Hughes & Kettner Edition Tube 112 Combo

It's back to sounding nice again, but that's because it's a new amp. See below.

When Unrepentant Package Smashers dropped it off, a preamp tube had gone microphonic. I replaced both 12ax7s, and the sound was great. Then, I put the slightly microphonic tube(s) in my Vibro-Champ, which also sounds great now. Tubes that are messed up in a high gain amp are sometimes good enough for a low gain amp to use without a problem.

It's hard to say. I hope this new one doesn't blow up three months down the line like the last one did. I'm beginning to think that all those people who say EL84s are a poor tube to put in a combo are correct. Maybe it gets too hot in there for that PCB? All I know is that this amp is going to get babied from now on. I think I'll go back to making the Marshall and the Fender the amps that leave the house. They can take some abuse.

Larry at H&K in Mt. Prospect, IL seems to be a good guy. He couldn't figure out what was making the bad sound, in my amp, so he sent me another. The new one sounds good. Larry talked to me for a while both times I called, and he didn't seem like I was troubling him.

It's a shame my old amp messed up, but the good service made up for a lot of the badness of the experience.

Be careful with this amp. You need good preamp tubes, since the gain is so ridiculously high.

This amp is making a fuct-up hum now. See below.

This amp has now failed me. The high gain channel has developed an obnoxious hum that sounds louder than any played notes with the master below 12 o'clock. This sucks. Today is Sunday. Tomorrow I call those insane Germans and demand a fixit job.

We'll see...I'll post an update when this situation resolves itself.

Two channel 20W tube combo with one 12" speaker. Reverb. No separate tone controls for each channel. External speaker out and effects loop. Almost closed cabinet.

Sound great, especially when played at the levels normally used at rehearsals and club-gigs (volume at 7 or 8, clean ch). The gain channel is great too and has less bass than clean channel, which is good for lead tones. Also the reverb is "intelligent" so that there is less reverb on gain channel as on clean channel with the same reverb setting, making lead tones clearer if a lot of reverb is used on the clean channel. There is a lot of bottom on the sound, because of the almost closed cabinet. Clean stays clean at high volumes and gain cahnnel has separate gain and master volume to set the level according to the clean channel.

However, there is one minor "fault" that I have found with this amp. The treble and middle controls are interactive, so that it is almost impossible to add middle range without adding treble. Also the middle range is voiced realatively high, making it almost treble. I usually set the treble to zero, middle to 11 (a'clock) and bass to 12 (a'clock). Still there is a little too much treble with my stock AS Stratocaster and I would like add more middle. However, with my nasally sounding Ibanez TS7 pedal the sound is just right.

No problems yet, the amp doesn't get very hot after hours of use.

This a modern tube amp, so it is not as reliable as a solid state amp. You will have to change power tubes (two EL84) once a year (if you use it often). The amp uses Ruby Tubes as a stock. Also when you change the power tubes you will have to do biasing, which requires special knowledge, most probaly you will have to take it to a qualified tube amp repairer.

Haven't used yet. The shop where I bought it gave two year guarantee.

I have owned a lot of amps, inluding Flextone, Tech 21 Trademark 10, Peavey Bandit, POD, but this is one of the best sounding amps I have had. Still there is something to improve, the tone controls could be voiced better.

The amp was introduced in 2001 and that's the year I bought it. With a few stomboxes (cry-baby, daddy-o, cool cat, tuna melt and a delay you can get any possible sound from it from rock'n roll over country to metal(not nu metal). And of course it's excellent for any kind of blues. It has two channels, clean and gain but shame on the company for the lack of a footswitch. It has a nice smooth reverb (could be a little bit more) and helpfully the gain channel has a master voulume.The best feature on this is it's versatility and the weight. You can take this baby evreywhere by yourselve and it has enough guts to play clubs with.And if that's not enough you can plug a cabinet in.

As I said before, there's not much this little brat couldn't do, as long as you're not in the shredding league. And it makes noise of course, but not more than other tube-amps I've played. Like many I love the clean Fender and and the dirty Marshall sounds and this thing is the first amp I've heard that nearly succeed to unite both worlds. If a twin or a marshall is to loud and heavy for you, I suggest the ET. I would say it's vintage with a modern touch.

