Fender MH-500 Metalhead Head

I believe this amp is now discontinued.

3 Channels (Cleant, Tight, Loose) FX Loop, etc..

Wish it had separate noise gate from other effects, as well as more options to set effect paramaters.

It's SS. It can be quite versatile if you learn how to EQ correctly. But obviously it is meant for metal. I jam with this at my house with my brother on drums. I would say that it has enough power for me, yeah. Room dynamics also play a big part. Also remember to use a speaker cable from head to cab. I've been using an instrument cable, and once I switched to a speaker cable I could hear the changes in tonal difference on all three channels.

I have several guitars. My main is an Ibanez RG420FM with standard crappy ibanez pickups. Also use a Shecter 006 Elite with an EMG 81 in the bridge and an EMG FT in the neck. I mainly play metalcore/melodic metal/ and technical death metal. It's a fender "Metalhead". I hope it would suit my style well, which it does.

It can be noisy, but that's why you have the noise gate feature!!

The amp can make bonecrushing metal sounds. 'nuff said. If you bought the Fender Metalhead for blues, I would have to say WTF? Although the clean sounds a bit sterile, a good EQ and some light chorus can fix that.

The clean channel can go to 10 without distortion. Never had to bring it that high because I enjoy being able to hear, but yeah.

The distortion is quite brutal. Brutal enough for most all aspects of metal. The knobs are pretty sensitive so you gotta play around with it and tweak to your liking as with all other amps. I dig the distortion. I bought an EHX metal muff and sometimes use that through the clean channel for a different distortion tone. But yes, it's brutal.

I use a MXR 10 band EQ in the FX loop of the head. Makes any amp sound that much better. Great buy and all musicians should have some type of EQ in their rig..unless you don't give a **** about finding "your" tone

Yes, I can depend on it. I bought it off of Craigslist as a half stack with the matching cab for a whopping $600. I WOULD NEVER PAY THE ACTUAL LIST PRICE FOR THIS. With that type of price tag, get a nice used tube combo (And no I'm not a tube snob, I've only owned SS amps. But the price new is freakin' ridiculous)

The guy I bought it off gigged with it quite a bit and it looked a little beat up. Still plays like a champ. As long as it can last me at least one more year, than I can care less if it breaks down. Have you seen one? Built like a freakin' tank.

Never dealt with 'em. Warranty was over when I bought it or close to being over. If it dies, I won't get it repaired. A SS amp repair usually costs more than the amp itself.

I've been playing on and off for around 7 years. I own a Squire Strat, 12 String Takamine, Yamaha Classical Acoustic, Ibanez RG320, S420FM, AS73 Semi-Hollow body. Too many pedals to list but the main ones are my MXR 10 band eq, EHX metal muff, and a TS9. Other gear, but you get the point.

If it were lost or stolen, I would get something else. I haven't found my sound with this amp, but I'm still learning. If you found your sound and have tried tons of amps and this is it, than buy it again. Honestly, I haven't tried many amps so I would move on and try something different the next time around. I don't really know how you could "lose" this amp. It's not like a quarter falling out of your pocket or something.

If it was stolen, well I usually end up finding the people so I would just kick their ***, drop the cab on the top of their car, pull a home invasion, plug in, and rip some Crystal Mountain by Death at full blast.

I love it's aggresiveness and it's tonal personality. You can do a lot with it and it fits my genre to the T. Don't really hate much anything about it. Suits my style for now.

No I didn't compare. I found it on CL, only had $600 to burn, so I took a 100 mile trip and picked it up. I chose this for the pure fact that it fit my style.

Like I said before, I wish it had the noise gate feature separate, but me being not much of an effects guy, I don't mind it too much.

Overall, you should buy this if you can find the halfstack for let's say $800 or less. Not worth it's new price. Not worth much more than $1000 if that.

