The EL84-powered TubeMeister 18 marks an interesting deviation from the company’s usual medium-to high-wattage fare.
From cars to cameras, Germans have a well-deserved reputation for building good stuff. So it’s natural that the boutique guitar and gear trade flourishes in Teutonic regions. Hughes & Kettner was one of the first German boutique brands to really thrive. And since the company was founded in 1984, its gear has been used by such big-name players as Alex Lifeson, Allan Holdsworth, and Tony MacAlpine.
The EL84-powered TubeMeister 18 marks an interesting deviation from the company’s usual medium-to high-wattage fare. It’s built with studio musicians and low-powered tube-amp lovers in mind. But it also packs an impressive array of bells and whistles more typical of its bigger brothers.
Feature Meister
At just 11 pounds, the brick-shaped TubeMeister 18 fits in a padded carrying case that made it a breeze to transport the amp between the Premier Guitar offices and my practice space. When you turn it on, its Plexiglas faceplate glows with the same blue hue seen on the company’s Triamp, Puretone, and Duotone heads.
The front panel features controls for Clean and Lead channels, which are switchable via a Channel Select switch or an optional footswitch. Both channels share a 3-band EQ, though each has its own Master and Gain controls. To kick in even more gain and volume, you can select the Lead Boost feature from either the front panel or the footswitch.
Unlike most amps, many of the TubeMeister’s tone-shaping controls are on the back panel: Next to the series effects loop and footswitch jack is a specially designed version of the company’s famed Red Box direct output circuit—the cabinet-emulating DI box that put H&K on the map—and a Power Soak knob. While the TubeMeister’s DI Out is always available to run out to a mixing desk, the Power Soak reduces maximum wattage down from 18 watts to 5 or a single watt.
One of the coolest features of the TubeMeister 18 is its ability to keep power tubes at optimum voltage levels. This is accomplished with the amp’s internal Tube Safety Control (TSC ) circuit. According to Hughes & Kettner, this feature automatically and continuously adjusts power-tube bias to prevent bias drift. On the back panel, a set of LEDs indicates power-tube status. When the LEDs are off, the tubes are operating at optimum bias levels. If one LED flashes and another stays on, the tube corresponding to the flashing LED is generating too much voltage and needs to be replaced, while the other is shut off but doesn’t need to be replaced. If one LED is on for more than a few minutes, this indicates the tube doesn’t produce enough voltage and needs to be replaced. These same LEDs also work with a tube-biasing circuit that’s activated by inserting a guitar pick into the slot next to them. Handy stuff!
Tone Meister
This blue wonder packs an awful lot of punch for such a tiny amplifier. Unlike many small-wattage amps that tend to emphasize midrange frequencies, the TubeMeister 18 covers crystal-clear cleans, British-infused rhythm crunch, and heavy molten leads. But while it travels each of these tone territories quite well, careful use of the controls, proper choice of cabinet, and of course, the proper guitar are all key to getting the most out of this very capable amp. In my initial tests, I routed the head to an Eminence-equipped Epiphone Valve Junior 1x12 cab and plugged in a Fender American Special Telecaster.
Flipping to the neck pickup and spanking out a few open chords on the Clean channel at full power gave me a pretty spectacular tone right off the bat—with a glistening sheen on the high end and a lot of detail in the attack. And it lent surprising bite to the stock Tele neck pickup, which typically has a pretty subdued, rounded tone. The Clean channel sounded crisp and clear up to about 3 o’clock on the Gain and Volume controls. Hitting the strings hard at this point revealed a fair amount of give in the lows, but I also found that lighter picking recaptured some of the articulate, piano-like highs that were more prevalent when Gain was around 10 o’clock.
Switching to the Tele’s bridge pickup brought out an entirely different beast— one that roared with thick overdrive and railed with slicing harmonics. The tight, hi-fi-ish Hughes & Kettner voicing was still there, but there was also a fierce growl that was perfect for classic-rock rhythm work. I was particularly impressed with the amp’s responsiveness to guitar volume-knob tweaks—rolling off the volume a touch gave me more of a vintage, bouncy vibe. And it’s very cool to be able to move between a big, powerful clean tone to a snarling bark by simply flipping the pickup switch.
The TubeMeister’s Lead channel was impressive, too—there’s enough gain on tap for everything from blues to hard rock and metal. AC/DC and Mountain riffs had the same tight voicing and articulate highs that the clean channel exhibited, only with a creamy distorted foundation. Kicking in the Lead Boost pushed the amp into headbanger territory. The most impressive aspect of this channel—with and without the Lead Boost engaged—was how well it reacted to my picking technique. Played with a more fluid, lax style, the notes were bouncier and lows and mids had more give, while tighter, more percussive picking firmed things up considerably— coaxing a perfect thrash tone that kept up with furious triplets and quick power-chord riffing.
