Hughes & Kettner Tube Factor

Three knobs, two foot-switches, nothing difficult. After reading the manual, especially the notes about the VOICING control, it is very easy to get a good sound out of it.

The GOOD TONE is a very subjective term.

Ibanez RG550 (modded) > Radial BigShot PB-1 > Xotic RC Booster SH Signature > H&K TUBE FACTOR > MXR M-108 10-Band EQ > Zoom G9.2tt > Orange Tiny Terror > Celestion Blue in the opened-back cabinet

Comments on FACTOR 1 mode of this pedal :
FACTOR 1 mode with GAIN full up gives me some beautiful amp-like overdrive. In fact I prefer Tube Factor's FACTOR 1 overdrive to the Tiny Terror's preamp distortion. Blends with amp's distortion very well. Tube Factor can be successfully boosted by some clean boost or light OD (RC Booster) to enhance it's overdrive. In the FACTOR 1 mode there isn't much gain. Not enough gain for heavy overdrive and I'd say even not enough for medium overdrive - depends on the pickups. FACTOR 1 gives some wonderful dynamic light tube overdrive, period.

Comments on FACTOR 2 mode of this pedal :
Nice medium to semi-heavy overdrive (distortion). I don't use it very much because I find it to be very compressed for my taste.

One more note :
In my particular setup (Tiny Terror has only one tone control) is equalizer pedal after the Tube Factor a must.

No problems yet. Seems to be high quality product. Only time will show though.

I play mainly blues, blues-rock with hint of jazz. I've been playing for 14 last years (a few years off).
I wish it would came stock with the OKKO mod and a true-bypass.
Compared to the Tonebone Classic (which I also own) is Tube Factor definitely better and much more amp-like sounding to my ears.
I would buy it again.

Easy to use, 2 switches. Green LED for OD sounds, red for more rock/metal tones.3 knobs gain, master and voicing(EQ section). Simple to dial in usable sounds straight off the bat.

Using an old Japanese strat, a Tokai AST56 strat and a Burny Les paul thru Fender Blues deluxe and Peavey Classic 212. Also use a TS9(analogman mod), Sunface fuzz and V848 wah. Very quiet, I use it on the clean channel on my amps, gain between 3-5 o clock, output 9-10 and voicing 2-3. Great OD sounds, I can use pretty much any amp with a decent clean channel and have my sound right there. I can get a nice overdriven blues/rock tone with OD1 and then switch on OD2 for hendrixy rhythms(Spanish Castle Magic tone) and heavy rock OD.

Absolutely dependable. Rock solid construction. Have it set up in my pedal box the last 4 years and have gigged the f**k out of it! Also changed the stock tube in it with a JJ12AX7 but to be honest didnt notice much of a difference. I also experimented with an old 12AY7 but it sounded like crap..

Never dealt with them. I think my warranty is expired though(I own it over 4 years...

Great for all the styles I play. Standard blues rock, modern covers and my original indie/rock stuff. I'm playing 20 years and I reckon that this my most invaluable pedal.I would definitely buy another. The only quibble I'd have with this pedal is that the volume seems to drop a little when using OD2. But thats what my TS9 is for I guess. I look at OD2 as just more rock/metal overdrive rather than a boost for OD1.

Hughes and Kettner Tube Factor stomp box - real tube drive. Three knobs: volume, gain and voicing(shaping sort of, not EQ). EQ would be grat but hey.....

When you get it in your ear you can use it with just any guitar you like. The units hart is an ECC83 tube driven by true voltage of cca. 390V!!! there is and electric adapter and batteries are not an option. I'm using it with my Twin Reverb from 1979 and frankly I don't know how would I be able to play my music without this stomp box. I hear people say this is not a good pedal but it's not my fault if they are simple minded. If you experiment with different tubes you can shape it even more to your taste.

It's very dependable and rigid unit. Very nice also.....the blue lighting of the plexi is nice.....no backup with this one.

Hughes and Kettner is a German company, enough said.

Pedal has a voicing knob wich is basicaly a middle control knob. Not like EQ as I said but as a shaper for mids. So you can get very open warm vintage OD or a brutal modern high gain distortion. I play music from punk rock to blues and I only use a TS808 as an additional boost for solos. Has two Factors. First is OD and second is lead distortion. It's like two stages. My option with TS808 after it is also great since the TS808 benefits greatly from being driven from Tube Factor so tone is very good like this. TS808 also adds treble for soloing so again EQ is what this pedal would need. But than again there is the Tube Factors big brother Tubeman from Hughes and Kettner available.

Pretty easy : drive, output, voicing. Even a monkey would be able to use it. My only complain is that you may lack control in your sound directly from the pedal.

I love the blue lighten pannel!