I won't run through everything this amp has I'm sure you have already read them. First, this amp is made in "Mexico" this is a step up from all the trash that comes from "China". This amp has 3 channels, I think you can get fairly good sounds for most kinds of music. I play alot of Metal and this is what it is designed for and it does very well at it. It has plenty or power, its very loud; I have the matched cabinet, they are 4 ohms, so with one cabinet it puts out 400watts and with two cabinets you switch to 2ohms and you get the 550 watts. With one cabinet it is more than loud enough. The one problem with the features I have is the one everone else has, you can only use one effect selection at a time, this would be o.k. except for the noise gate, it should have been seperate. By the way the noise gate works very well; it responds quick and doesn't kill your sustain.

The sound quality is good in my opinion, it defenitly has the solid state sounding distortion; tube amps have their own distinct distortion so if you are sold on that smoother warmer distortion of tubes, stay away. I use differnt guitars that maintain different tunings and they all mostly have fairly "hot" pick-ups. The clean channel is very clean and smooth and the amp has alot of what's called headroom. This is a fairly "bright" amp, so I think an E.Q. pedal would help with more tonal variety. The distortion on the loose channel is very heavy for plugging strait into the head with no other pedals (wich is how I have been using it).

No problems yet. I bought the head used on Ebay. This amp is built heavy duty, much sturdier than other solid state stacks like Marshall MG's and Crates; the knobs are metal not plastic, plus I and my wife think this thing looks really tough, the flight case trim really makes this amp unique.

Have not used.

Overall I think this is an above average amp for metal (for solid state). When I first got this thing I was very dissapointed, but after tinkering with it for a couple of days I changed my opinion; you have to dial this amp in to get that brutal distortion, all of the settings, mid,treble, presence, effect how heavy the distortion is so before you throw in the towel sit down with this amp and give it time. I definetly think if you do use some effects like an E.Q. pedal and possibly a sonic maximizer you could get an amazing amp for metal. Also, it sounds better cranked up, these speakers like to be pushed, just make sure if you don't have the matched cabinet to have one that is matched Ohm wise. Lastly I also own a Randall Warhead, and I think this is a better sounding amp, it has more distortion and sustain. Only problems are it is discontinued by Fender and I do think they are over priced. The cabinet I actually bought new from an independent music store clearance for 270 out the door.

I'm not going to spend a lot of time here, you should know the features. Feature I wish it had? Made by Peavey. I do not use this amp, but have used this amp.

I play Metal, power and thrash mostly, with a Beast loaded w/EMGs, and a PA-2 pre. This amp sounds generic. It has little, if any, tonal personality about it. This amp sounds like most any other generic amp on the market today, only this one is louder. The distortion isn't brutal enough for my taste. This amp looks Great, and sounds 'ok'. But for the $$ it costs, it should be a Whole Lot better than 'ok'.

I imagine you could rely on it about as much as any other amp. Its heavy. The case appears to be built well. I wouldn't gig with it, but not because of its reliability, because of its sound quality.

Never dealt with them

I've been playing for 15 years on/off. I own/use/abuse a Peavey 6505. The Fender MH doesn't even come close to the tonal capabilities of the 6505. Chances are you're looking at this amp because you either play primarily metal, or are looking for a powerful versatile head. This head is powerful and versatile, but much like anything else, because of its versatility, it does Nothing well. This amp is mostly just a piece of trash with a lot of knobs. This head doesn't have a place on a stage anywhere, nor does it belong in a practice room. This amp is for the guy that has to the biggest everything, who does not care for his ears or the ears of the people around him. Because this amp sounds Generic. Sterile. No Good Tones!! Look elsewhere. The cabs however are some of the best I have ever had the privelege to use!!

I think it was made in 05. I bought it new though. Its been in the box for over 3 years. I HAVE THE MATCHING CAB, which I reccommend, but I'm not sure how this head does with other cabs. I've had a B-52 half stack, Peavey JSX combo, and a Bogner Alchemist, so I'll use those for comparison. Built in Features are better than any other amp I've had. I don't use them very much so I can't go in depth on them, but they are good enough for any basic usage of them. Noise gate works as good as any pedal. Amp is plenty versatile, don't let the name fool you. I play everything from classic rock (skynyrd, sabbath) to new alternative, to metal (parkway drive, slipknot) has 3 channels with footswitch, effect loop. I use it in a band. We play a lil of everything, all very loudly, and it has plenty of power. Its Solid State.

