Hughes & Kettner Duotone Head

Let's see: Here's a 100W pure tube amp with 5 preamp 12AX7's and 4 EL34 power tubes. There's a clean (and I mean CLEAN) channel, an overdrive channel plus a boost, two master volumes, which makes this amp at least a 2 1/2 Channel beast. The effects loop is tube buffered and runs in parallel mode only. You see: no compromises. Could wish for a parallel/seriel switch though.

Here comes the WARNING: This is NOT a New Metal/Metal Core/Death Metal amp! If you're looking for immense distortion, heavy compression, deep low end and brickwall frequency, this is not your amp! I think I should add this before anyone starts complaining.

This beast was build for rock 'n roll, pure and simple. If you know how to use it and with some experience you can make it tear down walls.

My favourite instruments are a Les Paul Studio and a G&L Legacy. During the last 15 years of my musical life I've been playing straight rock, Alternative and Goth Rock. This amp changed the way I looked at guitar sounds completely.

It's very quiet. If any hissing or humming comes up, it's most probably from a stomp box or your pickups, certainly not the Duotone.

The clean channel is extremely clean and stays that clean all the way up to the last third of the volume control. It's creamy and sparking, and just sounds alive. The lower end is cut in order to achieve a open fender combo kind of sound, even with a 4x12 cabinet. Very versatile, dynamic and impressive, a jazz players dream and well prepared for external effects. Vox or Marshall Crunch sounds won't work though, not unless you play at inhuman volumes.

The overdrive channel blows me away. Every time. It's very British and simply the most amazing rock sound I've ever come across, and I've played pretty much every important guitar amp there is. This thing is a rock n' rollers wet dream. If you know how to use it.
The strength of the Duotone lies in its dynamics. A slight tip on the strings and you get an almost clean sound. Hack into your guitar and the Duotone gives you the equivalent of a boxer's right into your stomach. Which is the reason why it won't work for some people: if you're used to heavy compression or distortion, the Duotone is not your friend. If you like how an amp masks your bad playing skills, you will outright hate this amp.
The tone has character, body and depth, it's almost 3D. Tight low end though, no matter how hard you turn the bass knob. No good for down tuned guitars I'm afraid. But very powerful and aggressive in the mids. Very fitting for 70's and 80'S Rock/Metal or just timeless rock music. There's a limit to the gain though. Use this for rhythm and crunch sounds.

Turn on the Boost and you get an even meaner punch. Very heavy, more gain, more lower mids but still incredibly dynamic. Sounds like you just turned on the turbo. Ideal for solos, too. If you want lots of sustain, you should get a compressor though.

This amp never let me down. Bought it second hand 8 years ago, took it on two long tours, played it in lots of studio sessions: brilliant. Never brought a backup, never needed one.
Changed the power tubes though, as you should with any tube amp.

The German support is cool and helpful. There's a service centre in most major cities over here, don't know about the US though.

This is the amp I've been looking for and I shall play it till lightning hits me on stage. I've got a Ibanez Weeping Demon WahWah and a Boss ME50 which I barely use. Like good single malt scotch this amp is best enjoyed pure.
This tone beats all the other amps I tested: Engl Powerball, Mesa Rectifier, Marshall JCM2000 and 900, Diezel Herbert and VH4, you name it. Playing the Duotone just gives me instant happiness.

However: if you want to use this amp to the fullest, you'll need to work on your technique. I had to. If you're bad, the Duotone will spit you right in the face. If you're good though, it will reward you with great tone.

Read the other reviews for the details. As far as I'm concerned it does what I need it to do: two channels and great tone. love the parallel fx-loop as well; it saves your tone instead of an extra degradation by an fx-device.

