Hughes & Kettner Matrix 100 Head

-Solid state, "100 Watt"
-Built in effects
-4 channel
-Effects loop
This kinda sums up the Matrix. Never been a big fan of solid state, or built-in effects for that matter. In any event, needed a cost-effective replacement head ASAP, and I've always had good luck with Hughes in the past. Good and loud, really FAR more than I thought I was gonna get with a solid state amplifier. Overall, satisfied with the features, but I have no use for onboard effects and won't really get any use out of them. On the upside, the chorus and 'verb are big and warm, really giving a deep and rich sound.
In essence, far more features than I'll ever really use.

Sound - Here is where my biggest concern is; by channel, here is what I've noticed:
1.Clean
-Expressive, very versatile channel. A little muffled through my cabinet, probably due to its age and choice of speakers/wiring. My primary cab is an old Peavey with 4 X 12 Celestion speaks. It is wired to 4 oHm mono with all four running at once. A bit unorthodox, but this setup absolutely screamed with my old Peavey head (ancient, but all tube monster-R.I.P). Didn't use the Maximzer with it yet, but it'll probably help clean up my tone and bring the brights out a little better.
2. Crunch
-My least favorite. Can do a decent blues tone, but it's not even close to good ol' tube-cookin' blues. As far as rock, kinda on the useless side for much more than that. Again, it probably just just doesn't like my cab too much.
3. Lead
-Not much to say here, pretty damn good for a solid state distortion. Highs really get up there, decent bass response, quite a good sweep in the midrange areas. Hands down the best solid-state distortion I ever heard. FAR superior to the other channels. BIg, brutish, and can really sing when you need it to.
4. Warp
-Don't really have much use for the Warp channel. I have gotten decent Nu tones out of it, but since I don't really play any Nu except for screwin' around, I avoid it. Like other folks here have said, I have heard there are some good solo tones in the Warp channel, but I never really looked yet.
Overall, I got some good tones out of this little fella. All my instruments are H/H confinguration, bolt on necks, and fixed bridge. One exception is the Hammet ESP, has the dive-bomb equipped. My Deans love the amp, just a little muffled. Again, odd wiring and an old cab may be a lot of the problem.
No noise to speak of, just be cautious of the feedback at higher volume. It's a good feedback, but a scosche out of control. My primary channel selection is the clean channel and a pedalboard for the majority of my tones and effects (i.e. distortions, acoustic simulator, volume/wah, etc.). Not a bad choice at all if you want a million different sound for a pretty cheap price. If you're looking for a really great tube distortion though, get a Switchblade from our good friends at H&K. Peavey 6505 is a great option too.
Bottom line is this: for the money, NOBODY can touch this little guy. Pretty good tones, lots of options, excellent value.

Haven't had it for very long, so I can't say for sure. Every other Hughes I have has served well over many years of harder-than-recommended use. I love 'em, and I'll stick by 'em 100%. Word to the wise: I don't care if God himself signs the warranty card, NEVER gig without a spare EVERYTHING handy.

Never had to deal with Hughes support. Their website is accessible, helpful, and chock full of information. I have no reason to believe that wouldn't be as well.

Been playing for most of my life, since age six. I have acquired so many amps, guitars, effects, and toys I can't even begin to list it all; much to the wife's chagrin.
If lost/stolen: don't know what I'd do about the amp. I might go look for a different tube amp, since I feel that they suit me better. However, no matter which way that went, I would hunt down the thieving little punk and beat him into replacement cost...plus interest.
As I said, I was looking for a modestly priced "replacement" for a well-loved old monster amp. I played one of these before, and just went for it. No real basis for comparison lately, but I've never heard any solid state amp that even comes close to this one.
Anything I wish it had? Not really, I frankly think they went a bit overboard as is.

