# AMPTWEAKER - Tight Metal Pro "Field Test"



## TechniquesWithTodd (Nov 14, 2014)

I recently got my hands on a TIGHT METAL PRO and was seriously impressed with the wads of gain and the three fx loops. Here are the details. Anyone else use these?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UdpuoZo7wqI


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## SnoozyWyrm (Nov 14, 2014)

My 2 cents...

I've played a regular TightMetal and I was really impressed by the ingenuity of the pedal. The loops, the gate, the amount of options is really nice. The tones on the other hand were not my cup of tea. Generic uber-saturated pedal type distortion (approaching transistor-y can of bees territory) is what I would call it.

The Bogner Red and Uber pedals and the Triple Wreck are miles ahead IMO. Usable tones over a much broader range of gain and much more responsive. Also, if you are not pigeonholed into buying a US-made pedal the AMT SS-20 or SS-11 will also be a much better choice (as in...a real preamp pedal with dedicated clean/crunch/lead and loops) at a lower price.


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## vick1000 (Nov 15, 2014)

OK James, it's time for a rack mount preamp now, it basically is already, just need a 1U format and external pedal for switching.


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## Wookieslayer (Nov 15, 2014)

vick1000 said:


> OK James, it's time for a rack mount preamp now, it basically is already, just need a 1U format and external pedal for switching.




Add a second channel for cleans and I'm in


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## Sephael (Nov 15, 2014)

Wookieslayer said:


> Add a second channel for cleans and I'm in



...tight drive at low gain in the sidetrak of the TM?


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## amptweaker (Nov 15, 2014)

SnoozyWyrm said:


> My 2 cents...
> 
> I've played a regular TightMetal and I was really impressed by the ingenuity of the pedal. The loops, the gate, the amount of options is really nice. The tones on the other hand were not my cup of tea. Generic uber-saturated pedal type distortion (approaching transistor-y can of bees territory) is what I would call it.



Snoozy, the reality is that many of the switches and options on the TightMetal Pro came from guys like you who didn't really like the TightMetal. It's a process, and I take all criticism as constructive, and just keep making things sound better and adding options to bring in a bigger crowd.

For your can of bees problem, there's a new switch on top called Smooth Edge that knocks that down.....I designed the first pedal to also work straight into the power amp (which has less edge than in front of the amp), and using Vintage 30s which aren't as sizzly....and for a lot of people with already bright tones, it was just too much. So I took their advice and added a switch to fix it for those guys.

Same thing with adding internal Fat switches for those who thought my TightMetal was a bit TOO tight. And the High Gain switch actually provides a LOWER gain option compared to the original, for guys like you who aren't looking for 'uber-saturated' tones'. When combined with running it at 18V(my design is single-ended like a tube preamp, so it's dramatically more dynamic at 18V than at 9), most guys find it easy to get even AC/DC tones out of it.

As a result, we've been selling twice as many of them as the original version this year, so I must be reaching a broader audience as planned.

James B
amptweaker.com


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## ProphetOfHatred (Nov 15, 2014)

From the videos I've heard the original Tight Metal actually sounds better? Weird. Then again I would be buying it to play straight up brutal death metal so.


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## Sepultorture (Nov 15, 2014)

James make an amp head already, i wanna see an amp tweaker metal head with 5150 type green and red channel tones with amazing cleans man


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## SnoozyWyrm (Nov 16, 2014)

amptweaker said:


> [...]
> James B
> amptweaker.com



For personally reaching to your possible clientele, my hat's off to you sir. Keep up the good work!


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## TechniquesWithTodd (Nov 27, 2014)

I'd be all for a rack version! Being able to mount it in a rack and get it off the floor would be very spiff  I like stomp boxes but I really like rack bits. Being able to keep something powered easily and have hopefully one cable running to a control surface so I'd say ...

*Add MIDI control!!!  

Also, great idea on the clean channel! So basically a 3 channel rack mount preamp with midi control  



vick1000 said:


> OK James, it's time for a rack mount preamp now, it basically is already, just need a 1U format and external pedal for switching.


