Cornford Harlequin Mk1 112 Combo

Mine is made in 2007, bought directly from Spanish dealer, Master Guitar. Excellent customer support, and very friendly people.

You know the features: one channel, gain, bass, treble, master and voice switch (more, less mids). One 12" Celestion Vintage 30. Hand-built, point-to-point wired.

I use it to play at home, and it's versatile enough for the styles I play: rock, pop, blues, alt rock... The power is enough to use it at home without disturbing the neighbours.

I don't miss any feature about this amp because it has such an incredible sound that you only think about playing more and more when you switch on.

I use a Fender American Telecaster with Dimarzio Twang King pickups, Fender American Stratocaster with Kinman Woodstock Plus pickups with K9 switching system, G&L Legacy HB (Seymour Duncan JB4 at the bridge position and G&L alnico single coils at middle and neck positions), and a Gibson Les Paul Studio.

This amp has a creamy, organic, touch-sensitive overdrive sound that makes me play for hours, just play and play, it's so beautiful the overdrive it makes... the clean sounds are good, but the amp really shines in the overdrive section. This is a rock amp, it has one of the best overdrive sounds that I have ever listened, if not the best. The voice switch helps to get more sounds.

Comparing it with the Bad Cat Mini Cat II that I also own, they have very different sound. The Cornford has a bigger cabinet and that makes the sound more bassy. It has much more distortion that the Mini Cat, it gets awesome rock sounds, it's a rock amp. The Bad Cat has chimey highs, beautiful clean tones that the Harlequin just don't get, and a light overdrive open sound perfect for pop chords, alt rock, blues, 70's rock. I enjoy having the two because they have different sounds that complement each other.

The amp isn't noisy. When you crank the gain all the way up there's the normal hiss you spect in that situation in an all tube amp like this, nothing to worry about.

I recently wrote a review about my Bad Cat and I said that the Cornford was more noisy than the Mini Cat II, but a tube change has solved the problem! Now the two are absolutely quiet.

The amp works perfectly and it's built like a tank. It's very beautiful, too.

Everyone at Master Guitar, the spanish dealer, has answered all of my emails and phone calls helpfully and friendly. It's a pleasure to treat with them.

Ive got over 15 years of playing in. I also own a Bad Cat Mini Cat II and a Mesa/Boogie Rectoverb series 2 head with a 4x12 Harley Benton cabinet with Celestion Vintage 30.

If it were stolen I'd buy another one inmediately. I think this amp is even cheap for the sound it produces.

The Harlequin is a single-channel Class ???A??? all-valve amplifier, rating at six watts.
There are basic potentiometer controls for gain, volume, high & low for EQ only. There is a small micro-switch labelled ???voice??? for a filter circuit. This appears to increase the EQ resonance.
The construction is non-PCB design and is hand wired featuring custom built transformers. The enclosure is open-backed, and cabinet made from solid pine.
There are inputs for high and low gain options.
It has no facility for headphones, FX loop or line out. There is no integral FX or means to store any presets. Two channels would add much needed flexibility (hence the rating), but for a studio amp it is fine.

My playing style falls somewhere into the category if jazz/funk. I like to use clean and driven sounds without effects. I record a lot of material too.
Harlequin makes the guitar responsive and dynamic to playing styles. The tonal response is very sensitive, despite the minimal interface. I use a Les Paul and have recorded the amp using a condenser microphone. The results have been very impressive. The harmonic nuances have a warm, glassy tone and as I mentioned before, the EQ responds to produce every colour needed.
Winding the gain up generates toasty, harmonically-rich distortions. This amp will give Marshall, Vox or Fender tones. The advantage of having a low wattage means it can be pushed hard without deafening volumes. It is extremely quiet, no humming or hiss when using clean settings, but does hiss when the gain is at a high setting. It is so quiet that it can be left on by accident.
The large cabinet design lends to the open-timbre of the amp, so it doesn???t need reverb to augment the sound quality.
For live use, mic???ing up would be necessary unless the venue is very small, and the drummer isn???t too loud. External effects would be necessary, pending on your musical style, as there is only one channel.

The build quality appears to be solid, though when hot the rear baffle board swelled causing an irritating buzz as it vibrated against the rear of the amplifier chassis when I drove it hard for a bit using a LP. It hasn't broken down, but is only a year old.

I found Cornford pleasant to deal with. On collection, the designer found time to discuss the issues with the amplifier, and the buzz was remedied.

