Framus Cobra Top Head

3 channels,clean(fender),crunch and lead.midi interface built in,an fx loop that works!2nd naster volume(i will be heard!)4 el34(eh)=100w output also bass boost in the power amp control.external bias adjustment.

very clear but heavy distortion,you wont need a pedal just plug straight in!

i have only had it for a few weeks but all seems ok!

not a lot of info on the website but the us dealer emailed me the schematics when i asked for them

've been playing for about 20 years and I have always sacrificed either a good clean or high gain tone for something else. With the cobra, its the best of both worlds.

Go to their website, 3 chn, tube/solid state

Overall this amp isn't too bad. It doesn't do much but what it does is good. Clean channel is great especially when you roll the deep off and add a reverb. The crunch is punchy and clear but the lead channel is where this amp really is at. As it has three channels it takes a fair bit to break it up. The lead is overly compressed and is one of the most brutal metal tones I have ever heard. Best amp for METAL going around!

A little noisy without a gate but you can't expect not to have that when your faced with this much gain. Oodles and oodles of it.

I have owned this amp for about 2 years now. My band tours heavily both national and international. I love this amp, unfortunately this amp is not meant to be toured heavily with. Besides blowing tubes constantly, I have experienced countless problems with the channel switching and midi controlling, which is due to framus using tiny light relay components to switch the channels. They are one of the most unusual ways to switch channels I have ever seen.

Unfortunately digital switching is very temperamental. I had to have them replaced on tour. As well as the amp casing bowing on top from too much heat.

Don't get me wrong I think this amp is great. But I think it is a great "studio" amp. This is not an amp that is reliable on tour. By tour I don't mean a 5 night club stint.

I took this thing around the world and on warped tour and it died on the 7 date, we still had 55 left.

Unfortunately too many amp companies make their amps to last out the 1 year warranty period, after that it is your fault.

I contacted Framus for the light relays and they could not help me out, I sourced them from a shop in NY. They were polite but not overly helpful. A little disappointing.

I have been playing guitar for 15 years and professionally for about 7. I have also guitar teched for Buckcherry, Parkway Drive, Thursday and Saosin for the past 2 years.

I love this amp for its clarity in the overdrive channels and love the cleans, I hate that it is built from useless components that are overly inclined to fail under stressful circumstances.

I wish it had a reverb and I wish it was built with less "bells and whistles" and more rugged parts for touring.

If it was stolen I would not buy another, probably go for a bogner ecstasy or a uberschall. Solid amps.

No Idea of year made. 3 channels (clean,crunch,and Lead).It has effects loop with an effects mix knob for less or more.I would probably only use the clean and lead channels for my style of playing. The other channel "crunch" is kinda like an old stock marshall. In other words its dirty but not too dirty. This channel would be ideal for classic rock. The lead channel is good for everything else-from Pantera, Dream Theater,Killswitch to Dimmu, even hair metal. It has 2 masters which are good for switching to a slightly louder LEAD sound live via footswitch.

I play prog rock/metal and i love the tone. Very good distortion with good clarity of soloing. I'm endorsed with Mesa Boogie, but i like the Cobra better. I have an Engl "Modern Rock" preamp that sounds great but not as good, and a Tube Works RT-2100 that also sounds great but not as good as the Cobra.I use Jackson 7 string guitars with Evolutions and Invaders and its a brutal combination with the Cobra.I've only played it at my home and even at high volumes its not feeding back. The clean channel is very clear. I run an ART ProVerb in the effects loop, and its super with the clean and great with solos.

I never gig without a backup regardless. I've only had it for a month.

I know a repair guy, but havent had any problems with it yet.

I also bought the Cora Cabinet which is sick too. I originally used a Mesa cabinet and it sounded great through that as well. What i hate about it is the price. I paid $1600 for it USED! I almost bought a 5150, and could've bought 2 of them for that price. The 5150 sounds awesome but not as tight as the Cobra.

It is a 2006 model with the standard 3 channel form. It is not a really versatile amp as it is made for styles using good amounts of gain. This means not only metal but anything requiring a good lead sound. The only thing I wish it had, is a second gain control for the lead channel. I could use it higher or lower than the first to swap from lead to rhythm playing. The footswitch should be included too.

The amp can make decent crunch sounds and pretty good clean sounds. The lead tones are its spot as it really screams with plenty of depth, dynamics and harmonics, lots of clarity and note definition as well. Heavy rhythm playing is also jaw-dropping, you can actually feel the ''punch'' of palm mutes on your stomack, it is a very tight amp and has lots of gain. People should take into consideration that it is a dry sounding amp so saturation is not there but all harmonics and tone depth are more than present, kinda like Diezel amps sound like (actually the lead channel is based on the Diezel vh4 lead sound and its pretty obvious)

I had no problems until but checking the build quality of the amp i found out that its pretty high so I dont think reliability is an issue

I had no problems with the amp but I emailed the customer support for some info and got no response. I ve also heard of others not getting a response so I think customer support sucks, thats for Europe and not for the american support center.

I am pretty happy about my amp but if I went 2 years back in time (when I bought it) I think I would keep my money and buy an Elmwood 3100 head or some other kind of amp just out of curiosity. When I considered buying an amp, I thought of Engl Powerball or Savage, Ashdown Fallen Angel 180, Koch Powertone and Laney Vh100 and Gh100. Engls were too compressed and not as expressive when it came to leads but they were great for rhythm with lots of saturation. The fallen angel is a class below the others at all points of view. The Koch was pretty good but I wanted a dryer sound with a bit more depth and smoothness. The Laneys were really warm and smooth but were too ''british'' for my taste and a bit too more ''wet'' than I needed.

I have two bands... one NU-METAL and another PUNK ROCK and ROCK... the Framus Cobra 100w head is best for me for both of these styles of playing... I use notch in first band and some additional effects in the second one like VOX distortion and delay... Nice 3 channel switching... I have FULL STACK and believe me, this wall is make me crazy when I play... I only miss some reverb but in other hand, MASTER 2 volume is very useful... nice one...

THIS HEAD IS THE ONLY ONE THAT SCREAMS OUT POWER... clean channel is well undistorted all the way to 10 points of volume, but if I give it gain little more than 6, then it becomes slightly distorted... for me this option is useful... distortion is very brutal, Marshall, MESA BOOGIE, ENLG, Peavey and other top brands can hide their distortion in compare to this baby ;) I've wired 2 amps on A/B switch... Marshall JCM 2000 Dual Lead and this baby and believe me, my baby was on 2 and it was louder then Marshall on 6... Marshall sound is more soft, but this don't mean that Cobra can't be soft... Cobra can be soft and brutal as you didn't hear it before!

It have never let me down... I have Cobra now for 3 months and I played around 25 gigs with it... it's brilliant... it's sounds like it had on the first day... brilliant... never broken... always in shape and ready to action...

I missed footswitch included, but then I ordered and I got it the very next day... nice one... in Slovenia is very good Customer Support for Framus so I'm not scared... ;) warranty is 2 years long... we have 2 authorized services in 2 biggest cities in Slovenia and both are very easy to find so I give them 10... salesmen are very kind and honest...

I've been playing guitar for the past 4 years, I'm 18 years old now, I play on DEAN Razorback Slim Bubblebee, Jackson WRMG Warrior (Update 2007) Black Edition, on some gigs I also use BOSS GT-8 but mainly I use it for home practicing on headphones without amp... I use VOX bulldog distortion and delay... very nice made effects, ouh and I use Line6 ??ber Metal effect... it's like notch on the amp but I like to hot-rod it a little bit... Marshall JCM 2000 Dual Lead Head and 4x12' Box, I would buy Cobra again if it were stolen... I LOVE THE LOOK, SOUND AND IT'S ANORMOUS POWER, i hate the wheelies... they are a little bit slow... :D
Like I said I miss Reverb a little bit and footswitch included (i had to pay 47 ??? for it)...

IN THE END, THIS BABY IS THE BEST, NOT ONLY IN IT'S CLASS, IT CAN EVEN COMPARE TO PRODUCTS WHICH ARE EXPENSIVER...

This is a late 2006 model. The features are standard eq's 3 channels blabla..... Dual master volume is handy and the notch switches also. I only use the notch switch at the crunch channel. The external bias is also handy cause you need to bias it hotter.

Nothing is great for every style. This one is good at everything but PERFECT for heavy metal. Crisp cleans, tight as nothing else crunch and lead and singing saturated tones on the lead channel. Some people say it lacks the saturation Engl's have but that is not right. With proper biasing and decent tubes, its just as smooth and full sounding. Hit a pinch harmonic and let it ring forever. The fact is that the sound is so controllable and so tight that seems like lacking saturation but it doesn't. When palm muting or soloing the saturation is obvious,try that on an Engl se and you'll not be able to hear what you're playin. Another common mistake is with the lead channels eq. Do not set the controls above 1200. The eq is active and sound loses its warmth and smoothness above that point. And never use presence control high, use it lower than 1000.

Nope, had problems with it, thats why I've given it a bad review some time ago. Yet, no problems since.

There is NO customer support.

The ultimate metal amp along with Engl Se and Diezel vh4. They all crap on Rectos, Riveras, Peaveys, Laneys, Vht......

Bought this amp Feb 2007 after listening to and playing everything else available including Diezel Herberts (really good but noisy and expensive), Bogner Uberschall (awesome distortion but really only a one trick pony), Krank Krankenstein (absolutely awful, far too tinny and thin), Engl Powerball and SE (nice but nothing really special soundwise).

You know the deal regarding features: 3 channels, each with its own master volume, midi, notch switch (just great for that Pantera scooped mid-sound), 100 watts, more than enough power for most venues.

Be nice if it had more midi capability but for the money is perfect for what I need.

Sound quality is where this amp really excels. The clean channel is unbelievable, I mean the Herbert's clean channel is good but this thing is amazing. From pure funk clean all the way through to jazz tones to SRV, it is just incredible. I really did not expect a clean sound this good but heh.

Now channel 2 is where this thing really scores. Without the notch switch engaged it can get all the Engl sounds without all that over-saturation. (Might sound great in your bedroom but if you want to be heard in a band situation then less is more - trust me). However if you want to get that Pantera sound or Master of Puppets sound, flip the notch switch and hey presto, you're Diamond Darrell (RIP). I couldn't get nearly as good a tone on the Krankenstein!!

Channel 3 is actually different tonally to channel 2 with even more gain and a slightly different mid-sound. This channel is so good for solos it's untrue.

If you want to sound like Killswitch Engage then this is the amp they used for As Daylight Dies and one of the reasons I bought it.

I use Jackson Soloists and Kramer Stagemasters all with Seymour Duncans which seem to suit this amp well. My guess is with EMGs you may have to knock off the gain somewhat.

I play melodic metal core, sort of cross between Killswitch Engage and Whitesnake as well as regular gigging playing rock and metal covers from Deep Purple through Dokken and up to Pantera. This amp just does it all.

This amp only gets noisy when cranked right up on channels 2 or 3. Other than that this thing really is pretty clean compared with other amps I tried.

Only owned it 3 weeks, so can't comment yet on reliability. I gig regularly so always carry a backup (rocktron voodu-valve run straight into the pa, not ideal but better than lugging around 2 heads)

Company pretty efficient in answering questions, website not as good as Diezel or Bogner.

Comes with 2 year warranty, but I have a tech who lives nearby so fairlt relaxed

Have been playing 28 years and have owned Marshalls and rack systems mainly. Decided to go back to the old half-stacks and after enormous deliberation decided on the Cobra. I'm so glad I did. It probably does not have the features of the Herbert but it's ??1000 cheaper which allowed me to buy a Bogner UberKab which just makes this puppy smoke!

