Hughes & Kettner Metal Shredder

Great little 4 watt practice / recording amp or use as a preamp into a power amp or guitar amp. Multiple outputs (including direct to speaker) to accomplish this with or without cabinet simulator. Fairly easy to use.

Sounds really nice. Two gain controls and a full tone stack (bass, mids, treble) which I think is between the two gain stages. That's important to note since boosting any frequency alters the gain stage and sound (ie, too much bass = spitty / farty low end). First gain stage is a very smooth sounding boost, gain two adds more girth to the distortion. Overall its very smooth sounding and creamy with lots of sustain. The tone is very California smooth. More high gain Fenderish than British.

As a guitar amp, I run directly into a 1x10 or 1x12 cabinet and its plenty loud for at home jamming. If you need it quieter and at full tilt, use the cabinet simulator to bring down the output and it sounds awesome. I haven't used it for recording or as a preamp into a power / guitar amp, just as a practice amp.

For 4 watts or so, it kicks butt. Power amp is solid state but still retains all the drive and warmth of the tube (2 - 12ax7) section.

Some reviewers have stated an issue with a high frequency sound that is present especially with single coils. Its more apparant at lower volumes than higher but it does tend to ride on the upper harmonics. I fixed that by adding a 80pf cap between pins 1 and 2 of each tube. This cuts out the upper end harmonics that can be annoying once you fixate on them. You can increase or decrease the cap value depending on the tone your looking for. Make sure you use a 300v or higher voltage cap. Higher pf values really warm up the sound considerably.

I bought this used off of Ebay so its been around for a while. Its a late 80's European model (i use a power converter).

Very cool, especially when you consider tube amps in this price range and power don't even come close in sound and flexibility. I give it a 9 based on the sound, features, and price I got it at.

One channel preamp with 2 ECC83-tubes and a solid state power amp (about 4 watts).
The Hughes and Kettner Metal Master has 6 controls: on the front gain 1 and gain 2 and a three-way eq, on the back there is a level control.
The eq is between gain1 and gain2, and the both gain controlls controll tube 1 and tube 2.
It has a speaker out, cabinetulator out (like a red box), mixer out and so on.
Has a jack on the back side for a foot switch (bypass).
You can use it as a little 4 watt practice amp (requires a guitar speaker/box), as a preamp, as a distortion box, for direct recording (via cabinetulator-out). Pretty versatile, therefor 10 points.
I mainly use it as little practice amp.
The only thing i miss is an effect loop.

The name Metal Master is not 100% appropriate.
It can create good clean sounds with very little distortion and even better crunchy sounds.
Full drive level (both gain pots on 10) is high, but not as high as some modern high gain tube amps. The maximal distortion is enough for 80s metal, but maybe not enough for modern thrash/death/black metal.

The distortion (or overdrive) quality is rather good, nearly as good as my Engl Straight. It has a little more compression than my Engl.
With the 2 gain controls you have many possibilities to change the distortion character, especially if you consider that the eq is between gain stage 1 and 2. The distortion sound is creamy and more smooth than rough. The different mixes between gain 1 and gain 2 do not change the distortion character drastically, the differences are more subtile. Changing the tubes (replacing H&K C1 tubes with one TT ECC83 and a JJ ECC83) didn't have too much effect. The Metal Master has ist own sound, either you like or you like it not (i do like it). The eq gives you possibilities to change the sound, but it can't change the creamy basic character of the sound. Especially the mid eq could be a liitle more "broadbandy". All in all the eq is effective enough, but not too much. It is more for subtile sound changes than for drastical sound changes.
So all in all the Metal Master is (in my ears) a very good sounding one trick pony. It gives you creamy crunch/overdrive/distortion with rather good sustain, but it won't give you a rough and scooped nu metal sound or a fenderish clean sound or a rough marshallish crunch.
The Metal Master allows you to control level and drive with the volume pot of your guitar, so you can change from almost clean to fat and singing overdrive. The MM gives me good harmonics, its is rather easy to create artificial harmonics, on all my guitars (all humbucker equipped). The MM doesn't hide the quality and sound of each guitar, and it doesn't hide how you play (even at maximal drive). Play good and it sounds good, play sloppy and it will sound sloppy.

The sound quality is 9 to me, the sound versatility is 7, so I rate it 8 points.

Bought it second hand. Seems very solid and stable.
I think you could gig without backup (but i'd never do that, no matter what gear i have).

Don't know.

