Hughes & Kettner Switchblade Head

Pretty sure i have an 07 model
I play in between four year strong and hit the lights. Mainly major keys but a nice thick guitar tone.
has 4 channels like most high end tube amps. clean, crunch, lead, ultra. its a true tube amp but has on board digital effects which can be bypassed completely.
Comes with a midi pedal that stores your settings instead of having just 4 individual channels and settings on the face of the amp. so in theory, you can have 128 separate and different channels. again, extremely versatile.

lets start by saying this thing is incredibly loud and knowing how to control it and use it to your advantage is key. ill admit it does get a bit noisy in the high gains but the overall tone makes up for it. i play it through a lopoline signature 2x12 with a vintage 30 and a g12h and a mesa 2x12 with celestion c90s. cabs are daisy chained together. i use the ultra setting to compensate for my les paul i built with a seymour duncan sh-5 in the bridge. the pickup doesnt have a lot of low end but is very articulate and will not get muddy. so the ultra adds some bass and fullness to it and i get gorgeous tone out of it. kinda like a jcm900 through a mesa 4x12 cab loaded with v30s.
the distortion can get pretty harsh but if you back up on the presence itll clean up. you will find yourself using the presence knob alot on this amp. completely changes your tone.

CLEAN channel is a tricky one to work with. lose too much gain on it and you lose half your volume. too much and you might as well be on the crunch channel. but when you find your right settings its beautiful; trust me. try throwing in some slight verb and maybe light delay. itll make it really full and warm.

CRUNCH is a really versatile channel. anything from warm muddy blues to rich pre-lead settings. I save a crunch setting to a bank on the midi board for a kind of "coming out of the headphones" sound which works really well for that. just remember to balance your volumes for your saved settings, especially with the crunch.

LEAD channel is definitely meant for lead riffing. itll cut through any mix and sound good as hell doing it. Lacks the bass I like, but thats just a personal thing. Otherwise the channel is really cool and un-altered you get a four year strong type of tone.

ULTRA is for lack of a better term, the sex. You can do so much with this channel. Its warm and super full and very american-styled drive. Bring up the mids to about 7.5, treble to about 7.5, presence about 7.5, bass depending on your pickup or what your going for, (mines on about 7.5 as well) and you have a gorgeous f***ing responsive tone. I know the "ultra" thing may sound kind of intimidating and you're probably thinking its only for metal or whatever but its not.

Each channel is capable of having a gain boost which changed the tone again completely.
All in all you really can get any tone you want from this amp, given you put in the hours to find whats right for you.

Bought mine I guess technically used. It was a floor model at some guitar shop. Works great. Did have an internal fuse blow. Brought it in to a local guitar shop, simple fast fix and they didn't even charge me for it.

ONE MAJOR COMPLAINT! the first gen midi pedal was a POS. The cables were cheap and would break. After my first one went I got in touch with hughes and kettner and they sent me out a 2nd gen for free. New heavy duty midi cable although its still hardwired into the pedal itself. they really should just have a midi jack on the pedal and let you use your own cables. it would make transport much safer. I kept my old pedal, chopped off the cable, hooked up a midi jack and just use a normal midi cable. keep it as a back up.

other than the early pedal problems, the amp works phenomenally. really have no idea what the guy below was talking about. might have just gotten a bad amp.

ill give it a 7 just because of the pedal. mind you the amp still works perfectly fine without it, just makes things live a little more difficult.

yeah, when they say made in germany, they mean it. downside is, 90-100 percent of their company is german and getting in touch with them took a couple calls. but once in contact they were very helpful.

Love love love the amp. you definitely need to put the time in to get all your settings the way you want but WELL worth it. i record with it, gig with it and if i could, probably make love to it. haha it really is a great amp. speakers do make a big difference though so match carefully. ive matched it with a mesa 412 cab and got real good stuff out of it. matched it with a marshall 412 and it sounded like poop. your tone is up to you. but its in the switchblade.

