Kustom Amps

[gardo]

When I was in school one of my friends had a Kustom tuck and roll amp. Back then it was the ultimate in cool.

How do they rate today?

 

 

[ballhawk]

I have the Kustom Coupe 36 which is a tube amp but has the same tuck and roll design. Excellent amp which you can read more about here:

http://www.vintageguitar.com/3202/kustoms-36-coupe/

 

I'd love to get a hold of one of the older ones. My guess is it would be a good SS amp to use with a modeler.

[ido1957]

We rented one for a high school talent show when they were first made and it shorted out on me, TBH back then I had a few fuses and wiring shorts on amps I used - some Traynors were pretty bad. Maybe we shouldn't have run them full volume.... Todays amps seem to have way fewer problems so I'm sure Kustoms are good to go now.

[gardo]

We rented one for a high school talent show when they were first made and it shorted out on me' date=' TBH back then I had a few fuses and wiring shorts on amps I used - some Traynors were pretty bad. Maybe we shouldn't have run them full volume.... Todays amps seem to have way fewer problems so I'm sure Kustoms are good to go now.[/quote']

Thanks, It's really the old tuck and roll models that intrigue me. I'm thinking of a basement amp just for kicks

[WRGKMC]

I used allot of Kustom's and Kasino's back in the day. I had several PA heads, bass amps and cabs. Thay looked cool but that's about as far as it went. It was all Solid state stuff and as far as sound quality goes its wasn't very good at all. Their PA's were skid row. Definitely nothing to get thrilled about. If you played clean lounge lizard music you could get by, but by todays standards the vocals you'd get from them wouldn't even be good for bad quality Karaoke. They had 4 channels with high impedance mic inputs and had volume, treble bass and reverb. They were rated for 100W but doubt they put out 50.

 

My bass player had a Kasino bass amp which is made by Kustom and just given another name to expand their name. It was a huge amp with 2X15's. It barely got buy in a rock band and even with my 50w fender I could easily bury it. It got some deep tones but farted out easily. He still has the amp by the way. With the better speakers they make today it might sound better but who really wants to move a 500lb 100w bass amp when you can buy a 500w head that weighs 10lbs, and get a cab that maybe weighs 50 with some high powered speakers. .

 

The amps sold big because there wasn't anything else you could buy in those ranges anywhere near that price. For PA's you had Shure Vocal Masters, Kustoms and a few others. If you had some big cash you might be able to afford an Altec setup with A7's

 

You had more variety with guitar and bass amps, but it mainly came down to the stores you bought them in. Stores had dealerships with manufacturers and often only had one budget line. Unless you did allot of traveling to different stores you didn't have allot of choice. There was no internet and not all stores could or would special order.

 

I haven't heard many Kustom guitar amps so I cant say what they sound like. I have had their cabs and the speakers in them were garbage. They put aluminum domes on them to copy better speakers but they were no Altecs or JBl's. The SPL level was likely in the low 90's.

I did have a Kustom PA head I used with a SVT cab. It didn't come close to an Ampeg head but at least we could jam. The bass player was the weakest guy using that rig.

 

I also jammed with allot of guys who used the larger 2X15 cabs that had ports on the front. Again nothing special there, and in comparison to todays standards even a Behringer would blow that gear away. I haven't heard the reissues so I cant tell you if they improved, but I can say You couldn't give Kustoms away back then. Many got real ragged out looking when the Vinyl got caught on stuff and ripped loading and unloading them.

 

You could probably put some good drivers in the cabs and thay would sound as good as anu other cab. The heads are budget SS builds common for that time. Peavey's old blackfaces stuff had similar designs except the Kustom was allot darker and bland sounding. I don't remember if the guitar amps had any drive at all. I believe it was all designed to run 100% clean all the way up on the knob which might be the reason for the lower SPL speakers, but its most likely just to save money on parts no one else could get rid of.

[wankdeplank]

Back in the day, John Fogerty and Credence were known to use the K-200 solid state head with double 2X15 cabs. They as well as a number of others also used a Kustom PA which was considered state of the art at the time. Credence had a very distinctive tone live and on record which the Kustom amps were said to contribute to. I'm under the impression that the new models don't hold a candle to the originals.