Nice clean channel: warm if you want it to. Ranging from Fender-clean to a bit of a breakup. Especially nice when the poweramp tubes are distorting and the preamp is almost clean.
Had to get used to the rythm-channel at first. I found that keeping the gain relatively low (~11 o'clock)sounded best, giving a really nice crunch/overdrive depending on guitarvolume and picking-strength. I use it with an EMG-equipped Parker P38, which results in a very silent system, even at higher gain settings.Love the overall soundquality of this amp, and especially combined with some highend pedals (Fulltone OD, Fulltone Soulbender, Maxon OD-808, Boss OD-1, VisualSound jekyll&Hyde)you have a very wide range of tones at your disposal.
Have had a 70-s carlsbro-amp, early 90s Fender Blues de Luxe, Fender Quadraverb and a PodXT Pro into a Mesa 20/20 and some other stuff but none come close to the tones I get out of this amp, love it!

Had the poweramp tubes replaced when I bought it secondhand (these were fried), replaced them with JJ tubes and it works flawlessy for the last couple of months.

Contacted them through the H&K site twice, got answered once.

Use it currently with a couple of pedals (OD-1, Fulldrive 2, Soulbender, OD808, Jekyll&Hyde, Vox wah, RMC3 wah) and some digital effects (MPX-1, PodXT) and a nice cab (Marshall 1936, rewired with some decebt wiring, 70s G12H30s and Weber Beam blockers). Have been experimenting with a THD Hotplate lately, with the lineout run into the podxt for cab-sims --> so far very promising!

2 Channels - Clean and Overdrive, boost feature on Overdrive channel.

3 band EQ on both channels, Master - presence and FX loop Level.

2 Master Volumes.

3 Channel footswitch (with XLR connector on the end and plenty of cable!), this performs channel change, boost and master volume 2 switching.

I give this rating a 9 because for my playing style its really all I'd ever need, the amp has a "less is more" feel about it. But you can tell H&K really put thought into this amp and for a 2 channel valve amp its remarkably versatile!

The amp comes with 4 stock Ruby - ECC83-Cz preamp valves and 4 TAD EL34B-STR power amp valves.

The FX loop is parallel, a series switch would have been a nice option. I've never been a big fan of effects loops so I run all my effects in line, that isn't a problem for me as I only use a few stomp boxes.

The amp comes with a nice H&K cover and cleaning fluid and a cloth!

I use Ibanez SZ320 guitars with seymour duncan custom/jazz pickups.
The amp has really shaped my sound. Firstly I'd like to mention how little noise the amp has, even at higher volumes, if you start dialing in alot of gain this may change, understandably. The channel switching etc is ultra fast and silent, another big plus for me. This amp is loud, tons of headroom. The clean channel stays pristine at very high volumes. I love the clean channel of this amp, I've owned marshall, mesa's etc, none have even come close to this amp. The overdrive channel is slightly more tricky. I personally love the sound, very warm and defined, I usually keep the boost engaged on all my distortion sounds as I like the way it adds more low end and seems to give a more edgy sound. I play lots of big open chords, so I keep my gain very low, but I can see how this channel may not suit alot of players as its a very specific, mid range based distortion, so if your thinking of buying this amp try it out beforehand! There is a ridiculous amount of gain on tap. I would have liked to see a bit more low end on the overdrive channel, I play through a Mesa Standard Oversized 4x12 cab which brings out as much low end as possible(as its a very bassy cab), but if your playing through other cabs it could be a bit limiting, having said that, less low end does generally help your sound cut through the mix.

I've owned this amp for 11 months and played about 20 odd gigs, had no problems with it, seems very well made!

I've e-mailed H&K a couple of times and they have been very accomodating! I asked for a biasing proceedure and schematics in the event of a power tube going, they were a bit reluctant about giving them out at first but I assured them I would take it to a qualified amp technician. Always had a reply within 24hours, excellent service.

I've been playing about 12 years. If it was lost or stolen I would definately get one again!

2002 model, all tube, all the features have been listed before. I took the points off for the parallel effects loop and the lack of 2 jacks for selecting input sensitivity. I'm in a very hard, crushing and fast metal band and never in my life would I have thought to have the tone I have now. This amp is versatile enough for me to fiddle with and get more vintage or modern sounds and emulate a few of my favorite artists. Its definateley no TriAmp MKII or modeling amp but it does what I need as far as different sounds and such. The look of the thing lit up in a dark room is just stunning, its like a stage light or some weird light effect that you would see in some famous persons show. I still catch myself just looking into it with awe and wonder. The lighting is a very nice touch indeed.

