Hughes & Kettner Statesman DUAL EL84

I believe this one was built in 2007. Features have pretty much been covered, so I'll just cover a couple points first the wish list - a standby switch would be nice. The reverb is listed as an Accutronics spring reverb, but it doesn't do much. There is a a balancing switch on the back of the amp that allows you to balance the reverb between the clean and dirty channel. Again, reverb is pretty weak. I'm not much of reverb user anyway, so it's fine for me. The clean channel is sparkling clean and OD channel can go from very clean to nearly a full on brown sound with no pedals. Give it an 8 due to the lack of a standby switch and crappy reverb.

I play a lot of guitars through this amp, I have a Les Paul, Fender Am. Std., PRS CE 24, Peavey HP Special and Peavey Wolfgang, plus a couple of guitars I built myself. The clean channel is terrific on all of those, but really outstanding on the strat and HP Special and PRS in the coil split position. The drive channel is great for all of the them. I usually dial it up with low to mid gain and use my guitars volume control to control the crunch/over drive. The amp is a little noisy at higher volumes - around 70% volume depending on how high the gain is dialed up. Clean channel starts to get noisy at the 70% level or so too. Doesn't affect playing, can't hear the noise while playing.
I think the guy who said his amp is too loud for his apartment at the lowest setting on the clean channel has a problem with his switch. He's right in that it doesn't "zero" out at the minimum setting, which is about the 7:00 position. My volume goes up very slowly to just between 8:00 and 9:00 and then starts to get loud really fast. Not too loud for an apartment at night at the 8:00 setting.

Have't had it too long, but I did buy it in Japan and bring it with me on the flight home to Taiwan. Seems pretty tough, and changing and biasing tubes will be a snap - don't have to remove the chassis. I'll withhold my rating here until I have had it a bit longer.

No direct experience with a human being at H&K. Dealt with their web-site, got an automatic email reply when I registered for warranty online. Manual's and PDF's are available online. Contact numbers - never tried.

I've been playing over 20 years, played a lot of different amps and guitars. I thought it sounded better than comparable sized Fenders and others. This one seemed to be the best sound/price value in the under 25 KG (50 pound) size.

This amp has all the features you need bar one. The volume pot on the clean is not set to travel to 0 and turn the sound off! What you need to remember with this is that this is way way way too loud to play at night and for some people even in the late evening. At 7pm the pots start to work. Again with the clean at 6ish which should be sound off, it is not it has lots of bass, some mid and hardly no treble and again is loud. The gain channel pots ie master and gain do turn off and can be set to play at late evening or night with some loss of tone. Again this lack of volume control at low levels makes using pedals hard at night ie a compressor. The clean is totally 100% not useable at night and worse with pedals - neighbours - noise - enviromental health. What were H&K thinking!

I play through the following;

Ibanez RG550 1989, Kramer Nightrider. I also borrow my mates stunning old strat now and then. Pedals = Vox wah, Maxon CPro+ comp, Proco you dirty rat, Maxon od 9, Marshall Jackhammer, Boss Auto Wah AW2, Boss CH1 Chorus, Ibanez DE7 Delay

With no pedals it nails the tone. Had to buy the amp without trying it and I hate to do that but I was not dissapointed. I can get all the tones of my favs. Basically I think this section has been covered with other reviews and every word is spot on. When using pedals, again this amp slams. The proco you dirty rat really sits sweet with this amp. The OD9 is great but in all honesty I prefer the amps overdrive and boost. The amp is damn quiet with or without effects, almost silent. The jury is still out on the effects loop for noise. I'll be probably puttin a volume pedal or eq into the effects loop to act as a master volume for the clean channel so you can at least use the bloody amp in the evening and night and match the gain channel to the clean channel. I'm hoping the noise level will not jump when using the loop, I'd be gutted now considering its nigh on silent. I have dropped the delay in and it was a tad noisey but in all fairness the leads were rubbish. All in all I would love to score this amp 1 just to stop everyone buying this amazing sound. I have looked and looked and listened for months searching for an amp that sounds 'real' I'm sick to the back teeth of digital, cheap soild state amps and fizzy OD/dist with no squelch or middle. This amp acts like another instrument, each note sound slightly different each time its picked and notes interact with each other in many ways, your fingers become tone generators on your guitar and everything feels so real, its hard to explain - simply put this puppy has mojo - its beautiful!

I dont know. But scored a 9 simply becasue I intially had a quad statesman and it was faulty. Insane loud popping on switching channels and jacks would not fit into the effect return. Hence it got returned and I opted for a dual.

