Hughes & Kettner Puretone 112 Combo

Class A 25 Watt extremely loud amp with 2 EL34 power tubes. This is a hand wired amp. This is from the custom shop at H&K.

I use pedals to achieve my sound. I have owned some great tube amps that get a great sound, but they get "Only" their great sound - Marshall, Mesa, etc.

After a while Guitarists generally want to switch it up a bit (this means you and you know it). This is why I have used pedals for about 7 years now. I have a bunch and I mean a bunch of Distortion Pedals - Boss, Analog Man, Carl Martin, MI Audio, Tube Screamer etc.

This is why I love the amp. It gives me an unreal warm "All Tube" class a clean tone. If I want to sound like a Marshall I use a DS-1 Analog Man Pedal. If I want to sound like a boogie, I use an AMT Pedal. If I want Metal, I put my old trustee Metal Zone in front of the amp. I use two Boss Reverbs / Delays and a Vox Wah and that's it.

In my opinion, I would not buy this amp if you are looking for that tube amp that gives you just the perfect sound on its own - unless you like clean and mild breakup. However, if you are like me and use a lot of pedals or a multi-effects unit, this may be the ticket. $2500 New is a little steap, but if you can find one used at a reasonable price...go for it. It makes even the worst distortion pedals sound good because at the end of the chain, the sound goes through the EL34 tubes.

I plugged a friends digitech through this amp and it sounded great and man I hate the digitech stuff.

Tank! Tank! Tank!

Don't Know

....could use a reverb. My only gripe. But I use a Boss Reverb anyway.

Made in 2001, versatile enough for the styles I play, Zeppelin, AC/DC, Who, etc..has 1 channel, no switching, no reverb, killer backlit neon panel. Don't wish it had any more features than it has, thats what makes it really a "Puretone EL34 sound". More than enogh power for any live gig, I've played out about 25 times with it.

Using with a Les Paul and a Tele, both with stock pickups. Whatever guitar you plug in will sound like that guitar. Great Page tone like another reviewer wrote, best amp I've owned to date. Cleans, (using the 3 band EQ) are crystal clean, the growl knob seems to add in mids and that "cookin" tube breakup. I use the Gibson mainly with the growl knob and the Tele without it. I use a Boss RV5 reverb and a Keeley compressor with the Tele and can get great country sounding licks.

Built like a German tank, have had no problems with this amp.

Never needed support, bullit proof for 7 years now, still running the same tubes as new.

Playing 20 years, also have a Top Hat King Royale 2-12. Love the tone, somewhat heavy though, compared to Marshalls and Vox.

Has the basic features needed, bass, treble and mid, standby switch, a growl knob and the coolest backlit panel I've ever seen. Class A, 2 EL34's pumping out 25 watts with 3 power ranges. Celestion Vintage 30 12" speaker. It is not feature packed but thats why it is called Puretone, no tone sucking gains, reverbs or effects.

I bought this amp used and was immediately blown away by the tone, it actually makes you want to play longer because of how great it sounds. I play it with Tele's w/ Bardens, Les Paul Historic '57 reissue, Gretsch 6120 Nashville and a 335. You will be sucked into playing for a longer period due to the sound..trust me. Clean is killer used with no Growl and dialing in the EQ. I also use a Fulltone OCD on the clean channel for a clean/dirty raw sound which is addicting. The growl control eliminates use of the EQ, and thats when you start hearing the Matchless Clubman tone coming from this amp. I've owned and sold most all of the Fender amp models, I'm sure I will be keeping this amp for a long time.

No problems yet, if I need to replace a tube I will research the best EL34's and buy them.

NA

Playing about 24 years, also have a Fender Custom Shop Bass Breaker and an Ampeg SS150 combo, I compared this to Matchless,(I could not find a used one or I would have bought one) and thought it sounded super nice, couldn't pass up an even trade for a used Fender Supersonic (which to my ears the dirty channel sounded too thin and mushy).