If it were stolen I would claim on the insurance and buy another one...the only problem is getting hold of them in the UK

I bought this amp from Eric Ellis (Bury Your Dead) so I don't know when it was made, when it was serviced, when it was purchased, etc. I'm nearly positive though this was thee exact head he used in their live dvd, so it has some hours penciled in.

This amp is great for any style of music in my opinion. Some say it calls mostly for metal, but I think the tone is so distinct and unique that it could make any style of music sound extra special.

It's a three channel head with an effects loop and midi section. I don't put the midi section to use. The effects loop sounds great, although it would be more convenient to have the option to select the effects loop 'on' or 'off' on the footswitch (like Mesa/5150). Speaking of the footswitch, the cable is soooo long... kind of a pain in the ass sometimes. It's worth mentioning but not such a big deal.

Maybe my hearing is becoming worse and worse but I do wish this amp could go louder. Compared to a 5150, this amp doesn't have the most power as far as volume goes.

Haha, I almost forgot. It lights up red on the inside which is just plain bad ass. Come on!

Like most amps (well at least for me), it takes time to dial it in just right. My Framus took some time to get right but sure enough it came through like a champ.

Clean channel really suprised me when I first plugged it in. Crisp-As-Can-Be! I could compare it to a Fender Deville. Very warm. No extra bullshit even with active EMG 81's or 85's.

Distortion is excellent, the lead channel in particular. Sounds great with single note style riffs. Strumming a chord never felt so nice! I use the crunch channel as my 'eq' channel, so to speak, by taking out the low completely, set the mid at about 1/2ish and the treb. at about 2/3ish... sounds neat for transition parts.

The Framus has given me some unwanted feedback at times but that was when I ran in through a dbx gate/compressor, and that thing has a mind of it's own. Sometimes it works great (dead silence) and then other times the smallest thing will set it off. But all in all I don't think that is related to the Framus.

When I first got the amp in the mail, I used it for about a couple of days until it kind of just 'died'. But it seems logical that that might have happened due to shipping from the opposite end of the USA. I took it to my local amp guy, he took care of it and it has worked beautifully ever since (May 06).

I play out of the Framus and the Mesa Triple Rec. both at the same time so I don't exactly have to worry about a 'back-up'. So if one breaks down, it's not such a big problem. However, the Framus (the Mesa as well) are both completely reliable. I've lugged them all around southern California and no problems.

I've never had to actually with Framus the company at all. I'm sure the warranty isn't valid anymore. Who knows where this amp has been. Either way, I have someone who can fix it if I have problems.

I've been playing for almost six years and I own a Peavey 5150 and a Mesa Triple Rectifier as well as the Framus.

All mentioned above have their great features but nothing is perfect. But something most notable about the Framus is, like I said, the distinct and unique tone. It's to the point where I can pick it out of anywhere and say, "That has to be a Framus!"

If this amp were stolen I would MOST DEFINITELY buy a new one. It's an instant classic!

Overall the Framus Cobra is one of a kind. I would recommend it to anyone who was in the market for a quality amp. While nothing is perfect, I think it stands above the rest. It is 100% worth the money.

Standard features. External bias (handy),deep control (nice), 3 channels ( clean, crunch , lead) and midi interface (stupid)parallel effects loop (really responsive to multieffect processors).

Well its an amp for heavy metal. Thick sound on the crunch channel and unmistakable tightness even at full gain. Pretty clear sounding and really low noise when using a good instrument cable. Surprisingly good clean channel though! Crystal clear cleans with chime and full bodied notes. The lead channel is horrible. Mediocre for single note playing but awefull for power chords and palm mutes. Sounds waaaaay too muddy and there are lots of cracks in the sound. Definition, clarity and tightness want to appear at the deep side of the sound but feels like something is not allowing them to do so. Maybe I'm having a technical problem with mine and I don't know what it is so if anyone knows just mail me. But then maybe it is just a horrible channel.

I think I might have bought it damaged cause of the lead channel sound.

F@cked up customer support. The official framus support center has never responded to my email for the prob with the lead channel (if it is a prob). They get lots of complaints and I'm sure about it but they never answer. They know that their products are non well built and anyone who thinks they are, should probably buy an Engl or a Diezel and he will see what well built is like.

I ve been playing for ages and owned tons of pretty expensive high end stuff. I thought this amp was great cause of the reviews at this website. But it was a waste of money. I got really dissapointed with the product and the support. Even if my cobra has a problem and is not just of poor quality, I'm sure I'll have to pay a good amount of money to get it fixed cause there is nothing wrong with the tubes or with pitty costing stuff like that.

This is a brand new 2006 Framus Cobra tube amp head. I play mostly metal but sometimes clean. This amp does both of those tones perfectly. It has 3 channels with independant eqs and a parallel effects loop.I wish it had a series/parallel effects loop and a built in noise reduction circuit like some of the Engl amps have.I mainly play this amp at home and haven't gigged with the amp yet. Its 100w which is enough for me.

The clean is what sold me on this amp. I have never owned a high gain amp that had such a wonderful clean. The gain channels are awesome as well. I like the fact that different tubes can change the cobra's sound drastically which is something to keep in mind for you tweekers out there. I think the amp sounds as brutal as any Engl or Mesa out there. I'd compare it to the Engl SE without as much saturated gain. To me, this has enough and not overkill. You will need a noise reducer if you are playing with passives since this amp can pick up a lot of those nusances, but for the most part, the amp is a lot quieter than most high gain amps out there.

The first cobra I had made unnatural (for a cobra) noise. It sounded like the ocean roaring. I believed it was damaged by UPS in shipping since it was fine when it left the distributer. Framus has since then replaced the amp with a new one and its as good as gold.

I bought the amp from Derek B at rock solid amps. He and Framus were amazing. The first amp I had, the tubes glowed bright orange and died. Framus immediately sent out new tubes free of charge. I replaced them but the amp still made a lot of noise even when nothing was plugged in. Framus sent out a new amp the next day free of charge and payed for the old amp to be shipped back. Derek B and Framus kept in-touch the whole time. This was the best customer service I have ever had. I even got emails from the headquarters in Germany to help me out. The amp has a 1 year warranty I believe.

I've been playing for about 16 years and I have always sacrificed either a good clean or high gain tone for something else. With the cobra, its the best of both worlds. I would definitely get another cobra if something happened to it. Its got the perfect touch sensitivity (like a VHT), Gain (think mesa and marshall) and clean (like fender) in a one amp package. I've had Engls (great amps and would buy more), Vhts, mesas, marshalls, peaveys, and fenders. I like the cobra the most since the gain voicing is dryer with just enough saturation which gives it a pissed off raw/brutal voice. I wish it had a serial/parallel effects loop that could be switchable and a built in noise reduction circuit like certain Engls. Those would be the only things I would add.

3 channels,clean(fender),crunch and lead.midi interface built in,an fx loop that works!2nd naster volume(i will be heard!)4 el34(eh)=100w output also bass boost in the power amp control.external bias adjustment.

although the clean sounds as good as anything else,i would say the amp is leaning more toward the heavy end of the market.very clear but heavy distortion,you wont need a pedal just plug straight in!

i have only had it for a few weeks but all seems ok!

not a lot of info on the website but the us dealer emailed me the schematics when i asked for them!

been a boogie man for the last 15 years(dual recto)but think youll see them on ebay now!also got the cobra cab with the greenbacks in did an a/b with the recto cab.the recto cab has more low bass and the top can be a little harsh.the greenbacks (which i thought i would hate)i actually prefer.they dont have the low bass of the v30 but have more mid range punch.after all isnt the bass frequencies for the bass player!

2006, 3 channel midi, etc

To start, i am a metalhead, i use this for metal

I am not one for doin reviews, ive played for 10 years, owned tons of stuff. this head, is THEE most quality sounding thing i've ever heard in my life. It made me want to do a review.

I've owned triple rect, 5150, 5150II, marshall jcm's, tsl's, line 6, and VHT heads.

This head kills them all. my other guitarist owns a triple rect, i blow it away at practice.

I use a caparison with EMG81's, and a mesa traditional cab with this head. Replaced the power tubes with JJ E34L's and the preamp with 3 hand selected JJ's graded for gain, 1 balanced for phase inverter, and 1 regular 12ax17.

you do need a noise supressor.

The clean is beautiful. kills the rectifier

I dont use crunch at all

The lead, is amazing, SO CLEAR. You can literally hear EVERYTHING. It's literally impossible to explain how unique sounding the distortion is. i love the deep knob feature, its just like the resonance knob on the 5150 but better.

The mid knob does add ALOT of bass

I have the mid at 11 o'clock and the bass at about 9 o clock.

no problems YET..

N/A

If it was stolen i'd but it again

I want to buy another one just to have 2

I love how unique it sounds

Its uncomparble

This is a 2006 Framus Cobra Head, 3 Chanells, Midi controllable - this is outlined in detail in previous reviews so Ill leave it at that.

Ive had this amp for around 3 months now, rehearsing on a weekly basis so I think I have a good feel for the amp. I absolutely love this amp.
Clean Channel - Its true that the Cobra has a superb clean channel and its easily as good if not better than ANY high gain head available. Very lush and warm, but can be sparkly and chimey with the bright switch engaged.

Crunch Channel - This channel is absolutley brilliant! The voicing of this channel is so good - incredibly tight and articulate with a real midrange growl. Some liken it to a hotrodded Marshal sound, but it really is a darker tone to a Marshall, there really isnt any amp Ive heard that sounds like this channel - it just sounds awesome! I normally run this channel with the gain maxed out. At first I felt it lacked a touch of saturation, but its just the articulation of the voicing - their is plenty of gain. This Channel is simply stunning for heavy riffing, pure molten metal heaven!

Lead Channel - This channel has significantly more gain, is much smoother with more sag and a mesa like liquidy voicing - in other words is great for single note playing. One of the things I love about this amp is that the two gain channels (Crunch and lead) are actually voiced a little differently - not like a rectifier where you essentially have two cloned channels - here you have two distictly different channels to utilise. I just love the fat creamy tone this channel has for lead playing - sounds great with metal shredding! This channel is also great for rythms if you need something with more bottom end sag and saturation.

The stock EH preamp tubes in the Cobra give the gain channels quite a lot of top end fizz. I heard many people recomment Chinese 9th generation 12AX7's for the gain stages and I tried them in mine and it made such a difference! The fizz completely goes and it gives the crunch channel a little more gain and warmth - I highly recommend this tube swap!!!

This amp really is a metal amp. I play metal exclusively with it and I personally donth think their is anything better. However, if you play rock or pop it may not be ideal. You can get decent lower gain sounds but it doesnt really excell in this area, and its not made to.

Ive never had any problems with mine - but I treat it like gold! I think it feels pretty sturdy and well made.

I havent really had anything to do with them yet.

Ive been playing for 17 years. I use a Kramer Sustainer, Schecter Hellraiser 7 String, '73 American Strat (not really through the cobra), Maton Acoustic, Fender Twin Reverb, TC G Major effects. If it was stolen I would definately get another one. I tried all the high gain heads I could before buying the Cobra - Mesa Boogie, ENGL, Marshall, Krank, Hughes & Kettner, Sherlock Fathead etc. I really thought the Cobra killed all of them!!

