Cornford Harlequin Mk1 112 Combo

My amp was made in March 2002. Up until then I`ve always played Mesa Boogie ,in particular an original 70`s Mark 1 combo which is a great amp. What the Harlequin does for me is give me access to real power amp distortion at acceptable levels something which is not possible with the boogie without affecting the structural integrity of my house! I am into Santana and Srv and the Harlequin provides both these tone types easily.The amp has no channel switching but does have a "voice" switch which alters the tonal range of the amp from Fender to Boogie/Marshall. This amp is specifically aimed at home use and for recording and fits its design brief perfectly, thats not to say this is not a loud amp ,it is but not for anything but a smallish club/pub gig. But when you open everthing up full the sound is awesome with true saturation of the EL84 based power section and "pumping" thrown in for good measure. The touch and feel is superb.

I am using an American Strat Deluxe with Fender Noiseless pickups which is versatile enough for most styles of music. The Harlequin is also a very good jazz amp with bucket loads of mellowness if required.Obviously there will be some noise at extreme gain settings but I dont know of any other amp that isn`t. On the "Lo" input channel thins stay pretty clean up to about position 5 on the chicken headed volume control. After 5 things start to warm up very quickly provding plenty of scope for high octane blues styles

At the time of writing I have only had the amp for a week or so therefore I can`t comment on reliabilty but this is a high quality hand made amp with point to point wiring within the chassis and bomb proof construction. I dont have any reason to doubt its longevity.

I haven`t dealt with the company yet but a friend of mine owns the Huricane which is big brother to the Harlequin and has found the company very helpful and approachable.

I have been playing for some 20 plus years and have owned a few amps ,this amp gives me all the sounds I want but what I like most is being able to crank it up within the confines of a house and acheive authentic power section tone, which is a rare privelidge! Cornford also provide a promotional CD which lets you listen to various guitar players using there products which I consider to be very helpfull for potential customers.

one channel no-nonsence 6-watt amp.
hand build, point to point wired. Build in feb. 2000.
I gave it not a 10, because I wish sometimes it has reverb.
for other features see the other reviews.

Sounds perfect to my ears. I use it with a U.S. '62RI Strat, '52RI Tele, and a Godin Radiator, and they all sound very well. The amp is perfect for home or studio. one channel, from claan to very dirty, and it does it all very very good.
The amp is very quiet also.

I own it just 3 weeks, no problems sofar.

very good, I mail them for some questions, the next day a had a very good answer.

hand build, and for half the price you pay for a Kendrick/Victoria/etc.
Fantastic!!!

Buit in July 2001. Number 201. After playing around with umpteen different small amps over a period of 37 years, I finally found one that could achieve the sound(s) I've been chasing, and does it with a minimum of fuss! The layout couldn't be simpler, with one control each of Master Volume, Volume, Treble and Bass, plus a voicing switch, and Hi & Low channel switching. No effects loop, no headphone Jack, but hey, this is designed as a recording amp, so who needs them? 6 Watts of pure Class A, with a gain that comes on very smoothly via the Volume switch. As I like to play a lot of the old "Shadows"-type material,and a bit of fingerstyle "Knopfleresque" stuff, it suits me down to the ground. I wanted it purely for home use, as Japanese neighbours are VERY close,and neighbourhoods VERY quiet! This does the job perfectly, and with a beautiful range of tones. Of course, being a British designer amp, it is a full-tube system, with in this case, a superb wiring job that's capped off with a lovely Celestion Vintage 12" speaker.

My main guitars through it are two different Strat- type designs. A John Suhr Classic, with Suhr's V60's single-coil pickups, and a self-built Warmoth Strat with Chris Kinman's AV-n Traditional pickups. It also sounds very sweet with a slight volume/gain increase, through my PRS Custom 22. As both of the "Strat" guitars have EXTREMELY quiet pickups, and this amp is also very quiet, the word I guess is QUIET!! As far as range of tones is concerned, I'm not into heavy rock, but when I have cranked up the volume to dabble in that "Money for Nothing" kind of thing, it is as smooth as a baby's butt. It does get nastier,but doesn't dissolve into that horrible, abrasive sound that you come to expect of low power amps! At high volumes, that wonderful,warm elusive tone most(Blues) players can here buzzing around in their heads somewhere, becomes apparent. It's lovely and throaty, but still remarkably defined. Simply lovely.

