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Author Topic: Hughes & Kettner Grandmeister Deluxe 40  (Read 2146 times)

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Dante

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I have been drooling over these for a couple years now, the Grandmeister 18, 36, 40 amps. I got my Switchblade combo in hopes that is was a cheap alternative, and it is, but still....those glowing blue heads are so coooool  :metal:

Somebody was selling a Deluxe 40 on Craigslist recently, specifying NO TRADES. So, what do I do? I offer him a trade - haha...I told him "I know you said no trades, but if I don't ask..." and he said "Y'know, I may actually take you up on that" and a trade was born. I gave up a nice US built Peavey EVH Wolfgang Special in exchange for the amp and I think we both did alright in the trade.

Turns out, I know the guy already - he's a local guitarist - friend of a friend (friend of a few of my friends) - and a really nice guy.

This amp is a lot like my Switchblade, but with some more bells & whistles. With the 4 voicings, I find it a pretty adequate replacement for my MP-1 Classic. The Classic also has 4 voices, but two are clean (Solid State and Tube Clean). The Brown channel on the Classic is very close to the Crunch channel on the Grandmeister - you can push it to overdrive really easy and it sounds great. Then, the Grandmeister has two distortion channels, whereas the Classic just has one. So, each has an advantage, each has a trade-off.

The effects in the amp sound pretty good, as good as my multi effects (Boss MS-3) for sure, but I have a lot more options available if I use the multi effects instead of the amp's onboard stuff...let me explain. The stock footswitch comes with buttons for each of the 4 channels, and 3 more buttons to toggle the Boost, Delay, and Modulation FX. So, that's all four channels plus 3 options for each one.

The Boss has 4 buttons, I set each one for a channel in the amp. Then, it has a button that accesses 4 stompbox type effects within. That's one more than the amp. Then, I also have a Boss FS-7 switch that is set to access the Boost and Delay in each patch. Essentially, I have SIX options for each patch. Much better, I can stack a couple delays on a clean tone if I want to, which is nice.

So, here's the first pic of many, I will have a review as soon as I plink around a bit

rnolan

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Re: Hughes & Kettner Grandmeister Deluxe 40
« Reply #1 on: Time Format »

Hey Dante, very cool  :thumb-up:
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Dante

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Re: Hughes & Kettner Grandmeister Deluxe 40
« Reply #2 on: Time Format »

SEMI-UPDATE: it's only been a couple days

The direct out sound (via the built in H&K Redbox) is not as hot as the live sound out of the speaker. I simply turned on the boost feature in the amp to make it sound much closer to the 'plugged in' version

I have been plugging into my very wide, very deep 1x12 Peavey cab. It sounds really nice, so I am going to find a black one to match this amp (mine is tweed, to match my Peavey Classic 20mh). I think I ended up leaving the Blue Marvel speaker in my Peavey cab after trying a couple others. That cab really projects sound outward in all directions, and Peavey made black ones for their 5150 mini head and the ValveKing mini head...I'll find one to pair with this head and use both of them for my rack rigs too!

Dante

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Re: Hughes & Kettner Grandmeister Deluxe 40
« Reply #3 on: Time Format »

UPDATE;

Got a Peavey cabinet, for the Valve King micro head (kinda the Metal brother to my Classic micro head). The cab is a bit smaller than the one I was looking for (the Peavey Classic 112C cab). In fact, the cab wood is thinner too. I opened the back to see the speaker...it's unbranded. NOTHING on it at all, no branding, no markings for resistance, nothing. Weird. I looked online, see that it's a 16 ohm/40 watt cab. It seems about the size of the ADA Viper, which had really great tone in a 1x12 package, so maybe this cab will be okay

I took it to practice today, finally got to turn it up, but I really wasn't expecting much...figured I'd be either changing the speaker or buying the cab I want. Well, the damn thing sounded pretty good, I cannot complain, and I usually do. Every fiber of my being wants to swap out that speaker, I'm fighting it like crazy. But, it sounded very tight and still had tons of bottom chunka, especially in the Devil's Tuning (drop D). The cleans were amazing, no breakup at all

