Hughes and Kettner Statesman Dual EL84

My Opinion

I have to admit to not having heard one of these amplifiers. So why am I including it?

I've always liked Hughes and Kettner amplifiers. They offer that little bit extra above the normal brands. For me, that little difference can mean the difference between liking playing through an amplifier and having a smile on my face for the rest of the day. Would I buy Hughes and Kettner again? Yes, definitely. This amp is definitely on the list of amps for review.

The Dual Statesman (but actually the 2x12 version with the 6L6s) would be my choice of combo amp if I were aiming for the Marshall Bluesbreaker/Vox AC30 style. It may even be my first choice of amplifier to try if I were looking for an all-in-one combo amp that I can take on stage or record with.

It's clear what heritage Hughes & Kettner are aiming for and it's nice to see them unashamedly promoting that. Take a look at the reissue of the Marshall 1962 Bluesbreaker and you'll get a good idea of where they're coming from.

Buy the Hughes & Kettner Statesman Dual EL84 Combofrom Musician's Friend now.

I've liked a lot of the Hughes & Kettner guitar amplifiers that I've tried in the past and in fact I still own one. I don't use it much anymore, but that's because I have other, more versatile and more powerful amps that fill that role better. That's nothing against that amp, it's the best solid state amplifier I've ever played, but it's just a 65W combo amp. So it's now in reserve for second guitarists.

Why not the Quad?

There is a Quad Statesman with extra power, but why do you need it when this does everything else? I like the idea of the Hughes & Kettner Statesman Dual EL84 Comboand being able to achieve great tone at lower volume. Maybe the Quad would be more useful if you need more clean headroom.

Where can I buy Hughes and Kettner Statesman Dual EL84?

It's not easy to buy a Hughes and Kettner amp in the UK from an actual store, unless you happen to be close to one of the very few stockists. Fortunately there are a number of online stockists as well as GAK and Digital Village.

If you're at the stage of looking to buy Hughes & Kettner Statesman Dual EL84 in North America, then try Hughes & Kettner at Musician's Friend.

The Marketing Blurb

From the Hughes and Kettner site:

"With the Statesman series, we have achieved what many believed could never be done : getting a single tube amp to deliver both crystal-clear combo-style clean and classic half-stack rock roar. California sparkle meets British beef, so to speak. Either/ or was yesterday; today you can have both and a little more on top with the two-channel Statesman. The Clean channel’s Twang switch adds a dollop of punchy upper mids to conjure a sweetly stinging sound for ballads, country, and funk. Hit the Overdrive channel’s Boost switch to discover modern high-gain territory unknown to the revered classic amps of yesteryear. The innovative Balance knob matches the high-quality spring reverb to each channel. The voicing section is steeped in tradition: Like on classic tube amps, the knobs influence one another, especially Mid and Treble. This may take a little getting used to, but once you get the hang of it you will enjoy the authentic vintage vibe.

Fortunately, tastes vary, so we offer different flavors for the Overdrive channel.

The 20-watt Statesman Dual EL84 and 40-watt Quad EL 84 pump brawny rock tones ranging from assertive to angry into a 12" Eminence RockDriver Cream speaker. In spirit and in substance, this is the kind of voicing people have been grooving to since the early ‘60s.

If you take the stage with a full or half stack, you probably want to raise a real ruckus. That’s why the 50-watt Statesman Dual EL34 Head is the most aggressively voiced amp of this series. Its mission statement can be summed up in two words – Let’s rock! Like the Dual 6L6, it sports dedicated channel EQs and a three-way footswitch.

Statesman is a modern classic, so we sought to capture a retro vibe and pay homage to the ‘60s. We even custom make the chicken-head knobs; they sure look cool, and they turn the task of dialing in your tone into a real pleasure."

Additional Information

The Hughes & Kettner Statesman Series STM Dual EL84 is the right guitar combo amp for you if you want uncompromising tone at moderate, club-approved volume. The STM combo delivers all the fundamentals in a remarkably portable amplifier package.

Sinfully sweet American clean with a touch of hillbilly twang and rough-and-ready British rock in all its raging glory in one amp? They said it couldn't be done; the sonic divide was simply too wide. They said if you want both worlds of tone and are unwilling to settle for less, you would have to take 2 amps to the stage. They said the warm airy tone of an open back combo and the fat, focused power of a 4 x 12 rock rig were incompatible. And they said this wish, long harbored by players seeking a more versatile rig, would forever remain unfulfilled.

German Attention To Detail. What makes the various breeds of vintage amps shine is the trademark tone produced by a particular design. Hughes & Kettner set out to conjure the sonic magic of gratifying tone, albeit in versatile amps. For 25 years, Hughes & Kettner engineers have made it their mission to decode the DNA of the most diverse guitar sounds, analyzing everything from input jacks to the architecture of housings. Armed with this insight, inspired by tradition, and driven by the desire to create something fresh and exciting for forward-looking players, they turned up a string of celebrated sound-sculpting implements, including the TubeTools line and the TriAmp. Now all the knowledge gathered along the way birthed an unprecedented amp design. At its heart is circuitry that stretches the boundaries of tube technology: Switching from Clean to Drive restructures the preamp circuits completely. What's more, current feedback is also switched, tailoring the power amp's characteristics to suit the given preamp channel. The Statesman's housing translates this revolutionary tube technology into sound pressure. It's a classic case of applied physics culminating in art: This housing, in combination with the Eminence speaker custom-designed for the Statesman, delivers both authentic combo and stack tone. By employing cutting-edge engineering and wedding it to classic tube craft to create today's most advanced classic amp design, Statesman stands as a testament to Hughes & Kettner's Technology of Tone.Total Tonal Freedom! The elegant Statesman's many custom features make it a boutique instrument.

Dedicated Reverb Balance knobs match the built-in Accutronics reverb to each channel. A push of the Clean channel Twang button takes you from the sound that sparked the British Invasion to star-spangled California clean. The Drive channel's Boost button sweeps from the throaty rasp of the early rock-n-roll years to the raging rock of the high-octane 80s and beyond. The EL34 head and 6L6 combo's Drive channel even offers a second, separately adjustable Master. A simple twist of the wrist is all it takes to push your leads up front and center! Classic sound paired with modern-day