Koch Powertone II Head

This is an ultra high-gain, all-tube head, which outputs between 90 and 120 watts (depending on tube selection), capable of using a variety of tubes (6L6, 6550, EL34, KT88, KT90, KT66..etc). serial effects loop, a handy parallel effects loop, a very pleasant reverb, 3 channels (clean/gain1/ultra-gain), foot-switchable between gains/reverb(or effects loops)/solo boost, has a master volume control, user settable solo boost control, presence control. and a three level speaker movement attenuation switch (that changes the tone greatly in each of its settings). It has bass, treble, and mid EQ settings for both the clean, and the gain channels, but the gain channel shares its EQ with the ultra-gain setting.

Outputs are 4ohm, 8ohm, 16ohm, simulated cabinet out (for recording, or could use it as a line level), and the reverb control is on the back of the amp.

This amp has is very punchy, it has solid state rectification so it doesn't get mushy if you play hard. It also has the ability to use mixed tubes, e.g. two EL34's, and two 6L6s, or two 6550's and two EL34's - so you can do a lot tonally with it if you want to roll tubes with it. Its very easy to bias, but note it has two power sections that are each independent, so you are really only biasing two tubes at a time in the power stage.

This is an extremely pleasant amplifier for playing hard rock, and harder styles of music. You can dial in very pleasant jazz tones if you want with a lot of headroom, and some very excellent blues tones, but it was a frustrating experience at first trying to dial in perfect roots rock tones, good tones for rockabilly, and good tones for country. This amp is much easier to use if you want the throttle open hard rock, metal, and nu-metal tones. It has a wide range of versatility on tap, but you'll have to spend quite a bit of time playing with it, and tweaking it to find out what it really can do across a range of styles. That feels a little bit like it is fighting you, but it was designed more for the high gain side of things, which it truly excels at. It has surprising clarity of notes in its gain stages, even with a truly excessive amount of gain available the notes still ring through without getting fizzy.

If you play a 7 string, or down-tuned, it has an impressive and extremely tight bottom end that will rattle the floors of any hall you play in. (This can be turned down by changing the speaker movement attenuation switch for other styles of music). You'll probably want the Koch cab with it if Korn or something similar is your style. At the extremes of high-gain -- you will not be disappointed.

For rock-n-roll, it is a quite pleasant amp to gig with it. What I don't like is not having a separate EQ for adjusting mid-shift on the ultra-high gain channel. It is a minor point when played with humbuckers, but it makes the ultra-high gain channel not as useful on the fly if you play through P90's or single coils & have a song with a lot of dynamics. You can get there by backing off the volume control, adjusting the tone controls slightly on the guitar, or using a boost (I use a keeley proco rat for this) or EQ pedal along with it, but its a feature that tonally I wish they had included. If you have the time to dial in your ultra-gain setting, you can get a lot of very good hard tones, and it will cut through the mix of anywhere you play, but it be a compromise as it changes the gain1 setting too. The ultra gain channel is almost too much gain for me, and I find I have to use the guitar volume and tone controls when switching between guitars to get dialed back in in a hurry. It is very touch sensitive, and very punchy. This is not a spongy amp at all. Gain1 is the most versatile setting, but ultra gain has its place for what I do with it.

It is surprisingly useful, gainful, and soulful at practice level volumes, but its not a "late at night" rocker if you need the ultra-gain channel at 3am volumes(it comes alive at 3 and above on the master volume). Something I do like: You can play small clubs with it and not make everyone deaf, and the master volume does not dramatically change your tone and EQ settings if you need a bit more, or more likely, a bit less volume than what you set it at.

If you need the clean channel to breakup on its own, this is probably not your amp. If you need a clean channel that will stay clean for a long time, this will do it, but its not going to be a fender crystal style clean. If you back off on the guitar pots just a slight bit, and adjust your tone knobs, you can use it for jazz, blues, and other things with pedals, but I still prefer the gain1 channel when its pushed.