[gardo]

I used allot of Kustom's and Kasino's back in the day. I had several PA heads, bass amps and cabs. Thay looked cool but that's about as far as it went. It was all Solid state stuff and as far as sound quality goes its wasn't very good at all. Their PA's were skid row. Definitely nothing to get thrilled about. If you played clean lounge lizard music you could get by, but by todays standards the vocals you'd get from them wouldn't even be good for bad quality Karaoke. They had 4 channels with high impedance mic inputs and had volume, treble bass and reverb. They were rated for 100W but doubt they put out 50.

You could probably put some good drivers in the cabs and thay would sound as good as anu other cab. The heads are budget SS builds common for that time. Peavey's old blackfaces stuff had similar designs except the Kustom was allot darker and bland sounding. I don't remember if the guitar amps had any drive at all. I believe it was all designed to run 100% clean all the way up on the knob which might be the reason for the lower SPL speakers, but its most likely just to save money on parts no one else could get rid of.

Thanks ,I guess some memories are best left to the past. You saved me a lot of time I would have spent looking for one

[WRGKMC]

^^^^ If you were into playing Jazz guitar I think they might be a cool amp. You can dial up those darker clean tones for sure. If you want it for a rock amp, I'd have to say try it first and just don't buy blind. It may be OK with pedals but there are so many great choices available.

 

I "believe" Kustom may have built some better amps for rock tones, but I'd have to do some major digging. I think they were all solid state stuff. That's not bad if you're into that tone, its just not what most guitarists want these days. The amsp were heavy too so the solid state design didn't help much with the heavy cabs.

 

Credence Clearwater Revival used some Kustom gear back in the Cosmos Factory days. Forgery used a Fender vibrolux's in the studio and used a Kustom K-200-A4 playing live. He may have used the Kustom for all the Rockabilly finger licks you hear on all those old classic tunes as well. The powered leads were definitely Fender and Rickenbacker. You can hear the Fender Vibrado on a few of those songs too. but the clean stuff definitely sounds like a Kustom to me.

 

Here's a pic of the head. It looks like it has some clipping and mid boost settings built in which could let him recreate some of those driven tones live. http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c7/Kustom_guitar_amplifier_model_K200B-4.png

 

I'm not 100% sure on this amp however. I found Stu the bass player selling the amp here as though it was something he used. http://www.rockstarsguitars.com/category/creedence-clearwater-revival/stu-cook/

[6down1togo]

Back in the late 70's, I used to play through a tuck and roll Kustom K150 bass head. I remember it had a slanted front panel and cool electric blue push buttons with mini lamps in them that gave off an iridescent glow. I used a Fender bandmaster bottom with a pair of 12" JBL's in it. As if that weren't bright enough, I hole sawed the front baffle and installed a pair of switchable 150 Watt Piezo tweeters. It was sooooooooo clean from top to bottom you could almost break glass with it. I seem to recall it had a tone preset selector knob rather than an actual tone controls but it was a along time ago. I never had a single problem with the head and remember that it weighed a ton.

[speakerjones]

My first PA was a blue tuck n roll Kustom. I think it was a 200 head with two 4x10 vertical cabs. It looked cool. I used the head for guitar at some point. I remember it sounding pretty harsh. This was a long time ago. The new Kustom PA gear has got to be some of the worst garbage on the market. Just awful build quality.

[WRGKMC]

. I seem to recall it had a tone preset selector knob rather than an actual tone controls but it was a along time ago. I never had a single problem with the head and remember that it weighed a ton.

Yup, My buddies Kasino bass had that same three way selector. Deep, Middle and High boost. It also had normal bass and treble controls, but that deep setting would make the bottom end rumble.

[ballhawk]

Gardo, if you really want the tuck n roll look then look for the newer ones in my link that are tube based. Designed by James Brown (no...not that one) the same guy who did many of the Peavey amps including the classic 30, 50, delta blues etc.

 

I'm very happy with mine even though I don't take it on gigs any more because I'm traveling lighter. I got one that was a return to MF and I consider it a steal. Otherwise just enjoy the pron from the glory days.

[gardo]

Gardo, if you really want the tuck n roll look then look for the newer ones in my link that are tube based. Designed by James Brown (no...not that one) the same guy who did many of the Peavey amps including the classic 30, 50, delta blues etc.