I just picked up the Matrix 100 after buying a Warp-7 a few weeks ago. I LOVE these amps so much that had to find myself a second beast for my collection. I tried out the Trilogy, Tri-amp heads again and still found them to have a "boxy" tone to them.. as if the cab was stuck inside of a shoebox.. So I plugged into the Matrix 100 head and cab and was pleasantly surprised.. This thing has such a nice tone! And it's very versatile.. The built in effects Flanger, DDL, chorus, tremolo are amazing!!! I hate floor units so this concept is perfect for me.. The sound of the delay is beautiful.. I use the chorus as well. Nice channel switching between all of the channels. I probably won't ever use the effects loop because this amp is packed full with everything I need.

LOVE all of the sounds this amp brings to the table.. The clean tone is the best I've ever heard.. Very warm yet sparkling..

The crunch channel is nice and the gain can be set to have it "tight" or round and big for blues..

The lead channel is my fave.. Nice, rich and full of sustain.. with the gain set just right you get a tight distortion sound with leads that sing, full of harmonic power.

The Warp channel is over the top.. HUGE.. Nice for spotlight solos or sections in songs that need to standout..

My guitars all have the same pickup configuration.. Seymour Duncan JBs only.. I have Peavey 5150 and 6505 heads in my collection and the Matrix is right up there! In some ways I like the Matrix better for some things.. Effects, clean tone, crunch, leads.. It has it all!
Love the Matrix speaker cab too.

Haven't had it for very long.. Two weeks. Can't comment on reliability just yet.

N/A

I've been playing for 35 years.. Since I was just a lad. I've played through every Marshall you can imagine, every setup.. The Matrix is in a league all it's own.. Hughes & Kettner have a knack for producing quality guitar amps/gear. Over the years I've played with Cher, Peter Cetera, Jeff Lynne, Greg Khin, Mary Fahl, Duncan Faure..
The Matrix 100 packs everything I've always needed into one box. Did I mention that this thing is LOUD! Johnny Roxx

http://myspace.com/nicolari

Ok, features are pretty much all you need. 4 channel solid state head. FX are different for each channel, and the amp improves if you add a second footswitch (I use an old Marshall MG one) so you can turn off the FX and reverb from a distance.

The amp runs at 4 ohms, and I don't know anyone with a cab that runs at 3 or fewer ohms. So you can basically borrow anyone's cab. Which can save space in the car when travelling to gigs. (Every venue has a Marshall 4x12 somewhere)

The amp has (virtually) everything you could want from an amp. The headphones out sucks, but I've never played an amp with a decent headphones jack. If you want to do Line-Out recording, buy a pod, not an amp.

The only other things that I feel it misses are: separate EQ sections, separate gain knobs for the Lead and Warp and a parallel effects loop.

But it's very, very easy to get over these things when you think about the SOUND of this thing!

Ok, 4 channels. Depending on my mood I either play my Schecter Tempest with relatively hot pickups (Seymour Duncan; JB in the bridge and 59 in the neck)- or my dad's old strat, stock everything (yumyum :D). And I play using a Marshall 1936 2x12 cab (stock Celestions).

Clean - very nice. Even without the EQ section you can dial in a million tones just with the volume knob. It breaks up just like a tube amp, but has enough headroom to compete in volume with the distortion channels without crunching up. Although if you decide to get dirty then you can get some really nice vintage tones out of it.

Hours of fun, just with this channel!

Crunch - Personally my least favourite channel. I prefer the voicing when the Lead channel has the gain rolled down a bit to get the same level of crunch. But still nice and tasty, I use this channel to get that funky "Strat Spank" sound. Break out the wah!

Lead - Most of the time I play pretty brutal metal and I use this channel for rhythm. And it handles everything i throw at it and THEN SOME. Sustains for hours if you let it (without reverb or delay), but it's really tight when you get down to riffwork, doesn't sound fuzzy. To keep the amp as tight as I need it while keeping the sound as distorted as I want it, I only need the gain on 1 o clock!

Warp - Depending on how you dial it in, this amp has two main modes. Solos or nu metal. It does them both really well. But who wants nu metal really? Solos are where it's at! I like to keep the reverb up high and a slight bit of delay because i'm lazy with solos and it makes it easier.