10 for those needing to play at the extreme of high gain.
9 For hard rock, metal, grungy alternative.
8 for playing other styles of music (Multitone is better suited than the powertone II for that, and easier to dial in, but the power tone makes the bass notes stand out so impressively with twang and dire straits type runs, so its a compromise. You fight the high-gain aspect a bit for the low-moderate gain pieces, but once dialed in it sounds truly fantastic.)

This is a stone cold reliable amp. The only construction criticisms I have on this amp are: The foot switch cord, and the knobs not being recessed enough. The foot switch cord needs to be a lot thicker than what it is, or it will eventually fray. I haven't had it happen yet, but I wish they had made it out of thicker cabling. The cord isn't cheaply made, but its not what I would prefer for something that will get stepped on thousands of times over is life. The knobs on the front control panel are not deeply enough recessed to give them clearance in situations where the amp might get bumped, or rough handled. (On the bright side, the construction does isolate damage if it were to get rough handled... But the knobs should be recessed a lot more, and it should be that way from the factory. I suggest replacing them with smaller knobs if you need to move it without a road case frequently, or for constant road use as an ounce of prevention is worth $200 or more in repairs later.

I'm picky about it, my gear has to survive multiple trips through the airport (which is hard on everything). You will want to get a heavy road case if your needs are like mine, and you'll want to check your tubes for vibrating out of their sockets if you have to take it on long trips. They are held in with a metal cage, and clips, but modern airports are very hard on gear period. The conveyor systems in modern airports beat the hell out of gear - guitars vibrate apart, amp screws vibrate loose, and tubes definitely rattle free. The only issue I've had with the Koch Powertone II is tubes rattling out of sockets, which indicates some very heavy construction. Check the tubes before you fire it up for work.

If you are ever going to move it, pack it well, put it in the road case, and consider swapping the knobs out for ones with less profile for the 5-20 year haul to prevent problems. If you take those steps, it will survive years of road use without issues. (I keep a roll of bubble wrap with the road case for airport trips, and wrap the switch in its own bubble wrap in case it gets turned upside down by the airport handlers.)

If you give it a very brief warm up, there is no difference between the tone & output of this amp 1hr into a show and 4 hrs later. It will take all day use, day in and day out if that is what you need it for. Everything is very heavy duty.

With those caveats, I have used it without a backup, merely carrying a stash of tubes with me. I'm fortunate to have two very good heads I can use, and it duals with the Rivera for larger venues, and Fender Super Champ for smaller venues (and some stomp boxes should I have to use the Fender solo.)

Koch is in The Netherlands, and I don't get that way very often. My only contact with them was pleasant enough (no repairs, just asking some questions about attenuation, power tube combos), they will help you with most technical questions. I've never had to have any work done to it other than usual tube amp tubes/bias settings. (Nor did the professional musician I bought it from who used it as his main gigging amp for 3 years without a backup before I bought it from him).

I've been playing 25 years. I own a Rivera M100, Fender Super Champ, A Fender Bassman clone, Kalamzoo's. I have owned everything from Roland Jazz Choruses, to a Peavey 5150. I play everything from metal to roots rock, to rockabilly.

This amp is my first choice for distortion sounds. I compared it to several Mesa's, and Mesa's get muddy, this doesn't. This is a fantastic <B>high-gain amp!</B> For moderate gain, this can be a fantastic amp, but you will spend more time dialing it in than I think you should have to. Once you do get it dialed in, you will get a ton of compliments on the sound. For very light gain pieces, this is not the best amp for it, though it can be made to do it.

I wish the reverb, serial, and passive effects loop did not share the same control. Using the effects loop disables the onboard reverb. I also wish they had separate level controls for send/return.

If this were stolen I would accept a little compromise and go back to the Rivera M100 for everything for the short-term, and spend a couple months evaluating the newer higher-gain amps that are out there for my bi-amp setup. I think for what I do now I would pick one with a little less gain. Koch made an impression with the reliability of this amp; I think I would give serious consideration to the Koch multitone as my replacement over another Powertone ii. The learning curve with Koch amps is a bit longer, but they are quite rewarding to own. Every time I've wanted to sell it, I've changed my mind after spending some time with it finger style, or breaking out the A/B switch, but its "twitchy" to dial in at times.

