[MattMan]

Watch out, Waldo's at it again. I've been fortunate to take a new Maestro mod out for a test drive. Here's some tone tests of the new SMS CTP w/Maestro Mod compared to the Stock SMS CTP (with brightness switch). I first compared the CTP Maestro to the Twin Maestro--they're essentially equivalent. Next is the CTP Maestro compared to the CTP Stock. I used McIntosh MC2100 amp for the Twin test, and the TubeWorks MV962 for the CTP test. Cheers, MM

CTP Maestro vs. Twin Maestro
00:00 Sugaree: Twin Maestro, 02:02 Sugaree: CTP Maestro, 03:56 Stella Blue: CTP Maestro, 05:50 Stella Blue: Twin Maestro


CTP Maestro vs. CTP Stock w/Brightness On
00:00 CTP Maestro + MosValve, 02:08 CTP Stock (Brightness On) + MosValve

[TeeJay]

Hey Matt are those Ks or Es?

[MattMan]

Hi TeeJay those are my E's. The black cone is a recone by a great speaker tech near me in Detroit. He sells awesome reconed E's for $120-$160. https://m.facebook.com/spiralrecone/

[Jon S.]

Love your playing - you sound great on all of the rigs. I can definitely hear the difference in tones on the latter video. The Maestro unit sounds plenty sweet. I'm wondering, if you added a tad more treble to the stock unit while cutting its mids slightly, would that bring them any closer tonally?

[MattMan]

Thanks Jon!
Actually I had both the stock and the modded CTP at "Jerry" tone settings: Treble up all the way, Mid at half-way, and Bass off.
I totally agree with you that the differentiation between the two is the stock with the treble up all the way and the brightness switch on is more thin and perhaps brittle than the maestro. This is what's so cool about the maestro mod--it adds a tremendous amount of treble clarity without adding the thin brittle. To clarify, the maestro mod unit has the brightness switch off.

I really do like the CTP stock and you can certainly hear the nice boink and umph of the guitar register below the 12th fret, and the tone is very equivocal below the 12th fret between the stock and the modded CTPs, but where the Maestro adds is in the upper register where the notes sing more and there's subtle clipping. So we do get close by turning on the brightness switch of the stock ctp, but its not the maestro.

[Jedstein]

Hey Matt,

Really cool demo. Great playing as well!

Probably a silly question, but I assume both CTPs are JG versions?

I think you mentioned in a previous post that you felt that the Maestro really needed Es to shine. Do you think the same applies to the CTP Maestro? Been wanting an SMS for a while now -- and this makes me want one even more

[MattMan]

Hi JS,

My stock ctp is the jg version and the maestro ctp I believe did start out as the jg version. I think the ctp jg is a great convenient twin clone. I like it through either E or K depending on your needs. I've recently been playing through the E's and have learned quite a lot about picking precision, picking intensity and stage volume using the E's and it's helped my style a lot.

[cripeowner]

To my ear the modded twin is the best ( I could be biased though). I understand the weight & size benefits of the SMS and in the mix of a full band a normal person could not tell the difference, but we're not normal are we?

[MattMan]

To my ear the modded twin is the best ( I could be biased though). I understand the weight & size benefits of the SMS and in the mix of a full band a normal person could not tell the difference, but we're not normal are we?

That's how I hear it too. But I've been super happy with the CTP as my convenient rack-mounted Twin substitute. In fact, just the other day, I was practicing at home and the Twin crapped out, and had it been at a gig, I could have switched over to the CTP without any lag. Fortunately the fix was easy, and as it turns out, it was operator error because I must have bent a cap leg too much when I soldered it in because it broke. A 5-minute fix at home, but not during a gig. Next week I'm doing a two-city mini tour in Cinci and Columbus and I'll be using the CTP Maestro w/the MV962 amp. Packing light--axe, rack, and one E-120.

[RLW]

Very lovely tone and playing. So, on my tone journey I've come up with quite a bit of interesting info from forums, and seen some lovely playing. Makes me feel good knowing there's loads of middle aged dudes like me sitting around obsessing over the GD and JG ... and it entertains the pants off of my girlfriend, who, being English, hadn't heard of the Dead until I introduced them to her. She now loves them but is entertained with the fact that we're all sitting around obsessing over amp mods and watching chaps play, very well mind you, out in their garage b/c their wife / girlfriends have probably vanquished them to the garage having listen to GD tunes non-stop for 30 years ...

Anyway - helpful post, superb playing, and thanks to the community as it's very helpful to find new info here. Cheers - R

[TI4-1009]

... and it entertains the pants off of my girlfriend

[MattMan]

Very lovely tone and playing. So, on my tone journey I've come up with quite a bit of interesting info from forums, and seen some lovely playing. Makes me feel good knowing there's loads of middle aged dudes like me sitting around obsessing over the GD and JG ... and it entertains the pants off of my girlfriend, who, being English, hadn't heard of the Dead until I introduced them to her. She now loves them but is entertained with the fact that we're all sitting around obsessing over amp mods and watching chaps play, very well mind you, out in their garage b/c their wife / girlfriends have probably vanquished them to the garage having listen to GD tunes non-stop for 30 years ...

Anyway - helpful post, superb playing, and thanks to the community as it's very helpful to find new info here. Cheers - R

Thanks kindly. Glad you enjoyed it. Cheers, MM