Anyone on here playing the CTM series? I have a chance at the CTM 100 for about $800 maybe less if he is willing to negotiate price. Looks to be in mint condition.
I suggest you take it for a test ride if you can, and see if you like it. I own CTM300 and think it's an awesome amp, but also heavily voiced and the EQ is very quirky. It think it's the type of amp you will either love or hate.
This is the darkest voiced amp in my collection, and IMHO it has a bit of a low mid push like an Ampeg. I use a three way Genz Benz 1288T with mine and the sound sort of reminds me of an SVT and 810. So basically I think the amp makes the mids and highs sound very vintage through extended range speakers.
The lows are another story. This amp doesn't produce what I would consider super deep bass, but the lows are the tightest of any tube amp in my collection, and I own a Trace Elliot V6 and Reeves 400 which are both known for great lows.
The push buttons on the EQ make more of an impact on the tone than the rotary controls. Also there is a lot of range on the rotary controls that is confusing. You might twist a knob and get the opposite of what you expect, or you might hear no apparent change at all.
My advice is start with the knobs at 9:00 and then keep adjustments within two clock faces settings. In other words keep your adjustments between 7-11:00. Within this range there are a lot of good sounds and the controls are relatively intuitive, except the Treble control sort of works in reverse with some push button settings and rotary control combinations.
IMHO, remembering the 9:00 +/- 2 rule is very important if you decide to try this amp out.
Another quirk is the Mid Shift button actually affects the upper knee of the Bass control rather than the Mid control. If the Bass control is turned all the way down, the Mid Shift will not have any effect. When you engage the Mid Shift, the Bass control reaches further into the low mids.
Bottom line, the EQ on this amp is great for getting different sounds, but can be very confusing. The EQ is pretty much useless for dealing with poor acoustics. Usually I try to run my bass flat, but with this amp, I am more willing to reach for the tone controls on my bass. Also I think a pedal EQ like an Empress ParaEQ or Tech21 Qstrip would probably be very useful. Use the amp to dial in an awesome sound, set it and forget, and then use your EQ pedal to compensate for the room.
One last important thing I didn't cover yet. The CTM100/300 preamp is setup for pretty high gain and is designed to break over easily into OD. This is the only amp in my collection where I feel it's necessary to use the padded input to get a clean sound.
If you want a more, search CTM and my user name wasnex.