The amp was made in 2001. I find it versatile for most styles of playing. The catch is, you must be a competent player: this is not an amp that you fiddle with knobs on; you turn it on, crank it up and let your guitar controls and fingers do the sound construction. I mainly play classic rock but play most any other kind of musical style. To put a fine point on it, I would say that I play everything and anything before the 80?s and then mere pittance from then on. For example: I am both a huge Scotty Moore fan as well as a Jimmy Page fan.

This amp has one channel and if any of you have ever had experience with a non-master volume amp then you will feel right at home. As for me, purchasing this amp right of sale of my beloved ?89 Marshall JTM 45, I fell immediately in love with this modern rendition of the classic Class A Transformer amp.

There are no features that I could want on this amp. There are five knobs: growl, treble, mid, base and volume; and the Growl knob cuts three of those knobs out of the signal path virtually making a two knobbed amp. As you can most probably tell, I am a utilitarian.

It has 25w at 16ohm and 40 at 8ohm. It has plenty of power and an extraordinary amount of headroom. It runs off of two EL34?s and three 12AX7?s which give it that fuzzy, Vox-esc tone.

As I said previously, this amp is powered by two EL34?s which give it (as another reviewer here has noted) a very Vox-esc tone. Where the previous reviewer likened it to a combination of a Fender and a Vox, I would go so far as to say that it is an amalgamation of a Marshall, Fender and Vox (leaning less on the fender side). That said, this is not an all-in-one amp: It is a Class A transformer amp with qualities similar, but markedly different from the previously stated amps. I for one, am a Marshall fan, and have never been too partial towards the chimey clean sound of a Fender Blackface. The only Fender?s that I enjoy playing on are usually old Tweeds.

This amp definitely has that trademark "Marshall Power" coupled with the old VOX fuzz (not those disgusting AC30?s) making for a very pleasant auditory experience.

I currently play in a Led Zeppelin tribute band that plays around Canada. Check out the website, www.ledzepinthelight.com, there are audio clips that are played using the Puretone pushing a Marshall 1960bx cab driven by either a ?05 Gibson Jimmy Page Signature CA or a ?03 Gibson Brazilian ?58 Reissue.

I also play in a two other general classic rock cover bands and this amp performs admirably. I often get comments like: "I don't know what that amp is but holy @#$% does it sound amazing... but too loud".

This amp is very loud; this is amp is not suited for any kind of quiet apartment practicing. If you have an apartment: buy a practice amp, that?s what I did.

This amp, changes it personality with every guitar you drive it with. Even between the two LP's there is a marked difference in tones, but even greater is when you play a strat, tele or a dano through it. This is where it truly begins to sound somewhat like a Fender Tweed on steroids.

Amazingly versatile and dynamic amp. Not for the faint of heart or the inexperienced. This is truly an experienced player's amp.

It can get a little hissy depending on growl level, volume level, tube quality and biasing. If it is well setup, you will have no hiss, but if you get some really hot EL34's you may have some hiss.

One word sums up this amp: TANK. The bloody thing is built like a freaking tank. At first glance the damn thing looks like a 2x12 (and weighs more than one as well) but upon looking in the cab you find that solitary Celestion Vintage 30 sitting there. This amp is definitely designed to take a beating: good ol' German over-engineering (sorry for the generalization but in my experience their products are built to astronomically high standards... but this isn't a time to compare German engineering over north American engineering...)

One thing I will say against this amp, even though it's not it's fault only an inherent quality of Class A transformer amps, is that is eats tubes. Depending on how much you play and how much you push the amp, you will be going through a set of EL34's every month (for me, I changed them after every 2nd show).

n/a...

This may be interesting when the time comes...

Also, their website is really strange... Watch the promotional video for the Purtone series for a good laugh.

I have been playing for, gosh, 14 years now and have owned a myriad of equipment. My main set up is: Gibson LP Historic (JP or '58), Custom Classic Tele, Danelectro DC59, Gibson EDS-1275 > Fulltone Clyde Wah, Sweetsound Mojo Vibe, Maxon AD900 > Hughes and Kettner Purtone combo (either stand alone or through a Marshall 1960bx 4x12 Greenback equiped flat cab).

If it were stolen or lost, I would immediately begin searching for a new one. I am currently looking to find the head version as well. This is now my Holy Grail amp; I will never sell this amp and like the guitars I own I will now just find other, interesting sounding amps to add to my collection.

