Hughes & Kettner Matrix 100 112 Combo

I bought this amp in the spring of 2007, it was brand new then. It has four channels: clean, crunch, lead and warp. Digital built-in effects: chorus, flanger, tremolo, delay and reverb. A foot pedal with four buttons (one for each channel). The crunch, lead and warp share equalizer and clean channel has one it's own. Effects are adjusted uniquely for each channel.

A 12" speaker and 100 watts of power. This amp can produce very, very loud sound, I don't remember if I have ever dared to use it on full volume. I live in a student apartment on a campus, so it has more than enough power :D On one gig we used it without microphones to PA, it roared straight to audience and it worked well. It wasn't very big place where we gigged, though.

For this price, the features are awesome.

I play heavy metal, and this is a good amp for me. I use either heavy distortion or clear and beautiful clean, and this amp can produce both sounds with it's built-in effects an distortion.

I use Epiphone Explorer, it has X2N in bridge and I have Zoom G7.1ut as distortion and effects processor. Before I got the Zoom, I used this amp's own distortion and clean sound, and they were OK. Clean is straight clean, and you can add beautiful effects to it. I haven't use crunch much, but it sounds something like "vintage" (as it is supposed to, I think). Lead and warp sound pretty much the same, but lead is somewhat brighter and sharper, when warp is a heavy distortion for killer riffs. Now I adjust the sound I want from the Zoom-processor, and the amp's job is to just amplify the sound, not to add anything to it (except for eq). It handles great for this task too.

The low end of this amp's sound is massive :)

Before I bought this amp, I read some reviews here and noticed that a few people have experienced some reliability problems with this model. I still bought this amp, and I haven't had any problems. I have done now one gig with this amp without a backup, and will probably do so again.

Luckily I have never had to deal with Hughes&Kettner's customer support. Because of another product (Zoom G7.1ut) I had to deal with Thomann Cyberstore's customer support, and it worked great. If I had some problems with this amp, I'd deal with Thomanns customer support, that's where I bought it.

I have been playing for 4-5 years and this is my second amp. My previous amp was a small old 15-watt Marshall, and it is obvious that you can't compare these amps.

Great basic transistor amplifier for a very low price. Good sounding channels and works also nice with distortion pedal/processor. And looks nice too, black/silver appearance with blue leds. The leds on the pedal are red, though.

Packed with easy to use features especially for me, im a simpleton im guitar wah pedal amp. This amp was made in 11/06, it covers every style of music i play, it covers blues, classic rock, Metal, Judas Priest Metallica, Sabbath, Ozzy, There are four channels, clean is fendery clean, i was surprized even with gibson burst buckers! The crunch channel is all out blues and Bon Scot era AC/DC. The Lead can go from clasic rock to metal, i was jamming with Some priest of the Demolition album, one on one was the song, gain was almost 3/4s and channel volume was at half, thats another great feature its a master volume amp. The warp channel gets all compressed and midrangy i like it once in a while, crank it to get heavier black doom sound. Its got built in chorus/flanger/tremolo/reverb. The autostore feature is really cool it remebers what you were doing the last time on that particular channel, say you finnally dialed in Eddies sound to a T and oh shit i forgot where i set everything, go back to that channel and even if the effects are off manually itll go right back to where you had everything, im still learning the ins and outs of the autostore function. 100 watts, sounds killer thru a 412 cab!

Here is what ive noticed about the reviews of the amp. Most of the players here that give this thing a bad "rap", Have some of the shittist guitars out there, some of them ive never heard of, you got a guy with a squier strat telling you the amp sounds like shit? I run the Joe Perry Boneyard special with gibson burst buckers, a Peavey Jack Daniels EXP, An Agile 2500 les paul copy with Seymour Duncan sh-1 in the neck and an sh-11 i the bridge. My current jamming with the band machine is a Laney gh50L head with eurotubes e34ls and ecc83's. The Matrix sounds excellent with these guitars as does the Laney. Matrix is noisey on the higher gain settings it kicks through a 412 cab and its just alot of fun to jam with, i bought it for a small jamming practice amp, it gets plenty loud with the rock driver speaker 100 watts, ive had the amp pretty loud and the cab hasent buzzed yet. For the price you cant beat it, its easy to use and can recreate just about any sound, and seems to be closest to any solid stater to give you that tube pushback. Itll cover metal right up to deathmetal thats where it starts to fade as far as brutality. Ive had the clean channel half way up before distortion, id love to try single coils on the clean channel it would probably be sparkly. I wish it had an spring reverb but hey what do ya want, it has so many features an amp in its range shouldnt have.

