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Hughes And Kettner Vortex 412 Stack Amp


LiamC

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Orginally used for playing metal as i am a blues player it didnt sound to good on its own but with the right tweaks it sounds perfect.

Im Looking For anything over 250 for the whole thing

Retail Price Is 799

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The Vortex head is a 100 watt solid state amp with two foot switchable channels, separate VOLUMES for each channel, one MAIN MASTER volume, a 3 band EQ shared by both channels, REVERB shared by both channels, effects loop, headphone jack, and two speaker outputs. You dont get an amp like this and expect it to have 100 different features and/or options. The basic rule in electronics is that the more features and options you have on a piece of gear, the more you gonna pay for that gear. Simple rule, simple economics.

So the VORTEX is your basic economy half stack! Now that I got that little detail out of the way, lets see what this set up has to offer.

FEATURES and HOW THEY WORK:

If youve read my gear reviews in the past, youll know that I highly value EASE OF USE when it comes to fooling around with gear. So, for openers, I like the simplicity of the features on the VORTEX. So lets start with the FRONT PANEL attributes:

At the extreme left of the control panel, youll find one INPUT jack to handle all guitars equipped with anything from single coils, humbuckers, to active pickups. Moving from left to right on the panel you find the CLEAN VOL knob which controls the CLEAN channels volume only. Depending on the type of pickups on your guitar, the amp will begin to clip somewhere around the 12 o'clock setting, this is Hughes and Kettners SoftClick circuitry to simulate the smooth sounds of an overdriven tube amp. You can find a decent blues tone la SRV.

Next is the CHANNEL SELECT switch to activate the CLEAN or LEAD channel. The LEAD channel is activated when the button is compressed and a red LED will illuminate.

Then you have the LEAD GAIN knob which controls the amount of distortion of the LEAD channel only.

After that comes the most important feature of the VORTEX, the CHARACTER knob which pre-shapes the Lead Channel for a spectrum of tone ranging from a British "hard" rock style to an American "soft" blues style. The CHARACTER knob is very similar to the "CONTOUR" knob found on Marshall Valvestate amps. This is the best feature of the amp, I really like the way you can work and shape the Lead channel with this knob. Turn the CHARACTER knob clockwise (hard) and you get darker modern distortion like Pantera, System of a Down, Metallica, turn it counter clockwise (soft) and you get a vintage tone something like Led Zeppelin, Ozzy Osbourne, Weezer, NOFX. This sound-shaping feature demands a little experimentation in order to experience the wide variety of subtle tonal variations available.

The LEAD MASTER VOLUME knob determines the LEAD channels volume level in relation to the CLEAN channel volume level.

After that you get your regular EQ SECTION shared by both channels: BASS, MID, and TREBLE knobs. MID and TREBLE knobs influence one another: if you boost the TREBLE, the MIDs are cut and vice versa, if you boost the MIDs the TREBLE is cut. The EQ is thus responsive but the highs and mids lose some sharpness as the amps Master Volume increases.

The REVERB knob controls the amount of integrated reverb which is added to the signal. Reverb level automatically adjusts for each channel when you switch channels, more for Clean, less for Lead. The REVERB is NOT footswitchable.

The last MASTER knob controls the amps MASTER VOLUME level. The FX SEND signal is unaffected by the MASTER control knob.

The FX SEND jack can be used to feed the signal to the input of an FX Processor/Box. You can also route the signal to a second power amp or through a RED BOX PRO to a mixing console.

The FX RETURN jack, to connect to the OUTPUT of a FX Processor/Box.

The FOOTSWITCH jack is for a standard footswitch such as the Hughes & Kettner FS-1 footswitch. A footswitch will allow you to switch back and forth between the CLEAN and LEAD channels, just make sure the CHANNEL SELECT switch on the amps front panel is set to CLEAN when using the footswitch.

One HEADPHONE jack. The cabinet is automatically switched off when a plug is inserted into this jack.

REAR PANEL attributes include two SPEAKER OUTPUTS wired in parallel. You could connect two 8 ohm cabs to this amp head.

The VORTEX 412 CAB is loaded with four CELESTION Rock Driver Junior speakers and is rated at 200 watts RMS into 8 ohms.

The VORTEX CURRENT FEEDBACK solid-state power amp is rated at 80 watts RMS into 4 ohms.

SOUNDS:

This amp sounds good, it sounds better than what I expected for an entry level half stack. I did not look inside the CAB to see if it was built sturdy and of good quality materials. But, from my experience of toying with the amp, I really liked it.

I love the clean channel, nice and warm, and there is plenty of clean head room if you need it. If desired, the CLEAN channel can put out plenty of crunch when volume is set above 5 (with soft-click activated)!

The Lead channel can get muddy, and when played loud it will feedback. To correct, step away from the amp, turn the gain and bass down a little, and when all else fails, dont play so LOUD. This amp sounds really great at bedroom levels. With VOLUME levels all set at 5, you will drown out your band with perhaps the exception of the drummer. Your sound should not overpower everybody else in the band. For your band to sound good, everybodys volume needs to be equalized.

The amp that comes to mind when hearing the VORTEX is the Marshall Valvestate. The difference is that the Vortex has got a much tighter sound. It sounds good at high volumes, and it sounds great at low volumes.

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id would prefer to sell them together the asking price is still pretty cheap considering

the cabs fitted with celestions speakers and they go for about 100 quid each so someones getting a bargain for christmas

if i get a reasonable price for the cab i may sell seperate

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