# Koch 'The Greg'



## High/Deaf (Aug 19, 2009)

Finally ending the age-old conundrum: controls on the front or top-rear? The answer? Both, of course.

I love Greg Koch. And ya gotta know there's gonna be some humor in this 'clinic'. It's a bit long, but hey, you won't need to watch Moms or This Week Tonight, we gotcher comedy right here .......








Cool amp. I'll probably never see one in real life.


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## keefsdad (Feb 7, 2006)

Interesting that he only uses the neck pickup.


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## High/Deaf (Aug 19, 2009)

keefsdad said:


> Interesting that he only uses the neck pickup.


What gives you that impression? He uses all three pup settings, and on the bridge as early as 4:20 when he does some nice chicken pickin'.

Such a great player. I like the two Jimmi's into the Joe part around 22:00. Some wicked chops the guy wields. 

And for people who have a knob aversion, this must be their biggest nightmare. I owned an amp with more knobs (Roadster) but it didn't do as much as this, with the variety of 'verb and tremolo stuff. This is probably 50% more expensive, though. With an amp that expensive, you'd think Greg could afford a nicer guitar. That fretboard is nearly gone baby gone.


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## Ti-Ron (Mar 21, 2007)

High/Deaf said:


> Cool amp. I'll probably never see one in real life.


I am really curious about Koch amps but I never saw one in real life. Never.


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## SaucyJack (Mar 8, 2017)

The guy is pretty entertaining. Good player too.


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## SaucyJack (Mar 8, 2017)

Ti-Ron said:


> I am really curious about Koch amps but I never saw one in real life. Never.


It's gonna be ok....


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## Doug B (Jun 19, 2017)

You probably never saw one of these amps before because they just came out on the market.


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## Ti-Ron (Mar 21, 2007)

Doug B said:


> You probably never saw one of these amps before because they just came out on the market.


Koch amps are outhere since 1988.


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## Doug B (Jun 19, 2017)

Ti-Ron said:


> Koch amps are outhere since 1988.


Oh, ok, my mistake. I just figured from the video that that was the new product launch. Who makes the amp, btw?


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## Ti-Ron (Mar 21, 2007)

Doug B said:


> Oh, ok, my mistake. I just figured from the video that that was the new product launch. Who makes the amp, btw?


I think the confusion cames from both the amp compagny and the guitarist have the same name, Koch!


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## Doug B (Jun 19, 2017)

Well I thought the amp was made for him and that's why it had his name on it?


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## High/Deaf (Aug 19, 2009)

Koch is (I believe) a Dutch amp company. I've heard of them but never seen one in captivity. Rumor has it, Sasquatch uses one though.


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## jb welder (Sep 14, 2010)

I did a bit of work on a Twintone a couple years back. Real nice qualilty stuff. Good support too.
Great sound to boot!


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## High/Deaf (Aug 19, 2009)

jb welder said:


> I did a bit of work on a Twintone a couple years back. Real nice qualilty stuff. Good support too.
> Great sound to boot!


I assume high quality PCB? Nicely laid out?

I don't imagine you could turrent-board assemble that 'Greg', but maybe it just sounds more complicated than it really is.


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## jb welder (Sep 14, 2010)

Yes, nice PCB. They have a fair bit going on. 
Try that with turrets or PTP and you end up with a little baby ENIAC.


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## Ti-Ron (Mar 21, 2007)

jb welder said:


> I did a bit of work on a Twintone a couple years back. Real nice qualilty stuff. Good support too.
> Great sound to boot!


Are they more British or American oriented soundwise?


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## jb welder (Sep 14, 2010)

I found it to be more British flavoured.


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## jdto (Sep 30, 2015)

Greg Koch is a lot of fun to watch/listen to. And he makes that amp sound pretty amazing.


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## corailz (May 1, 2008)

Greg is a beast!Period!


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## jdto (Sep 30, 2015)

corailz said:


> Greg is a beast!Period!


Indeed. I was disappointed I missed his clinic at Long & McQuade in the spring.


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## davetcan (Feb 27, 2006)

I've owned a few, as has @Hammertone , really excellent amps.


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## High/Deaf (Aug 19, 2009)

davetcan said:


> I've owned a few,,,,,,,,,


Why am I not surprised?


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## Hammertone (Feb 3, 2006)

Koch has been around for years. They make their amps in Holland. Very well established in Europe, with good distribution in Japan and a few other markets as well. They entered the North American market @20 years ago or more, but made a few mistakes. The amps themselves were and are great but
-they were priced too high in North America (pricing in Europe was fine);
-there wasn't enough support for retailers and players;
-there was almost no advertising and what they did do here was terrible;
-they had endorsers like Al DiMeola, Paul Reed Smith and others, but in the absence of a comprehensive marketing plan, it all just fizzled.

