Framus Cobra Top Head

This is a 3 channel all tube head (12AX7s, EL34s) with a matching 4x12 straight cab with Celestion Vintage 25s. The cab can be split in stereo. 4 Button footswitch and the cab has removeable casters. Each channel has Gain, Presence, Volume, Bass, Middle, and Treble. The clean channel has a Bright switch while the Crunch and Lead Channels each have a notch switch. There's also a master Deep knob, 2 switchable Master Volumes, and an effects loop level knob. This amp can also accept a MIDI controller.

I love this freaking amp. In the past 2 years I've owned a Mesa Single Recto, Mesa DC5, and VHT combo. While they're all great, reliable amps, I was always wanting something more. More gain with less mud, more sizzle with less buzz...you get the idea.

I will soon be using a TC Electronics GMajor and Behringer FCB1010 foot controller with this amp. It's very easy to set up with a MIDI foot controller.

The effects loop is parallel. It is not switchable, however and I wish it was. When you have no effects in the loop and your raise the level of the loop to 1/2 way, you'll get a volume increase. Framus' distributor told me the amp is built this way to get a bit of buffering with effects. I'm not sure the boost is necessary. Also, when running a TC GMajor in the loop, you must enable the Kill Dry parameter in the TC. Otherwise, when you raise the loop level past 1/2 you'll get an out of phase tone and your sound level will be lower. Dana B Goods (Framus' distributor and tech support in the US) told me I should try replacing the phase innverter and effects loop tube and see if I have the same issue. When I do enable the Kill Dry on the GMajor, and I set the loop level to a little less than 1/2 I get tons of wet effect. If the loop was switchable between serial and paralle, that would be a nice feature.

It would also be nice to have the notch switches foot switchable and MIDI switchable.

The metal footswitch for this amp has 4 buttons and thick cord that splits into 2x1/4" stereo jacks. I wonder why they didn't go with a single multi-pin design.

Clean Channel: Nice! The bright switch seems to make the most difference when I'm playing on the neck pickup. It adds a nice tingle to the sound, even in the low frequencies. But it's not a night and day difference. My only complaint about this channel is that it breaks up easily with EMGs; I wish it had more headroom. With DiMarzio SDs and PAFs it has virtually no breakup. Other than that it's a very nice channel.

Crunch: With the Gain maxed, it won't get muddy. Very articulate and sounds, well, tubey!!! Sorta Marshall-esque. Flick the notch, and it scoops the mids and sounds brutal as hell. Nothing loses definition on this channel. Without the notch, you get a more warmer, vintage type sound best suited for Maiden type stuff, where you don't need the sizzle. The tone controls work very well. I have the bass, mid, and treble just past 1/2 and there's thump and sizzle for days.

Lead: Take the Crunch channel, double the gain and make it a little deeper. With the gain between 1/2 and 75% you will have all the gain you ever need. I'm a gain freak and I never thought I'd say an amp has too much gain. Notch this channel and you will sound fucking BRUTAL. When I first played this at home last weekend, I played this channel for like a minute, turned to my wife and said "holy shit I love this fucking amp!" Without the notch it's still killer. A little warmer and very open.

I am a gain FREAK. I can honestly say this amp has way more gain than I'll ever need. At higher volumes and for recording I'll drop the gain a bit to get a little more clarity.

I've heard people say this amp is what a Recto should sound like. I wholeheartedly agree. With this amp, you can pretty much set all the tone controls to 1/2 way and get a killer sound.

The tone between the lead and crunch channels is almost identical, which is fine with me. I think of them as the channel with gain, and the channel with MORE GAIN!!!

I've been jamming and recording with a drummer for a few weeks with this amp. So far, the sound is really consistent at all volume levels. It really cuts through. I played this side by side with a friend and his 5150 combo; my amp sounded tighter and brighter overall. And what I LOVE is there is NO volume jump. All my other tube amps had 2 levels: quiet and undefined and LOUD AS FUCK. I can play at bedroom and stadium levels with this summbitch. Another great thing is when I boost the mids, it doesn't start to sound hollow, you just feel the sound more.

If you want a very very brutal sound, this is your amp. I play mostly with the notch engaged but am realy warming up to the regular setting.

At higher gain levels, there's some hiss, but what high gain amp doesn't have hiss? In between songs I just switch to the clean channel. Easy enough for me!

So far I have not had any issues with this amp. The head weighs a ton. The cab weighs around 75-80 pounds. I do wish the wood on each was a bit thicker. Check out a Bogner Uberschall head and cab. Now that's some thick ass wood. Same with Mesa.

I've called Dana B Goods, the Framus distributor in the US a number of times to ask tube and MIDI questions and my call was always answered promptly and returned in a timely manner. You deal with real humans over there, not mindless robots. I met some of the staff at the 2004 NAMM show and they were nice and helpful.

