Hughes & Kettner Bassbase 250 Head

This is the head version of the Bassbase 250 combo. The exterior is covered in a high grade black carpet, AKA rat fur. The back of the top panel is cut out for heat dissipation from the large heat sinks on the back of the amp. No fan. The control panel has no visible printing until the amp is turned on. Then the control legends are back lit. There is a tube in the preamp with a solid state amp. It weighs about 35 pounds and has a good handle on one end for carrying. As you might have guessed from the name of the amp, it delivers 250 watts into a 4 Ohm load. H&K's Dynaclip circuitry makes this a pretty loud amp.

There is a high and a low gain input, a tuner input, and a mute button on the left end of the panel. Next comes the Gain, Bass, semi-parametric Mid, Treble, FX Mix, and Master Volume. On the right end of the panel is a Direct switch, a Ground Lift switch, an XLR output, and a headphone jack.

This is an older, smaller version of H&K's Bassbase 400 and is built to the same bulletproof specifications. One thing that should be mentioned is that, although the newer Bassbase 400 and 600 have Speakon outputs, this model uses 1/4" jacks throughout. All of the jacks are solid metal. No plastic to be found there.

The gain on this amp is set at about 11:00 for my Peavey T-40, which has rather powerful passive pickups. Even with a tube in the preamp it is a very quiet amp. It is rather easy to get a nice vintage tone from this amp. Overdrive is just a knob turn away. The tone controls are all quite efficient in shaping the sound to many different styles, including slap, funk, rock, blues, and Reggae. The Treble control is more subtle than on most amps. You would really have to make an effort to get a bad tone from this amp. I haven't found one yet. It has a great warm sound. Two observations; If you want the Ampeg sound, go with Ampeg. If you want the airy Demeter sound, go with Demeter. This is a meat and potatoes amp that is tuned for laying down a groove in many situations, but it can't really give those specialty sounds.

This amp has some really nice features. The FX Mix allows you to set the amount of any effects in the loop Vs, the pure tone of the preamp. It is footswitchable. Having all of the controls on the front panel is very convenient. The semi-parametric Mid control really helps to get a sound.

H&K has a reputation for making bulletproof amps of very high quality. This is one example. I haven't had this amp long enough to put it to the test as far as endurance is concerned, but I have no doubt that it will be excellent without a backup.

One year warranty. I have had no need of customer service.

I've been playing for about 3 years. My experience with amps includes Ampeg, Laney, Hartke, and Fender. I compared this to SWR and Eden amps. They are both exemplary, but quite a bit more expensive. This amp does what I want it to.

The BassBase 250 head was the smallest model in the BassBase lineup and it lacks a few of the bells and whistles found on the upscale models, but nowhere did H&K skimp on the quality or sound. The owner's manual is available on the H&K website, too. No charge.