Hughes And Kettner Warp 7 Half-Stack

One moment earth-shaking bottom end and a gloom & doom riff to match, the next a wild and whacky, heavily effected clean sound - 21st century metal is all about extremes and stark contrasts. Little wonder that yesteryear’s sound reinforcement solutions can’t cut it in this brave new world of sound. This is why Hughes & Kettner went back to the drawing board and developed the first amp designed specifically to do the sound, vibe and feel of detuned guitars justice. The Warp 7.


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Price paid: 440 Purchased from: Second hand-a friend


Features: Warp 7 head + cab. 100watts solid state, running into a 4x12 cabinet with Celestion Rockdriver speakers. According to my research, the Warp 7 range by Hughes & Kettner were produced around the late '90s, early '00s. My particular one, was made in 2003, or so I was told, as It was bought second hand. I play all sorts of Music, from full-on metal to blues. My metal side was quite satisfied, as it has plenty of gain on tap. Apparently, they were specially designed for "nu-metal", but I think this is quite untrue. The Warp 7 does a wide range of metal tones, from gritty, crunchy Sabbath to High-gain Slayer. My blues side, however, was not too satisfied with the warp (distortion) channel. It just dosent sound right, far too much gain, and impossible to get a perfectly contoured sound. However, the Clean channel with, say, a Boss BD-2, can give me that blues sound I know and love. The amp has two channels, clean and warp (distortion). An effects loop is included, but you cannot adjust the volume between dry and wet. Headphone jack too, but I can't comment on this as I haven't used it. it's just a shame that there's no reverb on it. I don't use effects very often, except for a little reverb, but this is a dry amp. // 8


Sound: I play several Strat-Shape guitars through this. A custom built Alder Stratocaster w/Seymour Duncans, and a custom-built maple Strat, with Fender TexMex pickups. The Alder guitar is for playing metal with, and the maple is for other, cleaner styles, such as Blues. Unfortunatly, the maple Strat doesn't get much use with this amp, unless I'm running an overdrive pedal thru the clean channel. The SD-loaded alder Strat sounds great with this amp, the pickups compliment the warp channel perfectly, and it sounds awesome with my usual 2-steps-down tunings. Unless you are using top-quality cables (kids, not Planet Waves ones, please) there's a bit of noise with this amp. Mostly due to the insane amount of Distortion, but it can get shreikey sometimes, which is unnerving. I usually turn my guitars volume down during pauses in playing, so it's fine for me. I didn't notice any mains hum, it's pretty quiet, so that's good. I practice in a concrete she'd sometimes, which, unfortunatly, makes the amp feedback a lot, as frequencys are bouncing. Never mind though, the gain shouldn't be that high anyway. The bass, mid, and treble knobs don't seem to do much, to be honest. There isnt enough variety in the equalizer. The best thing to do is to just put the knobs at 12 o'clock, and go down or up from there, depending on your taste. The sound is very scooped anyway, so for metal enthusiasts, you're sorted. Clean can give you some lovely, loud clean tones, and as it's solid state, it doesn't break up at high volumes. The distortion effing brutal. there's an insane amount of gain on tap. Overall, the sound is top-notch. Apart from some minor niggles, which shouldn't be anything to worry about if you fall under the aimed market-base for this product.



Reliability & Durability: I've had this amp for nigh-on a year now, and I haven't had any problems with it. Apart from the time my old band-mate decided to daisy-chain too many speakers into it, and blew the fuse, as the impedance was too high. I can safely say I would use this amp for a gig without a backup, as I have done in the past, and haven't had a problem. Asthetically, it's built like a rock. The grille on the front of the cab had a tendancy to pull off in one of the corners. I suspect the previous owner tried to pull it off, as it's fine in the other corners. it's rock solid! And very heavy, young un's, better have your pop with you to carry it into the tour van.



Impression: I have been playing guitar for several years now, and I'm at an advanced stage of musicianship, I am proud to say. I have been playing several other instruments, such as piano, electric bass guitar and drums/percussion for nearly 8 years. I am an electronics student, and the amplifiers schematics and electronic circuits are easy to understand, so even an amateur could repair it on thier own. I also own several other amps, such as a Bogner Shiva, a Fender Super 60, a JCM 800, and a Cornford H-50, which are all tube amps. More recently, I aquired the Tube version of this amp, the Warp X, which is absolutley outstanding! I prefer the H&K, as it can withstand the rigours of touring, and is mroe reliable, as it is Solid-State. If it got stolen or lost, I would definitly try to pick another one up, but unfortunatly, they are becoming a lot more rarer nowadays, as they are out of production. I love the fact it's versatile, that's very important for me. I love the fact it's loud! And won't break up at high volumes. I don't like the fact it's bloody heavy! And there's no reverb on it. No matter, I installed a spring-reverb tank in it not too long ago. Plenty of extra space in the head enclosure. I notice a lot of kids are buying an amplifier known as the MG. I won't say who makes it, but please, there are so many better amps out there. Hughes And Kettner are relativley unknown, but so so much better than the big British "M."