Koch Multitone 50 212 Combo

My Koch-Amp is from the first range, they built; I think about 1998.
It??s a very versatile amp; perfect for Blues, any Rock Styles (maybe not for Doom Metal..), Country, Jazz, Pop ....
The features are described by former writers; I don??t miss anything on this combo amp. One of the best features is the possibility to have
reduced Vol.level by footswitch - works perfect in live situations;
especially if you want to have a clean rhythm sound and a real loud
clean lead sound.
I mostly play the amp in music clubs with my Rock/Blues/soul-Band and
there was no situation up to now, where I could crank the amp even half way up.I had it also for studio work with great results (it??s a very quiet amp; even in CH 2 and 3)

I use several guitars (Tele, Strat, LP; Semiacoustic, Archtop)with
vintage-type single coils,Humbuckers, Minihumbuckers, P 90:
No problem to get real good sounds with all of them. The Koch has a very
sensitive EQ (an a very useful sound manual..).
Especially the Clean Channel has a very warm, rich, fullbodied sound
(often remarked by other guitarists at sessions etc.); also the crunch channel is great (I do most of leadtone with ch 2). The 3.Channel has
lot of gain reserves and for my tast a little to much compression.
(But in general I don??t work with high gain settings on any amp I had in the past.)
A lot of the good sound comes out of the two Celestion Greenbacks;
real great speakers! Later they built in other speakers, which I don??t have heard.
I like the overdrive sounds of the Koch a lot, they??re more harmonic
and elegant than harsh brutal!

I have the Amp about 8 years now and it never failed.
Had only changed the slave tubes - a real well built workhorse.
Never needed a backup until now.

Koch hasnt too much dealers here in southern Germany`,
but until today I need no service for the amp.
Tube change could be made by any valve amp technician.

I play about 35 years now and had a lot of amps in the past
(several Fenders, Music mans,Boogies,Sundown, Acoustic 100 T 112,
Marshalls,Roland, Groove Tubes -also great tools !! -, Vintage,and some
more I can??t remember now.
In the moment I have a Fender Concert 60 112,an old Sessionette 75 and
for Acoustic and Archtop the AER Compact 60.
Effects: Line 6 Modualation + Delay Modeler,Dunlop Wah-pedal, Boss-Volume,Rocktron Banshee Talk Box, Okko Twin Sonic and Barber Small Fry (I don??t use it all in live situations...).
A good guitar, Line 6 Delay, Wah-Pedal - Koch Multitone that??s enough to get a great live sound in any situation (for very reasonable money!)

Year made - 2004. This amp is pretty versatile. Three channels, clean -> clean OD -> distortion. Serial and parallel effects loops, recording output. It has pretty much everything I want. 50 watts is just fine for any gigs we do. I use it at home and live a few times a month.

The clean channel is the main thing that sold me on the amp. It has a lot of Twin Reverb qualities. Channel 3 has a lot of Mesa Boogie in it. Those two things are tough to find in one amp without spending some serious money. I mainly use humbucker equiped guitars. The two main ones are a 2003 MusicMan JP and a 1971 Strat with seymour duncan SH-1's and a Warmoth replacement neck. It's not noisy. It's plenty loud. The one thing it doesn't do well is note definition on the two overdrive channels. Channel two is wonderful for single note lines, but is mushy for big chording. Channel three is full on distortion, so watch your gain.

Never had an issue.

Good. I did call them once, and I also contacted my local dealer. Both were helpful.

I have been playing live for 8 years. I've owned / own: 1973 Twin Reverb, Soldano HR50+ & L13, Line6 Vetta II, Tech 21 TM60, Acoustic Image Clarus 300, Carvin Legacy, Boogie DC-5. I would shop around if it were lost or stolen. I am not 100% married to it, but I would think about buying another one. I wish the note separation was as good as a Soldano. That is it's big knock. Other than that, this is a serious gigging machine and can cover a wide array of musical style.

This is a follow up on a previous post (2004)

For a blues guy this amp is really a good choice. Dynamics are great and the breakup is very nice. It can bite if you want it to so be careful with the treble.

The EQ section is very efficient - it also means that you need to employ some caution turning the knobs. If you're used to old Marshalls where the tone knobs does'nt really work you can be thrown off. Start at 12, follow the manuals recommendations and be patient.

