Session Session Duette 112 < 60 w 12" > 1983 - cloth

SessionDuette 112. 60 Watt Guitar Amplifier

Here's my hard to find and rare 60 w Session Duette 112 which I bought new in 1987.

The Session Duette 112 amp went on sale in late 1987 replacing the Rockette 30. The Duette was made in Basingstoke , England during 1987 and 1988 only, consequently this is a rare and collectable amplifier.

The serial number is G27827.

It has its original high quality Celestion G12M-70 speaker Type T3575 @ 4 ohms impedance.

It is light, portable and very loud. Speaker grill is see-through mesh type, and has been brought through the back of the combo and attached to the back board to protect the cone from the footswitch and mains plug when stored in the back of the amplifier.They are high quality amplifiers.

Condition

Everything works fine. It has two channels; a clean channel with bass, treble and volume, plus a solo channel with bass, treble volume and overdrive. There are two guitar inputs. When using both sockets, each channel is assigned to one socket. When using the solo input the channels are assigned using the footswitch which selects the solo (distortion) channel, the clean channel or both. Using two channels together, the individual level controls can be used to mix the sound.

The reverb (which is not a great reverb in my opinion) is also controllable from the footswitch. In addition the amp has a headphone output, effects send and return and also extension speaker I must admit that I don’t rate the foot pedal and never use it. I’m perhaps being a bit unkind in saying that, because I haven’t had the patience to fully utilise its potential. I prefer to just plug into my Zoom G1u Guitar Processor and just plug that into the solo channel on the Duette. The cabinet has grey hessian type cloth covering that is in pretty good condition for its age. with some wear on one corner.

Build quality is excellent; its a very substantial enclosue with real heft and this translates into a rich full tone through its Celestion G10C60. Its as loud should you wish! < undertatement it kicks >

The clean tones are exceptional , and the lead crunch has a nice bluesy feel to it, though it can be tuned for more full on heavy rock using the "filter" control, which is basically an adjustable mid-range notch.

History

The Duette 112 was the 60w twin channel version of the Rockette, made famous by Eric Clapton on his album "August". It is sonically very similar but has a different channel switching arrangement. Its a twin channel design, though can be used as a single channel amp thanks to a dedicated "solo" input.   The reverb/channel selector switch is hardwired and lives in a little "cubbyhole" round the back, as does the mains lead when not in use.

Playability

This is a lovely piece of vintage kit, and a great sounding solid state amp. It's in very good conditon for its age; no damage to the grille and only the slightest wear to the fabric covering at the back, as shown in the pictures. The pots and switches all work with somecrackle; the only issue with it is that the reverb distorts a little at low frequencies if turned up full just stating this so that the buyer is aware).