Koch Studiotone Head

Made in Holland, Aug 09, 20w, nearly 3 channels, clean, dirt and dirt boost, all switchable, f/s supplied, short tank reverb unit

Front panel:
clean/od/od+ switch, l/m/h gain switch for use with the od+ channel, clean vol, od gain, od vol, shared eq, 2 position mid shift switch, three position bright switch, reverb, standby switch, power switch.

Back panel:
series f/x loop, headphone out, DI out, guitar amp out, 4/8/16 ohm speaker outs, speaker off switch (dummy load), recording out, on/off axis mic emulation switch, 1x12/4x12 cab emulation switch.

Phew, thats a lot of features and I reckon that all of them are useable for me, possibly with the exception of the emulated recording out, but, you never know. If you like old-school style amps, this guy would probably freak you out. Doesn't get the full 10 because of the shared eq but I can live with that.

I'm a in five piece covers band doing everything from slayer, johnny cash, muse, smashing pumpkins, metallica, dc, james brown, green day, ozzy, rage, rocky horror show, dead kennedys, foos, u2, velvet revolver..... I need to cover a lot of bases.

Using it a gibson LP std, mutt double-fat strat, various jacksons, fender usa strat with Bareknuckle irish tours s/c, gordon smith graduate 60 slimline, mostly all h/b's. The head is running through a matamp diagonal 2x12 with a pair of well run in celestion hot 100's. Sounds a bit neutral when it's new but it's great speaker when it's been well played in. Matamp say that this speaker is their most popular in blind tests.

Fantastic range of sounds. The clean channel is just feckin class. You can apply all those words you normally hear when you read about a good clean channel - warm, glassy, shimmering etc etc. It's all those and more. To my ears, it's like a vox/fender hybrid but definitely it's own voice - very, very useable. Loves hb's or sc pups. Lots of headroom, even with hb's. By the time it starts to break up, it's LOUD, even for a 20 watter. Beautiful!

Loves pedals, too but my blackstar ht dual is now front-ending my Matamp Chino combo

As for the dirt, there's gobs and gobs of it. You would need more only for death, grindcore, etc. More than enough for almost any other style. You can go from that blusey just-starting-to-get-hairy sound to full-on thrash. Hard to put your finger on the distortion vibe, it's not us but it's not britsh either. I guess that it's Kochs own vibe. I love it - just what I was looking for - it's something different but it will sound completely authentic, whatever your using. Start playing with the voicing switches and you can pretty much dial in any sound that you'd need. The country twang you can get out of this thing is mental. Switch on your compressor and away you go. Seriously, it's all there jazz, rock of all flavours, blues, country.....

I also throw a bad monkey, the best value, best sounding ts clone out there, at the od channels for even more hair and bite. Man, instant grin on any setting. I would have to work hard to get a sound out of the studiotone that I didn't like.

Another reviewer below mentioned the op amps so I asked Koch about them. They told me that they know about this story and it's incorrect - the op amps are something to do with the reverb. Now, I'm not a techie so they could just be blowing smoke at but I'm inclined to take them at their word when they say that this is a 100% valve amp.

Reviews/experiences of others seem to good in this regard but mine is only two months old so I can't really comment. Build quality is top drawer but I never gig without some sort of backup option

Their support has a really good rep, even looking after people who bought their Koch used. Comms from me to Koch were answered quickly. I haven't had any need for real support yet (hopefully never will) so I can't really rate them on this.

I wanted a different, small, low-powered head to do everything; great cleans, great dirt, and great filth. I looked at every feckin amp in the world (well, it seemed like it) Man I looked at dozens of them, and read everything that I could; every review, every forum post, the heap. I was at it for months before I stumbled on Koch. I vaguely recalled the name, started reading, asking questions etc. then decided that this was the one to go for. There was a money back guarantee from Thomann anyway so I was covered it case it turned out to be a dog. Where I live, you can't just walk down town and try out every amp. You'd be lucky if you found anything other than entry level type gear. Well, this thing is no dog. It's a loud-as-**** 20watter - actually, this is probably the only compromise I had to make; I would have loved it to be a 10watter because even at 20w, it can still take your head off with a decent cab. We mic our cabs for all gigs anyway but it would certainly do the job for small to medium sized venues if you're not micing, even if the drummer has heavy arms and feet. For me, small amps are the way to go. Someone I know just bought the blackstar series one 200w head. It's gonna sound great too (i have some blackstar gear myself) but 200w? get out of here with that thing. I'm actually thinking of getting an attenuator or maybe a 1x12 cab for the studiotone. Still, I know made the right choice - it ticked nearly all of my boxes and it's not a mesa, marshall, funder, vox and what have you. It's different and I really like that too.

Q: Do you know what year the amp was made in?
A: 2009

Q: Is the amp versatile enough for you and the styles of music you play?
A: Yes

Q: What are those styles?
A: Rock / Pop / Funk / Worship

Q: How many channels? Does it have channel switching? Effects loops? Headphone jack?
A: 3 channels all footswitchable. Has a headphone jack and effect loop

Q: What features do you wish it had? Why? Are there features you never use?
A: Wish the midboost and brightswitch and reverb where footswitchable

Q: Where do you use this amp? Does it have enough power for you?
A: use it with my band and use it in church. It's 40 Watt and load enough. dummyload for headphone use and PA system

Q: What guitar and pickup styles are you using it with?
A: I use a Gibson Les Paul Standard with Alnico V2 pickups

Q: How does it suit your music style (and what is that style)?
A: In every way.

