I've Searched For this Preamp For Years! Kitty Hawk QUATTRO

[@RJRonquillo]

Great find! I vaguely remember in the 80s Kitty Hawk had a phone number you could call and hear the "demo" of the amp. Of course I called it.

[@LeonTodd]

Can you remember the number by any chance? Asking for a friend.

[@RJRonquillo]

@@LeonTodd 😂 It was listed in one of the ads in Guitar Player magazine. I've got a bunch here, I'll look.

[@BenBreard]

Oh man I remember calling an 800 number to "hear" the Korg G3. Ha!

[@shuster1921]

@@LeonTodd Dude, that was 40 years ago, you don't really think that number is still live do you🥴

[@tacoconch7678]

@@shuster1921 It would still be interesting to see what the number is today. haha

[@ChicagoJ351]

If you have access to a box of guitar magazines from the 80s, you would get a good sense of what it was like to be a guitar player back then. Guitar heros, bands, instructional columns, and especially gear, you would be exposed to all that through those magazines. It’s how a lot of us discovered music, gear, and learned new songs.

[@Havanacuba1985]

Mid to late 80s early 90s were the golden years for guitar magazines ,I have all mine . Cant read anything later ,they have lost all character ,love guitar world where people had crazy arguments in the letters page ,and the mad cartoons they used to draw ,plus guitar Sam and all the adverts

[@tonyvermeer7409]

I still have all of my GFTPM copies from late 80's - early 90's. Those mags were the best. Anyone remember the touring rig photos at the end of the mag? How about the 2-page ads for Doug Marks lessons? They also always ran an ad for a rig sweepstakes. The rig was either a Marshall stack or an ultimate rack , with a Jackson Soloist. Lots of good tabs w/bass incl. Players could send in their tapes and a bio and the mag would plug them. I wonder where all those guys are today? I think a couple made it to the big time.

[@chiefpotpipe]

In the late 80's when my local Guitar Gallery went out of business, I bought a decades worth of Guitar World and a bunch of Guitar Player. 25 cents each.

[@larslevinberget9558]

@@tonyvermeer7409 I think I remember seeing Jeff Loomis in the spotlight section, back in 1989

[@0megalul309]

He listened!

[@GaryMcNeill]

Now you can finally make an 80s REH Leon Todd Shred instructional video!

[@GaryMcNeill]

Also this preamp is DRYYYYY as F...

[@LeonTodd]

YES

[@JohnWiku]

This just proves that the greatest and latest is not needed to get great tones. G.A.S is stronger than the people's ability to make gear sound good. Just because something is new and expensive doesn't mean it will make you sound good, or make you play better for that matter!

[@LeonTodd]

Exactly

[@ExpatZ266]

Bingo! I have found that I can get at leasrt a serviceable tone from any reasonable amp or preamp. I can adjust my attack to make up for most of it and in a mix it'll sound decent to anyone listening even if I am cringing inside about some minor little tick, spike or clip. Which means it is up to me to ignore myself and just play the hell out of what is in my face. The cleaner amps get a dirt pedal in front and awaaaaay we go! Once I figured that out it's been a breeze and my gas spend has dropped dramatically.

[@Superjet113]

If it has real vaccum tubes that actually work well there is a good chance it will sound great.

[@TheCyberMantis]

TRUTH.

[@Joop5000]

@@LeonTodd True, but would you give up your Axfx lll for it? LoL!

[@jimshomestudio]

The 80s are still alive and well at Leon’s house.

[@Garflips]

Very cool. I still have mine that I bought new but the quality control must have been pretty bad for my batch because the transformer went out. One of the relays failed and all the pots on the front corroded - something about the ceramic construction. I've since got everything replaced but am still in the process of swapping out all the pots with standard CTS. Should be healthy sometime this summer. I remember when it was working using the clean channel on a mixer insert to warm up a vocal mic! Cheers!

[@89ji76]

This really is the greatest rock sound ever! (Among others…)

[@gregc5427]

Had one of these from around 91 to 92. Got it from Guitar Crazy in Coogee. They also had a Kittyhawk Testarossa preamp. Ran it with a Digitech DSP128. Played a charity gig with borrowed back line Marshall and put the Quattro in front. After playing was asked how I made that Marshall sound so good. I thought it was good versatile preamp for it's time.