I find the Harlequin an inspiration to play. It is resonant, warm and responsive to my playing.
It doesn???t sound like a small amp at any volume. It is easy to find a tone you???ll really like. It is an expensive amp compared to standard valve kit like Peavey, Marshall & Fender. It is relatively cheap in comparison to boutique amps like Victoria, Matchless etc. It features a plethora of tonal ranges that are easy to dial in, and will not slowly drive you mad through continuous internal hiss or hum. It replaced my old AC30 that was never plugged in as the internal noise could only be remedied by volume increase. It was virtually useless for studio work! Shame the Harlequin only one channel though!

Few features on this for obvious reason. Those few features work exceptionally well (tone via the bass and treble knobs and tone via the top boost switch). Low-wattage Class A guitar amp in a normal (600cm cab) that avoids the sort of boxiness other boutique class-A British amplifiers seem to have.

I play a 95' US Tele (standard), a 79' Gibson Les Paul Deluxe, a Burns Steer and an Epi SG. I record, refuse to gig and engineer my own and other bands tunes in a home studio set-up (without an ounce of acoustic foam). For 15 years I have loathed valve guitar amps prefering my trusty JC120 but years later I have found the perfect solution.

It hums with the gain/volume turned up but the thing screams and hum isn't a problem whilst recording (thresholds/gates).

Loads of different sounds come out of this fantastic box. My guitars have a new tone and combining this amp with an Electro Harmonix Black Finger (criminally noisy) create the darkest clean tones and the nastiest dirt I've heard in years.

Too soon to judge how reliable it's going to be. I took the back off and had a look at the wiring and it looks like a 1950's television. Overall construction is neat and tough. Might play with the valves. That said, I'll probably leave it just as it is.

I'd gig with it if it was mic'd up and the P.A. was up to it....if I ever did another gig.

It took a long time to arrive but sometimes you have to wait. feels solid and I'm not anticipating probs.

I would buy another if it was stolen. Truly fantastic tone for my needs (tonnes of variance) and truly inspiring just to sit and play through and I cannot find anything negative to say about it so far.

Not sure when it was manufactured but I bought mine in early 2004 from Vintage and Rare Guitars in London - so have had it for for nearly 2 yrs. The features and specifications are well covered by previous reviews.

It's a great sounding amp but you have to push it to get the desired valve/speaker dynamics and sensitivity, which is what this amp is all about. Home practice volume levels just don't cut it in my opinion, unless your family/neighbours are very tolerant. I gig this amp - it is loud for 6 watts - but I do drop a SM 57 in front of it for the PA. Works well. I mostly control my clean(ish) and distortion sounds via the traditional method - the guitar volume knob - but also use a Rat pedal to add a little edge, especially when I want to emphasize harmonics. In addition I use a Carl Martin deLayla for delay and a Boss EQ 20 pedal to add a bit of sparkle, as well as cut and boost to taste.

It's very well made and has been totally reliable so far. I expect years of trouble free service from it.

Not required so haven't bothered.

I enjoy the Harlequin. It has it's own voice which is good enough for most rock and roll but it must be cranked to bring it alive, which makes it too loud for home use despite it's 6 watts. Pity. Is it the holy grail of sweet valvey guitar tones as others here have alluded to? I'm not sure, but it does what is says on the tin, sounds good and offers the buyer good value. I'm keeping mine.

Its got volume, voice(affects tones),bass, treble, master volume and high and low inputs. Its very simple its very sweet.It doesnt have a ton of features but you dont need anything else. In fact you dont need pedals or anything other a guitar and a lead.

The amp sounds beautiful, clean its lovely and smooth (brown sounding) not fender more clean marshall (sorry cornford). Its ramps up through crunch to fabulous smooth overdrives. What sustain what sounds,Im very impressed and at reasonable volumes the amp is 6 watts sounds you can crank it up without bursting your eardrums

To new to say but have heard of no problems from other users

You can contact the amp designer direct, brilliant. Though I havent needed to,.

Ive been playing 20 years use les pauls strats and prs
all sound great thorugh this little beast it sounds as good as it looks in its oxblood red vinyl coat.
It is a boutique amp at an every day price.

high and a low input, EQ, 1x vintage 30, 1x ECC83, 1x EL84, bout it really, very simple. oh and an output jack so you can connect it to a cab.

