Koch Pedaltone

It was hard to get the sound I wanted from this pedal...I almost returned it. It has great tone, but was a little hard to get good treble or clear bass response from. I ended up pulling a Alesis DEQ224 out of my closet, and with that, it gave me FULL control over the tone of this unit. So basically, The Koch does provide great TUBE tone, but I have to rely on external EQ to dial in A LOT of different tones...It works. I also use a Decimator noise reduction pedal to keep the high gain tiny bit of noise under control. The unit is quiet and clean tones work for me.

It is not noisy.
I use Koch pedaltone--MEQ224---Decimator----then into my PC where I use FL Studio to direct record. I use Waves IR1 convolution reverb. I get ALL the sounds I want and more. The tube preamp sounds out of this device are top notch. It took a lot of work to get this setup right....but it is damn good right now. I'm more of a hobbyist rather than player, I don't play well, but I love to strun a chord and hear gorgeous rock guitar tones of all types. I give it an eight here, because I have to use EQ to get the tones out of this pedal. I had a Mesa Boogie Recto preamp that gave great tone and had real sensitive tone controls BUT it was weak on distortion tones. The Koch has stronger distortion...and it sounds great. I find it to be more versatile( after exteranl EQ) than the Recto preamp.

Dependable? Almost militray spec...damn ugly gray box. I would reject it in a minute for looks, but the TONE..the SOUND..It's a keeper. A classic in the making. I don't gig.

I wish it were made in a slick rackmount unit. I like rack stuff.
But I guess for a box to step on, it has to be ugly and strong. Strong it is. It will last for a LONG time.

NA Haven't needed them,hope I don't need them in the future.

Rock to Alternative metal-- This Preamp is a GREAT match for any distorted rock sound. Lost or stolen? I might buy it again, unless someone like Mesa made something better. Right now, this IS the best preamp i can think of. It is not FULL featured like the Recto pre, BUT it makes up for it in tone I can use, and use, and use. Value? I don;t know...a little too much. I see $500 or maybe $600...but more than that? Well, considering that a Mesa Recto pre cost $1100, I can buy the Koch at any price, a EQ, and decimator and still have cash leftover. It is a better deal then the Recto.
It needs : an OFF/ON switch on it. And more sensitive tone controls.
It helps me play more, because as we all know, when the sound is there, we get totally into our playing as opposed to having to listen and monitor the sound all the time.

I know my review was a little harsh, but I love the Koch Pedaltone. I own a Dean USA Hardtail, and i will most likely keep that and the Pedaltone for the rest of my playing days.

PS I was using Guitar Rig 2, But I could not stand the blurred, overly compressed and noisy tones of software stuff anymore. I had to go back to REAL hardware to reclaim great guitar tone that you love to hear! GR2 was a CPU intensive too, especially when trying to record it with FL Studio.
Buy some real gear! Don't rely fully on software( at least I will not) Just my opinion. Enjoy!

I love rock and metal distortions. I am mainly comparing this unit to the sounds of my JCM2000 and Mesa/boogie DC-2. I use the pedal as a preamp into my JCM2000 effects loop or guitar line in and through a quad box loaded with vintage celestions using my Les Paul Supreme. To put it simply it improves the sound of the Marshall and Mesa both on the clean and distortion channels. Seriously, it has taken the Marshall from a nice sound to a pro sound that I have been searching for. It really improves the clean and distortion, pro, pro, pro, I love the new sound and finally feel I could take this rig on any stage and feel satisfied with the tone - and I am hard to please. I would describe the sound as a mixture of fender, marshall and Mesa/boogie somewhere in the middle of them all. This pedal into the Marshall is tone heaven for me, it can go from ACDC to Pantera, and do it really well.I will be checking out the Koch range of amps after this, I expect big things from them in the future. I have not tried out other features on the pedal as I will probably never use them.