[@n00n3r]

i have one of these. the power trans went out in it a few years back. been meeting to fix it. loved it.

[@stoicscorpio3838]

Crazy to wake up this morning and have both you AND The-Art-of-Guitar featuring Reb Beach and Winger in some way. Talk about synchronicity. 🤘😳

[@LeonTodd]

*In the heart of the young intro plays*

[@drbonkerssoundlabllc]

These were made in the next town over from where I grew up. I wish I was aware of them at the time they were in business. It might have been neat to tour the shop where they were building these.

[@LeonTodd]

That's wild! Yeah I'd love to know more about how many they made

[@jasonstone1046]

Yeah I remember Simon from the old Hey Hey It's Saturday band used to use one. Killer preamp..

[@LeonTodd]

Probably my first memories of actual banks playing music would be Hey Hey! Always remember Deep Purple on there.

[@randalpink9311]

At 3:00 you nail that Whitesnake Still Of The Night clean breakdown sound....just awesome

[@vinniekay0967]

I've still got one laying around in my warehouse in a setup with an old Marshall 9100 poweramp and a couple of Mesa Studio preamps with a Lexicon MPX G2 FX unit. Switching from Mesa to KittyHawk. I used to use the KittyHawk back in the day for the Marshall type of sounds. And I NEVER had Any Tech Problems With It!! Ever!

[@drockny]

Loved your playing and that 80's chorus sound at 2:48. Reminded me of John Sykes.

[@aedgemont]

I had one in the late 90s! I used to run it into the poweramp of my Marshall 6100 30th Anniversary Head into a Marshall 2x12 (1936 cab) and also used a Rocktron Intellifex! Epic tones! I really miss it, funny enough I was just looking online and these are soooo hard to come by and agree that they sound fantastic and they really flew under the radar (still do I imagine). Great stuff!

[@LeonTodd]

Yeah this would rip with the intellifex!

[@j.boogie1646]

Very cool demo.. Have you ever tried a Digitech twin tube GFX 1 ... I used one for years , they are a pain to dial in but once you do it's pretty cool for that 80's and early 90's type of tone .

[@LeonTodd]

Yeah, I've got a video with one!

[@Bowietrope]

Wow, I'm a Kitty Hawk fan, I have this and a couple of amps. I also have a later Dutch made Kitty Hawk preamp called the Stage 2004, same concept but slightly different sounds..a bit darker. Thank you for making a fantastic video of this fantastic preamp, always enjoy your playing, Bruce

[@clawfoot8400]

Love looking at the advertisements in old guitar mags!

[@rodaroo2]

Nice touch with the addition of Sunlit Nights with the clean demo. Never had one of these much less heard of it but thank goodness for the III. Great playing as always. Cheers!

[@LeonTodd]

Well spotted!

[@nicholastotoro7721]

Best thing is Reb’s sexy kitten pose in the ad… 🤣

[@LeonTodd]

Hahaha yesssss

[@Anandmahangoe]

This is my beginning years of gear testing man , awesome that you found one ! I used to endorse Kitty Hawk and give clinics with all their gear : 3 preamps , 2 power amp ( 2x120w) , the Automix and their amazing amp head : The Eagle !! I worked a lot on that amp with owner Gundolf Roy , close friend, and we made that Amp shine !! If you can ever get a hold of one of those !!!

[@DavidSL2H]

I think Kee Marcello used one of those? Glorious 80s tones, thanks for the great review

[@bryanvaughn80]

dude, it's like you can read my mind!!!! i thought i was the only one obsessed with kitty hawk amps!

[@guitarsickness7064]

Awesome piece of gear mate!

[@courtney2018]

OMG! I have wanted one of these since the late 80s! And it sounds amazing for the era. Another piece of gear that will increase in value now that you've demo'd it. Stop doing such a great job at this stuff! 😁

[@davidshankle7359]

Hello back when I was playing with Manowar met the owner back when he was developing that he had a really nice custom pedal board that went with it as well some old school good sounding gear there.

[@LeonTodd]

Wild times!

