Hughes & Kettner Bass Guitars

Solid-state amp head that delivers 300 Watts into 4ohms and 150W into 8 ohms. It has one passive and one active input, plus a footswitch connector. One xlr line output, an effects loop and a headphone out. It has a 4-preset EQ switch, like the combo series: normal/slap/rock/fretless USE Very easy to dial in, with one gain pot for the preamp and 1 volume pot for the amp. 3-band EQ + 1 band to fine-tune the mids. A blinking overload indicator to protect the amp (dynaclip). Very good and PRECISE sound, pretty modern with the 4x10" huges&kettner. I only miss some tube-like warmth, but it's very clean and transparent to play soft. The manual couldn't be clearer because it's very simple. SOUND You can play anything with it, but it was surely conceived to attack the 4x10" + a 15" !!! It seriously lacks some power below 80Hz. I'd say 100 W with the 4 speakers! It's excellent for rock blues jazz funk with my active cort nb4 because it's very clean and doesn't seem to "color" sound like, an swr....I think it deserves a preamp-type effect without amp. The slap sound is also very precise and faithful. In short, it's a quite transparent amp head and you are forced to use the 4 presets mentioned above to really make the best of it. OVERALL OPINION I've been using it for two years with a bass/drums/guitar pop rock combo and it does its job. It's nevertheless a pain to have to lug around the 4 speakers when certain 150w combos do the same job with the same output power. To summarize: Obvious lack of power (it's more like 150w, not 300w); the 4 presets are a bit stunning; simplicity; very clear and precise sound; very versatile for not too heavy styles; price: It's not manufactured anymore, but if you found one secondhand for 300 euros, it's a good deal (the bassbase have taken its place). I bought the 300w head + 10" speakers new for 750 euros (at my local store). I admit that, given the price, I hesitated pretty long between this one and the hartke 3500 + 4 speakers (no aluminum cone), so I don't think I'd buy it again because it was on sale at the store, which doesn't happen much.

Hughes and Kettner have built some of the world's best amplifiers and most of that is from the guitar market and to much talk over the bass stuff. Even though they have a good reputation of having high quality products sometimes they can miss it. Their Quantum stuff for basses are very good. The tone is very well balanced and the design is extremely user friendly. This stuff not so much. Not that this combo is bad but just in comparison to the Quantum this is a bit of a downgrade. This amp is basically the same amp as the Bassforce L but just 200 watts rather than 100 watts. You gte the same basic tone and features but just more power. You can play a bigger room with this amp with the doubling of the wattage. UTILIZATION Power 200Watts Poweramp Dynaclip Preamp solid-state Effects Loop serial Line Out Yes Equalizer 3 Bands Speakers 1x 15" Power Pro, 300 Watt, 4 Ohm Dimensions 496 x 547 x 420 Weight 24 kg /53,5 lbs SOUNDS This amp has the exact same tone as the large but just more power. Either way you get a lot of of this simple amp. There isn't a whole lot of tone features and not a lot of options but just a basic setup and a good workable bass amp. This little combo doesn't put out a whole lot of power for bass but enough to have a good little combo to practice with at home and in a small gigging setup. This combo ha a nice 15 inch speaker that puts out some good tight low end thump. The solid state tone is pretty decent for a solid state, but I wish it had at least one preamp tube in the mix so that you could get a good tube tone in the voicing of the amp. You need to solid state power section to get this amp up gigging volumes and power. The bass needs a lot more power than a guitar amp does. So you must have the solid state unless you have some KT88 power tubes in there and at best you would get around 300 watts of power. With the solid state you can get a whole lot more wattage. OVERALL OPINION The tone is a good for a practice setting and smaller gigs. The 200 watts is a help but maybe need a bit more to push through a bigger room. This is a great practice amp for someone who is on a budget and you can find these for not a whole lot of money. They are good amps for what you get. These amps have been discontinued for a while now so the used market is the only way to get this combo at this point. I have no idea what the going rate for these are but I cannot expect them to be outrageous of anything. I would recommend this amp if you can get a good deal on it and that being around $100 or so.

This is one of those amps that you wish they would have never stopped making. This is the QC 412 which is a stallar bass amp for combo players and smaller gigs. This is this the kind of amp that makes you want to join a band and rock out. If you are a bass player and you have never heard of Huges and Kettenr than there is a reason for that. Hughes and Kettner have never really branched out in the bass world as far as getting bass guys to join there squad. They have really set their attention and sights on the guitars players. They have some famous guys such as Tommy Thayer and Alex Lifeson who have signature guitar amps from Hughes and Kettner but you don't hear to much about the bass world. That is a shame because their bass stuff is very good. UTILIZATION Power 400 Watts Poweramp Dynavalve Preamp TubeTouch Effects Loop serial Footswitch/Stageboard optional FS-2 Switching Functions FX-Loop, Punch Special Features Ultra Low Weight Okume housing Headphones Yes Line Out balanced Compressor Tube Growl Equalizer 4-Band parallel Tubes 1x 12AX7 Speaker Outputs 2x 4-8 Ohms in series to internal speakers. 1/4 Speakers 2x10 Dimensions 600 x 620 x 400 mm Weight 29 kg/64 lbs SOUNDS This amp has the same extra features as the 412 but just with an extra speaker. You get twice the air push bu the exact same voicing and feel. This amp has a nice DuraDome Neodymium speaker inside. The tone is nice and punchy and gets gnarly growl tone that is suitable for crunch tones in your music. The tone is a great bass tone. You have a saturation overdrive control knob that allows you to drive your tone even more than simple bass clean tone. The amp also has a great serial effects loop for allowing you to incorporate your favorite effects pedals or rack units into your sound. This is one fine bass amp and very versatile amp as well. It also has a balanced line out for going straight into a house pa system or mixer or even going direct when in a recording session. OVERALL OPINION These amps have been discontinued for some time now. These amps vary between wattage and speaker size. I have no idea what these are going for on the used market I have seen the 310 version for around $300 so I can only assume that this one would fetch a little more than that. It is a great amp for those needing a good practice bass amp or a convenient combo to go direct with. If you can score one of these on the used market for a decent rice for around $300 it is worth the purchase.

