I'm thankful to be one of the few to get one early here in the USA and can't wait to get this rig all set up for future performances, rehearsals and sessions!

The Hughes & Kettner Grandmeister Deluxe 40 is incredible! You wont regret it. I was not up on current Hughes and Kettner amps and frankly the size of them looked toyish to me.

After searching for months for a replacement tube amp for my beloved but extremely weighty Fender Concert Reverb II (80s era Rivera model), I discovered this lovely amp head. Does it sound better than the Road King, nope, but it sounds pretty damned good and it cuts like a knife. I replaced all the Chinese tubes with JJ's and now it sounds great. Lastly, don even waste your time with playing single coil pickups on this. on May 31, 2020, By Jeremiah Conner An added bonus is the soft case for it.

This is quite the amazing amplifier and it's my very fist fancy tube amp! Create a username and password below and an account will be created and your post entered. I have tons of amp sims for tracking di guitars, I have a kemper in my possession at the moment as well. But for me, this amp covers so many bases, it's really a Swiss Army knife.

Better than most of the pedals I own as well. After buying the GrandMeister Deluxe 40, I had trouble registering the warranty on their website. 2 amps with different problemsthe signs are there for me to move on..I really wanted this amp to be great, but God has a different plan for me. I primarily play metal and have owned 6505 before this.

Thanks to my sales rep, Aaron Cieslikowski, in making sure I recieved my order BEFORE Christmas and for following up afterwards too. Crunch channel will hit all your AC/DC tones and 70's tones.

Hint, hint.

But on the clean channel, there isn't enough there. Build quality is excellent. Incredible tone and responsiveness. So I'm competing with acoustic drums, another guitar player, a 2x10 bass rig and two singers. I don't give credit easy but when it's deserved an I do I unleash. First impressions are great, but with that being said over the course of a year I gave it a big time run through. Didn't matter what I didn to eq it was mosquito like. So if kept trying amp after amp. Fender Mustangs are getting this done on their low end models, so I expect better here. Use my jcm800 live use the Tubemiester for recording and practicing an home. Help other music gear aficionados by sharing your opinions of gear you've purchased. Besides, add that extra delay on the back end of the loop or some boost effect on the front if you like. Well this is my first review of anything.

Sure, you can do that all in one library, but for no-brainer click-and-go on Sunday, this is a huge blessing.

, H&K says in the manual that it only needs about 30 seconds on standby before playing so its ready to go quick. But if you're a rock, metal or even blues player who doesn't mind a tiny bit of grit in your clean, this amp is perfection, all around. from Kentucky on January 12, 2017, Music Background: Playing off and on since the late 80's, By Mike MacSherry This sucker is loud! Yes, it can do metal. This amp will cover so many different genre's of music it is ridiculous. If there's a bad tone in this amp, I haven't found it yet and neither has anyone else who's played through it.

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Out of the box I had a power tube short withing a first 30mins. I preferred to change the tubes to all JJ, and that is a smart move if you prefer more old-school tone (the stock tubes are ok, but a bit harsher sounding). It sounds great at all Watts and Volume levels. I can easily get shimmery cleans, British roar and modern high gain.

Ok when you say it's one of the best amps in the world I'm selling a few pedals off my board that I won't need any more Switching between clean to ultra thru my Helix effects is just awesome! Amp itself sounds fine but not very impressed. Its a shame it didn't work out for me, as I fell in love with the dirty sound of this amp. I read on forums that everyone almost immediately swaps tubes to fit their needs as some do like that fizzy sound. This probably sounds good to me because I prefer digital distortion and these effects are digital.

Amp is stupid easy to use and I had it figured out in about 2 minutesBUTI was less than thrilled with the tone of the amp when it first arrived. on January 13, 2022, By Douglas Elliott

What an amp. Your email, test has been entered to win this giveaway. Until a while ago I wasn't really aware of what Hughes & Kettner was doing. Best of both worlds for me. Fire breather. My Majesty and Strat both sound great on it for different reasons. Go find one and see for yourself, or take my advice and just buy one. perhaps a 9 v supply on the back and a volume pedal on the controller controller. All I use is a compressor going into the amp for a little more "oomph" on both guitars and that pretty much works. This amp has some really great, modern sounds. Better than any modeling amp I have heard. Not good.