I bought this one 2nd hand, the previous owner said it's about 5 years old, so it should be made somewhere in 2004.

The amp's main focus is rock / metal.

It has 3 channels: clean, gain and ultra gain. It came with a floor board that has a seperate switch for each channel. You can also engage the internal reverb with the floor board and the feature I like the most: Solo Volume. You can dial in 2 different master volumes, one's called rhytm and the other solo, and you can use the floor board to switch between them! It's a great feature.

There's a serial and a parallel effect loop. You can use different types of power tubes and you can even mix them! It's got speaker outs for 4,8 & 16 ohm.

I use this amp for practice and gigging and it has enough power for both.

Only downside is: it's not really suited for other styles then rock and metal(imho).

For a tube amp, I think this one has everything you could wish for.

I'm using an Ibanez SA-320 with DiMarzio Super Distortion in bridge position and a Paf Pro in the neck position. I'm running it through a Koch 4x12 straight cab which is equiped with Jensen speakers.

The band I use the amp in plays mainly classic rock style with a little extra bite(think Deep Purple meets Motorhead). We also play some covers(Herman Brood, Black Sabbath). I think it suits this style perfectly, provided I use a tubescreamer to compensate for the lack of mid. With the ts-9, I cut through the mix easily.

This amp can produce the whole range of rock sounds, from bluesy/classic rock to extreme metal. It's got a really tight bass sound, it's load, you can feel it in your chest, but it never gets muddy or grumbling or something like that. The highs are ringing and you have a great amount of control over this with the treble and presence buttons. The only thing lacking, as mentioned earlier, is a enough mid. But boost this with a tubescreamer and you'll be in tone heaven! :)

The amp is suprisingly silent, even with the tubescreamer and my high output(super distortion) pickup there's almost no noise. Only when you turn the gain al the way up on the ultra-gain channel you'll start to encounter feedback/noise.

I'm not a fan of the clean sound on this amp. It's pretty dull, sounds a bit like the clean channel of the Marshall Valvestate I used to play at home. Compare it with a good Fender amp, and you'll hear the difference. But then again, this amp is all about GAIN!

Bottomline, if you're into distortion, this amp is great. If you want a slight overdrive, better choose something else.

I only acquired it recently, but the guy I bought it from has toured extensively with this amp(prof. musician) and the tubes have been replaced about a year ago. So far, no problems at all, it looks like a great quality product.

Never dealt with them, you can download the manual on their website. The company is Dutch, and since I live there too, I think it won't be a problem finding a service center, but I'm not sure how this is in other countries.

I've been playing for 11 years now. I also own a London City amp(early 70's marshall super bass clone) and for practice at home I've got a Line6 Flextone III. I've also got a broken down Marshall VS230.

If it were stolen I'd try some other amps, but this one would be high on my list.

I love the features(especially the rhytm/solo volume). The sound is just awesome, you've got to hear it for yourself. And it's silent, no hiss, no feedback. I don't like the clean channel, it's got no character and is pretty lifeless.

Bottomline: if you're a rock or metal player, try out this amp. It's a great, high quality piece of equipment.

See previous posts. The one and only feature missing is the ability to assign reverb to each channel independently. I have a Mesa Roadster that will, and it is sometimes handy but never absolutely necessary or something that cannot easily be worked around.

The best feature aside from the tone: both serial and parallel effects loops. Once you have this luxury, you will NOT want to be without it again.

It has its own voice, and it is beautiful. I am not kidding or puffing.