[@wolfsdenmusic9404]

Wow...had to do a double take on that thumbnail...a Kitty Hawk?? Take me right back to all those Guitar For The Practicing Musician magazines (still have all my George Lynch issues! lol). Always remember seeing the ads with Reb Beach. Always wanted to hear this thing! Sounds pretty darn good. Well...there's a chapter finally closed. Thanks to you and those who made it possible! 😁

[@nj1255]

I like the tone control section. The mid control doesn't muddy up the tone like in many other pre-amps. Great crunch sound!

[@SuperGuitar38]

Those are known to overheat. Kitty Hawk sold the design to Soho and they put it in a 2 space rack ( Soho QTR-1). Heard Exodus used it on Impact is Imminent. Great find. Give it plenty of air or install fans?

[@LeonTodd]

Never heard of that Soho pre! Another one to try find

[@ericharbauer]

Ive been looking for one of these for a long time. Now I want it even more....

[@khalilhabib9607]

I remember seeing ads for this in guitar magazines. Totally forgot about it until your video

[@hoytclagwell7060]

Love It man ! I can see hours of tweaking and twiddling knobs and losing track of time in the immediate future.

[@RikkShredLifestyle]

Owned it in 93'?? Somewhere around there....it was SMOKIN!!!

[@MusicianinMe.]

This is really good.... Nostalgia with that tone

[@j_reaume5248]

Geez - this gave me a few regrets. I had a KH Quattro and two KH Testarossa tube preamps that I procured from LP Music Group when they stopped importing Kitty Hawk gear from Germany (West Germany at the time). Yes, I sold it all to buy something new (possibly my H&K Access preamp).

[@miloszwozniak1822]

Hi Leon. I used to have one of these. I ran it into an an input of a jcm800 MV (low) and the thing screamed....although it made the tubes in the Marshall glow funny...but the tone was absolutely unreal. Try it that way you might be surprised.

[@peterharvin2775]

Never heard of this one, but after listening to the grit and growl coming from it with the PRS, I'm glad that I now have.

[@TheEricsnet1]

Wow! Thanks Leon! Brings back a lot of fond memories for me. I ran mine into the hot channel of a MusicMan 50 watt combo.

[@glaucosouza1971]

Another great video Leon! love those series, make me feel I'm in my 20s again. That Kitty Hawk was one of the few tube preamps that Ive never tested back in the day. nice tone, a hot-rodded JCM800, not very heavy, but with balls, cool. Now, what about a take on Rocktron's Piranha??, very nice preamp.

[@LeonTodd]

I've got a piranha! Did a video on it a while ago

[@glaucosouza1971]

@@LeonTodd WOW! How I've missed that?? Gonna watch it right now!!

[@larslevinberget9558]

Reb Beach, Nancy Wilson, Leslie West, Rudolph Schenker, Matthias Jabs, Kee Marcello ... they all played Kitty Hawk around 1988-92. Basically German made versions of Mesa Boogie Mark series and the rack stuff.

[@bebopfantan2672]

Tony Fredianelli , Marty Friedman, Dave Mustaine and George Lynch as well using this amp . Back.for the attack included. Prince used different kitty hawk amp too

[@bobjoe7508]

Did some digging, and although Reb Beach endorsed these, he never actually recorded with them. He used them live, but only for his effects, but those effects cabs were never mic'd lol. Apperently his road crew called them "shitty hawks". I guess this was probably in comparison to the Marshall's he used in the studio. This preamp sounds pretty killer, but also very dated (which I love). I would have never guessed he used a marshall until I saw that mentioned in an interview. His tone doesn't really sound like a conventional Marshall tone at all. I'm pretty sure there's a bit of H3000 or something in his solo tones, and also an ultra short delay.

[@LeonTodd]

Yeah I read an interview with Reb where he said they just mic'd the Marshall in the studio then did all the fx in post.

[@nesforce7712]

I can hear some Zack Wylde in that tone. The pinch harmonics sound very close to no more tears.

[@nickangus3211]

Strangely I remember the Australian distributor was a music shop in Launceston, Tasmania of all places! The loop switcher was a must have back in the day, I think at the time it was the only commercially produced one around. Certainly that I knew of.

[@LeonTodd]

Hahaha that's amazing!

[@MikeWeida]

The soho version, QTR. I was obsesed with that s at one of the local shops. Could never pull the trigger, still want one thought.

