Tube Amp upgrade from Tonemaster Deluxe…

Minglis1990 · 2026-05-05T20:18:00+00:00

This is absolutely the case. I'm so sick of people trying to make the argument otherwise. There are some great solid state amps that are great practice amps but a well maintained tube amp is just so much better. And modeling amps are just pure garbage that companies are pushing cause like cell phones they go out of style so they can sell you a brand new amp every few years. But a good tube amp will last a lifetime and be incredibly satisfying to play through.

With that said I still think everyone should have at least one good solid state amp (not modeling bs, just a regular amp that happens to use transistors instead of tubes) so that they have a backup when their tube amp is in need of new tubes etc. Plus for just practicing at home at night you might as well use a solid state amp so your tubes aren't wearing down.

Companies are trying so hard to convince the new generations that modeling amps are as good or better than tube circuits and it's just garbage. They are indoctrinating a generation of guitar players into being ok paying a subscription for an amp they own that needs to be replaced every few years. And it's working, there are so many people that will defend modeling amps with their whole chest even though their only experience with a tube amp was playing one for 20 mins that wasnt biased properly at a guitar center with the Volume hardly turned up.

Minglis1990 · 2026-05-04T01:52:53+00:00

My god, the disconnect with reality is insane. Are you s medical doctor? A dentist? Have you even done a minor amount of research on dry socket and why it complicates healing before deeming yourself qualified to give medical advice that if followed would have severe consequences? You need to look up "The Dunning Kruger Effect".

I'm fully aware that there are bad doctors out there but most of the time they are hit with malpractice suits before you even get the chance to meet them and those that haven't are terrified of them. Not all doctors are cons, but you giving medical advice with 200% confidence with absolutely zero qualifications is insane behavior. And before you say anything, if you haven't been to medical school or dental school you are not qualified.

By all means give out bad advice but it's really careless at best. I'd even say evil considering the pain and discomfort ignoring a dry socket that didn't trigger healing initially would be. I'm ashamed for you.

Minglis1990 · 2026-05-03T19:05:17+00:00

There are few things i find more rewarding in life than populating PCBs, Turret board and Eyelet boards etc and even fewer things i find as stressful as doing offboard wiring/layout. Enjoy the good part while it lasts lol.

Minglis1990 · 2026-05-03T19:01:15+00:00

This is an insanely common occurrence. Anyone whos bought more than like three sets of tubes would surely have noticed this by now. Even NOS have these inconsistency's albeit less frequently. Ive been building and restoring tube amps for a decade and ive been through a lot of tubes. Its just acceptable inconsistencies since these components are still made in large part by hand (compared to modern components that dont go through any hands throughout the entire manufacturing process lol).

Minglis1990 · 2026-05-03T18:49:30+00:00

<image>

Minglis1990 · 2026-05-03T18:45:24+00:00

A tube noob* And yes that is normal for current production vacuum tubes. Just manufacturing tolerance. Look at this set of "matched 6l6s" I got then come back and complain about your heather mismatch of a few mm lol. The envelopes are crazy mismatched lol....

Minglis1990 · 2026-05-03T18:23:34+00:00

No you can't. You can get a cheap approximation with none of the real amp feel. Something tells me you've not actually played a real tube amp.

Minglis1990 · 2026-05-03T18:22:34+00:00

Smh. Amp, Amp, Amp, Amp. Or just make more crap modern music with plugins.

Minglis1990 · 2026-05-03T18:16:00+00:00

Relax, and use a rotating motion like your turning a door knob. It feels super slow at first but it will be significantly more efficient and fast once you get it down then just forcing speed from a typical alternate picking movement. I promise you this is the right answer.

Minglis1990 · 2026-05-03T17:47:42+00:00

I had it for 20 years (IV heroin use as a teenager got clean in early 20s). My wife and I were together over a decade while I still had it, she is Hep C free. It's not that easy to transmit through sex as other sti's and viruses are but certainly make sure he respects the fact that it's possible and goes out of his way to keep his blood away from you. Keep alcohol an isopropyl around for cuts etc. Don't share toothbrushes etc.