The main reason that I bought this amp was for the programmable effects and the great sounds that I had heard on the website. I love the sound of all the channels- the clean sounds great, the crunch adds enough chunk for blues without making the tone too muddy, and the lead/ultra channels have all of the gain I need to play rock and metal. The delay served most of my effects needs for solos, slap-back, and violin sounds, but I also used the chorus and flanger at times. The chorus/flanger/tremolo aren't very versatile, so if one needed to use these effects with more control, they'd be better off buying pedals. The best part of the amp in my opinion is that I was able to switch everything with one button hit--channel,effects,reverb,etc

I play through it with 2 ibanez guitars- a jetking with zakk wylde emgs and an s-series with infinity pickups. I'm in both a rock cover band and a heavy metal/hardcore band I'm able to get all the tones that I need. The clean channel remains clean even at loud volumes as long as the gain isn't cranked up. The warmth of the distortion can be changed by experimenting between the master and channel volumes, and I was able to find a very happy medium. When using the lead and ultra channels, the amp gets very noisy. I was able to solve this problem by using a boss ns-2 supressor without cutting the quality. I'm lead guitar in both bands, so I made good use of the ultra channel + delay for solos, and it sounds great. As stated before, most of my effects use was with the delay. When using the chorus/flanger/tremolo, I did notice a loss in quality. When applying chorus to a clean channel, the sound became thinner to me. That might be how all those kinds of effects change the sound, i'm not sure.

I've owned this amp for almost two years(purchased in december 2007), and it's broken down on me on a few occasions. Upon first receiving it in the mail, one of the footswitch buttons already had a malfunction (The dealer I purchased it from sent me a new pedalboard, so this was easily fixed). I always transport the amp in its gig bag, and the foot switch very snug in the pedalboard--I protect it with my life. One band practice, 10 months after purchasing the amp, it stopped working and wouldn't turn on. I got it fixed under the 1 year warranty, and 10 months later, the foot switch is no longer functioning with the amp. The amp itself functions, but this defeats the purpose of why I purchased this particular amp in the first place

Because H&K is a german company, there's no real support with them directly. After messaging the site, I was contacted by yorkville sound, the american/canadian H&K distributor. It took me about a total of 3-4 weeks to get the amp repaired-from the RA# to receiving it back. I've been waiting for another RA# for a week now, so we'll see how that goes.

I've been playing for almost 6 years now, and this is the only tube amp I've ever owned. I use it through a mesa-boogie cabinet. It sounds great, looks great, and that's why it breaks my heart that it fails even when I take the utmost care of it. I purchased it by reading all good and bad reviews. Some have gotten a fully working head, others have had numerous problems. My final line to Buyers- You'll get a great sounding, versatile amp, but your chance of reliability is 50-50

2007
This amp is very versatile, my band plays rock - hard rock and it fits very well , it has 4 channels with a midi pedal ( which broke after a year , called hk and had a brand new one in less then a week no probs since). Wish it had a noise gate, never need the ulra channel, all tube 4 pwr and 2 pre. Have used it for extensive gigging and recording with no problems, seen one review here saying it broke down all the time along with his friends hk's ( must abuse it or got a lemmon i have had the exact opposite experience, too bad for him , missing out on a great amp.

I use old (pre korean ) Aria pro 2 urchin, les paul and gibson sg
suits are style wonderfully.
little noisy on high gain

Like I listed above only one problem with foot switch and hk replaced free of charge in less then a week

replaced my footswitch in less then a week

I have been playing for 27 years and love this amp. I used to use a digitech rp-12 with art dual 15 band eq bbe 482i sonic maximizer and a powere amp sounded good but had to carry aroun a lot of stuff. Not Now

This switchblade was made in 2008. I was planning on buying one Brand New from Long & McQuade for $1750 CAD because they don't go up in the classifieds very often. Coincidentally, the very night before I was planning to go out and buy it, an ad popped up on the local craigslist.

I play mostly Post-Hardcore and Progressive, though my current band sounds more Saosin-esqe. I was looking for a good versatile tube head (I had been considering Dual Rectifiers), and I heard that they used this amp in the studio on their self-titled debut LP so I decided to check it out.

One of the main things that sold me on this amp is it's versatility. It has four different sounds (Clean, Crunch, Lead and Ultra) that all operate from one channel. Normally this would pose a significant problem to anyone Who wanted to use more than one sound in quick succession, but the included MIDI footswitch makes my life (and the lives of many others) quite simple. The footswitch stores up to 128 presets (32 banks, four presets each), each retaining the master volume, presence, three band EQ and gain settings you were using at the time it was saved as well as weather your FX loop was activated. This Amp has no headphone jack, but Who uses headphones with a 100w tube head?