I'm using the Tube factor with an ESP M-207 guitar (7 string) loaded with a Dimarzio Evolution 7. Setup is :
Guitar ---- H&K tube factor ---- BBE Sonic stomp maximiser ---- directly into the power section of my Laney TT100h halfstack (loaded with KT77 powertubes). I removed the Ruby tube and replace it with a JJ ECC803S Golgpins high gain selected.

As I only use the factor two, this review is only based on it. Sounds huge!! Has all the gain I need to play in my melodic death metal band! Sound is really tight, with good articulation and definition. Drive maxed out, output at noon, voicing at noon. Sound very aggressive. I use an ECC803S because those tubes has some extra mids, so I can get a more balanced sound through my setup. Maybe I will try a Harma tube to get that mid spike but with even more gain. The result I get is pretty unique...!

I'm thinking about using a 31 band EQ unit just to see if I could find out a better sound ; as I'm plugged directly into the power section of my amp, I lack control on my sound as there is no EQ section between the guitar and the speakers. I will also try with E34L because they sound more aggressive than KT77... but for now it sound ********** good!

I'm not giving it a 10 because it does not sound as good as a VHT, Soldano or Splawn but for the price (I paid it a hunded box... that's almost stolen!!) I'm totally kicking those boutique amps in the nuts!!!

Built like a tank... would endure throwing as far as you can (maybe not the tube, but the pedal yes!!)

I've been playing for 7 years now, and I suffer from GAS so I owned a lot of stuff and played a huge lot too! But this little unit really surprises me! As said, not Soldano sound but an incredible sound/price!

This is so easy-even my drummer could figure it out!

This is really what it's all about isn't it! I have a ton of OD/DST boxes both analog and tube(Twin Tube classic, Tone Bone, Varidrive,
EMMA, Keeley modded OD-9.DGTM, and on and on....)and I'm constantly switching pedals (there must be a name for this disorder)The Tube Factor is the most dynamic, big sounding, articulate pedal I own!I use channel two the most because it is totally crunchy and the voicing is superb. My other tube pedals sound muddy compared to the Tube Factor! This pedal is very expensive but you don't need to spend thousands of dollars on OD's like I have. Get this one and stop your search! I have to give this pedal a 10 because I have not heard a better pedal(and I've heard most of em)

I've had it for a couple years-no problems whatsoever!

Had lots of H&K products(including the Access pre-amp)and never had a problem

I've been playing guitar since 1980 and I've had enought gear to fill a house! I currently have some pretty good stuff-mostly rack gear but my pre-amps are Groove Tubes Trio, Marshall JMP-1, ADA-MP1, Hafler Hellrazor and a few great tube amps so I know what a good sound is. I also own and operate a recording studio. Like I said-after owning this OD for a couple years I am still in love with the sound-if I could only have one OD this would be it! The truth is no non tube OD has the dynamics of a tube OD.

Easy enough to use. Has an output drive and comtour that control both factors 1 & 2. I'm sending mine to Okko in Germany to have it modded for seperate controls. That's my only gripe with this pedal right now. In stock form factor 2 seems to be way louder than factor 1.

I'm using this with a Mojave Peacemaker which has a fair amount of gain for a plexi style amp, but this sucker absolutely sets it on fire. I just got rid of two of my favorite Keeley modded o/d and dist units. IMHO, this is much more natural sounding; it enhances your amp and responds and feels more like a tube amp. I use factor 1 for a little more grit...great for early EVH tones and factor 2 for more aggressive modded JCM 800 type stuff. I'm sure as with any gear, it's just a matter of finding the "ingredients" and it might not sound this good through other amps, but I love this thing. It seems to enhace my amps distortion; it still sounds like my amp, just more gain. I highly recommend a good attenuator and this pedal for those looking to squeeze a little more quality gain out of JTM/Plexi or even JCM 800.

Don't know yet

Not sure yet

Although I absolutely love the way this pedal sounds, as I mentioned before, I'm shelling out the 69 euros to have it modded b/c for live applications, the awesome tones are somewhat wasted b/c of the discrepencies in volume b/w factors 1 & 2. I'm not familiar with Okko's stuff, but I've heard good things, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed. Sounwise, if you have an amp that you like but want a little more grit; I highly recommend this pedal.

it's easy to get a good sound, maybe a bit harder to fully understand the controls, mainly the interaction between "drive" & "voicing", the third control being "output"

I use this mainly with a Les Paul Classic and Micro Cube on Classic Stack (Marshall) mode, and the crunch sound is just as fat as on all my favourite bluesy rock albums by the Stones, Jeff Beck Group, Black Crowes, etc.
So I don't agree that it shouldn't be used in front of a tranny amp. No doubt a tube amp would yield even better results, but with a good tranny Tube Factor fattens the sound very nicely indeed.
And it's not noisy at all.

