Koch Twintone Combo

This is a Koch Twintone amplifier which I bought new in 2006. It is a versatile enough for my styles of music - blues, rock and jazz. It has two channels, effects loops, record output and headphone jack. Through the switch pedal you can increase the volume or turn on the reverb. Right now its features suits me and I will explain that later. I have used this amp live and in my studio. It worked fine. Although as expected adjustments have to be made specially when playing outdoors. It a 50 watt tube amp and provides enough power for me.

I have used this amp with the following guitars Gibson Es-175 and Es - 345, MIJ Fender Strat, Parker Fly, Hofner Jazica, Yamaha L5 Copy(Japan) and PRS Santana III. It sounded great with humbuckers and single coils. Although I think it sounds better with humbuckers. Because of its versatility, it really fits my styles of music. I can play for jazz to blues and to rock. The clean sound in channel 1 is pristine. With a little reverb and delay(Keeley Boss DD-3 delay) and sometimes with compression (Keeley Compression) in the effects loop, you can dial in the very nice warm jazz tone(Wes). Check out this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RLh-vTopbyI.

Channel 2 in the gain/lead/distortion channel. Although I was not completey 100% happy with this channel in the past(too fizzy), recently I was able to a very nice singing lead tone(Santan/Gary Moore) using my Keeley Boss SD-1 distortion pedal in front of the Channel 2 using the factory blues setting! Wow! Great singing sustain with controlled feedback and no fizz or noise. It sounnds great for jazz, rock and blues now.
However, this amp was not designed for metal - not enough gain.

Can depend on this amp for a gig. However, like other tube amps, I had to replace them one time. The amp is built like a tank in the Netherlands and is built with high quality components.

I have dealt with the company trhough email and they where very responsive. I only had to change the tube once and it was done by a local shop. I think the warranty in one year.

I have been playing on and off for more than 20 years now and have owned too numerous gear to list. And yes I may buy another amp like this if stolen. However, there are other great amps out there I may consider such as the Mesa Boogie Lonestar, Koch Studio Tone, Rivera, Ceriatone or FUCH OD. It depends on my budget at that time.

Really brilliant amp features here. The problem with a lot of boutique amps is lack of features. Some Dr. Z's have only two knobs: tone and volume! This amp's got that amount of tone, but way more options. The recording out is okay, but probably the best feature is the built in power soak. That way if your douche-bag roadie unplugs your cab before powering down, it won't hurt the amp.

I use a Gibson LP Standard with Burstbuckers, and a Highway One Tele with Seymour Duncan Antiquity's and several boutique pedals. I play mainly pop rock, adult contemporary, indie rock, hard rock, and noodle with some Nashville twang, and this amp really CAN do it all- beautifully. You really need to work with the controls for YOUR own sounds though.

The clean is immaculate- more head room than you can shake a stick at. The dirty channel needed a little help, so I replaced the 12ax7's with some lower gain tubes: 12ATY and/or 12AU7's and that has really made this thing sing!

Very dependable. This amp did poop out one time though. It was only a capacitor that cost me about 95 cents to fix.

The ONE problem with this amp is that the input-output jacks are made of cheap plastic. Everyone's trying to cut corners these days, but that's about the only corner they've cut.

Cheers to you KOCH- now give me my endorsement finally ; )

There is an Asian guy in Canada that can give your local tech advice, but other than that, good luck

I'm classically trained and have been playing upwards of 13years. I tour professionally and have toured with Grammy Award winning artists. A lot of these Nashville cats use Dr. Z, Carr, Matchless, etc. This amp stands it's ground to all of the boutique amps I've ever played. However, those Rivera's rock balls too.

This is a Twintone II amp!!! Amp was made in 2006 and has all the features you need. You can play jazz, pop, rock and also metal. I use it for practice and small gigs. For large gigs I use an extra Koch cabinet.