Made in 2002, I use this as a preamp for my Marshall JCM2000. I have been playing for 17 years. This is a versatile little unit. Although I probably won't use it to its full capability.

havn't had it long

Havn't had it long

Been playing for ages, owned heaps of equipment , played in many bands, When I play my Les paul Supreme through this pedal and into my Marshall the sound is awesome. Pro.

fender strat custom shop (single coil active pickups EMG DG20) or ES 345>Banzai new sunrise II > Banzai true bypass>Koch pedaltone>boss ME5 (for rev, delay, chorus and flanger only)>Messa Boogie studio 22 (class A version).
I play mainly modern blues and funky jazz. This box is incredible. When I select the henanced clean channel I get a super funky mood and beautifull strat fills with pickups in intermediate position. Still with the clean channel activated (but with enhancer off) I switch to lead master volume on the amp (setting on the messa are Vol 2-3, master 7, lead master 2-3) and an incredible warm crunch is obtained(no fuzzy stuff like the one you get with a tube screamer). Your strat becomes round while still keeping a precise tone. It took me a while to get the crunch I had in mind with channel two. The set up I went on is drive 2 O clock, vol 11 Oc, bass 2 Oc, middle 12 Oc, Treble 11 Oc (caution treble extremely strong!!!)When activating with this setting I can obtain a great crunch (messa on clean rythm master countrol). These are just examples of what I can get with this amazing combination of Koch/Mesa technologies. And all of this at the tip of my toe. I really think that the pedaltone must be tested with a tube amp; you must find out your proper combination. This makes my tone great. I have spent years to find out the sound I had in mind. Now I got it and I will stick to it. Let's your ears guide you and once you have your mix the only thing which remains to do is playing and enjoy. If you plan to buy a tubescreamer + an OD + a booster you'd better try the pedaltone first!!! I have compared it to the V-twin from Mesa which is a joke compare to the Pedaltone.

I put my comments in this section because I don't think that Pedaltone can be classified in the effect section; It is a four channels combinable preamp. It is fed by 4 12AX7 tubes. There is a clean channel with volume, bass and treble knobs; there is a on/off swithch for bass and treble enhancer. A "screemable" channel with volume, drive, bass, middle and treble with a switchable booster, a preamp channel with preamp vol and drive, and a master volume countroling the output level and acting as a "negative booster". This is extemely usefull as you don't need an external booster in your line for solo interventions. The settings are very sensitive and although knobs don't display graduations you can finely tune your tone by ear. You can combine all the chanels henancers and booster together to get up to 14 true different tones. The output are incredible; to clean amp, to mixing or recording boards, to fx, from/to fx loop, cabinet emulation output for home studio. I tested the possibility to use this stuff as a true preamp, shutting my amp preamp and driving the Koch directly into the PA. This was not good at all and the sound was a joke!! So I conclude that it is not a true preamp but more a kind of extra stage preamplification usable to extend the capabilities of your amp. I regret that this new version does not possess a true bypass. I also regret that the clean channel does not possess a middle tone countrol, some mid frequencies are lost when swithching from bypass to Koch.

Buit like a tank !!!

never used it

I have been playing for more than 25 years (mainly live music). If it was stolen I would run and find another one. I love it, it makes my music sing. I am conviced now that warm and good tube screeming comes from tubes. If you already have a tube amp, please try the pedaltone with it; it's worth you might be surprised.
I give it a 10 fantastic value because to me the Koch+studio 22 combination sustains the comparison with much more expensive amps (I compared but I have already been too talkative)...
just try by yourself.

Whenever I plugged into this unit I had the same problem:instead of playing it I kept tweaking it.When I found a sound I liked I used it for just one day.Why?Because that same sound didn't sound so hot to me the next day.That's exactly the same problem I had when testing multi-effect units:one's ears become so tired after a while that it is very difficult to be objective and decide what sounds good and what doesen't.The ultimate test:you are excited about the killer sounds you found and you are dying to check them out with your band.As soon as you start playing you realize your 'killer' sounds are dwarfed by the drums and bass.You keep pushing your volume up in an attempt to overcome the problem but this usually doesn't work.I wish I didn't waste so much time trying to like this product.

