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About Koch Amps
Koch Amps has been around for decades. The brand is Dutch, as am I, so I’ve been able to follow their growth straight from the very early days when founder Dolf Koch was repairing and customizing tube amps in Holland. I recall seeing him test the KV50 (their first production amp model) on a dilapitated industrial area wich served as their first HQ. They’ve come a long way since them but despite their very high build quality Koch didn’t hit the big time and their used tube amps can be had for very little money. I never got into their amps because of their sound, which personally always struck me as somewhat lifeless and flat.
Greg Koch
Some years ago Dolf Koch met the utterly amazing Greg Koch (no relation), the pair hit it off and proceeded to develop The Greg, an absolute beast of an amp with more knobs than an airline cockpit. Priced at €2750, this remarkable amp has two separate control panels and, to my ears, sounded really good. At its price point, it’s a great offer. I don’t know how well (or poor) The Greg sold but I rarely see them in stores or on stages.
More recently the pair cooked up the Little Gristle, which this review is about. About a year ago I first played one and was very impressed by it.
The Little Gristle - what it is
We’ll get to sound (and why it’s great for jazz) later, but this is a 1x12” tube combo that’s both simple enough to be called primitive and smart enough to be called brilliant. Street price around €1270.
Available in grey or creme tweed, the amp comes in an oversized cabinet. It weighs in at 18 kilograms and is relatively easy to lift. The oversized cabinet may not be practical but seems to be one of the reasons this amp sounds to good.
There are only two tubes: a 12AX7 preamp tube and EL34 power amp tube. No need to bias, so if you carry one spare tube of each you’re good. There’s a recording output which works really well, with a switchable cab filter. You can unplug the internal speaker if you want, because there’s an internal dummy load for silent recording or silent stages. The amp can run in 12W or 4W modes. All this makes the Little Gristle very reliable and a true workhorse.
The controls are super-simple. Gristle (gain), Tone (EQ), More (volume), Reverb. There’s a toggle labeled ‘extra’ which adds some more gain to the tone.
Sounds
To be blunt, all of the amp’s demo vids on YT are useless IMHO. Even the ones with Greg playing it. I would never, ever have considered this amp based on what’s on YT. Hopefully someone will be able to do the amp justice in a video… Anyway, Greg Koch usually plays with some grit and the amp’s name more than suggests that is was designed with distortion in mind. But it can also be a fabulous clean amp, especially for jazz. With the gristle control at or below 40%, the tone is clean or with just a little bit of baby hair, depending on the guitar’s output level. And what a clean tone it is with a nice archtop: deep, bell-like, complex, 3D and with a very musical, vocal midrange. It’s incredible with my Ibanez GB10 and Eastman Romeo. The flatwound bass strings on the GB10 bop and thunk and rattle the floor without being boomy or indistinct, it’s a thing of beauty.
With solidbodies, the tone can be a bit too strident for me personally but with hollowbodies… wow. It really brings out the woodiness of the archtop. To my ears the single EQ control can simply be set and noon, giving the exact right balance deep and clear bass, smooth treble and those wonderful mids.
These are the loudest 12 watts you’ll ever hear, by the way. Super-punchy, to which the 12” speaker and oversized cab contribute a lot. You will be heard with this amp. Switching to 4W takes out just a little bit of low end ‘oomph’ which can be helpful with boomy neck pickups or dark sounding rooms. I mostly think of the 4W mode as an extra tonal option.
Turning up the gain adds a wonderful graininess, from barely perceptible to all-out filth if you dime everything. Again, everything at noon seems to work really well. Turning back the guitar’s volume or picking softly will make it clean and airy and bell-like, while digging in will make the amp compress and add some dirt.
There’s a tiny little reverb tank in the amp but it sounds glorious. The quality of the spring reverb is on par with anything else out there, bar none. It makes notes dance around the room. Great stuff.
Conclusion
If you’re looking to channel Charlie Christian, Barney Kessel, Wes or Kenny Burrell then this is your amp. This morning I listened to the first Wes Montgomery Trio record and that tone is in here for sure. Burrell’s Midnight Blue tone, ditto.
If you’re looking for a tone like a Jazz Chorus, then look elsewhere.
If you carry one spare EL34 and one spare 12AX7, then this amp will never let you down. It’s built like a tank.
PS I’ve contacted Koch if you can substitute the tubes for 12AU7, 12AY7, 5881 or 6L6. This would add further tonal options. I’ll report back on this.
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01-08-2024 09:22 AM
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It appears to be a slightly revised and rebranded version of the venerable and superb Koch Classictone SE12, with reverb and slightly revised panel. Looks like it lost the external preamp in, mid-shift and bass cut, but gained the cab filter switch and reverb. GREAT idea to add reverb. GREAT idea to rebrand it. The Classictone SE12 and SE6 are fantastic little Class A combo amps and drive external 4/8/16 ohm cabs as well. I've been using a Classictone SE12 for years, with a 6L6 power tube.