[@Riffraff12571]

Wicked toanz mate! What a cool preamp!! Now there's another vintage tube preamp I'll be lusting for after you've turned my attention to it. LOL! I remember seeing Kitty Hawk stuff years ago but never really payed attention to any of it. Great video Leon.

[@brianpeter7139]

Yaaaa!!! Break You @9m17s !!! That song just rocks!

[@PerryCodes]

Damn Leon. You get all the good toys!

[@TheCyberMantis]

This video shows it's not so much the gear.... but the PLAYER, that makes all the difference.

[@conanmcgrath7628]

I saw one come up on FB maketplace in Melbourne, went to buy it and it was gone These are a Boogie MK1 clone, Kitty Hawk were the distributors for messa and got into a bit of strife when they caught em out releasing this Reb never recorded with these but they were in his live rig

[@Wh33lsofFortune]

Kitty Hawk made many amps and preamps inspired by Dumble, he learned from Alexander Dumble when he was working for him and used all that knowledge in is own products. Maybe he was inspired by dumble, maybe by mesa?

[@LeonTodd]

@@Wh33lsofFortune woah didn't realise there was a Dumble connection

[@Wh33lsofFortune]

@@LeonTodd I read it somewhere in an article. Pretty neat

[@rofguitarchannel7338]

Clean tone with micro shift is KILLER 👌...thank you for the knowledge

[@COTG666]

I wish we had KZbin back in the 80s. I could have saved a lot of money by avoiding the wrong gear. This Kitty Hawk would have been great to have back then. Even though I'm using Fractal now I may not have bought one if I had the Kitty Hawk and a few pedals.

[@jacobseal]

Wow sounds great. There is one for sale locally that I would like to grab but I am a couple hundred bucks short. Also looking at an Engl 620. Any opinions on that one?? I can find very few demos but it seems to sound great.

[@theariesexperiment4642]

That tone you closed out with is the closest I've heard to Zakk's No Rest For The Wicked tone I've heard on YT. Absolutely top shelf stuff. Bang on perfect.

[@LeonTodd]

Cheers! Michael Nielsen did an amazing Zakk Wylde tone vid a few years back if you haven't heard it yet.

[@theariesexperiment4642]

@@LeonTodd I did. But your tone was closer without you even trying. The ADA is a great unit. The KITTY HAWK just simply nails it in my opinion.

[@LeonTodd]

@@theariesexperiment4642 now i need a lee Jackson pre to compare :p

[@theariesexperiment4642]

@@LeonTodd Ahhhh,....next video??? Would be epic. Thanks for responding Leon. Appreciate that. Take care brother.

[@davidbarfuss4478]

Man I had one in the 90ties but it got stolen. The highgain tones rocked🔥

[@rickbartocetti847]

I remember these back in the day. I have searched for years and never found anything but their combos.They sounded like a hotrod mp-1

[@LeonTodd]

Yeah they would have been perfect for the time they came out.

[@feefop9858]

Had the Quattro about 20 years ago....sold it for some reason.....and just picked another one a month ago. Clean channel good, useable and about what you would expect in a good rack preamp. Crunch channel, meh, OK but not the best - can be flubby and unispiring. Overdrive and hot overdrive are what you get this preamp for. You have to really be careful with the bright/treble and middle controls...easy to overdo it and turn things into cheesy fiz. I find it best to use either bright or treble with one backed off and one cranked, finding the sweet spot between the two depending on the guitar I'm using. Once you do that, you are dialed in and this preamp rips....

[@picker63028]

I had all those magazines and drooling over the pages. My meager income and family obligations prevented the purchasing of the latest gadgets. Good thing because lots of it was junk. Our music stores in St. Louis didn't carry much of this gear either. Still have a collection of outdated and useless stuff.

[@prook2001]

Congratulations Leon. I absolutely love mine. Although mine has a modification..... The power transformer in in a box halfway down the mains cable. Apparently this is due to some magnetic coupling noise in the original design and the modification was made by the guy who owned mine originally (a distributor of Kitty Hawk gear) This is hearsay and I have no evidence of the validity of this story.

[@LeonTodd]

That's kinda cool though, I love a good mod!