Having had it long enough to know, but it's a solid pine box, with dovetailed corners, (steel-capped) and a steel(?) mesh speaker cover, so from that aspect, looks pretty durable.

Three E-mail requests, all answered the following day. No complaints at this stage. The two Tokyo shops I discovered selling them were both very knowledgeable about the product, so that inspired a bit of confidence if any thing should go amiss. (A long way, Tokyo to Kent, England!)

Many years later, I've tried a few different thing. (understatement!) Apart from the above mentioned gear, I have a Parker Fly Deluxe, 2 (modified) Steinberger Spirits, a Rick 325 V63 and a few acoustics. This amp replaced a Fender '65 Deluxe Reverb.(too loud!) I'd buy one of these again in a flash! There's nothing quite like it. It doesn't sound quite like anything else, but it's got most of the important tones covered. It could do with a reverb, (MkII ?) but it is a recording amp after all. Use your effects! If you're looking for the greatest echo/delay pedal around for the price, try one of Carl Martin's DeLayla's. But hurry, they're a limited edition. Simply gorgeous for the price.

think mine is a '97. This amp is basic in features with one channel, no effects loop no headphone or line out, but hay if you want all that take you cash elsewhere, this is not the amp for you. Anyone who expects these features on this amp has missed the point. this is designed to give you a valve amp pushed to the limit, but at a volume that is less likly to get you arrested then you 100W Plexi.its main use is for recording, so no need for an FX loop cos you'd add the Fx in the mix. What it does do is give you a good array of top tone(further expanded but the voice switch, with either redueces the mids and ups the treble for a Fenderish tone or boosts the mids for a more british sound).

I've found that this amp works best for me with humbuckers rather than single coils. it goes from clean(with a lillte bit of edge) to full fat saturated and every stop in between.If you want to use it more as a 2 channel amp try driving the front end with a good distortion or over drive pedle ( at present i'm using a marshall bluesbraker 2) for cleaner sounds keep the volume lowish and turn up the master( i"ve found that the amp really gets going with the vol about 5.5 to 6 anything below is a bit mushy. for more gain drop the master and up the vol. but the main thing is IT JUST SOUNDS GREAT. The only thing i can say is that is make me sound like me(some of you will understand thta)

no problems so far(other that a blown fuse)

cornfords web site is really good, even surgesting settings to get certain sounds and if you e-mail them they reply.Met paul cornford at music live in B'ham. Top bloke and really helpful and ethusiasic

10!!!!!!!(no actually 11!!!!!)

I'm using my Harlequin for a CD project. I am using a 1977 Fender Stratocaster and 1998 Les Paul Standard Plus to get a variety of sounds from a shimmering, bright clean sound to thick'n'creamy distorted lead. The Harlequin is miked up with a condenser microphone up against the grill into a Digital Tascam 8 track.

It is beautifully simple! Hi & lo inputs (single channel), voice control (wide/narrow frequency), bass, treble, gain & master and on-off switch - that's it. Everything works and it is easy to get almost any sound imaginable. There are just 6 watts of power and 3 valves...but that allows you to run it flat out to get the most awesome sound!

It is sold as a recording amp and that's what it is.

With the Strat, there are plenty of clean sounds available before overdriving. It does the lot from Police/Andy Summers biting chops to Dave Gilmour/Robin Trower tones - the neck pick up sounds great - fat but clear. Turn the gain up with master down and you get a thin overdrive-pedal sound but crank up the master and you're away - it's Hendrix, Stevie, Gilmour - whatever you want. Picked chords with or without effects (I use Boss chorus & delay plus a Bud-wah) really delivers.

Then plug in the Les Paul - not much clean available - you start with a nice clean bluesy tone - sort of Clapton in John Mayall. Keep turning it up and you're into Jimmy Page. Expressive, bags of sustain and warmth but clear and bright at the bridge and warm and deliciously mellow at the neck. Go on..the neighbours are out...go all the way...wonderful feedback - its Jeff Beck on Wired on the bridge but flick to the neck and you're Gary Moore - incredible power & sustain - smooth & creamy with a clear edge. Turn on the wah...words can't describe....clean underpants time I'm afraid.

