Hughes&Kettner TubeMeister Deluxe 20 B-Stock

The control panel of the Tubemeister Deluxe 20 is clearly laid out and the controls themselves are illuminated in blue, ensuring optimum ease of use even in the darkest of corners. Both channels have a dedicated master and gain section, and share a powerful three-band EQ that allows the diminutive amp head's already impressive basic sound to be further enhanced. The panel also includes buttons for channel selection and for the booster (which gives the lead channel an extra push), and these functions can also be carried out using the optional footswitch. 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 20 watts down to 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.