I would not use it with out a backup if gigging, but mostly thats what the Laney is for, im shure you could, and ive used it in garage jamms for hours without problems.

Lost or stolen id probably get another one, or even buy the head version. I like its power and portability, there is nothing worse than jamming on someone elses equipment especially when you know that hes gonna make you play through his Marshall MG with a 10 inch speaker! You can hear that f-in thing!!!! Its great when you dont feel like or need to pull out the head and the 412. I hate that i couldnt get my hands on one sooner, seems every amp brand i love is untouchable in these Parts, Laney being one of them, H&K being next, if i was in a band full time id spring for the H&K Triamp, simply increadible!

I Just bought this amp new this week, it seemed like a versitile all in one powerful amp with some of the best tones I've heard in years.
It is solid state, but has a tube like sound like no other. Now the bad news, I can't hear the effects because they don't work, in fact they only worked for about 10 minutes, then they started making loud static noises and the amp was cutting in and out, to add insult to injury, when I first turned the amp on out of the box, i heard nothing, as I opened the back cabinet to see, the +positive wire connection to the inside Celestion was not connected! Disaster out of the box, and the box wasn't even damaged.

It was a 9 when it works! Nice tone!

I have already returned this amp after a week of anger and frustration, I read all the reviews and heard a few horror stories about them cutting in and out at gigs, but I still took a chance. What an idiot! I should have heeded the warning. And no I'm not going to try out another one, 2 featured not 1 on the amp failed out of the Box! Very bad.

Musicians friend will refund me, but I haven't called H&K yet.

If it worked, if the effects worked, if it didn't cut in and out, it would be a 10. After my first experience with H&K, I'm sorry, there's no excuse for the inside speaker to be disconnected, I could have blown up the amp and it would of been the factory's fault. C'mon guys do you quality check? Also, the effects we're OK when they worked, but they are very cheesy sounding. SO this was very dissapointing and didn't make my week. I toyed with getting another one, but I think I'll wait and get a Marshall or something reliable.

features are good comes with four channels clean crunch lead and warp the footswitch is ok and the effects could be better. way too heavy for what it is

i borrowed this amp because my fender 212r didnt arrive on time for the gig i was playing. i use a fender squier strat with modified pickups a bespeco wah pedal and a danelectro tone master.my music style is industrial electronica metal and ive been playing for five years and ive always used solid state fender amps.
first of all i must say the clean channel is the worst i have ever played on there is no warmth to it and it sounds like its only treble. the crunch is mild distortion which just sound like a 10 watt carlsbro practice kickstart amp on clean. the lead is a joke which gives you the worst artificial distortion sound ever and the warp is just a boost for the lead for soloing which i would be embarrased to do a solo on ( its so horribly tinny) also this amp has pathetic volume i used it in a smal hall and on 9 volume it wouldnt fill it it ruined my gig and my confidence in modelling amps has gone forever. however the flanger was the only good thing about this amp all the other effects were naff especially the chorus which was almost unnoticable.

dunno i would never use it again though

i hate this amp overall the volume is pathetic id get someone to lose it for me so i could claim off house insurance.compared to a fender 212r its clean is useless and in my 5 years of playing experience i have never played a worse amp

an amp of spring 2005 , i payed 450 euros
digital with FX effects and 4 channels
its easy to save your effects on your amp , he doess it by himself
the last effect you have used will be saved by your amp
i tink its powerfull enough for a 100 watt amp , it just need a litle more distortion . there is also an input for a cabinet with 8 ohn of empedance . and a 4-way footswitch. there is something special on the amp ; there are blue led's on it , it seems nice to me , it hase a special thing to me

i play diffrents of stuff on my guitar , with a clean , grunge , lead and warp on your amp. the clean sound is fantastic .with difrents of guitars it sounds good. the grunge is good for 70' and 80' rock with a guitar with pickups , with humbuckers it sounds better to play soft punk dependend of your gain. the lead is good for solo's but i think there isen't enough diffrents between lead and warp. the gain button from lead is together with warp in one button. the distrotion is less then i exspect . if you play together with other amps , this amp is al litle to thick. but its ok .
with the effect : tremollo , chorus and flanger. there is also a delay and reverb .

