I have not tried the direct box yet, but I hear it is great. Do not let the small size fool you. I wrote a review of the Fender I think he has a mac version too. Solid build quality. I read on forums that everyone almost immediately swaps tubes to fit their needs as some do like that fizzy sound. Store Hours, If you have any questions, please call us at The tones he has coming from it sound massive if this is what it sounds like in person holy shit. from Metairie, LA on July 3, 2017, By Sweetwater Customer No more carrying around huge peddle boards which I spent thousands of dollars on. Yep. This amp is absolutely packed with everything you could possibly want in a lunchbox sized amplifier. Phase and flanger are weak. It works equally great with humbuckers and single coils and sounds great from clean to massively overdriven. Out of the 8 songs I played 7 of them relied on my clean channel.that channel decided to do it's own thing in and out of the songs, sounded like somebody had a light switch on my power tubes.on, off, on, off, dimmerthen back on. For me? What took me 40 minutes to haul in and set up now takes me about 20 minutes. This amp is nothing short of amazing. So I went shopping for Marshalls, I was considering a JVM-205C but when I p[played one I thought it was junk compared to my old Line 6. It's only as sterile as you make it based on your EQ, Effects and levels. The lead channel kicks it up for great solos, and the if you're into metal, the Ultra channel cuts the mids and adds some thunk to the bass end. I've come to realize Hughes and kettner isn't talked about much here.Why so? Plus, if you're in a band that changes out songs inside sets, you can dial in whatever you need at the push of a button. The resonance control really helps fatten a gain sound, try 3 o'clock ish. This amp is state of the art and sounds great. It gets no more vertitile folks. I made the Wifey mad for sure. This amp will cover so many different genre's of music it is ridiculous. from LATHROP, CA on September 30, 2020, Music Background: Home studio composer and guitar player 25+ years, various styles mostly hard rock, By John If you want a voice thats cleaner or more sustain just dial it in on the amp and program it to the pedal board. I"m not sure if it was the cheap tubes causing that or not, but keep in mind that this may be normal for this head as I"ve received a replacement and both did the same thing. Thanks to my sales rep, Aaron Cieslikowski, in making sure I recieved my order BEFORE Christmas and for following up afterwards too. I was somewhat skeptical of this amp when I first purchased it after much research and comparison to other amps out there. Mine blinked 3 times. JavaScript is disabled. Just get it already! Sold in about 5 seconds. from shirley NY on July 8, 2019, Music Background: pro guitarist studio owner, By Dave A thoroughly fantastically designed and built amp head. on March 14, 2017, Music Background: Nearly twenty years of musical experience, By L. Saquing Great at home amp, but I sold it because it just was not that great. Everything you love about Sweetwater in the palm of your hand. Noise gate is great. from Dallas TX on September 20, 2020, By Marc Beardsley I recommend getting the midi controller with it. It still has the stock tubes and sounds amazing through the H&K Vintage 30 loaded 2x12. This sucker is loud! So if you bought this product - there is NO warranty. This is the secret to this amp. from Midland, TX on July 1, 2022, By Greg Williams You can use an expression pedal plugged in to the midi controlled but it will only operate the volume for the patch you are on and as soon as you change patches it defaults to what volume the patch was saved at. He will take care of you as he as always done me and I put that poor guy through the ringer. on May 31, 2020, By Jeremiah Conner 2 amps with different problemsthe signs are there for me to move on..I really wanted this amp to be great, but God has a different plan for me. This is not possible. This is quite the amazing amplifier and it's my very fist fancy tube amp! I've had various tube amps and digital and analog amp/FX modelers & emulators over the years. from Missouri on July 21, 2019, By Dave Fender Mustangs are getting this done on their low end models, so I expect better here. from Texas on April 27, 2017, By Will Crash 2. I have had a Evh el34 and stealth as well as a JSX and a JVM in the last few months. 1. I have been waiting on an amp like this for quite some time. There was word of the H&K forums that this amp was geared towards metal only. The Redbox.Wow. Hey guys! If you know what you're doing then this amp is perfect. But as a guitar player who has played on 100w tube amplifiers and "big bottle" valve amps (EL34, 6L6 and 6V6 tubes), this leaves a slight amount to be desired. from Brownsville, Tx on July 19, 2018, By Michael I had a few H&Ks, including the Duotone combo and one they don't make anymore that was a 25w EL34 head called the Puretone. This probably sounds good to me because I prefer digital distortion and these effects are digital. It's always a pleasure to work with Mark and the service at Sweetwater is second to none. I always record an extra track with the direct out and it's great for late night playing and recording activities. Plus the midi footswitch works without a hitch in storing any created presets and channel switching or boost and fx triggering. All I use is a compressor going into the amp for a little more "oomph" on both guitars and that pretty much works. Why this company would sell this in the USA is a complete mystery. It may not display this or other websites correctly. Then i would ask them (if it was some obscure setting) why it was so hard to get that to work. I ordered a set of JJ el84's (2 sets actually) and 3 JJ 12AX7's. It gets me some very nice beefy cleans to some hard hitting metal rhythm and lead tones. from USA, VA on January 31, 2018, Music Background: 30+ years music playing/recording experience, By Bill I haven't really messed with the onboard effects but they're handy I'm sure for someone who needs that. One amp to do it all? I do plan on upgrading the