 

I'm very happy with mine even though I don't take it on gigs any more because I'm traveling lighter. I got one that was a return to MF and I consider it a steal. Otherwise just enjoy the pron from the glory days.

. What happened was, I saw someone on TV using and old tuck and roll amp and the nostalgia bug bit me.

 

[AlamoJoe]

They were cool looking amps, back in the 60's. I fellow I know had one that I believe had 3 15's in a tall vertical arrangement. Think it had a 100 watt SS head. It was loud..Then the kid up the street got a 50 watt Marshall head and ran a Bassman 2 12' bottom I believe...The 50 watt marshall drowned out the Kustom...They were cool looking amps but the tuck and roll covering got torn easily.

[6down1togo]

Yup' date=' My buddies Kasino bass had that same three way selector. Deep, Middle and High boost. It also had normal bass and treble controls, but that deep setting would make the bottom end rumble. [/quote']

 

 

God yeah! I remember now how my buddy plugged in his EBO bass on the deep setting and played a bass line while I held a lit match in front of the cab and it blew out the match! It was a thunderous amp. Good times.

[edwinslet1]

Nice its one of the best>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

 

I like it very much

[V-8]

There's a night and day difference between the original Kustom amps and the modern breed of Kustom. The originals were fairly terrible amps. The revived Kustom amps are generally good decent and even sometimes great amps and certainly vastly more reliable.

 

The original Kustom went bankrupt in the late 70s or maybe about 1980. The Kustom that exists now is a completely different company that simply bought the name and remaining assets (trademarks, basically) from the original Kustom. The new Kustom created their own circuits (tube, solid-state, and hybrid) and put them in Kustom-styled enclosures.

[6down1togo]

There's a night and day difference between the original Kustom amps and the modern breed of Kustom. The originals were fairly terrible amps. The revived Kustom amps are generally good decent and even sometimes great amps and certainly vastly more reliable.

 

The original Kustom went bankrupt in the late 70s or maybe about 1980. The Kustom that exists now is a completely different company that simply bought the name and remaining assets (trademarks, basically) from the original Kustom. The new Kustom created their own circuits (tube, solid-state, and hybrid) and put them in Kustom-styled enclosures.

 

 

You can't really compare the two. The current Kustom is just a branded product distributed by Hanser Music Group who own Diezel, Michael Kelly, BC Rich and handful of other musical instrument brands. They are made in China and share no similarities to the originals other than brand name. They are adequate, but bland, combo amps similar to Behringer and Acoustic, intended for basement, garage and small venue stage use.

 

The original Kustoms were assembled in Chanute Kansas. They were massively built with die cast face plates and chassis that served as huge heat sinks for revolutionary (at that time) solid state circuitry. Their purpose was very singular. Watt for watt, they were designed to be the loudest and cleanest sound reinforcement available for large venues like coliseums and stadiums.

 

Yes, Marshalls and the Fender Showman were loud, but they lacked the clean headroom of the Kustoms (and the Sunns and the Acoustics) of the day. If the music required high volume and clean sound, Kustom was the ticket. This was long before sophisticated sound reinforcement and mic'ed combo amps through the PA became the norm.

[GAS Man]

I had a neighbor that was collecting a few of the more vintage tuck and roll models. With the cheesy colors and sparkles blended into the colors they definitely take you back just glancing at them. Considering I like cheese, hell, I own a DiPinto Los Straitjackets Galaxie 4, I should own one.

 

;^)

[GAS Man]

I had a neighbor that was collecting a few of the more vintage tuck and roll models. With the cheesy colors and sparkles blended into the colors they definitely take you back just glancing at them. Considering I like cheese, heck, I own a DiPinto Los Straitjackets Galaxie 4, I should own one.

 

;^)

[WRGKMC]

The tuck and roll was good for the guy moving the gear. He could comfortably lay down on the amp after busting a gut moving them or have a soft spot in the Van when he meets up with a hot chick at a gig.

[gardo]

The tuck and roll was good for the guy moving the gear. He could comfortably lay down on the amp after busting a gut moving them or have a soft spot in the Van when he meets up with a hot chick at a gig.

I knew there was something good about that tuck and roll !

[Radar-Love]

 

For what it's worth, I liked the Kustom 36 Coupe and the Kustom 72 Coupe when I test drove them out a little while back.