[@liontone]

Sounds a little bit like the Carvin Quad X I had. 80s preamps always had the sparkling clean, the iffy crunch channel, and the searing lead. Many seemed to use transistors, and starved preamp tubes. They aren’t bad, at all, but not quite as dynamic or versatile as some of the stuff out there today. I think I traded my Quad X for a Kingsley Minstrel, which I think is more versatile, but lacks switching etc. The Kitty Hawk sounds pretty good, tho!

[@noizewriter3324]

There was an interview with Reb Beach where he stated the road crew would call them Shitty Hawks cause they constantly were breaking down...which is a shame after some tweaking they seam like really solid one rack preamps

[@Riffraff12571]

LOL!! Awesome...hahaha. Guys loved to diminish your gear with monikers like that. I remember it well since I had a "Sounds Shitty" amp for a number of years.

[@angeloarimborgo6352]

I worked for the company that imported and distributed Kitty Hawk back in the late 80s and Reb is correct. The breakdown rate on the amps were so high and support from the German company was so low that we were forced to drop them and lost a shitload of money in the process. This preamp was the star of the line IMHO and I still have mine from the first shipment that we showed at Namm. Reb Beach happens to be a prince of a guy and was great to deal with. We all felt bad when these things started blowing up.

[@noizewriter3324]

@@angeloarimborgo6352 I wish I could upvote this comment ten times! And honestly I could see him actually being excited about these at first. Anyways thanks for the insight!

[@nmtodorow]

Carvin (Quad X-preamp) Is great with nine 12ax7 , Still have it , works great.

[@LeonTodd]

I've got a Quad-X demo up :)

[@christopherwoods6]

Always wanted one, sounds killer!

[@marktullo35]

When I had first started playing back in the late 70's, a music store I worked at one summer had this new 'Advanced Audio Designs' Guitarist Preamp which featured 2 gain stages and a master volume, along with a full Parametric EQ, Gain and High Boosts switches on the front panel. Alex Lifeson used this same Preamp for a while, although I had no idea at that time. I put this preamp through the front end of my stock '78 JMP Marshall 50 watt MV head, and I swear this was as close to the brown sound as you could get back in the day without using a seriously modded, Jose style Marshall. I used it for years to cover VH and other classic hard rock covers and still have it buried somewhere in my collection. Good luck trying to find these nowadays...

[@LeonTodd]

I've literally never heard of that one before! The hunt begins.

[@LeonTodd]

Is this the unit you're referring too? reverb.com/item/37934340-advanced-audio-designs-guitarist-101-rack-mount-preamp-alex-lifeson

[@marktullo35]

@@LeonTodd That's it exactly...it served me well for years until around 1985 when I bought one of those GK250ML amps I mentioned a while back. At that time it was an amazing preamp, before the whole 'Rack' thing really got going. I didn't even have a small rack for it...I just built a wooden box that I kept it in for gigs back in the late 70's/early 80's...lol.

[@marktullo35]

And if you are wondering I am convinced there is dirt out there that is younger than I am...

[@scottpeters4401]

I had 2 Kitty Hawks in the 80’s…this preamp,and the M-1 head….the M-1 blew the OT within 6 months of buying it….I sold it after that….The Quattro Preamp I had for a couple of years,but it’s PT went out….They sounded good,but alot of them had reliability issues,as mine did…..cool amps though,for what they were….I traded my Quattro for an AD/A MP-1 back then….

[@michaeltaylors2456]

You had me at ADA MP-1.

[@gtrman69777]

That's quite typical if those things. Even Reb Beach said that they were crap because they kept breaking down.

[@scottpeters4401]

@@gtrman69777 the pots were plastic too in the head I had….plastic!!..

[@wadefinch2664]

Kinda reminds me of the 922 Real Tube II rack unit I had.

[@Bad_Phil]

Hey Leon, have you ever tried a Rocktron ProGap? I’d love to see what you thought or could pull out of one! Cheers

[@LeonTodd]

Not yet!

[@rodrigocamargo8400]

I read somewhere that Reb Beach referred to the brand as "SHITTY hawk" because they would break often... I am not sure if he was speaking of this particular unit, though.