The looks of this thing can only be described as the intro... or the "calm before the storm" if you will. I'm using an ESP LTD explorer with duncan designed pickups and an Ibanez S custom with ibanez pickups and the sound is definateley the best part of this amp. When I ordered it I was affraid that it wouldn't have enough distortion or sound too vintage. I was totaly wrong... The sound can go from golden age of rock to the hardest modern metal tone that I've heard in a long time. The clean channel is amaizing, it almost sounds like you have chorous on it, very rich and sparkly. The overdrive channel is just mean. Even with the gain maxed out and the boost turned on it still makes less hum/hiss than any amp I've heard. The standard distortion on this amp is perfectly fine for vintage and modern rock. However, I need to use it with the boost switch on in order to get the gain I need for metal. The distortion sound is very brittish, lots of crunch, very aggressive, enough gain for metal but if I ever wanted more (and I think I will)I will just go buy a booster pedal for that little extra push. With the amp turned up to band practice levels I use no presence because the crunch on this thing can become a bit harsh, however presence is needed at lower volumes. All in all this is the best sounding amp I've ever heard. It sounds like a professional guitar rig on a CD, except its not a recording and its not some fantasy piece of equipment.

It seems to be built well enough, the handle is really heavy duty, and it should be considering this thing weighs a little over 50lbs. The amp did have a capacitor go bad in it which resulted in a really cool effect of having an octave lower overtone and radio like static, but I need an amp not a glorified effect box so I had it fixed. Other than that, no problems. I'm taking it on the road with my band and i think it should do just fine... hopefully i wont drop it or anything. I rated it an 8 because it is indeed a tube amp and things go wrong...

Never dealt with the customer support people, dont care about my warranty either. I have a friend who's an amp tech and he does all my amp work for basicly nothing so I never need to worry about any customer support or warranties or service stuff.

I've been playing for 8 years and I own 3 H&K amps a cream machine and a Warp Factor distortion from H&K as well. I love my Duotone and if anything ever happened to it I would be lost without it. I love the fact that this amp is just all the amp I'll ever need. It's so simple to use and it's rather minamalistic despite it's looks. The only things I would compare it to would be maybe a Vintone or a Bogner or even the TriAmp MKII, Tripple rectifiers are nice but it seems every one and their brother and their brothers kids have one. The Duotone is just stunning and it's one of those things that put me at a loss for words.

Two channels, independent eq's, two master volumns, and a boost. Fx loop, 100 watts and top notch components.

In my opinion, This is what I've searched for for 30 years. As most of
you I've owned various makes and models, tube, solid state, digital-
modeling amps, spent litterally thousands of dollars in pursuit of THE
TONE. Mere words can't descibe the organic magic that this amp makes
This is honestly the "Plug in and Play" amp I've been waiting for.
With minimal tweaking, those tones you've thought only attainable by
studio wizzards are at your finger tips. Dynamics, Punch, Whispers and Sceams....It is all there. Extremely touch responsive. Something gets lost in amp manufacturing when using circuit boards. These being all hand wired produce a tone that must be experienced. Mike Sandmann
of Dallas Music, Hiram GA. (770-443-3999) allowed me to take one home
over the weekend to demo. All I can say is try one out. For my taste
ranging from Clean progressive country, to blues, alternative rock, to
Van Halen, which by the way, "IT NAILS VAN HALEN'S TONE", it covers it
all. Sure the mighty Mesa Boogies have their place and are great amps
but I've not seen one that could compare with the sonic character of
this amp. It can make a Marshall (4-12) cabinet sound like the best
Fender Twin you've ever heard. It can sound like a hot-rodded hand
wired Vox AC-30, "Think Matchbox 20". If you like Van Halen's 1 & 2
albumn's, It honestly nails it. It may not appeal to the player who
rely's on super sustaining distortion, "Triple Rectifier" sound to
mask their abilities and limited style but, if you are a detailed
articulate player, it will make you shine. Ever note, nuance, pick
attack and volumn swell will be heard. I urge ever player to try one
of these. Truly an amazing amp.

hand wired

In all fairness, I've only had it for a couple of weeks now, but I
have opened her up and it's top grade components, neatly wired, and
built like a tank. To be truthful, as long as I can get this tone, I
wouldn't care if I had to fix it once a month.

