CeriaTone 18 watt TMB Head

I have the 18W TMB EF86 Model. The TMB Channel and the EF86 options give me a wide variety of sounds to choose from. I knew what I wanted before I purchased, and this fits the bill perfectly.

I was looking for "12 - Absurdly Great to the point of completely ignoring any other amp you may have", but it wasn't in the dropdown.

A better Marshall sound than I can get out of any of my Marshalls, with depth and clarity that boggles the mind.

My amp history includes a Mesa Lonestar, Marshall Plexi with a custom bult cab, and the Ceriatone just plain sounds better. I run it through a 2x12 with old Celestions, and that provides a great classic British sound. I've also run it as 1x12 combo using a low-cost Eminence Red Fang, and it sounds amazing there, too.

Matches real well with my strat with Kinmans in it.

This amp will outlive me. And you. And perhaps civilized society. It's built like a tank with great components. The point to point wiring is exceptionally well done.

Nik is Ceriatone, and he's responsive, knowledgeable, and friendly, both before and after the sale.

I'm a cynical puke, and this amp, purchased at the recommendation of my guitar tech, without ever having heard it, has turned me into a complete fan boy.

This amp was handmade by Nik of Ceriatone in 2008, I purchased it in the 1x12 Combo form so i wouldnt have to lug around an extention cabinet.
Channel 1: Treble, Middle, Bass, Volume, and Master Volume.
This channel sounds like a plexi in an 18 watt form. If you wanna get those great classic rock to early metal tones without having to get a 100 watt ear bleeding stadium stomper, this is the amp for you.
Channel 2: Tone, Volume
This channel is the bare bones of the amp, it a treble imput and a bass-ier imput. I find myself using this channel just as much as the TMB channel, it sounds great.
There is no effects loop or anything like that to compromise the tone. This amp is the perfect at home practice amp, or jam session practice amp. It can get MUCH louder than a drummer, it has a very fat rich sound and cuts through texture very nicely.
This amp is TRUELY all tube, because it has a tube rectifier that most tube amps today lack. The point to point wiring is fabulous. The tubes are all JJ's

I use a variety of guitars through this. My favorite is a ESP EC-1000 les paul copy with seymour duncan jb/59 pickups. I have also played through this amp with various custom shop strats. This amp will respond differently to different guitar woods and pickups and give each guitar its own sound and feel. Picking dynamics really come out on this amp, so if you wanna hear how you really sound like without any compression you need to try this amp. The clean tones on this amp are very nice, very smooth and bell like, there is no reverb though, but that can be added with a pedal. This amp breaks up around noon and has the BEST overdrive sound I've ever heard. I took this amp to my local guitar center and put it side by side with JCM800s and other Marshall tube amps. This thing just blew them away in fullness of sound and quality tone. The JCM800s sounded very bright and brittle compared to this. I play stuff from blues to ac/dc to iron maiden to pantera and metallica and this amp can nail all those sounds, sounds great with pedals too.

This amp has not given me any trouble so far, and I plan on giging on it. As long as you treat it with care this amp will last you for at least 40-50 years. Nik cut no corners when making this amp and used the highest quality materials. I'll give this catagory a 9 because I havent had it that long.

Nik is a great guy, he will answer any email usually within an hour, I've never had to wait more than that. He will help you pick what amp is best for your needs and give you a great price on it. (shipping is a little pricy because its from malaysa but its WORTH IT) When i first got this amp i couldnt get it to work, and sent Nik an email asking why. He answered right away and it happened that i had one of the power tubes switched with the rectifier tube.

I've been playing guitar for 3 years but I've been an active giging musisian for 13 years (other instruments). I know what good tone sounds like and this is it. The only thing i wish this amp could have is an extra speaker to make it a 2x12. I got the 1x12 version for convinience purposes, because i'd have to take it to and from band practice and gig with it...no roadies yet, but i can always upgrade
If you're looking for that "Marshall Crunch", check out Ceriatone. They make a better marshall than Marshall does these days.

