From Dean Costello Audio:
The HMW (Heavy Metal Warfare) is the ultimate single channel amp for achieving all ranges of rock and metal tones. The impressive versatility it offers in this regard comes from having high and low gain input jacks as well as a high and low gain switch. Altogether, there are 4 levels of input sensitivity to choose from depending on how aggressive of a sound the user is going for.
The high gain input ranges in sound from rock to extra heavy metal. Although it can be dialed back and used with pedals as well, its main purpose is to be used in the plug and play style where guitar is plugged straight in and all gain comes from the amp. The low gain input is good for clean-ish to rock tones and is more primarily aimed at being a pedal platform style where the amp does some range of moderate rock tones that can be shaped further with boosts or overdrives if desired.
EQ is expansive but not excessive. Settings are divided into preamp and power amp controls with preamp controls being Gain, Treble, Middle, and Bass. Volume, Presence and Depth control the overall volume and frequency response of the power amp. Two switches were added to allow the frequency range of the preamp to be shifted into either a more trebley or a more bassy range. Both switches off is the true sound of the amp. Treble shift switches the preamp into a more “brite and tite” sort of feel which can be good for styles of music where more pick attack and articulation of notes is important, like fast or technical metal, punk, grind, thrash, etc. Bass shift makes the amp more thick and full sounding if your desire is to bowl people over with low frequencies in your doom or sludge band.
The HMW comes standard with two speaker outputs, an impedance selector switch for 4, 8, or 16 ohm output, and a line out with volume control. This model has an FX Loop.
Headcase is solid hardwood maple with clear semi-gloss finish. Air vents in the top and bottom and the relatively open front and back panels allow fresh air to circulate around the tubes to keep things cool.