[@kenny6920]

I use one of these in a doom/crust punk project lol its amazing

[@armandomorenotherevival7827]

Is it me but it kinda has a fender meets marshall vibe. The lowend is kinda fendery , the mushy bloomy thing that fender does

[@DocRaunchy]

A friend of a really influental (for me) Rock Group in my area had a Kitty Hawk PreAmp (not sure it was a Quattro) and it was awesome. Went for the JMP-1 though, but wouldn´t mind to get my hand on one of these beautiful Kitties. As far as i remember they were manufactured in Germany. I owned a peavy tube preamp aswell, that I sold to get money for the JMP-1, but in hinsight I wish I would still have it. Lot of memories when you begin to play and the first gear is really special.

[@ProjectNarrowboat]

Not quite sure what to make of this one - seemed good once you'd worked your magic with various other items in the signal chain, maybe a little "plain" on its own? I found a picture of the insides of one - very little in there, PSU board, 4 valves and just enough components to do tone/gain stuff. Like a very cut down Rockmaster (I love my Rockmaster though!). Maybe it's one for the die hards?

[@LeonTodd]

Yeah it's kinda Rockmaster lite

[@sadwingsraging3044]

TELECASTER!!! Break out the hammer -on- through that amp!

[@deadinside0586]

Yeeeeeah, man! Congrats for this toy. Reb Beach did a great job with one of this, and you probably will do the same.

[@jhellert1]

I have a Hafler T2 preamp if you have ever been interested in that preamp for a bargain price.

[@BigHairyGuitars]

Oh yes!!!!!!!

[@LeonTodd]

This preamp gets a 3.5 out of 5 on the Toren scale for rack rarity.

[@BigHairyGuitars]

@@LeonTodd HAHA yes! I love this preamp. Super underrated. For an 80's preamp, it's big and fat!

[@michaeltoren]

@@LeonTodd That's pure awesome. I have to give it a 4 because I still haven't found one and have to borrow Nielsen's.

[@LeonTodd]

@@michaeltoren a true rarity then!

[@thesash7063]

I love his Steavens Poundcake Amp. I had the chance to meet the amp maker Bernhard Stephan (owner of Steavens Amplification) he is just an awesome guy. He build a custom amp for me but sadly it’s lost in the flooding in Germany. (The only amp that I really miss)

[@LeonTodd]

Ohhhhh they're made by the same dude?! That's awesome

[@DocRaunchy]

A friend of mine has lost his gear in the flooding last year including a Kitty Hawk PreAmp. What a shame. These are really great Rock Preamps if you are into Seventies and Eighties Rockoramas.

[@chrisandreou6546]

If you could get your hands on a bogner fish preamp it would be awesome

[@LeonTodd]

Oh yeah! That's a holy grail pre.

[@aristocaster]

Finally Because four is more than two or three that other preamps were offering in 80's And more is more.

[@Scott__C]

Man, I thought it'd be nothing but Winger since Reb's the only one I remember being in the ads for them. Could you switch between all 4 modes with MIDI or a footswitch?

[@LeonTodd]

No midi, footswitch only

[@ericolson326]

What, no Blind Revolution Mad? Left me with a bad case of Beach balls. 😆

[@sadwingsraging3044]

2:46 I could literally see your hair grow two inches right here...

[@carlroberge7535]

Man this sounds so awesome!!! I need this in my life 🤘

[@user-qr7ee2cp4y]

Kitty hawk! Now how about the testorossa? I probably had a lot of the same magazines... subscribed for years.

[@Cerusicus26]

Kee Marcello used Kitty H amps

[@TheMasonator777]

Why no Strat neck pickup on the crunch?

[@LeonTodd]

The scriptwriter responsible for this oversight has been removed from their duties.

[@nigel900]

Not bad. I watched your video on the Rocktron Gainiac 2, and from these speakers to my ears, sounded better. Just my opinion. Great video, Thanks.

[@NudnikShpilkus]

Wish the Fractal stuff had this preamp, paired with a nice power amp....

[@Turbo-D]

i got this preamps since decades now, kitty hawks are most likely mesa clones, the biggest issues they had was the build quality, always technical issues that destroyed the company sadly ;( german company by the way so greetz from germany here :)

[@scandinaviandetailing]

I used to have one of these since I couldn't get my hand on a soldano X88r. Liked it but never loved it 😅👍Bought a modified Jmp-1 which probably isn't a better amp rather a glorified stomp box 😆 Great video!