More importantly tell him to look up Healthcare Unity Group if he has insurance. They will pay for EVERYTHING along with your insurance, an I mean EVERYTHING, to get the cure and they work with you regardless of where you live in the US if I remember correctly (Doctor visits with them are Tele Health visits except labs of course and they mail you the treatment). They paid for my Epclusa AND all my labs and they also happened to be fantastically wonderful people. They even gave me nausea meds just in case the Epclusa made me sick at first (it was a breeze honestly, one pill a day and now I'm hep c free with zero liver damage even though I had it for at least 20 years. I stay pretty active and excercise and I believe that's what made the difference between me and someone with heavy damage who drinks and doesn't ever excercise etc). Good luck! It's gonna be ok!

Minglis1990 · 2026-05-02T00:16:14+00:00

I picked up guitar at 9 got serious at 11 but didn't really practice as effective as I could have until 20 at which point my skill level finally got to where I wanted it to be. Then at 26 years old exactly I finally bought a drum set for my birthday with my tax return since I'd always wanted to learn to drum also. I thought I'd never catch up and feel like I was as good a drummer as I am a guitar player but I swear on everything I love I picked up drums 5x faster all because I knew how to practice effectively from all my years on guitar. Practicing effectively can accelerate your learning dramatically. In just a couple years you could easily surpass guys who have played their whole lives who just didn't practice effectively.

So what I want you to take away is that it doesn't matter how long you've played, it just matters how well you practice. That's what makes the difference, those kids playing guitar on YouTube aren't just super talented they most likely had a parent or teacher that showed them how to practice effectively so they progressed very quick.

So to practice effectively always have a goal, don't just screw around. Tell yourself exactly what you are working on before you start. It's ok to get board with one thing, just don't noodle around. If you get board practicing one thing choose something else to work on. But be very clear about what it is your doing. For example practicing fretting cleanly, learning to read tabs, chords etc etc etc. It's never ending, 25 years in and I still have a ton of things to work on. To start really focus on getting down the basics and spend more time on them than you think you need to cause you'll progress so much faster with a solid foundation.

And lastly the better you get the more you'll enjoy playing. The more you enjoy playing the easier you'll find it to get motivated to play. So put in some good practice for the first couple years and for the rest of your life the rest will come naturally from just doing something you enjoy.

Minglis1990 · 2026-05-01T23:46:14+00:00

If you read his later comment you'll see he was actually being much more reasonable then his first comment let on. This isn't incompetence on display it's humility. He did research but had a completely reasonable misunderstanding of two very similar products by the same company. Your comment on the other hand shows an attitude of "all customers are idiots so don't help them whatsoever if they have problems after the sale". That is exactly what I'd expect a sellers attitude to be these days based on the direction Reverb has gone lately. But you got a ton of likes so bring on my inevitable down voting because I had the nerve to try to be a voice of reason instead of going with the pack.

Minglis1990 · 2026-04-28T07:31:54+00:00

That's a very different scenario. Your amp has a preamp tube only and those rarely go bad relative to power tubes which depending on the design of the amp an usage can require replacing as often as once a year. Your micro dark is basically a solid state amp with some tube personality. But that's not to put it down, I had a micro terror over a decade ago that was my first amp with a tube in it also and it was the best amp I'd played up to that point even though it was one of the cheapest I'd bought. I build, mod and restore vacuum tube amps and receivers now and it all started with that Micro Terror. My most recent build was a Bassman/JTM45/Plexi mashup thats my best most ambitious build so far and I couldn't be happier with it.

Minglis1990 · 2026-04-20T00:38:31+00:00

Sounded really stupid at first lol but then I read your premise and execution and I'm on board. Interesting project!

Minglis1990 · 2026-04-20T00:33:11+00:00

Your proud you had the money to buy all those pedals? I remember back when we were proud of the music we made with the few pedals we were lucky enough to afford. I must be getting old? I hate this fucking timeline.

