Hughes & Kettner Edition Tube 20th Anniversary 112 Combo

Stated below - 2 channel shared eq amp with reverb. 20 watts.

The sound on this amp is truly superb. There is such a wide range from warm cleans to OD cleans to mild crunch to smooth gain to high gain to insane gain. Very impressive. Pick one up if you ever get the chance.

No problems, had it about a year and still going on stock tubes. I think these are pretty good.

These are a fantastic value. The sound is what its all about. The EQ is very responsive and the reverb is very good [though not quite like Fender's best]
The gain channel can get VERY VERY VERY loud for 20 watts. I personally think its running more power than that and they just called it 20 because that was their anniversary. Clean channel seems to be about 20 watts, gian channel sounds like 30 to me. [yes i know this is just perception, but it gets nice and loud] Use an extension speaker to maximize what this thing can do at higher volumes. I have mine plugged into a single Celestion 12H 70th anniversary which runs in conjunction with the stock speaker. Now its clarity and volume.

Straighforward and thats what i was looking for. Reverb NOT footswitchable, channels are. Does NOT come with footswitch.

Price range was the single largest contributing factor to my purchase of this amp. i found it for $650 with a free cord and fender pedal tuner which i sold on ebay, bringing it down to almost $600. the closed back design really makes this amp heavy on the bass (i play a semi hollow samich with two humbuckers). often, if i have the amp on the floor, the coupling increases bass even more and i keep the bass knob almost, if not all the way down. on an amp stand, the bass in decreased signifigantly and i can turn the bass pot up to 3 or so. it is also plenty loud, played many mic'd gigs with it, usually have it right around 6 or so on volume. reverb sounds nice, usually have it about 10 o clock, its not quite a fender reverb but....the OD channel sounds pretty nice as well although i use primarily pedals for leads and crunch. can get pretty saturated on the OD channel.

ive never (knock on wood) had a problem gigging with it that i can recall. my first set of tubes (2 12AX7 and 2 EL84's) lasted me gigging and practicing about 2 years. just recently replaced.

i think this amp is a good option for the under $900 tube amps, you really arent left with much competition..fender blues jr, fender deluxe reverb (getting pricey), umm..and a few others
i havent owned any other really nice amps, ive played out of a deluxe reverb a few times and they sound great, so i dont have a super discerning ear, not used to a Mesa quality sound but i think this amp sounds great for the money..

2 channel 20 watt tube amp (all tube?) with reverb. Closed back and VERY LOUD! The effects loop is actually very transparent, as I only run my DD-6 delay in loop and it's dead quiet when it's on and off. Takes pedals very well. Interesting construction on how they put this amp together, and I mean that in a good way. It's cosmetically a good looking amp and very well put together, as far as i can tell.

Wish it came with the footswitch. :(

Great sounds coming from both channels of this amp. The shared EQ doesn't bother me too much, as I pretty much use the same or similar EQ settings anyway. This amp is very loud! The volumes on the channels are mismatched, so if you don't want a huge volume jump/drop, you'll have to set the channels accordingly. The closed back on this amp gives a huge low end oomph!!!! Be careful on how you set your bass!!

Clean channel is very nice. Definitely a Fender-meets-Vox-meets-Marshall type clean. It definitely has it's own voice, very bright and clear. Very clean, and from my experience, it only breaks up past the 2 o'clock setting. Takes pedals well. I use a Bad Monkey to help me get a little SRV/Thomas Blug type grit.

Gain channel is is great! Very beefy, full bodied Marshallesque sounding channel. Kind of between a plexi and JCM800 sound (depending on your EQ settings). This can also do scooped metal pretty well. I do not use it for that, but it could pull it off. The amount of gain on this channel is INSANE! I normally don't set it above noon, personally. This can pull off 70's-80's-90's rock and then some! Heavy and slow blues also sound great with this amp!!!

Depending on what kind of pickups you're using, setting the EQ at noon is a great starting point! The EQ knobs are not how you would traditionally think EQ knobs to be configured. Not at all hard to find your sound, but it takes a little time to get to know the EQ. My personal EQ settings are: treble at noon, mids around noon to 2 and bass from 9 to noon (again, depending on pickups)

I've heard positives and negatives on this. I really can only say what I know about the reliability factor. The fact of the matter is, tube amps are prone to a number of potential problems. Something as simple as a bad preamp tube can give you a bad taste for an amp, not a true taste for what an amp can do.

