HOOK WIZARD - The Most Advanced Guitar Amp On The Planet.
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- Опубліковано 4 лют 2025
- In today's video, Paul from The Studio Rats is checking out the awesome HOOK WIZARD guitar amplifier. This cleaver 45 watt TUBE guitar amp is probably the most advanced guitar amp on the planet. With motorized controls a load box and IR capabilities, could this be the perfect giving amp?
Link to VALIANT Guitars
valiantguitars...
HOOK amplifiers
hookamps.com/
The Studio Rats are core band members Paul Drew on guitar/production/mixing, drummer James Ivey and Dan Hawkins on bass. They collaborate with singers and musicians to produce radio-ready songs.
That's a really cool and innovative amp. Kudos to Hook... great job!
And I really love that Valiant Guitar...
Your playing is unique style. So delicate but your approach is pleasing and precise. You tend to use extremely usable chords and solos which span many videos which I know has to do with how you showcase tonal values. I have heard you go from your review play to complete mind blown. I love your control man. Beautiful. Articulate and reserved. 😊😊😊
I’m never gonna but this amp, but I’d listen to Paul play Anything
Great sounding amp for sure. Just did some looking on their web site, seems like a cool idea.
That being said, there is a reason that pretty much no one does this. Maintenance. A mixer with flying faders (same technology) needs to be calibrated on a regular basis, and I'd venture to guess that motorized pots do as well. On top of the price of replacing a motorized pot is probably not cheap. I can't even find one for sale, so the availability of replacement parts is a big issue for me.
FWIW Soldano put out a preamp with motorized pots, the X99 that was pretty cool as well.
I picked up the Hook Wizard 2 a few weeks ago and have been completely blown away by it. I came to it after using Fractal modellers for around 8 years and intergrating the Hook with the effects of my FM9 which also changes the Hook presets via midi was a doddle. I've already gigged it twice and the load and direct out to FOH worked perfectly and sounded great. I get that some have reservations about the longevity of the motorised pots, but in the event one did fail it could be easily replaced and I've heard nothing but positive feedback regarding Hook's customer service. So pleased you did this review - I was hoping you might when I saw you check them out in Germany
I'm not usually a fan of "relic" finishes on guitars, but your VG and your black Fender Strat really make me want to have one! It doesn't hurt that they both sound great!
Sounds great,the panning feature is something I could do with the Roland vg-99 that had a stereo path and you could blend clean and dirty,a great feature,love your videos
This Amp sounds really good 👍
I have a Hook Wizard too, it rocks!
Neat. I love it. Stupid me has invested in a Synergy Preamp system with 4 preamps making it 8 channels. So without pedals, going from clean to oblivion. BUT. I like the consistency of achieving something similar using 1 amp only. One to rule them all, ha ha. Cheers from Germany
The synergy units are great
Cracking demo Paul what a sound best wishes Phil from the shire 👍
Awesome video Paul have a great day also happy Halloween ❤😊 from Canada 🇬🇧🇨🇦🏴🎸☕
Fabulous amp for live
Sounds fabulous, there’s a builder of pedals who did an amp like this with presets and motorized knobs actually a good few years ago.
Nice one Paul
I love my MKII Wizard. To me it’s the seminal amp. The last I‘ll ever buy. Maybe.
Sounds Fantastic 🔥 , i’m gonna have to get one of these. (this what i always wished the hughes&Kettner did when i would move knobs in the App).
Great looking and sounding amp👍
Masotti did that in italy a long time ago! The monster model!!
Cool, the knobs move like the old Yamaha DG 80 and 100.
Sounds killer 🔥
Fantastic and a real steal at €3450
While the knobs aren’t motorized, the Hughes and Kettner Switchblade can do all of this plus built-in reverb, delay, and modulation….and can store up to 128 patches. Additionally, it’s an all tube amp and is a killer amp for live gigging. So..if this feature set piques your interest, but can’t find or afford a Hook….and you want an amp that is as capable (minus the IR ability)…..they can be had for $500 - $800 depending on if you get the head or combo.
Masotti Monster did this at least 10 years ago.
Fender cyber twin had motorized pots also. Not a bad sounding either.
