HUGHES & KETTNER
OUR STORY
Company founders (and brothers) Hans and Lothar Stamer began producing their own guitar amps in 1984. While the production space may have been small, their aspirations were not. Soon, the reputation of their products for craftsmanship and performance spread, prompting them to expand operations time and time again.
MR. HUGHES & HERR KETTNER
When Mr. Hughes, the synonym for the discerning guitar player, and Herr Kettner, the ahead-thinking German engineer, first met, Mr. Hughes was on a tone quest, looking to enrich players' sonic palette with more soulful means of expression. A glockenspiel's chime, the snap and snarl of a junkyard dog, the seductive wail of Siren's song, the thunderous rush of a passing freight train, the howling of a keening jackal, the malevolent grind of a chainsaw biting into metal - could an amp really be made to do all this? Engineering whiz Herr Kettner had his eyes on a very different prize. Envisaging a compact amp that would deliver fully-formed sounds including effects at the touch of a button, he sought to do what has never been done before. And he wasn't averse to doing better what has already been done. So began an impassioned collaboration that continues to this day.
OUR PHILOSOPHY – TECHNOLOGY OF TONE
From the very start, our focus has been the needs of our users, who challenged us not to be satisfied with standard solutions. Our mission is to deliver the entire package—high-quality tone and hassle-free setup, all tailored not just to satisfy but to exceed the demands of the modern guitar player.
Technology of Tone is what we've been about from day one. And since that day, we've been living up to our performance promise of making great tone accessible to discerning players. Designed with sophisticated simplicity in mind, our tone-sculpting tools are conduits for inspiration. Plug in, put on unforgettable performances, and relish those magic moments in a guitarist's life.
But great tone is not alchemy or weird science. It's a capability built on passion and know-how. Even after all the years marked by so many milestone achievements, that passion burns as brightly as ever.
SMART AND FROM THE HEART!
We live in a world of sensory perception—touch, taste, sight, and especially great tone! Hearing is like no other sense. Auditory perceptions are interpreted as information, but they also have a direct and unfiltered influence on our emotions and, by extension, our well-being. Language and music are the speech of the heart, giving voice to our feelings and sharing our emotions. We are all equipped with "algorithms" that tell us immediately if an audio event signals safety, relief, good vibes, trouble ahead, or even danger. We may never fully understand these algorithms, but we never tire of studying them and discovering more about them every day. And the process is even more fascinating when you have made it your career, as we have done, to develop devices that spark audio sensations! The Hughes & Kettner team is made up of many specialists.
OUR TEAM
Engineers specializing in acoustics, analog and digital electronics, and mechanics work hand in hand, collaborating with technicians, musicians and a musicologist who adapts the tone of every Hughes & Kettner product to suit human auditory physiology. By maintaining a spirited dialog with customers and resellers in more than fifty countries worldwide, we find ourselves continually inspired to come up with new ideas. This steady generation of ideas assures that in the future Hughes & Kettner will continue to provide the guitar amplifiers for your requirements.
QUALITY AND ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION
All Hughes & Kettner products are designed and manufactured with the same painstaking attention to detail. State-of-the-art computer-controlled production lines with precision CNC milling and metal-processing machines, fully-automatic enameling systems, and robots that carry out a wide range of production tasks are all par for the course with us. Not only does this guarantee an absolutely consistent high level of quality, it also assures a clean and healthy work environment. Unfortunately, not everyone takes environmental protection as seriously as they should; we decided long ago to set a good example. With pollutant-free wood, waterbased enamels and a stringent recycling and waste avoidance strategy, we carry our share of the responsibility for the state of our environment...
