Hughes & Kettner Tubeman II

[aphelion]

Hey all...thinking of buying one for recording and maybe live work...does anyone have any experience with them?

I was thinking of a PODXT or something, but I find it difficult to play expressively with digital tone (others can, i can't) and quite enjoyed the Tubeman through a pa system with my old band a few times...and also, I would rather look for *my* sound than have too many options, if that makes sense...

what is everyone's pro's and con's of this piece if gear?

 

[signalgrey]

i've tried it, it was kida "meh" for me. If i may say, there are ways of getting rid of that digital tone. but ive always though H&K to be really overpriced for a pretty standard tone/quality

 

[aphelion]

ways to get rid of the digital tone? do tell...

 

[Scali]

The Tubeman II sounds great through a real guitar amp, but in my opinion the problem with all direct-recording/direct-to-PA stuff is that the speaker simulation isn't all that great. I prefer digital modelers over analog units because they give you lots of options to tweak the speaker simulator, to try and get rid of that 'plastic' sound.

You may want to try a Zoom G9.2tt.
It has a tube at the input stage, so you get the same 'feel' as from a real tube amp, more or less (basically you can dial in how much tube you want to use, it acts as a bit of a compressor, changing the response more than the actual tone, so you just have to try and dial in the response you like best).

 

[robertkoa]

The OLD black H@K pedal with a JJ803s sounds VERY fat and tubelike and the best way to record with it is to TURN THE MODELING "OFF" and use the cab sims and delays and reverbs of the POD XT with the TUBEMAN as the input. Use the "guitar" out or the "TO MIXER" out on three TUBEMAN into the POD AT VERY LOW INPUT LEVEL TUBEMAN output about as low as just a guitar would be and excellent direct tones FENDER,PLEXi and Classic Rock- prob not metal -I don't do metal. And remember you have 24 cabs to play with and post EQ. The best part of modelers is the CAB SIMS, modeling CAN"T YET simulate tube harmonics,but when you feed a good tube signal in to the CAB SIMS -yeah. I need you guys to try this trick with an ADA MP1 . Let us know. The older Tubeman is warmer and fatter than the new silver ones .