Sparkling clean tone that chimes like a glockenspiel. Smoky blues tones with the snarl of a junkyard dog. Lead sounds that wail as seductively as Siren’s song. Expansive, enveloping arena rock tones. The malevolent grind of a chainsaw gnawing on heavy metal: Iconic sounds such as these have been giving voice to new modes of musical expression and shaping the sound of entire genres for more than 60 years now. The new Spirit Nano Heads from Hughes & Kettner capture the spirit of each era of legendary guitar sounds in three amps with distinctive personalities.

Gain isn’t everything. But sometimes some is just not enough. The Spirit of Metal offers tons of it. You can go ahead and mothball your booster – you won’t be needing for anything beyond the 12 o’clock position. And if you require a little less gain here and there, you can dial it back without a care in the world. Your tone won’t get wimpier, just more dynamic and responsive to your attack, choice of pickup, and volume settings.

The Sagging knob greases the gears so that tone just oozes from your fingers with the kind of endless sustain and creamy overtones it takes to let your lead lines soar. Less is sometimes more for riffing, so you may want to dial it back for rhythm work. Laying down a groove generally requires a tighter tone and hair-trigger response from the amp. The Spirit of Metal delivers both with flying colors. Roll back the Sagging knob, and the power amp will respond with the suddenness of a cobra strike. Also, the tipping point into compression will come very late, even when you play chords in a drop tuning.

The Tone control takes you on a tour of the tones that define entire genres of metal, from modern scooped sounds to that classic macho midrange. Incorporating the Gain knob into your tone-sculpting arsenal affords you instant access to all style-defining high-gain sounds, be they of British, German or Californian origin or flavor.