Hughes & Kettner Spirit AmpMan Classic

I don't often review things but felt the new to promote this thing as it's surprising it's not better known. I hadn't heard of it till stumbling across it and for the money thought I'd try it out.
I've been on a year's long search for a DI guitar sound that doesn't lead me start looking for the next thing. I've owned helixs and a headrush and have an Ampero (which i actually prefer to the helix) .

Out of the box, I made a note to self to keep the box so as to send it back, however, as I got my head round the (admittedly unconventional) controls I've come to love it. It just sounds and feels 'right' where the digital stuff never does somehow. It sits in the mix much better. My recordings sound more like records with this £170 box! It flatters my guitars and accentuates the sound/character, as you would want from an amp. It has a very detailed 3D sound. The difference you can hear between my les paul and tele is very pronounced, where it was not so much with all the amp sim plugins etc. (of which I've got loads). Going analogue like this means there's no internal FX, however, it takes them really in the box and has an fx loop for pedals.

It's pretty versatile, can be a nice 'jangle box', clean amp or give fat crunchy tones. Could even do jazz with it. It not a metal machine though and will get a bit fizzy if try very high gain. There is the Ampman modern which I hear isn't as good. I had a H&K Tubeman which was good for hi gain but sucked for cleanguI'd recommend this for heavier tones.

This great, not just for the money, is just a great amp for DI guitar. I think I'm finally happy with a DI guitar sound and I can stop looking at gear and plugins and get on with recording,

CLEAN SOUND is among the best I ever had (I had a few dozens of preamps and amps) with single coils and humbuckers alike.
OVERDRIVEN SOUNDS are fun, too, at least with humbuckers (a little thin with SCs)
CONNECTIVITY and CONTROLS are superb.
NOISE is LOW, but you have to be aware that this amp emphasizes high frequencies, just like a Fender Princeton does. I.m.o is does generate no noise itself (or very little) but is does amplify the noise you feed into its input more than most other amps do. That is not a weakness but a characteristic to take into account.

Compared to the H&K STOMPMAN that sounds at least as good... Much depends on the money that you are willing to spend and how important the compactness of the Stompman is to you. For little extra money, the extras that you get with the Ampman over the Stompman are, a.o.:
- DI-out (for recording or FOH) with or without Redbox cabsim,
- Phones output (can be used as line out, as well
- Noise gate (a very handy and good one!)
- AUX-input