A few Soldano X99 mentions. It was no SLO. Clean ch was uninspiring, drive ch lacked cut, it was all happpening in the lead channel which was big, smooth and warm. Not worth the big cost, but watching those knobs jump was fun.
This Hook is way more versatile.
Sorry, but the Yamaha DG1000 had motorised controls about twenty years ago.
But it is not available on this planet today I believe
Wasn't there a Soldano preamp that had motorized knobs in the 90's?
@@dan_perryx99 Soldano Caswell (built 1989-1999)
Yes the DG had motorised knobs but it was shite
@@TheStudioRatsprobably you didn’t know how to use it, because Ty Tabor made unbelievable sounds with it…. But who is Ty Tabor to be a reference…..
The H&K Grandmeister 40 is all tube, has a greater range of gain (pristine to absolute filth), inbuilt effects (reverb, delay, chorus, flanger, tremelo), a great noise gate and has 128 MIDI control presets that remember where the controls are set, has Red Box Cab sim out as well as power scaling. I know the controls on the H&K don't move but it's easy to work out where they are set in the preset and the H&K rotary encoders are much less likely to fail compared to motorised rotary controls. The Hook is definitely a nice amp but I wouldn't call it the most advanced guitar amp on the planet.
The Valiant is fantastic. I'd love to hear this amp with the £800 Mezzabarba pedal ;)
Coming soon!
Is that a new guitar? Very nice
The Soldano Caswell had motorized programmable control back in 1989.
Lol it's incredible how you manage to make every amp sound almost the exact same. (Not a bad thing)
Yes, +1 on the Fender Cyber-Twin back in 2001. Greg Koch was pushing them then.
what's the difference between this and say a Boss Katana, which I've been using live for the last 6 or 7 years? There's 8 channels available with the foot controller, so pretty versatile and great sounding!
This is all valve, has a load box built in.
I know you are the guys to ask - I was a touring musician for decades, all of the guys I worked with since 2010 used high end processors like Axe FX, right into the mixing console and venue PA. I know there's some serious boutique amps that serious players swear by. What's the difference in a live situation to you as a serious player amp vs dial up amps / modelers? Thanks
Dude😊
This sounds unreal!
The Hook wizard is an amazing amp! I compared it to my jackson ampworks mcFly and Marshall 1959hw amp, and the Hook sounded incredible in his own right. I was able to match the hook to my Marshall 1959hw amp as to the fender sounds of the mcfly. The built in IR output and loadbox come in very handy in live situations to get the sound to the front of house. I am saving up for another hook wizard as a backup for the bands i play in as we speak ;-) It would be great if you could make a comparison video with the amplified Nation, and matchless and marshall type amps :-D i am very curious how close the Hook wizard will be. In my case I mistakenly pressumed the Hook wizard to be a trick of all trades and a master of none. But I was positvely surpriced actually about the quality of sounds I was able to get. And finally also a programmable reverb even with marshall type drive sounds! :-D great fun!
I've got one, and I've had a variety of Marshall and Bogner amps over the years, and currently have a 3rd Power Dirty Sink sitting next to it. The Hook Wizard will cover the plexi and hotrodded Plexi tones fairly effortlessly.
Great sounding amp but, there’s so many potential points of failure. Some times too much has a serious cost. Besides… if something goes wrong with the amp, do you have the confidence in your local tech to get inside and possibly have to replace a motor, or…. Is it back to the builder for repairs?
Aside from that… great post as always and congrats on the Valiant! That’s a serious machine right there! Be well, Mr. Drew. Peace.
If an engineer said this gig is a silent stage - I would ask for a new sound engineer.
Wow I never even heard about Valiant's homies By local standards the price especially these days is totally insane though So no wonder they focused to sale abroad
Do you prefer this guitar or the Poblano strat?
By the way, the reactive load / ir loading technology embaded in this amp is also supplied by Ukrainian company st.Rock.🤘 The Valiant guitars are amazing.
Hmm, in my humble opinion I think it was a bit incorrect to say the amp can't produce clean tones as "good as" your Amplified Nation or dirty tones "as good as" a Soldano. The Hook Wizard - to my ears - overlaps very much so with Marshall hotrodded Plexi tones. I have had a 1970 Super Lead, 1978 2204, 3rd Power Dirty Sink 6VEL, Metropoulos Metroplex, and SLO 100 in the same room at the same time as the Hook Wizard. This is an over-simplification, but it's in that Plexi camp. It's not a Soldano. Just like an SLO100 can't get vintage Plexi tones - it's a different circuit - the Wizard won't get SLO100 tones. Apples to oranges.