This amp was built for me by Ceriatone in 2007.
A 18W (marshall 1974) clone, with the treble channel replaced by a TMB (tone, mid, bass) channel. The TMB channel has a MV.
The normal channel has two inputs, the TMB channel has one (the second input being replaced by the MV).
If you want to have it with some other features (i.e. effects loop or something), just ask Nik. I give it 9 in versatility. Subjectively its a 10 as I cannot imagine needing other features.

I'm using a post-upgrade Highway One strat and occasionally drive it with a Marshall BluesBreaker II set on "boost" (as a clear boost).
I haven't had a chance to try and overdrive the non-mv channel, as we're missing a practice space at the moment. That channel should be where the amp should shine, but the TMB channel alone deserves a 10. It's the best amp I have heard so far and I cannot imagine it could be better. It just killed all of my amp-GAS. Especially when you hit the amp with a clear boost, the distortion is amazing, even at bedroom levels!

It arrived with a broken fuse, USPS probably air-dropped it as the chassis was a bit mangled even if it was excellently packed. If this amp breaks (and I don't expect it to, it is point-to-point wired with the nicest soldering job I have ever seen), you can always have it repaired or do it yourself. In forty years, I'll re-cap it if necessary. I'm not ever getting rid of it.

Well, customer service is almost unbelievable. You can count on Nik to answer emails within hour (but mostly within 10 minutes) any time of day. I don't know how is this possible, but he doesn't seem to sleep at all. The customer service is incredible. You can expect him to do anything reasonable to get your amp up and running.

I have been playing guitar for about 15 years, electric for 6. I feel non-objective for writing this review, but it's all true. Just incredible amp, customer support. If somebody deserved my money (and it wasn't much), it is guys at Ceriatone.

It is exactly what you would expect from an 18 watt marshall clone

The only reason I am giving it a nine instead of ten because the TMB channel is just average sounding. I purchased this wired up by Ceriatone as I am not an electrician, I built my own cabinet. OK back to the TMB channel, the bass is pretty flabby sounding and it lacks some character, I eventually will get gutsy and play with tone caps, etc.

I use a 61 re-issue SG and a fender strat with a humbucker in the bridge position. Now on to the normal channel, two knobs.. volume and tone, and thats all you need, this channel just screams. for gigs I have been running the amp at about 2 oclock for volume and tone. it gets a very nice sounding crunch tone at this setting. think any 70's AC/DC or aerosmith tone. I just add an overdrive as a booster for solos.The amp cleans up beautifully when rolling back the volume knob.

the amp is a little noisy and it is loud enough for small gigs or when stage volume is only needed (mic'd up). I personally thought it would be a little louder

seems to be buit well

I emailed Nik numerous times and he answered every question for me in a timely manner

great marshall tone at a respectable volume

Built By Ceriatone in 2006 this is the EF86 TMB 18 watter. 2 non-switching channels. The EF86 channel is a Vox style and the TMB Channel(treble-Mid-Bass) is a Marshall Plexi style I guess. 2 speaker outs and 4-8-16 ohm knob. The Vox Channel has a Vol and a useful tone selcter knob with 6 setting from bright to thick. All sound great for different things. TMB channel has Vol and Master Vol Treble, mid, bass. Plenty of volume for the blues/rock band I am in. Master Volume when dimed adds distortion but not a tremendous amount. Won't get brutal without pedals.
I give it a 7 because there are amps with far less features and amps with more. But the bottom line is that it is actually 2 amps with different (and excellent) sounds but you can't switch between the channels.

The amp is a killer Blues/rock cruncher. It won't do Fender clean at any reasonable gigging volume but the semi cleans are very cool especially the Vox channel. It won't get brutal without pedals, but it does the controlled feedback sustainy thing without pedals and is the first amp I have ever owned that is very satisfying to play lead without a pedal. However, using any of my pedals to bump things up a bit really does it for me. Just hard to quit playing.

My amps are or were: Mesa Triple Rectifier-Fender 66 Pro Reverb- Marshall JCM800 combo- BF Fender Bandmaster- Allen Accomplice- 70's SF Fender Princton Reverb- Roland Cube 30. I have also used BF Fender Vibrolux's and Twin Reverb's extensively for gigging.

