Hughes&Kettner GrandMeister Deluxe 40

I had the Tubemeister 36 some years ago but found it too bright no metter what I did and i had a lot of effects on the side including MIDI board and so on. Sine then I have been looking for the "SOUND" but also had to consider a bad back. After trying a lot of different things I decided to try the Line6 Helix. I had a lot of fun with it but I never really found the sound I had in my imagination. At the same time I became aware that I spent more time programming than playing. The Helix was also pretty heavy, so after reading and watching reviews I went for the Hotone Ampere. It was easier to find sounds closer to my ideal sound but the unit had some serious flaws (?) producing unwanted digital distortion.

SO.... I came across the Grandmeister 40. It contains almost everything I need and and lot of what I want so I decided to go BlueLight again. This time the essential effects are build in, the weight is absolutely on the healthy side and the specifications for the power soak, the Red Box for emulated signal to FOH, the Line out and the speaker out was sounding very attractive. I realized from the beginning that it would be best to order the H&K MIDI footswitch too. I was right !!

First test on my PA from the Red Box was far freom a success. Harsh treble and speaker-destoying bass made me wonder if I yet again had found the wrong amp. But tweaking the Red Box, changing the choice of speakers and using the the built in EQ's turned everything around.
I really need an amazing sound to the FOH and my personal monitors regardless if I use clean or "demolish everything" sounds.

To make it short - I found what I was looking for. The sounds in my presets are now the best in my 47 years of playing - and I have tried more amps than I dare to count - not to mention the money spent on Mesas, Marshalls, Engl..... You name it and there is a risk that I been there too.....
This amp produce - for the first time- true tube amp + really great passive cab sound - but on the Red Box output. My PA system sounds incredibly nice and so do my personal monitors. When playing I get this wonderful feeling of satisfying surprise again and again on all four channels.
On day 3 I decided to use my 2x12" V30 cab and except for a different EQ'ing it sounds so great that its hard to believe.
Dont let the 40 watt scare you. At home I use it in the 1 watt mode, in the rehearsal room in the 5 watt mode and live in the 20 watt mode - if the venue is big.
The remote MIDI board is a joy to use except for the boost switch that does not work in preset mode - only in stompbox mode - yes - you can change the use of the switches between preset or stompbox mode on the remote which work fast and precise. A joy when you play live.
The programming is pretty easy but has some strange combinations for different settings. But H&K was clever enough to put a label on the bottom of the amp with the combinations of knobs to press. Brilliant !!

So - why only 4 starts on functionality ????
Well, when you make an amp with all essential effects, have a remote pedal the support expression pedals and external switches you would expect not to bring more gear....

To me it would have been perfect if it had a build-in tuner in the remote MIDI board or the amp itself and if you had a switch that could copy the Red Box settings to the line output. This way you could have your own active monitor along with the passive guitar cabinet.

I know sound is as individual as taste in beer and women but no matter if you play in the studio or live music from the 50's pop, laid back jazz or want to blow the audience til hell at a metal festival - this could be your last amp. Just remember that the responds differently to different guitars / pickups. So if you bring several guitars to your shows you could use the 32 banks with 4 patches where one bank refers to one guitar... I just hope 32 guitars for the gig is enough =:o))

Very versatile amp, can be used in in wattage ranging from 40w down to 1w or no watts for silent recording and comes with a bunch of basic effects. Comes in a bag that makes it super easy for transportation, but what I really love about this amp is that it is a hybrid and what I mean by that is that it is an analog tube amp with digital functions that lets you truly control every single effect of the GrandMeister Deluxe 40 precisely on the iPad app and with this amp, there is only one con which is that you would want to get a midi controller if you want to turn off the effects that it comes with after use, however you can still very easily change the settings on the amp but you can't turn it off. And about the app, you can use your own presets on any other GrandMeister deluxe amp without having to take your amp to every gig which is an awesome feature, that being said, this is my go to amp mainly because of it's features, with a variety of tones that are hear melting, it's half the weight and size of a regular 100watt head, it is plenty loud like you could actually go deaf if you crank the amp, and even when power soaked to 1watt, this amp still delivers enough punch and volume and I never crank it at home.
Of all the amps out there, I think this is one amp that you cannot just have enough of, if you love buying heads, this one is a bad news because once you get this one, there is no going back, it's just this one and that's all. So yea there you have it, I don't want to write a whole biography on this amp, I don't see how there can be anything better than this, it's the perfect marriage between analog and digital processing, beautiful aesthetics, all the useful functions and effects multiple tones, stepping down the wattage thereby eliminating the need for an attenuator, and if you get this amp with the midi footswitch, you got a tuner and a slot for an expression pedal, it has a built in noise gate. I highly recommend this amp to any musician that wants to get the Grandmeister deluxe 40.

Amazing versatility and the midi is superb.
A whole tones for home and lives.
Buy it if you want something to <<do it all>>
Every channel is good.
It is the best amp for versatility and for saving money
The tones are fantastic, and it can get a lot of pedals with good behavior.
The effects, the noise gate and the boost is good too.
If you buy it and change the tubes, you will see a big difference.
The weight of this is excellent.
Just buy it
It is the best versatile amp for this money.
My opinion is that if you want a versatile amp, and you want something better, you will definitely need a mesa boogie amp or something like that plus the effects. So we are speaking for 20-25 kilos for fun.
I recommend this for sure.
I have a lot of amps. Fender super reverb, Kitty Hawk Quattro preamp, and others.
If I have to go somewhere, I am taking this with me.
Believe me it is okay for everything except you are recording like Lukather.
If you are this level player buy 200000 euros equipment plus audio engineer and some trucks and people who will bring them everywhere for you.

Pros:
1) Many features as you read them in the manual
2) Nice lighting
3) For home use you wont need more than 5 watt power and its still a lot
4) Small size
5) The transparent material in front is not glass its plastic so you dont need to worry about breaking it
Cons:
1) It get too hot after long use
2) Master Volume is not controllable via expression pedals and not smartly controllable when you change channels so as to remember different setting for each chanell. If you want to control master volume then you need to put a volume pedal in the effects loop
3) China made tubes
4) Redbox out if you want to place headphones directly for night use you cant, you ll need headphone amplifier or PA
5) Boost should have a boost knob so you can choose how much to boost cause you need sometimes more boost than it offers