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Author
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Topic: Hughes & Ketner pre amp??
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Scott Denniston
Member From: Hahns Peak, Colorado, USA
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posted 15 January 2005 03:58 PM
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Someone posted about this tube pre recently and I can't locate the post. I'm not sure if I've got the spelling but I'd like to look into this pre-amp. Hughes & Ketner? |
David Spangler
Member From: Kerrville, TX USA
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posted 15 January 2005 08:23 PM
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Here's a link in Harmony Central's user review database: http://www.harmony-central.com/Guitar/Data/Hughes___Kettner/ ------------------
David Spangler |
David Higginbotham
Member From: Lake Charles, Louisiana, USA
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posted 15 January 2005 08:48 PM
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Here is a little info that Harold sent me.--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Patch a good tube preamp in line between your volume pedal and amp. A solid state amp will not change the tube sound effect. I have two tube preamps that I use with my amps and it is amazing what this does to your sound. (1 Preamp at a time of course)You get the fat full sound of tubes with the positive characteristics of a solid state amplifier. You will have to adjust the preamp and your amplifier to get the sound you want but I wouldn't go any other way. I have a Hughes and Kettner Preamp and a Seymour Duncan Preamp. They both work great with all my equipment.
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Sierra Session and MSA Classic Guitars, Nashville 400, Session 400, and Evans FET 500 HiVolt, and Gretsch Nashville Pro Steel Amps, Keith Hilton Digital Sustain pedal and Digital Sustain Box .
Harold Parris email hparris9@aol.com |
Scott Denniston
Member From: Hahns Peak, Colorado, USA
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posted 16 January 2005 07:30 AM
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Yep David I'm pretty sure that was the post I was referring to. Thanks. Any idea which H&K pre Harold was talking about? There seem to be two or three. A stereo pre would be nice but not necessary. I've got the Black Box & love it but am thinking of getting even a little more tubey. |
Jay Fagerlie
Member From: Lotus, California, USA
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posted 16 January 2005 08:22 AM
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Hi Scott,
The H&K pre you'll want to check out is the "Blues Master"....it is designed to mimic a Fender Twin. One of these has been my secret weapon for years to get great bass sounds to tape.....now I think I'll try it on my steels....never occured to me to try it until now....Thanks for the idea!!!Jay |
Bill Hatcher
Member From: Atlanta Ga. USA
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posted 16 January 2005 10:37 AM
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You want an Alembic F2b. No contest. I have all those Hughes and Kettner things. Alembic blows them away for clean, powerful tone. More headroom than you can believe. Also it is the finest preamp for electric bass ever made.
You don't believe me, email Randy Beavers or Tommy Dodd. They just discovered this pre and can't believe its been around over 20 years and they didn't know about it. |
Scott Denniston
Member From: Hahns Peak, Colorado, USA
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posted 17 January 2005 03:38 PM
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Thanks Jay & Bill. I'm going to look into those. Right now I'm using an Evans pre. I really like it but would like to experiment a bit with tubes. I know my old Twin (which I gave away years ago aahhhhgggg) seemed to interact more with my steel. Then I went for the super-clean sound and went all solid state. Now I want to put some dirt & harmonics back in. |
Bill Hatcher
Member From: Atlanta Ga. USA
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posted 17 January 2005 05:18 PM
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Scott, the F2B is basically a copy of the Fender Twin/Showman preamp circuit with a lot of filtering and hot voltage. If you liked your twin, you will instantly recognize your sound with this pre. |
Scott Denniston
Member From: Hahns Peak, Colorado, USA
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posted 18 January 2005 07:09 AM
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The only thing I can see wrong with trying the Alembic is that the list price is $847!! I know street price would be a little less but maybe I'll find a used one somewhere. I do like a rack setup for several reasons but would sure like that Twin flavor again. |
Harold Parris
Member From: Piedmont, Alabama USA
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posted 23 January 2005 08:02 PM
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Scott, The Hughes & Kettner BATT which is designed for a bass guitar works great as a pedal steel preamp. I also use a Seymour Duncan KTG-1 which is a dual channel Clean/Overdrive switchable that does a fantastic job with steel or lead guitar. I'm sure there are many more available that will work as a tube preamp to get that "FULL BODIED WARM TUBE SOUND" from a good cool running high wattage solid state amplifier |
Bill Hatcher
Member From: Atlanta Ga. USA
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posted 24 January 2005 07:53 AM
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I also have the KTG1 from Duncan. It has a nice clean sound, but the distortion is a bit tubby sounding--remember the song "Spirit In The Sky". That is the sound of the overdrive in this unit.The thing about the H@K units is that they are designed for the input voltage that a standard electric guitar puts out. The steel puts out a bit hotter signal so the tendency will be to overdrive the inputs. The Alembic unit is designed to take electric guitar OR electric bass so it will not break up as easily. The H@K BATT unit was not sold here in large numbers, so it is more difficult to find.
These H@K pres were VERY expensive and the half rack set up was not popular, so they are a little harder to run across. |
Scott Denniston
Member From: Hahns Peak, Colorado, USA
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posted 24 January 2005 09:20 AM
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I ordered an Alembic F-1X. It's the same pre as the F-2B but is one pre and not stereo. It has an fx loop and I can go stereo out of my Lex. The problem with the F-2B is that nobody seems to have them (new) in stock and the build time on them is about 4 weeks. This last weekend at NAMM Alembic apparently announced that their pricing is jumping way up due to demand. The F-2B and F-1X are selling faster than they can make them. The list price for either is now I'm told at $1050.00 which puts the street price about $780. I found a F-1X in stock and got it for $655. I know that's high but it was either that or taking chances on Ebay. BTW there are two of them (Alembic F-2B) on Ebay now and haven't gone up too high yet. I do kind of like to get electronics new with a warranty though. |
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