the amp fits good together . the backside of the amp is closed , so it protects better your amp . the amp is also compact i think ,if you see some other amps

my amp was seld out , so the company send soon an amp to the music store in belgium ( ostend , rudy's music shop ) and i payed nothing more then the normal price .
the waranty was i few years so long as i can remeber

i played for 8 months on this amp , i think its a good amp for normal playing . i have chosen this amp becaus its not to expensive and it plays good with all difrends guitars , just some more distortion . i play on the amp with a stagg copy warlock . it sounds good to me . i want to buy a epiphone clasic les paul , so it only can play better

I guess this ones build in 2005
Very versatile amp........you can play anything you want with this baby. I play anything I like but mostly heavy symphonic and main stream rock. Got two different bands with two different musical approaches. As far as I can hear this amp cover both.
Depends on your Drummer if it's powerfull enough to rehears or gig.
I have my doubts but will get into that later
4 progammable channels with a sturdy footswitch. Effects are O.K. no more no less.

I use Dean guitars with S.D. Pearly Gates or Paf Pro. Also use an Ibanez With DiMarzio Steve's Special. It tends to be noisy on higher volumes. The sound is O.K. but..........it really needs a 4x12 cab.
One 12 inch good celestion isn't enough to do this baby justice.
I hooked it up to the Vortex cabinet and it's awesome. Really....couldn't believe my ears. The clean is one of the best i've ever heard. The crunch is very useable with full drive. It gives you a very dirty blues tone. The lead channel is O.K. but not unique in it's kind. The warp is O.K. but if you already have the Warp Factor like I have you know that this version doesn't come close to do real thing. Than again....it still is very usefull for NU metal kind of things. But again ....you need more speakers......definately.

Don't know if I can depend on it.
Looks good though

I play for about 27 years.
Got two half stacks. One contains The H&K Attax 100 combined with the Behringer 400 Watt Jensen. The other is an H&K Vortex top and cab with the BBS Maximiser 362NR and a Behringer Parametric EQ with tubes.
With both set ups I use a Boss pedalboard with Digital Delay, Reverb, Chorus and an EQ pedal to crank up the solo volumes.
I traded my Randall 200 G2 combo for this Matrix because of it's versatility. Randall lacks dynamic. That's why I use H&K stuff.

If the H&K dudes were awake they knew that one 1 speaker isn't enough.
Maybe that's why they made a top.
A Matrix combo with 2x12 would be great.
I would definately trade this one in for one of those.

Everything works like it suppose to work. Yes it is not a tube sound, but verry handy to play at home. I play punky music and tim to time I try to play a jazz man, with my new bought hard-top Ibanes (AK85) I have bougth this amp in Belgium in march 2005

The sounds are good, not the same bite as my tube amp, but this thing is more gentile for your ears. But you have enough distortion for a punky Ramones sound. The wazpr is a little to much. I prefere the lead. The crunch is ideal for bleues. I like to play with the echoes wich are just enough for reggae effects. Th big plus is that you have a lot just in one amp.

I had one problem with the foot switch, which was quickly resolved. Everything works every time, you put him on, what do you need more.

my prob was solved at no cost !!!! It took some time, due to contact shop dealer factory. But I am not that difficult, because evrything was taken care off.

Verry handy format, easy to put in the car and back. And for small places I can easily combine with a small mixing table for may rythm machine and mike. It works !!!!

Stated in previous reviews, no need to list them again.

At the moment, my only electric guitar is a Squier Strat with stock pickups. I've had the amp for 2 months now, so I think I have a pretty good feel of what this amp can do.

Clean channel. Really sparkly. My settings: bass 2, mid 9, treble 6. A touch of chorus and reverb. Very Hughes&Kettner-ish.

Crunch. This hasn't got much gain, so I turned it into a clean channel! I took the gain down 1 and put some more volume. It works perfectly with a bit of delay and I always use the bridge pickup for sharpness.

Lead. Pre-EQ'd for a metal sound. I wish it had more bass. But this channel can sing with the right settings. Only problem is that crunch, lead and warp, share the same EQ.