Everything you really need. 3 seperate channels (clean, crunch and lead), master volume, effects loop, 100 watts, EL 34 tubes. For the Nu Metal freaks it also offers a notch switch (sounds really brutal) and depth punch.
I play the depth punch on 4 out of 10 and the seperate base of the different channels is only turned up to 5 or 6. In this setting the punch is already unbbelievable. If I would put more depth punch in, our bassist would hate me...
The only thing it is missing (compared to the only comparable amp in this price category, the Engl Powerball) is a noise gate. But this is a very unusual feature. Therefore, compared to other amps of that price category: 9

Now to the Cobra in detail (only tested with the Framus Cobra Box-Greenback 25 speakers):

The clean channel has a perfect sharp and direct sound that you know from many metal bands like In Flames, Limp Bizkit, Pantera...but, if you turn up the distortion a little bit you can also play some nice bluesy stuff (sounds best over your neck humbuckers). Combined with a delay or chorus the clean channel sounds unbelivably good. I haven't heard any other amp before that has a better clean sound than the Cobra.

The crunch channel: From Brit Rock, over Punk to 80's rock, everything sound great with that channel. Very Marshal-like, but with its own character and very variable.

The lead channel: I loovvve this channel. It is so brutal! Hitting harmonics is a pleasure! With some depth punch (believe me 5: out of 10 already kicks ass),distortion turned up (I only turn it up half, although I play in a thrash metal/hardcore band!) and a lot of presence, it sounds unbelievable!
It feels like someone would beat the sh.. out of something with a baseball bat. Only brutal! I play it without the notch switch, because it sounds more raw and original (like Slayer or Lamb of God...but with more punch). The notch switch gives it a more modern sound...more like the Engl Powerball, but screams a little bit more than the Powerball. It has still a little bit of that old school touch.

In my band, our second guitarist plays a Engl Powerball, so I can compare them all the time. Both amps sound great. I could not name my favourity. The Engl Powerball is a little bit more punchy, dry and modern sounding, the Framus Cobra a little more raw and is more sensitive. So: The amp does not makes a bad guitar player sound like a pro. But it definitely makes a good guitar player sound better. You can hear every nuance. It could experiment forever with different techniques and sounds with that amp!

I play it since 4 month. No problems so far. It looks very solid.

I don't know, but I should not be bad, because Framus belongs to Warwick since some time.

I love this amp. I don't miss anything. Looks great (at least 10 red lights inside), sounds great (all channels) and is definitely worth the money and better than many other amps on that price category.
I haven't checked out the Mesa Dual Rectifier so far (it is soo expensive, but many call it THE metal amp), but I read in a test in the Soundcheck magazine, that the Framus Cobra has the same sound quality as the Mesa at a lower price (and I think it looks a lot more evil with the red lights).

Everything you really need. 3 seperate channels (clean, crunch and lead), master volume, effects loop, 100 watts, EL 34 tubes. For the Nu Metal freaks it also offers a notch switch (sounds really brutal) and depth punch.
I play the depth punch on 4 out of 10 and the seperate base of the different channels is only turned up to 5 or 6. In this setting the punch is already unbbelievable. If I would put more depth punch in, our bassist would hate me...
The only thing it is missing (compared to the only comparable amp in this price category, the Engl Powerball) is a noise gate. But this is a very unusual feature. Therefore, compared to other amps of that price category: 9

2005 Framus Cobra Head. The highlights are 3 channels with independent bass, middle, treble, presence, gain and volume controls along with mid scoop switch on the 2 dirty channels and a bright switch on the clean.
Effects loop works well with most of my gear but when you crank the both volume knobs, stomp boxes dont always work well. Excellent build quality and switches. Uses 4 EL34s and 5 12AX7s @ 100 watts.

Stand out qualities are its definition and extended frequency capability. It has more bass, highs and mids than any other head I have ever tried. The clean is almost as good as a Marshall bluesbreaker or Fender. Very tight, clean and articulate but just not as warm as the others but maybe the best clean on any 3 channel amp. The crunch channel is similar to the lead channel except the lead channel has more bass and distortion. They are very versatile channels due to the eq ranges and mid scoop switches which dramatically changes the tone of the channel when engaged. The only criticism is that the tone wasnt as warm as some other amps like my Triamp MKI or JCM 800. I guess the active eq contributes to that but the amp is still a favorite of mine because of its aggresive tones which are remind me of a Soldano and Rectifier.

Too early to judge but it looks to be better made than most other heads. The build quality looks excellent to me but I am not a tech.

Tried contacting them once before through email but got no response. Who knows if they received the email.

Overall I enjoy playing the Cobra because it offers a different tonal palate. The distortion is tight and defined which may make it sound a bit cold the first time you play it but the sound is certainly unique. The Triamp has more sag and is warmer. The JCM 800 is a perfect balance to all the frequencies without being overweight in one category. As far as which has more gain, the Cobra (lead ch only), Triamp, and then the JCM 800. The voicings are different with the Cobra being the thickest followed by the Triamp then the JCM 800. Which one is best, I like them all and play them regularly. One tip is to use celestion speakers. They are the best for hard rock/metal. Again I have a variety of them that I switch into my cabs.

this is a tube amp... very high gain tube amp. i use jj tubes 12 AX 7's in the preamp and JJE34L ( EL34) in the power amp. has a midi interface which is sweet if i ever needed to use it. can be ran 4 8 16 OHM. 2 speaker jacks... fx loop. the coolest thing is the red LED lights that light up with you turn it on. but each channel has : gain; presence; volume; low; mid; high... but the best one is the deep knob... that gives you bass from the power tubes which is freaking awsome... i have it half way up and by bass knob on my crunch and lead channels at 3 o clock and this thing shacks the room. i actually cant put my head on my cab because with that mesa boogie oversized cab... it rattles my head and it came halfway off my cab the other day and i bout had a heart attack when i turned back and realized... so i have it setting off to the side on my rack unit... scared me at first... but then i was just down right impressed... ive never had an amp push so much bass ( not muddy bass tight bass) and rattle itself off the cab... unreal... just as much bass as there is gain on this amp...

I use Jackson guitars both with emg 81's and i dont use the neck pickup. this head runs through a mesa boogie oversized cab with Vintage 30's... (this cab has balls). i have a dbx compressor, rocktron hush super C noise gate (must have with a high gain head) and a dbx dual 31 band eq. i play metal as i just said and this amp is beautiful. most amps have plain ol distortion ... but this amps got amazing distortion... clean distortion if that makes any sense at all. it doesnt break up and get fizzy it just delivers tone. i see where the bad reviews are coming from..i got this amp out of the box and it was weak sounding... but i had expected that it would be... so i had my service tech retube it with JJ 12AX 7 and JJ E34L in the power. he bias'd it waaay up to run red hot with these E34L's (EL34) i think he said he got it running up to almost 50 Ma. he said at 32 Ma on the scope it was still running really cold and he bumped it up and got rid of the nos dist. i played on it at practice the night before i took it to my tech and when i got it back the next day... it was like night and day... this amp just came to life... i am soo pleased with the sound now... the bottom end is just so crunchy... you can dial in soo much bass on this amp and its never too much or muddy... you get warm thick tones all throughout your guitars fret board. i like the sounds of killswitch engage which they use these amps which is the reason i even looked into them and man its the best ive ever sounded.... i tried out all kinds of marshalls (in store) i own a peavey 5150 ( gunna get sold soon!) and have owned tons of mesa boogie's.. mark IV (which is excellent but not enough distortion for me) dual triple recto's ... even the road king didnt have the tightness in sound this does... mesa's are nerd amps... too much going on in the chassis, its too intricate in design... the more stuff you have in it the more there is to go wrong. but with the framus its a simpler design..i cant get over the tone on this amp... i blows my mind ... im soo looking forward to studio time next week... this amp has so much presence...you hear everything that you play with ease... mistakes come out front as well ... so this isnt for a beginner guitarist this for someone serious about playing.but hearing mistakes while your playing makes you a much better player in the long run. all in all... i would never think twice about getting another cobra... hell i might just buy another one just for shits and giggles....

well nothings gone wrong on me... but when i was having it retubed and bias'd ... my tech called me and said there was something wrong and the the pront panel displays were locked up and the amp blew 2 fuses and wasnt working... i was like WTF!! but then as he was on the phone he tried it again and it was fine... i called framus and they said it could be a loose power tube socket... but ive played on it since and no problems...

framus took me a few calls to get to talk to somone but once i did they helped me out as best as they could...

this is the best piece of gear ive botten so far ...this amp is wroth ever pennie... all the bad reviews on here are because the owners tech needs to hot rod this amp up a bit and wake its ass up... all you bad reviewers out there... take you amp and have it bias'd correctly... you'll hear the difference... i promise

My cobra is built in 2005 and has the external measure points for bias,it has 3 indipendent channels with parallel effect loop that affect all the channels, midi ( I love this feature ), deep controll that put the low in the power amp.
The clan channel have the bright switch and the 2 dirty channel have the notch switch. ( if the notch is angaged, you get a mid scooped sound ).
The cobra came with stock Electro harmonics power tubes ( 4 el34 ) and 5 preamp tubes.
The cobra have all the features that I need

I use all Jackson guitars tuned in low B with emg active pickups, and I play death-trash, and I Think that this amp is made for this type of music.
The clean channel is beatiful, and is very clean!!! I like it when I play Opeth style clean parts.
The crunch channel is perfect to play fuckin metal, and I enjoy this channel without bost it. The lead is full of gain and is very clear when i play my solos.
I rebiased the head at 30mA becouse tha cobra came with a little cold bias ( 24-25mA) , with the exernal trim and measure points to adjust the bias ia not a pain.
For my personal taste the cobra have a brutal distortion, but with a lot of definition, and is perfect to low tunned stuff.
The crunch channel with the propper settings and with the notch switch of have a very full tone.
Actually I play the cobra with a standard 4X12 marshall with gt 75, I think to replace it with a mesa std recto cab or a framus dragon 4x12 cab.

I have no problem with my cobra, is built like a tank

I e-mailed at the tecnical support for ifos about bias, and I have all the support that I need.

2005 model - i use this amp in an ambient metal band - ok features - except that you cant control the effects loop from a footswitch - that pisses me off.

i use a shecter c-1 elite with seymour duncan invader pickups - its loud - but it sounds horrible. i dont see how anyone could enjoy this amp with its characterisic hiss in its tone. too much presence and not enough mids, at all. the clean is an ok channel but i still prefer fender or peavey clean. i own a hot rodded peavey xxx as well (EL34 svetlana tubes instead of the stock 6L6) that blows this thing out of the water as far as a live sound that cuts. its got mad distortion and presence and waaaayyy to much low end for a good live sound. the best way to get around this is by taking all of the bass out of the power amps and using the amount needed through the pre amp.

shit - this thing is like a piece of glass. its gone out on me plenty of times, and believe me, after paying 2,300 on it - i took DAMN good care of this amp - custom case and all.

good luck getting it fixed, or finding an authorized repairman near you.

ive had it for a year. i dont like a single thing about this amp besides its punch. i figured this site needed a bad review of this amp. i prefer the ENGL SE or the DIEZEL VH4 over this amp by far. if you want this amp and have never played it in person - dont get it. i call it my 2000 dollar mistake.

Had this amp for a year or so. I would never use this amp for other styles then metal, couse that is what it's made for. And remember to re-bias the amp. My amp had 17 ma and now it's 27 ma...much better sound.

I have been playing guitar for 25 years now and owned a lot of amps like Bogner, Soldano, Rectifiers, Marshalls. I use mostly PRS Custom 22, and MacCarthy models. My music is modern/Nu-metal. Use it with Peavy 5151 or Framus Cobra 4x12...i start to like the greenbacks in Cobra better and better...more midrange in the Cobra cabinet.

