Hughes & Kettner Spirit Nano

[Gitterbug]

Those in constant search of a better mousetrap may be interested in H & K's new Spirit Nano line on 25W micro-amps, released for sale today. I rushed to buy the Spirit of Vintage version, which offers enough clean headroom for jazz. (The others are Rock and Metal.) This is not the smallest, lightest or most feature-laden in the category - alas, no reverb - but after an amok run through three guitars and five cabs I'm reassured of the sound: both huge and great! And it's a nice physical fit to you-know-what (see photo). In Finland, they retail at 199 euros.

[citizenk74]

Cool looking rig! Congratulations, and play it in good health!

[pingu]

what happens when you turn the ‘sagging’
up ?

some kind of compression ?

[Gitterbug]

what happens when you turn the ‘sagging’
up ?

some kind of compression ?

Yes. It's supposed to emulate the behavior of a saturated tube irrespective of the amp's volume or gain settings. Apart from doing its thing, it increases the volume up to 12 o'clock and then starts to reduce it. My ear is not trained to discern the finer nuances of dirty sounds, but my test pilot, multi-instrumentalist and Berklee alumnus Juha Pöysä thinks every amp should have this feature.

[Jim Soloway]

Those in constant search of a better mousetrap may be interested in H & K's new Spirit Nano line on 25W micro-amps, released for sale today. I rushed to buy the Spirit of Vintage version, which offers enough clean headroom for jazz. (The others are Rock and Metal.) This is not the smallest, lightest or most feature-laden in the category - alas, no reverb - but after an amok run through three guitars and five cabs I'm reassured of the sound: both huge and great! And it's a nice physical fit to you-know-what (see photo). In Finland, they retail at 199 euros.

Just wondering what you think 4 years later?

[Gitterbug]

Just wondering what you think 4 years later?

Oh well, my enthusiasm cooled off a bit after the honeymoon. I had been so eagerly waiting for this, having just introduced the Metro 6.5" cabs. Like the VOX MV50 series, the H&K Nanos are aimed at rock players (the main market segment), for whom the lack of clean headroom is an asset rather than the opposite. A few guitar pros got samples from the Finnish importer for testing, and they all felt that the eq was lacking. Both MVs and Nanos are still on the market, at significantly reduced prices, and defend their role at end of a pedalboard. Yet, they have been overrun by Quilter's SuperBlocks. I lent my H&K to a pro guitarist who returned it without the power unit. While it's the same as Quilter's (by "Golden Profit" ), I have found no need to revisit the amp for years. What I did not tell in my original post was that the first Nano sample died after five minutes.

How has the market behaved? Thomann's sales ranking is a good indication. H&K Spirit of Vintage sells for 130€ and ranks #21 in the category. VOX MV 50 Clean: 203€ and #11. The leader: Quilter SuperBlock US, despite a price tag of 339€. They all started from 200-250€.