Hughes & Kettner Switchblade Head

2007 Build. The amp features four channels ranging from clean to insanely heavy. Also features reverb, delay and some modulation effects. Midi In/Thru, parallel or series switchable loop etc...
Comes with Midi Footswitch. Ive used every type of setup from combos to stacks and racks, and this amp is a dream come true for me. I find it extremely easy to use, really its a single set of gain and eq controls as found on most normal amps plus it has a seperate effects section. I plugged it in and instantly knew how to use it, even figured to hold the store button, just typical things. Having said that I lent it to a mate to do a tour with and he couldnt figure it out...what can I say... It has all the features I need - Great sound, Versatility of sound, Midi and loop programmability, and massive volume.

I went from a 14 space rack setup full of the "best" brands of gear to this amp and Ill never look back. This thing ways about 20kgs, the rack was over 100kg... And as far as the sound quality goes, Its about the same, Ive lost a bit of clean channel warmth, but gained an even heavier more extreme metal tone which suits me fine! I think overall that this amp is better suited to guitars with passive pickups, to help keep it a bit more organic sounding. It teeters along the line between modelling and tube amps and with my EMG active humbucker guitar it gets a little sterile sounding on the lower gain settings, but thats too be expected with these pickups. Sounds much nicer to my ear when Im using my SeymourDuncan equipped guitars. To me its a great tube amp thats has that extra bit of stuff that silicon chips bring, that extra edge I need. I think if my old-school and very experienced muso uncle played it, he'd probably think it wasnt quite right and go back to his fenders. Its a modern sounding amp no doubt.

I work for a hk qualified repairer so no probs. The one thing I think will be a problem is the midi lead. While its extremely long and good quality, for some reason they decided to hard wire it to the pedal. Would have made much more sense to have a din plug at both ends, but then maybe a lot of people would start sticking a 5 rather than 7 pin cable into and think its blown up (or maybe even blow it up!). Regardless ill be doing this mod when I get the time.

Its cheap, light and well built (in germany not china). Its versatile enough for my needs, and the sound is unbelievably good to my ear. You could still go and buy a plexi and an slo and a recto and a twin and a dumble etc... or a pod... or the best alternative to either of those options... the Switchblade!

too Many features to list.

I did post another review of this amp, and I am really changing my view on this overall. I know it's touted as an all tube head, but the pre-amps do not really do much if anything. This amp is very much based on the digital modeling effects for ALL of its sound. The power tubes are just for the overall volume.

Built very well.

My 4 month love affair has come to an end with this amp. I was pretty crazy about it for the first few months, However I always thought it was a little harsh sounding. I did my first show with the amp and at sound check, my soundman who has always heard me with Marshalls did not like the sound of this amp from the get go. He said it was lacking definition and presence. I did not really take his opinion to heart and was kind of annoyed by his comments. Later on, I took a break and had a friend come up and do a few songs. So I went up to the booth to listen for myself. I was mortified with what I heard out front and not happy. It was very week coming through the mix. After isolating my amp in the mix and turning it up and down as well as the other guitar players. ( who was using a Marshall and Mesa )My rig sounded very noisy and week. I was heartbroken to say the least. After the show I tried to see if something was wrong in my chain. ( speakers, bad cables, mic, ) My final decision was to get rid of it fast! My final opinion for this amp is, its a good amp for the basement or bedroom hobbyist. I would not buy this again and glad to unload it.

This amp was made in 2007 and purchased new by myself. I have owned a store's worth of gear - guitars, amps, racks, pedals, fx and amp modellers etc... and this is this closest I've come to my perfect amp. I play mainly progressive metal (think dream theater, meshuggah) and as such need a wide range of tones from ultra clean and crunch to over the top heavy and screaming leads and I can get all of these from the switchblade without fuss.
The controls seem very straightforward, just like a single channel amp and can be operated by anyone. The included footswitch is tough and works well and I love the tap feature. The built in Fx, Midi and Loop switching tops it all off nicely.

