Kustom '36 Coupe, advice

[The Boogie Man]

Has anyone tried this amp? How are the cleans tones? I need lot's of clean. Are they are well built? Road worthy? Would you gig with one? I have an offer from a dealer to pick one up below the street price, of $639, about $500 for a new one, would you buy it for $500? I have a few other choices but fell into this amp and it wasn't even on my list.

 

My other choices were:

 

Traynor YCV 40, but I don't like the fact that the tubes are mounted to the PC board. New

 

Peavey Delta Blues, good amp well built, but almost to large with the 15" speaker. Used but in good condition

 

Peavey Valve King, cheap but PC mounted tubes and plastic pots and jacks . New

 

 

And I'm still open to other ideas.

[GreatestGains]

Originally posted by The Boogie Man Has anyone tried this amp? How are the cleans tones? I need lot's of clean. Are they are well built? Road worthy? Would you gig with one? I have an offer from a dealer to pick one up below the street price, of $639, about $500 for a new one, would you buy it for $500? I have a few other choices but fell into this amp and it wasn't even on my list. My other choices were: Traynor YCV 40, but I don't like the fact that the tubes are mounted to the PC board. New Peavey Delta Blues, good amp well built, but almost to large with the 15" speaker. Used but in good condition Peavey Valve King, cheap but PC mounted tubes and plastic pots and jacks . New And I'm still open to other ideas.

 

 

Hey, hope I can help here.

 

Of course you may know, the Kustom Coupes are designed by James Brown (guy who designed Peavey's Classic series and put them on the map.) You can certainly here his influence in the tones. The clean sounds are very sparkly, but don't have that Fender midrange snap. Not a chickin' pickin' amp in my opinion. The cleans remind me more of classic boogies, less midrange but very huge sounding. The lead channel reminds me of a peavey classic, but more open with more high-end and a touch more gain. Very fluid lead sounds, even at lower volumes.

 

Ok that's the good stuff. Now for the bad. Reverb SUCKS ARSE, to the point it's unusable. And the amp is not winning any awards for beauty. I don't know anything about build quality, but the knobs and faceplate feel a little cheap to me. Maybe it's just the looks having a psychological effect At this juncture, I would not buy it for $500. Reasons:

1) It's version 1.0...Not enough of them out there to get a read on reliability

2) Reverb is basically unusable

3) Looks like it should be on stage with a gay bar houseband

 

$500 is still alot of money. For that, you could buy about any amp in the classic series...My .02 cents.

[The Boogie Man]

Originally posted by GreatestGains Hey, hope I can help here. Of course you may know, the Kustom Coupes are designed by James Brown (guy who designed Peavey's Classic series and put them on the map.) You can certainly here his influence in the tones. The clean sounds are very sparkly, but don't have that Fender midrange snap. Not a chickin' pickin' amp in my opinion. The cleans remind me more of classic boogies, less midrange but very huge sounding. The lead channel reminds me of a peavey classic, but more open with more high-end and a touch more gain. Very fluid lead sounds, even at lower volumes. Ok that's the good stuff. Now for the bad. Reverb SUCKS ARSE, to the point it's unusable. And the amp is not winning any awards for beauty. I don't know anything about build quality, but the knobs and faceplate feel a little cheap to me. Maybe it's just the looks having a psychological effect At this juncture, I would not buy it for $500. Reasons: 1) It's version 1.0...Not enough of them out there to get a read on reliability 2) Reverb is basically unusable 3) Looks like it should be on stage with a gay bar houseband $500 is still alot of money. For that, you could buy about any amp in the classic series...My .02 cents.

 

Thanks for your input. I was kind of having some of the same thoughts on #1. Kustom stuff from the '70's kind of sucked at least most of it did. And #3. If looks mattered to me I would pass on it. The Music Store where the '36 is a great place, I know the owner and he likes to move stuff fast, sometimes he only breaks even, but some deals arn't worth it. The Other store is a Peavey Dealer and I think the Delta was a trade in. Really I think I may go for the Delta Blues, price is right, $300 and I know Peavey built them good, I haven't tried either amp yet but will next weekend.