No heat or rattling problems with mine. Works great!

I've had a different experience with H&K customer service. They have responded to my emails very quickly (within 24-48 hours) of my sending it. They have been most informative in answering my questions and have been most professional and courteous towards me.

Unfortunately, authorized service centers for H&K are few and far in between. 2 year warranty.

Definitely worth my every penny!!! The tone out of this amp is awesome and suits my playing styles to a "T". I would not hesitate to buy another if anything happened to this one. I love everything about this amp! The only bummer is the sparsity of H&K authorized service centers. Also, they could have included the footswitch. Otherwise a great sounding amp!!! And huge sounding for a 1x12 combo, I might add!!!

This amp is most definitely worth checking out!!!

This all tube 20 watter was manufactured in Germany in 2006. It uses 2 EL84 Power tubes & 2 12AX7 Preamp tubes with a closed back cabinet and Eminence Cream Rock Driver speaker to create a somewhat versatile and very powerful 1x12 combo. It has 2 channels with shared EQ, FX loop, and spring reverb. I have a footswitch for the channels but the reverb is not footswitchable unless you can mod it (which I haven't done yet). I have used it to play Rock, Metal, Country both in the studio and for small gigs. It is perfect for studio work and for recording, adequate for small venues, and can be miked for a larger venue with PA. You can play the clean channel around the house but the lead channel is too loud to be a bedroom amp but you can always substitute a pedal for gain. Overall I am satisfied with the sound and the build quality but ideally it would have separate EQ for each channel, a standby, and a line out.

I've found this amp to be almost perfect for what I do which is mostly hard rock and metal and some country although I also use a Peavey Classic 30, a friend's Marshall JCM 900, and a Roland Cube 30 in the studio. At 20 watts it delivers a thundrous and saturated lead channel distortion when cranked that's much more satisfying than a 100 watt half stack on 2. You can blend the master volume (power tubes) and gain (preamp tubes) to get a variety of vintage and modern distortions. While this channel does buzz a bit you won't notice while you're playing. The clean channel is very quiet and pristine at all volumes. It really dynamic so you can control the clean/crunchy breakup with just your pick attack and volume and tone controls. I've used a Strat, Les Paul, and Ibanez dual humbucker and liked the way all of them have sounded through the lead channel but I definitely prefer the Strat with the clean channel. The stock Eminence Cream Rock Driver speaker is very good but audiophiles may see the need to swap tubes to get the sound that they want.

All that being said this is not a blues amp (fine with me!) - it is a hard rock/metal amp with a heavy distortion and a usable clean channel so lighter distortions will require a pedal.

It's too soon to tell if this amp is uber-reliable or not. I had to immediately change out the preamp 12AX7s right after I bought it (which the seller paid for) but ever since I've gigged with it and travelled with it many times with no problems. At any rate, it doesn't require a whole mess of tubes so it's easy to troubleshoot but it's kind of a chore to change tubes because the the back panel of the cab has to be removed before you can remove the amp chassis. All in all it takes 20-30 minutes to change tubes so I would not gig without a backup just in case a tube went down.

I'd also recommend that you turn it off and on in the clean channel at zero volume to prevent tube problems.

I bought it second hand and the preamp tubes were bad from the get go but I didn't know what was wrong with it. The Yorkville people who handle H&K customer support in North America got back to me very quickly by email but told me the amp was bad and to return it to the seller. The seller was much more knowledgeable and helpful than this particular Yorkville rep. I will say that Yorkville rep I called on the phone was very professional. Ideally I could talk to H&K directly.

I love the sound of this amp. In 10+ years of playing this is the best sounding amp I've had. It's a very simple and compact tone monster that I just plug in and play without pedals and still get a variety of rock and metal tones. The low wattage gets full use of the tubes and the enclosed design gives a good low end punch. This is my go to amp for hard rock but I still use a friend's Marshall half stack, my Peavey Classic 30, and my Roland Cube 30 for specific tones that this amp can't generate. I would be devastated if anything happened to this amp but I would definitely get another for this price. A very useful tool for any rocker that's getting sick of lugging speaker cabinets or dissatisfied playing higher wattage amps on 2.