[@jamescassidy4045]

Hey Leon. Do you have any idea who the builder of these were or maybe where I could get ahold of him? I just got a couple pieces of Kitty Hawk gear (untested), and just trying to find out abit more about it.

[@LeonTodd]

I don't. There's a tiny amount of info here - jedistar.com/kitty-hawk/

[@jamescassidy4045]

@@LeonTodd Hah no worries man! Appreciate it!

[@angeloarimborgo6352]

These were made in Germany by Kitty Hawk who are long out of business. They also had to deal with a design infringement lawsuit from Mesa Boogie. They used to be Boogie’s repair center in Germany.

[@jamescassidy4045]

@@angeloarimborgo6352 Hi. Thanks. I realized who the company was, and knew abit of the back story about the builder/company, but what I meant was does anybody know who the guy is exactly. Like his name, if he's still living, and if anybody knows how to get ahold of him. I have a few pieces, including a really cool Kitty Hawk Inductor/Coil EQ that's super high quality. Id love to find him, and ask him a couple questions if possible.

[@Burkhimself]

I’d read somewhere that the kitty hawk stuff used to “break down” on Reb and that’s why he didn’t use them for very long….hopefully someone can chime in and correct/confirm whatever that story was….

[@j_reaume5248]

True Story - Winger did use KH M1 tube amps/cabs on their early tours and videos. The primary issues were the potentiometers used plastic shaft and broke easily and the failure rate of output transformers was much higher than it should be. Keep in mind these were custom wound transformers not easily replaced with the standard OEM models. Reb Beach called them "sh!tty hawks" in an interview with a guitar magazine. The distributor (LPMG) started cannibalizing new stock amps for parts when doing warranty repairs. The preamps came out about a year after the "M" series amps. Even though they were well received, the reputation for repair issues caused LPMG to cease distribution.

[@mikeweber74]

I used to have one, wish I never sold all my rack gear

[@michaelchadwick6424]

They were German ya? Anyways i was visiting Launceston in the mid nineties and lo and behold I think the Australian distributor was based there. Walked past his shop loaded with Kitty Hawk stuff. Never mind he was closed. Doh.

[@TavaresProject]

I can not say I liked this at all... But great playing as always Leon!

[@castleanthrax1833]

When you were playing clean I thought you were going to burst into "It's Because I Love You". Very sad to hear of Glenn Wheatley passing. 😥

[@LeonTodd]

Just heard the news! RIP

[@danosoprano5853]

Your playing is what makes your gear sound good. I bet you could get a crunchy mid heavy jerry cantrell sound out of that!!!!! Oh i should have watched the whole video before commenting: shout out form abq new Mexico the nuke city!!!!

[@NitroModelsAndComics]

Kittt Hawk had a rep as being less than reliable back in the day. Finding one that is stock is nigh impossible these days. They are usually repaired for reliability. The tones were good though.

[@mikemc5221]

Yeah, Reb said he to 6 or 8 heads out with him because they were always blowing up, he called them Shittyhawks.

[@youscreamiscream]

This is the first version of the quattro that had issues. The second version solved the reliability issue...

[@Crazykiwi2]

I know you've got a Rocktron Pirhana Leon but is there any interest in the Pro GAP? Analogue signal path with digital control.

[@LeonTodd]

Slowly trying to try everything rocktron. Voodoo valve, prophesy and pro gap are high on the list.

[@Crazykiwi2]

@@LeonTodd I'm already subscribed. Myasnikov is doing some marvellous things also - I know you've played the SuperLead but he does a IIC+ version too.

[@LeonTodd]

@@Crazykiwi2 my buddy just loaned me the 2C so i'm going to demo that soon :D

[@Crazykiwi2]

@@LeonTodd fantastic, I'm looking forward to it. Like you, I have a Mesa Studio pre, perhaps it might be interesting to compare and contrast them!

[@MathiasBronnes]

Ugh, more to feed my addiction...looks like i gotta buy another 21u....

[@gtcheetah3361]

Cool Preamp! Not really related to this but it seems that you got rid off your Myasnikov and are now using Synergy modules. Is that because of the convenience the Synergy system provides or because of the tone?