I have been waiting to get this head for a while..I LOVE amps that have built in effectsgreat amplots of awesome tone and really awesome to be able to store so many different presetsthank you so much Lindsey Becker at Sweetwater for your constant support and help you provide.I am SO happy that I finally got this head and the 36 month NO INTEREST financing is a big helpSWEETWATER rules!!!!!!!!! All the knobs where set to roughly noon by default and even at those settings it sounded amazing. It is not a 6505 but I would say you can get something comparable with some tweaking. Stunning piece of gear.

Really nice gradual master volume control. I am to old to change my playing style so to ebay it went.

from shirley NY on July 8, 2019, Music Background: pro guitarist studio owner, By Dave The EQ is pretty sensitive when shaping tone which is great. Just get it! There's no doubt that Hughes & Kettner has set a new standard for guitar amplifiers.

It still has the stock tubes and sounds amazing through the H&K Vintage 30 loaded 2x12.

from Centereach NY on January 29, 2017, By SMS I have the full setup with the midi, app, everything, and it can be overwhelming at times, trying to set all the presets and get everything just right. It is free. For last 10 years I've been using a Line 6 Spider Valve Mkii. from Northeastern NJ on January 3, 2017, Music Background: Church worship leader, gigging lead guitarist, By Robert The distortion is now smooth and has incredible articulation. Not that there is anything wrong with it. No more carrying around huge peddle boards which I spent thousands of dollars on. The clean tone has a beautiful tone that is jus great sound. There was word of the H&K forums that this amp was geared towards metal only. Drop the highs and push the lows with some resonance and it turns into 80's metal. It's a great amp and it's very practical. I could not put my finger on it at first being that H and K makes great stuff. Recommend the 2x12 cab standing on end, and the foot switch is essential - Its really rugged and the pedals are so well space I never hit the wrong one. And the power soak feature is very pleasing to the wife and neighbors when practicing. You could run it to a center cab and take a line out, from either the Redbox or elsewhere, feed a Lexicon, Eventide, t.c. The sounds that come from this thing are great. This little toaster cooks. It is easy and only took me 5 minutes to figure it out. from NYC NY on May 20, 2021, Music Background: Not professional, but not bad, By Steve Johnson I"ve had this amp a few months now and I couldn"t be happier with it. Like the smartphones we carry today, I like the Line 6 because I can instantly change from one tube patch to another. 4) Effects To my ear the effects are great. they are that good. Why this company would sell this in the USA is a complete mystery. Throw in the 2x12 cab and foot switch and you will be set! I'm going to be getting the Grandmeister Deluxe 40 soon. Metal? It has it's own flavor and while it heads in the direction of other major amp voicings on some of the channels, the flavor is still very distinctly H&K, and that's a very good thing IMHO.

The effects are surprising and very usable. All in all i'm very happy, the onboard effects are nice to have (especially to save some quick patches with the midi foot controller which is a must with this amp too) but if you have nice Reverb/Delay/Chorus pedals, it probably won't replace them. 2. If you need clean headroom, this amp isn't for you. I then read through all their warranty information. Hughes & Kettner have captured a bit of magic in this series of amps. I was somewhat skeptical of this amp when I first purchased it after much research and comparison to other amps out there. I cant use it at anywhere near full volume in my music room - very powerful and makes my Friedman 2x12 sing and scream.

It works equally great with humbuckers and single coils and sounds great from clean to massively overdriven. from CT on May 2, 2018, By Michael Becker The lead channel, lower the bass and push a little highs and mids and you can nail a lot of the 80's tones. The distortion sounds great to my ear.

Plus the midi footswitch works without a hitch in storing any created presets and channel switching or boost and fx triggering. from Idaho on March 17, 2019, By George Garcia You are not going to go wrong with this investment. Played it at church gigs, and with my original metal band. These are the magic buttons on this amp. Each patch holds any combo of amp settings and FX.

This would be awesome in a live situation and has proved invaluable in the studio providing instant recall of settings for emergency retakes. You are getting your monies worth here. I thought I would try one of these and purchased a year ago from Sweetwater. Of course there is going to be bias. I recommend getting the midi controller with it. If you're upgrading from the 36 don't expect your settings for that amp to carry over as the 40 is clearly tuned differentlyyou'll have to re-EQ but the end results will be better. They just can't handle the heat like a big bottle valve. CONS: I feel the build quality is a little lacking. Put the dials to noon on any channel and it sounds great and gives you a good starting point to work with. I wrote a review of the Fender For anyone that doesnt know it, it was light years ahead of its time A programmable tube amp with excellent foot controller. A thoroughly fantastically designed and built amp head. Simple to dial in sounds, and its not too loud. Built in effects, midi capable, cab emulation, programmable presets, DI for recording. I have a great Def Leppard tone. If you want a voice thats cleaner or more sustain just dial it in on the amp and program it to the pedal board.

