If this website had colour in it, I’d say that this week’s amplifier was well suited for the blues. Because it glows a lovely shade of blue from … well, everywhere. But this website doesn’t allow colour and the Hughes & Kettner TubeMeister 5 deserves a better introduction than that. Unfortunately, I write as I think and I rarely go back to amend something once I’ve put it out there. I get the feeling though that if I’d purchased this amplifier head I wouldn’t go back on that decision either.
There we go. Article saved.
The TubeMeister 5 is without a doubt one of the sexiest amplifier heads I’ve come across to date. Sure I’m looking for my first valve head so I can experience some proper guitar tone. But that doesn’t mean the amplifier can’t look amazing as well. Visible tubes and more neon blue than any self-respecting drift racer contains draws you in to this amp. Then, the features keep you hanging around for longer.
- One channel plus drive
- 5 watts
- 1 x 12BH7 poweramp
- 1 x 12AX7 preamp
- 1 x 8-16 ohm speaker output
- Push-pull poweramp
- Treble, Middle and Bass controls
- Master and Gain controls
- Red Box out
Red Box output is a pretty cool little feature. If you’d like to record at home from this head you can do so by plugging the head into your audio interface directly from the Red Box out connector. You can of course mic your amp up, but the advantage of the Red Box out is that it sends the audio directly from the poweramp. So, how does it all sound? Well, I think it sounds awesome. But you can check out this video or this video (it’s nice to have Australian options) and decide for yourself.
I have to say the ability to connect this head directly input your audio interface is a really unique and attractive feature. This just moved towards the top of my current wishlist.
Disclaimer: I’ve not played through this head. I have not experienced the sound or tone of this head other than through video. That doesn’t matter. It looks awesome, it’s obviously played by winners and I want one.