If you can find won, pick it up you will not be at all disappointed! These amps retail at 2999.99$. And if anybody spots the head version, email me!

Although the amp doesn't have many features, the growl knob is one great feature that boosts the amp's ranking significantly in my mind. The attenuator doesn't affect volume so much as it affects the tone, the lowest setting sounding more mid-heavy & the highest setting sounding more open.

While this amp seems to be intended mostly to be played clean or with mild break up, it also sounds surprisingly good when hit hard with a booster. I've been able to get closer to Slash's tone with a JB-equipped Les Paul & a Hughes & Kettner Tube Factor pedal than I've ever been able to get with any of the Marshalls of the past 10 years.

That said, I haven't been able to get a Matchless-style clean tone with the amp, even with an outboard tube reverb going into the front. I'm going to try the Groove Tubes EL84 socket adapters with it, hopefully that'll bring the amp closer.

My amp was a shop demo & died within two weeks of me owning it. Since the repairs, though, it's been holding up perfectly, so I blame the shop for the amp going out the first time.

The repair was free under warranty.

I've been playing for 17 years. My other amps include a '63 Deluxe, a '64 SR, a Harry Kolbe modded Twin, a Marshall Studio 15, & a Brunetti Maranello. My guitars include a couple Pauls, a hollow body Gretsch, & several Fender & custom strats. One thing I'll say about the Pure Tone is it lets the personalities of the different guitars shine through better than the Fender amps do.

Update to my original post. GC had one on clearence and at that price, I couldn't resist. this one doesn't have the audible vibration noise.

Bought new this year, but with a 2001 factory QA tag.

Single channel, single input, volume, 3 level output control, T-M-B, "Growl" - gradually bypasses the tone circuit, which appears to add harmonic richness, especially when the guitar volume is turned up.

Love the growl, but a tube reverb would be fitting with the amp's character.

Very well put together - pretty heavy for its size - fitted slip case to get some protection during non-industrial transport.

Back lit panel - looks cool, but you can't see the knob settings under low lighting because they are Tele style with an indent on the top - some sort of pointer would be more useful, if less stylish!

Cab is three quarter back. Chassis is well hidden.

The amp is very loud for most purposes. Output level on low, volume around 11 o'clock, is loud enough to surf over the top of a 2 gtr b & d combo playing early 70s style music.

In fact, would have preferred a more radical volume cut on the output switch - the manual says the 3 settings are 50/80/100 - would suggest that 25/50/100 would be more useful for those bedroom moments.

Footswitchable growl would be a killer addition - anyone tried it as a mod?

I play alt.country, blues and pre-punk rock, using a G&L Legacy Special and G&L ASAT Classic.

I looked at all the amps I could find in this price range in Melbourne Australia - not such a wide range as in the US, obviously (no TopHat, Budda, Dr Z, Cornford etc).

Direct competitors were the THD Univalve, Orange AD30R, Fender Custrom Vibrolux, Mesa F50. I also checked out the H&K Duotone combo.

The Puretone sound was the best fit to my needs in terms of possessing a rich and creamy distortion, edging into natural feedback, whilst retaining the ability to play loud and clean by backing the guitar volume back to 7.

The combo has a rock solid bottom end with no discernible speaker break up. It appears to work well with my GT-3, though the "nude" sound is so good that it seems perverse to plug an effect pedal into the signal chain.

Too soon to say.

See above.

Minor niggle - I think the user manual is a bit skimpy compared for example to what you can download from Boogie's web site, or the manual that came with my old Rivera combo.

I've been playing for 35 years, and have "let go" several excellent amps, including a 1960s AC30, a silverface Deluxe Reverb, and a couple of Music Mans.

I don't know that I'd ever buy "the same again" - nothing's perfect, and variety is its own motivation.

However, the tone is the thing, and this amp delivers. Someone said the Univalve is the perfect amp for the Woodstock generation - I reckon the Univalve is too aggressive for that mantle - but the Puretone is just right!

Very basic. The other reviews have covered this. The growl function is pretty cool. It makes you realize that you don't need a bunch of knobs to tweak to get a good sound and Man does this amp sound great.