To hear how this little blue-eyed devil would push a 4x12 cab, I routed it to an Emperor 4x12 with Weber C1265 speakers and plugged in a 1978 Greco GC-700 Les Paul clone. With this setup, the TubeMeister took on a more massive character but with the same balanced, high-fidelity tone. However, while that treble clarity worked really well with the smaller Epi cab, the highs bordered on harsh with the Emperor. Luckily, this was easily remedied with the guitar’s Tone knob and moderated Treble settings on the amp—although some of the amp’s trademark detail was also sacrificed in the process. In the end, I found that the TubeMeister sounded more dimensional with the Epi cab’s single speaker than with the Emperor’s speaker complement.
The Verdict
Hughes & Kettner did a fantastic job designing and building the TubeMeister 18. It serves up great tones in a portable package that’s very accessibly priced. It has a high-fidelity tinge that’s typical of many other Hughes & Kettner amps— which means it won’t replace or replicate the unique voices of a vintage Fender or Marshall—but in terms of quality, flexibility, and diversity of tones, it’s one of the best small-wattage amps out there.
Watch the video review:
Buy if...
you’re after detailed tones in a smartly appointed package that won’t break the bank—or your back.
Skip if...
your tonal proclivities veer toward the vintage end of the spectrum.
Rating...
Street $599 - Hughes & Kettner - hughes-and-kettner.com |
Acoustic players, this one’s for you! Win the LR Baggs Venue DI in the I Love Pedals giveaway and take full control of your live sound. Enter today and return daily for more chances!
LR Baggs Venue DI Acoustic Guitar Preamp / DI / EQ / Tuner Pedal
We created the Venue DI so you can travel light, set up fast, and sound incredible anywhere you plug in. The Venue DI gives you complete control by combining a full-isolation DI output, 5-band EQ with adjustable low & hi-mid bands, variable clean boost, and chromatic tuner all in one acoustic pedal. With its all-discrete signal path, hi-graded semiconductors, and exclusive use of audiophile grade film capacitors, the Venue DI is on par with the world’s elite preamps and provides a studio quality sound for the stage.
With authentic stage-class Katana amp sounds, wireless music streaming, and advanced spatial technology, the KATANA:GO is designed to offer a premium sound experience without the need for amps or pedals.
BOSS announces the return of KATANA:GO, an ultra-compact headphone amplifier for daily jams with a guitar or bass. KATANA:GO puts authentic sounds from the stage-class BOSS Katana amp series at the instrument’s output jack, paired with wireless music streaming, sound editing, and learning tools on the user’s smartphone. Advanced spatial technology provides a rich 3D audio experience, while BOSS Tone Exchange offers an infinite sound library to explore any musical style.
Offering all the features of the previous generation in a refreshed external design, KATANA:GO delivers premium sound for everyday playing without the hassle of amps, pedals, and computer interfaces. Users can simply plug it into their instrument, connect earbuds or headphones, call up a memory, and go. Onboard controls provide access to volume, memory selection, and other essential functions, while the built-in screen displays the tuner and current memory. The rechargeable battery offers up to five hours of continuous playing time, and the integrated 1/4-inch plug folds down to create a pocket-size package that’s ready to travel anywhere.
KATANA:GO drives sessions with genuine sounds from the best-selling Katana stage amp series. Guitar mode features 10 unique amp characters, including clean, crunch, the high-gain BOSS Brown type, two acoustic/electric guitar characters, and more. There’s also a dedicated bass mode with Vintage, Modern, and Flat types directly ported from the Katana Bass amplifiers. Each mode includes a massive library of BOSS effects to explore, with deep sound customization available in the companion BOSS Tone Studio app for iOS and Android.
The innovative Stage Feel feature in KATANA:GO provides an immersive audio experience with advanced BOSS spatial technology. Presets allow the user to position the amp sound and backing music in different places in the sound field, giving the impression of playing with a backline on stage or jamming in a room with friends.
The guitar and bass modes in KATANA:GO each feature 30 memories loaded with ready-to-play sounds. BOSS Tone Studio allows the player to tweak preset memories, create sounds from scratch, or import Tone Setting memories created with stage-class Katana guitar and bass amplifiers. The app also provides integrated access to BOSS Tone Exchange, where users can download professionally curated Livesets and share sounds with the global BOSS community.
Pairing KATANA:GO with a smartphone offers a complete mobile solution to supercharge daily practice. Players can jam along with songs from their music library and tap into BOSS Tone Studio’s Session feature to hone skills with YouTube learning content. It’s possible to build song lists, loop sections for focused study, and set timestamps to have KATANA:GO switch memories automatically while playing with YouTube backing tracks.