I use an Ibanez RG with Dimarzio D sonic in bridge and Breed in the neck. (awesome combo btw) It suits all my styles perfectly. Even does the old school bluesy sound I play around with once in a while. Cleans are a little less warm than the Jsx, but better than the Bogner IMO even though the bogner is a tube. Overall Cleans are great and I can't see how you couldn't find a good sound in it. Tight Channel has gotten some bad reviews, but its not that bad. I can get a good classic rock sound and my new alt. sound. It just doesn't have near the 'balls' the loose channel has, so its hard to switch between the two. The loose channel is where it gets exciting. I've been in the search for a monster low end crunch for about a year now, and I have finally found it. It makes me want to palm mute all the time. The distortion isn't near as fuzzy as I was expecting it to be with a "metal" amp. Like I said, the loose channel has major balls, meaning intense distortion. Bass response in the cab is amazing and much more controllable than others I've played. Turning the bass up doesn't drown out the other sounds with bass, just makes the sound thicker and deeper. Gain control is nice. I usually play with gain at about 1 o clock, which is plenty for most heavy rock, but pushing the gain higher gives you an over the top death metal type distortion. This amp is only noticably noisy at loud volumes on the loose channel, but is still has a much quiter volume to noise ratio as high gain tubes. And it has the VERY effective noise gate.

Supper heavy duty casing. Seems extremely solid. I will use it with no backup. And of course it SS, which i'm now a fan of. No tubes. I don't have to baby it like I did the JSX (which blew up on me anyway)

Called Fender and they got the warranty on it transferred to my name. Were very helpful. 5 year warranty

I've been playing for about 3 years and i've owned a few and played many other amps. I'll always try different stuff but I've been really impressed with this amp. I love the versatility, distortion, and looks of it. Hate nothing, except maybe that the noise gate is included with the other effects (can't run both at the same time.) If your lookin at this amp and people are sayin stuff like "its fender they dont do metal" or "just dont get a solid state" like they said to me, please don't listen. And don't let the cheesy name get to you. I don't consider myself a "metal head" but I love this amp.

More than enough power! Easy to use, the loose channel needs some more time spent but overall a simple but good concept. which sucks somehow is that you cant use the gate in combination with other effects (for me thats ok, cause i dont need other effects and i dont know about the sound quality neither)

Sounds great. I only use the tight drive and the clean channel. i play metal/death/core style music and i had the peavey 6505 before so i always compare it to that one. and i think it has enough punch and clearity to nail that one. okay its solid state and you hear that! but it really got punch and balls, and you will never use the whole volume range (just like with the 6505). i got the gain to the max on tight drive and with the noise gate its works fine for me. no buzz, just clear direct tone.

the noise gate is the best thing on this amp. i never even tried to use the effects, cause im not into digitalmodelingwhatever stuff.. but the noise gate is great. really its a quite amp and you still got the drive you need and natural sounding sustain.

seems to be built well, i use it without back up for shows (but that more because of financially reasons). i hope the noise gate never gets broke, this is the main thing i like this amp for. everything on this amp seems really good quality only the potiknobs are not the best especially the one for the effects. the footswithc seems reliable also, only the cable they deliver with it is a joke.

never had to deal with them.

works great for me. its not tube but its still capable of blowing your ears away. Beacause of the built in gate i gave it a try as a local music store sold a new one at ebay for 500 euros and i dont regret buying it.

The effects should have a rate and depth control and it would rule the earth! Also the gate feature should be separate. If this were the case, the amp would be a 10.