I have spoken to Larry at the 1-800 number. Very nice guy, heplful and
very personal. Sent me free of charge, replacement flourescent lights
and e-mailed the schematics. I'm a satisfied customer. Hats off to a
company that provides such a top quality product and the support to
back it up.

I own several custom guitars and top shelf gear. Following a suggestion, demo'd one of these. Absolutely, no disappointments, hands
down the best sounding amp I've played. If stolen, would hunt down and
torture the individual to death. After the first couple of minutes
with this amp, I knew my search was finally over. Now with finding my
sound behind me, I can finally write and record.

100w tube head with killer looks, bla bla bla, I love the fact that you have two footswitchable master volume settings, I HATE the effectloop, it wolud be nice if you could switch between serial and paralel effectloop, it runs as a paralel loop- this makes the amp sound "out of phase" with itself, becouse you have both the direct and wet signal mixing!!! I called those darn Germans up, there are no available midiswitching for this amp!!! what did I do? I took a stereojack and soldered it on the XLR-cord, now I can Switch it by midi via my G-force.
It genious, that the footswitch use XLR instead of jack, becouse you can extend the cord with no problems whatsoever

I LOOOOOVE this amp (exept the loop), it has the most versatile tone i've ever experienced in one amp, the clean channel sound great nomatter what setting you may have on treble, and a love a warm sound!!??, but the clean sound it just- musical.
What I love the most about this amp, is the overdrive-channel, it can be mean and thick, clean and thin and everything in between, and it never sounds "closed", you have harmonies en masse and the most beatifully open sound.
It replaced my peavey classic(overdrive), Marshall 6100 LM(Lead), and my Sovtek tube midget(semi clean/dirty), I'm considering buying a H&K Puretone for my clean sound so I would be able to get a little more poweramp sag!!
Did I mention, that there are absolutely no hum, no matter what Gain setting ( and I don't even have it grounded)

I has never let me down, Had it for almost a year now, and used for more than 60 gigs!!!!

They never answer customermails, and the Danish dealer doesent have any spares, other than that, The Danish dealer is very helpfull.

If the effect loop could be switched to series, it would get a 10

the 2 master volumes comes in handy for switching from rythm to solo's, I give them 2 thumbs up for that feature...the boost doesn't really do much for me...the only thing I wish it had was a total bypass for the FX loop...but I don't use many effects anyway so I don't mind...

oh man, this is where the sweetness happens...the clean stays clean and is full and rich...a jazz players dream...the distortion is the best I've ever heard, very defined...who ever says this thing doesn't have enought gain is out of their mind or doesn't know how to use a wonderful feature called a 3 band EQ...cause I play in a death/thrash/black metal influenced metalcore band and it kicks out the tones like no other amp I've owned/played(that inclueds: Mesa Single Recto, Crate Blue Voodoo, a vintage Randall, and a Marshall 1st generation Vlevestate 100)...I give it a perfect 10...it is the perfect sound...

its a year and a half old and no problems other than cosmetically...but thats my fault( I dropped the face plate when I changed the tubes)

haven't dealt with them

I got this amp for a steal and if it were lost or stolen I would cry until I died because I could never afford to pay the retail price for it...I traded my Crate Blue Voodoo 120H for it, and I got that for 150 bucks...so, yeah...if you can afford this amp, go for it...it sounds amazing...

Two switchable master volumes is a very nice feature. The "boost" switch is produces a very subtle change unless you're playing at haigher volumes. Switchable reverb would be nice. Pretty blue lights. Oooh.