Just bought it. We'll see.

I play for 12 years mostly in punk, metal or blues bands. I play mainly a JV Signature Strat, sometimes an Epiphone Casino and it seems to me that the amp does like single coils more than humbuckers but maybe it's just my setting (all at 12). I've tried many different amps (Mesa, Marshall or Fender) but this is the best value I have ever seen.

The features have already been covered by the others.Seperate EQ sections and a deeper reverb would have been nice,but it being a quality tube amp at it's price point,I don't expect those things.I find the Edition Tube to be quite versatile,with many very happening tones easily at my disposal.The 20 watt power section and single Celestion G12F-60 speaker give me just the right amount of power tube grind and sustain,and at a good volume,for small to moderate sized club work.I usually run a bit of compression in front of the amp,and a touch of reverb and delay [Boss RV-3] through the FX loop for the tones I like.I sometimes run a 2-12 Celestion cabinet from the 8/16 ohm speaker out when more coverage is needed.I like it's relatively small size,and it's also quite light at 35 pounds.No cover was offered,so I bought a nice one from LeCover.com for $25.00.I give it an 8 for having two channels,reverb,FX Loop and a 8/16 ohm speaker out...as well as for the many cool tones I can get.

I love the grind and singing sustain that a well designed EL84 powered amp can get...and this one gets some pretty sweet tones of it's own.I use everything from a USA Hamer Studio Archtop to a Fender Strat with this amp,with all of my guitars sounding excellent through the Edition Tube.I often just run through the gain channel,using the guitar's volume to clean things up [which it does nicely].The active EQ gives quite a bit of versatility to the tone.I tend to be conservative on the settings,with the treble at around 12-1 o'clock,mids at about 10-12 o'clock and the bass at around 8-9 o'clock.This combo has some serious bass response,due to it's almost fully enclosed 12" Celestion speaker.I like the gain at about 10-11 o'clock,the volume at 2-3 o'clock for club work.At these settings,the amp is quite dynamic and sweet.Great for modern blues and most classic rock.The clean channel is nice and sparkling,staying relatively sweet and clean up until around 3 o'clock on the volume control.The reverb sounds pretty nice on the clean channel,but doesn't seem to add much in the high gain mode.The gain channel gets real rude and nasty past 2 o'clock on the gain control.I find the higher gain tones to be more late '80/early '90s metal [think Lynch or Lukather] than nu metal,Rectifier type distortion.It can get a pretty convincing scooped metal tone by cranking the treble and bass and cutting the mids.There is plenty of gain on tap for most guitarist needs,except for possibly the most insane distortion junkies.I find that the gain channel can get quite a bit louder than the clean channel.This is not a problem with me,since I love to just use the guitar's volume in the gain channel when playing live.I really love the tone of this little combo.I give it a very healthy 9.

I have had the amp for about 6 months with no problems,so I really have no idea for the long term.I know that Hughes & Kettner make excellent products that are well designed.One thing of concern is the lack of ventilation on the amp.The only opening I can find is a small 2 inch slit at the back/bottom of the of the cabinet.EL84's can usually get quite hot,but the Edition Tube feels only moderately warm to the touch...even after a long gig.It must be that German engineering,LOL!I will hold my rating on this one.I can only hope for the best.

I have little experience with Hughes & Kettner,other than an email question that was answered politely and promptly about the channel footswitch [not included with amp] for the Edition Tube,which was under $12.00 at Musicians Friend.There is a H&K service center near my home.I will give a modest 7 for customer support.

