# Hughes And Kettner Warp 7 Half-Stack



## roast (May 8, 2008)

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."


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## SHREDTOKILL (May 9, 2008)

i used to have one...painted it white...it was a nice amp, sounded br00tal.


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## roast (May 9, 2008)

Extremely Br00tal! For a solid state...It really does have a gorgeous tone.

Tube snobs beware!

-Mick.


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## Josh Lawson (Jun 15, 2008)

What really was the awesome part of this amp was the matching cab's "big box" design. This amp was H&K's entrance into the "arms race" of the early 21st century. DEFIANTLY WAY BETTER THEN the Mode 4, and just all around a bit superior in tone to the Fender Metalhead. Just like Afghanistan and Vietnam are the two true world powers (they beat the superpower nations, USA and USSR) this amp won the super solid state amp arms race in a "depends on how you look at it" kind of way.


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## stuh84 (Jun 15, 2008)

Used one at band rehearsals in my first band, and that was enough to put me off the amp. Really sterile, harsh, not what I'd consider a good amp to play through.


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## Josh Lawson (Jun 18, 2008)

I read this post a few days ago, with no knowledge that yesterday my roommate bought the combo version of this amp off of CL for $200. So weird I haven't thought or seen anything about this amp in damn near 5 years, and bam! twice in two days. It sounded really good and it is very LOUD. The input jack had to get cleaned because it was doing this weird volume fluctuation thing, and than something horrible happened. It had this weird "ring modulation/octave thing that went along with the note. I tried running the FX to another amp....preamp section seems fine. I ran the ext. speaker, it was doing the same thing ring mod oct. weirdness so this rules out the speakers getting blown. The problem is definitely in the power section of the amp. I confirmed this by plugging the guitar into the FX return, and the problem still kept happening. when a SS power section does this, what is happening? is it a partially burnt cap, resistor, or transistor? Maybe the transformer? Has anything happened like this to any of you?


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## Josh Lawson (Jul 9, 2008)

So my roommate got the Warp 7 2-12 back from the repair shop. The repair guy Dr. Rock had this to say on the repair invoice:

"Observed crackling noises when played loud. Disassembled. Bench tested amp. Found neg. 1/2 wave of output intermittent. Removed main circuit board. Found and repaired multiple fractured connections. Installed board + tested. Output stable. Ran to full power + hold. OK. Reassembled + check w/guitar. Observed minor buzzing now evident on some notes. Advised.
Customer declines further repairs at this time. Reassembled."

The amp works perfectly now, and we couldn't find any jinky buzzing as he described. A complete and excellent repair for $126.44.


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## Josh Lawson (Jul 11, 2008)

NEW PROBLEM: The volume keeps cutting in and out, both channels....what the fuck is wring with this thing? It is like it has a mind of its own. It "behaves" for a day or two, and bam! it turns into a flaming pile of dogshit. Fuck the Warp 7 in the hole that it shits out of. Buyer beware. I'm starting to think that the only good thing that comes out of Germany is scat porn. Back to the tech I guess.


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## RXTN (Jul 13, 2008)

I have this Half-Stack too... had it about 2 years now, and giged with it, and no problem what so ever, dream gain for 7 stringed guitars


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## Josh Lawson (Jul 14, 2008)

Well, you're lucky. When not if it takes a fat shit, you'll know someone else it happened to. Just remember, cold solder joints, lots of them, all over the board. Good luck, enjoy it while you still can.


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## ephriamiv7 (Jul 29, 2008)

i have the warp 7 head bought used at GC in TN for 150? haha and ive toured wiht ina deathmetalband using marshall cabs mode 4


and i think the cab it comes with suckss... but yeah i love mine not very versitile


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## twiztedchild (Jul 31, 2008)

how much would this be new then? Im very intersted in this company


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## ephriamiv7 (Aug 5, 2008)

there are no new ones and used u can get for like 200


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## shut_up_donnie (Aug 28, 2008)

i'm josh's roommate that bought the 2x12 combo from CL. josh's input jack was janky, and that's why it was acting up. this amp rules. super loud. as soon as the money comes around i'm dropping eminence swamp thang 12"s into it.

thoughts?


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## TMM (Oct 14, 2008)

I just picked up a used Warp 7 halfstack, and I love it! I really liked the head right off the bat... it has a great midrange, which is well-tuned for lower-tuned guitars. I wasn't sure about the cab at first. When I was comparing in-store, I put the cab up against a Spider Valve cab with V30s, and I liked that better. But, once I got the cab home, and really opened the volume on the head up a little bit, the cab suddenly came to life, and I absolutely love it. Without a doubt, this is the nicest sounding, most responsive SS head I've played.

Here's the key that worked for me: don't approach the EQ the way you normally would with most amps. I think the EQ is setup like a Mesa, where it is actually pre-gain, and affects the way the amp responds to the guitar. So, to get the amp to respond the way you want, tailor the EQ to balance out your guitar's tone. My KxK w/ Invader in the bridge has a huge amount of lows / low-mids, so my ideal EQ setting was actually at:
Gain - 5
Bass - 2.5
Mid - 3.5
Treb - 9
Pres - 6
Coupled with my trusty ZW-44 / BBE482, this half-stack sounds huge, and surprisingly 3D for a SS rig. Hopefully I'll have some clips up at some point in the near future.


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## Grindmasterfles (Aug 2, 2009)

have been playing this amp since it came out. really nice. fucks up quiet a big range of tube amps metalwise...


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## LordThurisaz (Aug 18, 2009)

Josh's comments are total lulz. I had one and I hated it.


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