory info....along with the warnings about voiding your warranty if you actually do what the first response suggested.

I'm seeing patterns here which is what concerns me. So is this just people blowing smoke? It's not like these are the only comments I've read. I've come across many favorable comments about the amp as well. I got the feeling that the kids into the real heavy stuff were perhaps the ones who didn't like it so much and that is fine with me as that is not the style of music I'll be playing. But the issues above are not related to whether you like the sound of it or not. I like it alot. But commonality of the comments from various places is enough to cause me to second guess the purchase.

I've heard that there was a revision done to the Tourmaster line to supposedly tighten the low end and perhaps address some of the issues. Is this true?

Basically I need my fears put to rest before taking the plunge.

 

[Audioholic]

I am just relaying what I think I heard before, that there was some issues with tubes in some earlier TM heads. That may explain alot. good thing is that tubes can be replaced and usually a tube amp guy has some on hand. I am not sure about the other things, didn't notice anything fishy when I played it at GC as well, sounded great even before they tightened up the low end, which really was my only critique.

perhaps someone can help with some of those other reliability issues.

Egnater is a very small company, so with any small company doing larger production work, I think there are bound to be time issues when dealing with support. but the good thing is that egnater hangs out on this very forum so you are bound to get in communication with someone probally pretty quick.

 

[jedisb]

but the good thing is that egnater hangs out on this very forum so you are bound to get in communication with someone probally pretty quick.

Yeah, I was hoping that Jeff would chime in soon.

 

[jmgman69]

The first one I played sounded terrible,but it was do to faulty tubes and replacing the tubes pretty much took care of that and it really sounded great!!!

 

[jedisb]

it was do to faulty tubes and replacing the tubes pretty much took care of that and it really sounded great!!!

So did Egnater replace them or did you have to do it on your own dime? The warranty states that the original tubes are warranted for 90 days, I believe.

 

[jmgman69]

it was do to faulty tubes and replacing the tubes pretty much took care of that and it really sounded great!!!

So did Egnater replace them or did you have to do it on your own dime? The warranty states that the original tubes are warranted for 90 days, I believe.

They did,Egnater's service is top notch,even as busy as them fools got kidding Jeff!!!

 

[Jeff Hilligan]

Look anything that goes wrong with an amp "we, Egnater", "I" will take care of any issue you have. PERIOD!

Most of the negative comments on this amp have been customers who never allowed us to help. We stand behind our products 100%. Yes the first run had a few bumps. I can tell you we had around 100 amps come back to us. About 90 of them were simply pre amp tube failure. GC and the customers did not want to have us send them new tubes and install them to fix the problem. They all felt that that amp should be perfect out of the box. I wish this could happen 100% of the time but with the unreliable nature of tubes now days it just is impossible to have happen. Yes we had a few transformers go, a few ac inlets broken etc but the majority of the issues that we were able to help with were tube related.

I beg to differ about our customer service. Yes, initially we were overwhelmed but once we got into a groove it all sorted out. I think everyone on this forum will let you know. WE ARE ALL ABOUT CUSTOMER SERVICE!

If you get this amp and have an issue with it contact me. Jeff Hilligan owner of Egnater.

 

[jedisb]

Thanks for your quick reply Jeff. That's all I needed to assure me of what I was getting. I do have one other question. GC now has a few "Scratch and Dent" Tourmaster and I was wondering if it would be safe to grab one of those or could those be part of that early troublesome run? Thanks again!

 

[Jeff Hilligan]

Thanks for your quick reply Jeff. That's all I needed to assure me of what I was getting. I do have one other question. GC now has a few "Scratch and Dent" Tourmaster and I was wondering if it would be safe to grab one of those or could those be part of that early troublesome run? Thanks again!

Hard to say. It's usually just messed up tolex or grill cloth. Again if you get it and have an issue with it contact me and I will do everything I can to make it right for you.
Again this amp may not be right for you and if you don't like it that is fine with us. We completely understand that not all people will like what we did with the amp but there is quite a few of them out there that customers are happier than they have ever been!

 

[briguy73]

How bad a$$ is it that Jeff jumps on and gives it straight...warts and all. Mad props to Jeff & Crew. I gotta say, I've dealt with a certain guitar manufacturer after purchasing a signed, signature model and then finding cracks in the trem cavity of not one but two bodies and I got a helluva lot of runaround and finally a call from the pres. of said company after a bit of hell-raising at the front office fax machine. Only then did I get my replacement. In stark contrast, it impresses me to no end that Bruce and Jeff really GET the fact that you have to take care of your customers and be honest with them. That kinda of service earns loyalty and flexibility that is priceless. Egnater RULES!!!

 

[jmgman69]

How bad a$$ is it that Jeff jumps on and gives it straight...warts and all. Mad props to Jeff & Crew. I gotta say, I've dealt with a certain guitar manufacturer after purchasing a signed, signature model and then finding cracks in the trem cavity of not one but two bodies and I got a helluva lot of runaround and finally a call from the pres. of said company after a bit of hell-raising at the front office fax machine. Only then did I get my replacement. In stark contrast, it impresses me to no end that Bruce and Jeff really GET the fact that you have to take care of your customers and be honest with them. That kinda of service earns loyalty and flexibility that is priceless. Egnater RULES!!!