I refrain from giving this amp a 10, because I *have* played better amps. But they were both well over a grand and I got this head for ??275. Buy this amp!

I've had this amp for well over 6 months and never had a problem with it. Although, for some reason about 2 weeks ago my amp developed a buzzing noise. Which really sucked as this amp has never done anything bad to me before so I sold my old amp! (I assumed I'd need it as a backup). But I took it back to the shop today and they said that they'd either replace it, or refund me.

I'll give it a 7 because it did break. But the guy at Dolphin Music said that this was the first time he'd ever seen anyone report a fault on anything by H&K. Which is reassuring to hear!

I haven't dealt with Hughes and Kettner or the UK distributor personally. But I bought this from Dolphin Music (the only dealer in the Northwest) and they replaced it. I didn't even have a receipt!

I've been playing for around 4 years now, and the previous amp I owned was a crappy Marshall MG. But I really shopped around to get this amp. I've played similarly priced, and more expensive models from Marshall, Ashdown, Peavey, Randall you name it. And this amp *is* the best.

I can't comment on the cab having never played one- but if it's anything like the head then it's absolutely fantastic.

The only amps i've played and preferred to this one were very much more expensive then this one. (I'm thinking of selling my kidneys/lungs/legs for a mesa roadking)

I was thinking about buying matrix head vor about 6 months and tested it few times in local music stores. This is a german solidstate modeling amp

This is a really versatile amp, I tak part in lots of bands and musical projects and i record&produce a lot of musicians at my home studio, sothe style-spectrum is really bright: black/death/thrash/heavy metal, gothic, industrial, hop hop, pop-rock, punk, hardcore etc. And you can use this amp for almost every style, i think.

No about the Features (and this one has lots of 'em)
Matrix100 head (combo as well) provides:

4 channels (Clean, Crunch, Lead, Warp)
Separate equalizer (3 knobs) for a clean channel
Level knob for a clean channel

1 equalizer for Crunch/Lead/Warp
crunch gain and crunch vol knobs
lead/warp gain knob
lead vol. knop
warp vol. knob

mastervolume knob

4 buttons for switshcing the channels with blue LEDs
footswitch (whne footswitch is connected buttons do not work but still expose blue ligth so you know where you are if ya can't hear ot %)

5 effects (Chorus, Flanger, Tremolo, Delay and Reverb) placed on 4 knobs: 1 knob for chorus/flanger/tremolo 2 knobs for delay (rate and time from 80ms to 1,4s and one for reverb.

Effects Loops Send/return Jacks

A Headphone Jack

Footscwitch Jack

FX On/oFF footswitch Jack

Line Out Jack

2 Speaker Outputs for min. 4 Ohms

CD/Line in Jack


One thing that makes the Maatrix differ from the other amps is the FX autostore function, wich saves your settings on all 4 channels. Let me explain: You're on the clean channel and you add some chorus, delay and reverb. Then you switch to crunch channel, set the chorusflanger/tremolo knob to flanger, cut your reverb away and set delay to 1,4s and then switch to clean again you will notice that the effect-settings of the clean channel dindn't change!!! wish is more then helpful for a live performance in my opinion... The effect-setting are saved even if you switch the matrix off

So there are lots and lots of fine features as you see. I'll give a 9 because of not separate equalizer for the overdrive channels. It's not really difficult to use as for me...

i play a jackson dinky with dimarzzio superdistortion humbucker on the bridge, use boss effects: metalzone, noise-supressor, graphic equalizer, copression/sustainer, turbo distortion and anibanez wah wh-10 pedal. the Box is an HUghes & Kettner Attax 4x12" cab with Celestion rockdriver vintage speakers

This amp can make almost everything you want: From sweet clean ballad chords through cool rock-metal-blues solosounds to killer death/thrash/black/nu metal riffs. All of the effects sound great. Now to each channel:

Clean:
Very sweet clean sound, even with my superdistortion pickup... Add some chorus or tremolo + light delay&reverb and it sounnds magically, i just love the sound! The clean channel on my marshall valvestate is a joke compared to the Matrix

Crunch:
Yeeeeeeaaaaaaah baby! the crunch is really jucy. great thing , you must hear it, i can't really explain, but the sound is just fat!!!! killer-crunch the gainknob allows you to adjust the amount of crunch from slight "yet clean" overdrive, to mean jucy grunge/rockabilly-overdrive.


