Hughes and Kettner Switchblade Guitar Amplifier Head (100 Watts)

Feature:
The midi pedal with tap tempo works well. I also have a marshall 2 button footswitch that I use to turn the effects on/off and loop on/off. Unfortunately, I still have to take a wah and tuner. If these were included, I could go without anything. And I could live without a wah if the tuner was built in. I used a Line6 MM4 modulation modeler in the loop for easy access to effects on any preset and it worked well. A friend uses a TC Electronics Gmajor in the loop and it works well too.

Quality:
Seems well made, but not as tough as my other amps. I keep it in a case as I don't think it will handle bumps as well as other amps.

Value:
It covers a lot of ground for the price.

Desirability:
The technical marvel part is what sets this amp apart. I'm happy to be done with 5 different gain pedals on my board. I get it all from the amp.

Sound:
I have several boutique amps (Naylors, Bogner), vintage Fenders, a Marshall Silver Jubilee, modern amps (PV JSX, modded PV Classic 30, HK Tube 50). I have tried all kinds of digital modeling amps and was never happy with them. I've been gigging with the HK Switchblade head for a month and I've been really happy with it. It covers a WIDE variety of tones and the built in effects really sound good live. I'll probably switch to a 50 watt combo for size, but this is a great gigging amp. My advice is to start programming by using the rock star preset manual they recently came out with. That was a HUGE help.

Ease of Use:
This amp is VERY tweakable. At first I didn't like it. Then I got the rock star preset manual and got a much better idea of what worked for me by trying all the settings.

Support:
I had contact with the company through myspace and that's how I got the new rock star preset manual. They were helpful and fairly prompt. A friend had a warranty issue on his Switchblade head and frankly, the service was extremely slow and frustrating. Once he had to send it back for repair and it took way too long. He had another issue right when they sent it back to him and it took several phone calls, several unfilled promises from HK and then he finally received new tubes that took care of the problem. Frankly, they really need to improve their service on warranty repair work.

Feature:
The channel switching is great... but the footswitch isn't built too well. One of the buttons is really difficult to press. It'd also be nice if the footswitch had a simple fx on/off switch. Instead you'd have to switch between two almost identical presets... one w/ and one w/out the effect.

Quality:
The head does have some build problems. One of the knob covers slipped off within a month and has to be glued back on or something. The button in the footswitch has that one sticky button. The bottom is uneven, but it was discounted in my case for this very reason. Inside the head there have been no problems, except that sometimes you can still hear sounds if you play the guitar whilst the amp is in standby. Dunno if that's normal.

Value:
If it were just a little cheaper I'd give it a 10! It's great compared to anything else I tried in the price range, though.

Desirability:
Great entry level tube amp, but it might not just be the one you keep for life.

Sound:
I love the sound of this thing. It might be personal preference, but I'm very happy with what I get out of the amp. The lead guitar sounds great to me. Very expressive, and it sits well in the mix. The distortion is a pretty specific flavor, but I've grown to really like it. It sounds better than many amps do for heavy downtuned stuff. It doesn't quite match up to a Mesa for that very distorted, crunchy, tight, thrash metal sound... at last not so far as I've experienced. The sort of semidistorted, crunchy sound is pretty sweet and dynamic as well. The clean is better than it is on most amps that sound this good distorted. The downside is that the effects are just not that good. The delay and reverb are useable, but I'm not floored by either. The chorus is almost useless to me. It doesn't sound good and it's not versatile enough. It's also got kind of a specific sound... quite a modern one... somewhere in between. Not as old school as marshall, heavier than a peavey, but not as extremely hot and punchy as something like a mesa. If it's the right sound for you , then this is a really good deal for the money. Better than anything else I found!

Ease of Use:
Pretty straightforward! Takes a little while to understand the sound and be able to get what you want.

Support:
Haven't talked to them yet.