Jacksons with Blackouts and EMG's exclusively. Its been about 3 years since my last review of my same amp. Not to be bias but I always try the new gear all the time continuously searching for the magic tone that everyone chases, etc, etc, etc. Every time I plug into this ****** it blows my head off. First time ever I've kept an amp this long and it still freaks me out every time I plug in! I have to add 1 thing! I preamp the effects loop with an old Image (by Yorkville) preamp digital delay, (good luck finding one) my magic little box for the last 10 thousand years. But anyways. My point is it really rules, or maybe I'm just a f'ft up Metal head. Not noisy, no noise gate, some outboard effects. Just a little trick to try, Samson just came out with a tube preamp for about 100 bucks, run it through the effects loop and be prepared to die! Good Luck. Hope this further helps. Cheers to all. Arguements are totally welcome, I love that stuff.

3 years plus no problems.

I guess I have to say awesome!

26 years in, still having a blast. This is the vehicle that takes me to where I need to go. If it dies, I cruise to the local music store and get another. Or ebay hahaha, the effects are awesome but you can't tweak them, which is a piss off(pardon the language but thats the way it is)My email is chapperbone@hotmail.com if you wanna shoot the sh@#$t. Cheers.

bought new in 05. Has EVERYTHING you'll ever need...minus a headphone jack, wah, and a tuner, otherwise itd be a line6 or something. Solidstate pre and power. 3channels: clean, tight drive, loose drive. Plenty of power: 400w at 4ohms, 550w at 2ohms. Thats right, it STARTS at 4ohms!!! Separate EQ's. Reverb chorus delay vibrato flanger phaser and noise gate, all lightly adjustable, some options inclue rev/del, rev/del/chor and chor/gate. Four button footswitch for channel select, drive select, effects on/off, and solo boost on/off. Effects loop for your 10-band EQ which you WILL need! XLR line out with grnd/lift switch. All this and a courtesy box of earplugs...that wasnt a joke!

this amp has had nothing but stock PRS custom 22's, beautiful combo! A dunlop GCB95 in front, and an RP80 in the effects loop(EQ purposes) next to an ns-2. The EQ panel is the only issue, you wont get much response from it, thus the reason you read about so many people with 10band EQ's in their rigs. I use the MH slant cab, a beautiful match, and a killer cab! The 100w celestions give you enough low end to move furniture! The clean channel sparkles, as every fender should. The tight drive tries to give you vintage tube tone, but it just sounds like a marshall mg. The loose drive will have you SOLD! especially for the dimebag anthrax metalhead in all of us. The built in effects are clear as glass, but a speed/rate knob would have been nice. All in all not quite tube-esque, but pretty ****** close! And keeping up with the rest of your band wont be an issue, drowning them out might be! I play lead guitar in a punk/metal band, perfect features for this style. But is this head YOUR sound? The best way to know is to try one on your own.

crapped out on me after two years of abuse, probably too much build up inside or something. Who knows? Itd take a team of 20 to break into that tank! Too expensive to fix, so i sold it and moved on to an orange(best investment ever!).

Never did the warranty reg and all that. Nice people, but they had no valid references in the bay area for me to try.

this was my first half-stack. I probably shouldve gone with marshall avt like everyone else? Tube is the way to go if youre really considering something in this price range. Big disappointer. The MH412 is an awesome cab tho, id recommend it with any mesa or randall head.

This is a follow-up review. I have now had the MH-500 for 1 year.

This is a 2006 model MH-500.

400w @ 4ohms (******g loud)
550w @ 2ohms (you had better own a set of earplugs)

Solid-state preamp and power amp sections.

Built-in digital FX.

This amp is aesthetically and sonically a metal/hard rock amp. I play alt metal, so it suits my needs perfectly.

It has two distinct channels, clean and dirty. The dirty channel has two footswitchable modes, "Tight Drive" and "Loose Drive"

I own two matching straight Fender MH412 cabs. They perfectly complement this amp!

The effects loop is very nice, I run an MXR 10-band EQ thru it. I experience no volume loss or drop in the quality of my tone when using the FX loop.