This is defintely my favorite amp of all. Great for crunching leads and rythmn. Excellent tone, sustain, feel, touch sensitivity etc. The sustain and feel of this amp help me play much more expressively and confidently.

Guitars: Strat with Fralin Blues- MIM Strat with SD SSL II's

Some of My influences are Hendrix, SRV, Johnny Lang, Kenny Wayne Sheppard

I use a Tonker speaker for maximum headroom and thunk when needed. Other wise I will switch between a Red Fang or V30's. All these speakers sound excellent. My 4x10 Marshall cab with regular celestions sounds a bit dull but huge. Not my fav though.

I reluctantly give it only a 9 because I think there are a few amps out there that would sound a bit better if I had the chance to try them, and it won't do clean at gigging volumes.

The build quality and components are very high and the transformers are very good according to some of the amp techs over at 18watt.com

Nik was excellent in every way. took 7 days from the day I ordered to arrive.

I have benn playing for 30 years and have been through lots of amps. I have been a Fender dude for a long time since I sold my Dual Rectifier. I am now getting back to who I really am, a Marshall cruncher. I do love Fender stuff as well but really I love to get a bit crazy over the top and this amp nails it for me. It also loves every distortion pedal I have. It kills the JCM800. The best, most fun amp I have ever had and an addictive addition to my arsenal.

Firstly, mine is the 18watt TMB EF86 model, which replaces the standard (volume and tone control only) 18Watt channel with a Matchless D30 style EF86 channel, this adds a whole range of extra VOX type sounds, so on the features front this definitely earns it a 10. I bought mine ready built with tubes, build quality is absolutely superb. I have built a few tube amps myself and to work to this standard takes lots of time and experience........

Yes another 10 here, it now nails the Marshall blues sound I was searching for perfectly. Initially I found the TMB channel a little bass heavy so on Nik's advice I changed one of the tone caps, I think this is to be implemented as standard on later builds.

It came complete with a set of JJ tubes apart from EF86 which was Sovtek. JJ are definitely the best choice of current production tubes for this amp and I can't fault Nik's choice there. I have changed the 12AX7's and EL84 tubes for NOS Mullards so in true Spinal Tap fashion it now gets an 11 for sound quality ;-)

Also, I replaced the EF86 Sovtek with a NOS Telefunken, it really opened up the sound on that channel, like taking a blanket off the speaker. I have played a lot of current tube amps and this leaves them all for dead. They sound good until you compare them with this hand wired beauty........

Well, I've had it for three months now and it hasn't broken down yet :-)

BSF it's built using heavy duty aluminium chassis with highest quality glass fibre turret boards, finest quality carbon composition resistors, Mallory caps, very heavy duty transformers and faultless hand wiring and soldering. 30 year old Marshall amps of this design are still going strong, this is better built so I'd expect a similar life expectancy. If it does go wrong it will either be because of a component failure or because it has been dropped from a very great height, neither of these would be Nik's fault so on that basis it earns a 10.

I have four Ceriatone amps and I've pestered Nik endlessly with a string of silly questions and suggestions, my emails are always answered very quickly, courteously and are always helpful. If you want it built a certain way or modded it is no problem. I cannot suggest anything to improve the service, so top marks here too

I've been playing for 20+ years and have Gibson Les paul 59 reissue with Bare Knuckle Mule humbuckers, an LP '56 reissue with P90's and a Fender Custom Shop Strat with Bare Knuckle "Irish Tour" pups and all sound great through this amp.

I already have four Ceriatone amps (an 18 watt TMB EF86 and JTM45 which were bought ready built and a Champ 5E1 and TrainWreck Express which were bought as kits) and I'll be getting number five very soon. They are the best, period. Excellent value for money, you could easily pay three times as much and get something that sounded worse.

You can buy ready built and tested, full kit of parts (with or without tubes) or just assembled turret boards, chassis or transformers or any mix of parts you choose if you are building your own amp.

