Hayden Amplifiers Classic Lead 80 Amplifier Head

Hayden Classic Lead 80

I got one of these yesterday after reading the review in Guitarist and thought would give my first impression quickly. First thing is it is absolutely beautifully made and looks very cool when turned on as the inside lights up(simple things - simple minds eh) and you can see all the valvey goodness inside which is just lovely. The cabinet is also very neat and the pots all feel firm and move smoothly. Anyways soundwise its awesome! Channel one crunchs up like an old plexi with the gain set about halfway and up to a more hot rodded marshallesque sound with the gain up three quaters or so, its a stunning classic rock rhythm tone. Channel 2 has an extra gain stage so breaks up more easily and goes up yo a full on roar easily enough for some detuned riffage and solos just seem to sustain forever. The other cool feature which I havent had on any amp before is the shade control of which there is one on each channel, this seems to work as an eq filter and as you click around from left to right the tone thickens up and set to optimal thick shade the sound is massive and its cool you can click around and find the sound in your head depending on what guitar you are using. The eq is simple treble, middle and bass and works really well and makes dialing in different sounds really easy.

All in all I have never been happier with an amp and all my distotian pedals are now redundant as the amp just sounds great, I play a les paul and mainly classic to heavy rock and this is just perfect for this amp.

Anyway I am looking forward to getting to know this amp properly and gigging but right now I cant see me changing amps for a very long time.

Here is the Guitarist Magazine review also;

http://www.haydenamps.com/press/ClassicLead80-412.pdf