 

[John Ewing]

Jeff I though I owned Egnater
john

 

[rynnce]

I thought Bruce Egnater owned Egnater?!!!

I thought Jeff just played guitar for Bruce at NAMM

 

[richedie]

How do we know if the one you buy in the store is a good one? I was goin to buy used but got scared off.

I was going to buy one and install a Mercury Magnetics transformer.

 

[John Ewing]

All of them are the "Good Ones". It possibly may not have the OD mod but I can give you that. The only problems we had were with tubes and if you buy one new I can help and if you buy one used I can help. If you have concerns please give me a call(877-EGNATER) and I will be glad to talk to you about any of this stuff at length.
john

 

[LaXu]

How do we know if the one you buy in the store is a good one? I was goin to buy used but got scared off.

I was going to buy one and install a Mercury Magnetics transformer.

Why would you install a new transformer? There's nothing wrong with the current toroidal one.

I've had a Tourmaster for about a year now and it has been nothing but great tones. Egnater's customer service has been excellent. I'm still running with the stock Egnater branded tubes. Mine is the modded version.

The main things I don't like about the amp are that it's heavy as hell and the Contour feature is mostly useless. It's kinda like those "can of bees" mid-scoop buttons on Marshall DSLs except on this one it's variable with a knob. Would be nice to see that replaced by channel specific reverb control for example. Speaking of reverb, the one on the amp sounds good but it's always a bit in the background, which may or may not be a good thing in your book. In any case it's not quite as lush as the one in my Diezel Einstein combo. The fan is also quite loud for home use, at the moment I've got it disconnected when using it at home but I'm thinking of adding a switch to it that lets me set it to very low RPM or up full when needed. Without the fan running I don't think the Tourmaster is noisy at all.

To give you an idea how much I love the Tourmaster, I'm selling my Diezel combo. The Egnater is just a better fit for me, I love using the OD1 channel at 20W, it has a lovely midrangy snarl to it. Apart from the Contour I use pretty much every feature the amp has, they're all useful tone shapers.

 

[Len Rabinowitz]

I love my Tourmaster 4212. A few tubes went bad (mine is a modified low-end one- it has an M at the end of the serial number that indicates that) but Egnater replaced them for free pronto. Any tube amp is going to be finicky sometimes.

It is heavy.

It can be a little noisy but I haven't found it problematic. I did use some noise reduction on some recordings.

It's a complicated amp. You have to be willing to spend some time with it, and really use the EQ controls. I find using Egnater's recommended settings really helps. I find I have to re-eq it with different guitars. I think that's fun to do. It's very flexible and powerful- you have to put time into it to master it. I enjoy that aspect of it. The power grid is really helpful. I am willing to bet that a lot of the complaints are coming from people who haven't invested time in it.

One problem with the Internet is that it gives everyone a mouth piece. In general, the unhappy mouth off more than the happy. If there weren't forums would you have any doubt in your mind?

All companies have somebody who complains about them no matter what. My experience was fine. They actually re[laced my tubes even though it was few days out of warranty for them.

 

[richedie]

Hi guys,

What is the mod?????

I just wish it had the ability to use different tube in the power sections like the Randall RM100.

Honestly, I am thinking the new E2/1U rack setup might be the next choice for me. I think it might be lighter than the TM head....plus I do have a Mod 50, but having a 100 watt head would be cool.

 

[Axewizard]

I've got a TM412 and slant cab and absolutley love the tones I get. The OD is a hair muddy, but I'm on the way to a re-tube anyways. My only gripe is that I'm still trying to figure out an inexpensive way to add MIDI control and simplify my stage setup. Any suggestions? Help? Make me spend more money on a MOD or M4 Pre?

Yeah...pass THAT idea by the wifey!

 

[evink1]

I built a break out box for my tourmaster and control it via midi now with a simple rolls patch bay. they are had on ebay for around 50 some bucks normally. Have a second one in case my main one goes down. All programmed and in the effects rack labeled and ready to go.

I have been using the tourmaster for a couple bands recording in my studio and also for my bands recordings. It sounds killer and I use a noisegate up front and one in the loop. I owned and modified several old Peavey 5150 heads and I can tell you all this Tourmaster head is 10 times less noisy than any of my stock or modified Peaveys I used to own.

I am down to just owning the tourmaster 4100 head now. Screaming head from clean to mean in my opinion. I agree that the verb is a little laid back but that is how I love it. Can't stand washed out tone from obnoxious reverb.

Egnater support has been huge and all mine was getting schematics so I could build my breakout box to allow midi switching. They sent me the schematics within a day. Very impressed with everyone at Egnater. Bruce, Jeff, and John are not only great at customer support but the head knowledge this mega trio hold is outstanding.

You won't be disappointed by the products or their support ever.