Hughes & Kett ner TubeMeister DLX 20

Good looks and great tone

What makes the Deluxe 20 special?

If you compare it with its bigger brothers, at first sight, despite its name, you could almost call Hughes & Kettner’s TubeMeister Deluxe 20 stripped down. However, you still get two footswitchable channels with shared EQ and a footswitchable boost function, effectively putting four sounds under your right foot. You’ll also find a series effects loop, the latest H&K Red Box AE ambience emulation circuit and a built-in attenuator with 20-watt, five-watt and one-watt settings, with a useful mute function for nighttime silent recording.

What’s the build quality like?

Superb; there’s a high-quality PCB and a clever valve auto bias/ protection circuit. The Deluxe 20 has the same trademark backlit perspex front panel as H&K’s range-topping Custom amps.

Does it sound as good as the bigger H&K amps?

Oh, yes. With a revoiced preamp architecture lifted from the TriAmp Mark 3, the Deluxe 20 is a full-on rock machine that covers almost every musical genre, while the Red Box DI circuit makes it a nobrainer for recording, adding hyper-realistic speaker cabinet effects.