i have the 20th anniversary edition of this nice thing, and I gotta say it really has everthing you need, especially the Red Box Out is suuuuper practical. Combined with an Interface and the power switch to record silently in my room it reeeeally has a good sound in my opinion
I found exactly the same with mine... Needs a pedal to get it over the chug line. I find the warmth of these amps to be a great companion to a high gain pedal. Let the pedal do the gain and rely on the gorgeous valve amp sound of the Tubemeister 18. I like Marshall, Vox and Fender, but Hughes and Kettner have the valve tone I look for. Got two of them now, and each cost me £300.
Are you plugged in the Amp in the captor for attenuation? Or only for ir so it could work witha CAB M and without captor for the load and attenuation although it has the knob where you can chose the wattage
@@BAADAPPLE it’s on the H&K website, find the tubemiester 18 under products and as I remember there’s a link at the bottom of the page. If not I have a copy you can have
I have this amp for 5 years now. Rock solid piece of gear that offers so much for bedroom recording. Milian is right about the DI but its the only disadvantage. For all those who didnt like gain structure. Have you forgot how many high gain amps can´t do clean? The Tubemeister has a beautiful clean channel. For my high gain recordings I use my oldest piece of gear which is a mid nineties Boss Metal Zone MT in the effects loop. More gain than you ever will need.
I literally have both and they both make me happy whenever I switch them on lol. And I just use my tubemeister 18 112 for the prs . Totally different animals though.
Great review! Did not know how awful the DI is in the Tubemeister 18. I have a Tubemeister 20 which has a Redbox DI, and I find it very useful for recording. The Amp is very versatile even with the limited amount of EQ control. Like you mentioned, the clean channel with the gain pushed is very nice. I can get a good modern overdiven sound as well, the trick is to use an overdrive pedal before the amp and an EQ pedal in the FX Loop. Putting the EQ in the FX loop allows you to take out some of the harsh hi-mids and if your EQ pedal has a gain knob (I use an MXR 10 band EQ) you can tighten the sound up more by slightly boosting the signal into the output section. A noise gate in the FX Loop helps too.
For silent recording, you could try switching off the power output and then going from FX send into an interface, and later then use power amp sim (if needed) and an IR.
@@FabrizioPeretti yes, but not with a Hughes & Kettner amp. I did it with my Victory Kraken where I compared effects send signal + power amp siđ + IR versus speaker output to Two Notes Torpedo Captor + IR. You can check the video on my TH-cam channel. You can also find the whole signal chain in the description of thag video. It's worth to note that I did that video without any studio monitors, so I didn't set the tone quite right, but still I believe that it's sufficient just for the comparison sake. I plan to do a couple of more video in the near future including Torpedo Captor, Torpedo Cab M, AMT Pangea and stuff like that, among others.
@@ljukypuoi spiegarmi come si usa il torpedo captor con l ampli h e k che ha già l l attenuatore è penso abbia li scarico del carico del finale di potenza? May YOU explain how does it work with 2notes captor? Is it work only with the cab m?
this was my first tube amp, sadly that love was short lived as I had to sell it when I moved into an apartment (I did not know things like Two Notes and such were a thing though! Curse me!) so maybe some day I will get another one!
A comparison between the Tubemeister and the MT15 is exactly what I need in my life right now as I really can't decide which one to pull the trigger on 😂
The Hughes & Kettner vibe is something either you get or you don't. I owned a tubemeister 18 which I later swapped with a TriAmp mki and this is their signature sound. Not cutting or tight, defo not a modern chug machine.. more of a warm and broken doom/sludge sound, I must say. Somewhat like a modded Orange. Not the Marshall w/recto like the amps they are advertised as.
Ishan Das tough question the brand might not be Chinese but was manufactured there second I heard tubes are only made in China or Russia so maybe he was talking about the quality of the tubes it comes in aren’t as great as others models. Maybe
@@elnachovi_plantix As Harvey says the the company is form Germany but the amp is manufactured in China (that's why it has a nice price). However it's built well except for the tubes that are quite a bit bad... you can use them but if you put something better it sounds even more brutal.
I have a Peavey Valveking mk2 20 Watt Full Tube Head with modded preamps for sale in Europe on eBay. @soulhenge i can borrow it to you if want to demo it. Highly underrated amp in my eyes.
Isn't it possible, to use the Line Out, but switch off the internal speaker simulation (if there is one...)? And then combine the Amp with better IRs in your DAW?
Different IRs definitely help. So yes, you can do that, but there is no "speaker off" selection on the amp. But if my memory serves me correctly, the original Red Box was never meant to a cabinet simulator, just a balanced line level out of the amplifier's output. So, send to the board live or in the studio, then EQ from there. Again, cabinet simulator IRs do great with this. The newer versions of this amp have an expanded Red Box with cabinet simulation. Basically an IR built into the amp.
