Currently 7 second hand TMDRs on ebay

Littlejonny

Just saying…weird how they’ve all come on in the last week. It must be a buyers market now…

HandwrittenHero

As always with eBay I wonder how many are relisted. There’s one actually at a price to get bids, one with no bids a chunk above it and then several higher still as buy now only.

There’s a pattern I’ve definitely seen with other gear where many are still hanging around for top dollar like the pandemic never ended.

Littlejonny

I wonder what a reasonable price for one would be…£550?

Teyeplayer

Littlejonny said:

I wonder what a reasonable price for one would be…£550?

I sold mine earlier in the year for £500. Sure I could have let it go for £50 more, but when a new one can be had for £799, 500 seemed about the right price. I must be honest, every time I see one up for £600+ I presume the seller has no intention of selling it. 

Paul_C

Are they any good for light break up sounds ?

Do they run silently with nothing plugged in?

As always I'm jumping around from pedals to guitars to amps, and it's currently the turn of the amp

I've reduced my set up to a Simplifier MKII, a Beebo (which has a few NAM models) and my trusty Katana MKI.

I would love to settle on something but that's never going to happen so I'm wondering if there's a solid state amp out there that will give me a lightly distorted clean base to work from.

I hate background noise and can run my set up with guitar plugged in and volume up without being able to hear any noise, so it has to be able to match that.

fretmeister

I wish Marshall would do something similar.

Plexi and 800 flavours would be excellent.

Acdeezee86

@Paul_C i picked up a second hand princeton tm this week - it’s excellent for light break up and runs very quietly indeed. So far I’m very pleased with it.  I suspect the deluxe reverb should do those two things well too.

that said your current set up sounds pretty great already!

Wazmeister

Paul_C said:

Are they any good for light break up sounds ?

Do they run silently with nothing plugged in?

As always I'm jumping around from pedals to guitars to amps, and it's currently the turn of the amp

I've reduced my set up to a Simplifier MKII, a Beebo (which has a few NAM models) and my trusty Katana MKI.

I would love to settle on something but that's never going to happen so I'm wondering if there's a solid state amp out there that will give me a lightly distorted clean base to work from.

I hate background noise and can run my set up with guitar plugged in and volume up without being able to hear any noise, so it has to be able to match that.

Perfect for light break up (TMDR - Im referring to)

Totally silent.

Wonderful amps, especially at home imho.

Paul_C

Acdeezee86 said:

@Paul_C i picked up a second hand princeton tm this week - it’s excellent for light break up and runs very quietly indeed. So far I’m very pleased with it.  I suspect the deluxe reverb should do those two things well too.

that said your current set up sounds pretty great already!

It is, but it's a constant that I will never be completely satisfied

I've only had the Simplifier II since Wednesday (replacing a MK1) so I really need to spend some time with that first, but my daughter is here from Thurs evening to Sunday evening and doesn't enjoy me disturbing her gaming, so I have a lot of time to think about things I don't have.

Teyeplayer

@Paul_C I would say it was perfect for that light break up and silent use. I honestly think it is the best plug and play on the market and I expect will have another in due course -only let mine go due to the perpetual gas.

stickyfiddle

I assume it's the usual January sell off.

I still love mine TMDR - one of the best bits of gear I ever bought. TMPR not far behind

Littlejonny

The one in Stratford upon Avon I could get to, but I’m thinking I should hold out for a blonde.

But These things are so light I could pop the Celestion A Type in from my Hot Rod and not notice too much weight gain?

TeleMaster

I'm not that surprised that there are quite a few of these on the used market. The marketing suggests that they're going to sound the same as an all valve Deluxe Reverb etc without the weight and at a cheaper price, but they don't. They might sound decent but it's never going to sound the same as the all valve versions. So those who aren't completely happy that they don't have the same qualities as the all valve version, or want the real deal after having a taste will move them on. 

Still, good bargains for quite a few people. 

LooseMoose

TeleMaster said:

I'm not that surprised that there are quite a few of these on the used market. The marketing suggests that they're going to sound the same as an all valve Deluxe Reverb etc without the weight and at a cheaper price, but they don't. They might sound decent but it's never going to sound the same as the all valve versions. So those who aren't completely happy that they don't have the same qualities as the all valve version, or want the real deal after having a taste will move them on. 

Still, good bargains for quite a few people. 

^ that was me. Okay amps with many positives but a million miles away from the ‘real deal’ based on feel alone.

stickyfiddle

Littlejonny said:

The one in Stratford upon Avon I could get to, but I’m thinking I should hold out for a blonde.

But These things are so light I could pop the Celestion A Type in from my Hot Rod and not notice too much weight gain?

The Celestion Neo in the blonde is 1.9kg, and the Jensen Neo in the black one is 2kg. The A-Type is 3.5kg, so you're adding 1.5kg to the total to get to ~12kg. Still a very lightweight amp. 

jellybelly

Wazmeister said:

Paul_C said:

Are they any good for light break up sounds ?

Do they run silently with nothing plugged in?

As always I'm jumping around from pedals to guitars to amps, and it's currently the turn of the amp

I've reduced my set up to a Simplifier MKII, a Beebo (which has a few NAM models) and my trusty Katana MKI.

I would love to settle on something but that's never going to happen so I'm wondering if there's a solid state amp out there that will give me a lightly distorted clean base to work from.

I hate background noise and can run my set up with guitar plugged in and volume up without being able to hear any noise, so it has to be able to match that.

Perfect for light break up (TMDR - Im referring to)

Totally silent.

Wonderful amps, especially at home imho.

This all over. £550 would be a fair price. I paid £679 for a b-stock with 5 year extended warranty about 18 months ago. New prices have gone up a bit since then but as @Littlejonny has spotted, they've sold so many of them that there's plenty to pick from on the used market. Not quite Hot Rod levels of market saturation mind!!

