Sparkling clean tone that chimes like a glockenspiel. Smoky blues tones with the snarl of a junkyard dog. Lead sounds that wail as seductively as Siren’s song. Expansive, enveloping arena rock tones. The malevolent grind of a chainsaw gnawing on heavy metal: Iconic sounds such as these have been giving voice to new modes of musical expression and shaping the sound of entire genres for more than 60 years now. The new Spirit Nano Heads from Hughes & Kettner capture the spirit of each era of legendary guitar sounds in three amps with distinctive personalities.

LEGENDARY VINTAGE TONE

Single-channel amps with no master knob are the holy grail of tone for some, reigning supreme in many guitarists’ amp pantheon. No other circuit creates such a direct connection between human and machine. And no other amp responds with such immediacy, feels as alive, or serves up such a sensuous experience in sound. This type of amp was the wellspring from which all those iconic sounds of the ‘60s and early ‘70s flowed; the weapon of choice for the rebels who created the blueprint for rockin’ tone.

The Spirit of Vintage is the rightful heir to those amps in terms of sound design with its sweeping dynamic range and touch-sensitive response to your phrasing. Best of all, it delivers those goods even with the Master rolled back. The Sagging control lets you wail with wanton abandon, ripping it up with raw but beguilingly beautiful tone, albeit without alienating the neighborhood. Turn it up and you’ll have no choice but to dig in!

Rolling back the Gain and Sagging knobs cleans up the Spirit of Vintage’s sound when you pick with a light touch. Then, when you hit the strings harder, it breaks up just like the tube amps of yore to crank out warm, wooly distortion oozing with overtones. Higher Gain settings put a touch more grit at your fingertips with kind of distortion you need to play single-note lines with bluesy authenticity. Anything from sweet to snarling goes.

The Tone knob is your all-access ticket to the entire spectrum of less feral tone from early Californian clean to classic British crunch. It’s all right there for you to enjoy at the nudge of a knob.