The only down side is that you have to make or source your own cabinet, no problem to me but could increase sales considerably if case kits and/or ready built cases were available too (how about it Nik?). All ready built amps are made to order, but usually arrive on your doorstep within two to three weeks of ordering.

Ceriatone are in Malaysia and ship using DHL, items are very well packaged and usually only 3 days transit time (I'm in the UK). Shipping is obviously more expensive than buying from a UK source, however you pay the actual shipping cost, unlike a few companies I could mention that seem to regularly overcharge on shipping just to add a bit more to the bottom line. I haven't had to pay any import duty or vat yet either ;-)

The distance really isn't a problem and lower labour costs easily outweigh the long distance carriage costs. Not many (if any?) UK boutique amp builders could turn an order round as quickly or offer such a wide selection of models. I'm now in tone heaven :-)

Allan

I bought this a couple of years ago as a new, assembled head without tubes. this is an 18 watt hand wired tmb clone. It's the circuit where the channels jumper in phase.
there are absolutely no compromises whatsoever in terms of the quality of the parts or the quality of assembly. I've seen the insides of a lot of amps, and they don't
get any cleaner or nicer. This is boutique quality all the way.

It's not what I'd call versatile. It does one thing really well which is to make you sound like a rock star even if you aren't. You know, just tune to drop d, volume on 11, and put one finger across the frets and you're golden.

Seriously....it doesn't do fender clean...but it isn't supposed to.....a one trick pony with a very good trick. It's a bluesbreaker derivative in a head design. Marshall Plexi in a non stadium volume level.

I have a lot of amps and gear. this tmb head is the only way to go vs the tremolo head. The high gain channel has plenty of gain for a LP or a strat. The tone is like scaled down marshall plexi but it's still quite loud. It's plenty for a studio or jam session, or clubs even. I use a Marshall 2x12 celestion open back 16 ohm cab. This amp sounds best into 16 ohms for some reason. It's also sensitive to the right cab and output tubes. I use jj tubes. When you get it right, the sound is just like that sound in your head you always wanted. It's one of the only amps I own that sounds perfect with just guitar/cord/amp. In spite of being only 18 watts, people won't believe it. the last people I jammed with in a studio were talking about their ears ringing. If you live in an apartment, and are thinking about buying this so the neighbors don't complain, think again....it's as loud as any 40 watt Blackface Fender, I have A/B ed them.

This thing will last longer than I will.

Nik is great to deal with. I was so happy with this amp and Ceriatone in general that I just ordered a JTM45 head in case I feel the need to totally deafen myself.

I forget what I paid below, but it was way more than I was expecting for the money. You can spend 4 times as much and do worse.

If you play rock and blues, this is my favorite amp next to the Fender Super Reverb(blues) and the JTM45 (rock). It's definitely one of the top five amp designs in existance as far as I'm concerned. the others would be Super Reverb, Vibroverb,Marshall 1959SLP, and Bassman/JTM45.

my Ceriatone build date is a 2006. This is my second amp head from Nik at Ceriatone.It is a clone of the famous Marshall 1974x built in /65-68. Apparently only about 350 were built.It has 2 EL84 power tubes,3,12ax7 pre amp, and a GZ81 rectifier tube.It has 2 channels with the original tremelo channel being replaced with a higher gain chanell.The result is a normal channel with 2 inputs,and a single input for the high gain channel. It is a straight forward 60`s set up.It is certainly loud enough to gig with and can be used at home perfect size.As a 60`s set up it will not suit people who feel the number of knobs is the judge of an amp. Make no mistake this amp does Marshall extremely well. It is rated the best Marshall of all time by the lord of valves and legions of others.Marshall has chosen to reissue this amp in their hand wired section ,one of 3 amps of all time. Of course Ceriatone is hand wired,pointo point and and dead quiet.It plays the "Marshall sound" enough said.one more point ,Ceriatone still uses the tube rectifier while the Marshall reissue uses a solid state affair{YUK}