The versatile KATANA:GO functions as a USB audio interface for music production and online content creation on a computer or mobile device. External control of wah, volume, memory selection, and more are also supported via the optional EV-1-WL Wireless MIDI Expression Pedal and FS-1-WL Wireless Footswitch.
For more information, please visit boss.info.
We know Horsegirl as a band of musicians, but their friendships will always come before the music. From left to right: Nora Cheng, drummer Gigi Reece, and Penelope Lowenstein.
The Chicago-via-New York trio of best friends reinterpret the best bits of college-rock and ’90s indie on their new record, Phonetics On and On.
Horsegirl guitarists Nora Cheng and Penelope Lowenstein are back in their hometown of Chicago during winter break from New York University, where they share an apartment with drummer Gigi Reece. They’re both in the middle of writing papers. Cheng is working on one about Buckminster Fuller for a city planning class, and Lowenstein is untangling Austrian writer Ingeborg Bachmann’s short story, “Three Paths to the Lake.”
“It was kind of life-changing, honestly. It changed how I thought about womanhood,” Lowenstein says over the call, laughing a bit at the gravitas of the statement.
But the moment of levity illuminates the fact that big things are happening in their lives. When they released their debut album, 2022’s Versions of Modern Performance, the three members of Horsegirl were still teenagers in high school. Their new, sophomore record, Phonetics On and On, arrives right in the middle of numerous first experiences—their first time living away from home, first loves, first years of their 20s, in university. Horsegirl is going through changes. Lowenstein notes how, through moving to a new city, their friendship has grown, too, into something more familial. They rely on each other more.
“If the friendship was ever taking a toll because of the band, the friendship would come before the band, without any doubt.”–Penelope Lowenstein
“Everyone's cooking together, you take each other to the doctor,” Lowenstein says. “You rely on each other for weird things. I think transitioning from being teenage friends to suddenly working together, touring together, writing together in this really intimate creative relationship, going through sort of an unusual experience together at a young age, and then also starting school together—I just feel like it brings this insane intimacy that we work really hard to maintain. And if the friendship was ever taking a toll because of the band, the friendship would come before the band without any doubt.”
Horsegirl recorded their sophomore LP, Phonetics On and On, at Wilco’s The Loft studio in their hometown, Chicago.
These changes also include subtle and not-so-subtle shifts in their sophisticated and artful guitar-pop. Versions of Modern Performance created a notion of the band as ’90s college-rock torchbearers, with reverb-and-distortion-drenched numbers that recalled Yo La Tengo and the Breeders. Phonetics On and On doesn’t extinguish the flame, but it’s markedly more contemporary, sacrificing none of the catchiness but opting for more space, hypnotic guitar lines, and meditative, repeated phrases. Cheng and Lowenstein credit Welsh art-pop wiz Cate Le Bon’s presence as producer in the studio as essential to the sonic direction.
“On the record, I think we were really interested in Young Marble Giants—super minimal, the percussiveness of the guitar, and how you can do so much with so little.”–Nora Cheng
“We had never really let a fourth person into our writing process,” Cheng says. “I feel like Cate really changed the way we think about how you can compose a song, and built off ideas we were already thinking about, and just created this very comfortable space for experimentation and pushed us. There are so many weird instruments and things that aren't even instruments at [Wilco’s Chicago studio] The Loft. I feel like, definitely on our first record, we were super hesitant to go into territory that wasn't just distorted guitar, bass, and drums.”
Nora Cheng's Gear
Nora Cheng says that letting a fourth person—Welsh artist Cate Le Bon—into the trio’s songwriting changed how they thought about composition.
Photo by Braden Long
Effects
- EarthQuaker Devices Plumes
- Ibanez Tube Screamer
- TC Electronic Polytune
Picks
- Dunlop Tortex .73 mm
Phonetics On and On introduces warm synths (“Julie”), raw-sounding violin (“In Twos”), and gamelan tiles—common in traditional Indonesian music—to Horsegirl’s repertoire, and expands on their already deep quiver of guitar sounds as Cheng and Lowenstein branch into frenetic squonks, warped jangles, and jagged, bare-bones riffs. The result is a collection of songs simultaneously densely textured and spacious.
“I listen to these songs and I feel like it captures the raw, creative energy of being in the studio and being like, ‘Fuck! We just exploded the song. What is about to happen?’” Lowenstein says. “That feeling is something we didn’t have on the first record because we knew exactly what we wanted to capture and it was the songs we had written in my parents’ basement.”
Cheng was first introduced to classical guitar as a kid by her dad, who tried to teach her, and then she was subsequently drawn back to rock by bands like Cage The Elephant and Arcade Fire. Lowenstein started playing at age 6, which covers most of her life memories and comprises a large part of her identity. “It made me feel really powerful as a young girl to know that I was a very proficient guitarist,” she says. The shreddy playing of Television, Pink Floyd’s spacey guitar solos, and Yo La Tengo’s Ira Kaplan were all integral to her as Horsegirl began.