I have been playing since 1983. I own some custom BC Rich guitars, a Jackson, a Lado, a Fender, and 2 Ibanez guitars. They all sound great and distinct through this amp.

The tone and gain are killer. The build quality is great. Before I bought this amp I was thinking of the following:

Peavey XXX head: Very versatile, gain for days. For the price, especially used, they can't be beat. If I was on a tight budget I'd buy this amp hands down.

VHT UltraLead, CLX, CL: Super high quality, with a matching high price. Great amps, but to me they feel like they have less gain than they really do. SUPER TIGHT AND ARTICULATE. Every mistake will shine through. I played these at NAMM and owned a combo for a short time. I really wanted to love these amps but I wanted a bit more sag and compression.

Bogner Uberschall: Unbelievably heavy in price, weight, and tone. I came SUPER close to buying one but it just wasn't versatile enough for me. And I've heard it's difficult to match the clean level to the lead level.

The Framus won for me because: It looks freakin METAL! It has 3 channels, with 2 modes each, for six tones. It has 2 master volumes. Great for lead boost. And it has the sound I've had in my head for years.

ich besitze den amp seit einem halben jahr und spiele hauptsachlich metal und rock mit einem metalma?ige gitarrensound. 3kanale, jeder mit gain, presence, violume und middle, treble und bass. 2 boxen anschlusse, midi interface. 3kanale: clean, chrunch, lead. beide distortion kanale sind high gain kanale. chruch klingt nach marshall, ist aber viel vielseitiger. led klingt nach richtig heftigen metal. der clean kanal zerrt auch bei hohen lautstarkern nicht, wenn man ihn entsprechend einstellt (wenig gain, viel volume) und klingt fabelhaft.
der clean kanal hat nen "bright" schalter, der garnichts bewirkt, die anderen beiden kanale haben jeweils einen "notch" schalter, der nen richtig heftigen scoop sound erzeugt, der dann aber einiges leiser ist und sehr fett wird. besonders im lead kanal kann man damit alles machen, was das new metal herz begehrt. naturlich vollrohre. der amp kann sowas von verdammt laut werden, ich bin sicher, dass er locker 2 4X12 boxen antreiben kann und fur JEDE buhne gro? und lautgenug ist. ach ja, er hat 2 schalotbare mastervolumes!!

die lead distortion ist alles, was der metaller jemals wollen kann. der new metaller genauso, wie der true metaller, besser gehts nicht!!
der amp ist sehr leise und neigt nicht zu feedback, sehr schon!! insgesamt ist der sound voller und etwas fetter, als marshall, deshalb musste ich in unserer band viele mitten und hohen einstellen, um mit dem anderen gitarristen (Marshall tsl 2000) mitzuhalten... ist aber kein problem. der amp ist 1000mal vielseitiger als ein marshall!!!

hatte noch nie ein problem damit, alles kann kaputt gehen, oder?!?

der amp wurde mit fu?schalter geliefert, wenn ich auf dem fu?schalter herumtrat, passierte garnichts. ich hab ne mail an framus geschrieben und sie haben mir sofort nen neuen fu?schalter geschickt und ich musste den ersten nicht zuruckschicken!!! au?erdem waren sie sehr sehr freundlich und es hat wirklich spass gemacht, kontakt mit ihnen aufzunehmen !!

naja, wie schon gesagt, bin sehr zufrieden... es ist einfach nur pervers, wenn man sieht, was ein boogie rectifier kostet... ich glaube nicht, dass der boogie viel besser ist... ich liebe alles an diesem amp, das aussehen, den sound, die 6 regler pro kanal, die schaltbaren master volumes!! klasse

The amp is a few years old. Very versatile amp. 3 independent channels with gain,presence,volume,bass,mid,treble controls. Has 2 master volumes, a deep knob and an effect mix knob. 2 notch switches and a bright switch.

I use this head with a Hamer usa studio with a duncan custom in the bridge through a custom-made 4x12 cab with 2 celestion v30's and 2 g12h30's. The amp isnt noisy at all even on high-gain settings. The clean channel is really nice, crank up the gain and you have a nice crunchy rhythm channel or good blues crunch.

The amp can get brutal for sure. It doesnt muddy up like many other high-gain amps. Many sounds available.

It seems pretty reliable. I bought the head used and it had some tears and little things but mechanically the amp is very solid.

Never dealt with them so I dont know. Thats a good thing I suppose.

Ive been playing for about 6 years. Been through lots of great gear. I really like my setup now. The framus is an incredible amp. About the best ive owned. I was torn between an engl powerball and this and I decided on the framus because I didnt need a 4th channel or the death metal distortion(although the framus can do it). It seemed the powerball was purely a metal amp, thats it. I need more versatility.