I play only G+L`s, an asat classic w/standard mfd pickups,an asat semi-hollow body with standard p-90`s and a Legacy{57 strat].This amp is SCAREY to play it is the consimate Marshall.I tried every model from 74 onward and none could capture the true magic of the Marshall sound like this does. Clapton and just about every marshall sound recording has been done with this amp,a studio must have.I can get clean in normal channel but with that destinct marshall edge. The high gain channel is "Jimmy" try voodo child.This is where the amp is soo... good sustain ,expression . Tone.A Marshall on steroids. Definately not a jazz amp .This is Rock and Roll And "Strap Your Hat On" cause this thing is like a ride on a bronco, in the best possible way!! easy 10. See www18watt.com for the cult following.

Nik at Ceriatone has a great reputation hand built point to point,very high buid quality. never had a problem with Nik`s amps ,don`t expect anything but the usuall tubes etc.Time will tell? Always take a spare tube amp to a gig.

As I said this is my second amp from Nick @ Ceriatone. Answers emails promptly he is a"can do " kind of guy. Current project is a 5f4 Super. Nik had it built with mods and shipped to me before most American builders even replied to my request. Don`t let the Malaysian origin scare you off. His service would make other amp builders blush. Shipping Malaysia to Canada in 5 days,waybill # supplied as well as spare fuse etc.

I am 54,been playing since I was 12.Currently I own 3 Ceriatones,one Victoria, and an Emmery sound "Suberbaby"which I will review later.In the past I have owned just about one of everything.The 18 watt tmb is way better than any new Marshalls and better than Marshalls reissue ie tube rectifier. I play it through an 2x12 w/ Weber 12A150`s Loud!Marshalls reissue is a combo with 1 speaker. Mine is a head chassis, so I can use tubes that would rattle in a combo.This is in my keeper section. Ilove the fact that this is the ultimatee Marshall sound!! Hit some licks and it is SCAREY how good this sounds. Best Marshall sound period!! It lacks nothing if Tone is your goal.TURN IT UP !!! see www18watt.com

The amp is the CeriaTone 18 watt TMB Marshall 1974x clone that came to me as an unassembled kit. I chose the stage 1 option which did not include transformers or tubes. The chassis is black powder coated steel and is excellent heavy-duty quality. The turret board looks like it could take a direct missle strike and come up smiling. High quality components are used for the PTP wiring set up including teflon coated tinned stranded wire. Real Marshall knobs and jacks, Alpha pots, extremely nice plexi front and rear faceplates were included in the kit. I chose to use Heyboer transformers and the fit-up was perfect. The amp has a preamp master volume for one channel that allows channel balancing, and it has treble-middle-bass tone controls. This is your basic '60's set up - all tube, no channel switching etc. Just tone, and plenty of it. If you're in search of digital things this may not be the amp for you. It fits my needs.

This amp works for rock. It works for blues. It can be clean at low volume settings but yearns to cook the 12AX7's and EL84's with the best distortion ever heard. That's saying a lot considering that I also own a 1982 Mesa Mark IIC+ and know what good distortion sounds like. Think Allman Bros, Hendrix, Cream's Clapton, Bloomfield etc. If you are looking for smoking Marshall sounds at a manageable volume one of these kits should be considered. I have Strats and Les Pauls and both are perfectly suited for this amp sound as you would expect. I grew up dreaming of being able to dime a Marshall amp and let it do it's thing, and now I can.

Who knows? It's a brand new homemade amp. I've got to believe that any problems that come up (if they ever occur) can't be too hard to resolve. It started up after assembly without any issues and has been rocking ever since.

Nik's great to deal with. He personnaly answers emails and his shipping was very fast, arriving in less than a week after ordering. This amp is aimed at the electronically capable guitar playing public and with that said the customer support was exactly what is needed. Be able to follow schematics and component layout sheets, be able to solder, this is an easy assembly and the end product is well worth the work. If you can't, have someone build one for you.

I've been playing guitar for almost 40 years, primarily blues and rock. I have 13 guitars and 6 amps. This amp will let you sound like your heroes, even if you don't have the chops. I Hope the Marshall PTP reissues sound this good.