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Hughes & Kettner Edition Tube 112 Combo

Summary
Manufacturer URL http://www.hughes-and-kettner.com/
Features 8.2 (30 responses)
Sound Quality 9.2 (32 responses)
Reliability 7.7 (18 responses)
Customer Support 7.0 (11 responses)
Overall Rating 8.9 (28 responses)
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Product: Hughes & Kettner Edition Tube 112 Combo
Price Paid: $ 700 (Canadian (after trade-in))
Submitted 05/05/2002 at 03:42pm by Brian

Features : 9
-I'm not sure when my amp was made. The guy at the store said it was new, so I'm guessing it was made in 2001 - 2002.
-The amp has the features I was looking for in an affordable package.
-It is an all-tube combo sporting two EL-84 ruby tubes giving it a very british sound.
-It has a clean and drive channel, both channels share the same eq and reverb settings.
-I wish there was a seperate eq for each channel, but for the price and quality of this amp, I can't complain.
-It also has an fx loop and a line out for an ext. cab.
-I use this amp at home for practice but mostly for jamming. It is very loud for a 20watt amp. I imagine it should be loud enough for gigging small venues. I would probably mic it or attach an ext. cab. for larger venues.


Sound Quality : 10
-I've used my dearmond m-66 w/humbuckers, and also my fender strat and tele thru this amp. They all sound great on this amp. The strat and tele w/ single coils really shine on the clean channel. It has more of a warm and raspy vox type sparkle rather than a glass-like fender tone. Lots of bass response due in part to the closed back.
-My dearmond doesn't sound as sweet on the clean channel, but to my ears I prefer the sound of single coils for my clean sounds anyway.
-The drive channel has loads of gain, it sounds a bit bassy at lower volumes, but at higher volumes past 3, the sound is very full and the higher frequencies really come out!! Of course this would depend on your eq settings. The gain of the amp alone makes my single coil guitars sound really full and punchy. The gain channel is perfect for humbucker guitars as well.
-The amp is very quiet. The drive channel only brings out the noise from what you have in your signal chain i.e. noisy p/u's, stompboxes etc. Other amps I've tried or owned in the past had very noisy gain channels, even when the guitar's volume was at O.
-I love the gain of this amp. It sounds reminiscent of a marshall type gain. It is very versatile you can get a nice blues type crunch at lower settings. The distortion responds very nicely to your picking attack. At lower gain settings you can also use your guitars volume pot to clean up the signal. At higher settings,from 6 to 10, the gain is very powerful and sustains nicely for leads. I don't find it too be muddy at the higher gain settings. You have to use your eq to clean it up. I usually use very little eq: treble at around +2 to +3, mids at -2 to +1, bass at -1 to +1.
The clean channel stays clean till around 8, depending on what guitar you're using and your picking attack.
-Reverb is very subtle and sweet, not tinny sounding like some fender amps(this is not always bad though). The reverb is very quiet, even at max. level there is no static noise.
-I was deciding between this amp or a fender 65' deluxe reverb, or a hot rod deluxe for around the same price range.
-I decided on this amp because the 65 reverb only had one channel, sounds great and is a classic, nice vibrato channel, but the H&K is more versatile. The hot rod deluxe on the other hand also had a sweet clean channel but the distortion, to my ears was a bit muddy and to compressed for my tastes. The hot rod was also to powerful an amp for my needs. I wouldn't have been able to enjoy playing it at home, because at low levels (0.5 in the volume knob is loud enough)the tone isn't there. You need the volume at least to 3 (past 4 preferrably), but this would be way too loud for my neighbours.

Reliability : 7
-When I first played it at the store it sounded great. When I came back to the store a few days later, it had a rattling sound and I noticed it didn't sound as full, lacking a lot of low end response.
-It was a good thing I decided to try it out again before I bought it. It turned out to be one of the tubes being lose. The guys at the store fixed this up for me. Once fixed it sounded just as awesome as when I first tried it. Only then did I decide to buy it.
-I've had it for about 2 months now and I haven't run into this problem again.
-Like any other tube amp, you can't be to rough with it when lugging it around.
-The back is almost fully closed except for a 1/2 inch slit on the bottom of it. The tubes are pretty safe and covered by the back panel.
-I imagine it should be quite reliable as long as you're careful when handling it.
-It's been great so far. I wouldn't order one of the internet though because the tubes may get loose during the shipping, which is probably what happened when mine was shipped to the store. Since it was repaired for me for free before I even commited to buying it, this was not a problem. The guys at N.J.A.M.S. (where i bought it) are great. If ever I have any problems with it, I was told to just bring it in and they will take care of it.
-Despite of the initial problem w/ the loose tube, The amp seems reliable enough for gigging. Because it is a tube amp though, I probably should bring a back up at gigs, just in case.

