Fender MH-500 Metalhead Head

Well, you've probably already read about all that, but needless to say the 550 watts this amp puts out means it is massively loud and the speakers are great and handle the power easily. I use this amp mainly to play metal (obviously) but it has good range of sounds. For blues and rock though, maybe not the best.

I use an LTD Viper with EMG 81/85 pickups for the metal playing and a jackson dk2s with a seymour duncan alnico II pickup for the fatter, spongier sounds. This amp does take some getting used to, but once you do figure out the settings, you can get some great sounds from it, it is good either for tight metal with the drive and bass rolled back or full on scooped chaos with the drive almost cranked (you do not need to turn the drive to 10, there is more than enough of it). The effects are hit and miss but the chorus, delay and reverb are fantastic. The clean channel has great tone and headroom as well and the boost is very handy, especially with the footswitch. One thing to make sure of is getting a good balance between the mids, presence and treble, especially on the loose channel, it can sometimes sound quite fizzy.

Because this amp is solid state, there are no tubes to be replaced and it is built like a bunker, I cannot see it breaking at any point in the near future, and I have cranked the volume up many times

I have never had to deal with Fender due to the amps reliable nature and there is a good warranty on the amp

What really tempted me about this amp was the price, it was being sold stupidly cheap so I bought it there and then and have not regretted it, if it was full price though, I may have chosen something else, but only out of personal preference, mostly because of the tight drive channel being somewhat bland

- 550 watts into 2 ohms (a pair of MH-412 cabinets)
- 400 watts into 4 ohms (a single MH-412 cabinet)
- All solid-state circuitry, reliable and maintenance-free; power amp is descended from one of our Professional Bass amplifier platforms
- Forced-air fan cooling
- Three-channel preamp voiced for the new millennium
- CLEAN channel is studio-pure, with tons of headroom
- TIGHT DRIVE channel covers the palette of vicious rock guitar tones
- LOOSE DRIVE combines copious distortion with high-headroom, uncontrolled power-amp rumble for modern drop-tuned metal, punk and beyond.
- BOOST knob allows footswitchable volume boost on any channel, effectively providing SIX channel performance
- 16 useful effects, including new GATE feature, which can be used for noise reduction or "stop-start" muting techniques
- Professional speaker-emulated XLR Line Out with Level control and Ground Lift
- Four-button footswitch is included

I'm Playing this amp with a Gibson SG Special, And A Gibson Les Paul Standard(2006) With a dimebucker in the bridge
I Play In A DeathMetal Band (Think Job For A Cowboy)
We're Not WannaBees.
I Also Have A PopPunk Screamo Band
Clean Channel-Great GREAT!! i love it Amazing Headroom and a full Fat Sound Which I love.

Tite Drive-Horibble, not cause of the it has no gain bit because it sound very very dark and it has a wierd mid-spike to it no matter what you set the EQ to.I Use This Mostly to get a OD sound.

Loose Drive-This Is a great Channel and this is where the amp really shines. lots of gain on tap here so i play with the gain at about 2 o'clock.
THE BUILT IN NOISE GATE IS PERFECT!

its built into a flight case and there is NO TUBES! what more can i say

great buy for the money i would buy this a hundred times over

Three channels with all the tone shaping tools you need to dial in your sound. This amp is versitile enough for what I use it for; all out Metal and Alt/Indie styles. 500 watts that you will never need but Fender brilliantly made it this way so you would have maximum headroom without pushing the ss transistors keeping the loose channel from getting sharp and brittle like most ss amps when the gain is pushed. Love the metal trim, but could do without the huge 'MH' logo. You can check out all the specs and features at fender.com.

I'm loving the sound this thing can produce. Clean is crisp and sparkling, tight is gritty and fierce, and loose is just all out fire and brimstone. I'm using it with an ESP VB 400 Baritone drop tuned to 'A' with the standard EMG pickup configuration. I also have the matching MH412sl cab. The GATE feature helps keep the loose drive relatively noise free.

I will say this; when I first got it I was disapointed and that's only because I expected to get a great sound right out the box. This amp requires some time to really dial in your tone, the nobs are very responsive; the slightest adjustment will slightly alter your sound just like its supposed to, some amps don't respond until you've turned the nobs 1/4 way around. Because I am tuned to A, I have to be carefull with the bass levels.
Talk about loud, holy shit is this baby loud! The band I'm in plays pretty damn loud and the highest I've ever turned up to is about '3.5', unbelievable.

I don't think I would have to worry about a back up, she's built like a Soviet tank.

I have no experience dealing with them.

I was one of those guys that really bought in to the whole 'tube amps were created by the gods for the gods and if you want a godly sound you have to use tub amps' bullshit so I only used tube amps, but I was always open to trying ss and did experiment with a few cheaper solid state amps with no success. Tube amps are great but guess what... so are ss amps. As with Tbe amps, you just have to find the right one for you.