Penelope Lowenstein's Gear
Penelope Lowenstein likes looking back at the versions of herself that made older records.
Photo by Braden Long
Effects
- EarthQuaker Westwood
- EarthQuaker Bellows
- TC Electronic PolyTune
Picks
- Dunlop Tortex 1.0 mm
Recently, the two of them have found themselves influenced by guitarists both related and unrelated to the type of tunes they’re trading in on their new album. Lowenstein got into Brazilian guitar during the pandemic and has recently been “in a Jim O’Rourke, John Fahey zone.”
“There’s something about listening to that music where you realize, about the guitar, that you can just compose an entire orchestra on one instrument,” Lowenstein says. “And hearing what the bass in those guitar parts is doing—as in, the E string—is kind of mind blowing.”
“On the record, I think we were really interested in Young Marble Giants—super minimal, the percussiveness of the guitar, and how you can do so much with so little,” Cheng adds. “And also Lizzy Mercier [Descloux], mostly on the Rosa Yemen records. That guitar playing I feel was very inspiring for the anti-solo,[a technique] which appears on [Phonetics On and On].”This flurry of focused discovery gives the impression that Cheng and Lowenstein’s sensibilities are shifting day-to-day, buoyed by the incredible expansion of creative possibilities that setting one’s life to revolve around music can afford. And, of course, the energy and exponential growth of youth. Horsegirl has already clocked major stylistic shifts in their brief lifespan, and it’s exciting to have such a clear glimpse of evolution in artists who are, likely and hopefully, just beginning a long journey together.
“There’s something about listening to that music where you realize, about the guitar, that you can just compose an entire orchestra on one instrument.”–Penelope Lowenstein
“In your 20s, life moves so fast,” Lowenstein says. “So much changes from the time of recording something to releasing something that even that process is so strange. You recognize yourself, and you also kind of sympathize with yourself. It's a really rewarding way of life, I think, for musicians, and it's cool that we have our teenage years captured like that, too—on and on until we're old women.”
YouTube It
Last summer, Horsegirl gathered at a Chicago studio space to record a sun-soaked set of new and old tunes.
Featuring torrefied solid Sitka Spruce tops, mahogany neck, back, and sides, and Fishman Presys VT EQ System, these guitars are designed to deliver quality tone and playability at an affordable price point.
Cort Guitars, acclaimed for creating instruments that exceed in value and quality, introduces the Essence Series. This stunning set of acoustic guitars is designed for musicians looking for the quintessential classic acoustic guitar with fabulous tone all at an exceptional price point. The Essence Series features two distinct body shapes: The Grand Auditorium and the OM Cutaway. Whatever the flavor, the Essence Series has the style to suit.
The Essence-GA-4 is the perfect Grand Auditorium acoustic. Wider than a dreadnought, the Essence-GA-4 features a deep body with a narrower waist and a width of 1 ¾” (45mm) at the nut. The result is an instrument that is ideal for any number of playing styles: Picking… strumming… the Essence GA-4 is completely up for the task.
The Essence-OM-4 features a shallower body creating a closer connection to the player allowing for ease of use on stage. With its 1 11/16’th (43mm) nut width, this Orchestra Model is great for fingerpickers or singer/guitarists looking for better body contact for an overall better playing experience.
Both acoustics are topped with a torrefied solid Sitka Spruce top using Cort’s ATV process. The ATV process or “Aged to Vintage”, “ages” the Spruce top to give it the big and open tone of older, highly-sought-after acoustics. To further enhance those vintage tones, the tops bracing is also made of torrefied spruce. The mahogany neck, back, and sides create a warm, robust midrange and bright highs. A rosewood fingerboard and bridge add for a more balanced sound and sustain. The result is amazing tone at first strum. 18:1 Vintage Open Gear Tuners on the mahogany headstock offer precise tuning with vintage styling. The herringbone rosette & purfling accentuates the aesthetics of these instruments adding to their appeal. Both acoustics come in two choices of finish. Natural Semi-Gloss allows the Sitka spruce’s natural beauty to shine through and classic Black Top Semi-Gloss.
A Fishman® Presys VT EQ System is installed inside the body versus other systems that cut into the body to be installed. This means the instrument keeps its natural resonance and acoustic flair. The Presys VT EQ System keeps it simple with only Volume and Tone controls resulting in a true, crisp acoustic sound. Lastly, Elixir® Nanoweb Phosphor Bronze Light .012-.053 Acoustic Strings round out these acoustics. This Number 1 acoustic guitar string delivers consistent performance and extended tone life with phosphor bronze sparkle and warmth. The Essence Series takes all these elements, combines them, and exceeds in playability, looks, and affordability.
Street Price: $449.00
For more information, please visit cortguitars.com.