2001?
Other reviews cover it reasonably well - its certainly got a few features; 100W all valve 4EL34's (pwr) - 5 12Ax7's(pre), 3 channels clean; crunch; lead (gain/pres/vol/bas/mid/treb per channel), bright sw on clean and notch sw on crunch & lead, 2 master volumes, parallel loop (tube buffered) with mix control, deep control (speaker response enhancement), midi switching with midi in and thru on rear panel + tip to ground momentary switching if not using midi. Standard speaker outs with impedence selector, also a line out.

Having these features certainly simpifies ones set up but i'm sure many purists who prefer non channel switching, no frills amps would find them tone degrading in some way. I think its great. Perhaps some additional features could be bias points on rear panel - which aren't that uncommon these days (rocktron egnator, sunn model T, koch) and perhaps a tube fail device - to finish a gig at half power if necessary.

I dont think this amp would benefit from a half power switch or pentode / triode switching - im a firm believer in 50W amps as you can push the power section that little harder - but the key is perhaps the output transformer rating and degree of saturation. The clean on this amp shines because of the headroom at 100watts and the crunch and lead are voiced such that they still sound fairly wet at lower volumes - going to half power or from pentode to triode would result in loss of "magic" and perhaps a little mushiness.

As for reverb - i dont miss the crappy accutronics short spring reverbs they cram into most highend amps these days and have a lexicon unit to do the trick, not that you need much reverb with this amp anyway.

There's no doubt that this amp is aimed at the gigging guitarist who can crank the amp a little and one who wants a generous dollop of usable gain. For cover band use its near on perfect - hook up a decent processor, a midi controller and whammo you should get most of the sounds you require to go from classic led zep / acdc to nu-metal shite (only this amp will make it sound like good shite)

Guitars that i'm basing the review on are a standard usa strat (splittable duncan custom humbucker in bridge - two standard strat singles neck middle) a PRS custom 22 fixed bridge with vintage bass and HFS and a homemade beast similat to the strat with a hotter bridge - duncan distortion, and smoother neck - 57/62 reissue strat p'up. Reasonable range in tones but all slanting towards the gainy side of things.

One thing you will find with this head - after a little tweaking of course, is that the thing sits beautifully in the mix - your sound guy will love you because its all so effortless. I've been using this head for 6 months now in both my cover band and original band and our band sounds have never been better - and thats surely whats most important, not how smokin your amp sounds because you cant hear anything else. As for recording - if you can crank this thing wide open in your studio go for it - i personally would try some lower wattage stuff, even "heaven forbid" solid state ie sansamp or something that is quick, easy, light and portable to get things to disk. This amp was made for the stage and thats where it will be staying for me.

Few below mentioned their cabinet - which surely has a huge impact on sound quality. I tried the framus cabs with the 50watt greenbacks but prefer the slightly tighter and warmer vintage thirties in my marshall vintage cab.

Clean Channel - as stated by nearly everyone below, its most unexpected that a high gain head using EL34's could have such a chimy and crisp clean sound. The clean is certainly not what i brought the amp for but its a good bonus to get a spanking and usable clean that cuts through the mix without being too peircing and top heavy. Its not quite as bassy as i'd like for those more fender moments but i dont care - its sits beautifully in our mix. Single coils sound better than humbuckers as the higher output starts to push the clean a little and you get some breakup happenening - not great breakup especially compared to the sound from rolling the guitar volume off on the crunch channel but still usable. The tone controls dont make all out changes but are good for refining, and the bright switch makes a subtle difference and adds a slight SRV feel to the tone, but i feel that the clean is already pretty bright so its perhaps a little wasted. Compared to some previous amps i've owned - a Sunn model T reissue-harsh bright clean, Rack setup (mesa 20/20, mesa triaxis-muddy cleans, mesa vtwin-crap cleans, sansamp psa1-ok cleans), marshal DSL 50-good clean, peavy 5150 - non-existent cleans, i think ive finally found something with a more than adequate clean side, probably helped by the 100watts.

Crunch - this is where its at!! Gain at 12:30, pres at 11:00, vol at 2:30, bass at 1:00, mids at 2:30, treb at 12:00, master at 10:00-11:00, notch down(off) and you are greated with one of the most harmonically rich, chocalate brown and beautiful crunch tones that will have you ripping out acdc, led zep, jimi, satch, vai etc etc. There is some natural compression associated with the gain but not too much. The sound is dark and smooth but still rich and cutting, a bit like a plexi/800 wound right up. Humbuckers tear the lining off the walls and single coils have a real definition through this channel - SRV on growth hormones! I tend to agree with a previous post - notch up gets a little more fizz (cuts the mids) and you need to tweek the eq to tighten it up, in doing so it loses the open singing tone that just springs off the fretboard that was making it a joy to play - if your into met

Haven't owned it long enough, although it is second hand (about a year old before i got it) - i haven't had any problems with it, but the previous guy had some fuse problems - nothing was broken down though (he just replaced the fuse and away he went - maybe a power surge - dunno) so its a little worrying. I haven't opened it up to test their claims about "hand wired" as it aint broke yet so i aint gonna fix it!

