Re: Inexpensive Hughes and Kettner.
Hey I just played one at a store tonight. It's great, and definitely worth the money. Also, as I expected, the MF sound clip for the overdrive is total crap! The amp can do lots of different styles of overdrive, and it can get real thick. I could tell the way it was driving that the Tubulator (or any other traditional OD/booster for that matter) would be a great addition to the rig.
By the way, they're all made in Vietnam! That was kind of a shocker, not from a geo-political standpoint or anything, but because it's not the first place (or even top 10) that you think of regarding amps or consumer electronics manufacturing.
Anyway it's a great amp. Another thing I noticed is that the midrange knob was AWESOME! When you raised it up, it was a very thick, smooth, and broad midrange boost, and really kicked up the low midrange meatiness. It wasn't the undesirable screechy midrange boost usually found on cheapo amps. In addition, cutting the midrange did not sound hollow and unnatural. There were several tone knob positions that were dogs, so you have to tune in all three knobs in concert with eachother, but it really is a cool little amp. The store had others, like with FX for $179, and I think there were some with 12" speakers, but I only plugged into the little guy. Clean was obviously great, too.