Hughes and Kettenr ave made some real ground on the guitar world but not much impact on the bass world. This amp is one of those ground breaking tones that you have to hear to believe. This is a bass amp for those who need a good little combo to practice at home with. You wouldn't think it but this thing has 400 watts of power. Just by first glance you would not think that you could get 400 watts of power from this thing, but it pacts a wallop. This is he same amp a the QC 310 but just an extra bump in wattage up to 400 from 300. The only difference between this amp and the QC 412 is that this ha s 15 inch speaker. The tone will not change in its voicing but you will have much stronger low and less highs with this speaker. The low end will also be a little tighter as well. UTILIZATION Power 400 Watts Poweramp Dynavalve Preamp TubeTouch Effects Loop serial Footswitch/Stageboard optional FS-2 Switching Functions FX-Loop, Punch Special Features Ultra Low Weight Okume housing Headphones Yes Line Out balanced Compressor Tube Growl Equalizer 4-Band parallel Tubes 1x 12AX7 Speaker Outputs 2x 4-8 Ohms in series to internal speaker, 1/4 Speakers 1x 15 Dimensions 600 x 620 x 400 mm Weight 24 kg/53 lbs SOUNDS This amp is the exact same tonally with the QC412. The voicing is all the same however, the low end thump will be bigger and the also tighter in the ow end. You will suffer in the highs and midrange but not noticeable unless you A/B them together. The tone is a great bass tone. You have a saturation overdrive control knob that allows you to drive your tone even more than simple bass clean tone. The amp also has a great serial effects loop for allowing you to incorporate your favorite effects pedals or rack units into your sound. This is one fine bass amp and very versatile amp as well. This amp has a nice DuraDome Neodymium speaker inside. The tone is nice and punchy and gets gnarly growl tone that is suitable for crunch tones in your music. It also has a balanced line out for going straight into a house pa system or mixer or even going direct when in a recording session. OVERALL OPINION I am not exactly sure what the going rate for these amps are on the used market. You can no longer get them on the new since they have been discontinued a long time ago. They are great amps and solid bass tones. If you can score I would highly recommend it.

This a German company who designs high quality guitar amps for touring musicians and the average consumer. They guitar amps that range from just a few hundred dollars to several thousand. The have a flagship amplifier and this is it. The Trimap from Hughes and Kettner. Some big names have pickup amps from Hughes and Kettner including Alex Lifeson from the band Rush and Tommy Thayer from the band Kiss. Those two gentlemen have their own signature models but they have used been great artist for this company. This is a bass amp for those who need a good little combo to practice at home with. You wouldn't think it but this thing has 400 watts of power. Just by first glance you would not think that you could get 400 watts of power from this thing, but it pacts a wallop. This is he same amp a the QC 310 but just an extra bump in wattage up to 400 from 300. UTILIZATION Power 400 Watts Poweramp Dynavalve Preamp TubeTouch Effects Loop serial Footswitch/Stageboard optional FS-2 Switching Functions FX-Loop, Punch Special Features Ultra Low Weight Okume housing Headphones Yes Line Out balanced Compressor Tube Growl Equalizer 4-Band parallel Tubes 1x 12AX7 Speaker Outputs 2x 4-8 Ohms in series to internal speaker, 1/4 Speakers 1x12 Dimensions 550 x 550 x 350 mm Weight 19 kg/43 lbs SOUNDS This amp has a nice DuraDome Neodymium speaker inside. The tone is nice and punchy and gets gnarly growl tone that is suitable for crunch tones in your music. It also has a balanced line out for going straight into a house pa system or mixer or even going direct when in a recording session. The tone is a great bass tone. You have a saturation overdrive control knob that allows you to drive your tone even more than simple bass clean tone. The amp also has a great serial effects loop for allowing you to incorporate your favorite effects pedals or rack units into your sound. This is one fine bass amp and very versatile amp as well. OVERALL OPINION These amps have been discontinued for some time now. I have no idea what these are going for on the used market I have seen the 310 version for around $300 so I can only assume that this one would fetch a little more than that. These amps vary between wattage and speaker size. This is the lowest priced version of this model. It s a great amp for those needing a good practice bass amp or a convenient combo to go direct with.