The thing is silent when poised to deliver 120 brutal watts of power, and I cannot find an undesirable setting. I know that kind of meaningless cheerleading has been seen on these boards before, and I am not being very descriptive by doing it again. However, it is difficult to describe the pick dynamics, harmonics, and versatility of this amp without comparing it to others, and that is not really fair to do. If you are a Strat player, are you really going to win an argument with a Les Paul player about which guitar is superior? This amplifier is just what Koch says it is: the rest of your instrument.

Don't buy this amplifier if you are trying to emulate a Marshall, Mesa, Vox, or Fender. The Powertone II is like taking those amps, improving on characteristics created by the signal path in each of them, and putting your signature on it. You can hear them in the tone but it's quite not the same--it's a whole lot better.

Oh, and your pinch harmonics just got a whole lot better, too. I am almost scaring myself.

My setup: PRS Standard 24, G Major, Budda Phatman, T-Rex Roomate, Keeley 808; Orange 2x12; vertical and horizontal Mesa 2x12s.

No problems, yet. It's built like a brick house, so you could probably use it as lawn furniture and it would be okay. Kidding, of course. It is, though, the best constructed housing among the better amps I own (Mesa Roadster, Orange Rockerverb 100, Fargen Miniplex). For example, the tubes are in their own steel cage--think dancing chicks at a nightclub for cage image.

No clue.

I cannot image what amplifier any manufacturer could offer that comes close for the money I paid. Now that I've had it for a month, I would have paid twice what I did and still would have been quite happy.

Three channel all tube 120watt head made in the Netherlands. I bought this for heavy rock/metal which it is fantastic for but it can do a whole lot more. Has a clean channel,crunch, and ultra gain. The crunch and ultra have seperate gain and volumes and shared eq. The clean has its own eq and three different voicings via a toggle switch. The gain and ultra also have a mid shift switch for each channel for a modern or more vintage voicing. It also has a damping switch for high,low of ultra low damping. It also has a master volume for the rhythm and solo levels and can be switches via the footswitch. It has 4,8, and 16 ohm outputs and a parllel loop with a level and a serial loop. Also has a recording out.

The clean on the amp is fantastic stays clean to insane volumes. Sounds as good or better than any those f-type amp I have had. The crunch and ultra can go from vintage rock sounds to brutal metal, I've bought and tried a lot of amps this year and this one is the best sounding and versetile of all. I have sold an rm100 and a triple rec since buying this, they could'nt touch it in sound or build quality.

Only two months but its built like a tank! I'll give it a 9 till I've had it longer

Great! there in the neterlands I emailed them for bias specs (you can use like five different power tube types)in case I wanted to try different tube types down the road and they responded in less than two days!

See above!

Bought it in 2005, I play in a progressive death metal band so a brutal sounding tight distortion was in order as well as smooth glassy cleans for jazzy and softer passages. This amp has 3 channels 1 distortion, 1 ultra distortion and a clean channel as well it has reverb in which the knob is located in the back of the amplifier. I use this amp for shows and practice space and its bloody loud!

This amp can do anything i want, from a full jazzy clean tone to a raunchy rock to blisteringly heavy sound for brutal riffs. The clean channel remains clean even at high volumes which is rare among most tube amps i have played. I use a custom made 6 string with EMG 85 pickup in the bridge and an ESP and soon a custom 7 string with EMG 707s and the thick bass heaviness is very in your face.

The amp is pretty solid, it hasn't broken down yet or anything, i don't gig with a backup and i don't think i'd need to.

haven't dealt with them but i've heard good things

i've been playing for 9 years, i've mainly owned crate amps but wanted something with a more brutal sound that'd suit my sound. I have a Gibson Gothic SG, Les Paul, Hagstrom, ESP/LTD 7 string and a local luthier custom man superstrat guitar and this amp works well with all of them. I compared this to a Peavey 6505 which is also a very good amp, but i felt the bass response in the Koch was tighter and more fullfilling. The only thing i wish it has was a Resonance knob like a 6505 along with the dampening switch for more control over the bass and thickness

It has 3 channels, serial and parallel fx-loop (dry-wet rotary button controllable) and reverb, And it has dual volume knobs and speakerdamping switch. Each channel has it's own gain and eq (eq of gain and ultra-gain channel is stored in the amp).
It's definately versatile for my styles. I played Rammstein before, and it can create those sounds dead on. I can play Queen on the crunch channel and U2 on the clean channel...it's so versatile. It's very responsive to different guitars too, so it clearly emphasizes the character of different guitars.
I'm not giving it a 10 because it could have other stuff like channel independent reverb etc.