Q: Is it noisy? On what settings, and in what environments?
A: Noisy in OD+ turned up all the way. it's normal

Q: What kind of sounds can the amp make? How much variety?
A: Warm cleans to light breakups to heavy compressed rock sounds

Q:Is the clean channel distorted at high volumes? In what settings?
How brutal is the distortion?
A: It's Class A 40 Watts. clean headroom is superb

Q: Can you depend on it? Would you use it on a gig without a backup?
A: Yes. best quality i've ever seen

Q: Has the amp ever broken down? Because of neglect of regular servicing (as in tubes), or just plain neglect?
A: To soon to tell. If so, I still have my warranty :)

Q: If you've dealt with the company, how helpful/friendly were they?
A: Mailed about delivery and stock. Resived a mail within 3 minutes

Q: Ever try and get it repaired? Was the repair done under warranty?
A: -

Q: Were you able to find an authorized service center easily?
A: Their factory is a couple kilometers away

Q: How long is the warranty?
A: a limited 1 year warranty

Q: How long have you been playing? What other gear do you own?
A: I'm playing guitar about 10 years now

Q: If it were stolen or lost, would you buy it again or get something else?
A: I would buy it again!

Q: what do you love about it? What do you hate?
A: I love the versitality and the sound in comination with a Kool & Elfring 212 cabinet with V30's. I do not hate!

Q: Did you compare it to other products? Which ones? Why did you choose this one?
A: With AC30's/BadCats/Matchless. The Studiotone XL is the overall price/quality/tone winner

Q: Anything you wish it had?
A: a tube driven tremelo

Q: Anything else you'd like to share?
A: Koch is awesome

First of all, you can find everything about this amp on www.koch-amps.com

This amp is very versatile... it has the "juice" from the old great tube amplifiers, but at the same time it has the new technology. It's a real small amp filled with features. I personally like that it's only 25w(?), because then I can crank it up and get the real good sounds from it.

I play a Gibson Les Paul special, Fender Tele with Texas Special pickups, and a funny OLP MM1 guitar.. I use this amp when I play at pretty big venues (about 200-300 people in the crowd) with my metal band. You get a great distortion sound from the amp, and it's right up there with MESA and boutique amps. It kinda reminds me of a VHT ina way.

This amp sounds great for ala Allman Brothers sounds, listen to the guitarplaying of Warren Haynes on the live dvd (sweeet tone).

To be honest, I use this amp for everything! I have even put my old JCM800 on the shelf after I've gotten to known this one.

I truly rely on this amp and it looks like it's rock solid. But hey... who really goes out on IMPORTANT gigs without extra tubes?

I've been playing for 10 years or so. I've tried a couple of amps during that time, and I'm very satisfied with this one. I'm going to keep this one for certain! I would buy it again if something happened to it.

At this price, this is the absolutely best amp I've come across.

This amp has tonnes of features, including speaker emulated out with 1x12 and 4x12 options (sounds very close to a miked amp, but is much more consistent). Other outputs include direct out, to run into another power amp (which I have used succesfully into a 60 watt Fender for more power)and a clean amp out, so you can run it into the front of another amp, again for more more. There is also a headphone output. There's no need to worry about damaging the amp either, since there's a built in dummy load which activates when you switch off the speaker output.

The amp has 2 channels, clean and Od, and Od+ offering more gain on the 2nd channel. Add to this a mid shift switch, and a 3 position bright switch, and you have a very flexible amp.

The music I like to play includes blues, soul, rock, jazz, funk and anything that's good. I've also used this amp on function band gigs (we all need to earn a living!). Tonewise I love gutsy, soulful guitar sounds, from BB King to Robben Ford, but also I like to hear dirty rough tones, like Hendrix and Zappa. This amp sounds great whatever you play.

I use this amp with the usual strats and teles, and my main guitar a Tokai Loverock II, which has a Gibsonesque, humbucker tone.

It sounds lovely, whatever you plug into it. The clean sound is very open, and vintage like, and breaks up on around 5+. It has a very natural breakup, and responds excellently to playing dynamics and the guitar's volume control. So not the best amp for clean headroom, but if you want headroom you don't but a 20 watt amp right?

The OD channel can give you anything from a bluesy breakup, to high gain singing leads, and of course all the great classic rock sounds in between. A bit like an AC30 on steroids, but Boogie and Marshall type sounds are certainly achievable. It really is very versatile, and with the included foot switch it's very giggable, despite the "studiotone" tag.

Generally speaking my preference is to push the clean channel into overdrive using a quality overdrive, such as a BarberTone Pump or Direct drive. It's quite easy to do this given the amps 20 watt rating. The amps own overdrive channel really comes to life however if you are able to crank it a bit.

Can't really comment on this, since I've only had it for a short while, and it's done just a handful of gigs. Constructions seems very good, and access to valves is excellent. It even re-biases automatically if you need to change power tubes! how good is that?

I have to give it top marks for now.

Having dealt with the guys at Koch directly, after meeting them, and using thier amp extensively at The London Guitar Show, I can say that they are great guys to deal with. I have every confidence, that should something go wrong it will be dealt with well.

If this amp were lost or stolen, I'd get another, but not before I'd tried all the other amps in the range, because they all look great.

Amazing feature aside, what really makes an amp special is tone, an dthis amp had it by the bucket load.