For backup i have a Sansamp PSA1 through a 600W solidstate power amp - sounds ok and is reliable as a backup. I have it patched the same as the framus set up so that nothing is drastically different should something break down. Tube amps can go at any stage so some spare tubes / fuses should always be kept on hand at the least - i prefer a full backup system - you get paid to perform, not to have the best fricken guitar sound known to man.

Pretty piss poor in terms of web-site info. There's a little bit on www.framus.com but this seems to be limited. US pricing is useless for me here in Australia - found out that new here they are $4500 or there abouts so certainly cheaper than some other high end stuff. I got it second hand so i dont really care - only for servicing which i'll have done here by some good techs i know anyway.
There is another head i know of here locally that had transformer problems and had to be sent back, so not a brilliant track record.

Haven't dealt with them directly though so cant really comment.

I have gotten through a number of successful gigs with this head and after the six months or so of use i still haven't found myself wanting anything else. I'd love to get a cornford MK50 or hellcat but they are reasonably expensive. Not sure about the diezel - it would want to sound awesome for that sort of money! The rivera knucklehead 2 stuff i hear is pretty good - but they have a lot of push-pull bullshit as does Bogner. Egnator seems reasonable but i haven't been able to try it. I'm not convinced about Hughes and Kettner - they sound a little nasaly to me. Tried some Koch stuff and really liked the twin tone head - great size and awsome sounds, may consider it as a backup. There's plenty of great gear out there but i'm pretty happy with my Cobra - it looks cool, sounds bloody great and is a joy to play.

The lexicon MPX500 is a cheapish unit with a slight delay in the patch changes but has worked well for me and this amp, i'm not willing to upgrade it because i'm so happy with my sound in general and this head has made me use less effects even though they are easier to implement with the midi. Its 24bit but still requires to run in serial (full mix on the fx mix knob) due to the out of phase problems with processors, and i find it doesn't degrade the tone a great deal - especially live.

Overall this amp would be a welcome addition to any guitarists arsenal and you should check it out. Perhaps they are a little more expensive than other similar heads outside of Australia, but here they are well priced (especially second hand), sit extremely well in the band mix, have heaps of versatility and make you play more! Happy amp hunting - hope ive helped you!

This is a three channel ( with mode switching on each channel - so six modes ), Midi swithcable, all tube, hand wired, 100 watt head. It also has 2 master volumes ( for lead volume boost ), and a Low end boost which enhances the bass response from your speakers ( Very useable! - Doesn't muddy up the tone! ). The only reason it doesn't get a ten is because as far as flexibility goes the amp modellers are hard to beat with all of the direct outs/effects etc. To quote an earlier reviewer, "this amp will take your head off at volume!" They employ electro-harmonix EL-34 tubes.

I use a Les Paul with EMG 81 in bridge and 89 in neck ( but I am switching to Rio Grande Texas and BBQ humbuckers because of this amp - I can actually hear the tone in my guitars now ) and a Fender Amercan Std Strat with Rio Grande Halfbreed single coils. This amp is simply amazing. I have owned it for about six months before writing the review to let the newness wear off and remain as objective as possible. The joy of this amp is that there are so many great sounds you can get from it, that it takes a LONG time to really get to know it. As I mentioned earlier I am changing the pickups out of my Les Paul because after being a life-long Mesa Boogie fanatic, this amp does a much better job of translating the actual tone of the guitar ( that's the whole idea of the amp right?!). The mesa's distortion is so fuzzy that you need EMG's to cut through. As mentioned, the amp has three channels with three very distinct sounds described below.

Channel One - Clean. This channel has one of the best clean channels I have ever heard on a high gain head. I am not a Fender expert but the clean sound is so good that I no longer have an interest in buying that Fender Vibro-King I have been eyeing ( I didn't A/B them - I'm simply saying that this leaves little to be desired ). The bright switch adds great top end to the sound. Kind of a very Fender Twin vibe. I'm not sure what the previous reviewers issues with the bright switch were, but my amp has a very noticeable change engaging the bright switch. Great for Hendrix, SRV. It can create very clear tones, and adding bass does just that, add bass! It doesn't just muddy up the tone as was my problem with the Mesa's.