I wasn't overly amazed with the amp, clean seemed pretty sterile. The distortion wasn't that great ether, infact nobody at the studio liked the amp ether. I give it about a 3 the price no way justified the price. I think if you got rid of the Vintage 30 and put a greenback in there the amp would have been a lot nicer and have broken up earlier. Sounds boxy, not very smooth

Maybe a just got a bad one, everey body I asked didn't like the sound. I think on a whole would have been greatly imrpoved with a greenback.

I bought it new in 2004.
Its got all the features I want.
I was looking for good sounds at reasonable volumes.
I use it only at home, although it would probably be ok for a small rehersal with a quiet band. It sounds surprisingly Loud for just 6 watts.

It sounds great. Amazing tone. Quite dark sounding. The single channel produces warm and rounded cleans with the volume of the guitar down, and fat overdrive when you roll it up a bit. My harly came with Electro~Harmonics pre~amp valves which sounded good, but after about 6 months of use one of them became microphonic. I replaced the valve with a chinese 12AX7 which really surprised me and actually improved the sound of my harly. Its got a Sovtec EL84, which came as standard. It is easy to get the sweet singing sounds as this valve is pushed, no need for reverb as the sound is very sweet and sustaining.

It has never had a problem.

Paul Cornford has emailed me personally with answers to my questions.

I have been playing for about 11 years. I use a Gibson Les Paul or Fender Strat. I do rock type stuff, and this amp can do just about all of it.
I use a JCM900 for live, and the Harly is for home practice.
It is an inspiring amp to play through and it gets me on my guitar more. My playing has improved since I got this amp.

As others described below

I want to strongly emphasize that my unit sounded VERY BOXY
and I had to sell it. I hope it was just my unit yet you better verify.

VERY BOXY sounding box - contrary to what they claimed.

I just hope it was only my unit that I had to sell.

Old style metal grill front. Built November 2000. Serial number is 100 and something (would have to take the back off again to see it). Purchased second hand November 2004. 6W all valve. Celestion Vintage 30 speaker.

Features is tricky as there's not a great many feautes but that's the point of the amp - keep it simple. Amp does what it sets out to do so has all the feature it needs. Wish it had reverb but I want that then I guess I should shell out some more #'s and get the Hurricane.

Appart from the gain, treble, bass and master knobs there a "Voice" switch. This is supposed to change the frequency at which the tone controls opperate. To me it sounds like it boost the treble and cuts the mid/bass.

I prefer the new cloth front to the old metal grill but the amp was cheap second hand so can't complain.

Having read reviews of this amp I went into Vintage & Rare Guitars in London to try one out. The sound was amazing on all settings - clean, just breaking up and balls to the wall. You name it it sounded good. This was the most responsive amp I'd ever tried. You can really control how it sounds by the way you hit the strings. Set it to just breaking up and hit one string and it's clean. Hit 2 and the extra output produces overdrive. I needed one of these amps.

Having got brought one it still sounded good but not perfect. Everything sounded great but could have been slightly better. So I started swapping round the valves. The amp ships with cheap Sovtek's 2 X 12AX7A's and 1 Sovtek EL84. I started pulling the valves from other amps to see what difference it would make.

1st up Sovtek 12AX7B's. These are supposed to be better that the 7A's but I couldn't tell the difference.

Next Electro Harmonix 12AX7EH said to be good with high gain amps. With these the distortion sounded a bit thicker clean a bit clearer so they stayed in.

Next up a used Mullard EL84 rated at 70% emissions. With this it sound more chunky. With the Sovtek EL84 it sounded as bit too smooth the old Mullard added more depth to it.

With the Electro Harmonix pre and Mullard power I was happy. The amp sounded great but having seen the difference the Mullard made I wanted to try Mullard pre amp valves. The problem here is they stopped making them in the 80's.

After much searching and wondering if I should spend more money I found someone selling Mullard ECC83's (ie 12AX7's) for #30 each. Figuring I'd never know what I was missing I shelled out for 2 NOS (New Old Stock) UK made Mullard ECC83's and a Foreign Mullard EL84.

In went the NOS 1962 Mullard ECC83's and on went the amp. The difference was like a filter bloking some of the frequencies had been removed. The amp sounded truly amazing. It sounded good before but with the Mullards it's hard to think how it could sound better. Every sound setting sounded fuller.

Seeing as the old pre amp valves had made such a difference I was wondering what the NOS foreign Mullard EL84 would add. Well, it didn't sound as good as the used Mullard. With it the sound was lacking something. Looking at the valves their internal construction was different. Perhaps the foreign Mullard had been made by someone else and badged Mullard? Perhaps you can't beat British Mullards?