I read a lot of reviews and forums on the MH-500 and there were a lot of brutal comments from jackass noobs who hadn't even heard or tried the amp or were just closed minded tube snobs, or people who did'nt have the ear to know how to dial in a good sound. Well thats cool keep talkin' shit about it, the less people with this amp the more unique my sound will be.

Again, the loose chanel is just sick people, sick!

everyone knows its features, and if not they are at www.fender.com, but since i need to say something here, ill just put my fav thing..... 550WATTS!!! there, i said it... oh ya, i dont use the matching cab, i use 2 4x12 cabs with Texas Heat 12's. beautiful.

clean is VERY clean.... like.... Fender clean, nuf sef. tight is crunchy, really cool for blues(at least i think). Loose is.... perfect. let me put it like this, if u either have to use a pedal to make this amp sound good, or cant make this amp sound good at all, you are either A) a n00b, or B) just plain stupid. not to say if u use pedals u suck, hell, i use a Tonebone Radial Dist. but i dont really need it, i just use it cuz i have it. i believe somebody said this amp was not for shredders.... i would like to personally say, shredder to "so-called" shredder, you fall into the B) catagory. dont mean to be a dick(yes i do), but what do u play on, a fuckin' recto*cough*trash*cough*???

solid state and flight case.... it will out live me.

i dunno, its never broken and probably never will.

its damned near perfect. im not going to tell you ive owned all these amps and have been playin for like 50 years and im the end all be all of guitar so listen to me. ive owned a few cheap heads and cabs and have played long enough to know what sounds good and what sounds cheap. i researched and tried out every amp i saw at guitar center many times over and quite simply, this amp wins. not "for the money," but because it sounds good and is built strong. if u want to spend thousands on a Mesa/Boogie Triple Recto, Crate BV300, any random Marshall, blah blah blah the list goes on, then spend the money and blow a tube for all i care, my amp will STILL sound better AND cost me less money not only in the long run, but up front as well.

The specs are listed a million times on the net, the things i will highlight as i think it's important, is the sheer range on the tone controls on this amp, you have such a massive contrast of EQ and it's so refreshing to be able to really cut or boost certain frequencies to shape the sound.

The Cabinet (412SL) was bought aswell as the head and I really can't fault it, loaded with 4-100W G12k's it's a monster, it takes such a beating, and helps so that even when you're tuning the sound and you overdo one or two of the settings you're not messing with a cab that's made of glass - <cough> marshall <cough> randall <cough>

I'm cheating with this amp a little, i'm actually using a Sansamp PSA1 + Boss GX700 for my preamp stage, but this amp really delivers a crisp clean sound and reproduction of what I'm looking for, my other guitarist plugged his Boss GT-Pro into the setup and he even said it brough a tear to his eye (what a woofta LOL) but he was just amazed at the extra depth and clarity that the massive amounts of headroom this amp has...

Having said that though, all three channels on their own offer a really great emulation tone, the distorted channel is a touch fizzy for my liking but it's absolutely nothing that a small amount of tweaking from an EQ couldn't sort as it's still "responds" like a tube tone, if you get my meaning :-) The clean tone is bright and glassy with a gorgeous smooth low end delivery and the middle channel has a great amount of crunch, very twangy if ya need it to be :-)

It's built to last, absoultey no doubt about it, it feeds on little children its so brutal looking and the best thing about this, apart from monster contruction *if* you manage to damage a panel or some of the trim it's *all* held together with exposed stainless screws and not polished off rivets so you can *easily* repair the amps aesthetics, sounds silly doesn't it, but trust me, it's touches like those that really made me smile after having paid over 1000ukp on it...

Never had any dealings with fender, i hope to not have to, but going on what everyone else has to say i can't see there being any issues...

I run a 7-string (Ibanez RG7620) and so you tend to push amps more for clarity on the low end but my word this amp delivers it! - don't think about it, just buy it :-)

You "could" buy Mesa and be ripped off, i really can't justify the extreme costs of these amps, i mean yes, they have the name, but who is really *that* anal without having the situation of "money" is no object...

You *could* buy randall or almost any other head for the price of the MH-500 and MH412SL together (in fact it would prolly cos you more for any of the other manufacturers heads just on their own) but personally, if you're in any doubt, just go and play one, low signal to noise ratio, excellent power and frequency handling, amazing built quality, faultless reliability and downright cool looks make this a definitely keeper for me. :-)

See other listings

Clean Channel is good. The tight channel sucks. The loose channel is the only descent channel. Boost helps alot. The effect are ok, but overall this amp has too much low end. This is definitely not a shredders guitar amp. Maybe good for nu metal or hardcore maybe. I have to use my guitar processor, a Boss GT-8, just to get a good sound out of it.