Channel 2 - Crunch. This channel alone is more versatile than most two channel amps. With the notch down you can get a very Marshall Plexi vibe ( my friends SG can nail just about any AC/DC sound ), and turning up the gain can take you to a modded JCM 800. Flipping the notch switch up scoops the mids, but it actually gives more than just an EQ adjustment, it really changes the flavor of the sound. With the presence and gain up you can get a Mesa Mark IIC+ sound that is very Metallica - Master of Puppets era. It sounds amazing! Very tight low end, great for palm mutes!

Channel 3 - Lead. This is the High Gain channel. I A/B's my Dual Rectifier with this amp and the Framus simply ate the Recto for lunch! There was no comparison. The beauty of the amp is that the EQ controls are all so useable. The bass doesn't muddy up the tone, the Presence doesn't make it sound shrill, it adds headroom - just like it is supposed to. I could make the Framus have that Recto fuzzy distortion, but I could clean it up by backing off the presence and treble a bit. I could never dial that out of the Mesa. The Mesa can't hang with the gain either. There is no shortage of gain whatsoever. Flipping the notch switch takes you to the Korn, Mudvayne super saturated distortion. Not particularly my bag, but just insane distortion that amazingly retains very tight low end.

I have owned it for 6 months with moderate use, small clubs etc. Only problems are occassionally I get a pop between channel switching.

Being new to the amp market there are not many dealers around yet, but Craig at the dist center in LA has been a great help! I haven't needed much service but they have been outstanding when I have called with questions. Phone calls returned same day.

I have to give this amp a 10. I know everyone says that a 10 doesn't exist ( it must be tough to go through life never being satisfied ), but a 10 means "Fantastic Value", not "There will never be another amp better than this". I haven't played a Diezel, I hear they are awesome, but then again they cost about $4,200 and they had better sound awesome for that kind of jack! For $1800 this amp simply put is a FANTASTIC VALUE, and if you can't get a great sound out of this amp, you simply can't play guitar!

The Framus Cobra Head has a number of standardised 3 channel head features as well as a couple of cool twists. It has three independant channels, clean, crunch and lead. The clean channel has a bright switch, whilst the two distortion channels have a notch switch that scoop the mids when they are switched up, and fill them out when they are down. Each channel has independent EQ (bass, mid, treb), a volume control, a presense and a gain knob. There are 2 master volume controls so you can dail in a boost or cut to any channel you choose as well as a depth control. This fills out the bottom end without mushing it out completely - it adds punch to the tone but is applied to all channels. There is an effects mix knob as well for the efftects loop which is pretty standard these days. It's coolest feature is the midi capability of the head - it has a midi in/thru section on the back as well as a midi learn button to program the midi/channel changes into the midi chip's RAM. You can dial up any of the three channels in combination with either master volume setting. So you're looking at 6 different sounds (3 channels - 2 levels) instantaneously. No Reverb.

It comes with 4 EL34's (Electroharmonix) as standard Power tubes and 5 (12ax7) preamp tubes. Dig it.

Well, high gain is all the rage these days isn't it. Every amp manufacturer and his dog are running around competing with one another to see who can pack the most gain into a tube head. A second Tube head battle is unfolding though. Who can pack the most versatility and options into a head - vintage cleans, plexi/800 tones, 100 channels, midi etc.. These two battle fronts have inevitably crashed head-on into one another and now the real battle for market share has ensued.

The clean channel on the Cobra is most unlike what you might expect on a high gain amp of this nature. It's nearest rival is surely the 3 channel Boogie Rec and that amp's clean channel is, well, shite. It's muddy and bottom heavy. The Cobra on the other hand has quite a sparkling, chimey clean channel. It stays clean regardless of volume and it cuts beautifully. On a neck pickup with the tone control rolled back you can pull authentic, warm jazz tones but at volume, where as the bridge pickup delivers clarity and shimmers nicely. It has a bright switch which must be purely ornimental cos it does absolutely nothing, or perhaps Jedi Mind-tricks you into hearing a brightness in the tone via algorhythms stored in the Midi chip's RAM. When you give the gain a bit of a tweak you can get some tasty vintage driven tones that stay relatively clean and punchy, despite a tasty, warm grit. And it will take your fricken head off at volume.

The second channel, good ol' Crunch is the best one in the amp. This is tasteville central. This is certainly a high gain head to take it up to some of the bigger boys in the playground. There are two notch settings; up and down. Down is the more full mids setting and I will deal with this primarily. At lower gain setting this amp can crank out a really tasty Plexi vibe (note 'vibe' not 'bang on replica' - they haven't gone trying to copy other amps here) and giving it a little more of a shove gets you well into creamy 800'sville. When you fully crank the gain and volume you're looking at those EL34's combine beautifully to bring out clarity in the mids and upper regions butt you can still get heaps of bottom emd out of this amp, especially with the deep knob engaged past about 11/12 o'clock. Choosing to rock around the clock any more takes you into scary high gain places few amps can go. When the notch is Up though, it really scoops out the mids or the 'body' of the tone that is giving it so much punch and clarity. It definitely assumes a more fizzy sound in the gain not unlike a soldano in this channel but not as creamy in texture. No where near as cold as that 5150 crossover fizz though.