Not necessarily a loaded amp with a ton of options but still get's the job done. Two channels that share an eq, and no standby switch, which drives me crazy. All jacks and nobs seem to be well constructed.

Dual El84's in the power section, 40 watts (however somebody said 20 watts so I may be wrong)... it's loud but in my opinion not loud enough for performance in a loud group. Would be a great recording amp since you can get pretty good tone at low volumes.

I play a very experimental style and the effects loop was a must, however... one of the noisier amps I've played on by the time I lined up all my pedals.

I play both a Fender Strat and Ibanez dual humbucker and the amp sounds great with both, but I definitely prefered the sound of the strat.

However, like many others have complained about already... once you crank the volume you will most likely run into two problems: the cabinet rattles (bad!) and a weird resonance I believe when you play an A, causes the tubes to rattle and distorts the sound horribly. This is only when you crank the volume, so if you only want it for a bedroom amp, this might not matter.

The clean tone is uber warm and not to bright at all, which is exactly what I wanted. And the Dirty tone I believe is the real gem of this amp. The amp has a very deceiving look for how high and broad the gain can really get. Once again, could easily be used in the recording studio for a metal band!

If it weren't for the rattle and tube rattling problem, I would have given sound quality a 10.

By far the downfall of this amp based on the problems described above. I would never bring it to a gig, it belongs in the bedroom and maybe in the recording studio.

Not so good... I mean they did take the amp back for repairs... took about two months... got it back... and the problem was worse.

In Summary, the amp is nice for a practice amp in the bedroom... it's light which is always a plus and small enough to be very convenient. It sounds fantastic at low volumes, but has very little application quality to it. It's basically great for impressing yourself and maybe your friends at your house... but worthless otherwise.

features? i would call it "straight forward" not to much knobs and no way of getting lost in a "setting quest" like i usually do with my mesa roadking. i never use the reverb because i hate all kinds of reverb delay, aso.

i own a bunch of cheaper guitars, like yamaha pac 112; epiphone les paul junior; jackson randy rhoads rx10d, but i also own a prs sc 250 and an old ibanez custom shop rg. i mostly play all kinds of rock-like-music due to my work as a guitar teacher. in my band we focus on metal and fast punkrock, such as metallica, the offspring, black label society. when i first bought the amp (the last one available in germany) i was very impressed by how loud this little thing could get, but i also was disappointed by the lead channel, the amp was making loud high frequency hiss on highgain settings, and sounded a little plastic to my ears, so i decided to get rid of it again. a little later however, the hissing, transistor-like sound faded and turned into typical 12ax7 preamp searing, which sounded even better and more "alive" than my mesa. i guess it was the speaker in combination with the power-amp, it always takes a little time to get an impression of how an amp really sounds. if you crank up the volume to about 5, the el 84 distortion makes this thing a real sound wonder, the mesa sounds different, but NOT BETTER.
the clean channel is f***ing awesome. very nice sounding and with a slight creamy compression above 5 which turns into ac/dc at 10. i never played an amp sounding this good at clean.
the amp is predestined for bluesrock; with the gain on 3 and the volume on five and some good singlecoils on your guitar you will get better results than an ac 30 would possibly deliver.
however for some kinds of metal you may need a booster pedal to get it really fat and chunky, though i don't use pedals with this amp as i like the sound of the amp so much. the gain and chunk is enough for the heavy riffing i do.
the guy who said that he didn't get real clean sounds out of this thing, didn't mention that it is an amp which is specially constructed to deliver power-tube compression on relatively low volume levels. especially when the tubes get older; el 84 aren't famous for their long lifetime ;)

well i had some temperature problems; class a el 84 amps are getting really hot, so the temperature fuse deactivated the power tubes. wait 5 minutes, then try again. i NEVER would use this amp without backup for that reason. sometimes it makes crack and popp noises, but that's nothing other tube amps don't do.
my amp doesn't have the rattling problem, maybe they finally fixed it;)

i know the hughes and kettner distributor for germany personally. ??f this thing would die, i would grab his b***s and squeeze until i have a new one;) i have no warranty for the reason that i am using it for my work and the thing runs 24/7.

