Hughes & Kettner Switchblade 100 TSC Head

This a German company who designs high quality guitar amps for touring musicians and the average consumer. They guitar amps that range from just a few hundred dollars to several thousand. These amps have a loyal following from many varies musical genres.

This amp is a cross between a Triamp and a Coreblade. You get the same channels and features of the Triamp with the voicing, but also the versatility of the Coreblade. What this means is that you have a midi 128 presets that can be store within the amp itself. You also get the effects like delay, modulation and reverb built into the amp. Plus you have TSC technician on board that will bias your amp and also let you known if you are experiencing tube problems.

UTILIZATION


Channels Clean: Californian, Crunch: Classic British, Lead: British Hi-Gain, Ultra: American Hi-Gain
Power 100 Watts
Poweramp Shipped with 4x EL34, but also 6L6GC applicables
Preamp 2x 12AX7
Modeling No
Effects 3 independant Digital-FX processors: Reverb, Delay, Modulation (Chorus, Flanger, Tremolo)
Effects Loop serial/parallel
MIDI built in
Footswitch/Stageboard MIDI-Board FSM-432 included
Switching Functions 4xPreset, Bank up, Bank down, Tap Delay
Special Features Tube Safety Control (TSC) ;all Controls are fully programmable, included MIDI-Board
Presets 128 user presets
Speaker Outputs 1x 4 Ohms, 1x 8 Ohms or 2x 16 Ohms, 1x 16 Ohms
Suggested Speaker Cabinet VC 412 A/B 30, VC 412 A/B 25
Dimensions 750 x 286 x 258 mm
Weight 17,6 kg/40 lbs

SOUNDS

This amp has the tone of the Triamp and the versatility of the Coreblade. So if you need something that covers a lot of ground then this a great amp to start.

This amp also has some effects build right into it. You have the option of some delay, chorus, flanger, phaser, and tremolo and also some added reverb to help color your tone a little bit. You also have a button on the front of the control panel that allows you to click in the effects loop and then even more versatility by clicking in the serial effects loop.

This amp has three channels and six modes. Each channel has two different modes of operation. For the clean you can get a nice Fender like clean and click the next mode you'll get a British style clean much like a Marshall plexi. On the second channel you have a crunch channel. The first mode is a classic rock tone from a Marshall style voiced amp. Next you have then a hot rodded tone from a Marshall style amp. This gets you great vinatge classic rock tones for music such as AC/DC or Led Zeppelin. The third and final channel you get over the top gain and distortion. The first mode is a hot rodded British gain for most hard rock and metal. Then to top it all off you have an insane amount of gain for the second mode. This mode is for modern playing or dripped tuning. Great for modern metal and hard rock.

OVERALL OPINION

At new these amp comes in at around $1299, which is a great price for an amp this versatile. It is a mix of tub and digital so if you can't handle a digital amp the this is a miss for you. I would recommend this amp to anyone who needs a good gigging amp that can get a lot of work in and be extremely versatile for covers songs and a 2-3 hour set list.