Hughes & Kettner's zenTera Guitar Amp Now Available
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March 7, 2001The zenTera digital guitar amplifier designed and crafted by Hughes & Kettner is now available at retailers everywhere.
zenTera converges the most sought-after amp sounds and effects in the history of guitar amplification in an easy-to-handle, combo-sized package. The secret behind zenTera’s sonic sorcery is Dynamic Sector Modeling (DSMTM). Hughes & Kettner poked and probed every group of components (sectors) in all the desired and well known tube amps which made the sound of modern guitar music. Hughes & Kettner analyzed the dynamic interaction between these sectors.
One of the things Hughes & Kettner found out is that overall tone is greater than the sum of its many parts and that it is the musical quality of the individual component groups and their dynamic reciprocation that make the difference. These findings flowed into the making of digital models. Thus zenTera is able to replicate faithfully each amp, the full sweep of its dynamic range, its inherent sonic personality, and all its unique sound-shaping options.
Another example of zenTera’s innovative technology is its preamp-loaded 24-bit A/D converter. Tweaked specifically for processing guitar signals, it enables zenTera to handle signal peaks of up to 116 decibels. Thus zenTera is the world’s first digital amp that is able to capture the full dynamic range of the guitar.
But that’s not all: In the engine room of zenTera toil not one but two latest-generation 32-bit floating point DSPs. Their computing power is what translates the technology of DSM into tone. Beyond that, they guarantee that the zenTera reproduces signals without any perceptible latency.
zenTera offers 11 different amp models to the guitarists disposal. Each amp type’s tone controls respond faithfully as if you were tweaking the tone on the original. This lets you dial in every sound swiftly and intuitively just like you are accustomed to doing on analog amps. But there’s more cooking in the zenTera’s sonic kitchen - a smorgasbord of studio-quality effects, emulations of vintage stomp boxes and a faithfully replicated spring reverb. Like the amp's parameter controls, these effects handle intuitively, without the nerve-racking tedium of stepping through menus. All settings may be stored as presets in 128 slots (100 user presets + 28 factory sounds) and called up via the front panel, footswitch or MIDI controllers.
zenTera’s beefy 2 x100W stereo power amp is loaded with two Celestion Vintage 30 loudspeakers. This combination cuts through the din at any stage volume and puts every musical message across under even the most demanding conditions.
Other features include a built-in tuner, a TAP function that lets sync up delay time, a serial FX loop, an analog and digital recording output, a variable headphones output and more.
Also zenTera is ready for the future. Its MIDI interface allows for uploading software upgrades at any time and even swap sounds and system settings with other zenTera owners.
ZenTera is available in stores worldwide for a suggested retail price of USD 3499. For more information, visit their web site at www.hughes-and-kettner.com. | 
