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Hughes and Kettner Edition Blue 30DFX
Review of the Hughes and Kettner Edition Blue 30DFX by The Man in the Jar
The Hughes and Kettner 30DFX is a two-channel 30 watt guitar combo equipped with a 10 inch Jensen speaker. Although it's solid-state, the claim is that it produces valve-like tone.
The Edition Blue 30DFX is a black box with black grille cloth and black corner protectors. Against this black backdrop the silver Hughes and Kettner badge stands out in stark contrast. On the topside there's a sturdy rubber carrying handle and a recessed control panel. When the amp is juiced up this panel is backlit in a rather wonderful blue colour, vaguely reminiscent of a gay bar in Norbury I once ventured into by mistake.
From left to right we find the jack input followed by the Volume control for the Clean channel, the pushbutton switch to toggle between the Clean and the Lead channel and the Gain and Master Volume for the Lead Channel. I think the Master is poorly named, in reality it sets the volume for the Lead channel in relation to the Clean channel to allow for useful switching between the two. Maybe Balance or Boost would have been better labels.
Next along comes the EQ section with Bass Mid and Treble controls. The next section is labelled Digital FX. The first control is the Preset Adjust. This doubles as an effect selector and sets the intensity of the effect chosen. When the knob is fully counter-clockwise there are no effects engaged. As the knob rotates clockwise it engages the Chorus effect which increases in intensity as you turn. The Chorus reaches its highest intensity at one-third of the possible rotation. Beyond this point the Chorus is turned off and the Flanger is engaged. The intensity of the Flanger increases until two-thirds around the dial when the Delay takes over (regular readers will remember this is a feature of some Line 6 Spiders). The next control is the FX Level which dictates how much of the modulated sound is mixed in with your dry signal. Completing the FX section is the Reverb control.
To finish the control panel we have the Master Volume (the real one this time), the input for the optional footswitch and the output for headphones. The back of the amp is all but closed with just an inch gap left at the bottom of the panel for porting. On the back panel we find the AC inlet and the on/off switch, Line in and Line out (both jacks) and a CD input that takes the form of red and white mini-jacks enabling you to feed directly from your hi-fi preamp.
Sounds of the Hughes and Kettner Edition Blue 30DFX
I started in the Clean channel with all the EQ set flat (NB this is a proper cut and boost EQ, if you turn all the knobs down you will mute the amp. "Flat" means all three knobs in the 12 o'clock position). I was immediately impressed by the warmth and tone response I was able to coax from the 10" Jensen. And Clean isn't really an accurate description either, as you advance the Clean Volume past about 2 o'clock you start to get a glorious boogie crunch invading your sound. I was able to get a lovely natural pub-rock graunch without even going near the EQ.
The Lead channel raises the bar quite a bit and the Gain will take you well into Metal territory at the far reaches of its sweep. Here the solid state nature of the amp competes less well with its valve-equipped brethren but does a credible job nonetheless. My favourite settings came with the Clean channel set with a high volume and the Lead channel set to anything up to halfway. I then simply balanced the levels with the (inaptly named) Master and flicked happily between the two.
Onboard effects in amplifiers are always a compromise due to the lack of control the amplifier generally allows over the parameters. If you're serious about your chorus sound you'll have a dedicated chorus effect on the floor in front of you, it's a fact of life. But onboard amp effects are handy for rehearsal, song-writing, demo recording and for travelling light when you need to. The method of presenting these effects that both Line 6 and Hughes and Kettner use are the best compromise available because at least you have a degree of control over the intensity of the result. The FX Level (blend) knob grants you another level of control.
Overall impressions of the Hughes and Kettner Edition Blue 30DFX
This is an impressive sounding amp considering its solid state construction and it is certainly loud for its size. The most authentic valve-like sounds are available in the crunch, boogie, classic rock area of overdrive. Beyond that and, although the sound is still very good, it starts to belie its solid state origins. I was very impressed with the warmth of the output and the scope of the EQ. It would be really easy for most guitar-players to achieve a sound that made them smile. The unit is light enough to be highly portable, loud enough to stand up for itself at small gigs and priced to be an affordable long-term asset to your gear-list.
Buy the Hughes and Kettner Edition Blue 30DFX
Note: As with all amps equipped with headphone sockets, turn the Master Volume to zero before plugging in the 'phones.
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