It's a tank. Plus it's a solid state, which is as you know usually dependable.

I've been playing metal for at least nine years and have played about every guitar amplifier out their. To be honest with you I got this because I saw it really cheap on ebay and bought it for $700 including the matching cabinet. I really just need something to push my processor, which it does easily with great tone even at high volumes. The only bad thing is that the noise gate does not work when petals are used, but that does not bother me considering that me processor already has one and every effect/distortion imaginable!)

It`s not a universal Mesa killing machine but there`s erverything you need!!! (ass a normal guy) a effects loop and a line out per XLR perfect for me!!!

The sound is easy to handle and you get very fast the sounds that you like and the effekts on board are excellent!!!

The sound is very good and the low end of the loose channel is extreme ...
i play things in the style of bucked head and matthias eklundh and the amp gives me what i need!

-The clean channel: i made a warm sound but there are also brilliant sound int there, and with the chorus effect that channel sounds exactly like come as you are ...

-The tight (rock) channel: there i have a bad to the bones sound but there also a ACDC sound possible and nirvana and so on!

-The loose (metal)channel: It??s just WOW extreme low end an is made a fear factory sound on that channel ...

-The boost (solo) channel: very cool and you can control the loundess ... and the presence is more in this channel ...

-The effect section: many useful sounds wait for you!!!
delay, reverb, Flanger, Phaser, tremolo, chorus, gate and some really good sounding mixtures !!!

It`s a solid state! i had never any problems and it`s really built to last!!

i had never problem with this amp that why i don`t know anythig about that...

dou you play metal? do you have to much problem with changing tubes and so on ? dou you play metal? buy a MH 500! (with the original cab)

3 channels , effects, also highgain, don`t cost very much, great sound ...

it depend on what you want to play an the think with the effects on board is really great...

I recently took a chance and bought this head for $500 on eBay. I wanted something even more powerful than the Marshall Mode Four, which I also have and use. The Metalhead is 550 watts of solid state power [I hate tube snobs] and there isn't much else like it out there.

This amp isn't as diverse as the Marshall, but what it does, it does better. It has a tight channel and a loose channel. The tight channel, to me, sounds like complete garbage. I simply can't even get a good punk or thrash sound out of it at ALL. I mainly play metal, and I've always played Marshalls, and this tight channel is what I picture cheap Fenders sounding like.

But, the reason anyone would buy this is the loose channel. Totally over the top distortion with a tuned down guitar. I currently only have one MH412ST cab, but I will be getting the other one to fully appreciate the power this thing has.

The best feature this has is the built in noisegate. Simply an awesome feature. Also, seems a lot of people don't like the looks of this amp, but I simply love it. The metal trim and black metal grill really stand out from the Marshalls that everyone else has.

I don't use the clean channel or the tight channel. I play old school Death Metal out of Charvel Avengers and 80's NJ Series BC Rich Ironbirds.

If you're comparing this to the Mode Four, it kinda depends on what you play. The Mode Four sounds better at low volumes and it has more bass at any volume. But, the Metalhead has a more grainy and aggressive sound and you can crank it much higher without it breaking up like the Marshall does.

I run an AB-Y splitter and play out of both my Mode Four and the Metalhead and it's the heaviest sounding rehearsals you could imagine. The Fender overpowers the Marshall a little bit, but with both these monsters going, they don't need to go up past 2 or 3.

I've only had the amp for a few months now and I would bring it to any gig without thinking twice.

I've never had to deal with them, but the construction of the amp as well as the Fender name makes me think I will not have to worry about this head.

I've been playing for a few years and I own 17 guitars, mostly Charvels and old school BC Richs. I only play extreme metal and grindcore, so I try to find LOUD amps that can hold a lot of low end and be over the top. If this thing was stolen, I'd be pissed. VERY pissed.

For what I do, this is a bit better than the Mode Four. I never thought I'd say that, as I've ALWAYS played Marshalls, but this thing just crushes.

If you have to get either an MF or an MH, the Fender wins.

- 550 watts into 2 ohms (a pair of MH-412 cabinets)
- 400 watts into 4 ohms (a single MH-412 cabinet)
- All solid-state circuitry, reliable and maintenance-free; power amp is descended from one of our Professional Bass amplifier platforms
- Forced-air fan cooling
- Three-channel preamp voiced for the new millennium
- CLEAN channel is studio-pure, with tons of headroom
- TIGHT DRIVE channel covers the palette of vicious rock guitar tones
- LOOSE DRIVE combines copious distortion with high-headroom, uncontrolled power-amp rumble for modern drop-tuned metal, punk and beyond.
- BOOST knob allows footswitchable volume boost on any channel, effectively providing SIX channel performance
- 16 useful effects, including new GATE feature, which can be used for noise reduction or "stop-start" muting techniques
- Professional speaker-emulated XLR Line Out with Level control and Ground Lift
- Four-button footswitch is included
- Included display box contains 25 sets of foam earplugs ... You are going to need them!
- 8.5" H x 29.25" W x 11" D, 50 lbs.

