Hughes & Kettner Switchblade TSC Head 100, Switchblade TSC Combo 50 User Manual
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Switchblade TSC
Head 100, Combo 100, Combo 50
Manual 1.0
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S w i t c h b l a d e T S C
Foreword
The installed Tube Safety Control (TSC) safeguards your tubes, amp, and sound.
Beyond that, for the first time it puts into your hands a tool that helps you
manage and check your old and new EL34 and even 6L6GC tubes at any time.
Players have long wished for a tube amp that is as low-maintenance as a solid-state
amps, and TSC has made that wish come true.
Best wishes from the Hughes & Kettner® team. We hope you enjoy playing your
SWITCHBLADE TSC as much as we enjoyed designing and refining it!
Things to Do Before Operating the Amp
Please read the safety instruction on page 64!
A word of warning before you fire up your SWITCHBLADE TSC: It’s loud!
High volume levels can cause hearing damage. Ensure plenty of air can circulate
around your amp‘s ventilation surfaces. Place the amp on a sturdy, secure base
and avoid exposing it to mechanical shocks and extreme temperatures that could
endanger the device or your and others‘ safety. The manufacturer disclaims any
liability or responsibility whatsoever for any damage or defect to this and other
devices resulting from misuse.
Powering Up
Ensure SWITCHBLADE TSC’s MAINS and STANDBY switches are off (with
the toggle switch pointing down) and that the voltage rating indicated next to the
MAINS INPUT (alongside the Voltage Setting arrow as depicted the illustration)
matches your local Mains current before you plug the amp in.
The illustration shows the 100/120 volt version as
an example. The voltage rating 100V is indicated
next to the arrow, meaning that the amp may be
powered with 100V Mains voltage only. If the
rating indicated next to the arrow does not match
the local Mains voltage, do not plug your SWITCHBLADE TSC’s Mains cord
into an outlet! More on this in chapter 9.
Head Only
First plug the speaker cord into the
appropriate output on the Head. Do
not use more than one of these outputs
simultaneously! That is, use either 1x4 Ω,
2x16 Ω, 1x8 Ω, or 1x16 Ω. Don’t mix and match cabinets either, say by plugging
a 4-Ω cabinet into the 4-Ω output and a 16-Ω cabinet into the 16-Ω output. For
more on this, see chapter 6.5.
Plug the other end of the cord into the speaker cabinet’s Input. This is vital
to every all-tube amp’s life! Power amps may be damaged when tube amps are
operated without a connected speaker load or at an insufficient impedance level!
Combo Only
Check to ensure the wire to the internal speaker is connected properly to the
power amp (see figure). Note that on the 50W Combo, the internal speaker is
connected to the 8-Ω output. On the 100W Combo, it is connected to the 16-Ω
output.
Head and Combo
To avoid very unpleasant surprises, make a habit of always twisting the MASTER
knob to the far left-hand position before turning on the amp.
Input
Connect your guitar to this Input. Please use suitable shielded cords only – no
speaker cords allowed.
Mains
This switch opens the flow of main current supply, and the blue PILOT LAMP
lights up. Ensure the STANDBY switch is set to OFF and allow the tubes plenty
of time to warm up. They’ll thank you for your patience with a longer service life.
Standby
The STANDBY switch breathes life into those glowing tubes. It controls the
anode voltage, not the heating. When taking a short break from playing, please
use STANDBY rather ON/OFF so the tubes remain at operating temperature.
If you can’t wait to get to it, go ahead and play your SWITCHBLADE TSC
now. The patient reader is well advised to continue reading before letting it rip.
Particularly chapters 1 (Handling) and 7 (Programming) are mandatory, even for
seasoned players.
Standard Setup and Cable Connections
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Table of Contents
1 The Fundamentals of Handling SWITCHBLADE TSC
2 The SWITCHBLADE TSC’s Channels
2.1 CLEAN Channel
2.2 CRUNCH Channel
2.3 LEAD Channel
2.4 ULTRA Channel
2.5 GAIN
2.6 BASS, MID, TREBLE
2.7 PRESENCE
2.8 MASTER
3 Digital Effects
3.1 REVERB
3.2 DELAY
3.3 MOD FX
4 Master
4.1 VOLUME
4.2 STORE
4.3 ORIGINAL VALUE
4.4 FX LOOP
5 Tube-Safety-Control (TSC)
5.1. Why did Hughes & Kettner develop TSC?
5.2 What TSC’s Tube Status Control tells you
5.3 Matching tubes with TSC
6 Rear Panel Connections and Control Features
6.1 EFFECTS ON/OFF
6.2 CHANNEL SELECT
6.3 FX LOOP
6.4 MIDI
6.5 SPEAKERS
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MIDI Control and Programming
7.1 FSM 432
7.2 Setting SWITCHBLADE TSC’s MIDI Channel
and Switching OMNI ON/OFF
7.3 Factory Settings and How to Restore Them
7.4 Storing Settings/Programming
8 Replacing Tubes, Service and Preventive Maintenance
9 Troubleshooting
10 Technical Specifications
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S w i t c h b l a d e T S C
1 The Fundamentals of Handling
SWITCHBLADE TSC is a tube amp and, as such, works as a tube amp.