[The Boogie Man]

Bump

 

Anymore info would helpful.

 

Thanks!

[AmpTweaker]

If you're just looking for a good sounding amp to put pedals in front of, any of these is probably a safe bet. But the Coupe tends to shine when you look at some of its other features:

 

1) The direct out works well, since it's speaker emulated. Though most never try it because the assume it's not cool, the ones who have are surprised how much it sounds like the amp, rather than just the speaker.

 

2) The rhythm channel has its own master volume. This makes it easy to get the barely clean slightly crunchy sounds most amps require loud volumes to achieve...but at low volumes.

 

3) Modern amount of gain. Only the Valve King and Coupe have modern lead tones, with sufficient gain to really get a chunky tone.

 

4) Footswitchable volume boost. The knob adjustable volume boost on the Coupe makes it easy to go to a solo volume on either rhythm or lead channel.

 

5) All tube effects loop. Nobody does this, and it may not be a huge tone difference, but for the purest, it's a boutique feature for such a low priced amp.

 

6) Birch plywood cabinet. If you look under the other amp's corners, I doubt you'll find the fine-ply quality of plywood that's in the Coupe. And of course this results in a cabinet that resonates in a cool way to create its basic tone.

 

7) Tone control on the reverb. This feature was found on old Kustom amps, and gives you the capability to find tune the reverb's tone more than most amps can.

 

Bottom line, there's almost 500 out there on the streets and in the stores, and if you don't like red or blue, and tone is the important thing, then the black one is pretty subtle.

 

Your best bet is to plug in and tweak the knobs and see what you can get out of it. I.E. take comments from newsgroups with a grain of salt.

Good luck.......

[The Boogie Man]

Thanks for the good info, and yes I did like some of the features like the reverb tone control and line out, for recording or live that would be helpful. Looks is the least of my concerns, it's kind of their trade mark, reliability, quality componets, workmanship and tone are really the only important things to consider.

[GreatestGains]

 

Originally posted by AmpTweaker If you're just looking for a good sounding amp to put pedals in front of, any of these is probably a safe bet. But the Coupe tends to shine when you look at some of its other features: 1) The direct out works well, since it's speaker emulated. Though most never try it because the assume it's not cool, the ones who have are surprised how much it sounds like the amp, rather than just the speaker. 2) The rhythm channel has its own master volume. This makes it easy to get the barely clean slightly crunchy sounds most amps require loud volumes to achieve...but at low volumes. 3) Modern amount of gain. Only the Valve King and Coupe have modern lead tones, with sufficient gain to really get a chunky tone. 4) Footswitchable volume boost. The knob adjustable volume boost on the Coupe makes it easy to go to a solo volume on either rhythm or lead channel. 5) All tube effects loop. Nobody does this, and it may not be a huge tone difference, but for the purest, it's a boutique feature for such a low priced amp. 6) Birch plywood cabinet. If you look under the other amp's corners, I doubt you'll find the fine-ply quality of plywood that's in the Coupe. And of course this results in a cabinet that resonates in a cool way to create its basic tone. 7) Tone control on the reverb. This feature was found on old Kustom amps, and gives you the capability to find tune the reverb's tone more than most amps can. Bottom line, there's almost 500 out there on the streets and in the stores, and if you don't like red or blue, and tone is the important thing, then the black one is pretty subtle. Your best bet is to plug in and tweak the knobs and see what you can get out of it. I.E. take comments from newsgroups with a grain of salt. Good luck.......

 

 

 

Well, people love to get opinions on the net to narrow their search. Yes, hearing is believing.

 

Having said that, please take AmpTweaker's thoughts with a grain of salt. That sounded like a commercial straight from Kustom Amps. He has three posts, all on the topics of Kustom Amps.