Like i said I can do about anything with this amp. Don't expect to create vox-sounds with it or anything, because it's an amp of its own. It just suits every style and has a wide variety of tones.

I bought it brand new and live 30km away from the factory....no problems so far.

They're great! They always answer your emails.

Best amp I ever owned (haven't owned much though). It's so incredibly great I can talk about it for hours and hours.

Same as the rest here, you know the lay out!

I tried one today at the guitar show in Wembley London and I still can't believe how incredible it sounds, some 5 hours later! I'm a real fussy bastard when it comes to guitar tone. I've tried loads of amps over the years and this is IT! I've been playing on and off since I was 14 and I'm 40 now and belive me this amp covers all musical styles brilliantly. The clarity and definition just left me speechless. Plus there was no unwanted noise. This is definatly not a one trick pony, lovely glassy cleans, fantastic crunchy sounds and a lead sound that just left me gagging for more. The speaker damping is insane! Ultra low is just satanic! I'm getting one this month. I'd heard about these amps in the press and I only tried one out 'cos the Marshall stand wouldn't let anyone try out the products, the deizil had a queue like a theme park ride and it looked like the Engls there were just for aesthetics! Any who cares I've found my holy grail! It's only taken about 9 years of trying out top end stuff and now for me it's over. I know I can keep this without getting bored or frustrated for ever! P.s Thanks to the really helpfull Dutch guys on the Koch stand, you really made my day/year!! I was in a daze all the way home. Enough already!

Dunno but it looked to me like it had a Rolls Royce build quality.

Dunno but i should think they would be just fine and why wouldn't they!

long enough!
Got a strat 25th aniversary and my well worn Charvel model 6 and and some shit amps. Will be starting a warmouth L.P project after this purchace with bare knuckle pickups (warpigs) There the bollocks mate!! Ommpffff or what!

3 channels (clean, Gain, Ultra Gain). I've had this amp for a year now. Paralell and series effects loops. Direct recording out.

I play everything from country to pantera and everything in between for over 25 years. I researched this amp about 6 months before I finally got to try it out at a dealer. I was very impressed and bought it. I've never tried a better, more versatile amp and I've played just about every Marshall, boogie, and fender model made. It has shared EQ on the Gain and Ultra Gain channels but it doesn't matter on this amp, it sounds great on both channels when switching back and forth once you get the EQ the way you want it. When you turn the gain up it gradually seems to change into a different amp(From breaking up fender to marshall jcm-800 to Mesa rectifier) at each gain setting. The clean is great and very fendery and doesn't break up much at high volume. Effects loops sound good. I can easily play this amp with or without effects and make it sound right for the song, which is not possible with most amps. I use this amp with a Custom strat with humbuckers and PRS most often. But I have play a single coil strat, telecaster,and les paul through it and the tele is twangy, the strat is like SRV and the les paul is like jimmy page. Basically whatever you want it to sound like. I have no reason to give a great review on this amp other than my experience and the opinion I have on the sound. I have never reviewed a product before because I never felt I had a product that really deserved it as much as this.

The reverb tank broke a spring about a month after hard gigging. After a year of playing, nothing else has gone wrong.

Sent some emails to the distributor in Canada before I bought it just to get a feel for their support and got quick replies to preliminary questions.
When the reverb spring broke I went to the dealer I bought it from and they fixed it in house in 3 days under warranty because they were certified to repair the koch amps(1 year warranty). But I made damn sure that they were able to do all repairs in house under warranty before I bought the amp and walked out the door. I advise everyone to do the same.

