Anyone Have the Hughes & Kettner GrandMeister Deluxe 40?

Snake Aces

Snake Aces

Singlecut Slut
I have not tried one, but I am curious if they really are as great as advertised. I tried a Tubemeister a few years back and almost bought one on the spot. I loved it. Obviously the GrandMeister has a few more bells and whistles.

Having all of the effects, programmable nonetheless, sounds too good to be true. Is it a pain in the ass to use?

I was going to order a Tubemeister in a few weeks, but now I am considering the GrandMeister. It really is not that much more expensive, so is it worth it?
 
Re: Anyone Have the Hughes & Kettner GrandMeister Deluxe 40?

I have a grandmeister 40 and 2 tubemeister 40 deluxe amps. They are pretty good for what they are. I have changed out all the tubes in mine either for mullards or JJ’s to give them a bit warmer tone. They have plenty of punch though v30 or similar speakers.

The app and dongle for the app in the gm are a lot of work and Extra money to get. I like most of the features for the gm, but if you’re still gonna use a pedalboard for effects the tm will do the same job. The fsm-mk3 foot switch is kind of cheaply made and will need replacement after a couple years. I haven’t found one that is better though. If you play a lot of shows I would at least get a carry bag for the foot switch and cable.

I also have a black spirit 200, it’s lighter(only 8 lbs) and seems more reliable (no tubes). It’s tone isn’t quite the same but it’s not bad. It has a good clean tone with 200 watts of headroom. It also has Bluetooth built in for the app. I always bring this as a backup for anything I play. Same footswitch though.

I have had several tubes go in my gm. One was brand new, didn’t get past start up. Another went after playing a show, driving a back road and playing again after it got bumped around. They are fairly easy to trouble shoot and change, but when you are supposed to be sound checking changing tubes on stage isn’t much fun.

The price on all of them went way up (20%) starting about 3 years ago thanks to tariffs. They were better priced when they all first came out. Some day I will get a triamp Mk3 instead.
 
Re: Anyone Have the Hughes & Kettner GrandMeister Deluxe 40?

allstarrme said:
I have a grandmeister 40 and 2 tubemeister 40 deluxe amps. They are pretty good for what they are. I have changed out all the tubes in mine either for mullards or JJ’s to give them a bit warmer tone. They have plenty of punch though v30 or similar speakers.

The app and dongle for the app in the gm are a lot of work and Extra money to get. I like most of the features for the gm, but if you’re still gonna use a pedalboard for effects the tm will do the same job. The fsm-mk3 foot switch is kind of cheaply made and will need replacement after a couple years. I haven’t found one that is better though. If you play a lot of shows I would at least get a carry bag for the foot switch and cable.

I also have a black spirit 200, it’s lighter(only 8 lbs) and seems more reliable (no tubes). It’s tone isn’t quite the same but it’s not bad. It has a good clean tone with 200 watts of headroom. It also has Bluetooth built in for the app. I always bring this as a backup for anything I play. Same footswitch though.

I have had several tubes go in my gm. One was brand new, didn’t get past start up. Another went after playing a show, driving a back road and playing again after it got bumped around. They are fairly easy to trouble shoot and change, but when you are supposed to be sound checking changing tubes on stage isn’t much fun.

The price on all of them went way up (20%) starting about 3 years ago thanks to tariffs. They were better priced when they all first came out. Some day I will get a triamp Mk3 instead.
Click to expand...

Thank you very much for your detailed response. I am actually looking for ways to reduce the size of my pedalboard. So, some of the features of the GM seem appealing to me from the outside looking in.

I have an old Traynor Custom Blue 50 1x12 combo amp that I loaded with KT77 tubes, I really love the tone from that little bugger. I hate the rattles, vibrations and reverb noises of the combo amp layout. So, my plan is to bring that combo amp to somebody who can separate the amplifier portion of the combo and put it into a head form. This is the head I will forever use as a backup in the future (or maybe even my main head if I like it as much as I think I will...)

So, the GM, for the time being, is primarily going to be a home/studio head unless it impresses me so much that I make it my top head. I gotta say though, your somewhat bad experience of going through so many tubes in the GM has me feeling a little standoff-ish. I wonder what is causing the tubes to need replacing so often. I wonder if that is normal for a GM.

Other than that, I am still intrigued by the GM. I am trying to find a custom cab builder at the moment, once I have a cab under construction to my specs, I will be ready to order a H&K unless I find something else that grabs my attention in the meantime.

Thanks again! I will do a little more research on the GM...
 
Re: Anyone Have the Hughes & Kettner GrandMeister Deluxe 40?

Greatest amp I've ever owned. Truly versatile, which fits my needs perfectly. Spec-wise, it's a monster, and the tones are great. Takes a little time to get used to its tone stack, since resonance and presence controls have a huge part complementing the EQ.
 
Re: Anyone Have the Hughes & Kettner GrandMeister Deluxe 40?

Synapsys said:
Greatest amp I've ever owned. Truly versatile, which fits my needs perfectly. Spec-wise, it's a monster, and the tones are great. Takes a little time to get used to its tone stack, since resonance and presence controls have a huge part complementing the EQ.
Click to expand...

Thank you very much!
 
I got an update from the custom cab builder, my new 2x12 is coming along nicely. I am thinking about placing an order for the H&K today, anyone wanna talk me out of it?
 
Okay, I have the GrandMeister 40, the footswitch and some small goodies like extra instrument and speaker cables and 3 more sets of strings in the cart. I am trying to think of anything else I need before placing the order, but I think this is going to happen today.
 
Well, I did it. I placed the order. It will be here well before the cab is ready, but I am excited to get this amp up and runnin'...
 
I decided on the Tonemiester series
the 20 watt version I got has no effects not even reverb
The next one up the 40 watt has reverb

I love to tone of my H&K

I like the attenuation from 20 to 5 to 1 to .01 to silent headphones with the redbox emulated out

Not the question you asked but I haven't seen snakeaces in a while
 
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