NAD: Hughes & Kettner tubemeister 20 deluxe

[Jimbilly]

found one for a great price, I had been dissatisfied while trying to get higher gain out of all my other amps, this seems to really check that box for higher gain, but also great cleans, - really a fun little amp.  The red-box di out actually sounds good!  Other interesting features include some sort of 'auto-bias' and warning lights for the power tubes, which I haven't fully explored, this was intriguing because I have a pretty good collection of good used US and euro el84s.  I did test the tubes before I tried it out at home, I think it had been barely used, and I did replace V1 with a vintage Mullard, and the 2nd 12ax7 with an RCA (couldn't help myself, couldn't put those China 12ax7s back in).  I've tried it through 3 different cabs, and brought it to a friends house, super cool little amp. It has a 'di only' option on the output switch (no speaker, 1watt, 5 watts, or 20 watts output), safely disabling the speaker out so you can use it for direct without a speaker.  It would be nice to have separate EQ for clean and for dirty, but it is a 'lunchbox' amp and priced as such. I'm wondering about putting old Deluxe Electric Mistress or similar in the effects loop, and using the B output from that effect to go to a 2nd amp?, I might have to give that a try.  (update) Yes, a stereo chorus in the effects loops allows for a preamp 'tap' to be sent to a different amp in addition to driving a speaker and/or the xlr out.  I used a guitar wireless plugged into the B out of the chorus to send that signal to the external amp, that creates all sorts of fun possibilities, and might be good to avoid ground or polarity issues? 

Edited January 9 by Jimbilly

[Jimbilly]

here's much more on the Tube Safety Control feature, and it looks like having matched tubes is still highly recommended

https://www.sweetwater.com/sweetcare/articles/what-do-the-tsc-lights-on-the-back-of-my-hughes-kettner-amp-mean/

[velorush]

I checked those out way back when Lerxst was running H&K's (Snakes & Arrows?). I had no interest in the 100w version, but these seemed to get the sound without blowing out windows.