Hughes & Kettner Edition Blonde

I think my amp is one of the early ones, with 40 W output. Sorry to say all the stickers are gone though. I bought it used for 2000 SEK in 2001. The normal bass, middle and treble knobs, volume on clean channel and gain and volume on lead channel, then an overall master volume. Channel switching, line in/out, headphone jack. A reverb that I never use. I really wish it had an external speaker jack, I'm gonna fix that myself now. It's the "clean" channel that really shines on this little solid-state amp but I never use it "clean". The lead channel sucks big time, very saturated and trebly. This amp plays loud, I have only used it in rehearsals but I'm sure it will be loud enough for smaller venues, I'm playing rhythm/lead/slide with a rock'n'blues band.

I play a Tradition G10 strat style w. three single-coils and a 1981 Washburn Falcon w. two humbuckers.
When turning "clean" channel volume over 12 o'clock the "Soft Click" circuit start to work and a very nice tubey sound comes alive. I usually put volume on maximum and push the slight overdrive even further with a Behringer Blues Overdrive set as a booster (level at 3 o'clock, tone at 9, gain at zero), it's transparent and makes the amp react just like a good all-tube amp! A warm, very useful sound with lots of harmonics, great for heavy rhythm and even lead! When I roll off the volume on the guitar to about half I get a cleaner overdriven sound for rhythm. To get the extra lead-punch I use a Gollmer The Blues (gain at 10 o'clock, tone at 9-10, volume at 3-4) or my old Carlin Kompressor (gain at zero, dist at zero, volume at 2-3 o'clock), depends on what kind of lead sound I want. A little noisy with the compressor. I use the master volume to get the desired volume. I recently found out how good my amp sounds when I had a chance to A/B it with the Peavey ValveKing 112. I was thinking about getting an all-tube amp and the ValveKing has been getting very good reviews, I borrowed one to test and with intention to buy it. I was astonished to find that my Edition Blonde sounded better than the Valveking! The ValveKing is a good amp but lacked the warmth of my Edition Blonde. I chose to stick to my Edition Blonde and saved 3995 SEK. Maybe I'll use some of that money to buy a booster or line driver to put in the line in/line out chain to get a slight volume boost for leads without more distortion. I sometimes bi-amp to a Laney RBW 100 (bass amp) if I wanna play real loud.

I've had no problems at all with it so far. I'm actually thinking of getting another Edition Blonde or Silver instead of the Laney RBW 100 I sometimes bi-amp with.

Never had to contact Hughes & Kettner.

I've been playing for 30 years. Been using Randall solid state amp head, Music Man combo, Marshall stack, Fender combo, LAB combo, "Roller" a swedish tube amp head from the 80's on which I completely rebuilt the preamp myself (probably the best sounding amp I've had).
If my Edition Blonde would be lost or stolen I would absolutely try to find another, they're pretty cheap to get second-hand.
I wish it had the same great sound at the lead channel as at the clean channel, but with more gain.

Purchased the amp via ebay and I am not sure what year the amp was made. It was made in Germany however. Has in- out, Headphones and foot switch. I wish that it had a built in redbox like the Edition Tube. Played it in a small 100 person venue the other night and it was perfect. I usually use a boss gt-6 but I didnt use it for anything other than tuning and volume. The amp has "that" sound. I had it bi-amped to a Marshall lead 15 mini stack. I know that this sounds tremedously gay, but it sounded huge! I had my little pocket of quitar heaven right there on the stage. Just enough volume to groove but I could hear those other guys I'm forced to play with. There were several guys there who are gear queers and were offended that it was not tube! I appolgised for offending there sensibilities.

It is very limited in its appeal. If you play blues/ classic rock. This is the grail. I was shocked how warm and tubie it sounded. I usually play thru a Marshall half stack 77 super lead master volume mod. But it was just too loud for the small clubs that we are playing these days. I have a couple of superstrat jacksons, my main love in life just now is a 72 tele delux reissue. The amp just sparkles with that guitar. The clean is very AC15 ish. The distortion is my marshall at 11 on a good day with ear muffs firmly in place. The reverb is quite nice. I have an external delay that just makes the amp shine.

I would catagorically depend on it however I think a DI told me once: " Two is one and one is none. If you dont have the tools you cant get paid..... (take a backup for everything. This includes batteries power cords, dental floss.)

Havent delt with them yet.

I've been playing since 1977, Yehaw. Still broke. I own 2 jacksons pre fender, 2 fender strats, 1 tele, and a status bass. If it were stolen I would hunt down the jaquass who stole it and kill him/her and his/her entire family, every one he/she ever spoke to and would burn down his/her house. But thats just me. I have played fender vibrolux, Marshalls, and Vox. I would say this amp has the sound that I have been seeking. Marshalls are just a bit warmer sounding. I wish that the amp had a built in redbox. That would be great. For the money it is the absolute bomb. they should start making them again.

The I have was made around 98' 99'. Ive noticed a lot have 50 watt amps mine is rated at 40 watt rms. Could be it because I bought mine in the USA vs Europe? The amp section is referred to as current feed back if that helps the techies out there.
2 channels, 3 band eq, Line in / out, Headphones, footswitch, reverb. No CD in so it may have been an early model. Celestion RockDriver 12" speaker.
Most Needed...Where is the external speaker jack!?