Very versatile if you regard what you can use it for (guitar preamp, distortion stomp box, practice amp, homerecording device, plug-directly-to-mixer-device and so on).
Seems to be built very solidly and reliably.
The sound quality is high, but there are not 1001 different sounds, but mainly one or two (creamy distortion and creamy crunch) sounds.
And these two sounds are very good in my ears.
The price is very low if you buy it second hand.
All in all a very good piece of gear!

it's easy,but at the same time it has hidden potential... if you dont have the manual,download the Cream machine one that is freely available on the internet. The outputs are the same ones.

excellent. will fit many styles,and it's a great D.I. guitarist's recording device...one of the very best.
As other reviewers below noted,the metal master exibit an healthy dose of clarity and highs at it's input,but,in fact,by turning the guitar's tone knob down ,it's sorted. You will never get a muddy sound out of this unit. It's also great as a luxurious practice amp,it's phones out sounds great ,you can connect it to guitar speakers,to other amps,to your mixer (works GREAT for computers!!!resell your Line 6 stuff and buy this....it has real guitar sound)

it's also pretty silent considering it's high gain.Which make it even more suitable for studio use

excellent construction...very though and solid little mini rack

I rate it very high....it's excellent for studio musicians,you can carry it anywhere ,hell you could gig with this,just connect to a 4x12 and mike up to your P.A. or connect DIRECTLY to your P.A. or mixer.

I have been playing for 14 years and owned a lot of gear...this little box it's great and it will remain a keeper

easy to use,but it has more 'secrets' than the average tube preamp ...there's a lot of different outputs for many needs: for D.I., or connected to a guitar speaker,to a mixer,to a powered monitor....wow,excellent studio guitarist's tool.

there is also an excellent sounding phones out...a real tube sound in those small hours,you can practice away,no one hears you,and yet,you get excellent tube sound

to my ears it sound like a Tubeman,an excellent tube pedal from the same company,the difference is Metal Master has 1 channel instead of 3.

To compensate,the MT has INDEPENDENT GAIN STAGES. What does it means? it means that you are able to control the gain structure of your distortion sound in many ways. The Tubeman,like most other pedals,does not have that.

So the MT is still an unique preamp and not an older version of aanything.

When you turn 'gain 2' up,you get more crunch ,'anger'...but because these two controls are interactive,many possibilitites and sounds are obtainable.

Make no mistake,it's capable of an EXCELLENT clean sound as well...these 2 gain knobs are so balabced and calibrated that you can go from pop ,to rock ,to shred, to to jazz in no time....

the name 'metal master ' is a bit of a narrowing term for this preamp-amp. the MT is only happy to change styles,and it does it VERY well.

The only thing is that it has a certain amount of ultra-high end,but I just turn down the tone knob of my guitar until I get the desired result,and it's done...no problem

as far as everything else,I cannot fault this unit

feels very well built and very solid ,with it's small chassis

I would recommend this unit to any type of player...you can use it in so many ways and it's a rather unique guitarist's tool ,much more so that the average tube preamp.
and it's sound is very versatile,but not in a generic one of course
Highly recommended

I'm using it with a Gibson Les Paul Studio(stock) and a Hughes&Kettner Edition Tube. I mainly play hard-rock, metal, some blues, and similar. Sounds good for that music, I think it excells in rock to hard-rock sounds (AC/DC, The Darkness - pushed plexi sounds), but it also sounds quite good in metal teritorry, especially for solos, it has enough gain for metal. It has a very nice clean sound also. It isn't noisy, pretty silent, only at maxed gain (like all amps at maxed gain). Sounds pretty similar to my Edition Tube (when placed in the fx-loop), altho it has slightly less gain and somewhat more treble and mids, but nonetheless, similiar voicing. For now, I use it mainly as a headphone amp and a direct recording unit and it serves that purpose very good. Haven't tried using it with a cabinet so I cannot comment on how loud is it.

Half-rack single channel preamp+poweramp. It has two 12AX7 tubes in the preamp, SS poweramp with 4,5 watts. Two gain controls on the front, and a typical eq - bass, mid (pre-gain), and treble. On the back it has a lot of jacks, so it can be used as a preamp (connected to another poweramp), distortion box, complete amp when connected to a speaker, direct recording unit (it has a cabinet simulator), headphone practice amp. It also has a line/instrument level switch on the back, and a bypass switch (which is footswitchable). Has a diagram on top which tells you how to connect it for different uses.
Dunno which year it was made, but I opened it up and on the tranny it has some date from '89, so I guess it's from that time. I have the european version, Metal Master.

Very solid and sturdy, I trust H&K cause their amp has been serving me for some two years and never had any problems.

Contacted them once about my amp, answered very quickly

I've been playing for about 7-8 years, mostly hard-rock/metal, and I currently own a Gibson Les Paul Studio and a Hughes&Kettner Edition Tube. I'm satisfied with this unit, got just what I expected, I would probably buy it again if it was stolen (if I had the money) cause it has a lot of options and a lot of ways to be used (and it sounds good :)). I like the fact that it has a headphone out so I can practice late at night, and also the Cabinetulator is very handy, especially for direct recording. The only thing that I don't like so much is that the eq controls are not so responsive, not very versatile, so you're pretty much stuck with a couple of sounds (but good sounds). I chose this over the Crunch Master cause it has more gain and an eq.

The only thing is easier - DI box with no knobs on it! 2 gains, low/mid/high EQ - that's it. Besides, it has a diagram on the top - very handy! Mine came with a 19' rack adaptor. Nice touch.

