Hughes & Kettner Switchblade Head

Everything you would ever need as a working guitarist; great sounding amp channels, great effects, and PLENTY of volume. Check other reviews for details.

Came stock fully tubed with high end, great sounding tubes from Tube Amp Doctor!

I have owned this amp for a little over a year now, and I have to say it is still pretty amazing. I have cut my live rig down to this head with a Custom Audio controller, a wah, and an outboard compressor in the loop. This is by far the best, easiest to dial in gigging setup I've come across in 20 years. I'm not saying it's the best amp ever, but it is better than a good 80% of production amps available now.

I play in a touring hard rock band, and mostly use Les Paul's with either stock or Duncan Alnico 2 pu's. These pickups are not super high output, but they do push the front end a bit. The alnico 2's are a bit more twangy. I do not have any noise problems at all with this amp. I can see noise issues happening with either the lead or ultra channels maxed out, but you shouldn't need that much gain in the first place. At noon on these channels, there is plenty of gain to be pulling off Zakk Wylde style harmonics.

Cleans are really good, especially with a hint of chorus and delay. Very 80's (Police, etc.). It is not as full as my H&K Duotone, but does the job very well. Stays clean with the huge headroom power section.

Crunch is my favorite. Everything from AC/DC to hair metal with the boost engaged. Gain stays clear and focused.

Lead is awesome with nice midrange punch, solid bottom end, and endless sustain. Sounds incredible with delay. Easy to get Lynch tones here.

Ultra is a take on the lead with more bottom end, and more compression. Makes a really strong modern heavy sound that hits you in the gut hard.

The amp is super loud. I play live five to six night a week for months straight, and I have not been able to turn up the master past 10 o'clock, even at large venues. It is not an amp to play in your bedroom.

Solid. H&K amps have given me minimal problems over the last 5 years. I have had this for a little over a year, and it has survived 6 tours so far riding in a trailer. It is hard to find an amp that is super reliable on the road, and this one seems to be holding up just fine. I haven't used the footswitch, as I already have another MIDI controller. I have it as a backup in the case.

Joey Allen is a very cool guy to deal with. I usually get a call back within a few days, and always get an answer or solution from him. I usually have my tech retube my amps every 3 months or so to avoid problems on the road.

I have been playing for over 25 years, 15 professionally, and have played almost every head or rack setup available from practically every company. I have dozens of different amp and rack setups from touring back in the 90's, and this head alone can do what two of those setups can.

In the studio and at home, I do prefer my cherished boutique amps and vintage Marshalls. For live, this setup can't be beat. I am very happy an amp like this was made, and was made well.

No point relisting what has been said. I had high hopes for this amp...

First I have to say I am a huge HK amp fan. I have a tube 100, tube 50, and tube 20. They all sound great. I thought how could I go wrong with the switchblade.
I ended up selling the amp at a loss because it didn't hold a candle to the other amps from Hughes /Kettner. The clean is very cold and flat sounding almost no "glass". The distortion is noisy as hell. The effects are OK at best.
If you like line 6 amps you'll love this one.

Only had it for 6 months

I wanted to love this amp. In the end it was a big disappointment. I'm a pro player and I've used pretty much everything thats out there. This one gets 2 thumbs down

Lots of features, just lucky if they all work like they should.

Used with Strats w/singles, Gibsons w/buckers, everything.
Sound is thin and brittle, effects are fair but the sound is very sterile not much balls just thin & fizzy.

First one fro American Music supply had to go back, second one the footswitch was hosed so I kept the footswitch from the first one and sent the other back. Cheap tubes hosed on me the first month and I put very little time on them BECAUSE THIS THING SOUNDED LIKE CRAP!

Don't care.

Don't waste your money!!!!I sold mine cheap on E-bay. Look and you will see, everyone that bought one is ditching them on e-bay for half price.

This Switchblade was made at the start of 2007, and it is absolutely versatile, It can go from a Stone Sour esque rythym sound, to a crystal clear Marshall esque clean sound.. There are enough channels to go around.. and there are effects loops and channel switching..

