Hughs and Kettner. Anyone?

[PS412]

Just kickin tubes and hmmmmin and hawwwwin.
Maybe thinking of getting one of these, any experience with them?

Tubemeister deluxe 40


Grandmeister deluxe 40


Triamp mk3

I have never heard any of these in person and I would have to order it if I pull the trigger.
I think I am leaning towards the Grandmeister but it has more bells and whistles than I may need. Does the Tubemeister sound similar. I am more concerned with gain channel (s).
The triamp is 150w, which is overkill and costs a heck of a lot more but......I 'm not necessarily ruling it out based on that.
Thoughts, advice appreciated.

 

[Adieu]

Re: Hughs and Kettner. Anyone?

They REALLY like blue LEDs

 

[PS412]

Re: Hughs and Kettner. Anyone?

Yes. Hypnotic almost.

 

[Artie]

Re: Hughs and Kettner. Anyone?

I love my Edition Blue 60. (SS). I love my friends 20th Anniversary Tube something. (Sorry. Can't remember the exact name.)

I'm not crazy about my Tubemeister 5. All tube. Not inspiring.

 

[Dave Locher]

Re: Hughs and Kettner. Anyone?

This is going to sound odd but I perceive them as well designed and good quality just because the case is so smart: one piece of plexi or lexan, one piece of metal for the top & back, and two molded pieces that act as end caps, feet, and handles. It is such a smart and efficient setup that I assume the amps themselves are designed and built in a clever, efficient way.

 

[FuseG4]

Re: Hughs and Kettner. Anyone?

Some guitarists I like use the Triamp mk II. I have played a few of the tubemeister low wattage jobs.
One of their sounds is the super glassy clean. On the small amps it becomes a little thin and clucky. Very HiFi.
Pretty Hifi and detailed on the gain sounds, and a ton of gain available.
Hard to put the tone into words. American sounding. Tight. Detailed. Saturated. But very clear and detailed.

The triamp is called such because it's designed to be like 3 whole amps in one head. And it is heavy as you would expect from cramming three heads worth of transformers in there.

 

[Adieu]

Re: Hughs and Kettner. Anyone?

This is going to sound odd but I perceive them as well designed and good quality just because the case is so smart: one piece of plexi or lexan, one piece of metal for the top & back, and two molded pieces that act as end caps, feet, and handles. It is such a smart and efficient setup that I assume the amps themselves are designed and built in a clever, efficient way.

I agree with your earlier sentiment

As to the latter, it just reminds me of thoae few times you got a router modem printer or whatever, and the power LED was driving you so nuts you ended up putting masking tape over it...x10


Me I just want a box with knobs and switches, maybe a handle or carry strap, maybe some corner protectors.... not the poke you in the eye lightshow of a Cox Cable modem

 

[PS412]

Re: Hughs and Kettner. Anyone?

I listened to YouTube videos but on my tappy device here everything sounds like a banjo through a coffee can.
Are they reliable?

 

[Adieu]

Re: Hughs and Kettner. Anyone?

I listened to YouTube videos but on my tappy device here everything sounds like a banjo through a coffee can.
Are they reliable?

Spend 19 bucks on cheap AKG monitor headphones next time there's a holiday sale. Helps

 

[PS412]

Re: Hughs and Kettner. Anyone?

Yea been meaning to. Keeps slipping my mind when I'm out and about.

 

[Adieu]

Re: Hughs and Kettner. Anyone?

They're not perfect but they punch WAY above their weight (both price wise and being hella light)

I got a a pair of beater $19 AKG K44's that surprisingly lasted 5 years if not more.... been meaning to try one of the other models next sale, to compare or for when I finally kill or lose these

Also keep forgetting lol.

 

[Red_Label]

Re: Hughs and Kettner. Anyone?

Have owned a Triamp MK1 and Grandmeister 36. Both were awesome amps. H&K cleans are some of the best in the business. My Triamp was STUPID heavy. Weighed 96# in its road case. I personally wouldn't go for a MK3. WAY too much going on inside there. If anything goes wrong, it's doubtful that your local tech is going to be able to sort it out. That's what worried me about the Grandmeister as well. I loved that little beast, and even gigged it. But based on how hot it got and how much electronics they packed inside that little guy, I was just too paranoid that it would die on me. So I traded it away before that could happen. However... for the price point that the Grandmeisters come at, I would be much more likely to take a chance on it than I would the Triamp. You can buy a used Friedman BE50 Deluxe for what the MK3 costs. The Friedman is twice the amp that the Triamp is. Plus, your local tech could work on it. And Dave Friedman himself is always happy to work on his amps and chat with you about them. Doesn't work that way with H&K.