The sweetest thing about the amp is the CH2. The chords chime on single coils and you get a dead on Knopfler leadtone with a Strat with 5w switch set to bridge&mid.

Another good thing is that it does'nt have to be cranked to sound good. It helps of course but also bedroom volumes are OK.

I play in a coverband and eventually sold the amp to pursue the head/cabinet route and more hard rock oriented sounds. The 4x12 thump is something different from the open back combo.

The buyer already started out on some tube testing and hopefully post something about it here.

I had it for some years and it worked flawlessly.

Thery don't answer emails which I find annoying.

This is a follow-up from my earlier review (Spring 2004) and I thought I'd pass on some updated information about this amp.

In short, this amp is still the best amp I have ever owned, without a doubt. I've been gigging regularly with this amp for 18-months, with venues anywhere from 50 people to 5,000 people. Our soundman is a pro and he and I have tried several different ways to capture the sound in a live situation. The direct recording output is very good, but I still prefer a miked sound. We've used an MXL2001, Shure SM-57s and most recently, a Rode NT-2a. All worked great and the amp sounds great at either 50 watts or 25 watts. Trust me, this is more than enough power for a live performance.

I have been playing for nearly 30 years. I consider myself a very good player, although there is always room for improvement. I have had more compliments about my tone in the last year and a half. Guys usually come up and say "How do you get that...that SOUND?!" and I just smile and point to the Multitone. One poor drunk came up and said "That's the best sounding Line 6 amp I've ever heard..." Fortunately, the ambulance arrived quickly and he survived the beating... ;-)

The EQ is very touchy and for the longest time, I kept things pretty flat (12 o'clock) but in recent months, I've started experimenting with different settings. Even the slightest change in the tone knobs and the new tone really jumps out at you. Very sensitive, but this is good. I may even put a dab of locktite on the knobs to keep them from accidentally slipping.

I run a very simple rig: I use a Shure ULX-Pro wireless into the passive input. In the serial effects loop, I have a TC Electronic G-Major to add a little delay here and there. That's it. For control, I have a Behringer FCB1010 that controls the delay and volume parameters, and with the Koch DJ-1 adapter, my G-major changes the amp channels (clean, drive, gain) as the presets change. Very simple and easy to manage.

I play in a classic rock cover band and I'm able to get pretty much any sound I want out of this amp.

As I said before, I've been gigging regularly for 18-months with this amp and I have yet to have a problem. We have a short break coming up and I'm going to take it in for a quick tune, tube replacements, etc. I don't imagine I'll have any issues here.

I've emailed a few questions to Koch and always gotten an answer within a few days. So far, so good.

Great amp, I can't rave about them enough. I have shared it with other guitar players and several of them have made the move to Koch also. This says it all. Nice job, Koch!

The Koch Multitone 50 Watt all tube 212 Combo Amp has 3 Channels: Clean, Drive and Gain. FS-5 Footswitch with 5 switches. Triode (vintage sound)/Penthode power switches. Spring Reverb. 4, 8 or 16 ohms speaker output jacks. Four 12ax7 preamp tubes and Two EL-34 power tubes. 2 custom designed Jensen 12" speakers. Serial and Parallel Effects Loop. Recording Output. Damping Switch: High results in a more controlled sound, Low results in a more open sound. 2 inputs: High Input for standard-level instruments, e.g. guitars with passive pickups and Low Input for high-level instruments, e.g. guitars with high-output passive or active pickups. Both inputs may be used for connecting two instruments simultaneously. It also comes with metal casters and heavy duty recessed side handles which makes it easier to carry either alone or with another person if necessary. It weighs around 75 lbs.

I have found what I consider to be close to the ultimate guitar amplifier. I especially love how the drive and gain channels sound when I connect a Boss Digital Delay DD-3 through the Serial Effects Loop and an Ernie Ball Volume Pedal and a Real McCoy Picture Wah or a Cry Baby 535 in the passive input. Of course I had to get used to making several adjustments to the Treble/Bass/Mid/Drive/Presence etc. knobs to find the right sound I was looking for.