tubes, and I"m a little disappointed in the cheap tubes it comes with, but all in all it still sounds great. Fire breather. In my case, in our practice space, we do not mic our cabinets. You can either pipe the redbox out to a mixer, or just pick yourself up a Behringer P1. My only issue is that having owned the Triamp MKII and having played the new MKIII, I just can't downsize from there. Don't buy if you play professionally. I preferred to change the tubes to all JJ, and that is a smart move if you prefer more old-school tone (the stock tubes are ok, but a bit harsher sounding). I've spent a lot of time with the Tubemeister 18, Grandmeister, and Deluxe. When you buy products through links across our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. My PRS guitars freaking sing because of this amp and the matching cab. I then read through all their warranty information. Just today I put a cheap amazon clean boost on the ultra channel on 1 watt and was just amazed at how good it sounded. It is awesome. I read on others reviews about problems when they received theirs, I did not experience any of those problems at all. I personally don't like to drive the gain much past 12:00 on any of the channels for my tones, but I've heard it used to great effect by other guitarists. The H&K is the best of them, with Kemper almost tied for 1st. Does it sound better than the Road King, nope, but it sounds pretty damned good and it cuts like a knife. from Usa on June 17, 2019, By Stefan Better than most of the pedals I own as well. The EL84s provide more than enough crunch to punch through. Cab emulator sounds good also. I was a little skeptical, as many are, about how well it will do metal, but it delivers. Enjoy. Go get ya some! Phone Hours | I've tended to use it mostly in the lead channel where it's possible to get some great EVHesque tones while retaining a bit more clarity and sponginess compared to the full onslaught of the ultra channel. Just get it! The effects are really good. I received this amp 5 days ago and have had a hard time not playing around with all of the features! After only a few minutes of playing, I"m amazed at how great it sounds. The direct out/cab sim is also fantastic. It is not a 6505 but I would say you can get something comparable with some tweaking. from ENFIELD, CT on September 26, 2019, By Zack 4. Better than any modeling amp I have heard. I purchased the Grandmeister Deluxe 40 head, TM 60 watt 1x12 cabinet and the FSM 432 MKIII midi foot controller and they work and sound great together. I have not yet bought this amp but, I plan on doing so before the end of February. I ran this amp into my 8i8 with absolutely no problem as well. on March 8, 2020, By Michael O'Flaherty If you"re like me and like playing all different styles of music, this is the amp for you, it does it all. Crunch channel again with very high gain and the boost turned on (think Green day sound). But for me, this was a BIG issue. yeah, it's worth $ Buy the midi foot board with it so you can really dig into the effects presets. Noise gate couldn't get rid of this overbearing noise. Finally my 35 year wait is over. Love this amp the only pedal you need is a tuner! Had it retubed with JJ's because it was just so shrill on the high end. I don't really know where to begin or end with this amp really because the good things to say seem endless. I've had this amp for about a week in a half and have barely scratched the surface First of all, as a tube head, each of the four channels sound awesome! Also great for blues. The effects are surprising and very usable. The attenuation is great, I can easily play this amp in my apartment through my 4x12 and not wake the neighbors. A great value for what you get. from Toledo, OH on June 12, 2020, By Robert Darnell Jr from Washington, DC on March 7, 2018, By Chris Johnston Build quality is excellent. Sorry H&K. Played it at church gigs, and with my original metal band. All in all this amp is perfect for me. This amp is made to be played with your axe on ten. The clean tone has a beautiful tone that is jus great sound. I can imagine how powerful and versatile this amp will be as a worship leader/guitarist, a gigging player, and at home for practice and recording. I'm sure its hard to trust reviews on products like this from people that spent so much on the product. When i discovered this amp I was really intrigued. There is nothing it can't do and it's ALL readily available via a midi footswitch and program recall. On its own you can get a really good metal tone, but if you stick a boost in front of it you will get bone crushing metal tones, and the built in noise gate definitely comes in handy here. I could not put my finger on it at first being that H and K makes great stuff. Top notch guys. It does all of that very well, and every channel is usable. I am to old to change my playing style so to ebay it went. The combination of Tube tone with high quality digital effects make it one of the most versatile amps on the planet. Alas, my day has come. (800) 222-4700. This is a very controllable 40W that sounds great at low volume. I purchased the head and matching 212 cabinet.looks cool and was fun to fiddle with but the tone is very stale. I knew that the clean tones and various crunchy tones would be great after all the videos online featuring that type of playing but I was worried how it would play in a metal context. There where some reviews online that made me hesitant on the purchase but I am so glad I bought this. from CT on May 2, 2018, By Michael Becker It can bring out the subtle nuances, but also bring out the shred. All the same tones, just much louder as I go up in banks without having to touch the master. I switched to JJ tubes for everything and it made it alot better (to my ears) in my opinion. For last 10 years I've been using a Line 6 Spider Valve Mkii. Wow! I tried all the modes and settings, maxed out the gain - nothing, did a factory reset, put it in crunch mode, tried every switch combo on the back - nothing. I had one for about 6 months and I really dug it for a while. It allows you to run an XLR from the head to your audio interface for recording.