It is also a 45W amp so it won't quite give you that glassiness of a cranked 100W Plexi, but in some ways that might be a good thing as it is easier to control. And, you still do get some of that "kranggg" that you normally hear in higher-powered amps (and you lose a bit in lower powered amps like the Suhr PT15ir - another good amp).
As for cleans, the Hook Wizard is all about Plexi cleans. It won't give you Fender-style cleans or Dumble-style cleans, so it depends what you want. It gives a very nice, slightly refined sounding Plexi clean. That said, I did not find that you could really get a Voxish clean out of it, which the manual did seem to imply was achievable with the EQ switches.
All in all, it is indeed a great amp for gigging. So far it has been reliable and durable, but time will tell.
Hi Paul, which amp version are you demoing here, the 6L6 or the EL34 one? Thx
I’m not sure if this was covered in a different video, but curious what Reverb you’re using and if it’s placed in your chain or in post. Great video!
It was the reverb from the amp and the shimmer verb was from Valhalla
Where can you find one ?
What was you experience gigging it?
Really good!
It's a cool design and it sounds really nice but...mate, the amp is listed at 3450 euros...that's more than my whole guitar rig (guitar, amp, pedals, cables etc.) combined!
isn't the gain supposed to be first? how I have always done it, crank the master all the way, then add the pre gain to get your volume and MAX distortion ..I mean here if you crank the gainkobotheright and then adda little master does it break up or are you cranking the gain knob then adding master to get where you want to be, that's how I reading it on the video, gain CRANKED and master at like 2 .. same way I do it but most amps the gain is on the left, master right... semantics I know just curious if that's all it is here knob arrangement . . . pretty sure it is but you said its "advanced" so maybe it's new on me?
2:05 Netherlands.
They sound great until they break down. Then the real truth of their value is revealed. How much to fix (if possible), and how long to repair? Probably have to ship back to the builder and wait months.
The Wizard 2 sounds even better, more personality!
Well I’ll be double dog damned!!
I don’t trust ppl who use reliced guitars. The expression pedal trick was super cool tho.
You sir could make a transistor radio sound like an Orchestra. So yeah this amp. Sounds good but.Wait fir all the problems this thing can produce.
Every amp you review is the best yet … until you review the next amp ha ha
I didn’t say this is the best yet.
No djent no party
T-Rex Spin Doctor Overdrive
Personally, I wouldn't own a newer amp. I like my old Fender & Marshall amps that I can repair MYSELF! Not much to them really. But, they sound like heaven or hell, depending on your mood. I've tried almost every newer amp, and unless they are hand built and cost $8K, they sound like crap. Just my humble opinion as a 55 year player..
nice playing, but damn everyone uses these long decay reverbs and I swear that's all people hear.
No doubt the Hook is a great amp. But before saying it's the most advanced amp on the planet you should probably learn about the Diezel VHX. Just saying...
More playing and less tech information please! 😁
I wonder if Neil young will find this interesting . 😂
Price in USD
@@bluesman354 is this a question or a statement?
Valiant guitars are so awesome. They are made in Ukraine. 🇺🇦
Speaking as an electrician, the more electronic gadgets the more that can go wrong. Those moving knobs will be problematic as they are just *A GIMMICK* , there is absolutely no reason to have automatic knobs that turn. Impractical...indeed a gimmick.
My grandfather said electric windows in cars were a gimmick and refused to buy a car with them, thinking they would break all the time. My father said electric retracting side mirrors on modern cars were a gimmick, assuming the motors would break all the time. 🙄🙄
Technology has come a long way, and to play devils advocate if the knobs stop turning automatically you just have an amp with knobs that you need to turn yourself - ie like every other amp.
I’m not sure what you see as impractical - the ability to be able to use a midi controller and change settings on an analogue valve amp is a bloody brilliant idea.