I've had this amp for almost a year and have been gigging with it exclusively. It is VERY loud for a 50W 1x12. I don't think I've ever had to turn my master volume past 12 o'clock on stage.
I play thru this amp using either a Hamer Studio Custom with SD '59/Rio BBQ or my Hamer T-51 (tele-style) with Bill Lawrence single coils. The tele plays amazingly clean. It cuts through like all get out and makes just screams. Glassy and righteous. Very nice. The Studio Custom compliments the amp well, too. The dirty channel sounds pretty modern unless you turn back the volume on your p'ups a bit. That done, you can really get some cool older Marshall-esque tones.
The spring reverb is excellent. Tone-shaping is pretty easy, but if you like to crank your treble on the clean side, you'll have to dime the mids too (like most amps I guess) or you won't get what you're after.

Everything is excellent except for that damned input jack! It's a pain in the ass if you aren't careful. Other than that, it's a tank. So far mine has seen about a year's worth of gigs and is chugging along beautifully

No idea...

I've been playing guitar for years and years and have owned about a half-dozen gig-worthy amps including a few Marshalls, a Mesa/Boogie, and a Soldano. This is probably my favorite so far. If it were stolen, I might try the 100W head, but I'd definitely get another H&K. Those wacky Germans RAWK! :)

I really like that it has independent eq for both channels. the boost is great too. very simple to get a good sound on clean or distortion!

I brought this to a gig to try before I bought it.. everyone in the band said wow thats cool! I expected that cause it looks great. they all kept giving me thumbs up all night and at the end of the gig said "youre buying that amp right?I loved it and my band loved it.I brought it too another gig and same thing. I am playing a strat through it and a few pedals used sparingly(wah,delay ect). Hardly used any the other night. the clean is great and the distortion for my needs is wonderfull. really cuts through the mix(I have the H&K cab with two 12in greenbacks,you may want 4 if you're gonna crank it) I had a Koch multitone but this sounds way better to me. My strat never sounded so thick! Excellent classic rock sound. I've been playing more than 30 years and this is my favorite amp so far.Not great for over the top distortion- if you want that I guess get a mesa triple or something. But this has plenty for me.

I have had no problems so far and I dont think I will. I hear these are very reliable. but I always bring a backup for ANY amp. I didn't for a little while then my koch blew an output fuse after about two songs at a gig and I wound up playing through the keyboard players solid state and it SUCKED. Never again.

Never delt with them.

I have been playing for a long time-jazz to rock to whatever.I have not had this that long but so far I think it's great and my whole band loves it-I say this because they have never loved any amp I have used as much as this. they always said my koch sounded muddy and my other amps didn't cover the big rooms we sometimes play. I would definitely get it again.

OK, I just moved from a Line 6 that kept breaking down on me to this bad boy. I was looking for something that could provide nice warm distortion tones and a very clean clean channel... I found it with this amp! I play mostly hot rod rock (rockabilly mixed with punk) and I need something that click well with the bass and drums. I tried a lot of amps; the new Marshalls, Mesa Boogies, Crate's Blue Voodoo and all of them paled in comparison to the Hughes & Kettner Duotone

When I first tested this amp I was a little leary of the sound because I didn't have my guitar with me so I played through a '67 Gibson hollow bodie... It sounded ok but it didn't seem to be what I was looking for. Then I brought my guitar into the store, a DeArmond Spitfire Special with P90 pickups... I also plugged it into my cab, which is a peavy 4x12 loaded with Sheffield speakers... And this amp was complete butter! Perfection to what I needed!

Near as I can tell this thing is built really well... I haven't had a problem at all with it... I have a tendancy to be pretty rough on gear since we play out about 4 nights out of the week. So I was looking for something that could withstand me. I needed a good work horse with good sound... I got it!

Haven't needed them yet...

I've been playing for 12 years and this is the best thing that I've ever come across... Not only does it have the sound of perfection it looks pretty cool too. The only thing I don't like about it and this is VERY miniscule is the fact that the foot pedal set up is a little conveluted. Other than that Perfect!