Yes I emailed them regarding the quad and the first reply was total ********. After I complained, as you do, then help was given as expected. Bottom line, its solid, looks very well built, not too heavy, I reckon it will last for years and years.

This would have a 10 if it dod not have the clean channel volume pot issue! Its got the sound, and everything else you need. Its great with pedals and adds to their sound. The OD is truely stunning, the clean is awesome - loud but awesome. If this was stolen I'd buy another tomorrow, as I said I searched for ages to get a normal classic sound, I was opting for a Marshall Jubilee or a Sound City, but I'm glad I didnt. Nothing compares to this, the amp sounds fantastic with nothing more than you and your guitar - truly plug n play

If your buying this amp for playing late then be warned you will need a volume pedal in the loop to control the level which will still retain nigh on all of the guitar and pre amp tone.

Before you read this review: I just have this amp a few days. I'll be as critical as possible, and if I change my mind I will post a follow-up.

This vintage-looking amp with brownish tolex was probably made in 2007. It has two EL84's (putting out 20 watts) and two 12AX7's. Frontpanel from left to right: power + jewel light (blue!), master reverb, master bass/middle/treble, drive volume, drive gain, drive boost switch, channel switches, clean volume, twang switch and input. I was a little bit surprised to find out there's no mastervolume or standby-switch. It does however have a reverb-balance knob, so that you can choose what the balance between clean and drive-reverb should be, for instance to keep your distortion reverb-free. It has a speaker output, two footswitch outs (channel+booost and reverb/fxloop) and an fx-loop.

Nice detail: this amp goes up to eleven! The minimum value of the pots is around 7-8 clock, but the max is around 5. It seems like they intended to have it this way, because all the knobs have exactly the same behavior. Also, when you center them (relatively), they point in the same direction as the italic text above it. I think it's a nice detail.

The amp is not very heavy. That's a good thing. It still feels solid. The weight is not distributed evenly, the back is heavier (because of the layout), so if you push it, it's more likely to fall on its back than it is to fall on its front.

The features of this amp are pretty good. 20 watts is plenty of power to gig with. If you disagree, you can always mike it. I'm just missing the mastervolume and standby-switch. Some people will be disappointed with the fx-loop, because its serial. But if you're looking for a straight-forward amp, this is it and even more.

I use this amp with a Musicman Silhouette Special (HSS / hardtail) and a PRS Santana SE I. It sounds great. The minute you center the EQ and lay down a chord on the clean channel, you know it's a nice amp. The clean is really smooth and round. It sings nicely. Some other amps have really flat cleans, but not this baby. It's responsive and makes you wanna play. The EQ works very nice. It'll never sound boomy, thin, harsh, brittle or shrill, it works like you want it to work. The mids really 'fatten' up the sound. Twang does what it's supposed to do, but I don't use it.

The drive channel is great too. It does require some more tweaking, but soon you'll have great sound too. It's important to keep the gain on one or lower, otherwise it'll become muddy. Below that you got some nice overdriven/crunchy tones. Perfectly suited for 70ies rock. If you want more gain but still retain a tight sound, I think a booster will do the trick.

Although there's a shared EQ, I don't feel it's limiting the amp. On some other amps with shared EQ, it's a compromise. Either the clean will shine and the drive will be under par, or the drive will blow you away and the clean will be flat. Not with this amp. It's really easy to balance it so that both channels sound great.

Soundwise I think this amp does pop/jazz/blues/rock/hardrock very well, but metal or modern rock is not what you buy this amp for.

It seems reliable. Channel swithing does give a little 'pop', but it doesn't increase in volume when you turn it up. Tubes and bias-adjustment are safely guared by a backplate which can be removed for service. Tube replacement should be very easy.

Can't say anything useful about it.

I've been playing for 8 years now. This is my third tube amp. My first was a H&K Tube 50, second an ENGL Thunder 50. Both are just blown away by this amp. I would definitely buy it again. I love the singing, thick and round tone. This amp would be perfect if it had mastervolume and standby. Perhaps a little more gain without sounding muddy.

I can recommend this amp to anyone looking for a really nice tube combo under 1000 euro's or dollars.

All tube Combo amp, 20 Watt Class A, 2 channels sharing classic EQ section (bass, middle, treble)where each knob influences the other (just the way true vintage amps should be!). The clean channel has a Twang switch, that enhances the top end in a fenderish way; the Drive channel has a footswitchable boost working on both gain and volume, so you get a lead sound. Adding a second (optional) footswitch you can control the Reverb (accutronics spring rev) and the FX Loop. On the rear panel there's an unusual (but useful IMO) trim that allows to balance the reverb between the clean and the drive channel. The speaker section consists of 1x12" Eminence, that really matches this baby's voice. The amp comes with a cover, too.
Perfect, almost... It would be perfect with a full set of footswitches, that's why I don't rate it a 10.