It's new but it is spot-on. The quality of the sockets and pots is superb. The cabinet construction is very sound. The Celestion Vintage 30 12" speaker is there for life. The wiring looks clean and tidy. I'm expecting good service from this one.

Cornford offered very good service in my limited dealings with the company with honest estimates of delivery time etc. No problem.

I got the Harlequin from Chandler Guitars in Kew, England. No problem with service there either.

I have been playing for about 20 years in total but didn't do much for 10 of the 20. This is the best sounding amp I have heard. For loud stuff I use an old 80's Sessionette 75 which is great but not as meltingly beautiful as the Cornford. If I decide to do more live work, I will consider the 20 watt Hurricane or the 50 watt head.

Cosmetically, it works too. Very "English" looking, about AC30 size, covered with Ox blood (I think) vinyl. I love the lack of controls too - in fact, I would have been happy with fewer - gain, master, tone and voice would do me!

Another thing - it runs extremely quietly even with a late 70's Strat which is fantastic for recording. The Mesa Boogie Subway Rocket is far from quiet which is why I didn't buy that.

Made in October 2001, in fact the vinyl covering was added the day it was shipped to me direct from the factory ! This is a single channel 1x12 6W All Valve Combo, designed for *tone* at bedroom / studio levels. rating of 7 because the amp is designed to be minimalistic.

Using a Fender Strat (2001) and a Gibson LP Studio (2000), play mainly rock and blues and also some heavy metal. This amp sounds great for any of the above styles of music. Occasionally I will put a Boss Metalzone in front of it for modern metal stuff, but most of the time I just plug in and go. It appears to have a lot of gain just by plugging straight in. This amp sounds superb.

Reliable so far, very well build. Not really designed for gigging because of the 6W output, but could easily take the abuse I reckon. I would mic it up to a PA if I were to do any gigs.

Made by a small company here in the UK, ring 'em up, speak to the owner / designer. Very friendly.

I gave up my Zoom GFX-8 and Laney Amp for this and I have never been happier. I would buy another in an instant if stolen. There isnt much to compare to it as most quality amps have much higher output and are not suitable for the house. Ideally it would have a reverb and a headphone socket, given the market it is aimed at.

Ok this is an update of my first review.

It has been 1 year now and i still only use this amp. I have replaced the supplied electroharmonix tubes with high gain german discontinued tubes supplied by www.watford-valves.co.uk.

Changed the sound slightly, and made the tone switch sound a little sweeter in the up position. However it still makes the amp a little un-versitle with only a mid cut or flat // slight boost. The mid centre frequncy is a little "low" and i would still prefer a mid tone control.

However the sound is still unbeatable!

Replaced my old guitars with a Gibson Explorer.

Imediate change in sound from the massive output of the bridge pickup, really pushes the amp at full pre-amp gain and sounds great. Any lvl of crunch to distortion is possible with just rolling the volume pot of the guitar when at full gain. Note i normally play with over 50% on the main volume as well, so pretty loud, and a bit of power stage clipping to boost distortion and sustain.

Going back to a low pre-amp gain the tone is able to produce a thick sustaining tone, however the tone is marred slightly by the "two sounds" of the mid switch, and i usually like to use some form of EQ to balance out the mid freqs, usually with a samll amount of compression.

This could be an issue with the EQ curve of the Bridge pickup, but i have tried adjusting the pole peices to compensate, with only a slight improvment.

Hasn't even looked like breaking down dispite a good 2 hours trashing everyday, speaker is well worn in now and sounds even better!

Since it is a personal service you can speak to the biulder direct, who is very friendly. I asked him about the voice switch and suggested that he could specify some compnent changes to change the mid centre frequency if i wanted, based on a frequency response i recorded at work. So very helpful at a technical level.

I still haven't found a better product for my personal needs which are primarilly low volume. I rarely use any form of external distortion pedal, only my tube king in extreme moderation for EQing on lead for extra cut and level

This is a hand made, personal number 106, all true pine-wood cabinet
Class A recording 6W combo with 12" vintage Celestion speaker.
It has only two inputs (Hi,LO) , volume, bass, treble and GAIN but it's the best
small combo in the world, for sure - when it comes to the tone ... or rather THE Tone !