I actually can't think of any features I wish it had, and most of the effects I never really use..

I use this amp for gigs, that could be anywhere from 100 - 2500 seated places, and it has way more than enough power to go around..

I'm currently using two Carvin guitars along with the head. Both guitars have standard humbuckers. I play in a progressive rock band, and although our music is mainly in a rock vein, there are shades of Scott Henderson/Chopin and many more... so versatility is essential, and this amp has it! It's so versatile that I can jump from Albert lee country rolls, to Bumblefoot fireworks in the same solo with just a little turn of the volume controls...

like any other tube amp, when the volume and gain are set at a certain level the amp begins to get noisy, but as long as your careful with volume controls it isn't much of a problem..

Depending on the way you set it, the clean channel can do almost anything, at high voumes my clean sounds stay clean because that's how I like it, but with tweaking you can get that marshall esque clean sound that gets dirty at high volumes..

The distortion is oh so brutal!! perfect metal guitar sound..

I have on several occasions brought it to a gig without a backup, and it has been perfect so far..

My amp actually did break down recently due to a tube/circuit problem, but as long as you make sure to check tubes for problems/use standby switch when your taking a break/and shut the amp off when your done it sh0uld be fine..

The Company is impossible to get a hold of, so I can't really say if they where friendly or not..

The repair on my amp I believe was under warranty because it was a circuit problem as well as a tube problem...

Finding a repair center was actually very difficult...

The warranty is for 2 years..

I've been playing for about 6 years now, I own a Mesa Boogie 50 caliber +/ a Suhr Guitar and some effects processors,

If this head was stolen I would do everything I could to get a new one somehow..

I love the warmth of the amp, and the fact that whenever I bring it to a gig and the sound is good it just sounds so perfect...

I hate that on the rare ocassions when a problem occurs how it is so difficult to find help..

to hear this head in action check out an Ep I just finished recording with it:

http://www.myspace.com/mindwalkblvd you will not believe how incredible it sounds!!

Had the amp for a year now. This is an update to my review from 5/4/07. The amp remains good. Very solid. Took me a while to tweek my sound but I've got it dialed now. I still cant stand the flange or the chorus. Way too brittle. Oh yeah did I mention that my head is the damn closet? Yep midi board went south just before a gig. No one in southern cali can sell the board alone. I had to ship it to niagra falls NY to the one and only HK distributor. Now here I am with a head that is virtually useless with out the midi.

The midi, or the cable is unreliable. Also a huge pain in the butt to get it replaced. If someone knows a replacment midi that compatable please let me know. Beware this amp. It could easily leave you hanging at a gig. If your like me and have every song dialed in and programmed, this could be bad. Unless you live in NY and can drive to the distributor your done for about three weeks!

Horrible! Emailed HK themselves looking for help. Still no response. Had to contact a local store who happened to know the distributors #.

Been playing for 12 years. This is a good amp, but the midi.....CRAP!

This is a very versatile amp. Tube-Powered and programmable at the same time! 128 presets, (4 channels, 32 banks) built-in modulation effects, delay, and reverb. And cool lights!!!

The Modulation effects are somewhat adjustable, but could use a depth feature. The delay is pretty cool, and it has a tap tempo button on the footswitch. The reverb is alright, but a spring reverb would be preferred.

The layout of this amp is much like the Line 6 spider II that I had, mainly because the knobs are in a set position until you turn them. (But it does have an "original value" LED that tells you where each knob actually is, unlike the Line 6)

The only reason that I'm giving this an 8 is because the reverb could have been a spring reverb, a chromatic tuner would have been nice, (but I didn't expect that anyways) and I could really use an effect on/off button on the footswitch rather than having to change channels. (because there's a slight delay)

There's one word to sum this all up, WOW! This amp has amazing tone, thanks to Ruby EL34B-STR power tubes, TAD 12AX7s, and German Engineering. In fact, this is probably the best sounding amp I have ever heard. (And I've heard and played on a few) I also have a Mesa Dual Rectifier (3 channel) and this one runs right with it.