 

I'm sure you're a great guy and the amp did sound good to me. But I stand by my comments as an UNBIASED player. That reverb sucks monkey arse. So if you are associated with Kustom, please take that feedback to the designers. I know James Brown is a good designer. I'm surprised that reverb circuit made it out the door.

 

And yes it's ugly. If an amp sounds GREAT, I don't care. If an amp sounds average, I start to care about aesthetics. Does Kustom really think they have marketing equity in their aesthetics? Can't say I've ever met anyone that really gets into that 50's Diner Booth look these days....

 

My .02 cents.

[The Boogie Man]

Originally posted by GreatestGains Well, people love to get opinions on the net to narrow their search. Yes, hearing is believing. Having said that, please take AmpTweaker's thoughts with a grain of salt. That sounded like a commercial straight from Kustom Amps. He has three posts, all on the topics of Kustom Amps. I'm sure you're a great guy and the amp did sound good to me. But I stand by my comments as an UNBIASED player. That reverb sucks monkey arse. So if you are associated with Kustom, please take that feedback to the designers. I know James Brown is a good designer. I'm surprised that reverb circuit made it out the door. And yes it's ugly. If an amp sounds GREAT, I don't care. If an amp sounds average, I start to care about aesthetics. Does Kustom really think they have marketing equity in their aesthetics? Can't say I've ever met anyone that really gets into that 50's Diner Booth look these days.... My .02 cents.

 

Point well taken.

 

It has great features.

 

I'm not buying the amp, for several reasons, reverb is the least one. My main reason is there are so many other amps I like better, and I don't want to buy something just to have it. I really use my equipment and care for it, and I don't need all the bells and whistles it offers like lighted channels and a volume boost control, I would seldom if ever use, I would rather have one that works well sounds good and is simple to use and if looks played a part I'd go for something else. I thinking another Fender or maybe a Traynor.

[AmpTweaker]

I think if you guys look at the postings I've been replying to you'll see that all I've been doing is answering some questions that folks have....not slamming any other products or arguing, just honoring requests for info...which I have:

"The Boogie Man Bump

Anymore info would helpful.

Thanks! "

 

These amps are so new that very few people have access to them yet, which is why so few respond to questions.

 

The reverb in the amp you tried may have a bad pan in it, or something. But I'll admit it's one of the few things I've heard negative comments about, but also just as many who love it.

 

Just trying to be helpful.....but you'll notice I always suggest people go try the amp before making a judgement. I would.

 

JB

[GreatestGains]

 

Originally posted by AmpTweaker I think if you guys look at the postings I've been replying to you'll see that all I've been doing is answering some questions that folks have....not slamming any other products or arguing, just honoring requests for info...which I have: "The Boogie Man Bump Anymore info would helpful. Thanks! " These amps are so new that very few people have access to them yet, which is why so few respond to questions. The reverb in the amp you tried may have a bad pan in it, or something. But I'll admit it's one of the few things I've heard negative comments about, but also just as many who love it. Just trying to be helpful.....but you'll notice I always suggest people go try the amp before making a judgement. I would. JB

 

 

Yes I'm sure and I understand the desire to do grassroots marketing via messageboards. It can actually be very powerful, especially when you identify yourself and how you're related to the company. There are many great contributors who do pimp there stuff on here. It works well when everyone is open and honest.

 

It's a good sounding amp, no doubt. I liked the tones.