I use an Ash Strat style guitar with three prewired single coil EMG's
I can get it to cover a good range of styles without too much noise at the heavier end. The preamped picks ups help me get more cruch out of the clean setting if I need it too. A couple effect in the right spot and Ive pulled off more shows than you might believe. Styles were (mostly) classic rock/pop or rhythm & blues

Dependable. Yes.
My back up is only good for exercise these days, but I do carry it.
Never needed service yet. 5 years heavy use.

no history with support people but, a good web site.

Ive been playing about 23 yrs. A couple guitars nothing to special except mine main electric. Some stomp boxes like H&K rotosphere, DODvibrothang, Cry Baby, L6 delay modler. If I lost it Id find another one somewhere. Pretty rare for a small amp. I can only compare it to that 65watt solid state thing that SansAmp put out or a small but real tube amp. Ironicaly chosen in a hurried choice for an inexpensive practice amp.

The main features are as follows:

2 channel (clean, lead); shared 3-band EQ; spring reverb; CD input, line input, line output and headphone output (switches speaker off).

It is a solid state, 50 Watt electric guitar combo with a 12 inch Celestion Rockdriver Jr. speaker, in a creamy "blonde" finish.

I use this amp for band practice in a small hall and the ocational small gig and it has prooved loud enough for that, but would stuggle in any more demanding circumstances.

I play a Tanglewood Chicago (ES335 style, 2 hubuckers) and two heavilly customised Tele's (one has had three Lace Sensors fitted, blue, gold and red; and one is Esquire style (no neck pickup) with a Seymour Duncan Little '59 in the bridge). I played many other amps at this price range when I bought this (Marshall, Laney, Peavy, Line 6, Crate, etc.) and none of them suited my style. As soon as I played this I knew it was right for me. It's not the most versitile of amps, but what it does, it does well. A lot of amps these days are heavy on effects and features, and seem to be aimed towards the heavey rockers. I need a subtle and controlable distortion coupled with 'jangley' clean sounds, which this does very well.

I have owned this amp for nearly five years and it's lugged (in a Land Rover) to and from the practice hall each week. It's taken some bashings and has withstood them all easilly. The only thing is, being blonde, it shows the dirt!

Not needed in the 5 years I've owned this amp.

I've been playing for 14 years and currently play in two bands (one cover band and one doing original material). As well as the guitars mentioned above, I have a Washburn J10 acoustic, an Ovation Celebrity electro and a crafter electro; Danelectro and Marshall effects; Studiomaster 16-4-2 mixer and stage monitors; Tascam DA-20 DAT; Fostex 8 track HDD recorder and Tannoy studio monitors.

There are two other features I would have liked: seperate EQ for each channel and an extenal cab output.

If it were lost or stolen I would be tempted to upgrade to a half-stack, but I'll stick with it for now. As the Blonde was a truely limited edition (500 in the UK), an exact replacement would be very difficult to find!



One note: In a review on 11/21/2000 07:29 'Ben' said, "NO GOOD AT ALL TO ANYONE who IS A COMPETENT MUSICIAN". If you test a wide range of amps and manufacturers you will find the right amp for you. I consider myself a competent musician and wouldn't have been so stupid to buy an amp I hated!

read the other reviews for the features
only gripe is i cant hook it up to external cab

I play through a Fender MIM Strat. I play punk,rock,classic rock,ska,blues, and almost any style of music imaginable. One thing I really like about the amp is the master volume control. If I put the clean channel gain on 5, i get a nice, clean and glassy sound. If I turn the clean gain all the way up, i get a nice distorted, crunchy clean sound which is great for blues using the neck pickup on my strat. The gain is more classic rock oriented, so when i play other styles, i usually use one of my many pedals. So the amp sounds great by itself for blues and classic rock and also some ska, and can also sound great with pedals for other styles. The reverb sounds ok, nothing spectacular

Very very solid. I've dropped it a coupla times, nothing serious, but its held up rather nicely. I would personally never gig without a backup, so thats that. Pretty solid though

never had to deal with them, but i hear theyre very good to deal with

I've been playing for 2-3 years now. I bought this because the price was right and I needed a smaller bedroom type amp. I can practice and could probably get away with gigging small shows with this puppy. Overall a very nice sounding amp, nothing amazing, but good. For the price I paid I would most definitely buy it again. My only real gripe is that you can't hook up an external speaker cab.

Great amp. what I thought was just a practice amp turned out to be a lot more. 2 channels with switching, clean and overdrive, reverb, decent e/q

excelent sound, use a Ric 360/12 in the clean channel, a G&l in the distortion side which is controllable, from lite blues to heavy overdrive

No problems what so ever

Don't know, have not had to use it

Went in for a practice amp, it was cheap, made sure it worked, then I found out what I had purchased when I got it home. To play through a PA use the effects line out to your board.

