Grandmeister Anyone?

monquixote

While pondering through my list of "do it all" boxes I have started thinking about the GrandMeister 36. 

It can be run silently with a Redbox which is a big plus and is programable. 

My main concerns would be that it's probably more rock/metal focussed and might be unreliable as it's so frigging complicated. 

Is anyone gigging one?

If so what's it like, can the clean channel get funky?

Monkeybone

I've been gigging with a GrandMeister for coming up a year now with no issues whatsoever. Admittedly, I do use mine for rock, but it is a ridiculously versatile little amp. If you do get one, I recommend also getting the FSM footswitch to go with it, also if you have a tablet (iPad or Android), you can download the GM app to alter settings and patch names.

StefB

I'm surprised you haven't been tempted by one before @monquixote, having followed your recent gear threads with interest.  In principle it addresses a lot of the issues you raise.

I've gigged mine for a few months and it's been great; there really isn't a sound you can't get out of it and coming off the back of a Puretone you'll already be well aware of the core H&K tonality.  And I've not seen one report of poor reliability yet in the 18 months or so they've been available.

Mine is for sale on these very pages as I've overspent recently and have plenty of other amps I can use instead.  I'm sure a deal can be done if you fancy taking a punt. 

Kebabkid

If the clean channel on the Grandmeister is the same as on the Tubemeister 36, it's good and spanky @Monquixote and should suit your funk/clean sensibilities. I only got rid of my TM36 as I wasn't using the other 2 channels and preferred a single channel amp and just a good, clean platform. I didn't have any reliability issues with mine in the couple of years that I had it but there's a helluva lot more going on in these.

monquixote

StefB said:

I'm surprised you haven't been tempted by one before @monquixote, having followed your recent gear threads with interest.  In principle it addresses a lot of the issues you raise.

I've gigged mine for a few months and it's been great; there really isn't a sound you can't get out of it and coming off the back of a Puretone you'll already be well aware of the core H&K tonality.  And I've not seen one report of poor reliability yet in the 18 months or so they've been available.

Mine is for sale on these very pages as I've overspent recently and have plenty of other amps I can use instead.  I'm sure a deal can be done if you fancy taking a punt. 

Weirdly the whole thing totally slipped my mind as I had been interested when they were launched, it just popped into my head when I saw they had come down to the £700ish mark at a few places and thought that warranted some thought. 

On paper it's a very good solution for me as the two principle issues I'm trying to deal with are silent practices without having to lug a whole amp and being able to have patches without stupid amounts of additional complexity. This solves both and is about half the price of a Kemper powerhead. 

I don't really have any need for the lead or ultra channels, but the advantage of the programmable element is that I could have five different versions of the clean channel if I wanted. I don't normally bother with multi channel amps as I won't use 4cm for gigs as it just adds additional wiring and setup time that I can't really be doing with, but an amp with built in delay solves that problem quite neatly. 

I think my main fear is that they have a huge amount of complex electronics in a very small box alongside valves and a power soak this means it's going to get extremely hot and I suspect if it goes bang outside of warranty that will be the end of it. I think I could be tempted if I could pick one up fairly cheap.

The other point of interest is that I'll be in the lakes on holiday at the end of the month...

57Deluxe

monquixote said:

StefB said:

<SNIP>

The other point of interest is that I'll be in the lakes on holiday at the end of the month...

...at the SAFE HOUSE??