One drawback to this amp is the construction of the footswitch. The MIDI cable is hardwired into the board, so transportation is a bit precarious. The wiring is also flimsy. When I first bought it I was having trouble getting it to Switch, so I opened up the plug on the amp-end. One of the wires was touching and grounding out the others stopping the signal from reaching the amp. If you ever have a problem switching, the first place to check is the cable. I had to re-solder mine to get it to work again.

I haven't had the opportunity to use this amp Live yet, or in the studio, but I'm confident it will be more than capable in both environments. Taking the volume up to 9 o'clock is enough to rattle the windows in my studio, but this is with my slant cab. With a closed-back 1X12 cab, I see no reason not to use this amp in the studio. As I said before, Saosin did, and they got some pretty legit sounding results as far as guitar sound goes. Just be sure your iso booth is bomb-proof. ;)

Another great feature is the onboard FX section. The amp has digital reverb, delay and modulation and they all sound very good for digital FX. The fact that you don't need to waste time or money on pedals is a huge bonus, but if you rely on a complex rig night in, night out, don't be hasty to get rid of it. I use very basic FX.

I've been using my Gibson SG Standard with stock ceramic pickups (498T in the bridge, 490R in the neck). I've been wanting to build a guitar for quite some time now, in which I plan to put an EMG 81/85 tag-team, but for now the SG sounds fine.

I'm amazed at how well this amp does what I need it to do. Again my band is a modern geared hardcore-emoish type thing. We tend to vary between clean and heavily saturated sounds frequently. This amp nails both and all points in between.

A really cool thing about this amp is that you can get it to sustain at bedroom levels of volume. It sings like crazy. It doesn't have much background noise at all moving into the higher volumes, and consider that I don't even have a noise-gate. I have been in close proximity to the amp whenever I've used it, and feedback has never been an issue as long as I pay attention and dial the volume on my guitar down when I'm not playing (I used to use a little 15w Marshall solid-state for practice, but it sounds so bad compared to the H&K that I even use the head for quiet practice).

The clean channel is quite interesting. The presence setting really affects the character of the sound, and I find myself tweaking presence a lot more than I used to on other amps. Since the gain knob is universal, it affects the clean channel just as it would the hi-gain channels. With the gain cranked I can get some nice breakup once I move past 9:00 on the volume, and a decent blues sound when below that (although I rarely play blues, and I doubt one would buy this amp for solely playing blues).

The crunch channel is not one that I use often. As the lead guitarist in my group I tend to gravitate towards the Lead and Ultra settings for more articulation, but the crunch setting is excellent in it's own right. It retains the californian sparkle of the clean channel, but the gain structure is inherently british as one would expect from an EL34 tubed amp. You can take the gain to a point where it would be capable of doing Metal, but I would reserve this channel for more pop-punk oriented music due to it's loose attack and lack of over-saturated gain. It reminds me of a Mesa Dual Rec or something similar.

The Lead channel is where it starts getting fun (or more fun than it already was if that's possible). You can take the gain right out of the Park on this channel, and since it's rich in overtones even without too much out of the presence knob, it really cuts through a band mix. The Ultra voicing is very similar, although it sounds more American and has the tighter attack of the two. It doesn't cut through the mix quite as much, but is my preferred channel because it's very articulate.

This amp is built like a tank, in Germany no less, so you know it's gonna survive a good beating. I haven't gigged with it at all yet, (as my band is in the writing process for it's first album) nor do I have a backup that would even remotely cover what this amp does, but I'm confident I wouldn't need a backup, though maybe a backup footswitch would be nice. I'm considering just sticking a MIDI jack in the board and buying a bunch of MIDI cables incase one fails.

I haven't had this amp long enough to judge it's long-term reliability, but I baby it. It usually sits on standby for five minutes before I cut the power, and I only crank it when I really get the urge. I give it a 9 based on other people's experience with the amp long-term.

I haven't dealt with H&K.

