Thinking about a Ceriatone TMB + ef86

You might try posting your question at the Ceriatone forum:
http://www.ceriatoneforum.com/

I'd be curious to hear the feedback as well. I'm considering the same amp later in the year.

 

A few years back I owned one for about 6 months. It was a non-MV but it didn't need a MV for my needs. Sounded great but had precious little headroom. I couldn't get enough vol to get over a drummer and stay clean. If you like all things crunchy it may be your cup of tea.

I have played an 18 watt Suhr Badger that had lots of headroom so it isn't the low watts its the circuit design.

The EF86 side was my favorite and did have a bit of chime. Rarely used the TMB side.

For the record I don't like squeaky clean and like my clean to have a bit of grit.

What I ened up gigging with is an Allen Accomplice at 35 watts or a JTM45 Clone at 45watts. The Allen is my main and it also is not a headroom champ but it has just enough to get over the band and be fairly clean.

Cheers
Eric

 

As far as bedroom levels, my 5 watt Epi Valve is too loud for my wife! So it depends on your situation but the TMB/EF86 will start breaking up early and isn't a super loud 18watts. I would think a MV will give you what you need but I don't know if the Ceritone MV is a good one or not, Nik didn't even offer it when I got mine.

By the way shipping was about $100. You might go used and do better, especially in light of resale value.

Eric

 

Been there done that, ef86 ? same price range ? AC151HTV !

 

I saw a Ceriatone 2061x on ebay, don't get me wrong the ceriatone is a bang for your buck.

 

It's like you're on a mission to try every single Vox-flavored amp out there south of /13... heh. I'd certainly be curious to hear whatever you find... we're clearly hunting for a lot of the same stuff these days.

 

I think I'm pretty much decided on the Bad Cat Cub IIR. Flexible, but it's got the chime and the grind too. And I can get a wicked good deal on a new one.

 

I had one and sold it after about 6 months. I also had a Marshall 2061X, which I liked better. In retrospect, I would get a vibrato channel with vol/tone, like a Marshall 1974X and the EF86 channel. Then you would have a Ceriatone version of a 65 amps London. I thought the TMB channel was a bit dark.

YMMV

 

Check out Harmony Central reviews under amps.

 

Gasp,

I've got one of Nik's first TMB ef86ers...almost 3 years old now. Also had the very good fortune to have Gabi (the Voxer18 builder) lend me two of his ef86 builds, each for a few weeks.

So...Nik's work is 1st rate. The OT is good and stout. You may want to tune the TMB side to your speakers...I needed a little more treble so I switched out a couple caps. The ef86 side...needs no adjustment. But ya gotta have a very, very good ef86 tube...no skimping here. The TMB needs a very good V1, a stable PI tube and an excellent rectifier tube. JJs are just fine for the output. This amp just rawks!

Gabi's work, however, is even better than that...rarified air...the ef86 side pushing a Blue and a Greenback will take your breath away...

So there....

 

Well, since no one has mentioned this, you aren't getting the "great 18 watter" with a TMB/EF86. The class 18-watt tone isn't generic Marshall, but nice bright, with plenty of bright clean tone until it really starts to grind, like a Tweed with more chime. The TMB is a modern circuit hack, an amp deisgn that never existed, it takes the tone stack from the larger plexi's and inserts it instead of the tremolo channel; this is an attempt to create a small, low output Plexi and it does a great job of it. But it is an entirely different animal, less headoom, darker sounding, etc...."Marshall tone." On a normal TMB, you still get traditional 18-watter tone on the other channel, which is left intact; but this you would be giving up for a EF86 channel.

The EF86 channel has a lot of the warm tone and grind that the old EF86 AC15's had. The power amp doesn't quite respond the same, but...it's not supposed to be a Vox.

A Klein-ulator is output and input buffer for a simple interrupt FX loop. It's a SS version of the tube-base D*mble-ator effects buffer.

 

It's been a while since I played an original.

The only real difference between channels is the voicing, the Lead is brighter, the Bass is darker, I don't recall a significant difference in gain between them and Nik's layout doesn't really show that there should be one. People like to jumper them to mix a little of each in. The SS rectifier gives a more aggressive attack than the 18-watter, but there is still plenty of clean on tap. Tone-wise, very much a smaller '70's JMP type tone.