Hughes & Kettner Tubeman Tube-Driven 3-Channel Guitar Recording Station 

Comments about Hughes & Kettner Tubeman Tube-Driven 3-Channel Guitar Recording Station:

The quality of tone that comes out of this little package is great and is the reason why I got it. There is no way around great tube tone. ALL modelers fall short of the real thing. It was very easy to dial great sounds on channels one and two. Channel 3 was a bit trickier. Since it shares an eq for all three channels you have to find one eq that works for all three channels which is easy enough. The problem I found is kind of two fold I think the third channel may have a bit too much gain saturation to get some sounds and the voicing knob is almost a waste of space. It kind of acts as a mid-frequency sweep knob, but not exactly. I think a standard presence knob may have been a more effective way to shape the tone. Again, being a tone freak, I was able to get good sounds out of channel 3 but it takes some tweaking. 1 and 2 sound just like a real tube amp. 3 lacks a bit of the depth and the lack of the power amp tubes is most evident to me on this channel. The red box speaker simulator is great. I have to run direct to the PA in some of the scenarios I play and having been spoiled for the last 7 years playing through a Mesa Road King I wasn't prepared to sacrifice great tube tone. I had heard Line-6 POD and other multi-effect processors but they all sound fake and plastic. You don't give a chef an easybake oven and expect 5 star results. This unit really delivers the goods, real tube amp tone in a stompbox sized package. Two things that really surprised me was the ease at balancing the volume between channels and how using the master volume knob acts just as it would warming up and adding a bit of gain to the entire preamp instead of simply being a way to manage your output level. I would highly reccomend this for direct recording/live Direct to PA situations. Great Job!

Comments about Hughes & Kettner Tubeman Tube-Driven 3-Channel Guitar Recording Station:

I love this pedal. I use it live for gigs. I play out between 2 and 4 nights a week. I use this as my amp. The direct out sounds great going right into the board. I use the red MXR compressor in front of everything to smooth out the sound and give it the cranked tube amp sensation. It really gives it a realistic soft feel. I set the compressor with the left dial at 3 o'clock and the right dial at 9 o'clock. I think that is the key to making this pedal sound great - using a little compression on the front end.

I keep it simple. I use an overdrive pedal for slight crunch on the clean channel or I use the clean channel raw for a great tube clean with a slight clip. The second channel I crank up the gain for a chunkier sound. The lead channel has a ton of gain. I only turn it up to 6 and it is plenty. I'm not a metal player, but if you are there is more than enough gain to do the job.

If you add a bit of verb or delay it really brings the pedal to life. I use a verb and delay after the output, then into the board. You can go direct as well. It sounds great totally raw, yet with verb it feels more dynamic.

I've been playing a Tele with two Seth Lover Seymour Duncan Humbuckers. That guitar with this pedal give me the sound that is the classic rock sound you have heard a thousand times on the radio. It is THE rock tone. Sounds a lot like the Angus tone on Back In Black or early Aerosmith, Ted Nugent, Slash or Cream. I don't use a lot of gain and get a very defined sound. This pedal delivers. I had a friend that works for Fender come out the first week I used this rig, and he said it was the best live tone he has ever heard period.

Low gain to ultra high gain - this pedal does it. Just compress your signal slightly on the front end and you will be amazed at the sound this pedal creates. This is the best purchase I have made in a long time.
I like the simeple features. Clean channel 1 just has volume. Dirty channel 2 has volume and gain. Lead channel 3 has volume, gain and voicing. Simple 3 band EQ and master out is easy to use. Sounds great direct. It would be nice to have an XLR out as well.
Heavy Duty German Design.
A bit pricy, but you get what you pay for.

Comments about Hughes & Kettner Tubeman Tube-Driven 3-Channel Guitar Recording Station:

This box delivers a quality tone for home recording. I was close micing my 30-watt combo amp, but that was waking up the wife and kid. Now I am now recording direct with this and the tone quality is very comparable to the combo. I agree it would be great to pop new/different tubes in and out, but the tube tone and speaker emulator make up for that. Once you add a bit of studio reverb it sounds realistic. I especially love cranking up the first channel up to about 3 or 4 o'clock .. great for front pick up blues leads and really hammering jangle chords on a tele or strat.

Comments about Hughes & Kettner Tubeman Tube-Driven 3-Channel Guitar Recording Station:

i own two tube amps, a soldano and a marshall both of which are amazing so decided i didnt need this pedal anymore and sold it..... HUGE mistake... a friend told me immediately after to NEVER sell tone and damn was he right... i miss it dearly because it just plain sounds GOOD.... the three channels give so many options i used it for a crystal clean, a clean boost and a heavy dist. and once i joined a band with another guitarist i bumped up what i was using as a clean boost to a smooth overdrive and the third for its designed solo usage... honestly get this pedal it is expensive but it is worth it.. and once you get one NEVER SELL IT... also works well in front of your tube to alter the breakup a little... just get it....

Comments about Hughes & Kettner Tubeman Tube-Driven 3-Channel Guitar Recording Station:

This thing sounds excellent. I've owned the Vox Tonelab and original Pod and have heard some others. This gets about 90-95% of a real tube amp sound. It's built like a tank, but for this much money though where is the on-off switch? Ditto for XLR out, after all it's for recording isn't it? That's a glaring omission IMO. Also no instructions for changing the tube. Other than that, I love it.

Comments about Hughes & Kettner Tubeman Tube-Driven 3-Channel Guitar Recording Station:

sounds great! the only critique I have is about the power supply it comes with. The adapter plug-in on the tubeman wont fit any 12 volt adapter other than the one supplied by H&K. So if you lose or break the adapter then youre screwed unless you can find another H&K adapter.

Comments about Hughes & Kettner Tubeman Tube-Driven 3-Channel Guitar Recording Station:

This box rocks, I have tried lots of different products and this really delivers the goods.