HUGHES & KETTNER
TUBEMEISTER 5
BY JORDAN WAGNER
to hear audio clips of the amp
at premierguitar.com/apr2012
CLICKHere…
Germany-based Hughes & Kettner have long been one of the most successful premier boutique amp builders in
Europe. Known for a blend of high fidelity
and stinging, detailed highs, their creations
have held been fixtures on the backlines of
hot pickers from Alex Lifeson to Michael
Wilton, and Allan Holdsworth, to name
a few. Though H&K are known in many
circles for building monsters, they successfully ventured into low wattage territory
with their popular Tubemeister 18 (which
was really just a very small monster). Now
the company has released an even more
miniaturized amp bearing their namesake,
the Tubemeister 5.
Have Amp, Will Travel
The Tubemeister 5 borders on adorable.
Not the words you’re average H&K user
associates with their rig, but in this case it’s
very true. The pint-sized five-watter weighs
in at only 7.65 pounds, and fits perfectly
into its (yes, we’ll go ahead and say it) petite
carrying case. Visually, it’s a dead-ringer for
the larger models in the Hughes & Kettner
line, with a clean and striking look of
Plexiglas and polished metal.
The entirely tube circuit begins with a
single 12AX7 preamp tube, then moves
to the power section that’s fueled by a
12BH7 dual triode tube that runs in push/
pull mode. Oversized transformers aid
the power amp in producing the strongest,
cleanest output signal possible for five watts
and keep the tone from flubbing out and
mushing up at higher volumes.
Just like the Tubemeister 18, this particular Hughes & Kettner amp is pretty
simple and straightforward. Three EQ
knobs for bass, mid, and treble shape the
overall tone of the amp, which feed the signal into the gain and master volume controls. There’s also a little switch for changing between clean and overdriven modes
between the Bass and Master controls.
Even though the amp has only one channel, moving to the Drive mode revoices
the frequency response of the three EQ
Master and Gain controls
