Maestro Reverb Amp Review
PostPosted:Sun Jan 24, 2016 7:02 pm
Greetings & Happy January,
I have to say...I was very spoiled in the 2015 holiday season. Not often does a Maestro Reverb and a TB500 show up in anyone's mailbox! I am eternally grateful that my kids are grown, healthy & independent. And my wife is the Jade Merchants Daughter...translated to mean...she's freakin' awesome.
And I am extremely grateful for being pals with Mr. Wald. I pestered him to put me in his Twin mod lineup, and he acquiesced. The Twin started as an eBay find. I think I spent $400. I checked the numbers and it loosely resembled a '70-71 SF Twin head. The auction said it had "The tone" whatever that means. And it did amplify, but I just could't seem to get motivated to rework it. The boards were warped. The tubes were crap. It was noisy. M'eh. It didn't sing in any setting.
So I pestered Waldo. I do feel some remorse in this. He has some truly great players in the lineup who actually need an amp of this caliber. But he accepted, and I sent it off to him. I received it just before Christmas, and it is truly splendid. It goes without saying that he communicated throughout the process. He advised what was needed. In the end he rebuilt the boards completely. He reused parts (like caps) that met specifications, made additions, and added all the known mods. I also had him add a Wald Electronics reverb tank. And now it is the star of my toy box.
For the purists among you, I know the area below the chassis should be tie-dye. But my wife had some really cool Batik, and I felt it fit the bill for my tastes. Let's be clear...Batik is not detrimental to tone.
Let me try to give it some verbiage. The amp came with a manual which helps digest all of the changes. It can be made to sound just like a BF Twin quite easily. The normal channel has been modified to the F2B architecture. I have to say I really haven't played that channel much, because the vibrato channel is just so beautiful. Clean gain with Jerry dimensionality. It seems to bring all the splendor of cranked Twin (like when the pre is just cranked), with no uncharacteristic overdrive like a Marshall or Boogie. Abundent Growling lows (China Cat, Althea, etc) without deliberate compression. Shimmering highs (insert favorite solo here), but with more going on and without all the ice-pickiness. Like the swirling dimensional sound of a very loud Twin, but with more breath, air, and bloom. I've played it as a combo with the power tubes in, and it dances at about 5.5 in 6L6-ness. And I've used it as a preamp into my Mc's. The Mc's add even more warmth (not exactly)... I'm desperately trying to not overuse dimension, but that is the illusive characteristic I'm trying to describe.
It is not really a bedroom amp, but you can turn your Mc down and it certainly can be. But I would totally bring it to a practice room with a drummer. With the Mc, you can crank the pre to 3.8 and she'll dance. There's more "Clean Gain" sooner when used as just a preamp. Then the overall volume can be controlled with the McIntosh. I haven't made it to cranked Mc mode. I was out of the country for a couple of weeks, so time was somewhat limited. And...it seems less necessary.
Brad once said that Jerry's notes "bloom" off the pick and out of the amp. This amp takes the expression of the hands, and brings the tone to splendid efflorescence. And it does it in full spectrum and "up into spheres". It is the finest Jerry tone I've heard that wasn't the Fat Man himself. It's an absolute pleasure to play.
Edit: When I sent the amp to Waldo, it had modern Chinese preamp tubes. I dug through my assets (read as junk boxes) and found a mix of NOS RCA & Raytheon 12ax7 & 12ay7 preamp tubes. Now... I really can't wait for those sweeties to burn in!
Stay tuned for edit's to this post. My brain has gone spongy. And I suppose there has to be a review of the TB500
And I know I should post sound clips. I've spent most of my play money. I didn't expect the TB people to take my offer. And all this fine equipment deserves more than my iPhone. Thanks to some kind advise, I don't think it'll be long before I put some stuff together.
Peace to all.
M
I have to say...I was very spoiled in the 2015 holiday season. Not often does a Maestro Reverb and a TB500 show up in anyone's mailbox! I am eternally grateful that my kids are grown, healthy & independent. And my wife is the Jade Merchants Daughter...translated to mean...she's freakin' awesome.
And I am extremely grateful for being pals with Mr. Wald. I pestered him to put me in his Twin mod lineup, and he acquiesced. The Twin started as an eBay find. I think I spent $400. I checked the numbers and it loosely resembled a '70-71 SF Twin head. The auction said it had "The tone" whatever that means. And it did amplify, but I just could't seem to get motivated to rework it. The boards were warped. The tubes were crap. It was noisy. M'eh. It didn't sing in any setting.
So I pestered Waldo. I do feel some remorse in this. He has some truly great players in the lineup who actually need an amp of this caliber. But he accepted, and I sent it off to him. I received it just before Christmas, and it is truly splendid. It goes without saying that he communicated throughout the process. He advised what was needed. In the end he rebuilt the boards completely. He reused parts (like caps) that met specifications, made additions, and added all the known mods. I also had him add a Wald Electronics reverb tank. And now it is the star of my toy box.
For the purists among you, I know the area below the chassis should be tie-dye. But my wife had some really cool Batik, and I felt it fit the bill for my tastes. Let's be clear...Batik is not detrimental to tone.
Let me try to give it some verbiage. The amp came with a manual which helps digest all of the changes. It can be made to sound just like a BF Twin quite easily. The normal channel has been modified to the F2B architecture. I have to say I really haven't played that channel much, because the vibrato channel is just so beautiful. Clean gain with Jerry dimensionality. It seems to bring all the splendor of cranked Twin (like when the pre is just cranked), with no uncharacteristic overdrive like a Marshall or Boogie. Abundent Growling lows (China Cat, Althea, etc) without deliberate compression. Shimmering highs (insert favorite solo here), but with more going on and without all the ice-pickiness. Like the swirling dimensional sound of a very loud Twin, but with more breath, air, and bloom. I've played it as a combo with the power tubes in, and it dances at about 5.5 in 6L6-ness. And I've used it as a preamp into my Mc's. The Mc's add even more warmth (not exactly)... I'm desperately trying to not overuse dimension, but that is the illusive characteristic I'm trying to describe.
It is not really a bedroom amp, but you can turn your Mc down and it certainly can be. But I would totally bring it to a practice room with a drummer. With the Mc, you can crank the pre to 3.8 and she'll dance. There's more "Clean Gain" sooner when used as just a preamp. Then the overall volume can be controlled with the McIntosh. I haven't made it to cranked Mc mode. I was out of the country for a couple of weeks, so time was somewhat limited. And...it seems less necessary.
Brad once said that Jerry's notes "bloom" off the pick and out of the amp. This amp takes the expression of the hands, and brings the tone to splendid efflorescence. And it does it in full spectrum and "up into spheres". It is the finest Jerry tone I've heard that wasn't the Fat Man himself. It's an absolute pleasure to play.
Edit: When I sent the amp to Waldo, it had modern Chinese preamp tubes. I dug through my assets (read as junk boxes) and found a mix of NOS RCA & Raytheon 12ax7 & 12ay7 preamp tubes. Now... I really can't wait for those sweeties to burn in!
Stay tuned for edit's to this post. My brain has gone spongy. And I suppose there has to be a review of the TB500
And I know I should post sound clips. I've spent most of my play money. I didn't expect the TB people to take my offer. And all this fine equipment deserves more than my iPhone. Thanks to some kind advise, I don't think it'll be long before I put some stuff together.Peace to all.
M