I use a customshop Jackson JJ2 with Seymour Duncan Pickups and an ESP/LTD KH602 with EMG pickups. These pass thru a Morley BadHorsie II Wah and then into the amp. The speaker cab I use has Celestion Greenback speakers and is rated at 100w.
The clean channel can be kept very clean and with or without some onboard fx produces all desired vintage and modern cleans. This is the channel I struggle most with due to the fact Im using high output humbuckers in my guitars. It's not bad but I have to back the presence and treble right back to get a useable sound. Would suit a fender fan to a tea.
The crunch channel is great and I can get great SRV, AC/DC, Lynyrd type sounds with the gain up. Like all channels the Eq settings are important to get the tone your after.
The two lead channels are very similar and have enormous amounts of gain on tap. The british channel is a bit smoother and midrange happy and the american channel is the choice for that Pantera type thunder. The boost works great on all channels and saves another pedal off the floor.
This amp is perfect for me, Ive had so many of the "best" amps and all the POD's you could throw at me and this finally does what they all said they would but did'nt. It makes greatin freakin noise. I dont care if its got any kind of transistors inside it, whatever is in there works. And yes the distortion is brutal and tight. If you dont think so you're not playing heavy enough :)

I love it, I sold a big$ Egnater amp to buy it, and while I miss certain things about that amp, the switchblade has all the extra sizzle no other amp that Ive played has and it cost me $1700. I would replace it in a flash.

Fantastic amp. Great clean, crunch up to about AC/DC. Lead gets you to early Metallica the the ultra takes you past just about anything you've ever heard. If your band needs dynamics, this amp kicks ass. The verb and delay are sweet. Only feature which is no so great are the modulation effects (chorus is pretty sweet but flanger is very set in stone so for example if you want a subtle flange on a heavy channel, you're not going to get it as you can only change rate rather than the overall presence of the flanger. Theoretically the same for the chorus also but I only use chorus on the clean stuff so I'm not too fussed. I don't use tremelo so no opinion on that really. Can't be disparaging as I've never enjoyed using a tremelo sound

Simply put, this is the best dialled in natural sounding amp that's come out in the last ten years. I've had the old Marshalls and stuff and while they sound sweet, no amp has the base tone that you can dial in without pedals that this has. Fantastic amp and at 900 quid is well worth considering over the "boutique" amps (and hey, I pad 600, bargain of the century!!)

No probs so far. Built like a tank and has takena fair bit of abuse

I'll habve to judge them on the quality of their product as I haven't had to use them

An overall 10 can only be given for perfection. By giving a 9, I'm expecting Hughes & Kettner to keep the world class amps coming. If the modulation effects didn't exist this would get ten but as they do and aren't that great, 9 aint a bad rating.

Get one today!!

Made in 2007. Shipped with rockstar presets. Extremely versatile amplifier. Will do all styles. I play classic rock, hard rock from the 70's, all 80's metal, Progressive rock, intrumental guitar rock and jazz fusion. FOUR channels, programmable for 128 different presets, reverb, effects loop, and digital effects. delay chorus and flanger. Plus a tremolo effect as well. I use it for everything, practice, gigging, jamming, teaching. All tube, 100 watts of EL-34 power.

One of the Best amps I have ever heard. This amp is essentially a modern hot rodded Marshall with a killer clean channel. It sounds like the modded Marshalls from the 80's but better. EXTREMELY LOUD! As loud as any older plexi I have heard and Much, much louder than the 5150 I sold to get this amp. Completly destroys that amp in ALL catagories including gain. It does a killer pre 1980 Old marshall sound. Not the new pieces of crap. It also has it's own tone which I love. The crunch and gain of this amp on all of the channels is some of the fattest "cleanest " distortion I have heard. No buzziness, mud, flub, or harshness. Very, CREAMY, clean, articulate sustain. Does EVH brown to a tee. And it sounds Killer when cranked just like a good tube amp should. Even the high gain Ultra channel is very refined. They did a really good job designing the gain structure of this amp. It's not overly gained like some amps. It's just right. You don't need pedals to boost it either as it has enough of it's own. This is one of those amps that sounds so good that it keeps you playing for hours. The lead and Ultra channels produce some hiss but no more than other high gain amps I have owned. I use it with Music Man Van Halen and Peavey wolfgang guitars. They both sound great through this head.

