Nobody wants my switchblade

gearaddict

 

Tried to sell my Switchblade 100 TSC head twice on eBay...no takers even at 250 quid. It's a lot of amp for that money. I think they were 1200 new, although I paid 600 for mine when DV247 had a deal on. I guess people aren't so keen on the big heads these  days unless they are something vintage.

I like it, it's just I've got the helix now and I can't see me really using it.

Oh well...

Drew_TNBD

I always fancied one of those because tech-wise it's very impressive. But I was always put off by the way it looks and the sound clips out there.

Maybe do an audio tour of it on Youtube, that might help sell it?

simonk

Backline is a tough sell at the moment it seems.

Modulus_Amps

I suspect it is not a big name brand in terms of maintaining desire... and looks a bit fugly for your classic amp loving crowd, fine if you are into metal though and at £250 would be a steal for a 100w amp.

Voxman

Drew_TNBD said:

I always fancied one of those because tech-wise it's very impressive. But I was always put off by the way it looks and the sound clips out there.

Maybe do an audio tour of it on Youtube, that might help sell it?

Similar, although I never had a problem with its looks, I lusted after one of these when they first came out.  But ditto re the sound clips I've heard which I don't think did it justice. It's the size & weight too: 29-1/2"W x 11-1/4"H x 10"D; 40 lbs.  That's 2.5" wider than my Vox AD120VTX Valvetronix, which is the biggest of the 5 amps I currently have.  

Does it come with the floor controller (a real must with these amps)? 

The Switchblade came out in 2009 I think, but a lot's happened in the last 8 yrs. If you consider that a 1x12 Boss Katana is 32lbs 11oz and a 2x12 100w Katana is only slightly heavier at 43lbs 11oz these are modern, great sounding, loud and easy to use amp solutions without having to schlapp an additional cab out.  

But there's no question that for £250 that's a LOT of amp & I would have thought at that price someone would want it. 128 MIDI store patch capability & mixing valves and digital effects, combined with rock-solid German engineering makes it one versatile, loud and reliable bit of kit! 

My AD120VTX is not in dis-similar territory from the perspective of original price. In 2003 with the VC12 floor controller this was over £1200 street price - but I doubt I'd get much more than £250 for the amp if I sold it.  

professorben

Oh is it Valve? I thought switchblades were SS? 

gearaddict

EL34s...thanks to the TSC you can also swap for 6L6s. There is some solid state stuff going on in the preamp I think, since there are only 2 preamp valves. Although H&K's marketing was that was an 'all tube' amp, back when people cared a lot about that.

Legionreturns

The effects are digital, but the rest is valve. I'm totally besotted with my 50w Combo, which cost me £300 which is a hell of a lot of amp for the money. I don't think I'd have spent that on a head though. Combos are definitely my preferred solution. 

steamabacus

Alex Lifeson used these for a while (as the 'wet' amps in his w/d/w setup I believe) - Snakes and Arrows tour, so it says here.

Maybe try and sell it to a Rush fan somewhere?

professorben

steamabacus said:

Alex Lifeson used these for a while (as the 'wet' amps in his w/d/w setup I believe) - Snakes and Arrows tour, so it says here.

Maybe try and sell it to a Rush fan somewhere?

That would be me then. 

Im thinking about it, as it's a nice compact solution, but I can't find many sound clips i'm loving. 

professorben

Wait? Is this the one in the classifieds m?
different user names?

me mucho confuso  

jpfamps

August is a slow month for selling stuff too.

BGG

It's a lot of amp for the money. Wen they first came out I thought it would be the perfect amp for me, at the time I was using an Engl Powerball and an FX rack. Picked one up used, played two gigs with it hand sold it.
Didn't have that oomph and push I'd been used to and it was a bit lost and soft in the band mix.

Strangefan

As has been said, heads and cabs are not in favour at the mo, there are too many small decent amps.  Going through a di out into a pa from a smaller amp  makes having a huge amp more if a ball ache than a benefit, my friend owns a guitar show in Wolverhampton and he's had the same heads in for years where as Combos always sell.  

IMO I think the iconic look of a marshal stack is very dated these days 

gearaddict

Yeah, I've found mine needs to have the mids cranked up to cut through. I prefer the tone to the H&K trilogy I used to have though...I always found that a bit harsh. Seems a shame to flog it for next to nothing when I actually still like it. I'll probably hang on to it. Maybe I'll come back to it.

gearaddict

Tried to flog this again...no takers. Maybe the days of the big heavy 100w valve heads are drawing to a close...unless they are classics or something. Might be forced to use it until it breaks!

newi123

I bought the one that was in the classifieds - running it through a friends H&K 4x12 with greenbacks - sounds ace! But I do need to take the big car to gigs now and get another band member to grab the other end of the cab...............

Great value for money and covers alot of ground - not just metal.

Only thing I`m really struggling with currently is choice blindness and how to organize sounds sensibly on the footswitch. Also, the supplied footswitch has the buttons quite close together - may try a tc nova to midi switch the sounds, or even splash out on the newer H&K footswitch - but that`s more than 50% of what I paid for the amp...... :-(

The rest of the band think it sounds much better than the previous small amp & 2x12 solution - which I`m now informed sounded a bit `polite`

gearaddict

Yeah, I like the sound a lot...it's much smoother than it looks like it should be

I also struggle with the patch-based sound approach. In fact I never really used it...I tended to set up 4 basic amp tones and then used pedals for the effects. Mainly because I could never quite settle on how to set up the sounds + effects.

It's also quite big and heavy. Which I find increasingly inconvenient. Maybe I'm just getting old.

gearaddict

Oh - on the midi thing...for a while I used my PodHD500X to control it...which is fine but you don't have the lights coming on to show which patches are active. I guess the big Behringer controller would be a cheaper option but the midi control on the switchblade is pretty basic so it might be overkill.

And the Pod didn't have phantom power via midi, so I needed to buy a new cable

Legionreturns

I ended up selling the switchblade 50 combo for about £270 which was a staggeringly good deal for him. I really liked the amp, but I've gone head and cab. If this is still hanging around in a while and I decide to get a valve head as an alternative to the Katana head I'll be in touch! 

gearaddict

Cool - yeah, I had it listed at 299, then 249...not a sniff. I'd rather use it for a door stop than sell it for less than that!

I'll probably pull it out of its box and use it.