Here's another thread about another current Koch amp:
Koch Jupiter JUNIOR 20W
Last edited by Hammertone; 01-08-2024 at 04:20 PM.
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I wasn’t aware of the Classic Tone SE, thanks for pointing that out! About the Jupiter: to my ears that’s a cold amp. Most Koch amps don’t sound pleasing to me, I hear no mojo. Based on the ridiculously low prices paid for used Koch stuff here, perhaps I’m not alone in that. The Little Gristle however is all about mojo. Having said that… in the shop I A/B’d the Little Gristle to the small StudioTone 20. This is a 1x10” combo with a ton of features and I liked it much more than earlier amps like the TwinTone etc. It’s a serious Swiss Army knife kind of amp and very competitively priced, but the small enclosure makes it sound just a tad boxy.
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I used a Studiotone 20 head for years as well, driving various cabs. Excellent little tube head.
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I wouldn’t mind having that StudioTone 20 in head or combo format, I can always run the combo through an external cab. That amp is chock full of handy features and it sounds much warmer than other models.
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Thanks for the in-depth review! When these amps first released, I watched a couple of demos and wasn't interested, I thought "eh, just another single-ended low watt dirt machine"... but apparently it's not JUST that. Have to do some digging...
I owned the Koch big boy amp, The Greg, for a hot minute, but I bought it used and it came with a defective standby switch so I had to return it.
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Koch says this is possible, so I will definitely try different tubes in this amp.PS I’ve contacted Koch if you can substitute the tubes for 12AU7, 12AY7, 5881 or 6L6. This would add further tonal options. I’ll report back on this.
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Ordered a NOS military-grade Philips 12AT7 yesterday, came in today… wow. What a difference to the stock JJ 12AX7! Twice the clean headroom and a more musical tone all around. As mentioned before, this amp loves my GB10 with flats. Now that the 12AT7 is in, it’s also magical with pretty much all my other guitars, especially the Gibson Custom ES335.
Originally Posted by Oscar67
I can’t record the amp properly but Julian Lage’s Room With A View album tones are quite close. It’s warm but also a bit… dangerous is the word I guess. In a good way.
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Great description of that tone! Originally Posted by Oscar67
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I just ordered one, in black tweed, from Wildwood. Can't wait!! It'll be interesting comparing it to my Swart AST (which is not designed to get as "gristley" as the Little Gristle LOL)
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Wow thanks for the review !
I've been watching for reviews on this amp since its release, and there are so few of them I was wondering if anyone ever bought one
As you say, I was very suprised by the demos, which I found to be quite disapointing, the sound being always on the bright and fizzy side.
That didn't stop me from keeping curious about it. So l'm so glad to have found this thread.
You say it's ice picky and bright for solid bodies. In my experience a bright amp can be tamed with pedals and tweaking..?
Have you managed to explore a little more with different types of guitars?
My plan is to use it with my Stratocaster, Ibanez AS50 Semi hollows, Gibson ES135..
And OD and effects.
How do you compare the tone stack to other amps. Obviously it's based on a Tweed circuit, but I don't like such terms which I find to generalistic. Is the Tone knob capable to scoop the mids ? Does it take effect pedals well (modulation, OD, delays..)?
I'm very happy to have at last found a discussion on this amp.
I've been searching a new amp for months, and have been very disapointed by the ones I tried and returned (Fender 68 Princeton, and Supro Amulet.. the two having inacceptable reliability issues..)
Looking forward for new posts !
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By the way, the Studiotone 20 combo has a 12 inch speaker, not a 10.
But it does have a very small cab.
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I'm not hearing the "bright with solidbodies" thing in THIS demo...? (unless it's just because you guys are more used to the sound of hollowbody archtops maybe?)
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As a player, Greg Koch is approaching genius-level. A totally unique musician. His demo vids have become seriously lacking, though, because (at least to my ears) his hearing seems to have lost a lot of high-end and he’s compensating for that on the amp. Guy makes a 335 neck pup sound more trebley than Roy Buchanan’s Tele bridge pup. Sadly this is also the case for the Little Gristle vids out there.
You ask about the tone control. I never have it more than halfway up. It doesn’t seem to affect the bass much, nor the presence. It does what it does mostly to the high-mids. The amp has a unique, vocal, musical character to its midrange response. A solidbody with humbuckers that have a pronounced midrange ‘hump’ in their frequency range might be a little bit too much, hence my comment about solidbodies. It obviously depends on the guitar, its pickups and the player. I find this amp magical with hollow and semi-hollow guitars and also with _some_ solidbodies. I don’t have a Fender Strat myself, but I do have a PRS DC3 and it sounds killer with this amp. So does my PRS SE Soapbar with Lollar P90s. And my ES335. Then there is my PRS DGT, which is an extremely musical guitar. Very open sounding, clear as a bell, lots of character and a way of cutting through without being in any way harsh. The DGT is by far my fav PRS guitar with humbuckers. But basically the Little Gristle is the amp version of the DGT. So plugging one into the other sort of doubles everything up. And that can be a bit too much.
