Hayden Mini Mofo and 112 Cab

The Hayden Mini Mofo is a little freak of an amplifier, with more gain and grunt than most full-sized heads. There are a variety of voicing's on tap from warm cleans to mild break-up, or classic 'Plexi' rock to full blown metal mayhem.

The Mini Mofo pumps out 15 watts of Class-A tone, with two EL 84's firing the power amp and three 12AX7's in the pre. Four cascading gain stages give all the drive you could ever need with the included footswitch operating the Mofo gain.  Middle, Bass, Treble and Presence make up the EQ section with the Master volume controlling overall volume in conjunction with the Stealth switch (stealthily positioned underneath the head) dipping the wattage. There are two separate tone shaping inputs for US and UK tones, a series effects loop (which requires a stereo insert cable), 8 and 16 ohm outputs for a range of different cabs, and it all comes built in a cool, see-through steel chassis. 

Plugged in, the difference between the two inputs is that the US seems to have a bigger rounder bass like an old Fender or Mesa, whereas the UK has a grittier midrange and chime like a Vox or Marshall Plexi. I started with my Strat plugged into the US input scanning through the clean tones. The cleanest sounds came by turning the Master all the way up and keeping the Mofo all they way down, then using the gain to delicately set the volume. This resulted in a very clean, pristine tone with a nice fat bottom and jangly presence. There's no reverb with this amp, but the series FX loop would eat up some reverb or delay for this type of sound. Turning the Master down and increasing gain brought about a mild drive along the lines of a Fender Deluxe or Blues Junior, whereas going all out and using some Mofo resulted in a nice flabby Mesa-style lead tone.

One thing that's immediately obvious is how much tonal range is available with the four band EQ – it's so wide and musical with a massive dynamic range. You can go from mid-scooped metal to honky vintage leads and everywhere in between. The bass is solid too, even with the Eminence equipped Hayden 1 by 12 cab. The presence was really overbearing to my ears, so I liked keeping the treble up and the presence low as sort of master cut for the highs.

Over on the UK input it's a different story, as this amp magically transforms into a classic rock machine, eating up every note from my Les Paul. The bass becomes more subtle and immediate, the mids more focussed, the treble barking like a Marshall and the presence extremely sensitive. I hit the stealth switch and pumped the master for a saturated, responsive tone. I love how this amp adjusts to your playing, and it's possible to get all your tones from the guitar by adjusting pickups and rolling the volume up or down.  

The Hayden Mini Mofo head and cab work beautifully together, being made for guitarists seeking a wide range of tones for recording, gigging, or setting that one perfect tone and using your guitar for dynamics. For a little amp, the Hayden Mofo does a hell of a lot.