Tube Amplification Plus Digital Modeling Equals A Dent in the Wallet?
Written: Feb 13 '07 (Updated Sep 23 '07)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Versatile tube sounds matched with nice effects and presets
Cons: Price, fifty watts may not be enough volume for some
The Bottom Line: The Switchblade melds tube sounds with digital effects and preset convenience. It's great for the gigging guitarist who needs lots of top sounds fast.
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| buffoonery's Full Review: Hughes & Kettner Switchblade 50 Combo |
Hughes & Kettner has an excellent reputation as a manufacturer of tube and digital amps, particularly on the high-end side. The Switchblade 50 Combo under review here (also available in 100 watt Combo and 100 watt head) is a high-quality addition to the company’s line, combining tube amplification with the convenience of digital modeling and presets. It’s a great sounding, powerful amp whose presets make it particularly attractive for live performance for players who require a wide variety of sounds for their song selection.
The 50 Combo is a four-channel combo powered by two EL34 tubes in the power amp and two 12AX7s in the preamp, driving one 12” Eminence Rockdriver speaker rated at 50 watts at 8 ohms. Like any tube amp at this wattage (tube amps are always louder than solid state amps of similar wattage), this amp is plenty loud and well-suited to any small to medium-ish club (you may find it drowning out other instruments at top volumes in those venues; it isn’t big enough for large ones). There are four channels: Clean, Crunch, Lead, and Ultra, controlled by a single chicken head selector knob. The Clean channel is a clear “California” lead (ideal for Strats), the Crunch delivers a Brit clean-to-dirty tone, the Lead a hi-gain Marshall-ish sound, and the Ultra a modern hi-gain sound ala Mesa.
There is only one set of volume and tone controls: master volume, bass, mids, treble, presence plus gain. (The included MIDI board is used for managing the 128 user presets, 64 of which are set by H&K and the other 64 are identical for overwriting or tweaking.. Note: H&K has made 64 presets available for downloading on its website.) Each tone control (and the gain as well) has been individually tweaked for the most efficient tone-shaping for each channel. Very important: the Master volume setting can differ according to preset and channel. This allows the player to make certain that his volume will be the same when he switches presets (the Clean channel is softer than the other channels so this is very important when switching in the middle of a performance).
I would find it difficult to believe that a competent, demanding guitarist couldn’t find a sound to his liking out of this amp. There’s plenty of range from soaring clean Let It Rain Clapton leads to Mick Ralphs power chord crunch to Petrucci zooms to Ron Woods dirty rhythm.
So far, you’ve got a really nice sounding versatile 50 watt tube amp. But is it worth $1,300 give or take, when you get a nice sounding tube amp for less. The extra value comes from two things: 1) digital modeling, and 2) the presets. You can deploy three effects simultaneously: a digital spring reverb, a delay (with volume, time of 80 mil to 1.4 sec, and feedback controls), and your choice of chorus, flanger or tremelo. The effects are very nice—creamy chorus, warm reverb, and the like. These are worth some cash, unless you’ve already invested in pedals, in which case they may be extraneous, except for the fact that you can store presets.
This preset feature, controlled by the included foot board, adds some real value. There are 128 presets stored in 32 banks. You can select either directly to another sound, or scroll through and your current sound holds on until you find the next one. There is a Tap button for changing the Delay’s time parameter and controls for switching to external devices. Making presets is straightforward and there are LED’s for letting you know where you are.
Also included are various FX loops, external speaker jacks, MIDI connections, on/off and standby switches, and the rest. The excellent sixty-eight page manual is written in a number of languages, about fourteen of which are in English. It’s not quite as good as a Mesa manual, but much better than manuals I’ve read by other well-known firms.
Like any other amp, you need to listen to this one to see if it fits your needs. What you get for your cash is a very versatile amp delivering a wide-range of clean to dirty to massive gain tones. Couple with some nice effects and a very, very useful preset package, this amp could be ideal for many gigging guitarists who need a wide variety of tones, especially in the middle of a song. It may not deliver the precise, specific tones that a Marshall, Mesa, or Fender fan may demand, but for someone who needs lots of great tones fast, this amp deserves a very close look.
Technical specifications
Channels Clean: Californian, Crunch: Classic British, Lead: British Hi-Gain, Ultra: American Hi-Gain
Power 50 Watts
Poweramp 2x EL34
Preamp 2x 12AX7
Effects 3 independant Digital-FX processors: Spring Reverb, Delay, Modulation (Chorus, Flanger, Tremolo)
Effects Loop serial/parallel
MIDI built in
Footswitch/Stageboard MIDI-Board FS-M 32/4 inclusive
Switching Functions 4x Preset, Bank up, Bank down, Tap
Special Features All Controls are fully programmable, included MIDI-Board
Presets 64 presets times two
Speaker Outputs 1x 4 Ohms, 1x 8/2x 16 Ohms, 1x 16 Ohms
Speakers 1x 12" Eminence® Rockdriver 60
Dimensions 500 x 600 x 285 mm
Weight 22,8 kg/ 50 lbs
Here are my other amplifier reviews:
Marshall Super 100 JH
Peavey Classic 30 Combo
Crate Power Block
Roland Micro Cube
Mesa 5:25 Express
Mesa Stiletto Ace
Fender Cyber Twin
Line 6 Vetta II Combo
Mesa 5:50 Express
Line 6 Spider III 75
Mesa Lone Star Combo
Vox Valvetronix AD60VT
Mesa Stiletto Deuce
Mesa Triple Rectifier Head
Fender DSP 65
Peavey Triple XXX Head
Fender Super Sonic 1x12 Combo
Hughes and Kettner Switchblade 50 Combo
Fender MH 500 Metalhead
64 Fender Vibroverb Custom Blackface
Mesa Dual Rectifier Roadster
Peavey Penta Head
Peavey JSX Joe Satriani Signature Head
Line 6 Spider II Head
Crate Acoustic CA30
Line 6 Flextone III Plus
And you may also be interested in a few books such as:
Hugo Pinksterboer – Tipbook Amplifiers and Effects
Ritchie Fliegler – Amps: The Other Half of Rock and Roll
Michael Ross – Getting Great Guitar Sounds: A Non-Technical Approach to Shaping Your Personal Sound
Recommended:
Yes
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