Clean channel: sounds really good, use it with some TC units, great sound.

Crunch channel: like so many other have said before....THIS IS WHY YOU BUY THIS AMP....It's absolutly brutal, it has so much punch and attack you ever gonna need. I use this channel with the notch switch engage.
I tell you, my old Dual Rectifier don't even come close to this sound.

Lead channel: great sustain and tone for solos, a little muddy and un-focused for rythm...but this is the lead channel =)

This amp want's to be play'd loud, on low volumes the sound is thin and cold....but when you put some volume on it..it screams like hell.

Had some trouble with the channel swith a couple of times now. What's happend is like the signal only make like 75% to the power tubes and sound very cold, thin and boring.

Great amp for my kind of music..if i need to play some classic rock tunes or somthing else, i simply put my PODxt in the loop return, or changing for a less brutal amp =)

german hand made machine,i like the control of the deep bass,i like that its midi already no need for getting some special made box to switch channels to midi.built for the road

reminds me of my vht pitbull that did not have any ass to it,but the cobra does,and again controllable.i still love my mesa triple recto but this has a very pure tone to it.i like tones like tremonti,disturbed,godsmack...yes they are all mesa but,listen to tracii guns (laguns waking the dead)or brides of destruction,his tone was always very tight,also bill leverty from firehouse awesome tone,esp live.

i really am surprised at its toneal flexability its like have several good amps in one all beefed up.im glad i bought this,thanks tracii guns!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I've owned this amp for over a year now so i think i know it well enough to give an unbiased review.
2004 model (i think), 100 watt all valve 3 channel high gain head with MIDI control and parallel FX loop, though it is not switchable. I'll go into this issue more later.
All channels have the familliar Gain, Bass, Mid, Treble and volume controls and also has a presence control to adjust the amount of high end freqeuncies going to the power amp. Bright switch on the clean channel and "Notch" mid cut switches on the Crunch and Lead channels. The master section consists of master 1 and 2 volumes, FX mix level and "Deep" control to adjuct the amount of low end frequencies going to the power amp.

I use the amp on tour and in the studio and it pretty much gives me everything i need. Plenty of volume and very flexible in tones and intergration with other gear.

The lack of aswitchable FX loop stops the amp from getting top marks

I play mainly ESP guitars with EMG's, usually 81 in the bridge and either 85/60/SAV in the neck. I play metalcore in my band but at home i like to play anything and everything from rock to ambient and experimental. I run it with a TC Electronic G Major in the loop and out through a Marshall 1960A cab (though i have a Framus Dragon cab on order) and control it all with a Behringer 1010 controler.
For the metalcore side of things the amp is superb, there's plenty of gain on tap and it's top notch. Not buzzy or fizzy sounding like a Mesa or a 5150 but very deep and full.
The clean channel is one of the best i've heard and is even more impressive considering this is a high gain head. You can get a very nice ringing tone from the controls and its pretty hard to get the channel to break up, you pretty much have to have the gain way up before that happens, which is good as it gives more options for tone shaping like having the pre gain way low and the post gain very high, and vice versa. The bright switch adds a fair amount of mid/high mid to the sound and definatley gives the channel more bite and cut. I prefere the switch off as its a little too bright for my liking.
The crunch channel has a good amount of "Sensible" gain from a mellow crunch like AC/DC to pretty thick distortion like GNR and Deftones. Again the tone controls work well and the sound is clear and precise while still being nicely distorted. The "Notch" switch, which is more or less the same as the "Scoop" swtich on Marshall's, takes out a good section from the mid frequencies. This leaves you with a very buzz-saw sound which is popular for some styles, or for hi-fi kind of sounds for dynamics. However you do loose quite a bit of volume with the notch engaged so a good bit of volume makeup is required.
The lead channel is pure molten metal, more than enough gain for anyone and cuts through brilliantly. We're talking severe amounts of gain here, think of Nile, MOP era Metallica, Slayer etc. Once again the tone controls are doing they're very best and you can get a good range of tones. I usually run the gain at 3/4 full and have bass at 11 o'clock, mid at 10 o'clock and treble at 2/3 o'clock. This is my usual stage sound and it is fucking heavy for want of a better description. I dont like to cut the mids too much as this is where the fundamentals of the guitar sound are, pinch harmonics come pelting out with this setting and sound awesome. People always compliment me on my squeelies and this amp really lets them fly out when set up well. Now for the notch switch on this channel, flip this on and we're talking classic death metal tone. Take the crunch channel with notch on and times it by 4. Pantera and Bleeding Through type tones are well within reach now, very direct and sharp sounding. Though again you loose a fair bit of volume so a quick channel volume adjust is needed.

For the other ambient and experimental stuff i like to play, i really dont have any trouble getting a sound i want. The key point here is that all the channels have alot of range within them. The clean channel is very clean for when you want that sterile kind of tone and can also be very mellow which sounds awesome with a healthy does of reverb, delay and phase for some spacey fun. The crunch can go from just a light smattering of gain for a bitey sound up to a good rhythm sound. And the lead channel will take you anywhere else you want to go. Very flexible amp.

It is only noisy on the Lead channel, which is to be expected. The clean channel and the Crunch channel, depending on the gain setting, are very quiet indeed.

Now for what is really my only gripe, the FX loop. Since it is a line level set loop designed to be used with rack equipment you cant stick your favourite stomp boxes into the loop since they run a different signal level, also like for modulation fx you'd need the loop mix on full which does sap a bit of power. While i've managed to get the amp to run well with my TC unit since its all midi controlled and all channel and patch settings change together and in time, i really think it would of been better to have a switchable series loop. With all the FX boxes and processors on the market today they are all felxible enough to have their own level controls to set the effect rather than having to run it more or less on full mix then using the amp mix control to bring the sound in. It just seems limiting and silly to have essentially 2 mix level's, one on the effect and one on the amp. Plus the fact that the processor is always in the signal chain even if you have it bypassed or are not using it for for any sounds. I would like to see an updated cobra with a switchable loop or maybe dual loops for pre and post gain effects. In my mind this would make it the ultimate amp for flexibility and overal intergration of FX since you could have all stomp box and other FX that are best run in front of the amp, like EQ, Phaser, Flanger and so on and still have rack quality FX for Reverb, Delay, Chorus after the preamp. This would be a truly phenominal setup.

I'll give it 9 because, FX loop aside since it doesnt actually produce any tone, the sounds available from the amp are superb and wide ranging.

Well i've had it out on tour for over a year and its never once crapped out on me. I thought it did once cos it kept turning on and off all the time, but we found out it was a dodgy power socket at the venue.

One issue i was having for a while was alot of breakup in the clean channel, no matter how lightly i played or how low the gain was it would still do it, it was driving me mad. So after asking about on the HC boards i was advised to try removing the clean channel tube and re-seating it. Hey presto problem solved and all i had was a pure clean channel :o)

Never had to deal with Framus

I've been playing for nearly 13 years and have owned many amps over the years including the Triple XXX, 5150II, Marshall JMP-1 with EL34 100/100 amp, Trace Elliot and some other's. Since i've owned a good couple of the typical metal amps i can fairly judge them all against each other. The 5150II is a great amp for the price and gets a very nice tone. The Triple XXX was nice but i found to be a bit fizzy and underpowered compared to the 510 for some reason. The Marshall setup was probably my second favourite after the Cobra, that too was a flexible amp and was only changed for the Cobra due to its weight and large size since it needed to be flight cased.

If it were stolen i think i would get another one.

I love the wide range of tones available in it but as i said before the lack of a switch for the loop does annoy me sometimes. Im telling you Framus, come up with a Cobra Plus or a new model called the Python or something and give it dual FX loop's for post and pre amp FX and you will be laughing very hard.

Ragazzi, leggo un sacco di opinioni al riguardo...
Ho comprato la testata ieri e mi sono catapultato a lasciare un commento qui. La testata non e versatile, DI PIU'!!! Non solo e la piu bella testata per il rock, ma molto buona per sonorita in ambito di blues contemporaneo, fusion, jazz, nu-metal... Insomma una bomba!!!! Ha tre canali, con tre switching ciascuna... bright per il clean, e scooped (notch) per gli altri due (crunch e lead). Inoltre ha due volumi indipendenti generali da assegnar ad ogni canale!!!
Poi il pot per il deep(bassi) il MIDI... un sogno!!!!
P.S. Anche esteticamente e stupenda e progettata benissimo... veramente bella anche per i leds rossi che splendono internamente quando accesa!!!

Suono con due tipi di chitarre:
- Brian Moore MC/1 senza piezo
- Music Man Petrucci - JP6 con il piezo
Suono prevalentemente Rock-Fusion, ma mi piace avere il suono giusto per ogni 'eventualita'.
E' la testata Hi-Gain piu silenziosa che abbia mai sentito e ho provato e avuto... Laney, Marshall, Hughes and Kettner, Mesa Boogie, Soldano, ecc...
I Vari canali:

1-Clean: Il migliore pulito del mondo!!! Una sorta di mix tra il pulito vox ac30,marshall plexi(panciuto-medioso) e il fender blackface(piu cristallino) ma con una originalita che non ha eguali e che a differenza di altre testate non distorge se non lo vuoi (vedi volume a 5,6,7 in su)!!!

2-Crunch: Che c'e da dire... Puoi ottenere tutte le sonorita che hanno reso famoso questo stupendo strumento (complice anche il nocht switch) dal suono dei vecchi plexi ai triple rectifire al fender tweed!!! Incredibile.

3-Lead: Anche qui si sfiora il capolavoro... Non ho mai provato il canale 3 della Diezel Vh4 ma dagli artisti che la utilizzano (es. Richard Hallebeek)la Cobra non ha niente da invidiare alla suddetta testata!!! Per le altre in commercio (Soldano SLO100 e Mesa Boogie MkIIc++ comprese, anche se stupende!!) mi dispiace ma non c'e proprio confronto (Bogner in primis). La distorsione e progressiva ma naturale e con una dinamica che spaventa!! Suono meraviglioso!!

In Italia si trova tranquillamente... Ottimo!!! ;-D

Non so ancora perche la testata l'ho acquistata ieri e la Framus e una giovane marca!!!Ma la warwick so essere una grande compagnia professionale... E la testata e un carroarmato (magari un po' pesantina (18,5 Kg) ma a vista sembra indistruttibile!!!

