Hey All,

Now that the Smartulator is in production, I thought it may be a good idea to start a thread dedicated to people's impressions of the two units.  Discussion of each unit's strengths and weaknesses; comparisons between the two; settings; etc are welcome. 

So I guess I'll start:

Overall, I feel that the S-lator is the better unit.  Something about the K-lator felt artificial, especially on the OD channel.  The S-lator had more warmth and response.  Overall, I felt it was a better match with my amp (Bluesmaster 100w) and setup.  However, there is substantially more noise with the S-lator than with the K.  I had to fiddle with it for a long time before I found a setting that retianed the nuance of my playing while retaining the overall volume potential of the amp. 

Both units worked very well with all of my guitars (SCs, P90s, HBs), and with my pedal setup (extensive).

Anyone have any other thoughts?


Stephen

Hey guys,

Thanks for the advice.  I think I've fixed the issue I had with the bass, here's what I did in case anyone else is having an issue:

Settings:

Input: 5
Deep: Off (this was the big problem.  Why the hell was I engaging the Deep switch with a Les Paul?? Doh.)
Mid: Off or On
Rock/Jazz: Rock
Treble: 6
Mid: 5
Bass: 3.5
OD Drive: 7
OD Level: 1
Master: 1 (to match clean and OD vols)
Presence: 6
OD trim: 9 o'clock
Full/Half: Full (100w)
Klein:
Input: 2 o'clock
Output: Full CW
Recovery: 9 o'clock (using as overall Master)
Bright 1: on
Bright 2: off

V1/V3: TAD Telefunken 7025 clones
V2: NOS JAN Philips 5751
Power: 4xTAD RCA longplate clones

Speakers: EVM-12L and EVM-12S

With these settings, I can get a variety of clean and OD tones pretty easily.  Wish the back of the cab was open, but what are you going to do? 

Thanks for the help everyone.

Stephen

Hey All,

So I'm running a Les Paul Vintage Mahogany w/ Burstbucker Pros into the BM.  When I engage the OD channel, I am getting some flubby bass.  This is also true when I have the PAB engaged on the OD channel.  I've heard that the BM does have a lot more bass than the other OTS's , but I'm wondering what I can do to tighten up the low end on this thing.  I am a complete NOOB at electronics, I don't trust myself to cut the right wire.  That said, I can handle tube swaps, adjusting the internal trims, fiddling with the TMB knobs.  Anyone have any suggestions?

Thanks,

Stephen

edit: I'm running the amp through a 2x12 with an EVM-12L and an EVM-12S

Hey All,

Yes, I've tried another tube with it (NOS JAN Philips 5751) which I know doesn't have any microphonics issues, and I'm still getting hum.  So I've gone ahead and ordered an EbTech Hum Eliminator, we'll see if that'll help.  I think I've narrowed down the issues to ground hum from the power cables, not the audio cables.  Tell me if this sounds right.  I've hooked up the C-lator properly, and have the amp and C-lator turned on.  If I turn off the C-lator but leave the amp on, the amp goes quiet (normal), but I still get hum.  If I unplug the C-lator, the hum goes away.  Seems to me that that is a ground loop issue, right? 

In response to Hayden, yes, you can use normal footpedals with the C-lator.  I'm using the Digitech Hardwire RV-5 and DL-8 in the loop. 

I wanted the versatility of the HRM circuit paired with really amazing cleans.  According to Nik, the BM has the best cleans.  I have a pretty high-quality pedalboard, so I wanted the ability to use the amp as a platform, if necessary. 

Type of music, call it "melodic distortion", mixed with your standard indy rock pop.  Lots of blues influence, not really playing blues now, but will probably go back.

That said, I knew that there was supposed to be less gain in this amp than the standard HRM, but trust me, there is plenty of it on tap if you need it.  The OD trimmer combined with the PAB makes this thing a gain machine.

Hey Daniel,

I'm running a 2x12 with an EVM-12L and a reconed EVM-12S.  Sounds killer with the 100w bluesmaster.  These speakers rock.

Stephen

Thanks, guys, tried all that, as well as Nik's suggestion to ground the amp chassis to the buffer chassis, but to no avail.  The issue is that the noise increases a LOT when I increase the Output knob, which means I can't fully use the vol capacity of the amp. 

Anyone else have any ideas?

Thanks again, guys,

Hi Guys,

Thanks, for the responses.

Not running the Clator and the Klein at the same time. 

The George Ls aren't the issue as I don't get the hum when I hook up the Clator.  Could it be a ground hum problem?

Thanks,

Stephen

Hey All,

So I got the Bluesmaster 100w + C-Lator + Kleinulator a couple of days back.  I've hooked up the C-lator to the effects loop in my amp (using George L instrument cables), Effects Send --> Input and Output --> Effects Return.  The problem I'm encountering is that I get a considerable amount of noise with the unit when it is engaged.  I can reduce this somewhat by decreasing the output (adjusting the gain knob has no effect), but it's still considerable.  Also, when I switch the unit into standby or off, my volume gradually reduces to 0 after about 6 or 7 seconds (the same thing happens when I hook up the Kleinulator and then switch it off)

Any thoughts on this?

Thanks,

Stephen

Hi All,

I've looked and looked at the internal pics of the Bluesmaster chassis online and I can't locate the 3 HRM trimmers.  Can anyone here point them out to me in a pic?

Also, how dangerous is it to adjust them?  Obviously, I'd power down the amp, but what else should I look out for? 

Thanks,


Stephen

Hey Mr. Fabulous,

A manual would be great!  So many questions out there.  Could you link it up here when you're done (or before , hehe).

Looking forward to it!

Stephen

Whoa!   

I can only hope . . .

So stoked guys.   

Anyone know how long the shipping is from Malaysia to California using UPS?

Thanks,

Stephen

Thanks, Tonequest.  Good info.

Any use any of the TAD "telefunken" 12ax7 clones?

Doesn't the OTS have a cathode follower on the V2?  If it does, I have heard that the TS-RIs will not be able to handle the current.  That comes from one of the guys at tubedepot.com, but I could be wrong about that.