@@chronicfatigue5416 Thanks for your explanation! In this case the H&K 18 is not the right choice for me. Anyway, in the meantime i bought a Laney Ironheart IRT Studio, that offers exactly what i was looking for. You can switch the speaker output off and do silent recording with any IR in your DAW. Its also possible to play live with 15 W or 1 W. And its an all tube amp. Somehow very underrated in my opinion.
One thing is always missing here everytime, harmonic distortion rock sound, people have always so hurry to boost it on top and play so overdriven low tuning black metal it's impossible to say is this good for melodic rock when one very essential is missing
What a coincidence, just bought one a few days ago. Hope it will be soon in my hands as I'm waiting for it to ship to my door. Can't wait to try it out for myself
I just do not like the character of the gain on the Tubemeisters & Grandmeisters. Not a sophisticated enough ear to describe why, but it just doesn't do anything for me.
Yeaah. Totally my impression, always. I like the look, the features, size, everything but gain structure just doesn't sound like something I would enjoy using...
Ditto, I really wanted to like these amps because of their features but there's something funky going on with their gain structure that isn't my thing.
Totally understand this. I owned a Tubemeister 40 Deluxe a while ago, the cleans and crunch channel were suuuper nice. Great amp, but the lead channel wasn't my thing...
Shitty chinese tubes 😉 When I bought my Grandmeister I was terrified for that harsh and dry weird gain that was just not ok for me. I though to make the refund but I gave it a shot swapping the tubes with the help of a local tech. And oh man, night and day !! Now I'm in love with the amp !!
Unfortunately, a pair of EL84 power tubes doesn’t faithfully translate the voicing and headroom of big amps that have 6L6/EL34. This disappointing discrepancy became very noticeable when I compared my Peavey 6505 Mini Head to my full sized 5150 head. In comparison the tone was diffuse, muddy, and lacking percussiveness and clarity - it sounded small, distant, and toy-like. Subsequently, I have heard similar assessments of EL84 mini amps, for example Pete Thorn mentioned this is why he chose 6V6 tubes for his Suhr PT15 mini head. I’m of the opinion that unless an amp has a pair of 6V6/6L6/EL34, it just won’t be up to spec.
@@mistag3860 Brian May didn't play metal; his tone did not approximate the standard candle of a 5150 (nor place an emphasis on the modern metal tones that are endemic to the culture and discussion on this channel); and his tone was quirky enough (iconic) that it did not remain applicable or reproduced by other guitarists, or represented in other musical genres. Brian May in effect, did leave the building.
Ah, I see, but really there’s no cab in this recording? I should probably take studio engineering 101 but are you hearing yourself through headphones? Or rather a PA?
i have the 20th anniversary edition of this nice thing, and I gotta say it really has everthing you need, especially the Red Box Out is suuuuper practical. Combined with an Interface and the power switch to record silently in my room it reeeeally has a good sound in my opinion
Great video. I have this amp at the rehearsal space and I've listened to your demo a few times when I'm lonely for my amp. ;)
I found exactly the same with mine... Needs a pedal to get it over the chug line. I find the warmth of these amps to be a great companion to a high gain pedal. Let the pedal do the gain and rely on the gorgeous valve amp sound of the Tubemeister 18. I like Marshall, Vox and Fender, but Hughes and Kettner have the valve tone I look for. Got two of them now, and each cost me £300.
Are you plugged in the Amp in the captor for attenuation? Or only for ir so it could work witha CAB M and without captor for the load and attenuation although it has the knob where you can chose the wattage
me: tube amps are heavy
tube meister 18 : hold my tubes
And (literally) on top you can make baked eggs on it! These amps get so hot :-/
H&K have a free IR you can download which changes the DI sound. The stock sound is a 4x12 in the room, the IR adds an sm57 in front of the cab.
Do you know where to find that IR? Lol two months later I know
@@BAADAPPLE it’s on the H&K website, find the tubemiester 18 under products and as I remember there’s a link at the bottom of the page. If not I have a copy you can have
@@ImranShamsul I have it if you send me someway to send it :)
I have this amp for 5 years now. Rock solid piece of gear that offers so much for bedroom recording. Milian is right about the DI but its the only disadvantage. For all those who didnt like gain structure. Have you forgot how many high gain amps can´t do clean? The Tubemeister has a beautiful clean channel. For my high gain recordings I use my oldest piece of gear which is a mid nineties Boss Metal Zone MT in the effects loop. More gain than you ever will need.
I Want to Hear that comparison between the PRS MT15 and the H&K , amazing sounds and playing
I literally have both and they both make me happy whenever I switch them on lol. And I just use my tubemeister 18 112 for the prs . Totally different animals though.