It seems to be well built.

The company answered my email the next day. Very cool.

I have played for 28 years now. I have owned so many amps I have lost count. I sold A peavey 5150 and a Mesa studio preamp to get this and Im glad I did. The tone of this amp is incredible. Clean or dirty, it has perfect tone. I almost purchased a Peavey JSX, and tried a variety of other high gain amps new and old (Boogie mark III, Marshall TSL and JVM(crap),Framus cobra, Peavey triple xxx, Mesa Roadster, and honestly after playing and comparing all of them it is no contest. The Switchblade just sounds better overall. Plus it has reverb, delay and chorus built in! You can't beat that for versatility, plus the killer tube tone.

Made July 06. This amp has just about everything. A lot of people say it should have a tuner, or a compressor, the only things I would add are a noise gate and a power switch. There is no effin reason to have to turn up that loud! It would be nice to have the above mentioned, or a line out/D.I., or something else, but it was $1,299 when I bought it! It has more than most amps at $2,000! Everything else it has has been covered

The clean channel is damn good sounding for a high gain amp. I wouldn't say it's as good as a fender or the duotone's, but it's nice and smooth, not overly harsh. I like it much better than my two Peavey's, which are too brittle, and my Mesa V-Twin's which has no presence. Add a splash of chorus, and you're good.

The distortion channels each have their own identity. You can still hear the common point between them, but they all sound good and distinguished. Until you reach some of the highest gain levels, the distortion is clean enough to hear the individual notes.

You have to be a little anal with the knobs as they are very responsive. Some people have said theirs weren't, but mine work fine. If you take a few minutes you can dial in some nice tones. I use all four channels quite a bit in the bands I play in. I use a variety of different guitars, an LTD EC-1000 with EMGs, an Ibanez S-540fm with EMGs, a B.C. Rich ST 3 american with a Seymour Screamin' Demon, and an American Standard Strat with EMG vintage single coils. They all sound great! It's hard to find an amp that helps the Strat sound full, and it still retains that Strat sound.

The crunch channel definitely has the most cut, and does some great lighter rock tones. I use it for Rush, Zeppelin, The Cars, Tool, Toto and other stuff. I play a very big mix of music in my bands, and I use multiple gain levels in different patches. In an 80's band I play in, this is my main channel.

The Lead channel I use mostly for leads. Some with effects, some without. I use it for some rhythms as well, as it cuts better than the Ultra channel when you need to stick out a little more.

The Ultra channel is used for SOME of my rythms doing the 80's, and my main rhythm channel for the metal stuff like Iron Maiden, Metallica, Helloween, Judas Priest, Stratovarius and the like. In my old band I used this for Rage Against The Machice, Velvet Revolver, H.I.M. and Godsmack type stuff. You can dial in patches that fill up the sound for a thick rhythm, or dial in some others that cut for presence.

Is it the best sounding amp? No. I tried a duotone (so good!) also, and found that this one sounds ALMOST as good. It really holds it own! It's a great live amp with killer tone.

The effects are hit and miss. The reverb is ok, and it works well. I don't think it's very warm, but oh well. The delay I do like. The tap function is nice, and it sounds good and definitely usable. The chorus I like when it's barely turned on. The flanger is ok, but I don't use it much, it doesn't thrill me. The "tremolo-like-sound" is not a real tremolo, but would be more usable if the tap tempo also worked for it.

So far no problems with this except that the master vol. knob broke off somehow. Either I hit it, or one of the road crew in my band did. The pot seemed to give rather easy. I guess I should get a case. Other than that, no problems yet.

They reply quickly to emails, but it took a few weeks to get the pot sent to me. Also, I was using 2 8ohm cabs for a 4 ohm load. It didn't say how to connect them in the manual. When I e-mailed them I got a response the next day citing the manual. When I asked him if I should use the 1x4 and one of the 8 ohm inputs in a reply, I was told that's what the previous e-mail said. I had someone else read it to make sure I read it right. Oh well, maybe not the smartest people there.

