In praise of the Hughes and Kettner BATT!

[christw]

I feel the need to share with TB how incredibly useful this little box has been to me. Since I purchased it in mid August I have probably logged more hours on my BATT than everything else this year. It honestly goes with me everywhere.

Here are some reasons this thing is infinitely useful:

-Silent practice/recording: At night I plug my BATT into a USB interface and have headphone rehearsals to myself. I've used it numerous times for recording with variety of artists and scenarios.

-Practice amp: I use the tube amp out into various cabinets for the fun of it. Plugging into the B-15 cab nets me bassy bliss and 5 watts isn't enough to piss anyone off by the time you get sweet breakup.

-Portability: The BATT fits into my gig bags front pouches. It makes a great small footprint on the go practice/acoustic jam amp with my Columbia 360 speakers that fold together into an 8" cube.

-Preamp: I use this almost exclusively for electric bass. I can patch directly into the PA, into an amplifier, and into a power amp all at once if I wanted! I can also do a dry/wet signal blend outboard.

-Backup: Again, it fits in a gig bag and functions as a preamp. If your rig dies, pull this out and plug into the PA!

-TUBES! This thing weighs a couple of pounds and lets me bring a familiar tube tone anywhere I take my instrument. That's HUGE!

Best $265 I ever spent! If only they made a 6SL7 version too...

No pics no amp blah blah blah...

[BrentSimons]

I wanted one of those since I read a review in Bass Player eons ago. I've seen a few but never pulled the trigger on one. I was always buying something else at the time when one would pop up. I'm glad you're enjoying your purchase. Looks like it's in good shape too!
Take Care,
Brent

[christw]

I pulled the trigger on a whim and am sure glad I did! I had to revive this thread because this is such a useful little box.

I just used it with the upright for a "silent" practice session on some tracks for a project that's kicking off in two weeks. Just running the Six Rounds Double Barrel into the box sounded great! I might try this as a preamp for my upright until the fdeck is fixed.

[Rick Auricchio]

I've had mine for years; I use it now and then.

Best use was in the studio; I could feed a bass track through the BATT, like an effect, to get a good tube-amp sound during the mix.

Some info here: http://www.cfcl.com/rick/personal/batt.html

[Bassmann1968]

I got it for many years and love the tone and how versatile it is.
Mine is called H&K Bassmaster how it was called in Europe.
If you can find one, get it!

[bongomania]

I use its close cousin the Blues Master, and it's easily one of my favorite tone devices.