Hughes & Kettner Duotone User Manual

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Duotone™ Head

All-Tube Guitar Amplifier
Manual 1.1

Duotone™ Head

Congratulations and thank you for choosing the
Hughes & Kettner® Duotone™!

Your choice would indicate that you're one of a select group of players
who know exactly what they want - a bona-fide, all-tube amp - and
won't settle for anything less.Beyond that, you undoubtedly have a
very definite, unique sense of what your tone and amp should be all
about.

The Hughes & Kettner® Custom Tube Series models are all amps with
distinctive personalities tailored to individual expression. Built for tube
purists, each amp in this line is a no-frills, straightforward original.
Each one delivers the goods in terms of tone, quality of components,
workmanship and aesthetic design, living up to the most discerning
standards - no ifs, ands or buts.

The Duotone™ is a no-compromise design dedicated to creating
absolutely classic rock sounds. As its name would suggest, the
Duotone™ offers two distinct tonal worlds. There's the rough-and­ready Overdrive Channel that packs a mighty wallop and the Clean
Channel with dynamics galore. Plus, with the benefit of the Overdrive
Channel's Boost circuit, you have enormous Gain reserves to dial in
everything from a touch of grit for classic rock riffing to high Gain for
singing leads. The Duotone™ delivers tube tone pure and simple:
even the parallel effects loop is served by a tube. There is not a single
transistor in the entire signal path.

The hallmarks of the Duotone™ are not only its exceptional sound
quality but also its reliability and stage-worthiness. All amps of the
Custom Tube Series ship with tubes that satisfy the highest standards
for quality and assure maximum reliability under even the most
arduous operating conditions. With two Footswitch-selectable Master
volumes and a healthy 100 watts of tube-driven Power, the Duotone™
is a joy to play - with it you'll feel at home on any stage.

These qualities and its unique aesthetics make the Duotone™
a highly individual amp for equally individual guitarists.

We wish you all the fun and success in the world with the tone of
your new Duotone™!

english

Before Powering up!

•

Check that the local current and the amp's AC Power rating are

identical before you plug the Duotone™'s mains cable (Power cord)
into an AC outlet.

•

Ensure that air can circulate freely around your amp's ventilation

slots.

•

Place the amp on a stable platform where it is not exposed to

mechanical shocks and temperature extremes which may damage
the amp or endanger the safety of bystanders.

•

Hughes & Kettner® is not liable for any damage to the amp due to

improper use.

! Although we select our tubes according to the highest standards

for quality, these are nonetheless sensitive components. Their service
life may be shortened considerably by improper handling. Just like
a top-notch athlete, they need to warm up before they're off to the
races. Always Power the amp up in Standby mode and wait one to
two minutes before you flip the switch from Standby mode to ON.

Important!

Before powering up please read the important safety instructions
on pages 28-32!

Table of Contents

1 Channels
2 Jacks and Control Features
3 Standard Setup/Cable Connections
4 Operating the Duotone™
5 Tubes, Maintenance and Care
6 Troubleshooting
7 Technical Specifications
8 Sample Settings

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Duotone™ Head

1 Channels

Overdrive

The Duotone™'s Overdrive Channel redefines what is typically known
as the "British" sound - it makes the tone thicker, throatier, more
articulate, with greater dynamic range. The Duotone™'s response to
even the most subtle changes in attack is phenomenal. Note how your
touch precisely controls the level of saturation and compression.

Clean

Clear yet punchy, airy but focused, the Duotone™ Clean Channel
delivers everything from pristine Clean to - depending on the type
of guitar and pickup - remarkably responsive sweet blues sting, thus
perfectly complementing the Overdrive Channel's tonal spectrum.

2 Jacks and control features

Input (Front Panel)

Plug your guitar into this jack (it accepts all standard guitar Input
levels).

Clean Volume (Front Panel)

Determines the Clean Channel's volume. Depending on the output
of the pickups in your instrument, you'll also be able to dial in wooly
blues tone and slightly Overdriven crunch sounds.

EQ Section (Front Panel)

Bass, Mid and Treble knobs for the Clean Channel. Mid and Treble
influence one another, an attribute considered normal and desirable in
a tube amp. Boosting treble decreases midrange honk and vice versa:
jacking up the mids cuts back on the shimmer. You'll find that this
feature offers a fairly staggering range of subtle tonal variations.

Channel Select (Front Panel)

This Channel selector switches back and forth between the Clean and
Overdrive Channels.

Boost (Front Panel)

Hit this button to increase Input sensitivity and pump up the mids for
fat, singing lead tone and a fairly bone-crunching, classic heavy rock
sound

Overdrive Gain (Front Panel)

Controls the Input sensitivity and thus the amount of distortion in the
Overdrive Channel.

Overdrive Master (Front Panel)

Determines the Overdrive Channel's volume. Adjust this to achieve the
desired balance of levels between the Overdrive and Clean Channels.

Overdrive EQ Section (Front Panel)

Bass, Mid and Treble knobs for the Overdrive Channel. AGain, Mid and
Treble influence one another.

FX Level (Front Panel)

Controls the level of the effect signal. In contrast to a conventional FX
MIX knob, here the signal coming from any connected effect device
is simply added to the original signal (like the AUX send on a mixing
console), leaving the original signal intact at every setting.

Presence (Front Panel)

This knob controls a Power amp circuit that determines the amount of
upper mids and highs in the signal.

Master 1 and Master 2 (Front Panel)

These knobs are used to dial in two basic overall levels, which may
then be activated via Footswitch.

Power (Front Panel)

The Duotone™'s mains Power switch.

Standby (Front Panel)

Be sure to wait one to two minutes after turning on the Power switch
before you flip this switch. It assures that the tubes warm up gradually
when you first Power up the Duotone™ and mutes the amp during
breaks. In the latter case, the tubes stay warm at a reduced level so
that they don't have to heated up from a cold start aGain when you're
ready to get back to playing.

Red Mains LED (Front Panel)

The red LED illuminates when the Duotone™ is Powered up.

Mains In (Rear Panel)

Connect the factory-included Euro-norm mains cable to this socket.
Ensure the amp's voltage rating matches your local AC voltage rating
before you plug into the wall socket. The mains fuse bracket is located
next to this socket. When replacing blown fuses, make sure you use
specified replacement fuses only (see TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS p.

26).

Anode Fuse (Rear Panel)

This is the holder for the Power tubes' Anode Fuses. Here too, make
sure you use specified replacement fuses only when replacing blown
fuses. If a replacement fuse blows after just a short while in operation,
you should definitely have the Power tubes checked for defects.

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