Hughes & Kettner Switchblade

[ric232]

Anyone know anything about these other than what's on their website? I've been looking to step up to a high quality amp and this might be worth the wait.

[jl2556]

I was looking at them last night myself..
Great concept...I would like to hear one.
I'm going to try out a H & K Alex Lifeson signature trilogy
amp tomorrow

[bduersch]

Yeah, I just got a brochure for the Switchblade... seems like a great concept to mate a 4-channel tube preamp with a tube power amp, digital FX section, and MIDI control. And it feels like a good value for the $. My biggest concern is that it only has two preamp tubes, so more of the gain may be coming from transistors & such than other tube amps, so time will tell how good the distortions really are.

Because I'm a MIDI control freak, I've been looking a bit at the Zinky Superfly, which has full MIDI control, a lot more preamp tubes, but no digital FX. Then again, it's like $1000 more than the Switchblade.

Side note... Doesn't Lifeson have a signature Triamp, not Trilogy? I only ask because I was seriously looking into the Triamp until I realized that the Trilogy has comparable features for about half the price. Plus, most people who've played both the Trilogy & Triamp say they're both tone machines. So I figured if I could save $1500 with the Trilogy, it's money well spent (er, saved).

--B

[jl2556]

Your right, his is the Triamp MKII, not a Trilogy
Sorry....
Your right about the price, Mus. Friend has it for
$3,279!!! I found the Trioloy for $1,599 shipped on
another site

[bduersch]

If you do get a chance to play either the Triamp or the Trilogy, though, I expect a full report. The only H&K dealer around here doesn't keep either of them in stock, so it'd be one of those blind faith orders.

--B

[rgr]

Originally Posted by bduersch

My biggest concern is that it only has two preamp tubes, so more of the gain may be coming from transistors & such than other tube amps, so time will tell how good the distortions really are.

2 preamp tubes is 4 stages of gain, it's pretty standard, granted there are alot of amps that use more these days. Amps with 3 preamp tubes are only using 2 for the preamp, the last tube (in any tube amp) is the phase inverter and isn't really adding to the gain stages. Splawn gets plenty of gain from the 2 preamp tubes in his amps which are basically modded Marshalls.

That said, H&K amps are usually pretty high tech, so I'm sure they are using some SS circuitry in the preamp.

[jl2556]

O.K. I went to play the . Lifeson Triamp MKIII today(#114).
I was very pleased!!!!
It has 2 gain controls for each of the 3 chan.I thought that
was cool...
Well, here it goes,

Channel 1:Was very, very clean,even at higher volumes.
It would break up if you had the gain past the 3 'oclock
position, lots of headroom!!!!

Channel 2: Really great chunch tones and I really mean that.
So many amps "claim" to have good chunch but the gain falls
way short.Not too much gain,even when the gain is all the way up.

Channel 3 (oh man,...channel 3!!!!)
Well, it is very clear with high gain settings!!!! I did notice that
when the gain was at 80% or better, if the bass was too high,
it lost a little definition ( not a real big deal)

I didn't play with any effects at all, just straight into the amp.
The amp is so warm,yet not muddy at all. The amp is so good at
making big adjustments when you fool with the eq settings.I think
that's important because that shows the amp is not "voiced"
really heavy to do only 1 or 2 sounds really well.
Also, the tone of the amp is always "warm" with plenty of
definition.
MY ONLY COMPLAINT is that it doesn't have a "depth" control.
The amp I have now does and man what a differance in low end.
Every high gain amp should have one in my hemble opinion....

Overall I was really impressed, except for the price. I would go
for the Trilogy, as it is so close to the Lifeson model and is $1,600
cheaper

[bduersch]

Thanks for the review... sounds pretty sweet!

The more I read about it, the more tempting the Trilogy sounds... I've been looking for a midi-controllable tube head with at least 3 channels, and (with the exception of the Carvin V3) the Trilogy is one of the best deals in terms of available tones for the $. Other interesting options include the Zinky Superfly, Laney TT's, Rivera Knucklehead, Framus Cobra/Dragon, Rocktron Vendetta/Egnater TOL, and some of the ENGL's. Lots of amps I have no means of trying before buying. So if I take chance on buying an amp I've never heard, I might as well go with the Trilogy, since it lights up blue (and if there's no guarantee of sounding good, I might as well look good).

--B

[bduersch]

Well, in an interesting change of events... I spent a couple weeks trying to hunt down an H&K Trilogy, but couldn't find any dealers that had them in stock, and I wasn't exactly in the mood to spend a lot of time waiting for an amp I'd never tried to get shipped. So after a few days of poking around looking at other amps, I found a used H&K Triamp II for sale and jumped on it.

D@#$ this is one sweet amp!! To me, there's something cool about an amp that you can plug in, set every control on '5', and get a great tone right out of the box with no tweaking. All 6 of the channels on this amp are toneful and usable... the first four are very reminiscent of a punchy Fender DR, chimy Vox, crunchy Plexi, and smooth modded Plexi (think Brown sound). The 2 high gain channels are a little more unique... one sings sort of like a Mesa Mark IV with a couple EL34's in it (a bit grittier/grainier than the standard 6L6's). The sixth channel has a bit more gain, a little more scooped in the EQ, so it's better for tight riffing--warmer, thicker than any rectifier I've ever played, but equally aggressive.

I'm not sure how long it will be before I have an opportunity to gig with the Triamp, but I can't wait to record with it. I'll post some clips up here as soon as I do.

--B