Some people said that this amp is even heavier than a Mesa, but you have to understand, This amp isn't necessarily heavier than a Mesa, but heavy in a different way. I think that the Mesa is probably still the best for the "chugga chugga" sound, but the Switchblade is still awesome.

This amp has a unique equalizer, and I think that's why it can do so many sounds. The Volume, Presence, and Gain controls are just simply 0-10, but the Treble, Mid, and Bass controls are -5db to +5db, so their zero position is actually in the middle, and that creates all kinds of tonal options.

Here's where this amp rises above all the rest, this amp has Zero mud, even with weird settings. My Mesa sounds pretty good on vintage high gain, but the Bass sometimes kinda falls apart when I hit an E. This amp doesn't have that problem.

I play mainly classic rock (like Zeppelin, Boston, etc...) also some Sabbath, and Rush. In fact, Alex Lifeson was the main reason I bought this amp. If it's good enough for him to take it on tour, you know it's gotta be good.

First off, there is no amp on the face of the planet that can match Mesa for reliability, but this amp seems to be sturdy. I wouldn't want to drop it, but it looks like it could handle a few dings. I don't think I'll have to worry too much about me breaking something, because I get upset if I see fingerprints on it, but I think I'll use the Mesa for all my gigs. (Unless we're doing a Rush tribute)

The main reliability issue with this amp is the footswitch. It acts kinda funny sometimes, like sometimes it won't come on unless you wiggle the cord a little bit. But the footswitch hasn't died on me yet. I've seen a lot of other reviews saying the same thing. I think its cable may be kinda cheap.

Don't know. never dealt with them.

Basically, if you want an amp that you can bet your life on, get a Mesa. But if the reliability is not that important, then definitely get this one, because it sounds better and it doesn't cost as much.

If this amp were lost I'd definitely get another one. If it were stolen, I'd go hunting :)

This amp was manifactured in 2006 or 2007. I find the versatility of this amp delightful. H&K are clearly trying to compete with Line6.

All the features are well documented on earlier reviews of this amp.

What I find lacking in this amp is a chromatic tuner and noisegate. For an amp in this price- and feature range, it is unwise to leave such features out, as they are not very difficult or costly to implement.

I use this amp at our bandroom, and it has a lot of power. Allthough when I crank the volume knobs over 50% it seems to just make the sound more blurry, instead of increasing the actual soundpressure. Also, the when playing with little volume, you have to be very, VERY careful with the volume knobs, as the amp tends to raise hell very suddenly.

I use a Epiphone Les Paul Goth with original pickups. My music style is numetal, comparable with KoRn through Pantera.

The amp sounds fine while the master volume is in the range 10-50%. Below and after that it just makes a mess of things. Too little volume, and it has no balls. Too much volume, and it's all just a great big mess. Also the amp seems to generate popping and crackling sounds when gain is set to full.

The amp is noisy on it's own, but the ambient noise of the amp is NOTHING compared to the howling it generates when volume and gain are set to 50% or above. I am not talking about controllable feedback. I am talking about uncontrollable howling and squeling that occurs when ever you are not striking a powerchord. I use an ISP Decimator as a external noisegate, and it is powerless against it. At high volumes I find the amp unusable. We tested it with multiple guitars using high-end cables. We even tried a guitar with ESP active pickups, and the result was always the same.

This applies to the highgain sounds. The clean and crunch channels give a very nice, warm tubesound which I like. So it is shame that the amp does so great with lighter sounds, and dies when you need to the "balls to the wall".

Used it for a week now, returning it to seller tomorrow. Was very reliable for time I had it. The howling was always present too, so in that case, 100% reliable.

No need

I've been playing guitar for 6 years now. I've had a Line6 Spider II, Behringer V-ampire and this. Thankfully I didn't sell the V-ampire yet, so that our band can still keep playing. Using the Switchblade rendered us obsolete.

I will never touch a H&K amp again.

Will save some more money to get a Mesa/Boogie rectifier (preferably Voodoo modified) and a Boss board.