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## sylcfh (Dec 2, 2014)

amptweaker said:


> Snoozy, the reality is that many of the switches and options on the TightMetal Pro came from guys like you who didn't really like the TightMetal. It's a process, and I take all criticism as constructive, and just keep making things sound better and adding options to bring in a bigger crowd.
> 
> For your can of bees problem, there's a new switch on top called Smooth Edge that knocks that down.....I designed the first pedal to also work straight into the power amp (which has less edge than in front of the amp), and using Vintage 30s which aren't as sizzly....and for a lot of people with already bright tones, it was just too much. So I took their advice and added a switch to fix it for those guys.
> 
> ...







Is there still the possibility of a rackmount TM Pro?


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## schizoidasylum (Dec 3, 2014)

Sepultorture said:


> James make an amp head already, i wanna see an amp tweaker metal head with 5150 type green and red channel tones with amazing cleans man



+1000


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## Gmork (Dec 23, 2014)

i use a boss ns2 (with the OD in the ns2 loop) ibanez jetdriver (tubescreamer variant) into my tightmetal pro with a cheap joyo eq in the universal loop just to add a tad more thumpy low end. i run that into the fx return of my traynor custom special 100h2 head which allows me to use the resonance and presence controls) and that goes into the matching over sized 4x12 loaded with v30s. i play brutal (slightly techy) death metal and it sounds AMAZING! absolutely AMAZING!


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## sylcfh (Dec 23, 2014)

Is the onboard boost that useless that you need a TS?


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## GoldDragon (Dec 24, 2014)

I like it, really ingenius. I think amps should have multiple loops like this.

When people complain about bees in a box sound, I find that a good sign, when you turn it up the edges smooth out and you get something which is really present and articulate.


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## Gmork (Dec 31, 2014)

the boost is great but a tube screamer just has that tubescreamer magic going on. do people really need a TS for their engls, mesas etc?


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## enuenu (Jan 18, 2015)

I've read a couple of times that people like to use the TM pedals as pre amps. They plug the pedal directly into a power amp. They say it sounds better than placing the pedal in the front of a guitar head.

I have a Mesa DR head and Recto cab rig I never really bonded with. It was too mushy for me. I now have a JMP100 MV MkII (2 input) + JCM900 cab which while not as bowel shaking as the Mesa rig has a lot more definition to my ears.

I think I could bypass the DR's preamp and use the TM as the preamp. Am I correct here?

Would it be a difficult mod to give access to the JMP's power amp and bypass the preamp? 

Is all this preamp bypassing a waste of time perhaps? Just plug the TM into the front end.


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## amptweaker (Jan 19, 2015)

enuenu said:


> I've read a couple of times that people like to use the TM pedals as pre amps. They plug the pedal directly into a power amp. They say it sounds better than placing the pedal in the front of a guitar head.
> 
> I have a Mesa DR head and Recto cab rig I never really bonded with. It was too mushy for me. I now have a JMP100 MV MkII (2 input) + JCM900 cab which while not as bowel shaking as the Mesa rig has a lot more definition to my ears.
> 
> ...



In this case, the advantage of running after the preamp is headroom, and also the tone is not quite as edgy when you go straight into the power amp. On that JMP100 amp, I believe you get a lot more headroom if you go into the Low Gain input, which bypasses a tube as I recall.

On the Mesa, you can bypass the preamp by plugging the output of the TMP into it's effects return or power amp in if it has one, and if you like the tone, you can also patch the Mesa's preamp into the SideTrak like it's a pedal: Guitar>TMP IN, TMP SideTrak OUT>DR IN, Mesa Effects Send>TMP SideTrak IN, TMP OUT>Mesa Effects Return. So when the TMP is ON, it will be going around the preamp, but when it's OFF, you'll be just hearing the Mesa as is. You'll have to make sure your cables aren't scattered around, or they'll pick up hum.

But a lot of guys just use the TM and TMP in front of their clean channel, and they just EQ it to make that work....also probably have to set the output volume of the TMP lower to keep from breaking up that first tube on the amp, which is typically before the amp's first gain control. All the demos from NAMM are through the amp's clean channel.

James B
amptweaker.com


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