Hughes & Kettner Tube Factor Review

[Rudi]

Hughes & Kettner Tube Factor: REVIEW.

 

I spoke of this in a recent blog entry. When my ancient Boss GT-5 was killed at the last gig of 2014, I ordered one of these. 

 

Now the GT-5 is a completely different animal to the Tube Factor, so its not exactly a replacement, but just a change of approach.

 

The TF is just a pre-amp. Nothing more nor less. Its an expensive one. Its also been around for quite a while. I had some trouble finding one. 

 

The main thing about the TF is that it uses a vacuum tube at its heart. Though in the UK we would call this a 'valve'. 

SInce my old Fender amp (Fender Stage 112 se) is solid state circuitry only, I thought I would add a tube/valve component and see if it performs better than the amps drive channel*. 

 

(*Some people are of the mistaken opinion that the 112 se has tubes, it was advertised as a 'hybrid' in the shop I bought it from)

 

The TF is very simple in operation. It doesn't use batteries, and is supplied with a PSU.

It appears to power up when plugged in as the logo lights up immediately. It is actually just on standby.

The tube/valve itself is visible through a transparent window on the front of the unit. It has a dim orange glow.

 

It has 2 stomp buttons. The first turns on (engages) the unit. The second engages the 2nd drive 'factor'.

 

The 2 'factors' are low & high gain levels. The green light indicates factor 1 and the red light factor 2.

 

Factor 1 is subtle.

Factor 2 is higher distortion.

 

There are three dials to control the sound. 

These are DRIVE, OUTPUT and VOICING. 

 

DRIVE: this determines the gain (distortion) level.

OUTPUT: This moderates the volume. A higher DRIVE setting will increase the volume, so the OUTPUT can back it down again.

VOICING: This sounds like compression to me. Its a useful extra control. I dislike a lot of compression, but a little can sound sweet and help separate the guitar from the other (live or studio) instruments sounds. 

 

Its a high quality unit. String separation is pretty good, even at higher drive levels. It does have a tone that's distinct from the amps own drive channel. Its very subtle but very appealing too. 

 

Now I tried out several tube amps before I bought the Stage 112, and I preferred the sound of the 112. Ok, maybe I'm a philistine, but my ears did the choosing. The point is that the amps drive channel sounds PDG. 

 

The sound difference is difficult to describe, but once I found the sweet tone I forgot about the TF completely and just enjoyed playing for an extended period. For me that sweet tone was using factor 1 with about 45% gain and 30% voicing.

 

 

The sound inspired me to just keep playing. So the TF was worth the £219 price tag ($338). The amp was of course set to its clean channel. 

 

I tried two guitars with the unit, a '95 Jackson soloist XL (the gigging guitar) and a Jackson Elite (the studio guitar). 

The soloist sounded best using the neck  PU with the tone on full treble. That PU is a passive single coil Jackson type.

 

The Elite sounded best using the bridge PU with tone at 50% and the presence** at 100% 

(** 'presence' is a guess. Jackson don't give instructions or explain anything). That PU is a Seymour Duncan active humbucker. 

 

 

I couldn't find a good demo of the TF, but this is one of the better ones. I like the tone achieved at the 2.00 minute level. None of what you hear on this resembles the sounds I got from my rig. 

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s9u-qK5b3Z8v

 

Conclusion:

The tube sound is certainly there. It is as I said a subtle sound. I only slighter prefer it to the Stage 112 drive channel. I have rarely used the the amps drive channel live (the dead GT-5 slaved the amp on its clean channel). 

 

The unit itself is robust and is pretty big for a single stomp box. The PSU though, has a light thin cable. Good enough for its job certainly, but I would have preferred a heavier gauge outer 'skin' to stand up the rigours of live use. It would be a nuisance have to source a replacement in the future. 

 

My Rating:

SOUND : 9/10

VALUE FOR MONEY: 4/10

VERSATILITY: 2/10 (you cant easily swap between factors 1 & 2 because the volume will need adjustment)

BUILD QUALITY: 6/10 (would be 8/10 if the PSU was better).

 

Note: In addition to the IN & OUT jack sockets. there is a third REMOTE socket. 

 

I will be giving the TF its public debut at the next Blown Out gig. I dont know when that will be yet, as unusually, we have no 2015 bookings yet. 

 

 

 

 

[davidmichael]

Hey Rudi

Glad that you found a distortion that you like.

I'd never heard of the "Hughes & Kettner Tube Factor" but after doing a little reading about it and listening to some demo's on youtube,it does indeed seem to be a nice,quality pedal.{bye the way for some reason the link you posted wouldn't work for me}

The only complaint I read was what you said about the volume differential between the two drive settings.

 

​I'm sure its probably occurred to you,but in case it hadn't,a volume pedal could help you overcome that issue.I'd much rather pedal the volume to my liking than have to take my hands off the guitar to make an amp adjustment.

It was amusing to me that after getting your jazz guitar you've been talking about for months,you start talking distortion,but I'm sure if your anything like me you play a wide variety of different styles of music.

As for myself,I got a TC Electronics Corona chorus pedal for Christmas I planned on kinda reviewing at some point of time,but figured I'd use it for a while and really get to know it before I reviewed it,but so far I'm loving it.The TonePrint app is really cool and once again I'm amazed for the fact that something actually works the way its described.

Anyways,best of luck in finding all the tones you desire !!!!!

Edited January 6, 2015 by davidmichael

[Rudi]

Hi Dave,

 

It was amusing to me that after getting your jazz guitar you've been talking about for months,you start talking distortion,but I'm sure if your anything like me you play a wide variety of different styles of music.

 

 

Ha ha! Yes I suppose it does seem strange. But the distortion I use is quite mild.

 

I did use a H&K Tube Factor years ago at a Jam night. This was a pub that was noted for metal-heads. I didn’t want to play that night I so didn’t bring my guitar. But I was persuaded to anyway and used someone elses. He had one of these Tube Factors. I played 3 songs (Changing Man / All Along the Watchtower / Knocking on Heavens Door). When I hit the Factor 2 button, it sounded insane.

 

So unless I do another gig like that, I will stick to the modest Factor 1. Jimmy Herring uses one of these (likewise on F1) and to my ears his tone is the most beautiful I have ever heard. Needless to say, I still don’t sound anything like him. He has some tech-head-sound-elf that works magic for him.

 

I have been playing jazz on the arch-top every day since buying it, mostly acoustically. I absolutely love it. And yes, I now play every major style to some degree, including classical.

[TapperMike]

Great read Rudi.

 

 

I like too boost the gain just a hair with my jazz box as well. It gives the tone just the right amount of punch and offers a nice overall compression for a tighter sound 

[Rudi]

Cheers Mike.

 

Chris Spalding says that adding a pre-amp (or similar) but keeping the gain down at zero can still raise the mids and lows just enough to enhance the overall sound.