E' la piu bella testata che abbia mai sentito con una versatilita (bias compreso) e dei suoni senza precedenti!!
Preferisco combinarla con una Cassa 4x12 Soldano con dei Vintage 30 dentro. Ultimamente per versatilita (ma non per suono, lontano dalla 'vivacita' di una testata) avevo un triaxis con il 2:90 della Mesa Boogie ma questa testata me lo ha fatto riporre in soffitta!!! Che dire di piu!! La Framus ha FATTO CENTRO! OTTIMO prezzo(La meta della maggior parte delle altre testate)! OTTIMI componenti! OTTIMI suoni! OTTIMA costruzione! Veramente NOISELESS!! Cosa si vuole di PIU'?! A+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

ok after literally months of research and downloading sound clips i decided to go with framus over bogner,vht,soldano etc.its a 2005 model and i also bought a matching cabinet.now that the amp is in good working condition[i will explain later]i feel like i can give an honest review.this is a very versatile amp with alot of features and all are very very sensitive,if you turn the knob you get results.effects loop is awesome with an adjustment knob.make no mistake about this amp its incredibaly loud so if you are looking for power dont worry you got it.i play metal and i play loud.i give the features a 10 because this is a very giggable amp,just make sure you get the footswitch[i got mine thrown in with the deal,$2350 for the half stack]3 channels with 2 volumes all footswitchable.also the crunch and lead channels have knotch switches which scoop your mids and the clean channel has a bright switch.the amp also has a universal deep swith which helps control the bass response.

i play a gibson les paul special with an emg 81 in the bridge[i dont use the neck pick up at all]

clean:incredible clean channel,even though i dont play alot of clean stuff this thing makes me wanna use it more,very warm sounding and quiet.i give the clean channel a 10

crunch:this is the channel i use the most and to be honest i can not get the sound i want without using a ts 808 tube screamer and an eq through the effects loop.but with those 2 combined it will make you wanna smack your mama.without the pedals the amp is just too bright for me[i also tried it through my friends marshall 1960av with vintage 30's and it was still too bright]just so you will know my ideal rhythem sound is in the line of shadows fall,zakk wylde,killswitch engage,which i can get but not without the effects.the notch switch is not for me,it just doesnt cut through like i like it.its really fat and trebly with it on[i like more growl]
i did change all the tubes and had it rebiased to 30ma which made a huge difference before that it was too much fizz,sounded like a really good dual rectifier,but for the money this thing was suppose to kill right outta the box,and it didnt.i bought this amp without trying 1 out as well so take it from me try 1 out b4 you buy.i did try out a bogner ubershall,vht and both kranks[i have no idea why the krank amps are so expensive,i would rather play a solid state crate,they really sound horrible]the only reason i didnt buy a bogner was the features,you cant adjust the volume levels and there is no lead boost,but that thing has the most unreal brutal distortion i have ever heard and if i had to do it over again i would probably save my money for another year and get it.bogner is a 10 ,framus is a 9 with effects and a high 7 without on this channel.

lead channel:again without effects it just doesnt cut it,not enouh sustain and too bright.

ok here is what im not sure about.this was a brand new right out of the box framus cobra.i have been playing for about 18 years and i could tell something wasnt quite right with it,so i took it to a pro amp repair guy who hand makes and repairs tube amps,to get it rebiased and change the crappy eh tubes.he immediatly told me that he couldnt get a read on the number 1 power tube and the other 3 was at 59 ma[and he showed me on the scope or what ever that thing was]i called the store i bought it from and he told me to call the distibuter.more below

when i called the tech department i did get somebody on the phone[i was still at the amp shop]he ask me what was wrong and i told him that the repair guy couldnt get a reading on the number 1 power tube.he told me dont worry about it that he could still bias it off the other 3 tubes.he said that he had run across many with that problem because the wire wasn't hooked up,but you could still bias it.i ask my repair guy to talk to him cause i really didnt understand what he was talking about.my repair guy told him that the amp wasnt right and he couldnt bias it in its condition bvecause he couldnt get a reading.the framus distributer told him to tell me to send it to repair and he would have it looked at.[bottom line he wasnt going to authorize any money or refund,i was irate]i called the store i bought it from and he said he would send me another 1 or i could let my guy fix it and he would pay for it.i got my guy to fix it and retube it.the problem was a loose screw rattling around inside and was causing shorts.2 day old head cost $290.00 to fix.if the store i dealt with hadnt picked up the tab i really believe i would have been screwed.i would have to pay for shipping to and from california and then wait on them to fix it[about 3-4 weeks]if you buy 1 beware of this because my amp wasnt the first 1 with this problem.

now that my technical problems with this amp is over,i am going to give this amp an overall rating of 8[if it doesnt blow up]i have owned rectifiers,5150 II,crate blue voo doo,carvin legacy and line 6 and this amp is better than any of those]if it were stolen or lost i wouldnt buy another 1 only because of the warranty and the troubles i had.if money wasnt a problem i would get a bogner uber for the dirt and a line 6 for the clean and a a/b box.my guess is these amps are getting more and more popular and they are probably shipping them out too quickly to keep up with the demand.take my advice on this,only buy the exact amp you try out,dont try 1 at a store then go to a catalougue and get 1 shipped to you it might save you some trouble and money.my overall rating is based on it now not before repairs.oh yeh it has tung sol tubes.

This is the older model without the external bias. Great versatility, 3 channels with three independent EQs, deep knob, midi control which is killer.

I've owned this amp for a year now so I think I've had some time to let its sound sink in, and can submit a genuine review. Amps Ive owned in the past are: 73 fender super reverb, mesa tremoverb 100 watt dual rec head, marshall mode four head, marshall JMP-1 with 9200 marshall monoblock power amp, and finally the cobra. All heads played through a 4x12 marshall with greenbacks, and a f-in les paul standard with a 498t in the bridge instead of the burstbucker.

The sound took a little getting used to since all I've ever owned were 6L6 or 5881 powered heads. I really never got used to the EH 12AX7preamp sound on this amp. The clean with these tubes was out of this world, but the distortion was not to my liking. Hard to explain, both the lead and crunch had a low-midrange quality that was hard for me to dial in. It just didn't have the clarity/tone I wanted. I play technical jazz metal ala the fucking champs, dysrythmia, dazzling killmen, keelhaul, etc. I need a sound with balls, yet with a great well rounded tone. One day I bought the groove tube reissue of the original mullard preamp tubes to give them a try. Pretty much got the distortion sounding exactly as i wanted; tight, edgy, and clear with hella low end punch. Just the right amount of breakup, not the fizz.

I dont play the lead channel to much, it has a more dark tone, but i can see how some bands might like it. Can get a serious low end for down tune or whatever.

Crunch channel is where its at. Keep the gain from 12-2 oclock and this channel smokes any amp out there.

The clean isn't as clear as when it had the electro harmonix tubes, but its still stellar.

All in all the tone on this amp is hard to beat. My other guitarist plays a Marshall TSL 60, and that amp sounded pretty damn good believe it or not, but with the framus and the GT mullards, its eating dust. I also played it against a triple rec. The clarity of this amp really highlighted the fizzyness in the mesa.

I give it a nine since I'm sure a high dollar amp like bogner or diezel would beat it.

No probs yet, seems way sturdy and good fabrication. 9 since its only been a year. Never bring backups to gigs.

Never needed them. I think they offer a 6 month warranty.

I'm 28, and I've been playing since I was 5. I've owned a butt-load of equip and have played blues and metal. If it were stolen I'd buy another one, and make the same mod with the tubes. I always get asked about it, and the midi control opens doors if you use midi effects. Its a damn good amp, without the outrageous price tag like engls, bogners, and diezels. Don't be a mesa/marshall clone. Go framus and smoke em.

Propably 2002 made, bought it used. Can do anything from jazz to metal. Crunch channel is a trash metal heaven! 3 channels, parallel effects loop, line out, bright switch on clean, notch switches on crunch & lead, bass boost on the output amplifier, 2 master volumes. Reverb would be great, although the clean channel is incredible already. The notch swithes aren't that useful to me, I just love the mids. The external bias would be nice. The eq in this thing is great, you can get it to sound just the way you want.

I use 7-strings tuned G and Bb for metal, and this amp delivers so much gain that I don't even need any boost pedals in front of it. The amp is extremely quiet, even at high gain. The clean channel sounds just perfect for those Opeth-style riffs that our band uses. The crunch channel is perfect for articulate trash-metal mayhem! Lead channel is great for leads, and you can use it for some Tool-styled riffage with the gain set at about noon.

The only thing I didn't like was the fizzy high end from the EH tubes, changed them to JJ E34L. They seem to make a nice pair, the JJ:s mellow out the fizzyness of the EH pre's and now the amp is PERFECT! I seriously recommend to put the bias at 30-35mA, it really brings out the beast of this amp.

Bought it used (6 months old) and seems pretty solid built. No probs.

Never had a need to deal with them.

I've been playing for about 10 years now, and at the moment this is my only amp. I used to play through a PodXT coupled with a 400W power amp, sounded nice, but I wanted something more. And with this I got it. And more. And more. I just simply love this amp, it's cleans are so smooth and the amount of gain that I'm getting is just incredible. There's really no need to put the gain on the crunch channel further that 2 o'clock. Changed the power tubes to JJ E34L and biased them at 33mA. Took away the fizzy highs and made the amp a CRUSHING METAL MACHINE!

This is just a follow-up review to the one I wrote directly below. I had problems using my Boss GT-3 multi-effects unit with the Cobra because the Cobra's loop needs a line-level input from a multi-FX unit. The GT-3 only outputs at amp-level so I ditched it for a Line 6 PODXT Live, which has a switch for line or amp-level output. Now everything is working fine, all my time-based stuff (delay, chorus, flanger etc.) sounds incredible going through the Cobra and with the POD's noise-gate turned on, it's dead-silent when you're not playing, even with the Cobra's volume and gain cranked. So this is just a warning to anyone who wants to use a multi-FX pedal that outputs at amp-level with the Cobra, DON'T! Instead try the Line 6 stuff or rack gear, like a G-Major.

This is a brand-new, 2005 model with the external bias features. The features have been amply covered in other reviews so I'm not going to go over them all. This is a pretty versatile amp with an excellent clean sound, a variety of good mid-gain sounds and INSANE high-gain stuff. I'd say an amp like the Hughes & Kettner Triamp is more versatile but for heavy music this thing KILLS! My favorite features are the "deep" knob and the fact that the amp has 2 master volumes, which comes in handy for solos. I absolutely love this amp, but for features I'm only giving it a 7 because of the effects-loop, more on that further down the page.

This amp is definitely all it's cracked up to be. The clean channel is the best I've heard from any high-gain amp other than a Rivera Knucklehead, very sparkly. The Framus has the Knucklehead beat as far as overdriven sounds IMO, which is what I use 95% of the time. There are a variety of good mid-gain sounds available, similar to anything from a Vox to a Plexi to a JCM800, although nothing at all similar to a Fender Blackface kind-of sound. As far as high-gain settings, it's just crazy! I can dial up an incredible early-Metallica, Mesa MarkIIC+ kind-of sound but with more massive, tighter low-end and more clarity and definition. Imagine the best sounds of the Mesa Mark series combined with Marshall Jubilee kind-of tones and you have the Cobra.

Some of the reviews say that the lead channel is only good for just that, leads, but I disagree. When dialed up properly it's great for heavy rhythm playing as well, I play rhythm parts on both the crunch and lead channels about equally, depending on what the song calls for. The way I have those channels set up is for a JCM800 type-of sound on the crunch channel and a Dual-Rect sound on Lead, only this amp sounds better than Marshall or Mesa ever dreamed of. For solos I switch to the lead channel on volume master 2, up a little louder than master 1. As far as noise goes, it's incredibly quiet, even with the volume and gain cranked. With the volume of the guitar down, it puts out almost no hiss at all, amazing for a high-gain amp. This does NOT hold true if you are using effects through the front of the amp though, then there can be considerable hiss depending on what you are using. The only thing I dislike so far is the effects loop. I use a Boss GT-3 for most of my effects and it sounds like crap through the loop. The GT-3's effects sound good going in through the front of the amp but this adds alot of noise. Right now, I switch over to the clean channel between songs to keep the noise down but I may take the amp to my tech and see if he can do a loop-mod so that the GT-3 works better through it. I've been told by other Cobra owners that the effects-loop on this amp is only designed for rack gear, which is a bummer. I like my GT-3 (for time-based stuff only), and it is also a midi controller, which allows me to program certain patches on it to switch channels on the amp. You'd think that for almost 2 grand they would include a loop that is at least as good as the one on my 450-dollar Ampeg.