Nevertheless, the handling concept is rather advanced, so time spent familiarizing
yourself with it is time well spent.
At first glance, the knobs look and feel like standard-issue gear: Control range
300 degrees; 0-10 clockwise; left and right stops. At second glance, though, you’ll
discover that there is just a single set of knobs to serve all four Channels. One
GAIN, one Channel VOLUME, one three-band EQ – that’s it. The selected
Channel determines if the GAIN knob addresses the CLEAN, CRUNCH or
LEAD Channel.
The great advantage of this concept is that Channels are independent and do not
share the Gain, VOLUME or voicing knobs; even Presence is separately adjustable
for every Channel and every setting can be programmed individually to each of
the 128 Presets!
Apart from the MASTER knob (and of course MAINS and STANDBY), this
applies to all of SWITCHBLADE TSC’s control features, that is:
• the Channels: CLEAN, CRUNCH, LEAD, ULTRA
• the Channel settings: GAIN+BOOST, BASS, MID, TREBLE, PRESENCE,
VOLUME
• the effect parameters: MOD FX, TIME, FEEDBACK, VOLUME, REVERB
VOLUME
• the effect routing options for external devices: FX ON/OFF, SERIAL/PARALLEL
You won’t find any control features for managing the 128 Presets on
SWITCHBLADE TSC. The included FSM 432 MIDI board or another MIDIenabled controller serves to select Presets and assign memory slots. More on this
in chapter 7.
Note: A knob setting programmed in a Preset and the knob’s actual setting
are not necessarily the same. They are independent: When you switch from
one Preset to another, the knob’s actual position may not reflect the setting
programmed in the Preset. This means you may well hear something other
than what you’re seeing would suggest. As soon as you touch the knob, it will
respond like any other conventional knob. The ORIGINAL VALUE LED in
the MASTER section tells you the Preset setting. It lights up as soon as the
position of the knob corresponds to the Preset setting. More on this in chapter 4.3.
Note: You may hear a soft background sound when you twist the knobs. This is
a switching noise made the programmable resistor matrix located behind each
knob.
2 The SWITCHBLADE TSC’s Channels
SWITCHBLADE TSC offers four Channels with markedly different sonic
characters. Courtesy of SWITCHBLADE TSC’s programmability, you enjoy more
and more powerful sound-shaping options: The knobs are not hardwired to the
internal circuits, so we were able to tweak their control ranges and performance
to make the most of each Channel’s characteristic sound. A chickenhead knob
is sited at the far right of the CHANNEL section– that’s the Channel Selector.
Use it to switch among the four Channels along with their GAIN, BASS, MID,
TREBLE, PRESENCE and VOLUME settings.
Note: When you first power up your amp and change Channels, you will dial
up factory settings (see chapter 7.3.2 to learn more). As soon as you begin
dialing in sounds to your taste, it will adopt your Channels settings. And it
recalls your most recently configured sound for each Channel. You’ll find this
to be a tremendous help when programming. More on this in chapter 7.
2.1 Clean Channel
Tuned to rival classic Californian tone, SWITCHBLADE TSC’s Clean Channel
delivers a spectrum of sweet sounds ranging from crystal-clear to remarkably
responsive Crunch tones. The programmable Presence control adds silken warmth
as well as sparkling shimmer to the sonic equation.
2.2 CRUNCH Channel
Classic British overdrive à la carte! The CRUNCH Channel covers the diverse
tonal spectrum from Clean to mean, and all points in between. The Gain control’s
integrated Boost function transforms tight rhythm tone into a throaty growl
perfect for rockin’ riffs.
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2.3 LEAD Channel
The LEAD sound is the first choice for hard-rockin’, classic British high-GAIN
tone to fuel Leads, power chords and riffs. Courtesy of its fine-tuned compression,
this Channel delivers the lubricant that makes those slick riffs and licks fly off
your fingertips.
2.4 ULTRA Channel
American high-Gain sound with sumo-sized low end and snarling top end. The
ULTRA Channel delivers the kind of merciless performance that is sure to delight
metal meisters and dropped tuning aficionados. Ultra is also an alluring alternative
for guitarists seeking to super-size their sound with a high-calorie topping of rich
tone.
