Kustom '36 Coupe Tube Combo Amp
Well, it finally arrived at the store, and I took it for a test drive. List price is $899.00, the street price is lower, of course. Your mileage may vary, depending on the retailer. OZ's price is $605.00. This won't be a slick review with vintage LPs and Strats, we don't have any of those guitars at the OZ's right now. I used a Godin Exit 22, and compared the amp against my modded Peavey Classic 50-212.
The amp is retro in spirit, with its 'Tuck n' Roll' front panel, the rest of the amp covered in heavy duty black vinyl. It comes with 4 Electro-Harmonix 12AX7EH pre amp tubes and 2 Sovtek 6L6WXT+ power tubes. The 12AX7 driver tube and power tubes are enclosed in a heavy duty steel cage, that allows for plenty of air circulation. The single 12" 16 ohm speaker is a collaboration between Kustom and Eminence, and has an aluminum dust cap.
There are two inputs, normal and -6db. The Rhythm Channel has a 'Volume' with a pull bright switch, and a 'Master', so you can dial in from clean to a nice crunch. I easily found a fat, clean tone that was great for comping on blues chords. Engaging the Bright switch gives a 6db boost at 1kHz, not an ice pick through the forehead, just a nice sparkle. Cranking the Volume, there is enough crunch for blues leads to growl a bit. A useful feature is the 10db volume boost, which can only be accessed by using the foot switch. At medium volume levels it took a fairly clean sound to a mild crunch. There is a knob on the back panel to control the amount of boost.
Switching between channels is done by a mini toggle on the panel, or by foot switch, and the words 'Rhythm' and 'Lead' light up in blue and red, respectively, on the control panel when engaged. Both channels share EQ; Bass, Middle and Treble, all passive. There is the usual interaction between passive controls, e.g. cranking the Treble reduces the bass and mids. The Lead Channel also has a Volume, with a pull bright switch, and a Master. Here, the amp starts with a mild crunch and takes it to all out overdrive. And engaging the 'Boost' gives you an extra kick when it's time to solo. The Lead channel isn't as bright as the clean channel, so this is where the bright switch really helps out.
Okay, I might gush, a little bit...This is the first 6L6 amp, with a overdrive channel, I've ever played through that I like. The bar was set by my Classic 50 and no other amp came close to the warm overdrive of its EL84s. The '36 Coupe made my amp sound harsh and unforgiving by comparison. It's what I'd imagined a 4x6V6 overdrive amp might sound like. Whenever I played at blues jams through all those ubiquitous Fender Blues DeVilles and Hot Rod Deluxes I was severely disappointed. This is not a Modern Fender Clone, it doesn't sound like a Hot Rod Deluxe, DeVille, etc. IMHO, it kicks their butts, tone wise. You may get the idea I'm not fond of modern Fender amps. You may be right. Of course, I've been spoiled by my 1964 Fender Princeton 6G2.
The reverb has a solid state driver and the FX loop is tube driven. I'd rather that scheme was reversed as I never use FX loops. The reverb has two controls, 'Intensity' and 'Tone'. Turn the tone all the way up and you're in surf heaven. All the way down and you get a nice warm, unobtrusive reverb that doesn't obliterate your tone. Great for jazz or blues comping. If it was tube driven it would be even better.
The back panel includes a XLR direct out(with speaker simulation that mimics the sound of the stock speaker), that has ground lift switch to eliminate ground loops, and a volume control. Also the usual foot switch, FX loop jacks, the aforementioned 'Boost' volume. On the bottom of the chassis there are two speaker jacks, and a 4/8/16 ohm slide switch so you can match the impedance of extension speakers. The '36's big brother, the '72 Coupe, is 72 watts, has 2-12s, tremolo, and vibrato, that are speed synchronized. Very hip! Otherwise, all the same features as the '36.
I swore that I would never have GAS* again, I may have to eat my words.