You ask about taming the amp with pedals etc. Of course that can make all the difference. In my experience this amp loves pedals and it sounds killer with gain. But going back to ‘taming’: no matter what you do, this will never be a Polytone, a JazzChorus or a Twin. As I said in my review, this amp adds a little bit of danger to the tone. In a good way. A very good way. For a totally pristine, velvety kind of tone, look elsewhere.
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Thanks, great information here!
I wish I could test it.
There is a review on Bonedo.de if I remember well.
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Agree with this 100%. However, if you watch live video of him from gigs, it's not the case. Originally Posted by Oscar67
BTW, you could write reviews for magazines, your descriptions are so colorful! LOL
What does "danger" sound like? LOL. (I know exactly what you mean, and I am rarely looking for a dead-clean tone.)
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As a matter of fact, for about 10 years I did just that. I know a heck of a lot more about guitars than I do about playing the damn things… But at some point I gave it up. Been years since I’ve had something in print. Originally Posted by ruger9
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ruger9, don't hesitate to give us your impressions when you have recieved and tried the amp please.
I'm about to order one as well, just waiting for the refund for the Fender 68 Custom I sent back (cab vibrated like crazy and the valves seemed about to fail the next minute..)
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I only wish I had a "proper" jazzbox to demo it with... my Gretsch 6120 will have to do. Originally Posted by Jx30510
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A 6120 will suit this amp nicely!
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I am playing the Jupiter Junior and can only recommend it, too. I replaced the tubes with Genalex Gold Lion and the sound is just awesome.
I will definitely also try the Litle Gristle when I get a chance to
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I can't call this a review, because one man's garbage is another man's gold. But here are my observations:
1) It is bright. Brighter than the demos would have you believe. I never ran the tone control over 9:00.
2) The reverb is very nice, but not alot. I would probably run it at FULL most of the time, that's how subtle it is. It can surf or do atmospheric, but it's perfect to add a little ambience, which is all most people need anyway.
3) the 4W mode use useless to me, the amp looses too much low end. But again that's FOR ME, I like low end.
4) It's a very nice 5E3-style amp, and behaves alot like one (I have no idea if that was the intent, but I own 3 5E3-style amps, and it is quite similar in many ways.)
All the above observations were made with my telecaster, trying to get good rock/blues tones out of it. Like the Greg Koch demos of it.
As for being a clean amp, it can do that quite well. Can it get "jazzy" tones? Probably... hard to tell with my Filtertron-equipped 6120, which has alot of high end itself. I wish I had a P90 hollowbody to plug into it, but I don't.
In the end, it's not for me (but again- keep in mind- I own 3 5E3-type amps, and the only one I'm keeping is my Swart AST), so I will be returning it. Unless return shipping is so high I'd be better off selling it locally LOL. We'll see.
It's a good, solid amp- just a little too bright for me, and I just prefer the overall tone of my AST better.
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Thanks very much for your observations.
Yes, each has his needs, and idea of what is a "good" sound.
Tone quest is a very personnal thing.
I once had a boutique made 5E3 circuit amp by a very talented french builder (VIZY, which has sadly decided to stop his activity)..
While quite glorious sounding in a sense, it was too midforward for me. It made me realize I prefer more mid scooped designs.
In fact, I'm searching for an amp that is in the middle camp, between the tweed and mid scooped circuits.
That's why in my search I always look for the "mid" knob..
And I was kind of expecting the Gristle was going to tend towards the Tweed circuit, by the looks and what I heard.
I already have a Gibson GA-8T (another VIZY build) that seems to be a Tweed circuit from what I hear, very mid heavy.
Thanks for the review, and I think I'm going to look elsewhere.
I wonder if the Tone King Gremlin is maybe what I'm looking for..
Or even, I know it's a strange option on a jazz forum, the Marshall Jubilee 2525C. I'm very curious about this amp.
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Sorry to hear it’s not your thing. As a suggestion, with all the amp’s controls at noon, use your 6120 on the neck pickup and then adjust the gain control until the amp breaks up just a little bit if you hit the strings hard. Then use the guitar’s tone control to adjust treble to taste. Works great for me.
As mentioned, I swapped the 12AX7 for a mil-spec NOS 12AU7. This makes the amp much cleaner and the quality of this old tube compared to a modern one also makes it sound a lot better.
Personally I love the liveliness of this amp, how 3D it sounds in the room and how it translates the woodiness of my guitars.
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If you haven't yet, you should look at the Swart stuff- specifically the AST- it sits right in-between tweed and blackface... it's got nice mids, but it's not ALL mids. Sounds great when pushed. I love mine. Originally Posted by Jx30510
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