H-S-H Ibanez
This is the perfect live amp
Sounds amazing loud. It will push the MArshall 1960 cab to the absolute limit. Sounds even louder with the MH-500 Cab. Sounds amazing with my Yorkville G-12 too. Plug it into a GT-8 into the clean channel and it keeps it's ballsy tone. Nice AMP!!!!!

Dropped it....not even a scratch cause of it's metal rimms. It's the Frankenstein of amps. Run it over with a Mack truch and it'll probably still stay in tact!!!

Fender A1 support!!!

If you like good guitar sounds...get this amp. Who cares if it's aolid state. It sounds good. Good=Good Good Tone= Good Tone for god sakes don;t be such a tube snob. Did you ever hear about the Emperor's New Clothes?

This amp was made in 2005.

I play heavy metal, hardcore, punk, all the way to blues and ballad-y type songs.

3 channels, as you know already from other reviews. Clean, Tight Drive and Loose Drive. Channel switching (comes with a nice pedal!) Effects send and return. All in there :D.


There aren't any other features I wish it had, it's basically the perfect amp for me! There isn't anything I don't use. The XLR Line Out quality is actually very very nice! I was surprised, and I love recording with this amp.

I am using this amp at practices and gigs. and with 550 Watts of power, I don't think you need any more power than that!

Built in effects, which are very good. I need no effects pedals with this thing. You can't adjust parameters but that's okay with me.

I am using an American Fender Stratocaster Deluxe, with SL-1 pickups and an Ibanez RG-370 with standard Ibanez pickups which sound lovely through the clean channel, and make the distorted channels more punchy.

This amp suits everything I play, it's just fantastic! I need no pedals or anything, it's great. I bought this amp so I didn't have to use pedals (apart from the one that swtiches the channels :P). The pedal for this is great too! A Solo button, the clean/dirty select, the drive select and the effects.

This amp... IS BLOODY LOUD... I have not yet cranked the volume up on full, I have gone to about 6-7 and stopped 'cause everyone in the room looked like they wanted to kill me. I don't think I will ever turn it up on full volume, I don't need to. 12 o'clock is even too loud.
I put the gain up on full, the treble and the presence. I usually don't have the mid up, 'cause then it doesn't sound as brutal/hardcore, but I do like to play some nu-metal with the mid up.

If you play around with the settings, you can get the greatest sounds :). I use the loose channel (most distorted) most often. I play in a band with three other guys, and this amp makes us sound a lot better.

My old setup was a Line 6 uber metal pedal, and a Fender Pro 185 (with red knobs) and this thing kills my old setup!

The clean channel is not distorted at high volumes. In fact, this amp sounds better when it's louder in my opinion. I like to have the clean sounding a little bassy 'cause I think it's annoying when you have that really treble-ish twangy sound. Not unless you have new strings. The clean channel really brings out the pickups on my guitars. It sounds great.

The tight channel (mild distortion), is a great channel for punk, and vintage sounding stuff. Also some modern rock (The White Stripes, Wolfmother, etc). I also call this the vintage channel. I just think it's good for blues and stuff like that :).

The distortion on this amp, is absoloutely STUNNING! I am so surprised Fender came out with something like this and actually made it sound amazing! Not that I doubt Fender, being one of THE best amp makers in the world. Being their foundation, I am just glad they made something like this. The distortion just wows me, it is very very very excellent, and I do not think you could get much better. Unless you had something like a Framus, a Hughes and Kettner or a Diezel even. But for this price, I was just stunned.

I tune to drop C#, and this amp makes the guitar sound amazing!

I would use this thing on a gig without backup.

It is very well built, and looks sweet! It is a very nice looking amp.

I was choosing either this or a Marshall Mode-Four, and this blew me away.

This amp is very sturdy, and I can't see it breaking down or anything like that. The handles on the sides are great too, no more worrying about the flimsy handle on top of the head breaking anymore!

I have not dealt with Fender, but I know they are a dependable company.

A 5 year warranty is good enough for me!

This amp is amazing, I thought it would have been very horrible but I was surprised. Never will I doubt Fender making such quality products.

Like everyone else is saying, buy the cabinet that was made for this amp! It loses headroom unless you use the cabinet made for it (the cabinet is great too, 4x100 watt speakers. Getting two would be heaven).

The price I paid was $2875, for both a cabinet and the head.


This was such a great amp, I don't think I will buy another amp until this one dies, which will be a very long time!

Invest in this amp, if you love your metal!