Sound Quality is very good. Clean is nice and sparkling, ideal for funk, jazz and acoustics. Overdrive is nice and bluesy it also works for rock. Overdrive plus is a nice Koch overdrive sound, if you prefer the Marshall overdrive.. don't buy this amp. If you want a very nice and versatile distortion with a modern sound.. this is the amp for you. The only thing I don't like is the difference of volume output when you switch from overdrive to overdrive plus so I give it a 9 instead of a 10.

This thing is solid as a rock. You can buy a nice cover for it as well.

Customer support works fast! I asked for a dealer in my neighberhood and they replied my email within 24 ours.

I've been playing for over 17 years now and had also the Twintone 1. I bought the Twintone II because of the extra channel... it's good but the difference in volume between the od and od+ is a bit to big. I can handle it but it's not always handy.

The Koch sound is very professional and it gives you the right sound of your guitar!!

Note that this is the Twintone II.
Apparently the new Twintone is quite popular so Koch is having some difficulty meeting supply demands. The store had to order it directly from Koch so it's fresh from the factory, 2006.
The Twintone II is all-tube and has 3 channels (all footswitcheable): channel 1 is clean. Second channel goes from overdrive to medium distortion. The third channel is distortion, although when you roll off the volume it cleans up perfectly.
There are two input channels. The second one being slightly brighter which sounds especially nice when you're using a humbuckers on the clean channel. The normal input sounds 'fatter' so use it for distortion.
Then there's a fx-loop, recording output, power soak (makes it go from 50 to 25 watts). The reverb and volume boost can be switched on and off on the supplied footswitch. Both can be adjusted on the back panel.
It's more than loud enough for me. There's no digital effects or anything like that but that's a plus as far as I'm concerned. Digital stuff will only depreciate quicker.

the clean channel sounds beautiful. It really keeps the sound of the guitar intact and stays clean at high volume. The second channel is nice but the third one is awesome. A very thick sound, perfect for soloing. A perfect rounded off sound. Paying chords it doesn't get muddy, stays tight while preserving the sound of each individual string.
The bottom range in this amp is really fantastic and let's you forget that it's so small (compact).

I guess the distortion has a modern feel to it. It doens't go to insane levels of distortion but perfect for me. Turning the Gain dial at some point only gives you more sustain while preserving a fat sounding lead. It's still versatile and takes pedals well so in that way you can probably get just about any sound out of it. I've put a Tonebone British in front of it and had a very different sounding amp (I mean that in a positive way).

The guitar I'm using is Wolfgang Special (get them second-hand while people are still dumb enough to part with them) with stock pick-ups.
The Amp is also really quiet and I can't really hear any noise.

I play mostly blues and rock and it does the job every time.

It's pretty heavy and feels sturdy. I would gig without back-up.
Haven't had any problems so far.

When I had already waited for a month and the store couldn't say anything about time of delivery, I sent Koch an e-mail. I received a reply within 2 days. They said there was a big demand for their products and that's what caused the delay. They also said they had just sent a Twintone to the musicstore who ordered it for me and a few days later I got a letter from the store.

I've been playing for about 6 years (I think). This is my fourth amp, but first one that's all-tube.
I would definately buy a new one when it was stolen, or maybe try the Multitone of I had some extra money to spend. But since this one is loud (and heavy) enough for me I would probably get the Twintone II again.

I love the sound, weight was a bit of a surprise since it's not that big but I guess that comes with the territory.

I did try some other amps like Marshalls and Engls. I like the classic Marshall sound but wanted something a bit different. I know the sound I'm looking for so when I tried this one I stopped trying out other amps.

Bought new in Jan 2005. 1 x 12 combo with Koch-badged speaker. Channel switching etc, all features already listed (but note this is the Twintone I, not the II, which came out a couple of months later and which addresses my main issue with this otherwise excellent amp (see sounds). I use most of the features including the power soak (which takes a bit of getting your head round - and remembering to check it when you switch from 'quiet' rehearsals to gigs). Don't use the lead/rhythm volume setting on the back - prefer the guitar's volume knob or o/d pedal boost settings. It's what I'm used to.