The clean sound of the Pedaltone is quite satisfying.But I can say the same for my old Hafler T2 tube preamp,a product you can pick up for about 50 bucks.I bought the Pedaltone new in a shop in Amsterdam and I spent about an hour with it before letting my credit card do it's thing.An American Standard Strat and a 2x12 Hot Rod DeVille sounded great in tandem with the Pedaltone and that's the main reason I bought it.I wish I knew then the Pedaltone is heavily biased towards the mentioned guitar/amp combination.Since I own a 4x10 Blues DeVille Ltd it was no surprise the Pedaltone sounded good.But guess what:it sounded surprisingly bad with just about all of my other amps!Here's a list of the amps I own:
-Fender 4x10 Blues DeVille Ltd
-1966 Blackface Fender Deluxe Reverb
-Fender Prosonic Combo
-1974 Fender Bassman 50
-1980 Fender Vibro Champ
-1979 Marshall 2203 Head and 1960A cabinet with Celestion G12-65's
-Marshall AVT50 combo with vintage Vox Conqueror 2x12 cabinet (amazing!)
-1975 Hiwatt DR504 with original 4x12 cabinet with Fanes
-1965 Goldentone Reverb Master Head (incredible Aussie vintage amp!)
-1981 Mesa/Boogie Mark IIB modded with 4 THD Yellow Jackets (JJ Tubes)and Celestion Vintage Neodymium (to die for!-review to be posted soon)
-1997 Vox AC30TBX
Guitars?Almost too many to mention!Some highlights:
-1954 Fender Stratocaster
-1968 Gibson Les Paul Custom
-1968 Gibson ES330TD
I build and repair guitars for a living and I naturally own a vast collection of custom made guitars that rival the best production instruments.Thanks to my gear collection I can quickly and accurately pinpoint the pros and cons of aquiring new gear.I wish I had the opportunity to check the Pedaltone in my own environment prior to parting with hard earned cash.No serious damage here though,as I quickly sold the Pedaltone and even made some extra money in the process.Anyway,the Pedaltone has this compressed thing (sound) going on that eventually starts getting on one's nerves.Good sounds are so elusive that at times it felt like chasing a rabbit in the forest.When I tried to use it strictly as a preamp (guitar>Pedaltone>power amp in of my Boogie Mark IIB) I was very disappointed.It actually sounded it's best used as a pedal plugged into an amp's front end,but then the Pedaltone starts conflicting with the amp's own preamp and what you get is a pointless and never-ending tug of war.Another problem that seems to plague almost every amp manufacturer on the planet:they give you a boost function as a bonus,but they keep forgetting to give you CONTROL over the amount of boost!The amount of boost is pre-selected at the factory and there is no way around it!A little trim pot is all we ask,guys,please wake up!

It is well built and it does seem dependable.But given the poor customer support I wouldn't take it to a gig.

I sent Koch the Pedaltone's warranty registration card along with a couple of questions and got no reply.I sent them several e-mails and got no reply.Imagine if something went wrong with the unit!?

A waste of time and money.I would suggest a (cheaper) combination of Maxon ROD880 and Matchless Hot Box!(if you can find one) or Bad Cat 2Tone to get much better results.You get a wonderful clean,two different flavors of crunch and an incredible lead overdrive sound with both units engaged.Just keep the gains in check.

I use mainly Gibson les pauls with paf and p-90 pick-ups. My amps are different Marshalls. My main one is a 50 watt Super lead from 1973 who is beautifully customised by Peter van Weelden. My style is mainly classic rock like Jimi Hendrix, Led Zeppelin and Black Crowes. The sound is typically Koch. I owned different amps made by this guy (KV-50, Twintone). The tone is recognisable. It is not the tone for me and I will not buy amps from him again. The reason lies in a very typical mid-high that cannot be dialled out. I tried in the pedal tone different tubes as someone described earlier in this review. It helped a little bit but did not do the trick. And I feel that a expensive manufacturer like Koch should deal with this problem himself and not the customer.
The pedaltone could very well suit other people; I stick to Marshalls. Koch does definately not create Marshall-like sounds in my opinion.
I sold this thing after a couple of months.

Bought it in 2002. A beautifull enclosure in shiney metal. The features are mentioned in other replies, so no use summing them up again. The channels are well useable, but it takes considerable time to have them set up as you like it. I mention this as I feel it should be easier, especially during gigs, where there is other stress to deal with, it irritated me.

I haven't used it long enough to see if it's reliable.

I have dealt with the company several times when having repairs on other amps (they do that as well). I was not impressed: they were very slow and once delivered my stuff back incomplete. Telephoning with them didn't give more information than that they were busy.

I hoped that I would buy a good tube amp to take with me at rehersals. It was the sound that dissapointed me the most; my band members didnt like the sound also. I will keep lugging my heavy Marshall amps. I give it a 6 rating as I know I am a Marshall sound lover. My conclusion is: like Marshall, buy Marshall.