I'm not a fan of the Tubemeisters. They just don't have the tone. The magic of the Grandmeisters are the Ultra channel (in addition to the clean channel).

P.S. Would still love to have a Triamp MK2 Alex Lifeson head. Cause they're purple and because Rush was my favorite band.

 

[chadd]

Re: Hughs and Kettner. Anyone?

The other guitar player in my band has had a 36 for a year or two. Cleans are great, gain channels aren't my preference, but that could be the way he sets up the amp. He was never able to get a pushed Marshall type of tone, those channels were fairly bright but articulate with almost any settings.

 

[Aceman]

Re: Hughs and Kettner. Anyone?

Dude - anything from H&K with "meister" in the name does not require any decision other than "yes"

Played a couple q couple of times. Just freakin' fantastic. Great sounds, tons of sounds, and then there is the cool blue light on top of that.

 

[dystrust]

Re: Hughs and Kettner. Anyone?

Like Red_Label I used to own a Triamp Mk I, and I also had an Edition Tube 20 like Artie's friend. The clean channel in both was a really good modern clean; very HiFi, with no breakup to be had at less than truly painful volume. They also did a pretty good heavy gain sound, though the low end could get a bit tough to manage. The weakness in both amps was finding a mid-gain crunch sound that wasn't stridently bright.

I ended up selling the Triamp because it weighed 64lbs with no case, and because balancing even 3 of the 6 available amps/channels/modes was extremely difficult in practice. There were some good tones in there, but I needed money for bills and I just liked my 2555 a lot better. I sold the Edition Tube because the dirty channel was just too dirty. The usable range on the gain knob was between about 12 o'clock and 3 o'clock; any less and it'd be very bright and thin. Get much above about 3 o'clock and it's super-saturated mush. I really wanted to like the Edition Tube, but it just wasn't a great fit for me and I didn't play it much.

 

[Van Noord]

Re: Hughs and Kettner. Anyone?

If you look at the back of them, you'll see the innovation and ingenuity. H&K also developed a little something called the RedBox, afterall...

They have a very polished hifi sound. Lots of gain too. Leans more to the American sound, but with a splash of Brit as well. To the point where it is it's own thing. German? Another amp brand that it reminds me of is Engl. Modern, efficient, attractive, vicious...

 

[PS412]

Re: Hughs and Kettner. Anyone?

Thanks so far everyone. The triamp is out. I don't need to fix cracks in the drywall. I am going to the big city in a couple of weeks. I will see what they have. Leaning to the grandmeister.

 

[Little Pigbacon]

Re: Hughs and Kettner. Anyone?

I’d be curious to know whether the Grandmeister gets any closer to a Marshallesque sound than my Tubemeister 18 Anniversary, which doesn’t sound Marshally and doesn’t sound good with MIAB type pedals. (But aside from that is pretty freakin’ sweet.)

 

[dystrust]

Re: Hughs and Kettner. Anyone?

I’d be curious to know whether the Grandmeister gets any closer to a Marshallesque sound than my Tubemeister 18 Anniversary, which doesn’t sound Marshally and doesn’t sound good with MIAB type pedals. (But aside from that is pretty freakin’ sweet.)

I doubt it. Both of the H&Ks I owned and all of them I played would sound vaguely 'British', but none of them really sounded like a Marshall.

 

[Red_Label]

Re: Hughs and Kettner. Anyone?

I’d be curious to know whether the Grandmeister gets any closer to a Marshallesque sound than my Tubemeister 18 Anniversary, which doesn’t sound Marshally and doesn’t sound good with MIAB type pedals. (But aside from that is pretty freakin’ sweet.)

The way to get the best OD tones from the Grandmeister is just program patches using the Ultra channel. It's just so much fatter than the crunch and lead channels. I set my gain at like "1" for my crunch tones and slightly more for leads. I didn't program ANY patches with crunch and lead channels. Just clean and ultra