I use this amp in my home and at band practice. My fellow guitarist uses a Triple Rectifier thru a Mesa 4x12 and the MH-500 quite honestly outperforms the Recto, in terms of both volume and tone.


The digital FX are nice, but I only use the noise gate. The gate is freaking awesome, and I use it as a dedicated effect. It is essential to my style..... it completely elminates noise when I am not playing. I set the FX control for this at 9 o'clock. (about 25%)

I play Agile baritone string-guitars tuned to A standard and B standard. One has EMG active pickups and double-locking bridge, and the other has passive pickups and TOM bridge.

I have owned a Krank Krankenstein, a 1990s 2-channel Mesa Triple Recto, and a Line 6 Vetta II. None of them come close to the gut-wrenching distortion of the MH-500.

The clean channel is to die for! It never breaks up, even at the highest volumes. Both with active and passive pickups, the clena channel has a distinct, warm flavor that is very unique.

Here are my personal EQ settings that I would HIGHLY recommend:

(loose drive)
Volume: 9 oclock (for practice)
Drive: 10 oclock
Presence: 9 oclock
Treble: 12 oclock
Mids: zero (I will explain in just a second)
Bass: dimed
MXR-10 Band EQ: as a dedicated post-EQ, I dial in a steep reverse V-curve, strongly emphasizing middle frequencies (+6db) and dropping bass and treble freqs. (-6db) This is ESSENTIAL when you scoop the mids out of the preamp like me.

*If you are using EMGs and you take the drive past 10 oclock, you will lose chord definition in tunings lower than C.*


This amp's distortion nails the tone of Fear Factory, KoRn, Prong, and Pantera.


This amp has a little bit of background noise. The fan is fairly quiet and it does an awesome job... I can play for hours and the amp has never overheated.

The amp was broken when I bought it. I had it professionally serviced under warranty at a Fender service shop.

I have owned it for a year and it has never crapped out on me.

The Fender service shop guys are extremely personable, and quick & thorough with their work. The 5 year transferable warranty on this amp is very nice.

I've been playing 5 years. I'm a self-taught guitarist, bassist, and vocalist. I play in a band (sans drummer) and I program drums for the band for the time being. I own a couple nice guitars and a bass rig, with some recording equipment.

If it were lost or stolen, I would buy another in heartbeat. I cannot see myself owning another amp.

I love the volume, the couple of tones that it does EXTREMELY well, the reliability, the aesthetics, and the built-in noise gate.

I wish I could control the built-in FX separately from the noise gate.

I often compare this to the Mesa Triple Rectifier. IMHO, this amp owns the Recto in every way.

The Fender Metalhead comes with three channels, the clean, tight drive (basically like "vintage" drive), and loose drive. There is an effects loop, direct out with volume control, and 2 or 4 ohm operation. Also, it's 400 watts when ran into one 4 ohm cabinet, or 550 watts when run into two 2 ohm cabs. I use this amp at gigs and practices and it's plenty plenty loud enough on 3.

I use a Schecter C1-Elite, with a T.C. Electronics G-major for effects and a BBE Sonic Maximizer, both run through the effects loop. I play mostly heavy metal, so this amp suits me pretty well. It's got alot of gain, and plenty of high end sizzle (a la the presence knob). This can give you a pretty good crunch. It's a decently quiet amp, I run a little noise gate with the G-major and that takes care of any hiss or noise that's noticeable. The Clean channel DOES NOT distort! This thing has a great great clean on it. The distortion is pretty thick as well. But, if you are looking for the tone of a Mesa or Peavey 5150 or XXX, this might not be the amp for you, as it IS solid state, NOT tube. All I'm saying is try this thing out and see for yourself if you really want it

I would throw this thing down my stairs and trust it to be ok. It's very solidly built. It's got an exhaust fan in the back and a vent in the front to keep it from overheating. You'll never have to change tubes because it's solid state.

