H&K Switchblade Vs JVM

benvall

I'm currently playing a Morgan MV45. This thing is great but it's a single channel. I'm playing covers so I need something with more flexibility. Been thinking about the Hughes and Kettner switchblade 100 head or the JVM 410. What's people's experience with these? I'd like to know the good, the bad and the ugly please. One thing I'd like to know is any delay when switching channels. Thanks

Drew_TNBD

I have the Satriani JVM. The regular JVM does have a delay when switching channels. It doesn't bother some people, but it does bother others. I am in the "really bothered" camp.

I am happy to report though that the Satriani JVM does not have this issue. It has a bunch of the popular modifications for the JVM, like adding a choke (tightens up the amp) and other things I'm not too sure of. The gain stages are much more usable than the regular JVM too. So if you're looking for a JVM and don't need onboard reverb, get one of those.

I've never used the Switchblade I'm afraid.

rich75

I had a Switchblade 100 head - in my experience changing patches was quick using the dedicated midi foot switch. Positives were the versatility and most of the sounds. On the negative side I couldn't get a slightly driven sound that I was completely happy with and didn't like the fact that you can't really tweak sounds easily on stage as the sounds are saved as patches. As for the built in effects I liked the chorus, delay and reverb but wasn't so keen on the flanger or tremolo. Just my 2p in case it helps

benvall

Drew_fx said:

I have the Satriani JVM. The regular JVM does have a delay when switching channels. It doesn't bother some people, but it does bother others. I am in the "really bothered" camp.

I am happy to report though that the Satriani JVM does not have this issue. It has a bunch of the popular modifications for the JVM, like adding a choke (tightens up the amp) and other things I'm not too sure of. The gain stages are much more usable than the regular JVM too. So if you're looking for a JVM and don't need onboard reverb, get one of those.

I've never used the Switchblade I'm afraid.

@Drew_fx thanks for the response, I have a Nova System in the loop at the moment so have reverb covered on there. Is the Satriani a high gain monster? I don't really need loads of gain.
Ideally i'd like a clean with a bit of breakup, a plexi style crunch (I know, I know, a JVM won't sound like a 1959, but similar), a JCM800 crunch and lead channel.

I've got a TS808, DLS and OCD if i needed other levels of gain but I'd rather get it all from an amp.

Drew_TNBD

It has less gain than the regular JVM, but can still do high gain tones. But the gain ranges are much more usable now, and evened out. If you want to get slight breakup tones, you're gonna have no problem. Plexi stuff should be doable on the crunch channel, and JCM800 tones are easily done on the OD1 green and orange modes. You probably wont need to use OD2 if you don't want high-gain.

I think perhaps my video here does a reasonable demonstration of some of the tones you can get:

benvall

@Drew_fx thanks. I'm at work (no speakers), I've saved it to my phone I'll have a listen later. Cheers

johnnyurq

Never tried a JVM so cannot give a comparison.

I have owned 2 Switchblades one a 50 W combo and a 100W head and H & K 4 X 12.

First off they get a bad rep due to poorly soldered FSM-432 foot switches which was an issue with the actual crappy soldering and not the electronics and/or switches. They looked as though they were soldered by monkeys with ADHD and the newer MKII ones are sound as a pound.

The good news is the older foot switches are easily and permanently fixed.

The tones were great and if you Google Thomas Blug's Switchblade demos you get an idea if the tones suit your tastes or not.

Being able to save 128 patches/memory locations is great and the only thing you cannot save per patch is the overall master volume which is sensible as you only set each patch relative to each other and with boost etc for lead tones then use the master volume to set overall loudness for each gig/venue.

The FX loop on/off state and whether serial or parallel can be saved per patch too which is very useful if you use different FX with different tones.

The on board FX are decent enough with the delay and reverb being very good and again can be saved for each patch and as they are parallel FX they do not suck tone much at all (in fact I never noticed any but YMMV). So you get the raw tone in parallel with the FX.

If you use high to very high gain tones the I would recommend using a noise gate or noise suppressor either in front of the amp or better still in the FX loop set to serial operation.

In terms of reliability my old 50W combo has been great and I gigged it for a year or more and then sold it on (GAS fiend alert) to the other guitarist in the band who has gigged it 40 to 50 times a year for the last 5 years. So apart from a revalve every so often s'all good.

The head was reliable too and I expect it to last well too (now sold it on).

For sure though check out the Thomas Blug demos to get a feel for the amp and the FX are more than useable for most gigs with only a wah pedal and noise suppressor needed if you use/need them.

In my experience it handles FX and stomp boxes very well and if you use a mutli FX stick it in the FX loop and stomps are fine in front of the amp or in the loop as it has a switch to set the sensitivity of the FX loop.

One last handy thing if you do have a multi FX with a MIDI out you can relegate the supplied foot switch to a spare with one caveat that you will need to set a MIDI continuous controller to assign a tap tempo on your multi FX.

Hopefully the above is of use to you.

benvall

Thanks for the response. They've only recently come on my radar. Saw you sold your head. That was a good price I was really tempted, I only use a little delay and reverb. The 128 patches is very cool.

Thanks

AlexHunter

I gigged said Switchblade last night.

Cut through the mix perfectly - 5pc band with 2 other guitarists - and I didn't have to do any tap dancing of pedals to get the sounds I wanted, simple stomp and done.

I actually used the rack tuner in the effects loop and only set the effects loop to activate on certain patches, kicking that in gave 10db boost as well, so covered solo sounds easily.

Simples.

johnnyurq

Glad to hear you are happy with the amp and that it is working for you, for sure the tones cut through mixes no bother.

For most the onboard FX will be just fine but my erstwhile bandmate uses a small stompies pedal board to add extra FX.

Like you found with the tuner you can leave them on and set the FX loop on for the patches that require extra FX.