It’s good to see where your preset settings are though. I have a Blackstar with my stored presets, but I can’t tell what my knobs were set to whenever I switch channels
@@3acharyy87 But he’s an electrician! If only he spoke as a guitar player instead…
Less playing and more tech information please
The Sold listing was still on Fleabay - Is this enough 'tech information' for you? 🤣🤣🤣🤣
"The WIZARD is a revolutionary new guitar amp and may be the last amp you will ever buy. This statement by the makers is right on the money. This is an amazing amp with extraordinary possibilities. It is in mint original condition with covers and sounds fantastic!
You can play it with or without a speaker cab thanks to its integrated reactive speaker load. It is a big step up sonically from any guitar amp modeler on the market providing the actual tube sound you are craving for and much much easier to operate than any modeler. Integrate your FX gear in the FX loop and recall everything including the amp settings via midi. A simple midi foot controller will work. There isn't anything better on the market.
A compact 2 channel tube guitar amplifier with IR speaker simulation and internal speaker load for standalone use. The Wizard is a fully programmable tube guitar amp with motorized knobs. It has 32 memory locations in which you can save your favorite sounds and switch between the presets with the rotary encoder or via midi. The speaker simulator comes with 16 cabs all recorded in the world renowned Wisseloord Studios in Holland (Tina Turner, Mark Knopfler, and many more). In addition, it’s possible to upload your own favorite speaker impulse responses with the matching computer app (Mac and Windows). This amp gives you the sound and ease of use of a classic tube guitar amp, but with the compactness and multi-functionality of a modeling amp.
The EL34 based tube amp has:
2 channels with multiple voicings each channel
Tube buffered effectsloop
Programmable reverb
Internal speaker load
A state of the art programmable impulse response speaker simulator with a impulse response length a 200ms with only a delay of 1 ms.
Software to upload your own personal cab IR’s
Manual:
Whilst the information contained herein is current at the time of publication, due to our policy of constant
The lightning flash with arrowhead symbol, within an equilateral triangle, is intended to alert the user to presence of uninsulated “dangerous voltage” within the product’s enclosure that may be of sufficient magnitude to constitute a risk of electric to persons.
The exclamation point, within an equilateral triangle, is intended to alert the user to the presence of important operation maintenance (servicing) instruction in literature accompanying the appliance.
• Always replace the power tubes with a matched set of the same type at the same time. We recommend that this work be per- formed by an Authorized Service Center.
• When changing the output tubes please be sure to have the bias checked and adjusted, if necessary. We recommend that this work be performed by an Authorized Service Center. Please see the Customer Support section of this manual for information.
Frontpanel
Programable Controls:
• Gain
• Bass
• Mid
• Treble • Volume
The master knob is not programmable, to have the flexibility to adept to different live situations
Channel
Switch between channel 1 and 2 by pressing the channel button
Eq / voicing
Channel 1:
• Deep = deep
• Eq light off = british class A tone stack
• Eq light on = blackface tone stack
Channel 2
• Deep = Deep
• Vintage = lower gain
• Modern = Higher gain
• Eq light on = vintage British eq stack, more mid scoop
• Eq light off = modern British eq stack, more mid and lows
Save Preset
Change the knobs (gain, bass, mid, treble, volume) channel and voicings switches to your taste. Light of preset starts to flash indication a setting has changed. Press rotary encoder for 2 seconds to save to the current preset.
If you want to save your settings to another preset, change the preset by turning the rotary encoder to the preferred number, and press encoder for 2 seconds to save.
Memory
The Wizard has 2 banks of 16 presets (A and B)
• 1-16A. Midi program change command 1-16
• 1-16B Midi program change command 17-32
Reverb
Press reverb button, dial in your reverb level , press rotary encoder short to save for the current preset. Press reverb again to exit.
Cab
Press Cab button to go into cab menu. Select 1 of the 16 cabs. Press encoder short to save for current preset. Press Cab button again to exit. If USB is connected to the wizard and the editor is running, the cab knob is not functional.
Midi Channel:
The default midi channel is 1
To change the midi channel the Wizard responds to:
• While amp is off, press rotary encoder and hold it.
• Power amp on and release rotary encoder.
• Cab and Reverb button are lit.
• Select the midi channel by turning the rotary encoder.
• Save by pressing 2 seconds.
Now your midi channel is set until you change it again.