i've been playing for 15 years now, been studying guitar and played almost any equipment available, because a friend of mine owns a music-center. the kettner is a really good amp, and a steal. it looks somewhat cheaply assembled on the inside, but as long as it works that good... i just wanted to have a practice amp, but because of it's qualities in sound and volume and its weight in comparison to the roadking i'm getting used to use it as my gigging amp. i also tried the mesa express but i wasn't to impressed about it, so i ordered the kettner, mostly because it was cheap;)
if the amp was stolen...did i mention the thing with the b***s of my kettner distributor? ;)

I'm adding some personal opinions just on this section as the other have already been thoroughly expanded and well written in other reviews.
First: I'm a jazz player that play also swing and blues. I'm not mad for 100% super clean tones kind of Roland Jazz Chorus 120 (although I would always play gladly with that amp), I like more a basic clean tone with a bit of edge when you pick hard, like it was when the first jazz guitarists used to play with low wattage tube amps... think Oscar Moore, Barney Kessel, Kenny Burrell, Grant Green... you know what I mean.
Until now I've been happily playing with an old transistor Yamaha G-212, very loud and totally clean. The problem is the weight, more than 45 kg, and also the size, like a Fender Twin. So, I'm (still) looking for something suitable smaller and lighter.
Lately I borrowed from a friend of mine, a fine blues player, this little Hughes & Kettner amp for a couple of blues/swing gigs.
First of all: if you play jazz and around, forget about it. I won't speak on the dirt channel: it's very distorted and rockish, kind of tones that I don't use at all. The clean channel has a beautiful creamy tone, fairly sensitive to picking style, warm and pleasant BUT distorted. Even with the volume under 4 the tone is crunchy and dirt. There is no way to get a TRUE clean tone, suitable for jazz and funky rhythms. In my opinion, the dirty sounds in general are the easier to get: there are so many distorion/overdrive/fuzz/boost/crunch etc pedals on the market that anyone can find his favourite tone.
The problem are clean tones! Very few amps can really sound CLEAN, detailed and warm. And surely this H&K amp is not one of them. A fine amp, lot of beautiful tones BUT NO CLEAN TONES.
I hope this review wull be useful for jazzers at least.
Greeting from MARCO VIENNA www.myspace.com/marcovienna
www.myspace.com/bluesgravity

The amp was made in 2006 as a 20th anniversary model, but has been sold since. The amp is made in Germany - nice change of pace from the PRC.

The amp does a really nice clean to classic rock/metal overdrive, so for me it's plenty versatile.

the amp has clean and dirty channel that share 3 band EQ. The reverb works across both channels.

It has an effects loop, and a pedal input to switch between channels. There is only a single instrument input.

All input jacks are metal, which is nice.

The amp has dual EL84s in the power section and dual !@AX7s i the preamp. The reverb is SS.

The only other feature it really needs is a standby button since the amp takes a long time to warm up from cold.

At a rated 20W, the amp is plenty loud, espcially on the dirty channel - it's WAY loud.

I love the sound of this amp using my ES-175 for lower volume cleans or my ES335 for louder overdrive volume.

I'm only a bedroomplayer anymore, but I sure would have loved to have had this amp when I was using a Gibosn GA15RV or Fender DRRI gigging out in bars a few years back. This amp would have worked much better for me and would have let me get away with not using pedals for overdrive.

The amp is virtually free of background sounds when idle.

The amp is really excellent for pop rock, classic rock, and southern rock. The amp is very good for jazz.

The distortion can be very brutal when cranked, but I dial back the gain knob to get clearer tone.

I have never owned a H&K product so I have no idea how well this thing is built. I have yet to take off the back panel to check the innards, but will get around to that son enough.

It's got a warranty, but I can't remember what the terms are. No repairs so far and I've neverdealt with H&K.