This combo sounds DIVINE and all I can say is:
write to me for more details but the tone is 10.

It has some 50Hz hum, yet you do not hear that when playing.

The distortion goes from clean to Santana singing.

All hand made - very reliable.

Paul Cornford replies to me personally.

This is hand made all pine wood cabinet combo
for true professionals: the best in the world.

I play since 1960 and have tried EVERYTHING: this is the best.
I also ave Fender Prosonic all tube combo, Roland VG-88, GR-33
and Laney tube combos - this is total Nirvana tube amp: buy one.

The Harlequin Mk1 is a all tube 6 Watt Class A Combo, it is totally hand made with point to point wiring throughout, so it can be classified as a botique amp. Mine was made late 2000 and is s/n 104. I have been using it for 2 months.
Features:
Hi and Low input jacks, for different levels of pre-amp distortion
Volume, which controls the gain on the two 12AX7's in the preamp stage
Eq, Bass and Treble controls, after the preamp stage, like Marshalls, and a voice switch, which makes the overall sound brighter.
Master, controls the overall volume, mine never leaves ten, even at home. Single channel,no headphone,effects loop or reverb ,this was designed for home recording.
This combo features a 12" Celestion vintage 30 speaker connected to the amp by an a standard guitar style connector, so connection to an external cabinet is possible.
This combo is large, just smaller than a AC30, made of solid pine,half-solid back and finished in a dark purple.

The main purpose of this amp is to crank it up loud and enjoy. Sounds range from the elusive "brown tone" that only power stage saturation cna give to full on everything on max which will pull an VOX / JMP 45 sound easiliy and more.

It gets a 7 as it is designed to have very little features

I use a heavily modified early 80's Squire Strat (Japanese Made), with Vintage single-coil pickups, and an Epiphone Les Paul Custom with Di-Mazio Air Norton in the Neck and Pearly Gates in the Bridge.
I use the Start for my Blues tone, neck pickup. This amp is very easy to use, turn the master all the way up, then adjust the pre-amp for the desired level of overdrive, adjust tone etc. This amp was made for this sound, and i have not heard better it this size of amp. Not every one can have 45 watt JMP running flat out or even an AC30.
For a basic overdrive to distortion, I use the Les Paul straight in and re-adjust. For a more modern sound eg Mettallica / Nu-Metal Stuff I use either my re-issue Big Muff or the Tk-999 Tube King on Max Gain. This saturates the pre-amp stage more the the gain control on the amp, the result is nothing short of wall melting. If I want more there is always the Mesa Boogie V-Twin Pedal Or the new Soldano Pedal.

Of course, with the pre-amp gain down and using the low input the most beatiful clean tone can be achieved, some times it can be to clean with the Strat though.
The main problem with all the other amps I have owned(JMP MKII 100W head and 4x12, Laney LC15R), is that the power stage is not even beginning to saturate at low volumes, this leaves the pre-amp tubes at low vloume which gives them a very thin scratchy sound. When I go to see live bands, Like the samshing pumpkins, they use the same stuff but it is running flat out, and the sound is meaty and full. The main difference is power stage saturation!
The Harlequin allows this at room volumes because it is only 6 Watts which is approximently 10x quieter!

Overall a great sounding amp

This amp was not really designed for gigging but is built to an amazing quality, you would not hear it over a live drummer, it would require a PA. No trouble with the amp so far, but it is just wearing in

The company is a small operation based in England, contacting them on the phone they were very friendly, and the next was delivered the very next day.

I have so far had no complaints with the amp

I have been playing for about 4 years, and have been waiting for a product like this to come along to sort out the guitar market. When will they relise that nearly all guitarists require a low powered amp for practice, but they do not want to sacrifice tone. I have wasted a lot of money over the years trying to achieve a good "bedroom" sound, using every different method, from 100W heads with power breaks, but this deosnot work, even 15W was to loud for me. All the main stream Amp companies like Fender and Marshall, should stop wasting thier money on Value fake sounds, and make cheap low watt high quality amps, then they would make a killing!

This amp was expensive but it is still cheaper than many of the botique amps made in america such as Dr Z and Matchless, I would buy another one in an instant!

review at www.sospubs.co.uk
homepage www.cornford-amps.co.uk