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More versatility than you can shake a switchblade at

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• Review
• Manufacturer's Description

After a splurge of technological advances over the past decade that have seen amps and multi-effects units marrying authentic valve-like tones with complex operating systems, there has been a movement back to the simpler times of one amp, one cab, one lead and one guitar.

Of course, things can't be un-invented, and if any player has spent time with, for example, a Line 6 Vetta, it's very difficult to go back to tap dancing on a number of stompboxes, A/B switches and channel changers in order to obtain a number of sounds quickly.

In the midst of a constant barrage of increasingly affordable yet technologically advanced solid-state amps comes the Switchblade, the music world's very first programmable all-valve 100-watt head loaded with user-friendly digital effects.

In fact, there's a lot more under the bonnet than a brace of tubes and some scratchy, over-thin modulation effects you'd never use. This is the real deal – an amp that's fully loaded with four distinct channels and a choice of digital effects, including chorus, reverb, delay, flanger and tremolo.

The reverb is controlled by a dedicated pot, while the delay is regulated by no less than three controls that look after time, feedback and level. The Mod-FX pot accesses one of the three modulation controls at one time, the rate of each changing through the specific three thirds of the pot's revolution, with depth altered automatically yet musically.

Still not convinced? Then consider this: the amp comes with H&K's FSM 432 MIDI board that, thanks to the Switchblade's MIDI compatibility, allows you to save 128 sounds, comprising a combination of any of the four channels with effects settings. These can be instantly recalled via 32 banks of four.

Storing a sound is a little confusing initially, but once you've got the hang of it, as is often the case when guitarists and MIDI meet, it seems obvious: get your tone and press the Store button on the front panel. Once it lights up, select a patch on the MIDI board and when the display flashes, press store for a second time. When the LED goes out, the sound is 'learned'.

It's also possible to change a whole line of MIDI-compatible devices via the board, and even switch the amp's effects in and out in Direct (or Manual) mode: there's even a Tap function for perfect delay time settings, automatically overwriting the previously set delay time.

Any technophobes who will have been on the point of dismissing the Switchblade after that mere mention of MIDI should be assured that with the effects stripped away, this is a wholly professional amp with a quartet of channels – clean, crunch, lead and ultra – that can be selected by a four-way rotary knob.

Obtaining any sort of specific sound does depend on choosing the correct channel, but the fact that the controls are shared between the four does make things simpler. Although it would be fair to assume that each channel, in terms of gain at least, picks up where the preceding one left off, that's not strictly the case, as each is voiced very differently too.