It's OK though, I'll work around the loop issue because the friggin thing sounds like GOD!!! I've played or owned a ton of amps and I can't imagine what could be better for heavy music than the Cobra. Maybe a Diezel is, I've never tried one but they are over twice the price. This amp just has killer, massive tone and sits perfectly in the mix of a band situation, I can hear myself perfectly without having to turn up too loud or drowning out the other instruments. The power, bite, clarity and definition of this amp just destroys any Mesa or Marshall I've ever played, and it looks way cool onstage with the red LED's. I'm in a working band that plays heavy music and I use either an Ibanez Jem or a Gibson Les Paul Custom, a Dunlop ZW-45 Zakk Wylde wah (awesome!), the GT-3 into the Cobra and out to a Marshall 1960AV 4x12 cab w/Celestion Vintage 30's.

Haven't had it long but it seems solid enough. German engineering.

Never dealt with them.

The Cobra could be used for a number of different styles of music but make no mistake, it's designed for the heavy stuff. Despite having EL-34 tubes in the power section like a Marshall, it's voiced for a more modern high-gain sound. I'd guess it's target demographic is Dual-Rect users. Price-wise, you are not paying THAT much more than you would for a new Recto and I think it's well worth the extra cash. You get even more gain and low-end with better clarity and definition and the Cobra is MUCH better for lead work that any Rectifier in my opinion. Before buying this amp I considered a Mesa Mark IV, Bogner Uberschall, H & K Triamp, VHT Pittbull and various Soldano's but the Cobra was the perfect fit for me. These are hard to come by in most U.S. cities but if you see one, try it out, you won't be dissappointed.

Three Independent Channels (Clean / Crunch / Lead)
100 Watts all tube
Hand Wired
Comes stock with Electro-Harmonix EL34's
Seperate Gain, Volume, Bass, Middle, Treble & Prsesence for each channel
Bright Switch for Clean Channel, Notch (Mid-scoop)switch for Crunch & Lead
Master Volume 1 & 2 (Foot Swichable for a pre-set boost or cut)
Deep knob to control Bass in the Power Amp section (Very Cool)
MIDI interface (also Very Cool)
Paralelle FX Loop w/Mix knob on front panel (I prefer Series but it's not a huge deal)
Foot switch (included) for Channel switching & Masters 1 & 2 (would be nice if it also switched the FX Loop in & out)
This Amp was made in 2005 and has the external Bias controls (a big improvement over earlier models)
The Red LED's make the amp glow red when on & it looks Super!

My main guitar is a '92 PRS Custom 24. I also use a newer model PRS Swamp Ash Special as well as a USA Jackson Soloist SL2H and a Les Paul Special dual cutaway with P90's. All pick-ups on all guitars are stock. I use an old Marshall cab w/Vintage-30's. We play a lot of modern rock, punk and alternative covers and occaisionally throw in a classic rock tune but it's usually a kickin' tune (read: we're definately not your typical clasic rock cover band so a high gain amp capable of covering the newer sounds is essential).
The Clean channel is amazingly clean. I wouldn't say "solid state" clean as one other review suggested 'cuz it's much warmer. It is though the best clean sound I've heard from any of the high gain amps I've played. The Bright switch doesn't seem to make a huge difference so I don't use it. Don't need it. The Crunch channel is unbelievably brutal if you want to set it up that way. More brutal than, Yes!, a Dual Rectifier. This is probably the reason you buy this amp. You can also get some nice "vintage" or "Brown" sounds by rolling the gain back to around 11:00 or 12:00. The Notch switch makes a big difference (mid-scoop) in the sound. At fist I used it in this channel but have since decided I like the sound better without it. Especially when playing at band volume. The lead channel is also brutal and has a unique character of it's own. Not just the Crunch channel with more gain. Some incredible Liquid, Searing, Sustaining Lead tones here. I can't help laughing sometimes while I'm playing 'cuz it sounds so freakin' great. The amp is very quiet in both the Cruch & Lead modes. Much quieter than any of my Boogies. No audible hiss or noise of any type. Amazing for an amp with this much gain. Very versatile to boot. I'm so happy I bought this thing. I hope others don't catch on for a while 'cuz right now I have the best sounding rig in town.

This is my first Framus product and I haven't had to get inside the amp for any reason but, it does appear do be well made and at least as rugged as anything I've owned. No problems with the amp yet but I've only had it about a month. I never gig without a back-up set of power tubes and at least one pre-amp tube. I also bring my Rectifier along as a back-up just in case. That being said, I would probably pout the rest of the gig if this amp failed and I had to go back to the Dual Rectifier. Since I haven't had it long I'll give it an eight based on observation more so than experience.

Framus is represented in the USA by Dana B. Goods. I had to special order the amp through Guitar Center. Dana B was a lot more helpful than anyone at G.C. when it came to answering questions about delivery date and order status. Getting anyone at G.C. to make a phone call to check on the order was impossible. I contacted Dana B myself and, even though they're not set-up to help the end customer direct (computer system, etc.) they were very helpful and pleasant to deal with. They were prompt to return calls and knowledgable about the product. I found more info on the European web site than the USA version. Manuals, etc. and all available in English.

Holy mother of tone Batman, this thing rocks. I've been a Boogie guy for over 15 years (been playing for over 20). Owned MKIII's IV's and Dual Recs. Even Marshalls and Fenders before that but I'm a Framus guy now. This thing totally blows away any of the Boogies I mentioned. I tried a Stilleto too but there was no comparison. The Deep knob is so cool. You get this thunderous low end (palm mute heaven) but the mids and highs stay tight and focussed. Never could do that with the Dual Rec. The Clean channel kills the Recto's so called Clean channel and, the Crunch & Lead channels do as well. When I first fired up the amp, the guys in the band were oohing & aahing at the red glow. Once I moved them out of the way and plugged in, they were blown away. Everyone was still talking about how bitchin' this amp sounded long after we finished playing. I even got a few emails the next day that carried on even more about it. If it were lost or stolen I'd deffinately buy another one.

Three Independent Channels: Clean, Crunch, Lead
100 Watts, (4) Electro-Harmonix EL34 come stock
Parallel Effects loop with mix control on the front panel
Dual Master Volume controls (footswitch-able) so one could be set higher for a boost.
Deep Knob: Controls the amount of low end in the power section.
Separate Presence and Volume control for each channel.
Bright Switch for the Clean channel
Separate Notch (mid scoop) switch for Crunch and Lead channels
Can be controlled with MIDI or included footswitch

The Clean channel sounds really clean and dry, more solid state sounding than tube to my ears. Like stated in other reviews, it?s hard to push into a gritty clean. It probably takes a massive pick attack with a high output pickup. I assume it?s possible by other?s accounts below.

The Crunch channel reminds me of a typically modified Marshall sound, just fuller. It has a nice, crunchy high end with tight lows that just begs for palm mutes. When you bring up the midrange it just gets fuller and crunchier. The notch switch is very effective and totally changes the character by scooping out the mids to where they?re almost absent. With it engaged, it reminds me of the sound you could get with the old Marshall Valve-state amps. I prefer the tone without the notch switch engaged, it just sounds so full and heavy. This channel alone is worth the price of the amp. It?s a metal rhythm player?s dream.

The Lead channel sounds more like a Mesa Rectifier than the Crunch channel. It?s not just a clone of the Crunch channel with additional gain; it definitely has a different character. With the gain rolled down under 12:00, there is a nice resonant woody chunk that I really love. But as you raise the gain it disappears and loses a little focus sorta like how a rectifier does. Even so, leads sound smooth and singing no matter where the gain is set, even at maximum. Leads definitely sound a lot better on this channel. This channel also has more low-end response than the Crunch channel, so rhythm work may be a little muddy with too much gain. But the Crunch channel is better suited for rhythm work to me anyway.

Another cool thing is the deep knob in the master control area. This determines the amount of low end in the power section of the amp. It?s a great feature because it doesn?t muddy the tone, and if your tone is muddy, just roll off the channel bass and bring up the deep knob and the mud is gone with all the low still there. And probably more ?clean? low end than any amp I?ve played, too.

I really hope this thing doesn?t break on me because who knows how hard it is to get parts for it. You can barely find a user?s manual for it, and their website doesn?t have much info on it. I?ve heard here and there that the Framus amps don?t ?cut it? on tour. I?m not sure what that means. I haven?t had problems yet, so I?m just going to take good care of mine and hopefully nothing will happen to it.

This amp is great, so far I love it. I?ve been playing for a little over 10 years and have owned mostly rack preamps and power-amps: Marshall JMP-1, Voodoo Labs, Mesa Studio, VHT GP3, Hafler Triple Giant, and Peavey Rock Master. The Cobra obviously tops all of those. There are some things certain preamps did better, like the Studio?s clean tone and the VHT?s ability to get that natural tube overdrive sound, but I haven?t tried anything that can touch the Cobra in the metal department. I?ve also played a Rivera Knucklehead, Mesa Triple Rectifier, JCM 800, 900, 2000, an Engl 530, 5150, and 5150II. All of these are great amps, but the Cobra seems to suit me a lot more. It?s simply the best metal amps I?ve ever played. I saw one in a store while looking for a Mesa Rectifier planning to spend no more than $1500. I plugged into the Cobra and 20 minutes later I walked out of the store with it, paying $500 over my budget. I just couldn?t buy another amp knowing that this thing exists. It?s just got that sound I want.

This is the "old" version, without the external bias feature. I wish it had one as it is a real bitch to open, and I will deduct some points for this. You need to figure out some real tricks getting it out of it's shell.
i will seriously look into moding my amp into having an external bias function the next time I have to go in there.

Else it has all the features you would need. MIDI is ultra cool, and I will aquire one of these Behringer boards sooner or later.

Wish the internal illuminating LED's were blue though, as well as the power jewel-light on the front ;). Will mod here..

I usually run a simple chain most of the time. This will change though. But my main guitar is a Ibanez RG7620 with one Lundgren Vintage and one Model M pickup installed. The low B is droped to A. I find this enables you to use more of the 7-strings range at once; playing rhythms and simple lead patterns all at once.


The Cobra is quite responsive towards guitar and different pickups.

This amp is also very sensitive towards what cab you put it through, which is either good or bad depending on how you look at it.

Right now I am running it through a custom 2x12 cab (see Fat Cat 212T review under Tone Tools) with Celestion Century Vintage speakers.
At first I though the amp sounded a bit fuzzy and spiky with this combination, but re-biasing it made for great results. I can't understand why Framus run the bias that low stock (20mA). So please, bias the tubes to 32mA, at least! Do your self a big favour. Sounds much better, warmer. The EQ will also seem more responsive when the amp is running hoter.

And yes, the EQ is active, simular to the Recto with which it also shares some cosmetic and sonic characteristics.

Clean: Beautifull. I haven't used this as much as I should, but I did some recording with the whole amp, and its clean channel is nothing to be ashamed off. You could generalize this channel as being Fender-ish. I run gain quite low (9:00) as it breaks up easily with my extremely hot bridge pickup, but if break-up is what you want you got it too.. If you buy this amp then you are probably a metal-head, and this is the only clean you will need, but by all means it is probably quite simular to the clean channel of the Dragon.
Bright switch works.

Crunch: Main territory here, and the rhythm-channel of choice.. The clarity and brutality of this channel must be heard to be believed. Good all-rounder, and it definitely has enough gain for any style of metal, stock. Depending on volume I probably run the gain between 12:00 and 3:00. This is IMO the hot-rodded Marshall-ish channel, but the EQ being what it is, you get this low-mid Recto quality to it. Which is great, really.