Lead:
This channel reminds me of the "better" marshall distortion sounds and maybe a little bit of metalzone, but the guys of H&K didn't put too much distortion in to it which is fine, cause someone who has brains and/or expirience wouldn't set a metalzonedist. level more then to 60% =))) DOn't understand me wrong, it has just ENOUGH gain to play killer metal but you're not going to spoil your sound with too much overdrive... I was thinking that the distorted sound couldn't get any better on this amp until i switched to the...


WARp:
This one rules! The channel is pure evil!!! I personnally do not like nu metal very much, but i'm also not an enemy of it. I think those who play it would go insane if they would hear that sound =) This is just fat with much sustain nad much higain but as in the lead channel, not too much!

The amp has no noise at all, I hope to get more cool sounds if i connect my effect pedals to the fx loop. we'll see =)

One more thing: you get all the wonderfull sounds even at miserable volume, wich is impossible with a tube head....

A firm 10 here! THe sound definitly beats every amp in this priceclass!

I H&K as a very reliable manufacturer. I own this amp notlong enough to rate reliability yet...

never dealt with them, dunno...

All in All this is the best amp in this price category. It's solidstate, but the sound's awesome. I own a marshall valvestate 40vatt combo wiich is hybrid and actually known as a good amp, but it suck hard against the matrix!!!!

I would definitly buy it again if it would be stolen or lost
I love almost everyhting about this amp, because of all of great features and mainly because you just can't make it sound bad in my humble opinion. THe only thing i don't like is the equalizer on overdrive channels, o think it would be better if tdey were separate...

I play a Christian Rock/Funk/Pop kind of sound. I use mostly the clean channel and just run my board through it. Occasionally, for leads and such, I'll use the Lead or Crunch, just depends. I dont care a lot for the effects, they sound good, but If Im going to use delay, tremolo, etc..then I prefer a tap tempo button. I would just rather use stomp boxes for my effects...the footswitch that comes with it is a great thing..not to mention the fact that the amp saves all your settings..I really love that because when I turn the amp off it will sound the same when I turn it back on..thats valuable to me.

I use this amp for my Taylor T-5. The clean channel is gorgeous...you can also add a little chorus, reverb, tremolo on it and its just really nice. The crunch and lead channels are also pretty nice sounding, but what I didnt realize for a while is that the knobs are very sensitive...thats why I think Ive heard a lot of people complain about the sound...you just have to be careful...USE MORE MASTER VOLUME, then tweak the gain on the channel you're using...master volume is the key to this amp, in my humble opinion. The band Im in plays a lot of rock/funk/poppy kind of stuff. This amp will handle it

Very dependable now, but mine started doing thatt loud,buzzy thing the guy that sent in the other review talked about. The music store said there was a defect in the heads, theyve been recalling them apparently. he knew exactly what the problem was, and 2 days later, the company had mailed them a brand new matrix 100...I was really impressed with that, I was only without the amp for 2 days...not bad.

ive only sent them an email, they replied quickly telling me to take my head to the music store i bought it at. and if there was a problem, they said to let them know..theres a 2 year factory warranty from the date of purchase.

Ive been playing guitar for about 9 years. I mainly use the Taylor T5 with this amp...Ive also used an Epiphone SG that I turned into a baritone with this amp...it handles the bass and the low crunch of a baritone really well. ...nice amp overall. I run it through an Ibanez tubescreamer, a Boss Comp/sustain, and a crybaby. It really works well with my pedals and my setup.

