Hughes and Kettner Tubeman Three-Channel Preamp Pedal

This effect has a great, sparkling tube sound on Channel 1. That sound is worth the price itself. Channels Two and Three are alright.
I play a Carvin AE-185 thru the Tubeman direct to the PA board. It sounds fantastic.

Feature:
The reason I it 8 is because of the eq's - they're only in the master section, so whatever you set up for one channel must work for all channels. The other compaint I have is the way all knob labeling is done in black lettering on an aluminum brushed chassis - try seeing this playing live or even in the rehearsal studio. There could've been better care taken in that department, at least maybe with different color knobs for each channel. There is a "cool" illumination backlight coming from the insides - maybe they could've used the light for something useful, like showing the knob labeling? Probably H&K thought that when kids see this in a concert hall they'll go nuts buying the Tubeman, but at that price I doubt that it will happen. The best thing on this preamp box is the tube sound. Coming from only a single tube in teh preamp channel that is really commendable! Very nice sustain! The power amp out delivers the line signal the way you'd expect. The speaker emulation out is truly great compared to other similar units I've tried. This one actually sounds believable! Just for that function it is probably worth the cash in the studio (you can always use a different distortion source before clean channel 1 if you're looking for different sounds).

Quality:
Built very solid and sturdy. I am giving it a 9 because of the power supply. The only thing I feel can go bad on the road is the power supply adapter and if it does you are toast cause you have to call H&K to replace it (can you say proprietary?)

Value:
If you're into recording direct guitar and have enough other effects or computer plugins for sound treatment this pre is a good value. It has a tube inspired tone and it does everything well for a DI recording box. On the road it is also OK if you can overlook the lack of good labelling on the knobs.

Desirability:
Great look, especially the extremely "sexy" blue light that ads an insight into the working of the Tubeman. Unfortunately for me I was hoping for more tubes and less solid state, especially at this price. Compared to similar products, especially Mesa's take on the same concept, the H&K sounds definitely better!

Sound:
I am a metal player and this unit didn't have enough distortion even set at "blitz" on channel 3. The clean channel has a great sparkling tone. The rhytm (channel 2) has a nice blues overdrive sound comparable maybe to a Vox. The lead channel (#3) goes from bluesy to 80s "Metallica" sounding distortion. For some purposes a little tame.

Support:
I give them 5 because before buying this unit I sent them an email asking a question about the product - I still haven't heard from them 2 months down the line. I hear that once you purchase it gets better but we'll see...

Overall:
This product is good if you are adding a bag of tricks for a recording session. I can definitely hear it on some of my music but probably I will have to combine it with other sounds to achieve the guitar sound I am looking for. Depends on the style of music but for anything rock or blues this should work rather well. For metal you might feel it is a little underpowered. For a quick on the fly DI guitar box this unit is awesome and the speaker emulator sounds like the real thing, unlike what I've heard from the digital modelling amps so far.