The clean has that class A glassy tone and the amp overdrives smooth and chunky( is that possible?)The amp loves effects even though it was probably intended for the amp PURIST. It reminds me of a Matchless without the massive price tag.

These amps have been dicontinued. They sold for around $1800 with a retail of $2600. I'm pretty happy with the deal I got on this one. I have a pretty large collection of amps from vintage fender to newer Boogie. I've been playing about 28 years 20 semi-pro. This amp has great tone if you can find one check it out!

2001 Model. Class A 20 watt with 1 12" Celestion Vintage 30 speaker. VERY Loud. Good thing it has a power attenuator with 3 levels. As the previous review mentioned, Volume, Treble, Bass, Mid and Growl. The growl control functions like a gain control and gradually eliminates the EQ to zero. I'm somewhat of a minimalist, my other current amps are a Trace Elliot Velocette and a Tube Works 7100 hybrid, but this amp has every thing I need for blues, rock, country, western swing & jazz.

I use a Tele, a Guild Starfire IV with humbuckers and an old Gibson non-pedal steel guitar. A friend uses this for a Les Paul. In the shop, I spent several days checking this amp out with teles, strats, fat strats, cheap Ibanez, Dillon PRS & tele knockoffs, Guild Starfire w/ P90s, lap steel w/ Duncan P90's, Epiphone Les Paul, Gibson Les Paul & ES135, Hamer Studio, McInturff, and Rick Turner customs. This amp will reveal the true quality of your guitar and pickups. Most single coils seem to sound good to superb through it. Cheap humbuckers sound like cheap garbage. Good humbuckers, like Duncan 59s or Set Lovers sound like heaven. This is the all around best "pure tone" amp I have played in 40 years. The tone is somewhere between a Fender DR and a Vox AC 30. It blew away the Dr Z amp sitting beside it in the shop. The clean is clean until my ears bleed and turning the growl up to 9 o'clock rounds out the single coil thiness very nicely. Distortion is very smooth, buttery and controllable.

I've never had a problem. Its built like a tank. A tube amp w/o spare tubes is foolish, but I would use it without a back up because I seldom play far from home and I can always go get another amp.

Never dealt with them. The shop where I got it is excellent.

The list price on this amp is $2500. Obviously, I have good relations with the shop where I bought it. I've been playing guitar for 48 years and electric for 40. I mentioned my electric gear above. I gig intermittently, accoustic & electric, and I'm looking for a new band right now. This would be a very hard amp to replace due to the cost, but I would replace it immediately if I could afford to. I guess the other fellow must have gotten a bad amp, because this one is a dream. This is the best "pure tube tone" amp I have played from Silvertone through Fender and Vox. The Fender, Dr Z, Reverend and Soldano amps in the shop with it just melted by comparison. Tone like Honey Butter: sweet and smooth.

It is a Class A amp with a very straightforward setup. Volume, treble, bass, mid, and growl controls. For power, it has a 3 step attenuator built in so you can get 100%, 80%, or 50% power. The reason for the 9 rating on such a simple amp is the fact that it has built in power attenuation, and the growl control. What the growl control does is gradually eliminate the EQ section of the amp. When at 0, you are playing through the EQ as normal, as you turn the growl up, it slowly removes the EQ and adds volume and gain. Amazing what a differnce it makes.

I tried it with single coils, P90s, and humbuckers. It doesn't quite get the 3d quality, low end thump, or mid grind of a Matchless, but it is it's own animal. It sounds like a cross between a Fender and a Vox, leaning more towards the Vox side. It was very easy to get controlled feedback using the Growl control. The clean tones were okay, but didn't bowl me over.

It appeared to be built like a tank. The cabinet was very think and sturdy. When I got it home and got some good volume out of it, I noticed a very audible vibration the wasn't coming from the tubes (I replaced them to be sure).

I've been playing for 25 years and am embarrased to admit how many amps I've gone through. I ended up returning the amp because of the vibration noise, the not so amazing tones at a high price, and the fact that this was a LOUD amp (it was almost impossible to get a low volume).