Similar to the Matrix combo. It's a 100W digital amp with reverb and built in effects: flanger, chorus, tremolo and delay. Has 4 channels, an fx loop and two foot switch imputs - one for channel switching and one for reverb/effects. Also has headphone jack, line out for D/I recording and cd/tape input. I purchased the SC 412 cab that goes with it as well.

I basically got it as an entry-level stack cause my band is starting to play out more regularly and not all places would mic my old (50 watt) amp so people couldn't hear me at all. We play hard rock stuff, with the occasional effect for emphasis and switch between clean/distorted in all songs.

Definitely a versatile amp (more info on sounds below), as far as features go and worth the money I paid for it...let's face it, it all comes down to getting the best we can afford cause not all of us have endorsements or are riding on daddy's/mummy's/grandpa's/wife's bank account LOL

I give it an 8 because there are no independent EQ controls for the Crunch, Lead and Warp channels. It actually stores the settings you set for a given channel and adjusts/adapts it to the next. But then again, if it had EQ knobs for all that stuff, the whole frontplate would be covered by knobs! It auto-EQs and saves all settings automatically, so there's no digital readout.

I use it with a Gibson SG Voodoo, LTD KH-202 and an '89 Fender American Strat. The guitar(s) are plugged straight in. The FX loop is only used for an Ernie Ball Volume pedal and Boss Noise Supressor.

It is definitely loud enough to warrant the 100W rating. In fact, on stage or in practice, I've never turned it past 12 o'clock yet.

The CLEAN channel is really crisp and clean, with some reverb thrown in, it sounds really sweet. As for the three dirty channels, I have no use for the CRUNCH cause it sounds too 80s/country-music distortiony for me.

CRUNCH:
I turned the volume up, gain down, added some delay and use it as a slightly more dirty CLEAN channel - good for lines that have harmonics, and gentle to heavy picking (see below for explanation).

LEAD:
Definitely a Marshal-esque vibe, with smooth highs. A great distorted tone from a solidstate amp. Use it for most of my distorted sounds and boost it for solos. Play around with it to ge the best sounds.

WARP:
This is all nu-metal sounding. Plenty of low end to it. I use it as a different sounding distortion for some songs. Like the lead channel, you have to play around with it a little to get the best sounds.

EFFECTS:
The effects are okay and I use them sparingly, just to accentuate certain passages and get cool sounds, so I can't comment much. The delay kicks ass though. The only complaint I have is that you have one knob to control all the effects and it seems to go up exponentially when you twist the knob. The footswitch is a great idea to turn the effects on/off.

OVERALL:
It buzzes somewhat in between notes i.e. when you perform fast stop/start staccato-type playing while distorted, but that was expected, hence the noise gate.

The amp picks up nuances of your picking style as well. If you lightly pick the strings, it responds with smooth, clean tone but if you start hammering down on them, it distorts well (this is how I use the CRUNCH channel).

Had it since December and played out with it numerous times with no backup. I was a happy camper, until the drama unfolded:

About a month ago, I noticed the effects sometimes didn't work, even when I turned the knobs. I had to swtich the unit on/off a couple times for them to kick in.

Then at practice (lucky me it was only during practice) about three weeks ago, it started to buzz really loud while I was playing. I turned it off, checked the cables and turned it back on. This time, there was only a loud, continuous buzzing and nothing from my guitar. I couldn't switch channels or anything. Just a horibble LOUD buzzing noise. We tried switching instrument cables, speaker cables, etc. but the buzzing persisted.

What does that mean? Back to H&K this had to go! I had to use my old beater at our next couple of gigs! Talk about being pissed off.

It took me two weeks to finally get an return authorization (RA) for the head.

The people at Pearl distribute these, so I had to go through them. They replied to emails fast, but the process of getting an RA took really long. Overall, they are nice people, but I feel like they seem to be really busy and take a while to process stuff.

It is currently at H&K USA's HQ in Nashville,TN. I sent it back last week and have not heard from them about it yet. I will update this as soon as I hear from them.

Will update this as soon as I hear from the H&K people. Overall, its great but I expected a solid state to be more reliable!