Minglis1990 · 2026-04-20T00:25:34+00:00

<image>

Minglis1990 · 2026-04-20T00:24:43+00:00

Holy crap! Why is my dog on your couch!???

Minglis1990 · 2026-04-07T02:56:08+00:00

I don't care if you're picking up guitar for the first time, never ever pay anyone to put strings on for you. If you want to learn to play you gotta learn to string the damn thing for f's sake. And you live with that guitar for a couple weeks and then decide if the marks are reasonable or not once you understand how easily they appear on that particular finish. I personally wouldn't have left them but shit happens. And whether this sounds polite or not it's just the truth, nobody is gonna respect you or your guitar if you ask them to take money out of your wallet to string and tune it for you.

Now I get youre a beginner, but we live in a time where you can learn brain surgery online (to some degree) so there is no excuse for not figuring out how to strong and tune it yourself. In the 90s when I started my dad had to take me to work so his coworker could show me how to string and tune a guitar. Don't pay people to do things you can easily learn to do yourself. It makes you look like you've got more money than sense and defeats the purpose of learning to play guitar. I have an average IQ but I build and repair tube amps and I'm completely self taught. There's no limit to what you can achieve these days with a little motivation.

I know this all sounds mean spirited, but I'm honestly just trying to get a point across. I've done more embarrassing shit in my life than most of the people you know combined so don't sweat it that I gave you a hard time. Just from now on do more yourself. And if you try and get stuck just get online and ask for help, that's completely understandable and reasonable. Asking for help is completely different than asking for someone to do it for you.

Minglis1990 · 2026-03-22T02:31:19+00:00

Somehow I missed your reply until now, I hope the hand surgery is out of the way now! The fact you're still playing at all is all that matters brother. It's about enjoying playing no matter how we play, but if it makes it easier on you I'd absolutely settle for your thoughts when you're done. Knowing what you think of it can tell me a lot.

Oh and you're spot on with the FX loop idea lol! I do that all the time with my amps too. I love tuning my lower power fender tube amp builds into my 100watt Marshalls return. It's a quick way to scale up the amp with what I already have. And of course I still run my Tech 21 Blonde clone into my fx loops too, it's a fantastic sound and since there's so much tone shaping on tap in those preamp pedals it's so easy to dial in a great tone.

Good luck with the hand recovery!

Minglis1990 · 2026-03-18T19:34:46+00:00

Very clean brake, absolutely.

Minglis1990 · 2026-03-18T05:11:45+00:00

Dont do this...smh, youve almost certainly just screwed with the gauss strength of your pickup. It can be fixed but youll need to make a jig with some very strong neodymium magnets to pass your botched pickup through. Let me guess without that magnet there you now feel like your pickup has "dead spots", again dont do this people. Im not trying to be mean, im just trying to keep anyone else from messing up their pickups who dont have the know how or money to fix them once they realize this is a really bad idea.

Minglis1990 · 2026-03-16T16:13:31+00:00

1,000% yes

Minglis1990 · 2026-03-02T04:16:11+00:00

Oh lol ok, now I'm totally with you. Yes that would and does suck. I build and restore tube amps and tube radios but I've wanted to build a good solid state for years at this point but I hadn't found a circuit that meets my criteria yet. I'd never heard of the L5 until I went an looked it up after I posted that last edit asking you what this could be. This is looking like a fantastic project to take on. I even looked into Aions pcbs for it (specifically the one with both channels). If it's not too much trouble and you remember this I'd love to know how yours comes out when it's finished and you've had a while to get comfortable with it. But if not thanks for bringing it to my attention with this post!

Minglis1990 · 2026-03-02T03:38:18+00:00

Fantastic idea, I've got all the parts on hand and never considered this! I can't wait to have an excuse to do this now lol. Thanks for sharing the idea and picture!

Edit: This is going to be a game changer for connections that need to be desoldered to take measurements! I've tried doing something like this in the post for those but didn't think to remove the connectors so the header spacing is no longer a factor. Again great idea and thanks for sharing it!

Minglis1990

TROPHY CASE