The 3rd channel, senior lead, is really pretty similar but with more gain again (hmmm...gain again again...) but not quite with that magical quality that the crunch channel seems to have. Once again, for me the notch switch down was the go - heaps of fullness and punch but with a warmth to it. Gain aint no problem here, I tells you that to be sure. This channel has gain up the yin yang, much more than you can really control but if you want a lead channel to sustain into the NEXT millenium, well here's one option. The notch Up, though is in boogie territory here. You can really hear and feel that grainy gain texture that makes you want to call a bee keeper. Not really my thing - probably great for power chords and tuning to z# minor and playing open tuning chords but not much else. But hey - that's a big target market to have available to you and this thing really does that job well. I think it still sounds better than a boogie and that Deep knob will confirm that to anyone who digs tone and low end madness. Don't know how it measures up to a Ubershall or a Deizel though, as this is Australia to buy one those with they way our Dollar is atm we'd probably have to sell our whole infrastructure and then some. Plus Americans can't see the point of sending over their amps to 5 bushrangers, crocodile dundee, the crocodile hunter, hugh jackman, elle Ma

Look, this is where the amp kinda had some dramas. I was playing it at loud volumes in the rehearsal room the very first time I used it. I was basically thinking that this amp was freaking incredible - hey it really is a beautiful all tube head. And then it crapped out. I suspect it wasn't biased propperly because the 2 right hand EL34's started to glow really orange and the signal became horribly microphonic and gross. I suspect this is basically a one off cos from what I'm hearing everyone is raving about these heads.

This is a killer head. It really is. It is loud, punch and sure it has gain for the kiddies and options for the greedy but really what it is capable of delivering is a very serious tone indeed. In Australia they are going for $4300 (Triple rec's here are $5300) and our dollar is like 54c US. But apparently it's even more than the Rec's over there. i guess they are made in the US though. There is a pretty huge vibe on these heads world wide atm actually. They are German made and the build quality is really stylised and very high. Not to mention the cool red led's that reflect off the polished sheet metal that covers the inside pannels of the Cobra and also act to sheild the electronics. Actually, At the NAMM show in Aus, some of the guys from the Line6 booth were hanging around the Framus Cobra wetting themselves and were interested in maybe doing a modelled version. Whether this amp has a sound that is destined to become a modern classic is up to the buying public really isn't it but regardless, this amp is an out and out winner in my books. I say check it out yo...

I think this amp was made in 2001. This is a 100 watt pure valve tone head with 3 channel: clean, crunch and lead, with gain, presence, bass, middle, treble and volume per channel!The Clean channel has BRIGHT switch wich gives you extra presence to the sound while the Crunch and Lead channels have a NOTCH switch that is able to make your sound really SCARRY!!! Other features of this head is the existence of two master volumes(master1 and master2 wich can be used as a volume boost), a effects mix knob located also in the front panel(very helpful during a gig), a deep knob that works like a reactance for the speaker ( it gives more bottom end to your sound without getting "muddy" like on other amps). The valves are EL-34 and 12AX7 from Electo-Harmonix, giving crarity and defenition to you sound! Another very important feature is a MIDI interface (Midi In, Midi Trough) located in the rear panel making any setup easy!!!! With this feature you can control everything except the bright and notch switches. You also have the tipical footswitch jacks if you want (i think the footswitch is an option...well i don't have it - i can control everything with a MIDI pedalboard). Also in the rear panel you have the effects SEND and RETURN jacks, a line out jack, two speakers outputs and a Ohm knob selector (4,8,16 Ohms). The aspect is really awsome - all stained metal grid, for me this is even more beautiful than the Mesa/Boogie Rectifier design. When you turn on the power, you will see a red light comming from the inside. If Demon plays guitar, this is his amp for sure!!! (This is an hand-wired amp too!!). Do you need more than this? I don't think so....