I play a Les Paul Standard, Tokai Goldstar Sound and Tokai Breezysound (with DiMarzio and Seymour Duncan stacked humbuckers), through Boss ME50 and OD1 pedals. Clean channel is wonderfully, er, clean, but on some songs I like a little bit of dirt in there for the rhythm - and this is where I wish I'd known about the new Twintone II.

The overdrive channel on my Twintone I takes you from 0 to 10, through blues and rock to thrash metal and beyond - and where I want the gain channel, it's sitting on about number 3 (sometimes less with the Les Paul). That actually does compromise the overall volume you can get, and gives me the impression that there's an awful lot of wasted fizz for me. The Twintone II has a two-stage distortion setting, one of which is more 'vintagey', the theory being you can get more grunt at the expense of the fizz.

It's very quiet, and apart from the proviso above, very versatile.

This is a beautifully made amp. It doesn't look much out of the ordinary, and if you want to play through something straight out of a 50's sitcom lounge set with a wicker front, this probably isn't for you. I like its functionality and it's no-frilles design. Everything has been thought about and the highest quality components seem to have been used. I've had no issues yet, except the name plate coming unstuck the front grille. It's not the lightest 1x12 combo in the world, but neither is it the heaviest, and I'd say they've got the weight/quality compromise about right.

I've contacted Koch twice, once about the name plate, and once to get a carton for the amp, as the store had lost the original. Every time I've emailed I've had a personal and helpful response from Holland. I ordered a cover separately and it arrived (along with the empty carton) within a week. They are really committed.

I've been playing thirty-five years (I said thirty-five years, dear. She'll bring your tea in a minute), and I still don't always know what I'm talking about. But in this case, I'm sure that this is easily the most user-friendly, robust and potentially best-sounding amp I've owned. That beats a vintage Vox AC30 and a Fender Twin (Redknob), plus various Marshall combos. I bought it because I wanted a quality combo that would handle both rehearsals and gigs without backup (though the three guitarists in the band usually carry a spare amp between us), and be easy to manhandle in and out of the van. I would replace it with the Twintone II if it were stolen. In fact, if anyone wants to steal it...

See other reviews for specs

I mainly use the combo to amplify my ES-175.The clean channel is great in combination with the reverb.The clean channel does wonderful things to my Strat (standard USA, no modifications).
I'm still working on the crunch/distortion channel.Blues is no problem. A more sophisticated fusionlike sound is what i'm looking for. Must do some tweeking I guess.

Have been playing for more than 20 years. Solid state, tubes, modelling amps etc.This is the one for me. Just my ES-175 and this amp do it for me.My other gear: Sessionette 75, Viper Pro Amp(british tube monster) and Line 6 Flextone II HD are obsolete.
Wonder what the amp would have sounded like with the Les Paul, Ibanez PM 100, Ibanez Joe Pazz,Gibson ES-335 I sold over the years

My Twintone is build in 2003. A 50 watt, two channel all tube (EL34)amp with separate eq. per channel. 1 x 12" Koch/jensen Speaker. Cool features are headphone jack and build in powersoak. Switchable to 25 watt or 0 even. Reverb in back is no problem to me although I wish it was adjusteble per channel and switchable too.
I use this amp for home and practise. And will use it for gigging too.

I play mainly on a Gibson 2002 Les Paul Standard and a HRR Strat with Dimarzio humbucker in the bridge. I play in Rock Cover band and this amp covers the whole variety of sounds needed for this.
First the clean channel: This is truly amazing?it stays clean at extremely high volumes. Even a bit too clean for my taste. My Boss OD-3 takes care of this and this amp loves overdrive pedals. Nice rich full tones, to my ears no less than any Fender amp.

OD channel: this is where this amp separates the boys from the men! From nice fat slightly overdriven blues tones to over top saturated high gain. Even with the gain knob fully cranked it?s still well defined and not muddy at all. Koch has a really nice feel for tone.
Mine is not noisy compared to other tube amps. I played a Bogner Shiva on many occasions but was more or less an unaffordable dream to me?Untill I discovered this baby. This piece of art holds its own compared to a Shiva. Go ab them when you have the change.