Ultra is great for metal and chugging. from Mesa, Az on December 16, 2016, By Andrew Lawson Sweetwater Sound Oh, and the blue lights are exceptionally cool. He will take care of you as he as always done me and I put that poor guy through the ringer. There is nothing I have to criticize about them.

But as a guitar player who has played on 100w tube amplifiers and "big bottle" valve amps (EL34, 6L6 and 6V6 tubes), this leaves a slight amount to be desired.

It's a tube amp and it sounds great! The build quality is top-notch and so are the materials used - robustly weighted steel construction with heavy duty switches and knobs and a thick plexi front plate that cleverly illuminates a beautiful sharp glow that looks completely high class and botique.

On its own you can get a really good metal tone, but if you stick a boost in front of it you will get bone crushing metal tones, and the built in noise gate definitely comes in handy here. This is not possible.

Add in the rackmount capabilities and you have the recipe for an all-in-one solution for pretty much any stage.

After firing this beauty up I switch it to the ultra channel and went to town.

The only thing I consider a slight con is that I need the boost pedal to achieve a similar tone to the EVH, but the EVH doesn"t have all the built in effects, and the option for the awesome midi pedal (a must buy).

I can't wait to start tweaking! There is no way this amp is putting anything out but a clean sound. The 4,000$ one I'm sure is great. This amp is absolutely packed with everything you could possibly want in a lunchbox sized amplifier. It does everything great and its all tube. Cleans, Crunch, distortion and heavy distortion. 3 Sounds like a modern H&K ish distortion, and 4 is pure metal. Each channel has its own distinct voicing and hitting the boost will boost certain frequency's and change the characteristics of that channel. 4 channels, w/boost. My cheap Katana cab sounds pretty good with most of it, it tends to "warble" on palm mutes when trying to get that tight crunch (not the fault of the amp i'm sure) but I'm really looking forward to trying this thing with a Mesa or Marshall 4x12 to see how tight it can get.

from Phoenix, AZ on September 20, 2017, Music Background: Worship and classic rock, By Robert Darnell Jr It can bring out the subtle nuances, but also bring out the shred.

It sounds killer in the demo and Mitch and Don do a great job explaining the features and how they work to achieve these tones. When i discovered this amp I was really intrigued. Just get it already! I'm not claiming this will be the case for everyone. The lighting is unique and always draws the attention of guests that come into my studio that aren't familiar with the company.

The Redbox.Wow. Phone Hours | One minute it's China Grove and the next it's Red Barcheta.

Seriously, just buy one already. Just got it in the mail today. But I use Helix for the wah and compression (where needed).

I could not be more pleased with this amp. from Brownsville, Tx on July 19, 2018, By Michael I ran this amp into my 8i8 with absolutely no problem as well. I also use this channel for a lot of Rush. The power soak feature is truly amazing and something that I have been dreaming about for many years as well. The H&K is the best of them, with Kemper almost tied for 1st.



Go get ya some! No more peddle board. When you buy products through links across our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.

I read on others reviews about problems when they received theirs, I did not experience any of those problems at all. You must log in or register to reply here.

2) Controls Don't worry about this being difficult to operate. Also not five stars because they don't produce a program to work with the amp for Windows. Top notch guys. The effects are really good. I've owned a Grandmeister 36 for about 4 years now, and its my main gigging amp for covers gigs, due to its versatility and functionality. Great features as well as lush harmonics and sustain! The crunch channel gives everything from mild bluesy to enough for great 80's rock rhythm. And to top it all off, you can program up to 128 presets of your choice using any and every amp channel, fx, knob and button (except for the master volume) in whatever configuration you desire! Amps I have had in the past I never took them over 12.