With the original valves. A US Fender Strat sounded great clean but a bit thin and lost when distorted. A Gibson Les Paul sounded good on all setting, but perhaps a muffled sounding. Best guitar for the amp was an Epiphonne Sheraton with Seymour Duncan Seth Lover pickups which always sounded good.

With the Mullards pre valves everything soundes better. The Strat's distored sound is a huge improvement. I'd now say they the guitars sound fantastic not just the 335 copy. Combined with old Mullards this amp is sounds fantastic.

One last comment. If you want an idea of what the amp sounds like listen to the sound clips on the Cornford web site. The amp does sound like those clips when cranked up but all the clips have the same type of sound. There's no examples of clean or just breaking up and so clips don't do it justice.

No problems in the 4 months I've had it. With everything turned up to 10 it buzzes a bit you wont hear it when you play.

Having looked inside everything looks well made and very simple so I don't expect any problems.

Haven't tried to talk to them.

Have been playing for 25 years and was gigging for 15. I only play at home now for my own amusement. When I way younger and gigged I had no money so get by with what I had - Squier JV guitar, Marshall JCM 800 and Marshall 70's 4 x 12 (Worth alot these days but they were cheap at the time). Now I'm not so young, don't gig but have the cash.

I was after a low watage valve amp to use at home. Money was not really a problem but I'd rather keep hold of the cash. Before I tried the Cornford tried an Ashdown Peacemaker (souded raspy). Then a Mesa Boogie Lone Star (great amp but too loud). Then the Cornford. After the Cornford I stopped looking.

I've still got my old Fender Bassman 135 and JCM 800 and various cabs. I had thought the Fender had the better clean sound but having compared them again I was wrong. The Cornford has the better clean sound. The JCM 800 is a good amp but it a super lead (ie not a master volume) so too loud to use in the house. At home sound levels the Cornford knocks spots of those 2 amps for the depth and clarity of the sound.

If you have one of these amps you owe it to yourself to try it with some old British Mullards. When I 1st put them in it was like the scene in the Blues Brother when he see the light. This is the amp (and valves) I've always been looking for.

If it were lost I'd gladly buy another. If/when the Mullards blow I'll look for some more. If I were to start gigging again I'd seriously start looking at the bigger Cornfords.

If your like me - have got the cash to buy good gear but only play in the house - then try this amp and try those old valves. My only problem is I'll never have to go amp shopping ever again. :)

No rating for this category - it doesn't make sense. If you're spending #600 on it, you know why already.
1x12 (Celestion V30), reasonably sized combo, 6 watts with 1 EL84 and two ECC83s. No loops, reverb and so on to mess about with - if you're after that then this amp will disappoint.
You're not going to be using this for playing shows, but I suppose it might just be enough for mic'd gig as a stage monitor.

The Cornfords have a warm and fat overdrive that makes your guitar easier to play. There are a range of sounds to be had over the dials, making it versatile in so far as any sound you're after can generally be had by knob tweaking, but only one at a time...
It isn't totally quiet with the gain up high, but the electricity supply in my house is questionable - I'd hope it would be quiet with properly filtered AC.
The cleans are good and various, with the favoured option being keeping the preamp gain down low and winding the master up high. The V30 isn't the best speaker for clean sounds, though, and occasionally things can sound a touch square. It's not so well voiced for cleans with humbuckers, as you have to keep the gain down so low you lose a bit of life, but you can get some wonderful hot strat type lead sounds with the gain around midway.
The flat out drive sounds are what they were aiming at when they designed this, though. Singing, growling or howling, it's good. Very good indeed - though I don't notice much change in the voice over the last third of the gain control's travel, so perhaps a lower gain valve might be worth a crack.

It does sound great, and any complaints are largely to do with the fact that the designers can't envisage every possible guitar, or at least they can't design for every possible guitar!

It's sturdy and well build, and I wouldn't expect any failures, but it won't get the sort of road tests that some other amps do.

Contrary to what has been said in reviews of some other Cornfords, these boys do answer emails, even inane ones like 'can I get a Harlequin with a Celestion Blue?'.
I think this lot stand by their product, and I have a feeling that they'd be as disappointed as anyone if they felt the service was below par.

For what it does, this is a great amp.
Unlike other single ended valve amps on the market it has:
12" speaker, decent size cabinet, preamp and master volumes, two tone controls, the voice switch, and a range of lower and higher gain voices - find me another amp in the <10 watt range with real range in the overdrive sounds like this, and I'll probably buy that too.