Been playing over 25years of hard gigging. Owned all kinds of marshall and fender and boogies. wouldn't trade for any of them. The only thing I wish it had was a midi interface for the footswitch instead of the koch exclusive interface.

This amp sounds like Thors hammer if you're playing Heavy Metal like me. The amp has an exellent sound if your goin' to hit the blues to.
And the clean sound is really really good, I have compared the clean to several Mesa tops and Engl to, but nothing sounds as good as the PowertoneII. If you want better clean, by a fucking Multitone.
As you probobly heard the amp comes with three channels ''CLEAN'' ''GAIN'' ''ULTRA GAIN''
An amp as this should come with an EQ for every channel, gain and ultragain shares the same, but i think the most of the amps in this class of price dont have it, so fuck it!
But i can tell, You wont need all the gain, if you do, you're probobly a lousy guitarist.
My great dealer told me that this amp should be played at least on the half of the tubes in volume (4 tubes), but this is to loud for my house and probobly my bands bandroom, so yeah! It has enough power, espesially combined with my koch 4 x 12 cabinet.

I have a primitive simple humbucker for no, but it suits my style anyway, I mostly play rock and metal as GN'R, Dokken, Motley, Zeppelin and I eaven try to play Steve Vai, maybe i have a kind of subjective meanings, but my opinion is that it can fit all of this styles if you have the Patience to find it out. And guess what, the clean is exelent, crystal clear to my ears, but i have heard better. I can say your mother is a box of rotten tuna fish if you think it's noisy, ofcourse its a little noisy, but nobodys perfect, Its the same thing with amps.

I have no experiences with big gigs yet, so ask somebody else about that part.
The amp has never turned the back to me... But its a kinda ironic because I havent owned the amp for longer than three months.

I have not spoken to any KOCH capitalists so...bla bla bla bla....

I have the best service I could get from the best sailsman in Norway, so I'll guess I have all the warranty I need

I'd wished it had an eq for both of the gain channels and maybe some digital effects, but that would have made the amp to something its not today.

Buy this motherfucker (with and 4 x 12 cabinet) only 4000,- US dollars.... HAHA SHIT HEAD....

3channel, cleam-gain-ultra gain. speeker damping. clean and gain's channel have there hown setting 120watts tube. wish it ad a EQ build in

this amp is a killer of giant's i am playing with a strat equiped with a dimarzio fast track2 (wich gave a amazing trash metal sound) and with a godin LG equiped with a dimarzio steve special (wich give a amazing bashing sound!!) ok this amp is the most focus, high high high! gain in the market out there... i tried a mesa rectifier, marshall mode fore.etc ( all the hight gain amp out there ) and THEY ALL SUCKED compared to the powertone2. i tried it with alot of cab, mesa ad the worst sound among all, the marshall one wash not but the koch ad the most focus, bassy, clear sound. event tried it with a genz benz Gflex... amazing bass !!! but it take out some of the focus. i play metal and this is the holy grale for me. there is some bad side, this amp sound like if you boost de bass and the treebl.. THERE IS ALMOST NO MID IN THAT AMP!! so what ever you do you gonna have that(hichhhhhhh) sound out of it , but with the right pickup that problem sould be fixe.
like i say this amps is a ULTRAGAIN amp so dont be scrared you gonna have more gain that you need.. event in the gain channel... and dude!! the clean channel is cristal clean easely mistaken for a fender. and the last and none the least... this amp is amazingly quite.

ad it for only a month, but i ad a probleme with in the first day.. the stamby swich was fucked so i returne it to the store where they called a certytied techguy to fix it in a day.. and after a other week the rithym was fucked so i did lost time and whent all the whay to the koch dealer in canada (30 minut from my place) and the fixed that i a minut and did a total checkup to make sure that every thing is fine. now it been a month and this amp is perfect

amazing pepeol, fast service, and mike(the president of koch canada) is a amazing personne ... realllly good guy

one sentenc...... clear like HEAVEN and distorded like HELL