Made in Germany (I guess). I play blues, rock, hardrock and heavy and this amp gives great sounds to all of those, even to blues, even tough it isn't a tubeamp. It has 2 channels, with channel switch..
I use this amp at home and in the 'office' and it has enough noise to beat our nutcase drummer.

I'm using a Gibson SG with p90 humpbuckers and a strat-copy with one humb and two single coils. The amp sounds great with both of those and works very well with my multiefect mystery korg ax1000g. It sounds very good at any volume. I can get any sound I want from it.. From toney clean sounds to hardrock and old heavy sounds, it's just the amp I need.

I've dropped this once and my friend has dropped it once, and anything didn't happen. But I still wouldn't try pouring coke on it.

I've played about two and a half year and i love this amp.. If it would be stolen I'd propably by another one just the same.
For this price this amp should be a classic.

This amp has a shared EQ for clean and lead channels. It has reverb, a line in/line out fx loop, a footswitch out and headphones out. It has 50 watts rms. The speaker is a celestion, customised for the amp. There are no switches except to change channels.

I use a Fender Mexican Standard Telecaster, and this amp does not compliment my sound at all. The clean channel isn't too bad and can almost hint at a tubey sound. The lead channel is very cold and dull and never feels alive, dynamics are irrelevant to this thing. The reverb is extremely shoody and sounds like it has travelled through all of trhe electronics. At any high channel volumes the sound becomes harsh quickly, with clashing reverb being a major problem. I play many styles from blues/rock to clean jazz ( no high gain shredding here though) and although have only gigged with this amp once, I am quite often a gigging guitarist. I wouldn't redcommend this one for gigs though, although it is loud enough for the smallest gigs. The amp hums a lot on the lead channel. For a beginner this sound ok. Tones on offer are fairly diverse- scooped mid sound is available as well as middle bassy blues (though it does the scooped mid sound better, which is contradictory to what it should do!!). Don't come here looking for high sound quality- only if u r on a budget!

Has had tea, coffee, food, spliff and fag ash all over it, but still works fine- absolutely no faults with this aspect.

I have no idea due to the above

Its Ok- but if u want balls out tone, sustain and a loving connection between player and amp- look elsewhere. This amp will leave you crying when you can no longer handle the cruel , cold, harsh sound that emerges from the speaker, as you try to nail 'that sound'. NO GOOD AT ALL TO ANYONE who IS A COMPETENT MUSICIAN. If you are beginning, then I suppose you can't go too far wrong.

I'm just mad that you can't plug in an extra cab or into a PA

I bang it around a lot, and blast it all the time, i haven't had anything wrong with it.

i really like this thing, i can't ask for anything else in an amp...unless it had boobies or something...you get it.

This is a limited edition amp same as the Edition 1 except it is tweed colored with an oxblood grill cloth. This is a 1x12" combo. 50 watt solid state amp with 2 switchable channels and an effects loop. It has a marvelous clean sound. I compared it with a 1965 Fender Tremolux and it does a very nice impression of a tube amp with a little more bass than Tremolux has. It is very loud, and gives a Brittish style distortion in the lead channel. I prefer the crunch it gives me in the clean channel by maxing the pre-amp volume and using the master to control my overall volume. It has bass, mid, and trebble ajsustments, preamp volume, lead volume, gain and a master volume. I can also plug in an external cab if desired. This is such a sweet sounding amp, I get reall great Strat tones through it with my MIM Strat. I also play a Telecaster throught it. I play it in church and at home. It is my only amp at the moment. The only thing it lacks is a lo-z output to plug into a PA.

As I mentioned the Strat sounds wonderfull through it when played clean. However I prefer to use my Tele with Seymour Duncan Vintage stack pups when I play distortion and overdrive through it. This is a very quiet amp in the clean stage and has the usual gain noise when in the lead channel. I've found that when played clean and volume really cranked it doesn't break up to easily unless the the pre-amp volume is maxed. However the output in the pups makes a big difference. I tried a friends Tele-copy with humbuckers in the neck and bridge and that guitar caused it to break up much earlier and was a bit smoother in the high gain preamp stage. (not in the lead channel). Distortion in the lead channel is very saturated. One could easily crank out heavy metal with this amp if so desired. Since it also does a nice tube impression in the clean channel, I'd say it would also make for a nice blues style amp. Very versatile.

I've had the amp for a litttle less than a year. I've not had any problems with it and I don't expect I will. One can tell the quality by feeling the way the knobs work, and the way it is put together. Very solid with mostly closed back. The amp is texture painted and seems to be very tough.

I did e-mail Hughes and Kettner and they were very quick and accurate in there responce. I did not have a problem, I was simply inquiring about a feature.

I've been playing accoustic guitars for about 25 years. I've only been playing electric for about 3 of those years. I also own a Zoom GFX-8 that I use when playing live. However I simply plug straight into my amp when practicing at home. If it were lost or stolen I would be SOL so to speak. They no longer make this amp and it would be difficult to find another. H&K made 10,000 of them. That makes 1000 per country they are sold in. My dealer on had 4 of each color and when he tried to get more he could not. The biggest reason I bought this amp was purely because of its wonderful tone and enormouse amount of volume for the money.