I use this preamp with both an old Squier Affinity Strat as well as a Jackson DK2 with three humbuckers (all of which have coilsplitters). I usually connect it to the FX return of my H&K Triamp 2x12 combo, which has a 6L6-driven poweramp. I also use the Triamp's reverb. What has to be mentioned most, is that this amp really reflects the natural sound of my guitars and of the other guitars I tried it with! Even with the distortion set brutally high, you can still make out any note in a chord, any nuance in your playing and what guitar you're using.
Then there's versatility. It goes from shimmering, bright clean through a nice crunchy drive to wall- and bonecrushing distortion, while maintaining clarity at all times. Therefor, this amp suits just about any style one could imagine. Keep the gain low, and you get this beautiful bluesy crunch, which works great with a Strat. Crank it up and plug in a humbucker-equipped guitar, and you'll be blown away. The clean is somewhat Fenderish if you tweak a little, slightly overdriven if you crank the volume. But most of all this amp has a very distinct throat of its own at all channels.

Bought new in 2002. More versatile than I could ask for! All-tube two-channel preamp with an enhancer on the clean channel (that boosts the highs and cuts the lows) and boost on the leadchannel, PLUS an extra drive that emulates poweramp-distortion (wel, actually it IS a real 0,5 watt 12AX7-driven poweramp, that really responds to nuances in your playing and to changes to the settings of both channels - and most of all, to their volume and gainlevel). Another cool feature is the rhythm-/solovolumeboost. You can set separate volumelevels for rhythm and lead and switch between them by foot.

There's volume, bass and treble controls for the clean channel. Volume, gain, bass, mid and treble for distortionchannel. Drive, volume and rhythm-volume for poweramp. Volume is your solo-volume. With the rhythm-volume you can set how much lower the volume of your rhythms should be. The enhancer can be switched on and of on the back of the device. Once switched on, it is controlled by the boost-switch when the preamp is on clean.

And I didn't even mention the connectivity of this thing! There's of course the guitar input. Then there's an FX-loop on it. There are outputs directly to a poweramp, or to the guitarinput of an amp or the FX-return (both with a 10 dB cut), as well as a stereo headphones socket and a balanced line out to recording-equipment or PA.

Who needs POD's or V-amps?

Very sturdy buildquality. The entire housing exists of thich stainless steel, tubes are covered under a separate steel covering of the same material which houses the rest of the device.
It hasn't broken on me yet, however I've heard the switches are a bit delicate. It hasn't let ME down yet though!

Haven't had to deal with Koch yet, since nothing has gone wrong yet. But I hear their service is very good and friendly.

I've been playing for about four years now, of which the Pedaltone has been with me for 2,5 years. I also own the abovementioned Triamp, Squier Affinity Strat, Jackson DK2, a Yamaha TRB5II fivestring bass and an EBS-300 Gorm 2x10 basscombo.
If this pedaltone were stolen, I'd buy it again! I'd search for a secondhand one of the first batch though, which still has the bypass, but all the same characteristics and options of the current model.
I compared it to a H&K Tubeman, ENGL Tubetoner and Mesa V-twin, but the Koch rules. It has a much more distinct sound than the other three. The Tubeman was a bit too much like my Triamp, so it didn't really compliment it. The Tubetoner was very harsh on the distorted channels, and overly bright. It actually HURT listening to it. The V-twin was quite alright but the Koch outclassed it featurewise and in versatility, and just sounded better to my ears.

Simply the best. Clean channel is CLEAN, drive channel sounds like my '73 Marshall Superlead, and can sound like alot of sifferent vintage amps. When you crank up the boost, in ch2. Very very musical distortion, but still very articulate. I even decided, to sell my '73 PTP SUperlead, and buy..... a Koch Multitone head instead.

Finally found what i was looking for!! Dolf Koch really designed this machine, with the mind of a demanding guitar player! Connectivity is awesome, whether you plug into "poweramp in" of any amp (my fav.) or into guitar input, or even into a PA (if you don't want to drag heavy amps around). The FX loop is the quietest i ever heard. Mine is serial# 0110, of the first batch, wich Dolf himself originally put together personally for a friend of his. I love this thing

I got this thing second hand, and as it was one of the first batch it had been played alot. I had new Koch tubes installed, and new switches,by repair-technician Rowin at the factory itself and i'm sure this thing will keep on playing. I just carry around spare tubes (the old ones, wich sound a bit warmer). Haven't gigged alot with the unit alot, since i got it few months ago but i'm sure it will notbreak down, as it is built like a tank.