I love this light and small combo.Especially considering that I bought it used,in mint condition,for only $300.00 on the HC classifieds.They list for $799.00,but have seen them as low as $519.00 at a couple of web retailers.I've been playing everything from "old school" metal to modern blues for 25+ years.If lost or stolen,I would buy another and hope it sounds as sweet as this one.I have several USA Hamers and USA Washburn guitars,as well as a nice USA Fender Strat,a Martin acoustic and a Warwick Streamer bass.Other amps include a mid '80s Mesa Boogie MKIIC+ head [EL34 modded],a nice Valvetech combo,a Fender Prosonic combo,an early '60s Supro and a Hartke B30 bass amp.The Edition Tube fits in quite well with my other amps and gear.I originally bought it only for when my back acts up and the heavier amps would not be practical for gigs,but was quickly won over by it's many sweet tones and dynamic gain channel.This amp has a definite British vibe,especially in the gain channel,but it can get some nice Fender like clean tones as well.If you are looking for a small,relatively loud tube combo,as well as dig the sweet grind of EL84's,you could do alot worse than getting a Hughes & Kettner Edition Tube.I give it an overall rating of 9.

Two channel 20W tube combo with one 12" speaker. Reverb. I would have wanted separate tone controls for each channel. A built in Red Box line-box would have been nice too.

Great, rich but still clear sound. It chokes/compresses in a nice way on higher levels. The best thing about this amp is in my opinion that it sounds the best at the levels I normally use at rehearsals and club-gigs. With other amps I only get the saturation/compression I want when recording (because then the level is unimportant). That has always been the case with my Sovtek Midget 60 and Laney LC 30 II.

The guitars I use are mainly Fender Lead II and Guild S-100. I think this amp sounds the best when using a guitar with single coils (the Fender) because of the amps bassy sound. With humbuckers it tends to be a bit muddy. Actually I think the amp is very revealing. The way your guitar sounds, that's the basic sound you'll get. On the other hand the tone controls do an excellent job and you can always get some sort of great sound out of the amp. The clean channel gives warmth and tons of tone. The gain channel is a bit too much on the high gain for my taste but you can always turn the gain down, so no problem. In my opinion there's more bass when using the clean channel than when using the gain channel. That's mainly why I would like separate tone controls for each channel.

I have only had it for a month but I've had some problems with it that were there from the beginning. When switching from the gain channel to the clean channel it makes a boomy noise that is almost as loud as when I strike a chord. On bassy notes there is a rattling noise. The amp also seems to have a problem with the grounding. No matter what guitar I use it makes a much worse noise when touching the strings than any of my other amps do.

I talked to my lokal dealer about the problems with the amp and he claims these problems are all normal for a tube amp. Why don't I have the same problems with my other amps, I ask. Anyway, he won't help me. I have sent two e-mails to the main H&K-supplier with no response. BAD.

Though there are some problems I still rate this amp high. It sounds terrific and that's my main concern. It's also easy to carry around and looks good too. I will put in a Red Box myself and see to it that the rattling is fixed. The other little problems I will put on the "charm-account" and live with it.
I've been playing for 15 years and I expect I will keep this one for a looong time.

This was a return. Original owner purchased it in October, I bought it for $399 in November. See other entries for specs.

I think I'm happy with the features, overall. It'd be nice to get a channel switching pedal with the amp.

Clean channel- nice, like a loud Fender Champ, but through a twelve-inch Celestion. Tons of bass.

Gain channel- wide variety of sounds with different settings of the knobs. This little amp is loud as hell! I haven't found a crap sound yet, just lots of good sounds.

Reverb could be better.

Just got it!

I paid $38 for the Musician's Friend Gold coverage, just to be on the safe side. i am confident that they will stand behind the products they sell. the hughes-kettner warranty card was in deutsch,so I tossed it out...

Been playing 11 years. Fender, Yamaha, Godin guitars. Marshall, Fender, Hiwatt amps.

If it were stolen, I might try to get a Reverend Hellhound. However, I feel good to have this amp, used less than six weeks by the first owner, for $399.

I wish this amp had a deeper, richer reverb.

see below, what schould i say...? i dont need more options to play a good tone...

this amp sounds very sexy.... yeah, thats right. the clean channel is so warm and tubee.-. i am satisfied. i always have all poties to 10 (not reverb) and control the sound with the gitar potie. thats the point. the cleam channel is a little bit to quite to the lead channel.
but, who is perfect? sorry...i play blues, jazz, guitar: LP std.

never... its a 3 months old thang....

the best on this amp is the power. he is not to loud, and not to quiet. try it whit a Marshall 4x12 Box. then its a big thang...

summary : this amp is the best buy for that money.