2.5 GAIN
The GAIN knob determines Input sensitivity and thus the Level of saturation
and distortion. SWITCHBLADE TSC’s GAIN offers a special feature: Just before
the knob arrives at the far right position, a BOOST stage kicks in (and the red
LED lights up). Now, when you see Boost on other amps, this usually means all
frequencies are boosted. But SWITCHBLADE TSC’s Boost amplifies selected
frequency ranges for each Channel to attain creamier tone.
2.6 BASS, MID, TREBLE
The voicing section is tweaked to accomplish the best, most efficient soundshaping for each Channel. Getting right to the heart of the sonic matter, every
knob addresses each Channel’s characteristic frequency ranges. Like on every
tube amp, the knobs of a Channel influence each other. That is, if you boost
the Treble, the midrange is cut and vice versa. This puts a much greater range of
subtle tonal variations at your fingertips.
2.7 PRESENCE
This knob determines the overtone content. Unlike a TREBLE knob, which
boosts whatever high frequencies are available, PRESENCE actually determines
the amount of harmonic overtones generated by the amp. Usually a PRESENCE
knob controls the overtone content of the overall amp rather than of individual
Channels. Courtesy of SWITCHBLADE TSC’s programmability, you can define
PRESENCE settings not only for each Channel, but also for each Preset.
2.8 VOLUME
Use the Channel VOLUME knob to adjust the given Channel’s Volume and
balance it out with the other Channels’ Levels. On SWITCHBLADE TSC this
knob serves another vital purpose: It lets you store the same sound at different
Volumes to any of the 128 Presets, for example, a softer version for rhythm and a
louder setting for Leads.
Note: The Channel VOLUME is a different breed of knob. It adjusts the
Channels’ relative levels, and is tweaked to help you quickly dial in the best
balance. Unlike a conventional Volume knob, it can’t be turned all they way
Down; it merely boosts or cuts the given Level. This design makes musical and
practical sense: The Clean Channel normally requires a much higher Volume
Level than a distorted Channel, which is why it is about as loud as the other
Channels when the knob is set to the center position. That’s why the 12 o’clock
position is always the best starting point for adjusting Volume.
3 Digital Effects
SWITCHBLADE TSC offers three independent digital effect sections that can be
used simultaneously. Like Channel settings, all effect settings are programmable.
Note: The internal effects are added to the signal via an intelligent analog
circuit. Effect routings in no way comprise the integrity of SWITCHBLADE
TSC’s tube tone, which remains intact in all its quality.
3.1 REVERB VOLUME
SWITCHBLADE TSC’s Reverb is modeled to match the warmth and musicality
of classic spring Reverbs. A genuine improvement over its analog forebears, it
automatically adjusts the Reverb tail to suit the setting: The more REVERB
VOLUME you add to the signal, the longer the REVERB time.
3.2 DELAY
The Delay section’s VOLUME, TIME and FEEDBACK knobs afford you total
control over all parameters. This lets you dial in everything from rockabilly style
slap-back echo to U2-inspired Delay extravaganzas and Queen-like bombast.
3.2.1 VOLUME
Adjusts the volume of the repetitions, sweeping from all the way off to just as
loud as the original signal.
3.2.2 FEEDBACK
Adjusts the number of repetitions from one to infinite.
3.2.3 TIME
Adjusts the time to the next repetition from 80 ms to 1.4 s.
TIP: TIME can be remote-controlled via the included FSM 432 using the TAP
function. This lets you respond quickly and conveniently to timing changes.
You’ll find TAP to be a very helpful feature, particularly on stage! More on this
in chapter 6.1.3
3.3 MOD FX
The three most important modulation effects are CHORUS, FLANGER and
TREMOLO, and they’re all on board, readily activated via a single knob.
CHORUS is active in the first third, FLANGER in the second third, and
TREMOLO in the final third of the control range. You can shape the effect
within its assigned third of the control range using this knob. The parameters
were tweaked to make musical sense: A twist of the knob is all it takes to get
the desired effect. Twisting clockwise adjusts the rate of the modulation effects.
Modulation depth is adjusted automatically according to the rate so that every
knob position gives you the best effect sound. To switch modulation effects off,
simply twist the knob to the far left-hand position.
3.3.1 CHORUS
At slow settings, the CHORUS sounds thick and lush, providing a great sound
for buoyant ballads. And because effect depth is adjusted automatically, fast
CHORUS settings don’t evoke that dreaded seasick tone.
3.3.2 FLANGER
Slow FLANGER settings yield a stately sweeping whoosh effect, while faster
settings give you swirly effects often heard in contemporary rock and pop tunes.
3.3.3 TREMOLO
The classic TREMOLO effect is great for dialing in typical sounds of the ‘60s as
well as contemporary effect sounds.
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