So, I guess the cab stays like that for a while....at least through the gig I have on 9/30...I wanna see how it fills a room, if it's a sound beam or if it actually disperses

The amp itself is sounding very good - I used it at rehearsal with a band that only runs IEMs, so I didn't use the speaker at all, just ran direct. Everything sounded fantastic, that head is solid......and it looks so cool

I really think of this head as my modern day ADA rig, much like Harley considers his Cyber Twin(s) a modern alternative to the stuff we miss, the real deal, the ADA racks of yesteryear
« Last Edit: Time Format by Dante »
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rnolan

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Re: Hughes & Kettner Grandmeister Deluxe 40
« Reply #4 on: Time Format »

Hey Dante, great the cab worked out  :thumb-up: , sounds like a keeper.
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Harley Hexxe

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Re: Hughes & Kettner Grandmeister Deluxe 40
« Reply #5 on: Time Format »

Sounds like a pretty cool rig Dante,

     Experimentation is the application of imagination
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Dante

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Re: Hughes & Kettner Grandmeister Deluxe 40
« Reply #6 on: Time Format »

Hi Y'all  :wave:

Had a gig last night with the 'Grunge' band (Soundgarden, Audioslave, STP, Foo Fighters, Pearl Jam, etc..). The amp shined. My cleans were way too loud, I had to pick lightly until I could get near the master volume. It was a good problem to have, usually the gains are overbearing and there is a whisper of clean tones...

I discovered that P90s are FANTASTIC for Drop D tuning. It has a crisp attack and a bit of a honk, like a wah pedal half cocked (insert 'half cocked' joke here)

The amp's a keeper. I keep looking at replacement speakers for the cab, but haven't pulled the trigger because it sounds pretty good...hate to mess with that, but I'm intrigued about the possibility of 'removing the wet blanket' somehow. There is no wet blanket, in fact, if anything, I need to warm up a couple patches. It's punchy and a bit bright when I get on it, but I reckon that's got a lot to do with the cab - the Viper had that punch (in the midrange tho) that cut in a mix

Get this; The 40 watt setting was too hot for running direct out the built-in Redbox. I set it to 20 watts of FURY and it was fine. We have a heavy handed drummer and I had my amp at 12:00 on 20 watts. I was keeping up just fine, so there's that.

rnolan

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Re: Hughes & Kettner Grandmeister Deluxe 40
« Reply #7 on: Time Format »

Hey Dante, nice choice of material  :thumb-up: , that stuff is fun to play and a fair amount of dropped D.  Glad the H&K is working out, interesting about the output levels.  I've noticed a few people using P90's, it's got me thinking where I could deploy one.  Maybe build one of these (https://www.stewmac.com/kits-and-projects/instrument-kits/electric-guitar-kits/offset-trem-electric-guitar-kit), cost about $320 AUD, have to spray it and also reshape the horrible generic peghead.
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Harley Hexxe

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Re: Hughes & Kettner Grandmeister Deluxe 40
« Reply #8 on: Time Format »

Hey Dante,

      That does sound like a keeper. I wish I had some kind of level control with the Fenders like you have for going direct out to the board. Unfortunately, these amps didn't have that. I suppose I could use my Microcabs for that if I needed too.

      Something I seemed to notice about speakers, and maybe it's just in my head, or maybe it's true. With any speaker, it seems like you need to get it to a certain volume for the speaker to "open up" and bring out it's characteristics. I seem to experience that "wet blanket" effect when the speaker isn't being pushed hard enough. That makes it a little more difficult when trying to get an amp set to a lower stage volume. I wonder if anyone else feels that way about it.

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Dante

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Re: Hughes & Kettner Grandmeister Deluxe 40
« Reply #9 on: Time Format »

I think you nailed it. I've always thought of the amp itself having more bright character...opening up...when cranked. It's probably the speaker reacting to getting punched. I'm liking the oversized 1x12 so far

I had no idea running at 20 watts would solve the gain issue, I just tried it. I could still crank the volume onstage tho, that was nice. I put the rig on a keyboard stand to raise the speaker and put the amp knobs at eye level

Harley Hexxe

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Re: Hughes & Kettner Grandmeister Deluxe 40
« Reply #10 on: Time Format »

Yeah, you see...your amp has a built in attenuation going direct, and you can still adjust your overall stage volume while it's doing that.

