Hughes&Kettner GrandMeister Deluxe 40

Om betjening/funktioner
Meget af denne forstærkers magi sker når du køber et par midikabler med og får den sat til midi over et lydkort og så downloader app'en så du kan styre den over pc/mac. Og der er lavet app til android nu også. Du kan også købe en trådløs adapter lavet af hughes & kettner så du rent faktisk kan stå som publikum og tweake din forstærker lige her og nu.

Tilbage til app'en: App'en kommer med 96 presets og de er alle nemme at tweake i, og så gemme din yndlingslyd på en af de resterende 38 pladser. (Altså i alt 128 muligheder for at drive din underbo til vanvid...:)
Du kan godt betjene den uden midi. Der vil jeg dog nok anbefale at købe fodpedalen med, så du har lidt mere styr på dine presets.

Jeg har aldrig oplevet en federe og mere alsidig forstærker end denne. Power soak funktionen virker perfekt, jeg kan lige give den et tryk opad når jeg er i øvelokalet og ellers ned på 1w eller 5w hvis jeg sidder derhjemme, hvilket gør at mine underboer også kan holde det ud.

Om udseendet:
Udseendet er der ikke mange amps der kan hamle op med. Det ser bare lækkert ud med det blå lys, og der er frit udsyn til de små "shotsglas" som min kammerat troede det var....;)

Om lyden:
Jeg vil mene at er du til lyden i hughes & kettner, så bliver du bestemt ikke skuffet. Jeg selv er klart mere til denne klare og mere hifi lyd end hvad f.eks. Marshall disker op med af varme toner. Ikke dermed sagt at den er skinger på nogen måde. Clean kanalen levere krystalklare toner og så kan du bare dreje knappen om på ultra og få dig et bæst af en forstærker der vil gøre ethvert metalhovede glad i låget.
Indspilningsmæssigt lyder den lækker igennem en sm57 og også den indbyggede red box er top dollar, hvor du har et par valgmuligheder på bagsiden af forstærkeren.

Jeg har endnu ikke prøvet med fodpedalen. Jeg kunne dog kun forestille mig at den vil være et rigtig godt køb at tage med, især hvis du ikke lige har mulighed for midi.

Et lille minus: Den bliver varm på toppen efter noget tid. Måske det er indbygget kaffekopvarmer til de sene timer i studiet? :)

Jeg synes ærlig talt ikke der er noget negativt ved grandmeister deluxe 40. En himmelskabt forstærker til dig der kan lide at tweake og nørde med din lyd eller til dig der skal have din første rørforstærker. Du bliver bestemt ikke skuffet!!

I had the Tubemeister 36 some years ago but found it too bright no metter what I did and i had a lot of effects on the side including MIDI board and so on. Sine then I have been looking for the "SOUND" but also had to consider a bad back. After trying a lot of different things I decided to try the Line6 Helix. I had a lot of fun with it but I never really found the sound I had in my imagination. At the same time I became aware that I spent more time programming than playing. The Helix was also pretty heavy, so after reading and watching reviews I went for the Hotone Ampere. It was easier to find sounds closer to my ideal sound but the unit had some serious flaws (?) producing unwanted digital distortion.

SO.... I came across the Grandmeister 40. It contains almost everything I need and and lot of what I want so I decided to go BlueLight again. This time the essential effects are build in, the weight is absolutely on the healthy side and the specifications for the power soak, the Red Box for emulated signal to FOH, the Line out and the speaker out was sounding very attractive. I realized from the beginning that it would be best to order the H&K MIDI footswitch too. I was right !!

First test on my PA from the Red Box was far freom a success. Harsh treble and speaker-destoying bass made me wonder if I yet again had found the wrong amp. But tweaking the Red Box, changing the choice of speakers and using the the built in EQ's turned everything around.
I really need an amazing sound to the FOH and my personal monitors regardless if I use clean or "demolish everything" sounds.

To make it short - I found what I was looking for. The sounds in my presets are now the best in my 47 years of playing - and I have tried more amps than I dare to count - not to mention the money spent on Mesas, Marshalls, Engl..... You name it and there is a risk that I been there too.....
This amp produce - for the first time- true tube amp + really great passive cab sound - but on the Red Box output. My PA system sounds incredibly nice and so do my personal monitors. When playing I get this wonderful feeling of satisfying surprise again and again on all four channels.
On day 3 I decided to use my 2x12" V30 cab and except for a different EQ'ing it sounds so great that its hard to believe.
Dont let the 40 watt scare you. At home I use it in the 1 watt mode, in the rehearsal room in the 5 watt mode and live in the 20 watt mode - if the venue is big.
The remote MIDI board is a joy to use except for the boost switch that does not work in preset mode - only in stompbox mode - yes - you can change the use of the switches between preset or stompbox mode on the remote which work fast and precise. A joy when you play live.
The programming is pretty easy but has some strange combinations for different settings. But H&K was clever enough to put a label on the bottom of the amp with the combinations of knobs to press. Brilliant !!

So - why only 4 starts on functionality ????
Well, when you make an amp with all essential effects, have a remote pedal the support expression pedals and external switches you would expect not to bring more gear....

To me it would have been perfect if it had a build-in tuner in the remote MIDI board or the amp itself and if you had a switch that could copy the Red Box settings to the line output. This way you could have your own active monitor along with the passive guitar cabinet.

I know sound is as individual as taste in beer and women but no matter if you play in the studio or live music from the 50's pop, laid back jazz or want to blow the audience til hell at a metal festival - this could be your last amp. Just remember that the responds differently to different guitars / pickups. So if you bring several guitars to your shows you could use the 32 banks with 4 patches where one bank refers to one guitar... I just hope 32 guitars for the gig is enough =:o))

Very versatile amp, can be used in in wattage ranging from 40w down to 1w or no watts for silent recording and comes with a bunch of basic effects. Comes in a bag that makes it super easy for transportation, but what I really love about this amp is that it is a hybrid and what I mean by that is that it is an analog tube amp with digital functions that lets you truly control every single effect of the GrandMeister Deluxe 40 precisely on the iPad app and with this amp, there is only one con which is that you would want to get a midi controller if you want to turn off the effects that it comes with after use, however you can still very easily change the settings on the amp but you can't turn it off. And about the app, you can use your own presets on any other GrandMeister deluxe amp without having to take your amp to every gig which is an awesome feature, that being said, this is my go to amp mainly because of it's features, with a variety of tones that are hear melting, it's half the weight and size of a regular 100watt head, it is plenty loud like you could actually go deaf if you crank the amp, and even when power soaked to 1watt, this amp still delivers enough punch and volume and I never crank it at home.
Of all the amps out there, I think this is one amp that you cannot just have enough of, if you love buying heads, this one is a bad news because once you get this one, there is no going back, it's just this one and that's all. So yea there you have it, I don't want to write a whole biography on this amp, I don't see how there can be anything better than this, it's the perfect marriage between analog and digital processing, beautiful aesthetics, all the useful functions and effects multiple tones, stepping down the wattage thereby eliminating the need for an attenuator, and if you get this amp with the midi footswitch, you got a tuner and a slot for an expression pedal, it has a built in noise gate. I highly recommend this amp to any musician that wants to get the Grandmeister deluxe 40.