Lead: As the name sais, this should be your choice for lead- and solo-work. It is smoother, sag-ier and more compressed. If you hang around this channel for your rhythm work then you are simply using this amp wrong ;), and you will hopefully learn. Character is Recto-ish.

The notch-switches adds some more depth and openeness by scooping the mids. The change is drastic, and you will need to increase the channel-volume to even compete with the channel un-notched. Probably great for 80's metal, but it's not for me, mostly. I dig the massiveness this amp provides at channel 2, un-notched, mids set to 3:00. Huge. It will definitely cut in a mix, and that's what I want to be accustomed to.

The loop seems to work fine. I like to use a bit of delay here and there. On 0 it's off, on 1/2 it's 100% parallel (and boosted), and on full it's 100% serial, or something.

The Cobra seems sturdy. The build-quality is good. Don't believe otherwise, as I have opened it up and looked.

I also accidentally ran it on 4 ohms into my 8 ohm cab, loud, for some hours, without any audiable damage. Despite that it sounded like shit during that period. The power-tubes might have gotten some lower life-time, but the output transformer still lives.

Never had to deal with Framus yet.

Been playing for 7 years now. I play some form of Extreme Metal, with doome-out dirge, psychedelia and fusion/jazz aspects. That's the plan anyway.

I love the Cobra for it's simplicity and great layout. Individual presence controlls really help shaping the way the individual channels sound. I only need three channels. And prior to owning the Cobra I was on the Engl Powerball-waggon. The Engl is a great amp, but I really disliked the way it looked, and the sound was too scooped; I found myself playing more in the Focused-mode just to cut through a drumkit. So, I figured out I needed something else, because the Powerball didn't make any sense - too many controlls that did too little - I would not know when to use which of the four channels. I am so glad I ditched it for a Cobra instead.

I liked what some other reviewer below had to say about this topic; that the Cobra is a "real mans" amp compared to the Powerball - it is so true :).

The things that set it apart and are worth highlighting are the Deep knob, Presence knob for all three channels, MIDI implementation, and on my newest model and external bias so I don't have to take it out of the chasis.Also the footswitch that comes with it is great. No pops or delays when switching and it does exactly what you would expect it to.I guess it would be nice to be able to activate the loop from the footswitch but you can do that through MIDI with a MIDI footcontroller.

I have waited a good amount of time before I wrote the review for the amp so the newness would wear off and I could be as critical as possible. Here it goes.
Clean channel is perfect. Lots of headroom and a good 3-D sparkling Clean tone with a decent amount of Bottom end.I couldn't really get this channel to break up ever with the Gain dimed. I'm using A PRS custom 22 with the Dragon 2 pickups. I assume people with EMGs or a similar ultra high output pickup could get this to happen sooner. I like the fact that I can turn the amp up loud and still get a clean sound in a band situation. I use a tubescreamer set as a Boost to get the clean to break up and it's a beautiful just slightly overdriven sound. Very articulate and smooth.
The Crunch channel is what you buy this thing for.No need for a boost here it seems like it is already built in. It reminds me of what would happen if you bred a JCM800 with a Dual Rectifier. This would be the evil offspring. The amount of gain on this channel is perfect.It's exactly the amount you need. This channels is very tight in the bass register and has a crushing low end. Just a pure addictive sound for palm mutes. I wouldn't change anything on this channel Except maybe how you have to reconfigure the EQ and volume when you use the Notch switch. I don't use it on this channel but I have noticed that you have to redial everything when using the notch on this channel and the Lead channel.
The Best thing about this head is probably the deep knob. If your sound is becoming flubby back off a little on the Channel bass and dial in the deep knob. This will introduce bass from the Power section and it will stay tight sounding. Great feature. One thing I have noticed that really helps the sound come alive Is turning up the Channel master atleast to 3oclock and using the Master volume for your actual volume level. At around 3oclock the notes start to saturate and feedback musically when you sustain them. Really brings out the low end too.
The lead channel has alot of gain on tap and it is voiced for lead playing in that it has a little more Sag to it which contributes to a more expressive feel for leads. It is about a tight sounding as a Dual recto here. Notch is pure Metallica "and justice for all" sounding when dialed in right and you can achieve and much tigher sound this way.

I've heard of people having issues but it usually turns out to be a bad tube or something similar. I haven't had any problems.

Well, they're in Germany so it's tough to talk to them because of the time difference. Dana B goods is the US distributor and I've heard they're pretty good to deal with but they are on the West Coast. I wish they had an east Coast rep.

This is a real solid amp and for the price it beats out alot of it's higher priced competition. All in all you can't go wrong if you play heavier styles of music. There isn't many heads that can come close stock to the Brutal low end this thing has. I'd have to EQ the piss out of a Marshall to even come close to the way this thi sounds. I guess you could say it's the best Mesa Dual rectifier you've ever heard. That's somewhat accurate but it has some Marshall and even 5150 in it's blood line.Overall a great amp.

All stated by the previous reviews... all the features you need, the midi funcionality is nice

I use a Godin LGXT w/ seymour duncan custom custom custom (yeah lol) in the bridge, and jazz in the neck. All I can say is WOW! The clean is very nice (read: boogie clean = crap), and the distortion is amazing... more gain than u ever need, but not muddy boogie recto tone, but a tight, refined, clear wall of tone. The high gain sounds cant be matched!

Been Great... just the usual servicing...

I havnt dealt with them so cant comment

Ive been playin bout 7 years, and I reckon I know good tone... ive heard many amps over the years, but this beast is simply awesome, the beast amp I have heard for high gain sounds. And it looks awesome... trust me, there's nothing cooler than the red glow from inside the metal grille of the amp in the dark... and the TONE!!!!

2004 Framus Cobra Head: 100 watts of pure tube tone, EL-34 in the Power section. This amp is perfect for what I need it for. Two gain channels and a Clean Channel. I play Mostly Metal essp. with my band. As I am the sole guitarist, the Amps really THICK tone helps thicken the bands sound alot. I will play this amp live and use it in the studio with my band. The notch switch scoops out all the mids to give you a scooped thrash tone. I, however, run the Notch switch off because the mids on this amp are very Thick and Chunky.

I use a Jackson Usa King V with EMG 81 in the bridge and 85 in the neck. This amp is not noisy at all. I use a boss NS-2 so that nothing gets through when I am not playing. The Amp has a great clean channel, very clear. Channel 2 has a nice ammount of gain and sounds nice for a rock/hard tone. Channel 3 has alot of gain on tap. It can get messy at hight volumes when the gain is cranked...sounds great with it at 3-o'clock. The distortion is very brutal and "new-age" sounding. The amp's low-end is tight. I run this amp with its matching cab. The cab has greenbacks in it and they really help the amp's mids and highs shine and help keep the low-end tight. The amp's over character is dark, so the cab helps brighten it up also.

I would gig with this, I have had no porblems with this amp.

N/a

I have been playing for 7 years now. This is my second tube amp. I had a 5150II prior to this, but didnt like its over tone character. The amp I have been using for the past 3-1/2 years is a Line6 Flextone II head through a mArshall 1960a cab. I still have this setup. The Cobra has a similar feel to the 5150 in the sense that the lead notes or single notes feel thick. I played every amp that I could, Mesa, Marshall, PEavey, Crate etc. This amp has a similar low-mid voicing like a MEsa Rectifire. MY freind has a dual Recto, of which we had put these two amps side by side and comapred. THe Framus can sound like the mesa if you want it too, yet it will sound alot thicker. There is an insane ammount of Bass on this amp also. I also compared this to my other rig..>That rig doesnt compare to how brutal the framus rig sounds.

100watt all tube head. Three completely independent channels w/ gain, presence, volume, bass, mid and treble controls. The clean channel has a bright switch, and the crunch and lead channels have "notch" switches, which scoop the mids for all you nu-metal folk out there. It runs the standard 12AX7s in the pre amp (with one as an effects loop buffer) and EL34s in the power section. There are two master volumes, effects mix control and a "Deep" control for boosting or backing off on the over all bass of the amp and also speaker impedance selector. The amp also has fantastic a built in MIDI interface.

There is no built in reverb in this head, but it doesnt really need it. There also isnt any half power switching, but as a previous reviewer mentioned, the clean channel really stands out because it has heaps of headroom.

The only features that i think would benefit this amp would be; making the effects loop foot switchable and perhaps fixed bias, or easier access for re-biasing.

All in all though, virtually everything that you could want in a tube head.

Im using this amp with a Reverend Rocco Custom w/ custom humbuckers. I really have no idea where to start with this. After owning a Mesa Rectifier for quite some time i'd come to accept that it was perfectly reasonable to expect that any high gain head would have absolutely dire cleans... and quite honestly, ive never been more wrong!

Channel One. [clean]
The clean channel on this amp, especially with the bright switch engaged is absolutely beautiful! Until i bought this amp i really thought the only way i'd get good cleans would be to A/B switch with a Fender Twin. The 100 watts of power gives plenty of headroom to let this channel get very loud before it starts breaking up. I normally have the gain on this channel at 12:00, the volume at 1:00 and the master volume at 12:00 and it still stays crystal clear.
If you want to push it tho, just bring up the gain and back off on the channel volume and you can get some very nice vintage sounds.

Channel Two. [crunch]
Calling this channel "crunch" really doesnt do it justice! Sure, if you want a Plexi or JCM800 type crunch, it can do that type of sound quite easily with the gain set between 7:30 and 10 o'clock. However, once you start taking the gain up and past 12:00 this channel really shows you why these amps reatil at about #1,600! The low end is thickasyoulike! With the bass set at around 12:00 you could wake the dead at 500 paces! The mids really do shine through with heaps of punch and the high ends have an amazing clarity that has to be heard to be believed! The gain on this channel is completely useable at all settings, i kept rolling it up, waiting to get the same loss of tone i got with my Mesa, and it never happened, i just got more gain. With the notch switch flipped up and on, you get a very scooped sound, and lose all the mids without losing definition. Personally i absolutely HATE scooped out distorted guitars so i never use it, but i still have to take my hat off and admire how well this amp can handle it.

Channel Three. [lead]
This channel is quite similar to the crunch channel, but there is SO much gain! and every bit of it is completely useable! I could talk into next week about how much gain this channel has. When i first got this amp i decided that the best way to start setting up my tones would be to set all the dials to 12:00 and work from there... even before i changed a single thing it sounded fantastic, with a little tweaking (as cheesy as it sounds, and everyone says it) i really did have the high gain tone i've been hearing in my head, but unable to create until now. Flip the notch swtich again, and scoop-o-rama, you hit the sounds that Mesa only wish you could dial from their amps, you can get their trademark fizz but still retail all the definition.

I'll have to comment on this again once i've toured with this amp. However, i bought it second hand, with an almighty ding in the front of it which i was assured hadnt damaged the amp itself. After testing it at the time i bought it i was convinced it was fine. After getting it home and running it with my band, i knew that there was absolutely nothing wrong with it. I wish i could post a picture here of the dent it has so that you could all see what kind of whallop this thing will take without dying. Rock solid German engineering.

Now this is unfortunately what lets this company down. I've emailed a few times with technical questions about the factory bias, foot switching, wiring in effect loop foot switching etc. It seems that about 70% of email is answered with:-
"Contact your local dealer. Thanks!"
I am however giving them a 7 for this, because a few months back they were really helpful, and hell most amp companies dont even send a reply!

