Hughes&Kettner TubeMeister Deluxe 40 B-Stock

The control panel of the Tubemeister Deluxe 40 is clearly laid out and the controls themselves are illuminated in blue, ensuring optimum ease of use even in the darkest of corners. All three channels have a dedicated master and gain section, while two powerful three-band EQ sections are provided (one for the clean channel and one shared by the two overdrive channels). The player can switch between channels using the illuminated buttons on the front panel or using the optional footswitch, and operation via a MIDI pedal is also possible. In order to properly push the amp's power stage into saturation, the rear panel also features a power soak, which allows the power output to be reduced from 40 watts down to 20 watts, five watts, or even one watt. And should you wish to record without a speaker cab, the multi-mode Red Box AE will be a valuable asset.

Hughes & Kettner is one of the largest German suppliers of guitar and bass amplifiers. Founded in 1984 by Hans and Lothar Stamer under the name Stamer Musikanlagen GmbH, the manufacturer from St. Wendel in the Saarland can boast of its numerous innovations. For example, its first venture into the field of guitar amplifiers, the ASR64 from 1986, was the first programmable amplifier in the world. Thanks to its compact format, the Cream Machine of 1987 can be counted among the very first mini tube amplifiers. Equally influential were the Red Box analogue speaker simulation, the first six-channel amplifier (the Triamp), and the ZenTera, which used modelling technology in an integrated amplifier even before Line 6.