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Hughes & Kettner Switchblade 100 Guitar Amp Head
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The Switchblade 100 guitar amp head has 4 channels that put the full arsenal of classic tones at your fingertips, from spine-tingling clean and crunch to singing lead and crushing, saturated sound. It seamlessly integrates all-tube preamp and power ...
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Searched Hughes & Kettner Switchblade 100 Guitar Amp Head in Reviews
Switchblade Test 
| Sound |
Now I was amazed at what this amp can produce from only 2 preamp tubes. The clean channel is very nice and warm, so is the crunch channel. The lead channel sounds a little tamed for me but is pretty "oldschool". The Ultra channel is for very very high gain up to near "mesa" like sounds. Now many say this amp lacks character, I do not think so. The channels are rather "modeled" after other amps and the amp has no "own" sound. But unlike digital modelling amp it produces very good results and you can find excellent sounds. In fact it is like having a fender, 2 marshalls and a mesa in your bag at once.
Now the effects are nice and for digital effects the reverb and delay sound very nice and nearly as good as some rack effects that cost as much as this amp alone. The modulation effects (chorus, flanger) are for subtile use ok, but do not sound very good to me compared to some real stompboxes out there. So I would only use them rarely.
The presets are in fact pretty ok and nice to play around with, so you get the idea. Most sounds I wanted I got, by selecting a preset that was close to what I want and then fiddling a bit with the settings.
Although you have to say that this amp is very picky on cabs. I would recommend a 2x12 or 4x12 closed cab with Jensen Neos rather than the typical Celestions.
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| Reliability |
For the short time I had it to test it made the impression that it was build for the road. I also had it in a H&K amp gigbag which is nice and gets the job done. For more road use I would recommend a case though.
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| Customer Support |
I used the Email support for some questions and they were very nice and answers came within 24 hours.
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| Liked about it |
It has a good tube sound, it can produce lots of different sounds if you like to fiddle with it and has decent effects built in. The floorboard is also very nice.
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| Didn't like |
It has no real own character. You will never go along and say well -> that sounds like a switchblade.
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| Overall satisfaction: |
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4.0 |
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Great sounding amp worth the investment, despite t
| Sound |
While I have a variety of different guitars, my main "go-to" guitars are my Ibanez RG 770DX and 760 series with Dimarzio Super 3 bridge pickups, and either Super 2, Evolution, or PAF PRO neck pickups. I change the middle pickup to taste, but sometimes it's an Evolution middle, True Velvet, or Pro Track if I want a heavier sound. This amp is able to adapt to any guitar provided you're willing to take the time to work with the EQ and pair the amp with speakers that best suit your sound. I played this amp through Vintage 30's for a while and didn't think much of it, but once I switched it to a cabinet with GT-50's the amp came alive, in my opinion. The controls, especially the EQ are highly interactive and small changes make large differences. You can get a fairly good crunch sound on the clean channel with the gain dimed, and it's all up from there. The Ultra channel with the boost engaged has punishing amounts of distortion, yet isn't all that noisy. The different tones available in between cover the entire spectrum, Fender shimmering cleans to Marshall crunch to over-the-top metal. You just need to put in the time and tweak to your settings. The on-board effects are good, but not great, and are present, but not over-the-top. Again, adjust to taste. I use them mostly on the clean channel only.
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| Reliability |
This amp has been solid and I've had it for just over two years. The only issue I've ever had with it was shortly after arrival one of the power tubes worked its way out of the socket due to thermal expansion. I re-seated the tube and haven't had any issues with it since.
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| Customer Support |
I dealt with customer support regarding a different amp and they were extremely helpful, even providing parts for free when they didn't have to. Great experience.
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| Liked about it |
I love the fact that it is an all-tube amp (despite the controversy) with on-board effects, MIDI controllable, and the vast number of sounds available. Plus, the Hughes & Kettner tone sets you apart from the standard Marshall/Fender/Mesa tones. Put in the time, and this amp will set you apart from the rest.
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| Didn't like |
The foot controller, for a MIDI controller, doesn't really provide any information about the patches or the ability to name them, so you pretty much have to remember what your patches are. You'll probably want to get a more flexible MIDI controller. The manufacturer would have done well to indicate that the controls are highly interactive as I fear many people will be put off by this amp simply because they don't take the time to adjust it to their tastes.
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| Overall satisfaction: |
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4.0 |
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internal use: spec76 spec397 spec571
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