I've been playing for about 5 years now. I've owned rack gear, mesa boogies, laneys, peaveys and line6 - this amp beats seventy shades of shit out of every last one of them! I hate reading reviews of gear that dont highlight any bad points, so, i really do wish this amp had a footswitch with it and i REALLY wish it had a switchable fixed bias like the rectifier (only warmer) so i could put 6L6s in if the mood took me. The lack of a footswitchable effects loop is a bit of a pain, but with mild tap dancing skills it doesnt cause too much hassle. All that in mind, this is still by far the best guitar head that i have ever owned. I could quite happily say that i would only ever use these heads for the rest of my playing years. No one would dare steal this amp from me, lest they feel my unfathomable wrath!

Long story short, if you want a high gain head that doesnt force you into buying a Fender or Vox to A/B switch to for cleans and retains defination across all its channels and their settings then this is for you. If you want an amp with only one useable sound from the gain channel and a clean sound that is quite simply "crap" go and buy a rectifier!

I haven't head this amp long enough to give a full review, just wanted to give people who're interested in this amp or people who have already given reviews a little piece of information. Some here have complained that the bright switch doesn't do anything. Well, stock it only has a minimal effect and you have to listen really close. I had my amp biased because the factory bias is really cold (about 23 mA per tube), now it's around 35 mA. If you raise it the bright switch does indeed make a noticable difference in sound. It will add a nice ringing, chimey sound. BEAUTIFUL! Do it, you'll be surprised.

3 independent channels each with gain, presence, volume, bass, mid, treble. Switches for channel 2 and 3 to engage a mid frequency "notch" (oooohh yeah) and ch 1 has a bright switch. Switchable master volumes, effects mix, line out 4, 8 and 16 ohm jacks, full midi implementation. Packed with features while maintaining an "understated" vibe. Best bit - the midi and the fact that there is no last minute tacky reverb. Kudos to Framus for this!
Could have used a floorboard but I guess Framus figures if a lot of people have a midi pedal already to run it with there's no need. (Looks AWESOME in the dark!)

Holy crap! Let me just say that before picking this baby up I was running a Mesa Nomad 100. This amp squat pisses tone and versatility all over that piece of junk. Sorry Randall, I'm over it!

I'm going to make comparisons to my Nomad 100 and the rectos in this review to give you an idea of how this amp sounds compared with something you're probably familiar with (ie the point of a review).
The tone controls are a breath of fresh air - they work extremely well. So much variation and shaping possibilities. While I learned to live with the mesa art of tweaking and balancing at the end of the day it's good to just show up for a gig, plug this in and just turn up and rock! The thing I love about this amp is its overall "sparkle". I think a reviewer below used the word "sizzle" and I guess that's pretty appropriate. Such a welcome change after the thin darkness of that Mesa gear. Also, the gain and how it is structured; so fluid and harmonically rich! THIS is how all hi gain amps should sound! With the Nomad I was always digging in to coax the preamp out of its polite little slumber. Harmonics? Solos? Forget about it on the Mesa. Here they shine. The midrange in this amp is quite something especially on the gain channels. So musical and smooth without being boxy and harsh. And when you flick that notch switch you'll eat Rectos on channel 2 let alone the lead channel. There's gain for days...and guess what? It's useable. Wind the gain on the Mesa up past 2 oclock and you're greeted with the most flubby piece of dark undefined shit you've ever heard. The Framus is far more tolerant and musical in its approach to extreme gain settings. I'd say that gain wise the crunch channel on the Framus at about 1/3 gain does everything my Nomad can do but better (thanks to that harmonic richness). This thing is thunderous. Like the best and most versatile Marshall you could imagine crossed with how you THOUGHT your Mesa stuff should sound. Sweet/shimmery/brutal and rich all rolled into one! 10.

2nd hand - holding up well so far

Yeah the website is pretty limited but I guess they might be more interested in r&d than market and hype. Guys at the local distributor do the trick.

For years I had lusted after Boogie Dual Recs, Nomads, Marks etc. After owning the Nomad and having extensive experience with the Dual and a few singles and Mark III and IVs, I was always left searching for the - sorry about the cliche - "tone in my head". The Framus well and truly delivers and delivers with ease. I think that pretty soon you'll start seeing these amps popping up more reguarly around the place on their way to becoming the most respected hi gain amp out there. Hype? No...Expensive Ads? No... Just bucketloads of tone and gain that can be shaped and refined to suit most players tastes. If you're feeling like there's a bit more to life you're not quite getting...try this amp and never look back!

3 CHANNEL AMP WITH VERSATILITY RANGING FROM A REALLY NICE CLEAN TO A MEAN LOW THUMPING GAIN CHANNEL.THIS AMP'S LOW END IS THE BEST I'VE EVER HEARD AND IT'S EVEN BETTER THAN MY DIEZEL VH-4.IT HAS A SEND AND RETURN, MIDI IN THRU/OUT AND HAS 100 WATTS.IT HAS 4 EL34'S AND CAN USE 6L6'S/5881 ALSO.THIS AMP IS ONE OF THE VERY BEST AMPS MADE IN MY OPINION WITH ONLY THE VH-4 DIEZEL BEING BETTER.I'LL GIVE IT A 9 BECAUSE THE DIEZEL HAS 4 CHANNELS,AND SEND AND RETURNS ON EACH CHANNEL.

THIS AMP IS SUITED FOR HEAVY CHUNKY RHYTHM PLAYING AND SINGING LEAD TONES AND CRYSTAL CLEAR CLEAN SOUNDS.IT CAN DO ALL THREE OF THESE VERY EFFECTIVELY AND YOU CAN USE ANY MIDI FLOOR DEVISE TO FLIP THROUGH THE THREE CHANNELS.THIS AMP IS A 2003 AND IT IS A CUSTOM COLOR RED.

NO PROBLEMS AT ALL WITH THIS HEAD.

NEVER DEALT WITH THEM OR EMAILED THEM FOR ANY REASON.

25+ YEARS,I'VE BEEN PLAYING SINCE 1979.I USE JACKSON'S & IBANEZ'S & WASHBURN'S & ESP GUITARS MAINLY.I OWN MORE THAN 40 GUITARS AND HAVE SEVERAL BASS GUITARS AND BASS AMPS TOO.I OWN ALLOT OF ROCKTRON GEAR,POWER AMPS AND PREAMPS,COMPRESSORS,AND ENHANCMENT PROCESSORS AND A DIEZEL VH-4 HEAD, ENGL POWERBALL & SAVAGE 120, MESA BOOGIE MARK 4, KRANK REVOLUTION SERIES ONE, CARVIN X100B MARSHALL/SPLAWN MODIFIED HEAD AND A FEW OTHERS AND OF COURSE THE FRAMUS COBRA HEAD.GREAT AMP AND I REALLY LOVE THIS HEAD ALMOST AS MUCH AS MY DIEZEL.I WOULD GIVE THIS ABOUT 9.5, SO I'LL ROUND IT OFF TO A 10,SINCE I THINK THIS AMP IS THE SECOND BEST OUT THERE.CHEAPER TOO ESPECIALLY ON EBAY.....

Rest of the reveiws on here cover the features. Thing I like the most is you can control this amp with a midi pedal and preset your sound. Now thats awsome!

I play instrumental melodic metal - sort of like Michael Schenker speeded up. I also use a lot of arrpegios so articulation is important. I have a Jackson PC1 as my main gutar. I was using a Dimarzio Super Distortion 3 and now use a Gibson Dirty Finger pick up.
All the other reviews on here sum up this amp. There are very few amps that can touch this one. Bogner is way more dark sounding and not as tight. I have had Mesa Boogie and Marshalls and they don't compare. This is a true "boutique" quality amplifier.
Hums a little like most high gain amps do but not too noisey.

Clean is good enough for about anything you might do. Can set the gain high on it to get a little distortion if you like.

I agree with the other reviews here - the second channel is magic. Simply awsome sounding. Harmonically rich. I actually use it for both rhythm and lead and switch between the two master volume controls. Great crunch sounds also.

Third Channel - High Gain - More depth than the second channel but not as crisp and clear. I use this one when I need extra punch.

More distortion possibilities than you can use on this thing. Brutal is a good word to discribe how much gain you can acheive.

I don't scoop the mids because the sound is so big with the switches in the down or normal setting. More fuzz and compression it seems when you use the mid scoop switches but I am sure there are applications for it.

I switched the pre-amp tubes and it sounds better than the original tubes that came with it (although I can't remember what I put in).
Less hi-fi sound with the new tubes. I am also getting some Groove Tube EL34-LS quartets. They have not arrived yet but it should sound better still with the Groove Tubes.

Also agree with the other reviews here that the range of sounds you can get on this thing covers about any style you would play - although if you don't need such a high gain amp for any reason you may consider something else.

Put all the controls on 12 o'clock and then start experimenting. That's what I did. I am still experimenting. I have had the amp for about 6 months now.

Have not had any problems so far. Have replaced the tubes (voluntary) to modify the sound a little. Weighs about 45 lbs. Would not want to drop it but seems to be built very well.

N/A

Been playing almost 30 years. Have had many guitars and amps. The only other amp I would consider at this time would be a Diezel Herbert but I would not want to pay $4K for an amp. The Framus really cuts through the mix and has all of the features I need. The only thing that might be nice would be a reverb.

Enough said in former reviews. No foot switch included! I wish it had an additional serial FX-Loop like my Marshall 6100. On the other hand less features make it more simple and reliable. I run this head with a lexicon G2 and the R1 foot controller, so I don't need the FS.
Best feature is the red LED-Lighting inside!!!

I have some Framus Diablo guitars and some customs with the same PUs and electronics (Jeff Beck and Hot Rails). That seems to fit very well to this amp.
Clean Channel: Great from funky to jazzy. The bright switch seems to have no effect but I have the Gain turned all the way up, because I like the clean sound a little compressed and breaking up. The best thing is, that you have a presence knob for EACH channel.
Crunch Channel: Punchy with tons of gain. Brutal like a Recto but with more chunky mids, I think this is because of the EL34s. Sounds more like the best hod-rodded Marshall you can get with tons of tight low end. I don't use the notch. I'm not that much into NU-metal tunes. Could use a volume make up if you engage the notch switch, like the Herbert has. This is the sound I play 90% in m band.
Ultra Channel: You can make it sound like the crunch channel with even more gain, or you engage the notch switch or different eq-ing to have a different sound.
This amp is NOT versaitle!! This is definitly an amp to crank it up. I'd say from heavy rock to death metal. Or you play funk and use the clean channel only.
One drawback: Feedback noise according to the place you stand.

Seems build very well. Some details to improve: As with their guitars Framus seem to save money with little part. The new guitars have no shielding, the first series have. Evrey cheap Marshall has tube retainers (I think this is where the feedback noise comes from). The preamp tubes have no caps! When I put in my new selected preamp tubes I was astonished that the screws holding the back panel are driven right into the wood. Some details could have been more service friendly and road-proof. Apart from that I will trust the rest of the amp. Knock on wood and I'll give it a 7.

When I asked them to send me a whammy bar for one of my guitars, I sent them a CD of my band with the note: This was done with your guitars, thank you. They replied: Contact your local dealer, that's it. Warranty is o.k. but they don't seem to get it. Haven't talked to them since then, so maybe it's better now.

Awesome. I had the Marshall 6100 anniversary head before. I'm not a total gain freak, but the Marshall had not enough and not that punch and definition. Cutting through in the band mix is a little more difficult than with Marshall but lightyears better than a recto. This one gets often compared to Mesa. But it's somewhere in between with the EL34 power amping. Maybe the Stiletto comes close, but not in price. Compared to the very popular Engl stuff it's more cutting and agressive, less compressed and singing. This is a real man's amp!

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.