I love this amp. So much that I also bought a 1x12 combo. The head was run through my Red Bear 4x12 with Celestion G12L-35's and a single 1x12 cab with a Vintage 30 in it. I've used it with the above mentioned guitars mainly. I've gotten quite a few compliments on my tone. One sound guy, and one of my other guitarists said they preferred a Marshall TSL 100 that I used while the knob was being replaced, you can't please everybody. It depends on your taste. This is definitely a heavier amp, and blues hounds may not love it.

I play in an all 80's band (www.myspace.com/m80band), a Tran-Siberian Orchestra Tribute (www.twelvetwentyfour.net), and a jam band doing Maiden, Metallica, Rush, Deep Purple, Styx, The Police and about anything that WE like. I use it in all three bands. All the presets really help so I have everything dialed in for each band when I get there.

I've had the amp for about 6 months now, so the honeymoon is over, and this amp has definitely played over 100 shows already. I pulled two of the tubes out when I got it to help with the loud volume. I still love hearing my tone!

I also have a Peavey XXX 1x12, a Red Bear MK-60 with 4x12, Sovtek Mig-50, a Switchblade 50 combo, a Mesa V-Twin preamp pedal, and a Line 6 PodXT Live which I tried using for a front end modeler for casino shows and for effects (tone sucker when on bypass). I love all my amps, but this one sees the most use.

I toyed with a Duotone before I bought this, but it wasn't versatile enough. I heard too many horror stories about Triamp MKIIs and their repairs. All the locals I know who used them sold them... I wanted to try a Trilogy but no one around here has them. I thought it was bigger sounding with a better clean than the JCM 2000 TSL. Never been too thrilled with Recto's, as they're limited tone wise. I tried a Line 6 Flextone III, but the tone is not useable (very disappointed, I can't believe people recommend these). I saw one of these, thinking it wouldn't hold up tonewise to what I wanted. Boy, I was surprised pleasantly! It really has great sound! Not boutique, but for live use it's fantastic and flexible.

It's gone up $200, but it's still probably a great deal when you compare it to others in this price range. Marshall has launched it's multi channel amp, the JVM for $1800 with less features. Tone is a matter of opinion though. I've been playing about 11 years now, and tone is everything to me. This will be with me for a while.

This amp can do anything. I was playing through a Line 6 Vetta for years and spent hundreds of hours trying to dial in a really good tone to use live. I had purchased distortion pedals and rack effects to try to affect the amp so that it would give me what I was looking for. Nothing worked.
I plugged into a friends HK, turned the volume nob up, added some delay and just like that, I had everything I was looking for tonally.
This amp has more than enough power for medium sized to large venues and can be heard through the mix with perfect tonal clarity.

This amp can go from crystal clean to mild blues, to classic rock - all the way to modern metal. The distortion is rich and easily manipulated to fit any style with the simple push of a footswitch or a roll on the volume knob.
Hands down the best sounding amp (to my tastes)out there.

So far, so good.

Don't want to know.

Overall, this is the best investment I've ever made musically. My sound with this amp has become the biggest inspiration to me since I took up playing. I can pull harmonics and feedback using sheer will, the distortion is heavy without being muddy, and the effects are top notch.

Many have already mentioned features.
Has just about all you need to gig, whether in a cover band or original band. The only extra pieces I bring to a show are a wah, tuner pedal and ISP noise reduction pedal.

The amp is loaded with variety. The clean is great...some of the best Clean tones I have achieved without running a Fender of some sort. The effects add a nice touch to cleans, but can be a bit obvious and not as subtle as I like but that is a minor gripe.
The Crunch channel is great! This has a great old marshall tone and kick in the boost feature and you have some serious Marshall growl, thick ACDC! This is a fun channel. The Lead channel I am still trying to figure out. It sounds a bit bright to my ears and haven't found the use for it in our band but every now and then i dial in a great tone on this channel so maybe I just need more time with this one. It sounds kind of Marshally on this channel and leads really cut on this channel as well. The Ultra channel is big, thick and fat. This channel is great for hard rock and heavy rock/metal. Dial in some presence for cutting through a bit better in the band and to sound bigger while maintaining the smooth quality.

