just got a H&K switchblade 100 head

[rabies]

$450 (non-TSC) used.

re-tubed with some old JJ KT77 and E34L power tubes. ~60% MPD (so less than hot for now but probably hotter than Mesa!).

pretty impressed so far with the clean, haven't cranked yet (will do that today @ studio).

toroidal OT and PT. what's the adv/disadv of toroidal vs. classic box-shaped trannies?

 

[rabies]

btw, thx to racerevlon for the tip. Made in germany for $450? damn.

 

[rabies]

btw2, i've decided to keep my VM2266 and sell the Rivera S120, anyone interested holler, i had caps replaced and biased a few months back @ Rivera burbank.

 

[racerevlon]

Glad to help! That's a smokin' price on an extremely flexible amp. Just remember, take your time with it--little changes go a long way, and if you're not digging the tones, try different speakers--H&K amps are extremely sensitive to the speakers you use (In my personal experience).

Now go shake the walls!!

 

[university81]

grats =0 smokin price too

h&k just don't seem to sell on the used market hence the crazy prices, i lost 70% off the price i paid for the statesman i had new =( didn't help they chopped the price by a 1/3 5 months after i bought it but that's how it goes, good amps as well with useable features

 

[Anonymous]

my bud has one of these, and he loves it.

CLIPS OR DIE!

 

[snakeman1986]

 

[rabies]

I have 2 kids now so maybe not on the pix and clips, sorry. Plus i've been stuck in blues, dorian/m7 and mixolydian/dom7 for years now (e.g. Kind of Blue, nothing's shocking and BSSM). I don't practice enough anymore.

Anyways, it definitely had some Ministry-esque angst and power in it with the 2xE34L + 2xKT77. decent harmonic overtones when you let the chords sustain for a while. But it was squealing (microphonic tube feedback from a 12AX7?) most of the time even with the gain below noon. I'll need to re-tube the JJ's in the preamp. Maybe TungSol in V1 and something else in V2?

I ran it thru the Mesa 412 half back 90s cab (150 watt spkrs) @ 8 ohms. Then I ran my VM2266 with same cab and G major (chorus + delay) and that was totally different sounding. Those KT66 tubes totally sing and have great sustain. Very dynamic tone and feel to the 2266. But it seemed no where near as loud as the H&K and a lot of it may be lack of low-end/bass.

One thing I noticed with the H&K is that even though it's a very flexible amp, it's somewhat mediocre in terms of tones in each of the four channels. Not bad but definitely nothing to die for. I'll have to try it with my GFlex 212 but it's too loud for the house.

i'd say it's a good deal/steal for $450.

It's funny. after all these years (18 years) of playing guitar, my favorite sounds are Marshalls. Jane's, RHCP, Ministry, Led Zep, Hendrix, SRV and many others just killed with Marshalls.

I'm talking hard rock and blues specifically. Metal is owned by Mesa and I might be checking out the Royal Atlantic one of these days (too expensive for me though).

 

[rabies]

btw, I cranked the amp to noon and noon on both masters in crunch/lead channels. It's pretty damn loud with a 412.

 

[Red_Label]

Sweet deal! I was always curious about those. I owned a Triamp Mk I for a year and it was a sweetie. I still miss it. If I could stumble on one of those for under $800 I'd buy it in a second (though I don't really need it as my XTC and VHT Pittbull are doing fine for what I play).

Anyways... congrats! H&K amps are great amps at a great value. Same goes for Traynor amps (owned a pair of YCS100H heads and a Custom Blue 50 combo). Some GREAT steals to be had out there right now!

 

[rabies]

just installed 2xGT12AX7-R preamp tubes today (no more crazy squealing microphonics!) they seem to be smooth-ish in character.

has 2xKT77 and 2xE34L (all JJ). The crunch channel is not crunchy at all into the gflex 212 today. The ultra channel is badass for metal rhythms. The amp is not dynamic at all like the VM2266 marshall.

it's biased @ 60%, might try 70% to see if it makes a difference. the cleans were too good for a EL34 amp (not as good clean on my rivera).

by the way, it sounds very loud and mean in the lead and ultra channels. I am a little disappointed in that I was expecting to cop some Marshall tones and the sound is more like a 6L6 loaded amp. I wonder if I swap out the KT77 (which are 6L6-ish) with EL34 or E34L?

anybody know what the circuit is based on for this amp? JCM 800?

 

[rabies]

maybe I can swap in different preamp tubes (tungsol?) paid about $50 for the GT pair at GC!

 

[IndyWS6]

btw, I cranked the amp to noon and noon on both masters in crunch/lead channels. It's pretty damn loud with a 412.

They're friggin' "coliseum" loud! I can't turn mine past 1 1/2 or the stage volume level is too much. We played outside yesterday for a fair and I still had the volume below 2...

 

[racerevlon]

Remember what I said: Each channel of the Switchblade is voiced VERY differently, so you need to spend some time with the EQ, especially if you're turning the gain up all the way to where the Boost is engaged--the boost is different for each channel as well. Be patient and work the combination of the Gain and EQ controls. FWIW, Most of my patches don't have the boost engaged.

Cheers,