Theoretically you can get them in North America, there are a few out there, but finding a new one is difficult - one sees ads for old Multitone models for the most part. In the past few years, they faced some backorder issues that really prevented then from re-entering the North American market. Their earlier amps were fine, but the tonal variations were limited once one got into the high-gain, very distorted end of things. That is no longer the case - the Twintone III does a great job either as a clean amp or as a high-gain monster, IMO. Anyway, it's smart for them to keep a low profile until they can re-enter the North American market the right way, price it appropriately, and support it properly, IMO.

I've known the Koch folks for a few years, have worked at their booth at NAMM when I'm not at the Hofner booth, hung out with them and played their gear for years. They have several excellent products, and I typically buy a few amps at NAMM, send them back to Toronto, keep some, sell some, and so forth. I currently play a Koch Twintone III head (55-watt, EL-34, Class A/B channel-switching) through an old Koch slantback 4x12 cab, and a Studiotone head (20 watt, EL-84, Class A, channel-switching) through a variety of smaller cabs. I've played Studiotone and Studiotone XL heads and combos, Twintone II heads and combos, hybrid Jupiter/Startrooper combos, the little Classic SE (6-watt Class A combo) and the Classictone II head, introduced a couple of years ago at NAMM (their latest really cool amp until the Greg was announced). Their combos and cabs use OEM speakers from Sica (who make Jensen speakers) in Italy, and they are fabulous speakers IMO.

Last year Greg Koch started using a Twintone III combo (He was using it at the Fishman booth). Having him as a Koch amp endorser is a bit of a no-brainer, but it took the Koch boys awhile to figure it out - after all, they're Dutch.

Dolf Koch is still designing amps for Koch, but sold his company to his long-time GM a couple of years ago. Their concept is based on building a high-quality production amp - they doesn't view Koch as a "boutique" brand, and don't chase that concept. So Koch amps offer excellent build quality, high-quality PCBs, high-quality components, _etceteras_, designed for professional use, offered at a fair price. We shall see what their pricing and marketing are like when they re-enter North America.

While their amps are totally different, I view the company as sort of being like Rivera - a small business that makes really nice quality products, with very little compromise but with no preciousness. Unlike, say, a Rivera amp (I have a super-swell Rivera Rake Reverb head), Koch is not about copying Fender or Marshall sounds - the amps do their own thing. They are extremely flexible in terms of utility for different musical genres.


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## High/Deaf (Aug 19, 2009)

Hammertone said:


> Last year Greg Koch started using a Twintone III combo (He was using it at the Fishman booth). Having him as a Koch amp endorser is a bit of a no-brainer, but it took the Koch boys awhile to figure it out - *after all, they're Dutch.*


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## davetcan (Feb 27, 2006)

Hammertone said:


> Koch has been around for years. They make their amps in Holland. Very well established in Europe, with good distribution in Japan and a few other markets as well. They entered the North American market @20 years ago or more, but made a few mistakes. The amps themselves were and are great but
> -they were priced too high in North America (pricing in Europe was fine);
> -there wasn't enough support for retailers and players;
> -there was almost no advertising and what they did do here was terrible;
> ...


I knew if i pinged you in my post that you'd do all the typing  Thanks!


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## davetcan (Feb 27, 2006)

High/Deaf said:


> Why am I not surprised?


@Hammertone is the ultimate enabler.


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## Hammertone (Feb 3, 2006)

Hey H/D, to borrow from your sig:
"Ignorance can be educated, Crazy can be medicated, but there is no cure for Dutch."

Dave: Uh, you're welcome?


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## davetcan (Feb 27, 2006)

LOL. OK, perhaps we're BOTH enablers


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## TimH (Feb 4, 2006)

Way back in like 2004 I was working at Mother’s Music in Calgary and someone was trying to bring Koch into Canada. They dropped off 4 or 5 amps for a week or two and they sounded great. I’m pretty sure there was even a high end load box/speaker emulator which no one else was doing st the time.

I reached out to Koch via their Facebook page and asked if they have any dealers in Canada...they don’t but they said they’d be working on it at NAMM and that in the meantime Wildwood will be the best bet for getting one.


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## Scotty (Jan 30, 2013)

Damn, I would have liked to be there for that also


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## Scotty (Jan 30, 2013)

High/Deaf said:


> Finally ending the age-old conundrum: controls on the front or top-rear? The answer? Both, of course.
> 
> I love Greg Koch. And ya gotta know there's gonna be some humor in this 'clinic'. It's a bit long, but hey, you won't need to watch Moms or This Week Tonight, we gotcher comedy right here .......
> 
> ...


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