Hughes & Kettner

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ifailedshapes

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Hello all,

I've really been leaning towards a Stiletto being my next amp purchase, but I have recently rediscovered Hughes & Kettner amps. Does anyone on here have much experience with H&K? I'm looking for real, unbiased answers, please.

Thanks!
 
Holdsworth loves 'em and so does Lifeson but I haven't played one myself. I saw Holdsworth play with one last year and his tone was f'ing epic.
 
So I've come to this conclusion: while Hughes and Kettner amps sound incredible (I've played a Duotone combo in Guitar Center a few times and loved it), I've read way too many reliability issues. I know Mesas aren't perfect, but you don't hear about many people receiving bad amps, especially not multiple bad amps in succession. I've read a few stories about people having a H&K amp go bad on them and their replacement amp having another problem. One person even said he worked for a music store that finally refused to carry them!
 
Do this. Scroll down and look through all of the topics posted on the Stiletto Series forum.
Often, if people have a problem with their amp they bring it up on a forum for help resolving it.
Not just the Boogie Board, any gear forum.
As you look though the topics here you will be hard pressed to find one complaint or issue with the Stiletto.
Oh, sure maybe a tube or footswitch cable has gone bad but rarely if any problems with the amp itself.
I could tell that my Stiletto has been rock solid for years but I'm just one case.
The forum speaks volumes.

Good luck

Oh yeah, are you looking at the Deuce or Ace?

Riff
 
I've been using Mesa stuff for years. You don't have to talk me into understanding how reliable they are. :)
 
hughes and kettners are good sounding amps, im not sure if they are as versatile as mesa, but they are definitely good at what they do. I like some other people have heard about some of their durability concerns, and for an amp that expensive thats a big risk. I've been using mesa for 3 years now and i haven't had a single problem yet.
 

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