It's a one-of-a-kind amp, if you consider all the features: I mean, all-tube power scalable or even completely silent recording or gigging solution with an analog DI out that really works and sounds good – where did you last see something like that?
Pros: It's powerful and loud enough for any style, it takes pedals well. Stacking drives into this thing is a bliss;
- Sounds nice;
- FX Loop;
- I think it's a more hands-on experience than the higher tier GrandMeister. Less fiddly and you can do without that spaceship foot controller or an app just fine. No real presets for you though (but you can change PowerSoak settings to get cranked master with sagging on a certain channel with a push of a button with a controller on a TubeMeister);
- Looks cool.
The amp takes the signal to DI after power amp section, which is good for me, and it also takes all the 'what about that sweet saturation' worries away. There are always some tubes along the way=) You can overdrive the master when needed, and it will be heard through DI. One thing I'm not sure about though. Manual claims it always takes full power to DI before PowerSoak. Problem is, when power scaled or silent, it switches to just 2 power amp tubes instead of 4, so I suspect you're not getting the full headroom anyway. So if you want superloud cleans or modern metal you might need to run it at full blast (40W), and you only can do it when connected to a cab. That said, I did get some seriously chunky metal tones out of it on a number of occasions while being fully silent. Also, PowerSoak does convert power into heat, so it will get hot, but not uncomfortably so. Just don't cover it with anything.
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