*Gear Acquisition Syndrome
Mickey Richard
Well, it finally arrived at the store, and I took it for a test drive. List price is $899.00, the street price is lower, of course. Your mileage may vary, depending on the retailer. OZ's price is $605.00. This won't be a slick review with vintage LPs and Strats, we don't have any of those guitars at the OZ's right now. I used a Godin Exit 22, and compared the amp against my modded Peavey Classic 50-212.
The amp is retro in spirit, with its 'Tuck n' Roll' front panel, the rest of the amp covered in heavy duty black vinyl. It comes with 4 Electro-Harmonix 12AX7EH pre amp tubes and 2 Sovtek 6L6WXT+ power tubes. The 12AX7 driver tube and power tubes are enclosed in a heavy duty steel cage, that allows for plenty of air circulation. The single 12" 16 ohm speaker is a collaboration between Kustom and Eminence, and has an aluminum dust cap.
There are two inputs, normal and -6db. The Rhythm Channel has a 'Volume' with a pull bright switch, and a 'Master', so you can dial in from clean to a nice crunch. I easily found a fat, clean tone that was great for comping on blues chords. Engaging the Bright switch gives a 6db boost at 1kHz, not an ice pick through the forehead, just a nice sparkle. Cranking the Volume, there is enough crunch for blues leads to growl a bit. A useful feature is the 10db volume boost, which can only be accessed by using the foot switch. At medium volume levels it took a fairly clean sound to a mild crunch. There is a knob on the back panel to control the amount of boost.
Switching between channels is done by a mini toggle on the panel, or by foot switch, and the words 'Rhythm' and 'Lead' light up in blue and red, respectively, on the control panel when engaged. Both channels share EQ; Bass, Middle and Treble, all passive. There is the usual interaction between passive controls, e.g. cranking the Treble reduces the bass and mids. The Lead Channel also has a Volume, with a pull bright switch, and a Master. Here, the amp starts with a mild crunch and takes it to all out overdrive. And engaging the 'Boost' gives you an extra kick when it's time to solo. The Lead channel isn't as bright as the clean channel, so this is where the bright switch really helps out.
Okay, I might gush, a little bit...This is the first 6L6 amp, with a overdrive channel, I've ever played through that I like. The bar was set by my Classic 50 and no other amp came close to the warm overdrive of its EL84s. The '36 Coupe made my amp sound harsh and unforgiving by comparison. It's what I'd imagined a 4x6V6 overdrive amp might sound like. Whenever I played at blues jams through all those ubiquitous Fender Blues DeVilles and Hot Rod Deluxes I was severely disappointed. This is not a Modern Fender Clone, it doesn't sound like a Hot Rod Deluxe, DeVille, etc. IMHO, it kicks their butts, tone wise. You may get the idea I'm not fond of modern Fender amps. You may be right. Of course, I've been spoiled by my 1964 Fender Princeton 6G2.
The reverb has a solid state driver and the FX loop is tube driven. I'd rather that scheme was reversed as I never use FX loops. The reverb has two controls, 'Intensity' and 'Tone'. Turn the tone all the way up and you're in surf heaven. All the way down and you get a nice warm, unobtrusive reverb that doesn't obliterate your tone. Great for jazz or blues comping. If it was tube driven it would be even better.
The back panel includes a XLR direct out(with speaker simulation that mimics the sound of the stock speaker), that has ground lift switch to eliminate ground loops, and a volume control. Also the usual foot switch, FX loop jacks, the aforementioned 'Boost' volume. On the bottom of the chassis there are two speaker jacks, and a 4/8/16 ohm slide switch so you can match the impedance of extension speakers. The '36's big brother, the '72 Coupe, is 72 watts, has 2-12s, tremolo, and vibrato, that are speed synchronized. Very hip! Otherwise, all the same features as the '36.
I swore that I would never have GAS* again, I may have to eat my words.
*Gear Acquisition Syndrome
Mickey Richard