Pretty renowned musical equipment manufacturer, which, despite its cosmopolitan name, is based in St. Wendel, Germany. They make mainly guitar and bass amplifiers and effect pedals.
Of course their products lack the cult value of, say, Marshall; consequently, they are neither as overrated nor as overpriced. It's basically excellent quality at decent prices.
Their current product range (May 2002):
- Guitar amps and speakers:
- zenTera digital modeling 2x100 W combo (2x12")
- zenAmp digital modeling 2x60 W combo (2x12")
- Duotone two-channel 100 W head
- Duotone 60 W combo (1x12")
- Puretone single-channel 25 W head
- Puretone 25 W combo (1x12")
- Custom Cabinet 212 (50 W, 2x12")
- Custom Cabinet 412 (100 W, 4x12")
- Tri-Amp three-channel 100 W head
- Tri-Amp Cabinet A (100 W, 1x25", sloped)
- Tri-Amp Cabinet B (100 W, 1x25", plain)
- Metroverb 50 W combo (1x12", solid state, with reverb)
- Club Reverb 65 W combo (1x12")
- Tour Reverb 100 W combo (1x12")
- Tour Reverb 100 W head
- Attax Cabinet A (200 W, 4x12", sloped)
- Attax Cabinet B (200 W, 4x12", plain)
- Warp 7 100 W head + cabinet (optimised for metal sounds)
- Vortex 100 W head + cabinet (budget amp/cab package)
- Edition Tube 20 W combo
- Edition Silver 50 W combo (1x12", two-channel budget combo)
- triplex 50 W combo (1x12", with built-in digital effects section)
- Montana Acoustic combo amp (1x12")
Bass amps and speakers:
- BassBase 600 650 W tube rack head
- BassBase 400 400 W tube rack head
- BassBase 118 cabinet (400 W, 1x18")
- BassBase BC 410 H cabinet (600 W, 4x10")
- BassBase BC 215 H cabinet (600 W, 2x15")
- BassForce L 100 W combo (1x15")
- BassForce XL 200 W combo (1x15")
- BassForce XXL 300 W combo (1x15") or head
Tube Tools series:
- Tubeman tube recording preamp pedal
- Tube Factor tube driver pedal
- Replax vintage tube tape delay modeling pedal
- Tube Rotosphere Leslie cabinet modeling pedal with built-in tube preamp
Accessories:
- Red Box DI box with cabinet simulation
- FS-1 footswitch with LED
- FS-2 double footswitch with LEDs
- FS-3 triple footswitch with LEDs
- MSM MIDI switching module for amps
- Z-Board floorboard controller for ZenTera and ZenAmp series modeling
amps
Trivia: Puretone is also the name of some drum-'n'-bassy kind of act with some song playing on MTV.
As of May 2002, acts endorsing H&K guitar amps include:
Dito for their 'Tube Tools' series of tube devices:
Now why do I write all this? Maybe it's because the Hughes & Kettner factory is at about half an hour's drive from my village. I hear they offer guided tours through the facility; and who knows, perhaps I'll get a cheap B-grade H&K Tube Factor or such?