recommendation please

Very disappointed in a Hughes and Kettner Tubemeister 5 I purchased recently....way too much treble for me....could use just a little more head room on clean....and definitely not crunchy enough....doesn't seem to like my pedals much as well.

Looking for a lunch box amp to go with my 100w Mesa Tremoverb and 50w Marshall JCM900....priced around 350-650 new or used with 15-30 watts.

The TransAtlantic TA-15 looks really cool....watts are 5/15/25 so that works....youtube demo's sound okay.

All styles of music....so needs to be versatile.

....and finally....Mesa TA-15's used for 500-700... so the price is right.

....anything else out there I should consider please don't hesitate to recommend....thanks!

no reply's....this board seems kind of dead at times compared to Carvin and Marshall forum's....oh well.

....took the plunge yesterday....returned the Tubemeister 5 and ordered a TransAtlantic TA-15....$600 used.... in excellent shape.... with footswitch! 8)

Great , I m a bassist , so can t help you more in here & i m fairly new to this forum also .

The TA-15 is a great choice. Check Guitar Center, I saw a new one on close-out for $649 (I paid $899 not long ago).

Found some good deals on used ones....as low as 475 and up to 700....spent 599.99 on one listed as "excellent condition"....should be here by friday.

Great , congrats on new amp to you !

....GREAT AMP YOU SAY....piece of junk and waste of time and money I say....what's up with this hum on the clean channel? Switch to the 2nd channel and quiet as can be....but hum on the clean channel....totally unacceptable. Sent it back after trying it less then 5 minutes....went to a local store that had new ones and same thing....all 3 brand spanking new TA-15's buzz on the 1st channel....it's supposed to be clean.

Turned on my Mesa Tremoverb....yeah there's a little tube hum but not noticeable from 5 feet away let alone 20'....checked my Marshall JCM900....even less noise then the Tremoverb....tried out my Ibanez TBX30H....no hum....so Mesa, what is up with that hissing sound....and I'm talking about with all knobs on zero.

Oh, and then there was the TA-30....it hummed on both channels....are you kidding me? The stinking thing has a fan....is it a Laptop computer or is it an amp? I'm surprised these are even for sale....I wouldn't pay more then $100 for one....even then I'd be disappointed with the hum! :twisted:

So my search for a lunch box sized 25w or less amp head continues....next up....guess I'll try the Laney IRT15H....and maybe give the HK Tubemeister 18 and 36 a try....I'd give the ENGL Ironball 20 a try but then I saw the price.

The hum on clean channel is likely nothing more than one faulty preamp tube, considering that the other channel sounds fine. In fact, it could even be interference from fluorescent lighting, or the guitar, who knows. Having a faulty tube on a new amp is a very common problem, especially after being shipped via UPS, they suck when it comes to handling amps (or anything for that matter). Mine has no such problem, and neither did the other two that I tried at the store. If you just have a little knowledge about tubes, you can save yourself a lot of headaches. :wink:

Faulty tube on an occasional ta-15....no biggie....but hum on all 4 that I've tried....that's a biggie....as far as my research has gone I would conclude the TA-15 should be recalled, as well as the TA-30....

....the ones I tried after mine that hummed were all brand new....same with the TA-30....having to change tubes in a brand new amp is unacceptable. I love my Mesa Tremoverb....in fact I believe it is the best amp I've ever played through....so it's not like I hate or haven't tried a Mesa before.

I wanted the Transatlantic to be my go to amp at home....but I will not pay money for an amp that hums on the clean channel.

I'm not the only one who has this opinion....yesterday I read where a customer was wanting the TA-30 so bad he ordered not once but three different times and every new one he received all had the same problem....noise....and he went on to say that if Mesa ever fixes this problem he would still be interested in buying one....I wish I would have known this before ordering....but I guess all I read about was how great this amp was supposed to be.

....and yes all tubes hum and buzz....but not like the TA's I tried.