Customer Support : No Opinion
-I haven't dealt w/ the company.
-The warranty card was in deutsch so it wasn't very useful. Since the place where I bought it is very good when it comes to servicing etc. this is not a problem
-from my translation I beleive the components are waranted for 6 mo.s and the amp is waranted for 36mo.s (3 yrs.)

Overall Rating : 10
-I've been playing about 10 yrs. I also own a vox pathfinder practice amp, which I mostly use for at home playing (great amp).
-I used to own a fender solid state deluxe 112 plus which I traded in for this amp. (This brought the price of the H&K down to $700)
-The guys at the store were nice enough to give me $100 off(it was selling for $1000) after I mentioned to them I could get it for around $800 dollars from the internet including shipping etc. It was worth paying the extra $100 dollars.
-I usually use a vox wah pedal>maxon OD-808>Proco Rat thru the amp. They all sound great and work well with this amp. I also sometimes use my Boss ME-8 thru the amp which also sounds good except for the distortion sounds, which sounded good on my SS fender amp, but are very colored and tinny sounding thru this and any other tube amp.
-I play jazz,blues,rock and hard rock thru this amp and it sounds great for all styles.
-You can get sounds from STP, Radiohead, 3EB, Doobie Brothers, Hendrix to even The Beatles, with the amp alone.
-It's very light and portable and has enough power to really rock out. Unless you play large venues regularly you may need more power, but for my needs it has more than enough. The amp still sounds good at lower to moderate volumes. Most amps with more wattage need to be played really loud before the tubes are really working, to give you a sweet sound.
- I only need to turn the volume up to around 6 at the most when jamming. 2 to 3 at home for practicing.
- This amps got the tone and the right amount of wattage for me. I love this amp!!


Product: Hughes & Kettner Edition Tube 112 Combo
Price Paid: N/A
Submitted 04/23/2002 at 09:22am by Skeletor
Email: jakcr<at>hotmail dot com

Features : No Opinion

Sound Quality : 9
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.

Reliability : No Opinion
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.

Customer Support : 9
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.

Overall Rating : No Opinion
Be careful with this amp. You need good preamp tubes, since the gain is so ridiculously high.


Product: Hughes & Kettner Edition Tube 112 Combo
Price Paid: N/A
Submitted 03/31/2002 at 04:01pm by Skeletor
Email: jakcr at hotmail<dot>com

Features : No Opinion

Sound Quality : 2
This amp is making a fuct-up hum now. See below.

Reliability : 3
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.

Customer Support : No Opinion
We'll see...I'll post an update when this situation resolves itself.

Overall Rating : No Opinion


Product: Hughes & Kettner Edition Tube 112 Combo
Price Paid: 670 (Euro)
Submitted 03/26/2002 at 12:21am by Basil

Features : 8
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 Quality : 9
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.

Reliability : 7
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.


Customer Support : No Opinion
Haven't used yet. The shop where I bought it gave two year guarantee.

Overall Rating : 9
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.


Product: Hughes & Kettner Edition Tube 112 Combo
Price Paid: 1100 (DM)
Submitted 02/08/2002 at 03:35pm by Tom

Features : 8
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.

Sound Quality : 10
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.

Reliability : No Opinion
Just bought it. We'll see.

Customer Support : No Opinion

Overall Rating : 9
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.


Product: Hughes & Kettner Edition Tube 112 Combo
Price Paid: US $300.00 used
Submitted 02/02/2002 at 07:07am by esousa@skybiz.com
Email: Edward Sousa

Features : 8
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.

Sound Quality : 9
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.

Reliability : No Opinion
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.

Customer Support : 7
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.

Overall Rating : 9
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.


Product: Hughes & Kettner Edition Tube 112 Combo
Price Paid: US $600
Submitted 01/04/2002 at 03:44am by Larry

Features : 7
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.

Sound Quality : 10
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.

Reliability : 5
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.


Customer Support : 1
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.

Overall Rating : 9
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.


Product: Hughes & Kettner Edition Tube 112 Combo
Price Paid: US $399 used
Submitted 11/29/2001 at 05:54pm by Skeletor

Features : 8
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.

Sound Quality : 9
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.

Reliability : No Opinion
Just got it!

Customer Support : 5
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...

Overall Rating : 9
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.


Product: Hughes & Kettner Edition Tube 112 Combo
Price Paid: US $600,00
Submitted 10/19/2001 at 10:24am by Anonymous

Features : 9
see below, what schould i say...? i dont need more options to play a good tone...

Sound Quality : 9
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.

Reliability : No Opinion
never... its a 3 months old thang....

Customer Support : No Opinion

Overall Rating : No Opinion
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.


Product: Hughes & Kettner Edition Tube 112 Combo
Price Paid: 1.100,-- (DM)
Submitted 08/26/2001 at 06:38am by Peter
Email: Pitquick<at>aol dot com

Features : 8
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.

Sound Quality : 9
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.

Reliability : No Opinion
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.

Customer Support : 1
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.

Overall Rating : 1
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.

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