Backpanel
Speaker load
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ATTENTION !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! IMPORTATNT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Use either a speaker cab and connect it to the right speaker output ( 4,8,16 Ohms )
OR
Set the load switch to ‘ON’.
It is not possible to use the LOAD and Speaker Cab at the same time.
If you use the amp without cab and load switch ‘off’ , you will damage your amp !!!!
We advise to keep the master knob on the front panel bellow 5 to keep the unit from generating excessive heat and tube wear.
Midi in
Connect a standard 5 pin din plug, other side to Midi foot controller or other midi device capable of sending midi program changes.
Presence
Dial in your favourite setting to match your cab.
Power and Standby
Switch the Wizard “on” and wait 45 seconds to heat up the tubes, then swtich the standy to “on”
Fuses
!!ALWAYS REPLACE THE FUSE BY VALUE THAT IS WRITEN BELOW THE COMPARTMENT!
115V countries
• Main fuse 5A slowblow (5x20mm)
• HT fuse 500mA fast blow (6.3x32mm)
Effectloop
Send and return to between preamp and power amp.
The Master knob is post effect loop.
Insert here your delays, reverbs and other time based effects you don’t want in front of your distortion.
Send level is 1.2V max
Tube Layout
Counted from input side.
• V1 12ax7
• V2 12ax7
• V3 12ax7
• V4 12ax7
• V5 EL34
• V6 EL34
preamp (channel1/2) preamp (channel 1/2) effectloop send and return Phase inverter
Power amp Power amp
Secret sorcery (beta)
So, for the lovers of sorcery:
It is possible to morph between every corresponding A and B memory location.
For instance, preset 1A and 1B.
Make to settings with the same channel and voicings (gain, bass, mid, treble, volume, reverb) Connect an expression pedal to your midi foot controller,
Select midi channel, which was selected for the Wizard, CC1 (control change command) Heel down corresponds with preset 1A and toe down with preset 1B.
Example
Preset 1A: channe1, low gain setting, hi volume setting, low reverb Preset 1B; channel1, high gain setting, low volume setting, hi reverb
High resolution speaker simulator
• Gnd lift. Push in for a lift, in case you experience hums or high pitched noise when connected to other earthed devices
• Mic/Line. Adjust the output level. When pushed the level is high.
• If you convert XLR to mono jack , you short circuit 1 phase , and the difference between
line and mic level gets very small. Use a stereo jack to prevent this issue.
USB
Use the USB connector to connect to a Mac or PC and run the Ampir software.
Connect the USB cable after you turned the amp “ON”
If USB is connected to the wizard and the editor is running, the cab knob is not functional. Editor
The amp must be “ON” before connecting the USB cable to your Wizard amp.
Otherwise you get in firmware update mode.
• Connect the USB cable
• Start the application on your PC/Mac
1 Directory of your computer, navigate with the “open” button or the “step back” button
2 List of the 16 slots for IR’s on your Wizard amp
3 Frequency response chart of the IR’s in box 1 (you can also switch to time graph)
4 Select a slot you want to write your new IR to, press “ad as current”
5 The IR you select will fill the first empty slot of your Wizard amp if you press “add as new”
6 If you are ready with editing press “write to device” only then the changes are made on the wizard.
7 If you want to make a backup of your 16 IR’s press “make backup” A .rib file is written to the directory you select.
8 If you want to restore from the backup file you created, press “restore from backup” then press “write to device” to finalize your restore.
9 If you want to update the firmware of your Wizard amp, make sure the power is your amp turned off. Connect your USB cable to your computer and press button “update firmware” Select the firmware file. Disconnect the USB cable when prompted.
If you changed anything and want to keep it, press the “write to device” button to confirm and write it to the flash memory of the speaker sim of the wizard.
Slot 16.
Slot 16 has a passthru IR. This means that if you select this slot , there is no speaker simulation and you could use another device like your DAW to use a plugin (that does a simulation)
Impulse Response Speaker Simulator specs
• Latency: 1.2 msec Impulse length:200 msec
• Impulse count: 16
• Sample freq 44,1kHz
• Bit depth: 32Bit
• Dynamic range 114 dB
• Noise
Physical Specs
• Weight 32 lbs
• 19" width
• 10.55"deep
• 10 "height
-100 dB THD+N"