The Fenders don't have that. If I adjust my stage volume from the front panel, the direct volume will respond accordingly. I've got DI boxes that can drop the level -20db, but I don't know what that does to the overall tone. I have to use two of those with the CD since that has two 1/4" jacks on the back. I may need to use two more on the CT.

It depends on what the sound man can handle I guess
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rnolan

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Re: Hughes & Kettner Grandmeister Deluxe 40
« Reply #11 on: Time Format »

I think you are both right about the speakers being a bit flat at low levels.  Guitar speakers are quite stiff to take the power at their operational levels and thus not as physically reactive at low levels, also the loudness effect of our ears means the lows and highs are not as prominent, if you re eq for low levels (up the bass and treble) it will help a bit.  The other solution for low levels is use more sensitive speakers, and that's not gonna happen I suspect.  Also impedance makes a difference.  In general, 16 ohm speakers are more efficient and sensitive with 4 ohm the least sensitive.  Back in the Hi Fi days 16 ohm speakers were quite common, when power amps were typically 10 or 20 watts.  Remember 10 watts is twice as loud as 1 watt and 100w is twice as loud as 10 watts etc. 

@Harley, the -20db pad on your DIs shouldn't change the tone, it should just reduce the signal level (same as a pad on a mixer input or on some microphones), but some pad circuits may? work better than others?  A simple pad is a voltage divider circuit (https://www.electronics-tutorials.ws/attenuators/l-pad-attenuator.html)    I made a couple of leads with voltage dividers (2 resistors in series) in one of the jacks to drop my Rockman headphone output to inst level to plug into 2 Marshalls in my pre ADA days.

@Dante, getting your speaker up to ear level makes a big difference on stage, you'll hear a lot more top end (and volume overall) that is otherwise disappearing into your legs (from your perspective), it opens up in the crowd though and they hears the tops and volume.  Though I suspect you know this already.  Another approach I used to use with a band I mixed was to have them set up their amps like a monitor wedge (they had Peavey bandits or similar), then I had good control out front and they got to hear themselves without upsetting the overall mix levels.

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Harley Hexxe

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Re: Hughes & Kettner Grandmeister Deluxe 40
« Reply #12 on: Time Format »

@ Richard:

    I always have the bass and low Midrange up a bit higher than average, no matter what volume I use the amp at because I play Strats most of the time. I trim the treble frequencies a bit, and tune in the highs with the upper midrange, which I find more manageable.

    The stiffness of the cone does make sense from a physical response perspective, but I don't get just an accentuation in the upper bandwidth when I crank the amp up, the whole spectrum as a whole just changes character. It's what most guitar players commonly refer to as a "sweet spot" where your amp just SINGS. That's when your speakers are sounding the best but they're usually on the verge of frying in my case. That seems to be true with just about any amp. Maybe that's why low powered amps are getting so popular these days. You don't have to make your eardrums bleed to get that kind of tone. But I do see a compromise there. A low-wattage amp with a matching speaker will get that kind of tone, but it's still kind of lackluster because you're not moving air at the same sound pressure levels as you would with a couple of tube Twins, or a Marshall half stack. That's one of the reasons I love outdoor gigs. I've cranked up my Twins to screaming volume levels and they sounded killer even without an OD or Dist pedal. A boost pedal does it for solos, and Twins can hold their own even against Marshall full stacks. It's too bad people are becoming too wimpy to play with real amps these days.
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Dante

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Re: Hughes & Kettner Grandmeister Deluxe 40
« Reply #13 on: Time Format »

Man, running that amp at 20 watts of FURY was nice tho...and, unlike my Blues DeVille, I didn't kill any birds with the volume

Whatever that generic little speaker is in my cab, it was stretching out just fine. I was punching that thing with CHUGGA CHUGGA in the Devil's Tuning  >:D

rnolan

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Re: Hughes & Kettner Grandmeister Deluxe 40
« Reply #14 on: Time Format »

Hey Harley, it's nice to play cranked up, certainly helps float my boat.
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