1X12 Tube-Combo. 2 Channels, clean an lead. footswitchable. It has reverb and 20 Watts. Two EL 84 powertubes and ECC 84 Pre-Amp Tubes. Only one input an one output for external speaker. Clean volume, lead gain and volume, treble, mids and bass and a mastervolume, that's all. It' s easy to carry, cause it has about 17 kg. I bought it in early June 2001. It was new. My styles are Oldies, Rock'n Roll and Blues. The Amp is good for practice. Not too loud. It's also good for Clubgigs, and on larger stages I plug in an external speakercabinet.

This Amp sounds good wich all my guitars. I have some Strats, Teles, Gibson SG and two Yamaha AEX 502 (P 90 Pickups, semi solid). The Yamahas are especially good for old Rock'n Roll. A few day ago, I bought a Santana SE by PRS made in Korea, a very good sounding guitar. The Amp sounds really good, but it makes a lot of noise, without any guitar plugged in. The clean-channel overdrives at volume settings. It's a very sweet overdrive. The lead-channel has a lot of gain. I use it at about 3, that's enough for me.

I hadn't the chance to do a gig with it yet. I gave it back suddenly, because it made a terrible noise. I got 2 otherones, but it was allmost the same.

Now i had three amps of them and all made a terrible noise. I gave them back an now i'm waiting since nearly 3 months for an new one, who works well. I gave them my money and i have no amp for it. They allways say, next week i would have my amp. Now i`m waiting for nearly 3 months. I sended them E-Mails, but nothing happend. I'm lucky that i have several other amps, like the Fender Blues-Deluxe. So i can do my gigs without the Edition-Tube.

I will never buy a Hughes and Kettner Amp. It is too much anger for me. And their service is more than bad. Ity's hyper-ultra crap.

The amp is a two channel (Clean and Lead), single 12'' speaker tube combo sporting two Ruby 12AX7's and two EL84's, rated 20 watts. The controls share bass, middle, treble and revrb controls; the middle and treble influence each other so that increasing treble reduces mid and vice-versa. The lead channel has controls for Gain and Master (the master tends to act like power tube gain while the Gain acts as preamp tube gain), and the clean channel has a single control for volume. There is a channel footswitch available, an external speaker jack (at least 8 ohms at 20W), and an effects loop. The closed back cabinet weighs about 35 pounds and sports a custom Celestion G12F-60 (think brighter Vintage 30). The score loses a point for each of lacking separate EQ's, a gain/solo boost option, and a presence control.

This amp sounds KILLER! The clean channel stays clean until about 8, but it is a very warm clean sound with a lot of character but not too much coloring. I can even play my Park NiteFly's acoustic pickup and retain a lot of sparkle in the natural acoustic tones of the guitar. It's great for jazz too, with a really warm sound that still bites at mellower tone settings. Crank it past eight and get sweet, gritty blues tones from the EL84 clipping.

And then there's the lead channel. This channel can accomplish a full range of gain tones from blues grit to rock overdrive, metal crunch, and even a good fuzz tone (MUCH warmer than a big muff). And the channel is soooooooooooo responsive to picking attack and the guitar's volume knob. I have no problems transfering from rhythm to solo feel by riding the volume knob and digging in. The clean channel also responds excellently to feel and attack, and when necessary can cut through the band and warm up to bluesy wailing.

I exposed the amp's guts on the second day I had it because of a rattling noise; turned out the reverb unit had a bad spring and came loose. The tubes are clamped in tightly, so there's nooo chance in hell of them coming loose. I gig without a backup, but I always test the amp at intense levels prior to playing; If it works going into the gig it'll make it through. Tubes cannot be replaced without taking off the back panel (unscrewing, that is), which is a pain, but it also shields the tubes from being shattered by a broken drumstick flying into them.

Very knowledgeable on phone, answered my questions quickly and definitively.

Check out this amp, the best sounding and playing amp for under $600. Bravo to H and K for making an awesome product.