TeleMaster

LooseMoose said:

TeleMaster said:

I'm not that surprised that there are quite a few of these on the used market. The marketing suggests that they're going to sound the same as an all valve Deluxe Reverb etc without the weight and at a cheaper price, but they don't. They might sound decent but it's never going to sound the same as the all valve versions. So those who aren't completely happy that they don't have the same qualities as the all valve version, or want the real deal after having a taste will move them on. 

Still, good bargains for quite a few people. 

^ that was me. Okay amps with many positives but a million miles away from the ‘real deal’ based on feel alone.

Yea I tried one when I was on a lightweight mission after another back surgery. I tried the St James, the Katana, other pedal board solutions (Milkman, Origin Effects) and the TM Deluxe Reverb. It was okay, but having had a few of these amps, DDRI65 and a handwired one, Princeton RI, and my friend has a nice Rift clone of a DR, it just didn't sound like the amp I was trying to get. Perfectly good for lots of people and lots of scenarios but it's a bit like buying an updated electric version of a petrol car hoping for the same experience, you won't get it. I also felt that an FX loop in a modern version of these amps would have been a nice addition. 

Having played a lot of the lightweight stuff now you do lose something when you lose the weight, the St James is a good example of this. 

HandwrittenHero

fretmeister said:

I wish Marshall would do something similar.

Plexi and 800 flavours would be excellent.

Agreed. Currently my most used amp is a mustang micro, followed by the TMDR edging out my 1974x as much because a valve amp and grabbing windows of time is a bit awkward. A plexi version or I’ve said before tweed or brown deluxe would make me happy.

TeleMaster said:

I'm not that surprised that there are quite a few of these on the used market. The marketing suggests that they're going to sound the same as an all valve Deluxe Reverb etc without the weight and at a cheaper price, but they don't. They might sound decent but it's never going to sound the same as the all valve versions. So those who aren't completely happy that they don't have the same qualities as the all valve version, or want the real deal after having a taste will move them on. 

Still, good bargains for quite a few people. 

I don’t disagree with this, but I also think it’s the wrong way to approach the amp. The marketing doesn’t help with that I do agree. But sounds like should be just taken as ballpark. You’ll find no shortage of mods for a DR and speaker swaps etc when it comes to the valve version - so becomes which DR is it supposed to sound the same as.

Littlejonny said:

The one in Stratford upon Avon I could get to, but I’m thinking I should hold out for a blonde.

But These things are so light I could pop the Celestion A Type in from my Hot Rod and not notice too much weight gain?

Yep seems fine to. Although bear in mind the line out cab sims will only ever be what’s on the firmware if that’s important to you (you can put black or blond on either to experience that speaker on the line out)

TeleMaster

HandwrittenHero said:

fretmeister said:

I wish Marshall would do something similar.

Plexi and 800 flavours would be excellent.

Agreed. Currently my most used amp is a mustang micro, followed by the TMDR edging out my 1974x as much because a valve amp and grabbing windows of time is a bit awkward. A plexi version or I’ve said before tweed or brown deluxe would make me happy.

TeleMaster said:

I'm not that surprised that there are quite a few of these on the used market. The marketing suggests that they're going to sound the same as an all valve Deluxe Reverb etc without the weight and at a cheaper price, but they don't. They might sound decent but it's never going to sound the same as the all valve versions. So those who aren't completely happy that they don't have the same qualities as the all valve version, or want the real deal after having a taste will move them on. 

Still, good bargains for quite a few people. 

I don’t disagree with this, but I also think it’s the wrong way to approach the amp. The marketing doesn’t help with that I do agree. But sounds like should be just taken as ballpark. You’ll find no shortage of mods for a DR and speaker swaps etc when it comes to the valve version - so becomes which DR is it supposed to sound the same as.

I'd say you need to compare stock with stock.

It's not just that though, a decent quality all valve amp not only just has a different type of sound to a solid state amp, or any kind of modelling amp, but they also feel different to play and respond differently to how hard or soft you play and all that. I'm not saying they're not perfectly good amps, they are, but the sound and feel of the full thing is very difficult to replicate 100%.

HandwrittenHero

I get and understand that. Not an apples to apples in terms of sound, but my 1974x lives next to my TMDR. Both unmuzzled there’s that bit more breathing/liveliness to the valve amp against how I’m playing. The TMDR still has reasonable levels of responsiveness though, just the 1974x has more.

As soon as the attenuator is clicked back though, the gap significantly narrows and everything is that bit stiffer.

I suspect if I was starting from wanting the best gigging amp for me and then making it usable at home it would be a different equation to that where the primary goal is a good tone at home without pissing my neighbours off.

TeleMaster

HandwrittenHero said:

I get and understand that. Not an apples to apples in terms of sound, but my 1974x lives next to my TMDR. Both unmuzzled there’s that bit more breathing/liveliness to the valve amp against how I’m playing. The TMDR still has reasonable levels of responsiveness though, just the 1974x has more.

As soon as the attenuator is clicked back though, the gap significantly narrows and everything is that bit stiffer.

I suspect if I was starting from wanting the best gigging amp for me and then making it usable at home it would be a different equation to that where the primary goal is a good tone at home without pissing my neighbours off.

Yea you can't really tell too much about an amp, a guitar at low volumes so it's good you've let it loose a bit to compare. 

I use a Friedman Small Box and before that I had a BE50, before that a Carol Ann Tucana 3. I've tried all manner of modern lightweight amps to try and get a lightweight solution that's comparable to a great valve amp but I just can't do it because I hear a huge difference when playing live. When they catch up I'll be the first to adopt it, until then I'll keep spending money hoping it has lol!