My style of music is progressive rock and metal. My favorit band is Dream Theater, but i like also many others like Vanden Plas, Symphony X, Adagio and a bunch of guitar players like Malmsteen, Vai, Satriani, Beach, Michael Angelo and so on and so on....BELIVE IT OR NOT I CAN GET ALL THIS GUY'S SOUNDS PRETTY EASY WITH NO EFFECTS, NOTHING - JUST THE GUITAR AND THE AMP!!!! Did you belive it? No?!?! Let me explain one more time! By the way...i use an Ibanez JPM100(in case you don't already know it has a DiMarzio Air Norton in the neck and a Steve's Special in the bridge position). The clean channel is REALLY CLEAN and you can get sounds from rock to jazz, whatever...by the way, this channel and also the other two DON'T DISTORSE AT HIGHER VOLUMES. The Crunch channel is more dedicated to rythems, you can get a Marshall Plexy 50 watt head sound to a Rectifier sound using the notch switch! I use this channel for Yngwie rythem sound or Satriani sound (notch off) or the more heavier riffs (notch on). You can also get Andy Timmons sound if you use a start type guitar!! The LEAD channel is ALL YOU'VE BEEN WAITTING FOR AND EVEN MORE!!! (DON'T FORGET THIS AMP IS A GAIN BEAST). Do you want Petrucci/Morse type of sound using the neck pickup for you faster lines? You got it!! Do you want "The Mirror" sound? Piece of cake!! With this channel distortion pedals trough a Marshall stack is HISTORY!!! YOU WILL KNOW ANOTHER MEANING TO THE WORD BRUTAL!!!!

Of course i trust this amp!!!! I dont't need nothing more live...maybe a midi pedalboard :-) !!! I have it for 2 months because it is a very fresh amp, but so good so far!!!! It's made in Germeny by Warwick! DONE!!!

I've never contacted Warwick but i know who did and they can be very helpfull!! The warranty is 1 year but after that you can make a nice agreement as a prove of confidence from Warwick!!!

I've been playing for 11 years and i spent lots of money with cheap pedals and pedalboards, with rack stuff and after so many years i reached this conclusion: SIMPLE AND NATURAL THINGS ARE THE BEST!! Forget complicated rack sistems or pedals!! If stolen, i would buy the same amp, be sure about that!! If i have to say something about other brands, let's see, this amp is a mix of GREAT Marshalls(not the regular heads you can but at a music store) and the Mesa Rectifer!! If you loose some time with it you can get the Soldano SLO100 sound but with more gain of course!! :-))

This amp is made by Warwicks guitar department called FRAMUS it's very new as of now (december 2001). The amp features 3 channels, clean, rythm and lead it also includes bass, mid, treble ,presence, gain, and volume knobs for each of the 3 channels. The amp includes a bright switch on the clean channel and a notch switch on both rythm and lead channels. The notch switches when engaged gives you a scooped mids type of sound but without losing any defenition or gain, just a slight volume drop wich can be added back with the volume knob of that channel, it can provide you with a great "scooped metal" tone or with some extra mids added to this sound can give you a pretty good early EVH sound wich I like. The amp also includes 2 master volumes a deep knob and an effects level knob, the deep knob acts as a overall bass enhancer, it doesn't muddy up the sound at all just enhances the bass response so it's more punchy and noticable. Plus the knobs are all conveniently on the front of the amp, not on the back. The purpose of the 2nd master volume is that it can be assigned to any channel to provide a solo boost when needed. There is also an effects send and return, a MIDI in and MIDI thru plus a speaker cabinet ohm selector switch, 2 speaker outs and one line out. You can assign any channel to a midi footpedal buy using a button on the back of the amp to store it in memory. For ex. you want the lead channel to be used in combination with the 2nd master volume for a boost plus a delay effect of your effects processor all on #1 of your midi foot pedal. Just assign everthing in that combination and push the little button and it's saved to the memory, so it's very flexible. The tubes wich are included are 4 Electo Harmonix EL34's and 5 Electro Harmonix 12ax7's, the amp is rated at 100 watts and plenty loud. As far as cosmetics go this amp has a slotted stainless steel front panel with all the knobs labeled. The slotted panel lets you see a bright reddish glow throughout the inside of the amp, wich is pretty cool lookin.

I'm using this amp with a Carvin dc747 7 string with an Emg 707 in the bridge plus an ibanez RG570 with an emg81 (bridge) emg sa (middle) and a emg89 in the neck and my Ibanez rg3120 with a dimarzio evolution in the bridge and an dimarzio air norton in the neck. The cabinet I'm using is an ampeg 4x12 cabinet with celestion vintage 30's the only effects are a dunlop 535q wah and a guyatone md3 digital delay (awesome delay pedal). If I were to describe the sound of this amp I would have to say it's a combination of a bogner ecstacy and a soldano slo100 but with the availability of more gain. The amp in my opinion is best suited for rock or metal. The amps built in features such as the notch switches are really cool in that they can give you a whole different type of sound from a really heavy death metal type sound to "Satriani" or "Vai" singing type sound with notch switch off. The distortion sounds more saturated and smooth than my other amps were wich included a Mesa Traxis 2/90 and a 3 ch dual rectifier with way better pick attack and responsiveness to dynamics. I seem to use the rythm channel with the notch switch engaged for a really chunky heavy tight sound and the lead channel with the notch switch off for a real nice "Vai" singing type lead sound. The clean channel is great also, very clear and articulate, the bright switch on this channel didn't make as much of a change to the sound as the notch switches did on the other channels though, it could of had more effect on the sound than it does in my opinion. The clean channel still sounds great though. The amp sounds fine at lower volumes but of course really opens up at higher volumes, it gets tighter and better sounding the more its cranked. The definition of the sound never goes away or gets muddy just better with more volume even at high gain settings, around 3 oclock. It handles the delay pedal I have very good and there is no delay when switching channels on this amp, it's seemless. There is hardly any noise coming from this amp even at high gain settings much quieter than my traxis was. I don't turn my gain past 2oclock usually because it has so much gain already at lower settings, it has the most gain I've heard in any amp. It sounds great with all my guitars even the passive pickups in my rg3120 sound tight and clear and the pick attack isn't spongy like my triaxis was for some reason.