For a player oriented toward heavier (but not apocalyptic) music like myself, this amp is perfect. The onboard FX have really kickstarted my riff-writing and helped me break through a bout of writer's block. I've only been playing guitar for five years, but I play 24/7 so I think I have a pretty good idea of the ins and outs. I've used Mesa Rectifiers and Marshall JCMs and JVMs but none of these amps compare to the versatility and outright good sound of the Switchblade. If it were stolen I would buy it in a heartbeat, but since I don't have the money right now, I'll just get a pitbull or something to guard it. The best thing, I think, is that such a good sound can come out of a tube-modeling amp. I never thought I'd find an amp so versatile, but so good-sounding. There's not much to hate about this amp other than the MIDI cable.

I tried Mesa Dual and Triple Recs, Marshalls, Oranges and Traynors before settling on the Switchblade. I think I ended up with the H&K because of it's versatility, and it hasn't let me down.

This is the worst **** I have ever played in my life!!!!!!!!
The sound is pretty good but that doesn??t matter when on three of our gigs the amp has just died and i??m standing their like a clown and do nothing !!!!!!!! I had it on service for three times and then it works for a week but then same thing again , the amp brakes down... All the frieds I talked to have the same experience and this must mean that all this good reviews at harmony central must be done by employes of Hughes & Kettner since I haven+t heard a positive word regarding this amp from anynone I know using it??+ And on this forum everybody has great review of the amp??? The amp sucks sucks sucks and before you buy it please check with other people who has bought it because I??m sure they will never use a H&K amp again!!

The sound is good but who cares when it only works a couple of hours??

Please check my comments above?

I have mailed and mailed and mailed and maile but H&K doesn??t have customer support?? Made in Germany, Kiss my ***

What do you think

Mine was made in 2007, got it used, eveything works perfectly.

Amazing versatility; every knob is savable via the midi. The way that this works is because of the 256 resistor switches located behind every switch but the global master volume. The clean is a little flat, but I use effects with it so it sounds good to me. I play in an 80s metal band, covering classic to heavy metal sounds.
The crunch channel is great for rhythm. With the gain all the way up (the boost is engaged whenever it is past around 9) you can get some great tones. This is a very full channel, easy to get ACDC, Aerosmith tones here.
The lead is my favorite. Lynch tones are the obvious designation for this channel. The mids are naturally a little scooped via a set tone voicing for all channels. The gain is amazing, and with a little delay this is the lead tone.
The ultra channel is great for anything of the newer metal genera. Almost like a triple rec with EL34's, the gain is amazing! Other reviewers have said like a mesa, but different... that is defiantly correct.
The verdict; with the midi, this is the most flexible rig in a head out there.

I use a Fender Showmaster with the stock humbucker in the bridge. A great guitar, pinch harmonics a la Zakk Wylde is easy to pull off with the gain of 1/2 on the lead channel. Even on the crunch it is possible.
This amp is made for metal, not recommended for blues...
The distortion is amazing at all levels, but a noise gate might be wise.
One reviewer mention replacing the tubes; do it. The tubes it comes with are ok, but after new ones, this is even better.
If you really worry about the tubes, check out the new version, the TCS @ HK's website. It had a system that automatically re-biases the tubes every so often.

I havent had much experience with it, but the amp i own is two years old, midi footswitch hasn't pooped out yet... Keeping my fingers crossed. I have heard a lot of bad raps about the midi lead cable...

The warranty is 2 years. When i had questions, they got back to me within a few days. I am lucky, i have a service center near me so if it goes bad i can get it fixed.

I have been playing for around 6 / 7 years, metal metal, metal, classic rock, and many other styles. Great all around head.

It would be nice if the effects had a depth knob.
The midi would be great if it had a din plug in the pedal instead of it being hardwired.

I purchased this amp in mid 2008.

tube head
4 channels
chorus, flanger, tremolo and delay on-board
programmable, 128 presets
footswitch, tap delay possible

...and some other features I haven't used yet

I mostly play guitars equipped with humbuckers, mainly a Gibson LP Classic (1993) and another G-style guitar I built (2008).
I play alternative rock and this amp somehow seems to be made for me. I use it live as well as in the studio.

Before going into sounds I need to point out that the main reason for purchasing this amp was not the sound itself but rather its versatility. Before the switchblade I played a Laney LC30 Combo over a 4x12 box, using several effect pedals. What really pissed me off was that I had to step on 3 foot switches to change from "clean with slight delay and chorus" to a "dry high gain". With the Swtitchblade I'm able to do so with only one step!

