Hard rock half stack ampli fiers

129
W
hen it comes to tone, your
greatest voice is arguably your
amp. Sure, you’ll want to pick
a guitar that comes readied
with the features you’ll need to pull off
the styles you want to begin with, but your
choice of amplifier will have a huge influence
on defining your overall sound. The options
available leave this decision wide open,
so we’ve narrowed the boundaries and
prepared this month’s Group Test for those
who are looking for a high-gain valve amp
that’s a workhorse for gigging.
For rock, punk and metal, the sound of a
valve amp haemorrhaging into saturation
is still considered by many to be the
foundation of a great tone. In olden days,
the sound of a distorted electric guitar was
regarded to be neither big, nor clever but
as gigs got bigger, the music got louder
and guitarists started to push their amps to
breaking point just to be heard – and thus
the sound of rock guitar was born. By the
time the 80s rolled round, amps featuring
extra gain stages had arrived, making heavily
distorted guitar sounds achievable without
the use of stompboxes.
We’ve lined up four similarly priced heads
and their respective speaker cabinets that
are capable of peeling skin, but you’d be
forgiven for thinking that having enough gain
to inflict an aneurism is going to be enough
to win alone. All four amps in the group are
heavy hitters, but what we’re looking for is
versatility and as much monstrous tone as
we can get to the pound.
■
Flip the page to
 nd out which one
won our Group Test
head-to-head
“WE’RE LOOKING FOR
VERSATILITY AND
MONSTROUS TONE”
Hughes & Kettner
Switchblade TSC
Blackstar
Series One 100
TGR193.gear_test 129 14/8/09 7:47:12 am