Can't say cause I only have it for 2 months now.
Koch is known to be reliabel though

I sent my amp to Koch for service. They are very friendly and helpfull. They make time for answering any question you have. Very good Koch!

A follow up to my last review..I sold it to a good friend, and he plays just about everynight. He loves it..

I found it had the best lead tones in the world, but the ryhthms were very dark..I changed speakers, tubes ETC,ETC, with no luck, that was the only reason I let it go..I tried a EV speaker and it sounded very bad..I wish I would of tried a vintage 4-12, might had brighten it up a bit..I ran and exciter in the front end and that helped but made the bass end on the leads very weak..I still think it was a great amp, and my friend loves a dark amp.

I played it for over a year with out any problems at all, and that was heavy 4 set nights in biker bars...

I talked to them about the brightness and did everything they said to do but no cigar...but they are killer to work with you..

great combo, might need a EQ pedal or graphic EQ...I have done alot of reviews on HC..all honest & open...pro player..

The amp I purchaed was made in 2003. The features are very good for such a small amp. I play a broad spectrum of music with this amp from Celtic rock/folk to hard rock. For metal I still prefer my Marshall, but my Marshall has no clean channel!!! I like the switchabiltiy between clean and crunchy as well as the "lead" function. The only feature I would like is another crunchy channel but then I should have purchased the multitone and I needed to sell my other kidney!!. I play this amp in small to medium size clubs and have found it to have plenty of power. For larger gigs, would need additional speaker. No gripes here for the price.

I play a Custom Shop 1992 Strat Ultra with factory lace sensor pickups and a 1978 Les Paul Custom with factory pickups. This is a very nice sounding tube amp in a compact package. Others have indicated a limited tone range/voicing on the amp and I have to agree. This is not a negative if you like the voicing which I do. The clean sound really sparkles especially with a crisp Strat tone. I have not had any problems with the clean channel producing distortion at high volumes as I have had with other amps I(even 60's Fenders). A great rock and countr rock amp.

I feel I can depend on it but I have never or will never play a gig without a backup regardless.

No experience (thankfully)

I have been playing for over 20 years. I own a Marshall JCM 800, 1969 Fender Super Reverb, 1966 Fender Princeton, and some other junk amps(sentimanetal favorites). If it were stolen, lost burned etc., I would purchase this amp again. I shopped hard for this one and my criteria was: great clean, great crunch, switchable, "lead/higher volume" switch, reverb in a package I could carry in one hand. I am tired of luggng around heads and cabinets and racks of pedals and this more than meets the bill. A great amp, especially for the price. I also looked at Mesa, BadCat, Rivera, Soldano, and Matchless

This is my re-review of this amp. I like to do a review, then play it for a year, then do another review.

I put a vintage JBL D120 speaker in the combo, and I run into a 1-12 extention cab with a greenback in it. I play in the drive side with the preamp at 11"oclock, and get cleans, crunch, and blues leads all with my volume knob. I use a Overdrive pedal for the boost leads. I also go into the clean side to run my acoustic guitar for 3 songs. Being it has the JBL and the Greenback, it seems to have the best of both worlds, clean & mean. I just love the lead tones, very Gary Moore sounding, and the crunch is a bogner type. The cleans still remind me of a great old Ampeg V-4. The JBL was just put in to give it a try, and I love it. It sounds great with just the combo on its own to, but I like a little dirt that the greenback brings to the table.

Been a year and its been awesome. built to gig nightly. I play very loud and have it almost wide open all the time, and it just wants more...I gig with just this amp, no back up..

The company seems killer, but when I wanted to buy a box, to change my combo to a head to run a 4-12 cab, they would'nt sell me a empty head box...very strange?..I am glad I stayed with the combo now, as the JBL is awesome..I have another friend that put a new Neo celestion speaker a century model in his combo, with great success..

This is one great amp. I would highly recomend trying one before you buy your next high end amp..I am lookinh at buying their 100 watt 3 channel head in the near future...just a great sounding amp...I did hate the Jensen speaker, but thats just me....