This is where the little monster really shines!
The clean channel sounds perfect, with any guitar: I tried with my self-built strat (equipped with Kinman Woodstock), my Ibanez Hollow-body (equipped with Gibson 57's) and PRS Single cut Trem, and it really seems to love and respect each of my guitars, bringing out the best of each one! It's so responsive that I don't use the EQ!!!!!
I simply keep the 3 knobs at 12 o'clock, and hear the voice of my guitar... This choice makes particularly sense on the Drive channel.
Tweaking a little while the Gain and Master knobs you can nail everything from SRV to earl Van Halen and all points in between. If you kick in the Boost, you start from AC-DC territory spacing to serious metal. It gets a little noisy when cranked (but I never heard an amp that isn't noisy in that setting!).
The sound is always throaty, deep and articulate, touch responsive and rich in sustain; no muddyness if you keep the Gain knob under 2 o'clock.
I sold my Marshall 1974x and kept this amp: enough said?

I hope the German manufacturers will hold up with their reliability fame, time will show!

Playing on stage since 1982, I owned too much gear to mention (even hard to remember, ARGH!) and this amp is absolutely a keeper! I mostly play Southern Rock and Blues and it perfectly matches my style and taste for sound. I don't use effects anymore, apart from a self built variable boost that I use in the FX Loop for merging purposes rather than fattening the sound.
This amp weighs under 20 Kg and in its price range I never heard anything so good sounding. Great value!

For a full-tube amp in this price range the Statesman offers an extraordinary sound range. Special features are the "twang" button for Tele sounds and the reverb balancer (between clean and drive channel). The footswitch controls Channel and Boost. This is very useful since you can switch between crunchy rhythm guitar and (a little louder) singing lead guitar. If you want to switch the reverb and the FX Loop you can use an optional second foot switch.
You won't find any digital effect, but this is anyhow not the idea behind this amp. You can add some effects via FX Loop if you want.

This amp is really a killer amp. I compared it with several other amps in the < 25 kg class and it's sound is far beyond the competition.
- The absolute highlight is the lead sound. It has un unbelievable dynamic tube character. You can make it sing easily with nothing more than your fingertips.
- The crunch sound is also very nice, but not that outstanding. A very nice thing is the possibility to switch between lead and crunch with the boost button of the foot switch.
- Again extraordinary ist the clean sound. I really love the "twang" switch. It is brilliant and dynamic.
You even can use this amp for studio recordings because the base noise is very low. In this regards it is much better than comparable amps from Laney or Vox.

... no problems up to now ...

... no experience up to now ...

I was looking for a < 25 kg full-tube amp with the best-in class sound and the statesman dual leads this category by far. With 19.5 kg it is really "light weight". But the sound is undisputed. I didn't find anything in the < 1000??? area comparable with the Statesman Dual.
The Traynor has 17 kg, only. But you can forget the sound. Vox and Laney also have a nice lead and clean sound, but I didn't like their base noise. The fender has also an excellent clean sound, but the lead sound has not the power of the laney.

I've compared the Statesman with a lot of other all-tube amps in the same price-range (600-900 euro's, e.g. Fender HotRod deluxe and Marshall DSL401), and in my opinion the Statesman offers a far more unique and powerfull sound.
I really like the look of the Statesman (it looks like a 60's amp, with that vintage brown colors and the cool Statesman logo).
It was built in 2007, has 20 watt, effects loop, external (parallel) speaker jack, 2 channels (clean and drive), 2 exta sound-buttons ('twang' for clean and 'boost' for drive) and comes with a dual footswitch (for channel-select and boost). However, no headphone jack.
It's a very load amp, so I guess it's suitable for gigs (not tested it yet, however).

The clean channel is perfect for me; I also like the 'twang' button which gives a more southern-rock feel to it. But the Drive channel really blew me away and made me decide to buy this amp.
I play classic rock (Stones, ZZTop, Fleetwood Mac, etc.) and this amp is perfect for this kind of music.

I own this amp for over a week now, so cannot say much about reliability. However, I can see that it's built to last.

Not dealt with customer support, so no opinion here.

I've been playing guitar for more than two years, and owned a 15 watt solid state amp before this one. So it's kinda hard to compare the Statesman with my previous amp :-)

My conclusion: The Statesman DUAL is not the cheapest 20 watt tube amp around, but this one rules 'm all. Just give this amp a try, and I know you'll think the same. Really good value for your money.