I have been playing guitar for over 12 years. I played over 9 years in a progessive new age rock/funk band called Mystic Moon. The latest band I'm been playing with for over a year is called Sandstorm which is a Pop/Rock band. If you are interested in hearing some of my lead guitar playing, you can download some of the songs off our website: www.sandstorm-band.com
Although I used a Crate GT-80DSP guitar amplifier to create the lead guitar sounds on the Sandstorm songs such as: More than you'll ever know, Daddy only Knows and Only in my Dreams, I consider the Koch Multitone 50 a far better overall amplifier than the Crate GT-80DSP.

The electric guitars I have been using are a Samick Interceptor with a Seymour Duncan SH5 and a Dimarzio PAF Pro as well as a JEM Ibanez 7DBK. The other effects pedals I use are a Line 6 Tone Core Tap Tremolo and a Chorus Ensemble CE-5.

If I put the Gain to approximately 15 to 20 for the Gain Channel, sometimes I will get too much feedback depending on where I am standing. One possible solution could be to purchase a Koch Load Box in the future so I can reduce the loudness by different percentages such as 40%, 25%, etc. without diminishing the overall tone, sustain or distortion.

I was searching on an off for years for the right amplifier. I tried most Marshall amps such as the 1987 Plexi Reissue, JCM 800/900 etc., Mesa Boogie Single and Double Rectifier, Crate Blue Voodoo, etc. but wasn't satisfied either with the overall sound, features and/or price. One day I walked in to Steve's Music Store with my guitar in Ottawa, Ontario and plugged directly into the Koch Multitone 50 without any extra effects. After about 5 or 10 minutes I was blown away with how it sounded. The search was over.

The footswitch wasn't working properly after 6 months so I brought it in to Steve's Music Store in Ottawa, Ontario to be fixed. I received the footswitch and it has been working properly ever since.

The power tubes had to be replaced and one of the pre-amp tubes. The amp is working great ever since.

I will be using it for gigs or for practices from now on. I have several spare Ruby power tubes just in case. I also purchased a very sturdy high quality Koch cover to help protect the amplifier.

The warranty is for 1 full year. The footswitch wasn't working properly after 6 months so I brought it in to Steve's Music Store in Ottawa, Ontario where I purchased the amp new. They didn't charge me for the repair but it took over 2 weeks before I got it back.

Also the power tubes had to be replaced and was put in wrong by someone at the music store. When they plugged the amplifier in, there started to have a burning smell. After about 30 seconds he unplugged it and realized he made a big mistake and put the tubes back in properly and tested several resistors ect. to make sure the amplifier was alright.

A couple of days passed and I decided to call Noraseng the Service Technician at Audionova in Dorval, Quebec. I told Noraseng everything that had happened. After consulting with him, we decided that it was best if I brought my Koch amplifier to him at Audionova to be serviced properly. It took me 2 hours to drive to Audionova from where I live. After I arrived at Audionova it didn't take long before Noraseng had taken the amplifier apart, replaced the Power tubes with Ruby EL-34's and one of the preamp tubes with a Ruby 12ax7. He also tested several resistors and found their values to be okay and cleaned and tightned many of the pots that were loose and put it back together. There was no charge for the service.

While me and my son was at Audionova, I received incredible service and kindness from both Noraseng and Mike. I really appreciate everything they have done. My amp is sounding and working great ever since. Noraseng and Mike the sales representative can be reached by telephone, fax or email which can be obtained from the Audionova website at: www.audionova.ca

I would highly recommend the Koch amplifier to anyone. If my amp was stolen or damaged, I would test several of the Koch amplifiers such as the 100 Watt head, etc. and decide which one was the best and which one I could afford and purchase it.

2003 Koch Multitone 50w 212 combo amp. I play the bar circuit, been playing for about 30 years. We play everything from Jazz, R&B to Funk and Rock $ Roll. I find the amp to be very versitile and is capable of producing soft sweet tones to all out fully blown raunch.
I don't use any effects and demand the amp to produce the sounds I need. The amp has three channels, clean,2nd channel shared with the first has more drive when needed, the third is seperate with tons of gain if needed. The amp also has a boost for soloing, effects loops, speaker dampening and a half power switch. The reverb is more than adequate and find I keep it a low setting not to overpower my tone.