The thing that really sold me and put it in the no-brainer category was the ability to import / export libraries of sound presets.

on January 13, 2021, Music Background: Rock n roll - praise and worship- hair Metal I love it all, By Joel Weddington I picked this up the other day, along with the wi-fi and pedal, I control it with my Ipad. You have to consider headroom. Sweetwater has had all my business for the last few years.

from Gillette Wy on April 7, 2018, By Justin I couldn't be more pleased with this monster. But in terms of bang for the buck I can't think of one that can do better! Also the light up front panel is eye catching and unique. What took me 40 minutes to haul in and set up now takes me about 20 minutes. After receiving this amp and not getting it to play any kind of distortion, I should have returned it - but i put it aside until this weekend when i read the manual and tried again. So much so, that I had to return it and opt for a different amp. With that saidI bought the Deluxe 40 and the matching 2x12 cab. It doesn't get easier. from Dallas TX on September 20, 2020, By Marc Beardsley The Grandmeister Deluxe 40 is an excellent sounding amplifier, it sounds good on all 4 channels and the effects included are top notch. So one thing that IS important to me is the warranty. By Lance It's has a super gnarly should when the mids are scooped. I highly recommend it to anyone who wants to spend countless hours avoiding real responsibilities and just jamming endlessly.

I own a Fender Fat Strat and a couple PRS guitars, and they all sing with the amp.

I received it Thursday (thanks to Ben and team shipping it fast) and gigged with it Friday. I don't really know why because now that I'm aware of how awesome their amps are I feel like I've been living under a rock! I'm very happy so far!

This new one was doing fine until I played it live tonight.

Reaction was this amp is kinda small. Initially, I used it with the H&K foot controller, setting up specific patches for different songs (or at least sets of songs), but I found I was getting myself a bit lost, and had to put the preset numbers next to each song on the set list, so I switched to using it in stomp-box mode, as a four-channel amp (although I seldom use the ultra channel).

Pull down the treble and the presence and you have a great jazz tone. To compare to a Fender 57 twin or I switched to JJ tubes for everything and it made it alot better (to my ears) in my opinion. Pure tube lush amazing little head. I did have some loud cracking and popping when I first got the amp, but that has diminished as the amp got broken in a bit. Even on light distortion, it still had that sizzle.

Yes, I know the GM-40 has effects too, and they sound good.

I chose this amp for it's tone and versatility and it hasn't disappointed in the least.

This amp is state of the art and sounds great. I have been waiting for this combination of amp versatility, effects and cab emulation all in one box for a long time. from Toledo, OH on June 12, 2020, By Robert Darnell Jr With this amp it is a great extension of the eq, if you understand how to use them. The way the amp works can be a bit of a learning curve but it's laid out with true German genius. The onboard delay is quite nice as well. It NAILS rock, metal, jazz, funk, you just name it it's there. See giveaway details & rules or check out our past winners!

To my ear it is awfully hard to beat analog chorus and phase but these do more than a good enough job.

I'm not using channels 3 or 4. They are available to offer you personalized product advice any time you need it.

Hughes and Kettner really did great on this amp. I bought this a year ago to add to my growing collection of amps. Letting my Puretone go was a heartache some time after when I realized how great that amp was. I have not yet bought this amp but, I plan on doing so before the end of February. Ended up being a fancy overpriced practice amp. Absolutely. from Chicago on December 15, 2016, Music Background: In a gigging 90's Alt Rock Cover Band, By Brian I had seen/heard many of the smaller 1w to 20w heads, but none of them offered more than two or three common features. The knobs and buttons are laid out well. Phase and flanger are weak. The combination of Tube tone with high quality digital effects make it one of the most versatile amps on the planet. You don't need the boost for soloing. Plug and play. In my case, in our practice space, we do not mic our cabinets.

My only issue is that having owned the Triamp MKII and having played the new MKIII, I just can't downsize from there. I've detracted a half a star because of how complex the initial stages are. As always thanks to Myron who got everything out perfectly!

It really falls short. Worth the price of admission alone. Obstacles at yorkville on warranty exchange,repair careful on what you purchase, Happy customers, one piece of gear at a time! It did get better in time though. The features contained in this marvel of technology are astounding. Also not five stars because it would be nice to be able to program an expression pedal plugged in to the midi controller to control the master volume.

The features included with this amp are great.

Alas, my day has come.

Did I mention that the Grandemeister Deluxe 40 sounds HUGE through the 1x12 cabinet? I expect it to sound even better when the Chinese tubes are replaced. It had horrible channel switching delay and had to be cranked WAY too loud to sound good. My hats off to Hughes and Kettner. You could almost set the eq at 12 and just use the presence and resonance.