Great review! Did not know how awful the DI is in the Tubemeister 18. I have a Tubemeister 20 which has a Redbox DI, and I find it very useful for recording. The Amp is very versatile even with the limited amount of EQ control. Like you mentioned, the clean channel with the gain pushed is very nice. I can get a good modern overdiven sound as well, the trick is to use an overdrive pedal before the amp and an EQ pedal in the FX Loop. Putting the EQ in the FX loop allows you to take out some of the harsh hi-mids and if your EQ pedal has a gain knob (I use an MXR 10 band EQ) you can tighten the sound up more by slightly boosting the signal into the output section. A noise gate in the FX Loop helps too.
I'm saving this for later!
For silent recording, you could try switching off the power output and then going from FX send into an interface, and later then use power amp sim (if needed) and an IR.
Have you tried that? I'd be curious to ear the result
@@FabrizioPeretti yes, but not with a Hughes & Kettner amp. I did it with my Victory Kraken where I compared effects send signal + power amp siđ + IR versus speaker output to Two Notes Torpedo Captor + IR. You can check the video on my TH-cam channel.
You can also find the whole signal chain in the description of thag video. It's worth to note that I did that video without any studio monitors, so I didn't set the tone quite right, but still I believe that it's sufficient just for the comparison sake. I plan to do a couple of more video in the near future including Torpedo Captor, Torpedo Cab M, AMT Pangea and stuff like that, among others.
@@ljuky nice!
@@ljukypuoi spiegarmi come si usa il torpedo captor con l ampli h e k che ha già l l attenuatore è penso abbia li scarico del carico del finale di potenza? May YOU explain how does it work with 2notes captor? Is it work only with the cab m?
its mildly entertaining to watch the headstock bounce around the screen as you play
I'd love to see a comparison, I have a tubemeister 36 combo which I love. I'd love to see how the tubemiester family stands up to the MT15
That combination of the amp and the Fathom pedal though. I'd love to try it some day. ;)
this was my first tube amp, sadly that love was short lived as I had to sell it when I moved into an apartment (I did not know things like Two Notes and such were a thing though! Curse me!) so maybe some day I will get another one!
Still not sure how you got the tubes to work like that, even though you explained it. Anyway it sounds unbelievable
A comparison between the Tubemeister and the MT15 is exactly what I need in my life right now as I really can't decide which one to pull the trigger on 😂
Coming right up, Sir!
Depends on what you play. I have both Amps and to me they are completely different animals. Both cool amps
Though.
The Hughes & Kettner vibe is something either you get or you don't. I owned a tubemeister 18 which I later swapped with a TriAmp mki and this is their signature sound. Not cutting or tight, defo not a modern chug machine.. more of a warm and broken doom/sludge sound, I must say. Somewhat like a modded Orange. Not the Marshall w/recto like the amps they are advertised as.
So you could run this on 0W mode without a cabinet?
yes, through the DI out on the back, into your audio interface or mixer
As a "Grandmeister 40" owner I encourage you to swap those chinese valves :) You will be amazed at how much improves!
this amp is a chinese made? or only the tubes?
Ishan Das tough question the brand might not be Chinese but was manufactured there second I heard tubes are only made in China or Russia so maybe he was talking about the quality of the tubes it comes in aren’t as great as others models. Maybe
@@elnachovi_plantix As Harvey says the the company is form Germany but the amp is manufactured in China (that's why it has a nice price). However it's built well except for the tubes that are quite a bit bad... you can use them but if you put something better it sounds even more brutal.
Can it occurs the sound without cabinet?
I have a Peavey Valveking mk2 20 Watt Full Tube Head with modded preamps for sale in Europe on eBay.
@soulhenge i can borrow it to you if want to demo it. Highly underrated amp in my eyes.
That's a great amp, bro! Cmon.
Hi, what pedal you used to make modern metal (more gain)? Thanks
RevvG3 or RevvG4 pedal. Check em!
Does it have enough headroom to run pedalboard in front? With all the effects
I think this was mine some years ago, could it be? ;) sold it to Odin back then.
Yep ;)
@@MilianMalivukMusic 🙌
Are you still playing on stock pickups? 😃
Tough one to crack for changing them! 😆
Yes def do a shootout of the two amps
That comparison is needed ;)
I like the tone but it’s not smooth… Seems more like a Marshall clean as opposed to a smooth Fender… What kind of power tubes are in there?
Sounds wonderful man
bruh i just found one for only 300 dollars such a steal
Surly not an amp for metal . Great video .
I agree. That clean sounded great. The reverb pairing was perfect. Perhaps a Les Paul. The pickups in this guitar didn’t work for me.