My main stay guitars are a Prs McCarty with P90 soapbars pick-ups and a standard Strat with JB junior and a hot rail in the bridge position. The amp fits my music style very well, again I play a multitude of differant types of music. The amp is very quiet when idiling and makes no offencive nioses when played at high volumes.
The clean channel is more of a jazz clean than fendery, the second channel can give you a nice harmonicaly rich blues tone{with the right tubes) and the overdrive channel gives me more than needed
gain/drive structure. All channels are very useful and have their own distinct sound.

So far the amp has been reliable with the exception of a bad foot switch cord. Although I do have a back-up amp, I don't feel it nes to bring it to gigs thus far.

I've dealt with the Canadian Rep's concerning retubing, very nice people to deal with, not as knowledgable about the meat and potato's of the amp as I would like. Finding a qualified service tech who knows this product well has been a bit of a challenge. Unlike Fender or Marshall, they're relitively new to Canada. The warranty on this products was one year of purchase.

Been playing for a long time, I've owned many top brand production and boutique amps, this amp buy far is one the best sounding and easy to use. If it were stolen or lost I would probably replace it with the same. The amp is well built, easy to use and has a colorful palette of sounds. Researched and played most of the under 5000.00 dollar amps available and for me, this amp was the ticket!
If your looking to purchase a new amp, I would highly reccommend giving a Koch a try.

The amp from 2000. It's one of the first with Koch/Jensen speakers.
It dosen't have a bright input like the newer ones.
The rhythm volume is a tone sucker - don't use it.

Great with a Strat (with Kinman blues pu's). A Les Paul standard (with a seymour Duncan Antiquity), a ES335 and a Gretsch Malcolm Young signature (with TV Jones classics) all work well.

It's good for blues, alt-country, 60's and 70's (and 90's) rock.
I compared it to a Marshall TSL122 combo for a week. The Koch has much better clean AND dirty sound than the Marshall.

It's VERY loud - even in the 25watt setting. Has lots of bass.

I've used it for 3-4 without trouble.

They have answered 2 out of 4 mails.

It,s a shame that these amps cost som much in the US. The price in Norway is the half of the american proce.

I bought this amp brand new in December 2003. This amp is extremely versatile. It's the first three-channel amp I've ever played where all three channels are useful... My dealer (Russo's Music, Omaha) got a few Koch amps in to test out. They insisted I try it out, but I was hesitant as I wasn't in the market for a new amp. I plugged in and within seconds I was hooked. Seriously, it really blew me away. Any setting on the tone controls sounds great. I played with it in the store for about an hour and new I had to have one. Within a month, I had sold my Marshall half stack and my Fender Twin combo. Both of these are great amps, but I wanted to simply and downsize a bit. The Multitone's clean is very much like a Fender clean. The drive channel is very full and beefy (Think Montrose circa 1973). The gain channel has great sustain and responsiveness. It's not quite a Mesa crunch, but it's heavier than a Marshall. There is a direct recording jack on the back that sounds really good, considering it's a direct output. I still prefer a mic on the speaker, but this may be good for live applications. Haven't tried it yet live. Records pretty well, though. power-wise, this amp is more than enough. I was originally gonna' go with the 100watt head & cabinet, but the 50watt is plenty loud, trust me. Besides, I prefer the sound of an open-back cabinet. The 25-watt step down sounds very good also and is still plenty loud!

I use this amp with a pair of Fender Strats and a Les Paul. The only effect I use is a TC Electronic G-Major in the effects loop for a lot of delay-based stuff. I tend to go light on the effects. I play a lot of classic rock & blues fusion-type stuff. My idol is Eric Johnson and this amp really allows me to play with the freedom that comes with this style of music (does this make sense??) The amp is EXTREMELY quiet!!! I can not stress this enough. Even at high volumes, there's not much noise. Still, it's very responsive. I was able to eliminate the need for an overdrive pedal with this amp. There is NO breakup of the clean channel at high volumes. I have the gain cranked pretty high, but I tend to ride my volume and tone knobs on my guitars pretty hard, so this keeps the gain under control. I also purchased the optional MIDI switch interface (JP-1?) which allows me to control channel switching from my MIDI controller along with the G-Major. Keep it simple. The enclosed footswitch is very solid, though.

