tldr;
Yeah, yeah, I’ve heard it all before. There’s no way a solid-state amp could sound as good as a tube amp. Tell that to Joe Satriani who used a Roland Chorus on “Surfing with the Alien” or George Benson who used one for years. The point is that if sounds good, it is good. And to me, the Fender TM Deluxe sounds killer and has the dynamics I’d expect out of any amp, regardless of it being tube-based or solid-state. Moreover, the audience doesn’t really give a shit.
Having now gigged with the TM Deluxe regularly for over a year-and-a-half, the amp has been a game-changer for me. At 23 pounds, it is light and easily luggable, even when I play in urban venues. It projects such a smooth, pleasant sound that works well with my guitars and board.
But the Line Out has been its greatest feature, allowing me to set my stage volume to a level where I’m not blowing out my eardrums, send the signal out to the PA for sound reinforcement and projection out to the audience. It took a few gigs to dial in the balance between output and local volume, but it has paid off in spades.
Here’s how I currently have it set up:
Here’s my signal chain:
Guitars (in order of use): Taylor T5z, Squier Classic Vibe Telecaster, Gibson R8 Les Paul
Effects: Wampler Belle > Paul Cochrane Timmy > BOSS CE-2 Chorus > BOSS DM-2w > Pigtronix Class A Boost
On the amp, I have the Master set at 4-5, then adjust the Volume knob based on the guitar so that I’m at the edge of breakup when I’m just past the middle on the guitar’s volume knob. My overdrive pedals are set just beyond unity gain when active, so they’ll push the amp into distortion while adding their own dirt. I use the boost for leads to give me 5-8 dB bump.
It’s a pretty simple and straight-forward setup that doesn’t require me to worry about settings once I’ve got everything set. This is important because even though I do some leads, I’m not the lead guitarist as I do a lot of the singing.
This is such a great amp. Great sound, so very versatile in a band setting. There’s not much more I could ask for!
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