Warp. As lead lacks bass, this one has just enough of it. In opinion the best channel in this amp. Very Vai-ish, but has a Marshallesque vibe. Does that make any sense :D ?

FX. These are actually very pro-sounding. Not like those cheap Line6 stuff. Delay ranges from 80 ms to 1,4 s. It's very fun to play with longer delays as it gives sort of a feedback/Haken Continuum sound xD


Best sounding solid-state amp I've ever played. As I said the only problem is the shared EQ for 3 channels.

I haven't played a gig with this yet, so I can't really help you with this. But it's built like a tank and weighs about 23 kgs.

Never dealt.

I've been playing 3,5 years. And it was about time to get a new amp, this sounded like a good choice.

If it was stolen, I'd prolly use my old Peavey amp and save for a new Mesa Boogie Mark IV and a 2x12 cab.

100 watt 4 channel single 12?. Was impressed with the built in effects and 2 channel Lead / Crunch / Warp set up. However, only having it for a week b4 it packed in was a let down!!

The week that I had it.......sounded great!!! Good for gigging (the one gig I used it b4 it died)! Nice Crunch and Lead tones....specially with a hint of effects from the effects unit for solos!

Had it a week....started cutting out on me. Right in the middle of a gig! This was a replacement for the Tour Reverb I had prior...which did the exactly the same thing (still have and using as wheel chock!).
Bought a Marshall!!!

Local dealer was great....returned it and they gave me my money back.

Sound is good.........reliabilty is CRAP!!! Worked for 1 week!! Same problem with Prior H&K amp.

See the other reviews for the complete specs. New store demo for $379

I downrated the rating for this amp as the shared EQ by Crunch & Lead & Warp does not give enough flexibility. I know H&K eq'd each channel so that "one eq setting works with all", but that only goes so far, and there's not enough true flexibility to give you 4 usable channels that you can use at a gig without tweaking the EQ between songs.

2005, made in China. Very nice quality and construction. It has a very nice closed back held on with screws. It looks more expensive than it is.

Manual is very limited, only 4 pages. The only suggested settings (Classic and Modern) are on a card on top of the amp (although they are pretty decent starting points). H&K has some nice sounds on their website, would be nice to know the settings they used to get them!

Let me start off saying that I was looking for a decent sounding multi-channel w/effects amp that I could have at-the-ready at home for a quick guitar check or song learning. My gigging gear is Line 6 Vetta and H&K Zentera using USA Jacksons/Charvels/PRS/Ibanez/Robins. Music style is Hard Rock, Alternative, some dance, some disco.

Clean Channel: Actually very good. I could use more bass, but you can EQ a nice neck single coil clean sound

Crunch: Not enough gain for me, probably OK for people that don't need too much gain

Lead: Almost there, needs more gain

Warp: Awesome low end crunch, nice highs without being too buzy, sounds close to my excellent distortion sounds from my Line6/Zentera. I used H&Ks recommended 'modern' sound as a starting point and only moved the 3 eq knobs a little to get a sound that was very pleasing to me, again close enough to my gig rig. Great sound for Tool, Metallica, Blink182, Creed, etc. Not to noisy either. However, as mentioned above, when clicking over to Lead or Crunch (leaving EQ alone) those two channels don't do it for me.

Effects: For the Clean channel, I wanted just a hint of Chorus, however when turning the Chorus knob from zero (full left or off) just a little bit, the digital chorus kicks in at too high a level for my taste. Would be better if they had two knobs to control type and amount in the mix.

So what does the amp end up being for me? A very very nice 2 channel amp that has a great clean and a great distortion. Much better than the V-ampire from Behringer ($299), much better than the Alesis Spitfire 60 ($199), and the distortion channel blows away the Tech21 Trademark 120 (used $500) that I just got in an effort to find something decent.

Just got it, but it appears well built. Footpedal looks sturdy.

Haven't had to deal with H&K yet.

Been playing in cover bands for 20 years.

I love the clean and warp channels, dislike the shared EQ for the 3 distortion channels. I wish the modulation effects had more adjustment.

For the price I paid, I'm pretty happy. Even for the normal street price of $499 its a good practice amp or good 1st gigging amp for starting out. So far the best under $500 combo amp I've run across.