Haven't moved it around much, but it appears to be very solid with a lot of thought going into the design. The tubes are enclosed in a protective cage, and the knobs and switches are all very heavy-duty. I will start gigging with this amp in May, so we'll see what happens.

Haven't had to deal with them, so I can't comment. I've heard very good thing so far.

This is (hopefully) the last amp I will ever buy. I've played them all and this amp covers all the bases for me. It sounds great at high and low volumes, is very versatile, and is really a no-nonsense amp. As far as I know, I'm the only guy in town that has one right now, so I'm excited to get out and play with this amp! My only complaint is the price, but that's to be expected with an import. Still, it was worth it! You can't put a price on good tone.

For sound samples, go here: www.mjriley.com

Made in 2002. 3 channel (clean, crunch lead). Footpedal for channel switching. Serial and Parallel effects loop. Penthode/Triode switch. Hammond long pan reverb with footswitch. Master volume/lead boostr footswitch. 4/8/16 ohm speaker outs. 4 12ax7 preamp tubes. 2 EL-34 in the power section. 2- custom designed Jensen 12" speakers. Cabinet has casters, and heavy duty recessed side handles. I give it a 9 because the clean and crunch channels share the same voicing controls.
I use this amp at home, at practice and at large gigs, usually mic'd. It has way more than enough power for me. Iplay a combination of pop, rock, blues, and jazz styles.

Use a PRS and a strat. Versatility suits my style very well. It is a combo, so the tight bottom end that you might get from a closed back cabinet is not there, but I'm sure the amp could do it if hooked up to an external cab. No extraneous noise.

Reliable amp. I have owned it for 1-1/2 years with no major problems. Replaced the stock preamp tubes within the first week because they were microphonic on high gain settings, but that fixed everything up nicely. A month ago, one of the plastic input jacks broke. Must have been transporting it when it was really cold. Had it replaced. Not bad, this amp goes everywhere I go.

Emailed the company about some cabinet questions. They got back to me right away, and answered my questions.

I have been playing since 1982. Have owned marshall, fender, and line 6 amps. This is a versatile amp in a reasonbly sized package. If I needed to replace it, I would consider getting another Koch amp, but possibly a head/cabinet version. I compared it with the Mesa Mk IV, and while the Mesa is an incredible amp, I dound that the Koch had a more distinct voicing that is for lack of a better description "not Mesa". The Mesa was too much of a tweaker's amp, and I needed something that I could get good tones out of without fuss...that's the Koch. It was expensive new, but used, they are very reasonable deals. I would likely lose money at the moment if I were to sell it (I'm not) because it doen't have the brand appeal that many players get sucked into. I bought this amp with my ears, not my eyes, and it serves me very well.

The decision to buy was because I was unimpressed with the "big" marquees newest amps and the pure botique amps were too expensive. I also find the idea of three channels + overlaid rhytm/solo a brilliant one. This played a major part of my choice.

It also has a good solid floor pedal, FX-loop, Reverb, speaker out, triode/penthode switch, detachable wheels, velcro strips to secure the pedal in transport mode - lots of small things adding up to a good rating.

Rock, pop, blues, disco. It does all quite well. It has a lot of distortion but shredders may not choose this one anyway.

It's quiet.

Channel switching is immediate.

The sound is very much in the "hot Fender league", not so much crunchy Marshall.

I found it a bit amusing in the beginning to have to control the dynamics with the Koch, I was used to amps that did not respond that well to my pick attack. I've run it on the triode (50%) setting most of the time because I like that sound the most. My guitars are an
Fender Stratocaster Plus, a 335 and a LP.

My favourite channel is "channel 2". It's a perfect 10.

I'm not 100% happy with the reverb and personally I'd like a bit more Marshall in the lead channel but that's about it. It's just a preference. I give it an 8. A Fender man would love it.

It doesn't sound as well in a 4x12 with greenbacks, so the speaker choice made by Koch is probably the best!

The impression from the materials chosen and appearence of cables, connectors, pots and stuff is that this is a solidly built amp.
However, I have just had it for 5 months at the time of writing.

I truly like this amp. The quality of build and versatility of sound feels truly superior to "big name" amps in the same price range.