Customer Support is great. As I live close to the factory, i wanted to bring the pedaltone in for service personnaly, and that wasn't a problem. They even showed me around to let me see that ALL Koch stuff is still being built by hand there! And when i have questions, via telephone or email, they're very quick to respond. And if you have in-detail technical questions, Dolf Koch himself isn't reluctant to explain things to you.

I love this machine. I'm gonna stick to it, for as long as i can, cause it can cover so many different musical styles. I play everything from blues, funk, pop, rock, to hardroch an nu-metal. The build quality is VERY good, and i'm even selling my Marshall Superlead, to be able to buy a Koch Amp head.

makes every sound I always wanted to have, fits with strats, les pauls and Jazzguitar, from Jazz to Rock - dont do metal, but should perfectly work, too. In high gain Settings a litle bit noisy..but ok.

Pedaltone 2 with solo/rhythm switch all tubepreamp, built 2001, 2 real channels, switchable mini poweramp, around 8 perfect usable settings via footswitch, 4 different outputs (inclusive usable recording out-but the poweramp out together with a redbox sounds even better), effect loop, perfect before any Amp, mixer or Power Amp

Built like a Tank..no Backup needet. just maybe a spare tube...just in case, tube are easy to change. super solid and seviceable construction---and looks cool!

Had only a few questions, but Edwin Kool from Koch is a really friendly guy. There won't be a problem that can't be solved.

I play it for two Months now - and sold my Boogie MK 3 I had owned for 17 years, and bought a boogie satellite-combo: Perfect combination. Great for life & recording, before any amp. Always your sound and no heavy Amps anymore ;-), Looking for a spare one :-)

This unit is very easy to use. after 10 minutes of playing this thing I was on my way. I only had to look at the spartan manual for one small thing and that's it. there doesn't seem to be a bad sound in this thing. It looks more complicated than it really is.The pedal is quite large, so you will probably be getting a new pedalboard to accomodate this monster (about 12 inches wide).
1st switch - channels 1 (clean-dirty) or 2 (dirty-heavily distorted).
2nd switch - boost for channel 2, and enhancer for clean channel (1)
3rd switch - power amp (power soaked low-power tube dirt)
4th switch - solo/rhythm (kinda like an additional boost)

This thing blew me away as far as it's tone. Here's my typical setup:
50's sunburst strat w/ dimarzio virtual vintage pu's (silent single coils) - effects in order-fulltone clyde wah - pedaltone - fulltone supratrem - delay modeler - option 5 destination rotation - MXR Supercomp. played thru a Rivera knucklehead 100 watt amp (reduced down to 50 watts) with Carvin Legacy 2 x 12 w/ 25watt celestion greenbacks.

Now with that being said...clean channel (channel 1) is even better than my Rivera (known for their clean channel!). the pedal also has a clean enhance channel (second switch) that brings out the lows and highs..my telecaster played thru this is quite AMAZING.

Channel 2 is the monster gain channel. without the boos, it is very reminiscent of a marshall. with boost it iginites to a soldano on full tilt. These gain setting are VERY articulate. You can hear all the notes of your chords ring out. That has been always been an issue for me (muddy distortion), i no longer worry about this, and i am quite happy about it. I have yet to play my Les Paul (mini-humbuckers)- typically play single coils, but I would imagine endless sustain would be the result. If you had a high powered humbucker...whew!...those notes are gonna seriously sing, they already do with my single coils!

Power Amp channel. I have yet to experiment more with this channel, but what I've heard so far is pretty astounding. i played my telecaster at a recording session and it nailed a great dirty beatles tone. The effect was relatively mild in distortion, but it has that great classic tone.

The unit also has a cabinet sim, and a headphones jack, which i'm not too impressed with, but I have heard the unit playing direct thru a PA is VERY good. I have yet to do that. That's why i give it a 9. If they tweaked that in the next version of the pedaltone I would undoubtedly give it a perfect 10.

one more thing, this thing is SO QUIET. I use true bypassed effects, so I don't worry about bleed thru noise. And my guitars are setup to be very quiet as well. if you crank the gain channel all the way up , yeah, sure, you'll get some noise. There are 4 tubes in the thing after all! But the noise problem is VERY LOW. My sound engineer commented on how quiet my setup was. I don't think he even put a noise gate on me! If you use standard single coils, bad cords, have a noisy amp, or use lots of non-bypassed effects you will get noise.

it also has an effects loop, that is quiet, but I need to still experiment to get it's full use.