Never dealt with Fender

I like this amp. It's pretty good for live stuff, and the direct out on the loose channel makes for a good layer to add crunch in a recording. I think the metalhead is a good amp, but I'm about to switch to a 5150, just because the metalhead isn't the tone I want. But, I will say think thing reminds me a bit of a marshall tone wise. My other guitar player just got a JCM2000 DSL100 and the two match up really nice at practice. All I can say about this amp is, if you are considering this for your next amp purchase, try to find somewhere to try it out.

This is a 2006 Fender Metalhead

2 channels: clean and dirty. Dirty channel has two modes, "tight" and "loose." The Tight channel is not suited to my tastes..... it tries to be a vintage dirty channel but doesn't do that very well. Sort of makes a "thud" sound.

The loose channel is probably what you'll be buying this amp for. The "drive" knob controls the gain for this channel, and it goes from 0 to 60 in no time at all. I suspect that many beginner guitarists using this amp would instinctively zero the mids, turn the noise gate to 100%, and dime the gain, but that would result in an incredibly shitty tone. The "loose" channel is like 50 lbs of nitroglycerine: handle with care!

Each channel/mode can be given a selectable volume boost.

The included footswitch (very sturdy) controls the channel, mode on ch2, onboard effects, and boost.

Effects loop is easy to use and maintains signal purity. I use an MXR 10-band EQ through the loop.

The cab-emulated direct out is pure genius for live situations. Put it thru the PA at your gig for a much fatter overall mix.

It operates with one cab at 4 ohms and in stereo at 2 ohms.

The onboard effects are nice, but implemented in a retarded way. You can only use one effect at a time. The noise gate is a godsend, but it shoudl DEFINITELY be implemented separately from the other effects. Is that so much to ask?

My sole axe is a Schecter C7 Hellraiser with EMG 707 pickups, set up for G standard (that's GCFBbEbGC for the kiddies). My influences include Pantera, KoRn, Prong, Fear Factory, SYL, Sepultura, Slayer, etc.

Is it noisy? Well I guess it depends on how you EQ it. A dummy can make anything sound like a barrel full of bees. Just keep the gain on the loose channel around 12 oclock and you'll be good to go.

The amp sounds massive when EQ'd correctly. My settings:
Drive: 12 oclock (for chunky rhythm and defined chords) or 10 oclock (boosted with an Ibanez TS808- try this for a really huge fucking tone)
Presence: usually around 2 oclock. I use it to compensate for room dynamics.
Treble: 5
Mids: 3
Bass: 10
Gate: 25%

I use the MXR 10-band as a post EQ to put mids back in my tone


The clean channel is exactly what I want, actually. The solid-state cleans don't lend themselves to break-up, even at high volumes. Very pure clean channel.

How "brutal" is the distortion? LOL, brutal enough for me, but I don't know about the fools in HCAF :p

Here's a short story: I bought it used, and it showed up on my doorstep nonfunctional. However, it was still under transferable warranty (hang on to your receipts!) and I had it serviced at an authorized Fender service shop for free. There were many minor repairs to be made, such as loose connections and broken filter caps, but it now works perfectly.

Thiws proabbly occured because of the douchebags at UPS, but obviously I can't give it a "10" if it broke down.

The Fender service shop was very nice and everything was under warranty. I got it back in about two weeks.

All I had to do to find it was go to Fender.com and look under "authorized electronic service shops"

The warranty is 5 years, transferable.

I've owned a Triple Rec, a Krankenstein, and a Line 6 Vetta. This kills em all, hands down.

I've been playing for 4 years.

If it were lost or stolen I would definitely get another. I wouldn't buy new though ($1000 is a bit steep)

I love the tones, plain and simple. It also dig the flight-case look. The gate is very useful, and the features are mostly well-implemented.

I wish the effects were more usable. I would also like a density control.

I would favorably compare this to other high-gain amps such as the Mesa Rectifier series, Randall, Krank, etc.

Personally, I bought the full stack for $1200 used, so I would say I got it for a bargain.