It seems to be built very good, it's got good ventilation. I haven't had any problems with it so far. The tubes are protected very well and the potentiometers move very good not loose at all but very smooth. I don't have to worry about my settings changing. I can't give an opinion yet though because I haven't had it long enough.

I haven't dealt with the company yet. I wish they had more info on their products though especially their amps.

I've been playing for 6 years now, I've owned a triaxis 2/90, line 6 axsys212 an old fender m80 preamp and a mesa 3ch dual rectifier. I like this alot better than all those others, just more of my type of sound I guess. I can get just as much gain plus more out of this amp than any of my other gear including the Mesa's plus get a great lead sound wich I seemed to have trouble getting with my other equipment. I looked at some other equipment before buying this head like the 3ch dual rec. wich I owned for a short while and a bogner ecstasy wich I tried out for a while, various digital amps, peavey XXX, a few different marshalls and of course my old equipment. I was leaning towards the rocktron vendetta or the egnater tol100's in wich they seemed to have more of the sound I was looking for and weren't as expensive as the more exotic foreign brands like Bogner, Diezel, or Brunetti. My only wish is I wish it could be used with other power tubes more easily, kind of like how the dual rectifiers are but without the "cold" bias, that would make it even better in my opinion. I like effect processors or good pedals for effects though, so it not having any built in effects was good for me, I prefer it that way. I would suggest people try this amp out somehow, they're new now so it's hard to find one. But, I think this amp would be a good amp to tryout before paying for a Diezel or Bogner wich are awesome to but very expensive. This amp didn't cost as much as those and as far as quality, tone and flexibility to cost ratio this head is way better in my opinion. Even at a lower price I still thought it sounded better than the bogner ecstacy I tried out. This head was made in germany as well, by a pretty good company (Warwick), so I think it will last for a good while. I would buy another one if lost or stolen. Check this amp out if you can.

The Cobra head is a souped up Dragon, three channels with their own three band eq, presence, gain, and volume. THe difference is the bright switch on the clean and the notch switch on crunch and lead, which sucks the mids right out. The head also has two master volumes, an effects mix knob for the effects loop and a deep control. The head is MIDI switchable and can accept a footswitch with a 1/4" jack. Also a line out and cabinet ohm selector. The head is 100 watts all tube. The front end is all chrome with a stainless steal name plate with slots cut into it so when you turn it on, the tubes warm up and reflect off the inside to make the amp glow a bright red color, very cool.

INSANE, it has EVERY sound anybody could ever want. Glass like clean tones that you can warm up with the gain all the way to brutal, scooped mids death. I play in a death metal band, I run two different custom shop Washburnn dimes with the Bill Lawrence in the bridge, and a Seymour Duncan (model unknown) in the neck. The neck position for cleans and bridge for distortion. The amp handles perfect with the guitars and style of music. I run the head through 2 Framus dragon 4x12s with Celestion vintage 30s and the cabs dont distort and the head has plenty of power for any cab.

I havent had the head that long, but it seems to be built like a tank, with an all metal chasis, stainless steal face plate and corner protectors and a neat metal handle on top. But I had a Framus Dragon for three months that never gave me trouble ( I sold it for the Cobra)

The head is made in Germany by Warwick and ive only dealt with customer service when it came to the MIDI end of the whole thing, and getting a hold of them sucked because when its day here, its night there, but the Framus rep got me going, so they have good reps. I believe the warranty is one. maybe two years? I dont know, I dont care, I trust the manufacturer.

Ive been playing for over 7 years and I have had some cheap Marshalls, a DSL100, a shitty Randall Warhead and the Framus Dragon, but by far, this head is the one. It not only looks really cool, it sounds insane. It took 30 seconds to know I wanted it. If it was ever stolen, lost I would buy another one no doubt about it. Everything about the head is perfect, except the lack of reverb. But I can manage. All I have to say about this head is "Mesa Boogie who?" I A/B'ed this head with a triple recto, and it smoked it.