Nothing would have made me happier then to give this amp a great review....I liked the blue glow....I loved the Marshall and Boogie sounds on the 2nd channel....but I would have never been able to get over that hum and had no interest in changing tubes on a amp I just purchased....new or used.... :evil:

Maybe the newer Mesa's just aren't what they used to be.

jjmmesa said:

....having to change tubes in a brand new amp is unacceptable...

Click to expand...

Then you should probably go with a solid-state amp. There is no such thing as a perfect tube, and as I stated, new amps sometimes do need new tubes, which is common these days.

Again, in the store you can have several reasons for noise in an amp, many of which aren't even an amp problem. If every amp that you tried in the store had noise (what, four or five amps?), I would certainly at least suspect some kind of interference in the store, namely the guitar, bad ground, or even lights.

Good luck with your search. 8)

I guess we will just have to disagree on this one....I'm not a newbie....I'm 53 and been playing forever....My first tube amp was a Fender Twin back in 1990....never changed a tube once in the 10 years I had it....after that, had my Fender Deluxe Reverb for 9 years....never a tube change....sold the DRRI to buy the TA-15....just retubed my Marshall JCM900 after playing through it the past 11 years....the tech asked what was wrong....I said not a thing....he said most wait till they have a problem before bringing them in....Bought a Tremoverb not more then a month ago....so I don't agree that any tube amp should need a tube change after a few years use let alone brand new.

I'm happy that your TA-15 works for you....I am jealous....I wanted that amp in the worst way. 8)

My TA-15 has a slight hum in channel one when the top boost is activated, but it's so low that in no way is it a game-changer for me, and I use mine for recording all the time. Some circuits are just noisier by design anyway, which I think is the case with the Vox-inspired channel one on the TA-15.

Went back and gave the TA-15 one more try....could have picked up a new one from GC at $679.99....and your right the hum isn't loud but it's there....when you switch to channel 2 it's not....yeah you could ignore it....once you play you can't hear it....but when you stop and hear that hum....it's really annoying to me and I just won't spend money on new tubes for a new amp.

....sadly I ended up purchasing a HK Tubemeister 18....wanted the TA-15....still want it....but Mesa needs to step up to the plate and not let a faulty product out....it should be recalled or fixed for free....no amp should have that kind of hum when all knobs are on zero....I want silence when I stop playing on the clean channel.

Isn't it called the clean channel for a reason....should a clean channel hum like it has a distortion pedal hooked up to it....or possibly the gain cranked....but if the knobs at zero I want pristine clean....total silence....now that's the way it should be.

....I did try one at home last week as well before trying the ones at the store....no difference....I have 4 amps at home....no hum....and the ones I tried at the store I had the employee put the amp in a quiet practice room to make sure there was no interference.

I was offered a really good deal on a new TA-30 head, I had to pass but I couldn't get over the hum. I almost bit because the tone was really good. Both TA-30 heads in the store had the issue, so I don't think it is tube related. I also did some research and it seemed to be a common problem. The combo didn't seem to have the issue so perhaps is the reverb tank, but it seemed to be more fx loop related. I've been looking to pick up a el84 based amp for a while. The Tubemiester is really nice for the price and dead silent. My brother in-law has one and I've spent quality time with it. The TA had some really nice tones. I'm still on the el84 quest. I'm considering a Dr. Z, which is really quite a different approach than the TA-30. Lots of features on the TA vs super simple for something like a maz18. If the hum wasn't there the TA would be a no brainer due to the tone:feature/price ratio.

After having a little time with the MESA TA-15 before returning it, and then now having the HK 18 for the last couple of weeks I must admit I wish the TA-15 would have worked out....though I like my HK 18 I really liked the 2nd channel on the Mesa....looking back I'm wondering if I made the right choice.

I hope the hum can be fixed on future models....if so....I will check them out again....in the mean time a part of me will wish I had kept the TA-15....lucky for me my Tremoverb will still give me my Mesa fix.

as always....can't wait to get off work and go home and play. 8)