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HUGHES & KETTNER EDITION
BLUE AMP |
For this edition I was asked to road test a Hughes & Kettner, Edition Blue 30 watt amp, distributed in Australia by Central Musical Instruments.
The amp features 2 channels: Clean + Lead, 3-band-EQ, Effects loop, CD input, Adjustable reverb effect, 10" Jensen speaker and a novel control panel that lights up blue.
First impression; A good looking amp; I couldn't help but be fascinated with the deep blue lit control panel, that gives this amp it's namesake. It is a very cool visual effect and apart from the novelty factor, it is actually a helpful feature for those darkened spots us guitarists often find ourselves in. All functions are easily accessible and the hardware is sturdy. The whole unit is compact and quite light making it easily transportable.
In the manual Hughes and Kettner describe a newly developed preamp which "not only produces authentic harmonic overdrive but also responds to your picking style. Based on semiconductors, this innovative circuitry simulates the sound shaping elements of tube amps and delivers sound quality unparalleled in this price range." It also claims to deliver the 'sought after tone of a classic tube amp' and 'perfectly capture the essence of vintage sound.' Now words like 'authentic', 'unparalleled', 'perfectly' and so on tend to make me a little nervous. I'm not one to rely totally on written information about a product, so having browsed the manual, I guess I approached the amp with slight scepticism. I was also determined to really put it through its paces.
I was pleasantly surprised on most counts.
The new technology that Hughes & Kettner have employed within their preamp has captured an authentic vintage tube tone and allows the user to achieve substantial creative expression with a minimum of fuss.
The clean channel certainly provides a nice wide choice of clean tones. I also pushed the clean channel into some nice crunchy tones and it performed well at both lower and high volumes.
Lead channel delivered some classic British rock as I had expected it would. I also found it appealing for a broader spectrum from heavy rock / grunge styles to blues to searing lead solos. Wind back the mids and power chord riffs are also easily achieved.
The channels are footswitchable and the jack allows for most standard footswitches.
The reverb has been placed after the FX loop allowing for it's use with external effects. It is also automated to adjust when you change between clean and lead and I thought these transitions were appropriate. A comparatively good reverb it performed well enough in most applications.
No surprises in the EQ section, bass, mid, treble but everything worked very effectively here. Bass is dense and warm. The mids and treble compliment each other well and produce some interesting tones with different settings.
The Edition Blue has a serial effects loop , enabling the preamp signal to be rerouted to the FX device for processing. It worked well and I didn't notice signal degradation with any effect I tried.
I can imagine the CD input jack being a very attractive add-on feature for a variety of users. It enables you to connect a CD player or other audio source (tape, DAT) to either jam along with pre-recordings, or those of your own making. This is also ideal for the one-person show, allowing a very practical and compact setup for backing tracks. You can control the input signal volume through the preamp master.
For the output rating the Edition Blue is certainly loud and the speaker, which is a 10" Jensen upholds a true tone at any volume. Whilst being a fantastic amp for rehearsals and studio work, it packs a sizeable punch and would be perfectly suitable for small to mid sized venues. Using the line out I would perceive it to work well slaving another amp such as a Marshall, although I did not get the opportunity to try this myself.
Overall I think this is a very well thought out amp. I believe that Hughes and Kettner have committed a lot of energy to providing an efficient and practical, easy to use and easy to handle combo that does deliver the tone of a classic tube amp. In my opinion they have succeeded well with this mission and crafted an amp that I believe is very good value in it's price range and lives up to it's promises. It is an easily understood amp for the newer player but will please the seasoned guitarist as well.
Sure, by the time you are playing arenas you are going to need something a little bigger than a 30 watt Edition Blue but my bet is you will probably keep this versatile little gem for your home studio.
Out of five:
QUALITY
PLAYABILITY
BANG-F0R-YOUR-BUCK
OVERALL