One of my favourite amps I have. Music Background: Making joyful noise since I was 6 years old. I would like some more features! The problem for me is it started to sound real sterile - almost too good, very even tone balanced, too perfect. It takes pedals well, but I love just plugging straight into it.

When I ordered this, I did so as I saw it had a three year warranty if registered within 30 days. The resonance control really helps fatten a gain sound, try 3 o'clock ish.

Feel like playing some Steve Vai? All the same tones, just much louder as I go up in banks without having to touch the master. The presence and the resonance. If that wasn't enough, there's also the very useful noise gate, the convincing Red Box AE cabinet emulator output and the very useful Power soak buttons feature when you want the same high end tone but at lower wattage and volume. Even the amp will let you know how well your tubes are matched by the lights in the back and how many times they blinked. Clean is good crunch really never goes anywherelead has huge mid punch but is tone deficient. I had started out with a quest to find a power-switchable tube amp to accommodate different room sizes (mostly playing in a bedroom at home) yet not sacrificing anything in tonal quality. Call Roq, who is my sales dude. I really like the on-board noise gate that makes it very quiet when signal stops, (No Hiss, great for recording with). I love tubes but lately I have been using digital amps for the simplicity of it all. All metal chassis, but yet its really small and easier to carry. from Ft Meyers on April 7, 2020, By Sweetwater Customer

I'll be honest, I don't have loads of experience with classic tube amps like Marshalls and Mesas, I've played them here and there at guitar shops but haven't owned them.

More to talk about but enough said.

I've had various tube amps and digital and analog amp/FX modelers & emulators over the years. Already started recording with it and I was blown awayjust make sure you cut back on the lows.

from Metairie, LA on July 3, 2017, By Sweetwater Customer Should have spent my money on something else. When I heard it I was sold. There where some reviews online that made me hesitant on the purchase but I am so glad I bought this. The tones coming into the DAW are the best I've had to date. A very versatile amp, able to deliver a wide range of clean to full on creamy distortion. The distortion had a sizzle on top, much like a Krankenstien which I am not a fan of. The effects are good.

Built in delay, direct to board, noise gate why not. Just think of what you could do for a rig with this amp as the center piece. The head itself is a high quality construction product and includes a nice gig bag to go with it. I now have the tone I've been searching for. App is absolutely useless.

Comes in a super nice bag.

I have to wait for Fredo an external developer to have his new version working with this amp to use on a windows laptop. Unfortunately, I'm returning it. from Texas on June 17, 2017, Music Background: Musician/Songwriter/Producer, By Michael Howell

Honest criticisms would be that wifi is not built into the product and requires another several hundred dollar purchase. from LATHROP, CA on September 30, 2020, Music Background: Home studio composer and guitar player 25+ years, various styles mostly hard rock, By John I saw the ads that showed how amazing the distortion was. Just watch and listen to the demo videoslet your ears, and not your eyes, convince you that this Lunchbox-sized head is serving up all kinds of good, hot cookin'and no matter what style you play, you're going to find what you want and need. Real tube twang too! You spend more time trying to get it to work than playing. The 4 channels are nice, The power soak is awesome, Noise Gate works great, and TSC makes dealing with tubes easy. The EL84s provide more than enough crunch to punch through. The boost function literally adds 4 more channels to the amp. I have no problem with the stock Chinese tubes and have no plans to swap them.

But let me tell you, once you have all that you are golden. This amp is a tweaker and has the tone ive been searching for.This amp has 4 channels of raw energy with Cleans that sound great,Crunch channel,Lead channel that is nice for metal/Rock or what ever you use it for,,and Ultra for even more distorted shreading.Hughes & Kettner added a boost button to turn it up to 11 and give each channel some extra power and adds a noticeably different tone to your sound,add in a Master,Presence,Resonance,Reverb,Treb,mid,bass,Volume,Gain and 4 different Mod pedal effects with the gain controlling the Intensity.Fx loop a Noise gate with programable switch on back of the amp,and save slots for your saves settings,the list goes on and on.Just take my word for it,this amp can do alot of cool things but the tone that comes out with a matching 2x12 Hughes & Kettner cab and a 2017 Gibson Flying V Hp is just incredible.

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