Hughes&Kettner TubeMeister Deluxe 20

For starters i have to say that this is a beauty... From the second you unpack it captivates your sight. But that is nothing compared to when you finally open it. Blue light emerges out highlighting every detail and all the knobs. Simply stunning... But now to the serious stuff... I got this for my home studio to record guitar. That was my only purpose since i didnt care about taking this on live stages etc. The amp is amazing for recording. Has a very nice clean channel but the phenomenal is the lead one. Amazing tone and by raising the gain it can produce a pretty heavy tone for all of us who want to play heavy metal from time to time. For even more heavy tone there is a boost button that gives even more gain to the lead channel and it gets pretty crazy. I am not playing thrash-death metal etc so i only used the boost button on some solos and not in rythm guitar cause it is too heavy for my style but well it is there for anyone who wants it. The red box is amazing to record with and it is nothing like other cab sims that sounds terrible.
This thing is LOUD. i mean really LOUD. That is why there is a switch to set the amp on 20 watts, 5 watts, 1 watt and even 0. Great for late night recordings!
Trying to get a con but i cant find anything serious... I'll just say that when it is on for quite a lot of time it gets pretty hot and you cant really touch it from above but then again it is not to be touched there since even if you want to move it has great handles on both sides and they re not warm at all.
In general you cant go wrong with this amp if it is recording what you are after but even in live stages you wont be dissapointed cause this thing has a lot of power!
5 stars cause i cant get more.

The approach that H&K have taken to the design of the amp and the compromises they have made for the lunchbox format work really well for me. I had been considering options for an upgrade to my current amp for a while. Wanted something that would work well with my overall set up and be useful for both stage and studio work. I play ST type guitars for the most part, have used H&K amps in the past but, like others, have tended to find them on bright side and better suited to LP derivatives. That said I have always liked the format and the build quality. I read reviews and decided to give TM Deluxe 20 a go and am not disappointed. The only con I have is that it doesn't come bundled with a foot switch as this is pretty essential in any live setting. Within hours of arrival it was on the way to the rehearsal room. I use the amp with a 2x12 cab loaded with celestial V30s. Plugged in the amp, plugged in the footswitch, set the tone controls to mid setting, adjusted the levels of the channels to give a mild crunch on the clean channel and an overdriven "rhythm" tone on the lead channel with the same volume on each channel and ran through the entire set without changing anything. Several gigs in and I still haven't tweaked much. We play a mix of fairly hard edged R&B as a power trio and I get full and rounded tones from this little amp that sit well in the mix with more than enough balls for most of the venues we play. IMHO H&K's approach is perfect for the lunchbox format. They've concentrated on creating separate channel voicings that are fit for purpose and what they have chosen works great for me. If you are used to using the tone controls on the amp to get the sound you want, this amp takes a different approach. As I see it the tone controls allow you to tweak the sound for the room and stage dynamics you're dealing with. If you don't like the basic channel voicings H&K have given you then this is probably not the amp for you, though I struggle to see what is not to like. It also take the guess work out of things. I toyed with giving the amp four stars for features as it is a lunch box and lacks the versatility of it's grown up brothers, but given the sheer useability of the amp combined with power soak, red box DI and a effects loop I believe it rates 5 stars for the format.

Overall it's a great portable amp which I wish was a bit cheaper. But who doesn't want that? That it.
I've bought the amp for a home recording and practice. This is what it was made for. At least in my opinion. Also, it's convenient for a rehearsal or a small gig with friends.
To be more precise, I can tell that the amp sounds great on clean and very gradually starts to break up. Got some nice tube warm tone clean. Overdriven sounds great either. Really good cuts through the mix. Also, I liked a lot a built-in boost, which gives a fat powerful sound.
I personally love the EQ. It's not linear and a bit confusing at first but makes the amp sound great even with some extreme EQ presets. I wish it was separate for each channel, as on TubeMeister Deluxe 40.
For recording purposes, it got all you need. Nothing more to say.
Also, worth mentioning that despite the compact size it's not overheating and remains safe to touch even after a couple of hours of work in summer.
The last thing is that it looks good. Not everybody's preference, but it definitely grabs attention. And not only from guitarists but from ordinary people see it.

The most ideal tool for home practice, small live sessions and a decent recording muted during the night.
I purchased it mostly for home practice and exercise and I plug it on a small Vox cabinet so far.

On the front side you plug the guitar straight in (no pedals in between) and adjust your settings accordingly. Play & Standby mode to avoid heating the tubes while not playing or changing gear.

The clean tone it has you won't believe. After some minutes the tubes are warm and the sound you get is something you can't expect from such a small thing. I'm a pedal fan and I didn't know my humble chorus pedal can give such a sound and can keep me playing on clean tone for such a long time. I won't mention what you get when plugging your fuzz/distortion or your other pedals on.

The amp's gain is satisfying enough for those playing blues/rock and the Boost button will add a bit of threshold for a more hard rock/metal tone.
For HMetal/Death/Trash players I'll just say that your pedals will reach another level of volume and brightness when plugged.

On the back side comes the interesting part.
Red box DI sound options that you can choose from (you'll need a bit of volume here to hear the difference), Send and Return inputs to connect your pedals or your multi effect and the switch to set the amp to 20w, 5w, 1watt or 0watt for silent recordings. I mostly set it on 1w since you can't believe how loud this thing is. The sound it produces though on 5w and 20w is way brighter, detailed and smoother than the 1w but I'm not sure if an apartment or your neighbors can deal with it.

It comes with a very handy and nice black bag with the H&K embroidered logo in the front, a small cable & a plug, manual and a 3-year warranty.

It keeps me playing and makes me wanna turn it on to see its blue light around the room. I couldn't be more satisfied with this five star purchase