No problems yet. it seems to be beautifully engineered. The top is easy to scratch though. protect it in a pedalboard or get a carrying case, if you want it to look new. The knobs and switches and construction are very tight and are very high quality.

I have not gigged yet. I have only recorded with it. So my analysis is based off that.

I had a small effects loop question with them via email and they got back to me within a day (they are in the Netherlands). No complaints. Nice, happy, Dutch people.

This unit simply blows away anything I've ever used as far as distortion pedals (or any other pedal for that matter). In fact this blows away any amp I've ever used! It is basically a full-on tube amp in a 4 switch pedal. I have played other tube based pedals (tonebone, mesa boogie, tube driver....etc) and it slays them. They seem like toys compared to it. PERIOD. You can't beat it's tone and versatility. I could almost sell my Rivera and just get a basic power amp and use the pedaltone as my preamp, but I love my rivera for it's own thing, but I feel confident that I could do that.

I play many types of music, and it really seems to shine for all of them. I am extremely impressed so far. The cost has come down on these because they have better distribution in this country now, I highly suggest you try one ASAP. You just can't beat the over cost/versatility/blow-your-mind ratio.

I bought mine thru http://www.adirondackguitar.com/

Lastly, I know this is superficial, but this thing just looks SO FREAKIN' COOL!

Since there's a lot of options available on this unit, it takes some getting used to. There's definitely a difference in sound between the different output options, which ofcourse also depends on the equipment you connect it to.
furthermore there's a significant difference in volume between channels on and two; with ch. one's volume at 12 o' clock I need to put ch. 2 to about 2 or 3 o'clock, depending on eq settings.

Though I wasn't exactly blown away when tried this unit in the store, connected to a soldano 4x12 setup, taking it to a practice session with my band made me instantly fall in love with it.
The main reason for me to want a device like this is I wanted real tube sound at every practice or performance session without having to lug around a 50 pound amp head.
I get excellent results through valvestate 4x12 stacks, plugged straight into a sony hifi set mic input, through a marshall jcm 900 stack and anything else, although it does take some experimenting with the various connecting options (power amp-in, clean input, effect return) per setup to see which sounds best.

My own setup consists of various Ibanez guitars, an SC620 with diMarzio paf & paf-pro pickups, an S540 fm and a Fender strat, any of which goes to the input of a Boss GT3. The Pedaltone is in the Gt3's effects loop. The GT3's output goes into the Effects-return of my Marshall JCM2000 dsl 50 head and finally to a 1936 2x12 cab.
Since the 2000 series has been made to sound remarkably clear or sharp, I have to keep the treble controls at about 10 or 11 o'clock.
Despite lacking mid-control, the clean channel yields excellent results in any setup, makes valvestates sound like a full tube-setup.
Channel two goes from subtle bluesy sounds to total shred mayhem/heaven with gain maxed and boost engaged.
I love this boost function. If you play in a rock or metal band, you can keep ch. 2 real tight and chunky for muted chords and then kick in the boost for extra volume, gain and sustain.
The distortion is really musical sounding, and even with the most extreme gain settings I can still hear every note in more complex chords. The one thing I found as soon as I plugged this pedal in at home is, when you use a lot of gain, you're gonna need a noise gate.
It was really microphonic standing close to my amp at a moderate volume, however as soon as I put it in my GT3's loop with a noise gate behind it, the problem was gone.

Well, the wall-wart that came with it, and I got it second-hand, is in pretty miserable condition, so I'll probably need to replace it sooner or later, but other than that I can't imagine anything going wrong with this military grade device.

Woudn't know, hope I won't need to find out.

All in all, a real toneful device fit for a broad range of musical styles.
I've been playing for about ten years, and currently play in several bands:reggae, funk, metal, jazz, blues, with a little adjusting you'll rule in about every style imaginable.
I think the pedaltone works best on relatively dull sounding amps, could be tricky on sharper sounding amps but nothing a little eq-ing won't fix.
I have owned a H&K tubeman before, which is kinda comparable, but the switching system crapped out on me and, most importantly, the pedaltone kicks it ass anytime.
One thing I find a little strange is that the poweramp section seems to lack volume. It gives beautiful results but is too soft too use as an extra channel. Maybe changing the poweramp-tube will do the trick...if anyone can help me out on this please let me know!
I'm gonna rate this a ten because I think the few shortcomings I've found are really unimportant relative to the options and sound quality it has. If you're gonna try this in a store, make sure to try it on acouple of different amps.
If you arent sold on the first one that is...