The amp has great features. It's an all tube power amp and preamp with digital effects- reverb, delay, chorus, flange, and tremolo. All the effects sound great. The only feature that could be better in my opinion would be a spring reverb, but thats just a personal preference- the digital reverb still sounds good. 4 Channels- Clean, Crunch, Lead, Ultra. It's got a programmable effects loop that will turn on or off as you wish in each preset. There are up to 128 presets that you can program each with adjustable volumes, EQ, effects and channels(obviously). It's very user friendly, extremely easy to store and use your favorite presets. I've used this amp for both recording and live situations and it has been fantastic for both. I play music with many different friends and I'm in two bands so having all the presets of different sounds is really useful. And it makes recording very consistent!

I'm using an ESP LTD Gus 600 which has Seymour Duncan Distortion(Bridge) and 59(Neck). It sounds really great with that guitar and my Avatar cab with 4 Vintage 30s. I play heavy rock and metal and it suits me perfectly. The clean is very clean... even at a really high volume. my guitar has a coil splitter to get a great Fender type clean tone, but I can EQ the amp to sound almost just as bright and dynamic using the full humbuckers. I don't really use the crunch channel because it's not my style but it seems really dynamic when I've messed with it a little. Picking lightly to powerfully will really change the sound from clean to distorted. My favorite channel is the ultra channel. For metal and heavy rock, I get some seriously ballsy rhythm tones. I like a crunchy, midsy rhythm sound that you can feel shake your pants when your in front of the amp. The great thing about this amp is that as you crank the volume, it doesn't lose control of your EQ and start sounding like shit. I had that problem with my Marshall. It sonded really good loud but if you got really loud it just sounded like a mess. This amp can handle really loud, powerful tones. I use both the lead and ultra channels for solos and both sound great and with a programmed volume boost and EQ you can really cut through your band. One of my bands has thrash and death metal elements and the distortion is very heavy and brutal, and most importantly clear. No need for an overdrive, trust me!

The amp has been great so far... Ive had it for about 5 months and no problems with the amp. The footswitch on the other hand did crap out on me.. the midi cable attached to it went bad.. luckily my friend at the music store had an extra brand new footswitch that I exchanged it with. I read some reviews that the footswitch isn't too sturdy so thats why I'll give the reliability a 9 out of 10. But it's not really a problem with the amp itself, when i got a new footswitch the amp still remembered my presets I had saved too. You could get a different midi footswitch, but I really like the format of the included one.

Haven't dealt with the company yet.. Since it's in Germany I imagine it might not be too easy sending stuff back.

I've been playing for about 7 years and for the last 4 years very seriously. I've explored many types of amps for metal and my last amp was a Marshall JCM 2000 which was I loved at the time but it doesn't match up to the Switchblade at all when it comes to versatility, features, tone, and power to handle very loud volumes. Keep in mind, speakers are extremely important, a lot of people overlook the importance they have. Sometimes speakers can make as much of a difference in tone as an amp! My favorites are the vintage 30s :). The only thing I wish it had is spring reverb. If this amp were stolen or lost, I would for sure buy it again.

Very versatile. A lot of build-in effects which cover a wide range of musical styles. There are four channels editable with a single row of knobs, but of course once a change is made it is also stored in the internal memory, and when switching on a different channel the previous setting for that channel is recalled. Equalization, gain, volume, internal effects, external fx loop routing, are all programmable and switchable using the frontpanel and the included 7 pin MIDI pedalboard (128 slots available).
If you for some reason cannot use the MIDI pedalboard, you can connect one/two common footswitches to change between clean/lead channels and/or to switch on/off the effect loop, very suitable.
Effects are reverb (with one knob), delay (with time, feedback and volume knobs) and chorus/delay/flanger. The three latter are controlled with one single knob with predefined settings balanced for a fast and simple control.
What would I like to add to this amp? Well, as for the good idea of a fully programmable amp with an internal fx section, which can be summarized in some way with the terms "usability" and "compactness", I had completed that in giving one tuner. That's the why i'm giving 9 instead of 10.

