Hughes & Kettner Duotone Combo

Guitar Combo

Hughes & Kettner's ability to build very good to brilliant all-tube amps has been well established since the Tube series and the Triamp. Having packed practically six different amplifiers into one unit (without any digital technology), the Triamp was a hard act to follow — so with the new series, Hughes & Kettner deliberately headed in a completely different direction. ‘Pure tube sound’ is the motto, and the German company certainly isn’t overpromising here. The Duotone is a no-frills (although the design is certainly eye-catching) two-channel combo that is bound to make it onto the shortlist of any guitarist who loves pure tube-driven tone. No semiconductors in the signal path; pure valve power from two EL34 output valves. The result is an amp with incredibly tight bass response and a very honest sound (and some guitarists may want to fine-tune their playing technique a little, as the Duotone doesn’t sugar-coat anything – the strengths and weaknesses of the guitar used really come to the fore!), yet it always sounds warm and natural.

The clean and overdrive channels each have their own tone controls; the boost for the overdrive channel and a second master volume can be controlled via a footswitch. Modern features have therefore not been entirely done away with: the Duotone includes a FX loop with sensitivity adjustment, meaning everything from a pedal to a high-end rack unit is perfectly catered for.

The combo version of the Puretone features a Celestion Vintage 30, which is arguably one of the best speakers for combos. With it, every amplifier simply sounds bigger! And with the excellent Accutronics reverb, even more sparkle can be added to the tone.

• 1x12” Celestion speaker
• Power: 50 watts
• With adjustable Accutronics reverb
• All-tube
• 2 master controls
• 2 channels
• Boost
• FX loop
• Treble, middle, bass per channel