I took delivery of my HRM 50 combo last Spring, so I've had plenty of time to break it in and get to know it. I opted for most of the extra options, specifically the OD pull bright, 3-way mid switch, 3-way HRM defeat, and negative feedback switch (which I think is now a standard feature). For the speaker, I got the oft-recommended g12-65. Let me tell you, this is the single most versatile amp I have ever played through. It's a real chameleon, but maintains it's signature voice throughout. With my amp, I can get all of the following tones:

Fender-esque bright clean
warm compressed bouncy clean
dark jazzy clean
edge-of-breakup
SRV breakup & overdrive
Marshall-esque drive a la AC/DC
smooth lead a la Santana
mid-focused gain a la Boston
hard rock grind a la GN'R
chunky gain a la Alice in Chains
tight gain a la Metallica
heavy & grindy Rectifier distortion

And all of these I can get without touching any of the 3-band EQ knobs. I do all of my tone tweaks with just the switches, OD trim, and presence knobs. This amp sounds so good that I haven't had to mess with the EQ at all. That's not saying there aren't great tones in those knobs, I just haven't had any need to mess with them.

And yes, it does metal. I know most folks who get D-style amps play less aggressive styles, so when I was researching these it was difficult to find any owner accounts stating that they played heavier styles with their Overtones. Luckily for me, I got in contact with Nik (who is just about the coolest and most helpful guy on the planet) and was also able to play a friend's OT Standard, so my fears were assuaged. "But Hobobob," you say, "Why would you buy an amp like this if you play ear-bleeding devil music?" Because everything I heard from this amp family, both through recordings and in-person, made me love the tonality of these things. When I got my hands on my buddy's OT, I knew I had to have one. The way the clean channel felt, the way the OD could just sing and translate every nuance of my playing, it was magical. The only thing I missed was just a touch more hair out of the OD, and the HRM definitely delivers on that. With the HRM bypass, it will get just as sweet as the standard too.

But I'm not only a metalhead. Plugging in a Strat is just bliss. Blues, Funk, Country... If you can play it on a Strat, this amp will make it sound like gold. The tone is a little too skinny for single coils with the negative feedback switch on (or is it off?), but when you flip the switch back it brings in the low mids and really fills out the tone. That switch makes it almost feel like two different amps, and is awesome if you switch back and forth between humbucking and single-coil guitars.

Through all of the different tones, this amp maintains a very refined and 'produced' kind of vibe. Like you're listening to it recorded with a high-dollar microphone, run through a rare vintage mic preamp, and played back through top-of-the-line studio speakers. Well that might be a little bit of an exaggeration, but you get what I'm saying. You have to try hard to make this amp sound bad.

I've played it at gigs and rehearsals, both indoor and outdoor, and it has shined on all of them. It can get a little spongy at fired-from-your-blues-band volumes, but keeping the negative feedback on at those levels really tightens it up without being too thin. I suspect this issue would be practically nonexistent with the 100 watt version. But if you like power amp saturation, this thing will give it to ya.

The only thing I would change is that I would like a footswitchable relay that switches the HRM to full bypass from wherever it's set on the amp, so it would have a 3-button footswitch. The volume jump and extra smoothness going from the HRM-on or half-bypass to the full-bypass setting is perfect for a lead boost. If it's possible, I'd like to get an amp tech to install this. I don't know a whole lot about amplifier inner workings, but the midi jack for the footswitch has an awful lot of pins for just two buttons. If anyone smarter than me could comment on the feasibility of this, it would be appreciated!

So that's my spiel. If you can't tell, I'm very happy with this amp. I won't be so much of a narcissist as to include my settings for all my favorite tones, but if anybody wants them I'd be happy to share. I'm hoping that for folks like me who are considering getting an Overtone, this post can answer some of the same questions that I had going in. And if you made it all the way through the novel I just posted, thank you!