CLEAN:
Other reviews pointed out that the clean channel is harsh. Well, I'd rather call it cold, which is not a disadvantage for me. I never use the clean channel without effect and the direct and cold character of this channel allows to us plenty of (on-board) effects and still sounds clear. The Laney LC30 clean channel is definitely warmer. It depends on what you need. For me, the Switchblade clean sound is more than ok!

CRUNCH:
Provides quite a wide range of gain. Like the clean channel it is also pretty direct. I use this one more than the clean channel, again with the on-board effects. Clear and direct sound...cuts through the band pretty well.

LEAD:
Definitely the on I use most and I really like it. Unlike clean and crunch, this channels sound warmer to my ears. I use this one with pretty much gain but no effects on it and it provides a modern heavy rock sound with plenty of punch.

ULTRA:
Brutal...too much for me, so I can't really comment on it!

EFFECTS:
Nothing special but good quality...I can't complain!

CONCLUSION:
This amp sounds really good and fits to the kind of music I play. But I also need to say that in general, it tends to be cold, especially on the clean and crunch channel.
Comparing the Switchblade with a Mesa Triple Rectifier, it doesn't reach the Mesa's sound quality but it comes close. I'm not the kind of guitarist who can hear the grass growing, especially when a whole band is playing, and for me the comfort of the HK is more important than the slightly better Mesa overall sound...not to mention the price ;-)

I use this thing for about a year now, live and in the studio. No problems with the amp so far (and I carried it around a lot) but the foot switch is a weak point. The components seem to be OK but the midi plug showed really bad soldering work. I repaired it myself and had no problems since.
Anyway, since this concern was already raised in other reviews, HK should react and put more effort in making the pedal more reliable.

No need to contact them so far -> no opinion!

I'm playing for 15 years now and had the chance to check several amps. Speaking of sound quality only, the Mesa Triple Rec. is my favorite...but sound is not everything. A year from now I was doing gigs with too much stuff to haul (especially effect pedals). With the Switchblade, all I need is the head and 4x12. Comfort on all sides ;-)

I don't want to leave a wrong impression: The equipment I used before (Laney LC30, Silvertube 4x12, Damage Control Demonizer, Line 6 Modulation Modeler, Nobels Stereo Chorus, Ibanez ?? Delay, Ibanez ?? Flanger) sounded pretty good and I liked it a lot! The Switchblade is easily able to keep that sound level adding the huge advantage of versatility and easy handling!

If you're up to buy this amp, check it out first! Others don't like it! I do!

Cheers,
Thomas

There is no need to go into the features as they have been listed by many other reviewers

Just wanted to put in my 2 cents as I have been using the switchblade head for almost a year in a very active coverband. Let me start off by saying the cabinet/speakers you use as with any head greatly effect your tone, I currently have 2 different cabinets, I have the Hughes & Kettner 4x12 cab (sc-412a) and a b-52 2x12 cabinet loaded with Celestion v30's,, I find the v30's sound best with this head as they give it a much darker beefed up sound,,,now to the channels!

Clean - I don't really use this channel much, but it is a crystal clear clean, I find it lacks warmth thou

Crunch - This channel ROCKS! You can get that nice Marshall 'brown' sound aka, AC/DC, I use this channel alot,,even for clean stuff,, I just lower the gain down,,I find this channel 'cuts' thru the mix really well,,the gain on this channel is not really overwhelming,,reminds me alot of a Marhshall jcm800

Lead - I probaly use this channel the most,, sounds like a "beefed" up marhshall,,tons of gain, great for rythem/lead,,it sounds like the crunch channel, but with alot more gain and also more compressed sounding

Ultra - I don't use this channel at all,,it's geared much more to the "Nu-Metal" generation,,scooped mids, very compressed sounding,,it's not bad sounding just not what I'm geared towards

NOTE - The lead/ultra channels are VERY noisy,,the only really downside to this amp in my opinion, a noise gate is a MUST, I use the mxr smart gate,, some noise still creeps thru, although thru the years I have gotten very good with my volume pot on my guitar so it doesn't affect me that much

Now the the effects:
Chorus/Flanger/Tremelo,,the effects are good, there is no "mix' option which is another downside, but all 3 effects are good, my band does everything from Journey to Korn, and I'm pretty much able to get any crazy sounding effect I want
Delay - the delay is GREAT,, sounds like any rack/pedal delay out there, plus the "tap" function is great

My current equipment is: I have TWO Gibson Les Paul standards,,one is stock the other I replaced the pickups with Dimazio super distortions
Fender American Strat with seymour duncan hot rails to beef up the sound
Fender 72 Tele re-issue
pedals are: Dunlop volume pedal, Tube Screamer, Boss Tuner, MXR Smart gate, Wah pedal

I find the stock Les Paul to sound the best.