It's strudy, back up not needed unless you're paranoid ;)

Like I said it's good for what I play and have been playing for the last 20 odd years. The best OD I've had. Would replace if it was stolen. It could have separate controls for the two factors, but I don't find the jump from 1 to 2 that drasctic using my settings: Drive: 3 o'clock, Output: 11 o'clock, Voicing: 3 o'clock
for an almost clean sound I dial in D:9 O:11 V:3... with that I don't want to switch to Factor 2!

Easy to adjust. Hard to get the sound I wanted.

DO NOT use this in front of a solid state amp. It WILL NOT make it sound like a tube amp. I could not get a good sound out of it at all.
However, in front of a Marshall tube amp, it sounds okay. It tends to color the sound too much, though. It made my Marshall sound too different. It really does work more as a volume and gain booster.
Good for adding some extra attack to your solos, but subtracts from your rhythym sound too much.

Solid and well built as with all H&K equipment.

I sent this pedal back after using it for 2 weeks. You can only use it plugged into an AC outlet, no battery. It is VERY big. It doesn't do what I expected it to do. Not a good sound, no matter what settings I picked. Not enough crunch, sustain, or tone. Not good for metal, but works good as a boost of your clean sound. That's about the only thing I liked about it.

Not that easy to use since you only have 3 knobs, they really should have provided more controls (two gain/volume/eq) so you could avoid making bad compromises.
Noiseless switching, remote if needed.
True bypass or not? I can't state, use it always on as a clean channel or in a true-bypass external looper.
I give 5 for the lack of controls which makes this product unsatisfying.

In a clean channel config, as a deluxe interface between guitar/effects and amp(or mixer) it sounds way good, warm and fat. The eq is not well-suited in this mode, not effective enough. Also, the sound can be far too fat, nothing to do to avoid this.
Acoustic nylon-compressor-clean tube factor: a good warm tone, very enjoyable and present. Too present maybe.

In the intended use, between guitar and amp, well I don't like it much. Too fat&bassy, for one part, and the only gain knob doesn't let punchy guitars use it in a two channel operation. Because then the first mode(overdrive) is louder than the second one (distortion)!
With weak guitars (eric johnson strat, std strat, std tele) this is not the case and it's ok volume-wise.

Note that the overall eq of mode 2 is darker, more closed. It ain't matching the first mode well. Quite stupid I think.

The sound being far too fat&bassy as well as not volume-matched for my guitars, I found a cure with a tubescreamer ts7 always on (drive on 10 o', tone at 5 o', volume at noon, mode on ts9):
The tubescreamer having a lo-cut filter cleans up the sound, and the volume drop you can achieve lets you use punchy guitars like wimpy ones in order to have the proper volume matching between ch1 and 2.
Of course if you don't have a looper you have to dance with switches, pretty annoying.

The sound basis itself is way good, dynamic and delicious harmonics-wise. They really should provide better control capabilities in order to make this product a grown-up one.
No noise whatsoever, given the price asked it's the least they could do...

Physically yes, tonally no because of the lack of controls you couldn't adapt your sound to the venue very well.
Also, the wall-psu is unconvenient at best (cable too short and not confidence-inspiring at all).
I would have prefered a built-in adapter, the unit is already big'n'heavy, wouldn't change much...

Good communication, but it always come to the importer of your country: if he's an as**ole you're stuck.
The company itself answered my mails with appropriate answers (even technical ones) in very short time, so I am rating Hughes&Kettner high here.

I sure won't buy it again because it is bad-tuned for my needs, AND totally lacks controls.
Of course it is a classy tube di box for acoustic guitars, as well as an interface for mixer or non-guitar amps, but a costly one too.
The set-up I like best: guitar-sansamp original- clean tube factor- ibanez parrot box amplifier interface- bass amp. Makes a lot of stuff, uh? Won't rely on this live, I can tell you.

Bottom line: wimpy pickups asked, and be sure to check first if the color of the pedal suits your amp, it could suit a trannie but absolutely not a deluxe reverb.
Big deception for some...

Very easy to handle - two channels, volume, gain and voicing poti.

I usually use this one with Strats, Teles or Les Pauls. It has some nice sounds, especially in the 2nd channel. The first channel sounds quite harsh and too synthetic. Another problem is that the Tube Factor doesn't go along well with all kinds of amps - for example it sounds very good with a Fender Bandmaster, but very "flat" with the clean channel of a Marshall JCM 2000.

Never had any problems - seems to be high quality.

This thing is nice to use it at home or for practicing. The quality is allright, too. The problem is that especially clean or crunch sounds are too "hard" and therefore I prefer to get the sounds out of my amp, not out of the Tube Factor.