No problems yet.

Had to call them for a few new tubes when they broke in shipping. Great to deal with over the phone and via email.

I went through a lot of amps in the last few years. I had been using a Line 6 vetta for years. Recently use a VHT Pitbull which was too loud and wasn't crazy about the voicing, plus the clean was bland. I couldn't get this to sound good at lower volumes. I also was using an older Mesa Dual Rectifier, but the clean is pretty bad. The heavier tones really open up at high volumes but there are times I need to play at lower volumes and the Switchblade sounds good at many volume levels. Very easy amp to use and cuts through the mix no problem if tweaked correctly as with any amp!

You can do alot with this amp, just as the manual says. Although the chorus is a little strange and so is the flange. I mean it just doesnt sound natural. The chorus works great for clean but tends to breakup when distorted. The flange is a flange but you have no control over the depth, just the rate. If you want real trem go buy a boss pedal. The H&K trem is good for clean stuff but say you want that kinda greenday trem or something. Your not going to get it.Other than kinda crappy effects the ability to program and the various tones you can pull out is great.

Sounds great in the garage by yourself. Put it with the band and it just doesnt cut through the mix. It lacks presence. It lacks bottom end. It sounds brittle. It needs compression and a secondary eq sent through the effect loop to get real nice warm but crunchy tone. Also a feedback monster. Had to run a hush to stop that. Has great tube tone and lots of different types but when your the only guitar guy in a band, you want to sound full with out piercing ear drums.

So far so good. Ive had it for about three months.

Havent had to use them yet.

Been playing for about 12 years. I play hard rock to mild stuff. Use ibenez guitars with zak pickups.

They say worlds first Programmable tube amp and I believe this makes is one of the most versatile!! Imagine the range of sounds you can create in the bedroom, but you can take 'em out live and take the audiences heads off!!!

I have to disagree with some of the reviewers on this topic in rating the amp poorly. There are a couple of things to be aware of when owning this amp that will open the door to a wonderful and easily accessable sound set.

1) It is a true tube amp, just not designed in the traditional sense. I have been told that each channel has a circuit that powers the two 12AX7 pre-amps differently (hense the name "Switchblade"- Blade refers to the components in the pre-amp tube). The clean channel therefore is set up like a clean amp with 2 preamp valves (there are plenty of "boutique" amps like this!!), you then switch to say Crunch and the circuit for the Crunch channel kicks in providing a different set of voltage and current values to the two 12AX7 valve making them behave like a crunchy amp.... and same with lead and ultra (although the ultra does have a preset Mid scoop it seems to get that "American Sound".

2) I have experience the values on the pot controllers not moving when turned and then "jumping" like a switch like a couple of the other reviewers here, but when asked (and I believe its in the manual!!) its a safty mechanism preventing you from accidently blowing your head off by accidently having the volume set high say from a previous setting- you have to turn the pot to where the last previous setting was to then turn it to the position you want therefore giving you time to avoid sudden shocks!!!
The sound quality is superb but I'm not a tube purist. If I was I'd probably spend ??100 more and get the Trilogy- also by H&K but would loose the programability!!
3) Sounds like a Line6 HD147?!???! Ha ha I heard one when Society One played Donnington and I was interested as it had just come out- it sounded like a trapped bluebottle- even through the PA!!!

This is the second Tube H&K amp I have had. The first was owned for 3 years and was rock solid (even when some idiot kicked over my rig on stage!!!).
However- I have been told by my shop there was a problem with the lead on the pedal board- its cable strands were weak or something- I got a brand new pedal board in a matter of days with a thicker cable. My attitude is that every company has problems from time to time- its how you deal with them that matter!!! This was A1 service.

See above for example of great service. its German made but unlike Engl it get service in the UK if it has problems or need new tubes.

If it went- I would have to buy another as I cannot find another amp that sounds this good with presets.