Thanks for video u had drop tuning i asume
Isn't it possible, to use the Line Out, but switch off the internal speaker simulation (if there is one...)? And then combine the Amp with better IRs in your DAW?
Different IRs definitely help. So yes, you can do that, but there is no "speaker off" selection on the amp. But if my memory serves me correctly, the original Red Box was never meant to a cabinet simulator, just a balanced line level out of the amplifier's output. So, send to the board live or in the studio, then EQ from there. Again, cabinet simulator IRs do great with this. The newer versions of this amp have an expanded Red Box with cabinet simulation. Basically an IR built into the amp.
@@chronicfatigue5416 Thanks for your explanation! In this case the H&K 18 is not the right choice for me. Anyway, in the meantime i bought a Laney Ironheart IRT Studio, that offers exactly what i was looking for. You can switch the speaker output off and do silent recording with any IR in your DAW. Its also possible to play live with 15 W or 1 W. And its an all tube amp. Somehow very underrated in my opinion.
One thing is always missing here everytime, harmonic distortion rock sound, people have always so hurry to boost it on top and play so overdriven low tuning black metal it's impossible to say is this good for melodic rock when one very essential is missing
What a coincidence, just bought one a few days ago. Hope it will be soon in my hands as I'm waiting for it to ship to my door. Can't wait to try it out for myself
Mine gets really hot on the top of the head, is this normal?
Yeah I think this one too, that's nothing to worry about. Valves get extremely hot, so don't put anything onto the amp while using it.
@@MilianMalivukMusic ok,thx
Hi. Are you still using it? If yes, how is it now?
Hi, it wasn't mine to begin with, but if I owned it I would certainly use it to jam!
great song, the last effects on the video is the Walrus? or both of effects together?
The last effect was only the Walrus Fathom indeed!
What watts were you running the amp in? The master volumes looked really high for the amount of output.
Both were running in their maximum power
I just do not like the character of the gain on the Tubemeisters & Grandmeisters. Not a sophisticated enough ear to describe why, but it just doesn't do anything for me.
Yeaah. Totally my impression, always. I like the look, the features, size, everything but gain structure just doesn't sound like something I would enjoy using...
Ditto, I really wanted to like these amps because of their features but there's something funky going on with their gain structure that isn't my thing.
Totally understand this. I owned a Tubemeister 40 Deluxe a while ago, the cleans and crunch channel were suuuper nice. Great amp, but the lead channel wasn't my thing...
Shitty chinese tubes 😉 When I bought my Grandmeister I was terrified for that harsh and dry weird gain that was just not ok for me. I though to make the refund but I gave it a shot swapping the tubes with the help of a local tech. And oh man, night and day !! Now I'm in love with the amp !!
@@danielaparicio9964 what tubes did you put in?
Unfortunately, a pair of EL84 power tubes doesn’t faithfully translate the voicing and headroom of big amps that have 6L6/EL34. This disappointing discrepancy became very noticeable when I compared my Peavey 6505 Mini Head to my full sized 5150 head. In comparison the tone was diffuse, muddy, and lacking percussiveness and clarity - it sounded small, distant, and toy-like. Subsequently, I have heard similar assessments of EL84 mini amps, for example Pete Thorn mentioned this is why he chose 6V6 tubes for his Suhr PT15 mini head. I’m of the opinion that unless an amp has a pair of 6V6/6L6/EL34, it just won’t be up to spec.
Brian May has left the building....
@@mistag3860 Brian May didn't play metal; his tone did not approximate the standard candle of a 5150 (nor place an emphasis on the modern metal tones that are endemic to the culture and discussion on this channel); and his tone was quirky enough (iconic) that it did not remain applicable or reproduced by other guitarists, or represented in other musical genres. Brian May in effect, did leave the building.
Ah, I see, but really there’s no cab in this recording? I should probably take studio engineering 101 but are you hearing yourself through headphones? Or rather a PA?
Basically what I want to know is can I get that tone simply through a torpedo and a cab
I'm hearing the sound through my studio monitors!
Sheesh...
What's that beastly sounding Ibby tuned to? Drop B? 🤔🤨
Yes, exactly! Pretty low but that's my main tuning for all of my music.
Nice idea for a series, but you should film yourself AND the gear, instead of leaving the amp on screen all the time.
Yeah I need a second camera at some point
I'm selling one of these 🇵🇹 Europe only
would you do uk? trade for a hd500x?
@@Elliot_Pett no trade
Be warned : this amp is VERY fizzy. The distortion is horrible.
It is prett fizzy by nature but it really depends on the cab too. I feel like H&Ks tend to be fizzy generally but their cabs just enhance this.
For me, sounds like horse shit. Too muddy.