Haven't had any issues so far (knock on wood),,I know some people have had problems with the footswitch,,I keep my head and pedal in roadcases.

NON existant,, tried getting in touch with them a couple of times via email,, never got a response. I just recently found out that Pearl handles H&K repairs in the US,, never tried contacting them

Like i said before I play in a very active cover band, to me this head is just great. I can pretty much dial in any sound I want,, and yes it sounds like a tube head thru and thru,,because it is. This amp is VERY tweakable,, you need to sit down with it and have patience to get the sound u want,, a good way to start is with the "rockstar" presets as a beginning point. This amp is the LOUDEST head i ever heard,, way too much power in my opinion, wish it came in a 50w version,, my volume never goes past 1 1/2 and i play in some large venues. Like I said it is extremely noisy so get good with ur volume pot and get a noise gate. I've been playing for 20 years and have tried alot of gear,,to me this head is up there with much more expensive equipment, my other guitar player has a marhshall jcm900, I personally think my sound blows his away. If you're sick of having alot of pedals and need something versatil this is the amp for you, if it were lost or stolen I would probaly try something else as I'm a gear head and am always looking for something better although I would have no problem getting this again.

This amp is amazing. The progammable channel feature is the best thing to come out period. With a simple foot stomp I can switch my tones from Steeler's Wheels to Metallica and everything in between. The on board effects are *ok*. Nothing awesome, but a nice little feature to have incase of a dead battery on stage or some other circumstance. The effects loop is way underrated. Sounds awesome when you get set it right with your outboard effects.

I'm currently running a H&K Switchblade 100w head through an ashdown 4x12 cab wired to 4 ohms (Makes a huge difference over the standard 8), and I use a Tonelab LE running through the effects loop with a midi cable to do channel select and use the board effects (no amp models), a boss super overdrive and a Gibson Les Paul Studio with EMG 81/85. I can make any tone I want come out from this amp. I play in a very active cover band, and almost everytime (between a combination of stompboxes in my board and amp tone) I can match a tone perfectly to the original song. Always getting comments about how it sounds like the original song.

Haven't had this break down yet and it's coming up on a year.

Bought it as a *B Stock*. Full warrenty, but more than half off the original price. Had some questions at the start and was answered quickly by H&K

Love this amp. I would never give it up. When I go to a music store and try out their high end Marshalls (JVM and TSL) or even the Mesa Rectifiers, I'm always let down. Nothing competes for me.

My amp was made in 2007. Very versatile for metal and classic rock.The chorus and delay come in handy and the Flange is nice. 100 watt head is very loud and powerfull can push any 4x12 cab. Sounds best with vintage 30s loaded in cabinet.

I play a Jackson with seymore duncans, and a Peavey Wolfgang with Dimarzios.Both guitars sound great. Lots of susutain, can hold a note for days. Be carefule with the gain easy to feed back and loud. You will have to fine tune your sound and then your set.I get lots of people telling me how great this amp sounds.

Ok my first amp from AMS the volume pot went out but American music supply replaced it fast and easy. They are the best. The second amp was fine.

I did call them once to ask something and they did call me back.

I have been playing over 20 years and have owned several amps and I have to say My Hughes and Kettner Switchblade blows them all away. Ive had Marshalls,Peaveys, Carvin, ADA mp 1 rack pre amps and this bad boy rocks harder than all of them. Now I did replace the tubes which greatly improved the the tone and distortion. Groove Tubes (el34) and electro harmonic for the 12ax7s. I am a Hughe Alex Lifeson of Rush fan and after hearing his Switchblades in concert I knew I had to get one and I wasnt dissapointed.

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.

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.