I've been playing over 10 years and own a Fendr Jazz King amp, ES175, ES335, a few pedals. I have owned lots of Fender SF vintage amps fro Champs, to Princetons and Princetone Reverbs, DR, Pro Reverb, Super Reverb, older and newer Gibson amps, and so on.

I could ahve gotten a Fender Blues Junior, but it didn't appeal to me tone-wide as much as the H&K.

I believe this is an original "TUBE EDITION".. a funny thing happened on the way to pay for some knew strings, I saw this amp on consignment, was always curious about thgis manufactorer so I grabbed the cheapest guitar in sight (a Hagstrom), the next thing I know I'm at the counter with the strings the amp and the Hagstrom. Early electric finger style blues is what I do. Has effects loop but I don't need anymore then the amp has.

pups I use with this amp.. 57 gibson paf's, burns sonic mostly. The Hagstrom is tapped so I am very surprised at the not too fat not to thin sound of the single coil sound. I believe this amp will satisfy most styles but how would i know? Clean channel is very touch sensative, the drive channel I back off the guitar volume, can be a bit much but backing down the guitar volume gives me what the clean channel gives at high volume but at a lower volume (dah).. In forty years I've had many amps and I suppose I gushed over all of em, but this amp I been playin' through it more then gushin' about it. I have taken the back off, with it on it is true the bass is louder but to my ears the dynamics of the bass don't match the mids and highs so I have a Celestion Greenback plugged into the handy dandy X output and the 2 together give an even sound low frq to high.

reliablility I hope is not a problem since I have been told some parts are hards to get but if I have to I will call Mickey Mouse

not a clue

For my style, my guitars both hollow and solid bodys have received a renewed life. Maybe it is because I have been sorta stuck in the Fender mode mostly with a few exceptions along the way.. I pulled the guts out and was surprised to find only 2 12AX7's.. and of course the EL 34's. I like simple, I do dig my Fender Champs but this amp has the ear freindlyness of the Champs but with gusto, volume and better then fair reverb (4 springs), tone controlls that seem to work with there alotted frequency design with a small overlap. Fine amp, put together nicely and electronics look well thought out. If lightly pushed (depending on the guitar, think early vox tube amps, push channel 2 and maybe a touch of Marshall, tamed down but still sounds like a Marshal especially with the 57 gibson pat pen. pups. I know so little about these amps that I took a trip to ebay and at least find out what they are selling for and surprised there weren't many listed which is a good sign. I just thought of something, maybe a tube rectifier would have been good but I have a feeling as i move up the line of this company there will be a tube rectifier and also a tube reverb, but for $400 I am not complaining, a pre-driven amp that appears new for this manufactorer and evedently vintage at that, maybe the smirk will go awy in a few days..

made in 2006 this is the best practice amp I've ever had. There are 2 channels with reverb, effects loop, speaker out, etc. 2 el-84's 2 12ax7's and 20 watts. If this amp had more power and a second master on the lead channel, I would use it exclusivly but as is, although it has a speaker out, you cannot bypass the onboard speaker and run all 20 watts of power to your 412 cabinet, which sucks IMHO. It is great for my "behind the counter at work practice amp", though. It sounds great and has lots of power, even to jam with another guitarist. I don't know about a heavy metal drummer though.

The clean is superb with only a hint of breakup at high volumes. The distortion is sweet. I crank it all the way up and with the use of my guitars volume knob, get sweet blues to shred metal to thick riffing. I don't care what anyone says, this amp DOES METAL! It does have a rattle at higher volumes, when the bass pushes but whatever, it's an easy fix but it's just a practice amp for me. It sounds beautiful! Other than that, it's as quiet as a mouse!!

when I first got it it had a strange flubbery sound, somethimes. It sounded tube oriented, so I took it in and $240 later it is perfect and hasn't had a problem since. Luckily the guy I got it from, on ebay, paid for the repair so I got the amp shipped for $490! I was stoked. Other than that, the amp sits on all day long for 8-14 hours a day and hasn't had even a hiccup. SWEET!!

I dunno....

I've been playing for almost 16 years and have played a ton of amps. This, honestly has one of the best distortions I've played. If it were stolen, I'd cry then get another one, if I could find a good deal! It shreds hard!