review

Randall KH-15 Kirk Hammett Signature Series

Review by Mark Starlin

Randall KH-15 Kirk Hammett Signature Series practice amp Practice amps have been around almost as long as electric guitars. For decades they were typically small boxes with few features, designed for beginning guitarist who didn’t want to shell out big bucks to get started playing guitar. Their tone was rarely good and players quickly graduated to bigger amps. Recently, some practice amps have gone the modeling route in an attempt to provide more/better tones, including effects. With the KH-15 Kirk Hammett Signature Series practice amp Randall has taken a different route. Instead of trying to be everything in one box, they have attempted to focus on the tones of one player: Kirk Hammett.

What You Get

The KH-15 is a solid state, two channel amp that pumps 15 watts though a 6.5” Randall Jaguar speaker. There is a clean channel and an overdrive channel with a boost function, but no effects. There is three band EQ section, each channel has its own volume control, the overdrive channel also has a drive control, and there is a master volume. There is a headphone jack on the front and stereo CD/mp3 input mini jacks in the back.

The amp itself is closed-back and smaller than the typical 15 watt practice amp — perhaps due to its smaller speaker size — but not quite as small as the new “Micro” amps many companies are producing now. Still it is compact and light-weight, as any good practice amp should be.

A Looker

One department where the KH-15 excels compared to many practice amps is style. The black covering looks more like leather than vinyl, and the matching black hardware make it a tough, modern looking amp. The black cloth speaker cover has a signature plate on the lower right corner. One of the coolest aspects of the design, a feature Hammett fans will love, is control labels that are done in Kirk Hammett’s own handwriting.

Issues

The power cable is fairly short and is permanently attached to the amp. There is nowhere to store the cable, forcing you to coil it around the handle when carrying the amp. The headphone jack does not appear to have a speaker simulator as the distortion is buzzier than when played through the speaker.

Tones

The KH-15 has two basic tones: clean, and overdrive/distortion with variable gain. The EQ section is sensitive and covers a wide tonal range. Of course, you're not going to get chest-pounding bass out of a 6.5" speaker, but the closed back does help. However, the thing that really got my attention was how bright the clean channel was, even with humbuckers. When I tried my Strat it was ice pick bright, and I had to turn the Treble almost all the way off to make it useable. The amount of clean treble was surprising.

The Overdrive channel would more accurately be called a Distortion channel since the distortion is not very tube like. I found it sounded more like a good distortion pedal than overdriven tubes. At lower gain settings I was able to get a good crunch, but don’t expect that “verge of breakup” tone tube amps are known for. At higher gain setting the distortion simply got thicker with a little more buzz. The Boost button saturates it even a little more. The deal sealer will be how well you like the distortion tone itself.

Since the clean channel is so bright and required me to turn down the treble, I then need to readjust the treble when switching to the overdrive channel as it was a bit muddy with the treble turned down.

Final Thoughts

The KH-15 is a great looking little amp with a surprisingly bright clean channel. With a signature plate and labels written in Kirk Hammett’s own handwriting, it is sure to appeal to Metallica fans. While not terribly versatile, the KH-15 does provide a nice grind suitable for practicing those metal riffs. Those looking for a “jack of all trades” practice amp should look elsewhere.

Reader Comments

Better Guitar encourages your input. Agree with this review? Think I’m crazy? If you own or have used a KH-15 Kirk Hammett Signature Series practice amp, email me your comments and I’ll post them below. The more opinions we have available, the better our buying decisions will be.

Michael Shea

I also own the HK-15 amp and was truly amazed at the tone of this little amp coming out of a 6.5" speaker. The treble on the clean channel is way over the top but with a bit of dialing I feel it could be usable. No reverb but not really missed. I was able to replicate the Black Sabbath (Paranoid) sound with out the amp/speaker becoming muddy, the amp appears to remain clean even when driven hard and although I haven't had time to work on other sounds I got fairly close with the ZZ Top (La Grange). This amp has plenty to offer and although a little noisy I am going to try it in a studio environment. An inexpensive amp I believe to be worth every cent.

stats

  • • 2 Channels: CH. 1: Hammett Clean; CH. 2: Hammett Overdrive with Boost
  • • EQ Controls: Bass, Middle, Treble
  • • Master Volume
  • • Power: 15 watts, Solid State
  • • Speaker: 1 x 6.5" Randall Jaguar
  • • Headphone jack
  • • CD/mp3 input.
  • Positives
  • Small and lightweight; attractive, modern styling with control labels in Kirk's own handwriting; headphone jack on front, easy to plug in and grind away; inexpensive.
  • Negatives
  • Clean channel extremely bright; not a lot of tonal versitility in distortion channel; no reverb or effects; power chord doesn't detatch or store in the amp; headphone output buzzy using distortion.
  • Rating
  • Features: 6
  • Performance: 9
  • Sound Quality: 7
  • Construction: 9
  • Overall: 7.75
  • Ratings Key
  • 0 = Worthless
  • 10 = Excellent
  • Approximate Street Price
  • $99

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