I'm using a LP Studio, '83 Strat and no-name Tele Custom to Metal Master (I have a European version) then either to 50w all-tube head and/or direct to Roland VS-880 EX with Yamaha NS-10NM nearfields.
The MM is not that noisy, unless you crank both gains to a sky limits. Beware of highs - at the extreme settings MM produces unpleasant high-pitch harmonics. I thought that changing the tubes (original H&K CM1=12AX7)will help. No way! I was trying 12AX7VH, ECC83, Teslas - not too much effect. You'd better use their 'cabinetuator' in this case.
All in all, MM is pretty good for clean/crunch sound. Don't expect another Warpfactor.

Looks and feels like a German tank! Unbreakable. I would gig with this machine alone, no doubt.

The only thing I've from H&K (and the only thing I need, actually) was a manual, downloaded from their web-site.
Thinking of upgrading the MM (high-cut filter), but not sure H&K still does that. Anyway, friend of mine can do the job.

For my style of music -rock, blues - this thing is about perfect. Playing more than 20 years, I can say that MM is probably the most versatile preamp/DIbox/practice amp I've ever had. The unique feature of MM is it's ability to drive even big cabinets (mine is 2x12). And having 4w RMS it can be loud enough to wake up neighbors at 1 mile distance! I believe, that it could have sort of clean/overdrive switch instead of regular bypass/amp switch. But for that you can use a simple booster.

With a strat it can be very bright, you will set the treble control
low. With humbuckers very warm. TONS of gain, blues, rock or metal distortion levels are easy. Buy a Fender Showman if you want clean,
not this. It will, by the way, turn a mild old Fender into a beast.
I have been using it as pre-gain for an old blackface bandmaster. It will overdrive it to death. Mesa gain at a fraction of the price!
Cool as a junior practice amp.

Extremely flexible. Line driver, headphone output, multiple low level outputs, will drive a speaker cabinet directly for practice. Best for rock or heavy blues. Has a pedal bypass. 1 channel, bass, mids treble,
2 gain controls.

Very well made. No problems, extremely sturdy.

Never needed them!

Been playing for 30 years, had tons of stuff. If stolen I would find
another. Sounds MUCH better than many preamps in it price range.
Makes a GREAT overdrive for clean tube amps.

This unit can be used as a distortion box, a pre-amp, or a direct recording pre-amp. I use it for the latter. It's got gain, bass, mid, treble, and volume. Very easy to use. I got it new, but Manny's mail order was closing them out, so I got it for $203.75, inc. shipping. The manual was not with the unit, but you don't need one.

This was one of the first direct recording devices around, so I imagine compared to the Line 6 Pod or Johnson J-Station, it's not as good. I do like it better than my BBE 381 direct recording pre-amp, but I only paid $127.95 for that. There's just something about a real amp miked that doesn't get captured by these devices. However for convenience, they can't be beat...easier set-up, and you don't have to yell at your family to keep quiet when you're recording electric guitar tracks. To my ears, the H&K Metal Shredder sounds more authentic with distorted sounds than clean ones. It doesn't seem to favor humbuckers or single coils, although like any amp with the gain up, or a distortion box, you get hum with single coils.

I've mostly used it at home where it sits plugged in, and it's been reliable. I've also used it direct to PA on gigs with an acoustic-electric player (me on electric), and although it doesn't sound as good as an amp, it's easier to balance my volume with the other guitarist. And it's been totally reliable there, too.

Never dealt with Hughes & Kettner. Then again, I never needed to...

If it were lost or stolen, I'd probably buy one of the newer direct recording pre-amps like a Line 6 or Johnson. However, I don't do as much recording as I once did, so I might not replace it at all. I love the convenience, but the sound (especially clean) leaves me a little cold...it's certainly preferrable to plugging an electric gtr. right in the mixer, but once you record a Vox AC-15 or a Fender Deluxe with a Shure SM-57, and then compare it to tracks with the Shredder, it's no contest.

Crank em all to the left and your tone is there...!!!!!!

Quiet... only complaint when its off... it's off. It's a dirt box in a half rack so you had better get a preamp for clean because the levels will never satisfy your needs. Also watch out with the treble control... it'll rip your fucking head off.

Sat in the House of Guitars for 4+ years. I am surprised it works. ROADWORTH AS HELL!

Nada! Who is customer support?

For me it is a versitile distortion. I play Fusion,Metal/Harcore, etc...with the same unit.

Much more versatile than the name suggests, I play with only one setting on the amp, yet by changing pickup and volume settings I get a usable country tone, and really good (and dynamic), rock, blues and top-40 tones. Feedback capabilities are excellent.

This half rack-space tube amp (1-preamp, 1-power amp) has only one channel, with ability to bypass. It also has a self-contained Red Box cabinet simulator. Preamp gain, bass, mid, treble and master volume. Very solid and compact w/built in power supply. No wall wart!