Well, actually I'm not a professional musician nor an expert of valve amps, anyway I hope I'll be clear in describing my feelings.
I use a Jackson Pro guitar with two humbuckers. The nicest surprise from this amp is the crunch channel, I like it so much! Sound is very defined, powerful but "clear", and it suits very well with the overall sound of my band (soft rock style).
Lead and ultra channels are awesome and bring a lot of gain and sustain. At low gain levels both channels are very quiet, while at higher levels there is no chance to avoid noise and feedback to occur, but more or less that's intrinsic in all high gain setting for any amp!
I cannot be critical about the clean channel, all clean channels from different amps sound quite similar to me! Ok, I see, this is not an argument I'm gonna put on my "curriculum vitae";-)
My vote is 8, and this is influenced by what I could remember from my past JCM Marshall amp head which, if I'm not wrong, was a bit less noisy.

Look solid, both head and pedalboard. They seem to be reliable.

No problem so far

I've been playing for about 20 years, never as a pro, and my "primordial" background is heavy-metal. I like this amp and if stolen probably I will buy it again. Moreover I'm thinking to buy the combo version for my home and/or for small gigs. Since effects and sound are the same, I can copy the settings from one amp to the other one and have two identical setups on two amps, and use them for different gig environment. In this way I will have the same sound but at different volume level. Ok, that's the same as having a rack-mounted effects and use it on different amps, but if you think in terms of cost, comfort and mobility...

2006 model. EXTREMELY versatile. 4 channels, midi channel switching, great effect loop, no head phone jack. Has all features that I need. I use all of them. I practice at home with it gig with it and teach with it. Has PLENTY of power. One of the LOUDEST amps I have heard. ALL tubes with built in effects.

Have had the anp now for 6 months. Best sounding amp I have EVER had. Iv'e had Boogies, Marshalls, Peavey 5150, ADA, lots of others, and have recently compared it to a JSX. I upgraded the tubes to Mesa power tubes and Electro- Harmonix preamp tubes. What a difference this made! The stock(TAD) tubes were ok but with the new tubes...WOW! Much quieter and much better tone and even more gain. This amp will hold it's own with amps 4 times the cost. The built in effects are great sounding. This amp is VERY sensitive to EQ changes. One tiny movement of the EQ really makes a difference. That is one thing I have learned about this amp, and you can find a magic setting with just a tiny adjustment of the dials. Then hit a button and it's saved, f****** killer. The distortion and gain on this amp far surpasses any other amp that I have had including the Boogies, 5150, JSX etc... Has a great tight bottom end that never muds out, and is very touch sensitive and articulate. All channels are great sounding. It will Get extremely heavey sounding and when slightly pushed with a good overdrive it is ungodly heavey. Destroys any rectifier or 5150 for heaviness and does it with an EL-34 sound! This thing is LOUD. This amp is like a weapon. No wonder Alex Lifeson and Holdsworth rave about it. I use my 1991 Musicman Van Halen(best rock guitar EVER made) and my 2007 OLP EVH/AXIS(great little guitar) with the real floyd rose and a duncan distortion in the bridge. It loves those pickups. I can nail George Lynch with this amp and EVH brown EASILY. I also use my sons little squire mini strat and even that guitar sounds great, especially on the clean channel. It also seems that this amp was also made to make strats and single coil pickups sound BIG.

Seems to be very well built overall. Of course I baby it. Rush and Queensryche use it on tour so it must be built very well. I have had zero problems with it incuding the midi footpedal.

They always email me within one day.

I have played for 27 years. I have the above mentioned guitars and an ovation acoustic. I also own a Peavey 5150 combo and a digitech GNX4 modeler that I run into a Fender stereo 2150 tube emulation power amp. I have a rocktron zombie distortion, a BBE crusher distortion, A damage control solid metal distortion, digitech delay and isp noise suppressor. I have a carvin 4-12, a marshall 1960b 4-12, and a 5150 4-12. Armed and ready. If this amp were lost or stolen I would take the insurance money and buy another right away. I love everything about the amp. It effectively replaces a room full of amps on it's own. I compared it to many other amps in it's price range and it slayed them all for tone AND versitility. It doesn't need anything else.