[GreatestGains]

 

Originally posted by AmpTweaker I think if you guys look at the postings I've been replying to you'll see that all I've been doing is answering some questions that folks have....not slamming any other products or arguing, just honoring requests for info...which I have: "The Boogie Man Bump Anymore info would helpful. Thanks! " These amps are so new that very few people have access to them yet, which is why so few respond to questions. The reverb in the amp you tried may have a bad pan in it, or something. But I'll admit it's one of the few things I've heard negative comments about, but also just as many who love it. Just trying to be helpful.....but you'll notice I always suggest people go try the amp before making a judgement. I would. JB

 

 

Sorry, just noticed you signed that JB....So you are James Brown?! Cool to have you posting here. Again, I think that means alot to folks when they know where the info is coming from. If you can do for Kustom what you did for Peavey, we'll be seeing alot more of those on stage.

[The Boogie Man]

I really didn't want to start a brush fire, the fact is I liked almost everything about the amp, but I think I'm less impressed with it because of my own gut feelings, not the amp it's self. If I were 20 years younger I would fall in love with it and buy it for sure. As I reach the Ol' fart stage of life, I think simple is better than complex, since I play mostly old rock and jazz I don't need much, infact I've never in my 45 years of playing owned a channel switching amp, mostly I've used Fender Twins and Deluxes as my main amps. Yet, I would like a new amp with channel switching because of the variety of styles I play and about half the weight of my '75 Twin and about 30-50 watts tube powered.

To be honest the '36 seemed like a good contender and a good value.

 

It would be cool if AmpTweaker identified himself if he is a Kustom rep no matter if it's James or not.

 

Thanks to everyone for their honesty, let's jam.

[AmpTweaker]

You're right....it's tough to do an amp with the right blend of features and simplicity....I thought we kept it pretty simple, and yet included a few neat things that make it very gig-worthy, like the XLR out and the volume boost. I'm used to gigging with a 3-channel amp for solo boosts, but I thought this would be a simpler way to deal with that.

 

I also always hated clean channels because it was so hard to get the exact amount of break up...that's why we added a master to that channel, so you could get the small amp fat jazzy sound out of an amp at all volumes.

 

But I sure understand your point about how easy it is to get too complicated....and I appreciate the need to hear people's opinions of things like reverb circuits if they don't like them. I'm a strong believer in listening to the artists using the products.

 

I'm kind of new to this whole message-board thing, since we had people to deal with it where I was before. Just want to make sure the amps get a fair shot at being as popular as I think they will be....given a chance. We've got a handful of artists using them now, and several good reviews from the guitar mags, and can't keep them in stock, so I think we're off to a good start.

 

Thanks,

JB(James Brown)

[The Boogie Man]

+10:)

 

Thanks for your honesty and candor.

 

Really it's a nice amp and I hope you'll sell a ton of them, where can you buy a well made US amp for under $1000 with as much class and features.

 

P.S. You never know I may still buy it, I haven't seen anything I like better in the price range. *

[Redo]

I had some good playing time with the 36 and loved it (including the looks). I didn't really have the money to buy one, and my Kustom 200DFX is treating me well, but the amp is sweet nonetheless. Lots of life, lots and lots of life to the amp.

 

I didn't think the reverb was bad either.

 

The 36 is definatly on my future amp roadmap when I need a nice little 1x12 amp for recording. I hate recording from my half stack.

[The Boogie Man]

Originally posted by Redo I had some good playing time with the 36 and loved it (including the looks). I didn't really have the money to buy one, and my Kustom 200DFX is treating me well, but the amp is sweet nonetheless. Lots of life, lots and lots of life to the amp. I didn't think the reverb was bad either. The 36 is definatly on my future amp roadmap when I need a nice little 1x12 amp for recording. I hate recording from my half stack.

 

Yea me too! And thanks for your input.

 

I'll be checking it out again later this week. After checking out some new, Peavey, Crate, Traynor, Randall and Fenders, as well as some used higher end amps selling in the $500-600 price range, nothing I can find, I like better, which I think is weird, a Fender or used Marshall, or Mesa tube amp should suite me better but this is amp rocks. The amp is well built and sounds very good to me, and if you want to sit on your amp, well it's got a nice Tuck N' Roll seat attached , I guess it's really just part of Kustom's trade mark.