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.

I bought this amp a year ago new on the back of several glowing reviews both here and elsewhere and it is used exclusively for messing around at home. Enough has been said about the amps feature set although I must stress that in my opinion (and for my requirements) the feature set is spot on. No messing around just dial it in. If you looking for bags of knobs to play with don't look here - if its bags of tone you're after however.... Not really a gigging amp for obvious reasons as there's precious clean headroom but its advertised a recording amp and it does that to perfection. My score merely relects that it is a simple amp.

I play a variety of styles and guitars from Jazz to Rock. The Harlquin handles all of it with ease and is breathtaking. I still constantly find myself grinning after playing for a while - it simply sounds fantastic. A couple of words of caution here though. The amp is incredibly touch sensitive and responds to the subtle nuances of your playing - its a very revealing sound and if you're not used to playing through something like this it takes a while to get used to. Ultimately it makes you play better though and the dynamics are fantastic once you've cracked it. Potential users should also bear in mind that some of the sounds on Cornford's web site are not representitve of the amp in use when playing normally i.e. not recording it. All of these have the amp miked for recording and acoustic processing of the sound is at the desk. The nature of the amps design means that if you want any reverb or delay whilst practicing they have to be placed in front of the preamp (no loop). Clean amp sounds are no problem but the dirty you get the more compression takes place and it becomes very difficult to achieve acceptable processor levels. This is no criticism of the amp but you should be aware of it. I have actually purchased an isolation cabinet so that I can have it constantly miked, processed and listen through my monitors. Oh and by the way it is incredibly loud for 6 watts - I can't imagine that anyone can have this thing at full chat at home - unfortunately it works best at full! Another reason for the isocab purchase.

Solid as a rock

Cornford have this one cracked as well. Spoke to Paul a few times and emailed when I have had questions - superb service

I have playedguitar for 24 years now and it is one of the best purchases I have made. I'd definately buy another if I lost it.
From a value perspective the amp isn't cheap but what price would you pay for perfection?

WARNING!!!! This is a very special review which is intended to give an idea of what's possible with such a combo. It's not intended to suggest to people to do the modifications I did to mine. I COMPLETELY REBUILT IT!!!!
I'm an international student studying in the UK and living in university halls. The Harlequin was therefore the perfect choice for me as I love tube tone. I hate all those digital crap out there, it's just plain bullshit!!!
Ok, you should know all the specs by now. All tube. High and Low inputs. Volume (2 stage gain), Voice Switch (makes it very versatile), Bass, Teble, Master, On/Off Switch. What else do you need?!?!?!? Comes with Russian Sovteks tubes (more on that later). Quite a big combo for it's power rating. Bigger than a Boogie Mk1. Comes with a Celestion 12" Vintage 30.
I was affraid that the amp might not be very versatile since it doesn't have a Middle control, but the Voice Switch makesit very very versatile. And with an amp of this quality, it's all down to your ability to play, your pick attack and the guitar you use!
If you sound bad through it, blame it on you, not the amp!!!

OK, the interresting part now.
This is a very neatly built amplifier. First class craftmanship at every level. Being a plugg-in and play amp, you either connect with it or not. I loved it. I must also add that it sounds much better with humbuckers (i have a Les Paul and a PRS Custom 22. Both sounds AWESOME through it). I really think that a strat doesn't sound 'right' throught it. It's a very Dark sounding beast.
I must also add that I didn't like the tubes it came with. Sovteks are good in average quality amps, not in such a high class one!!! They sound way too cold and don't have that very sought after lower-midd sweetness. I replaced them with Harma Diamonds (the best tubes available, apart from the NOS ones, which can be very unreliable). After the revalving, the amp really came to life. It's ABSOLUTELY KILLER now!!!! If you want to read more about the tone, just read the other reviews.
Now to the reason why I wanted to submit this review!!!
Being an international student, I go home quite often during the holidays. The problem with that is that I can't carry the Cornford with me all the time. The solution: take only the chassis of the amps, build a 'head' for it at home, and build my own speaker cabinet!!!! INSANE isn't it? Did it work?!?! HELL YEAH!!!!!
I basically took only the chassis home with me. Incorporated it in a head built by me out of some exotic wood. It looks abolutely killer now. It does really look like a boutique head!!! I'm very proud of it. It's really not hard to do. It's kind of a plugg it in! And when I come back in the UK, I just take the chassis with me and put it back into the combo!!! As simple as that!!!
The head is really easy to build, you just need some skills at working with wood. The tricky part was the cabinet!! As you must have heard, the cabinet add greatly to the overall tone of an amp!!! If it's not built properly, it won't sound good!!! When building mine, I wanted to experiment a bit. The Harlequin comes with a Vintage 30, which sounds really nice, but I wanted to try the DR Z trick. I built a 2 X 12" cab out of solid pine. It's a half open back. Did some research for the dimensions, and just tried my luck!!! I fitted one Vintage 30 and a G12H. Plugging everything together, flipping the On switch.... UNBELIEVABLE!!!!!!! The Harlequin seems twice as loud with 2 speakers!!! The G12H seems to be the main voice there. Very warm, vintage types of tone. Absolutely gorgeous on it's own, but add the Vintage 30, and it's surreal!!! The Vinatge 30 complements the G12h in the lows and together they are absolutely AMAZING!!!!! Jut think of Eric Clapton's tone on 'Crossroads' with Cream. That's it!!! Very DARK and SWEET!!!!
The cabinet seems to work so well that I'm always sad leaving home to come back to the UK and plugging my Harlequin in it's original box. It works fine, but I prefer my 2 X 12!!!!!!

Biult like a tank!!!!

Never had to deal with Cornford, so I can't tell!!!

I ABSOLUTELY LOVE IT!!!!! I don't think that I'll look back!!! It's the TONE I've always been looking for, and I loved building the cabinet and the head. Might do it with a Hurricane and a 4 X 12"!!!!
THIS IS SIMPLY A GREAT AMPLIFIER WHICH WILL BECOME STUDIO CLASSIC IN A FEW YEARS TIME, PERIOD!!!!!!!!

Geez, how do I follow an excellently written review by Mr. Wardell's?
My Harlequin is last years model that I purchased about 3 months ago. I also own a Matchless SC 30 so my review will be based from that frame of reference (an A/B comparison).
I agree with most of what the previous reviewer stated as to the Cornfords features...but from a objective standpoint, feature wise the Harlequin is not that versatile. Of course this can be taken as a plus (I certainly do) if you are here in America and do not have a chance to try out this amp before buying (I wasn't able to) understand that this is a basic BASIC, amp no loops, channel switching, effects...anything. Be advised that it is 6 watts and precious little clean headroom can be had at this wattage. This bad boy is expensive here in the States so it had better freakin sound good!

Well yeah, it does sound good. Let me cut to the chase. Playing my Les Paul 54 Oxblood through this amp is pretty much a religous experience. WAY better than with the Matchless. Why? because you can dial into this amps sweet spot much easier. I admit that the Matchless has much better clean sounds, but to get the tone I heard in my head I had to rely on pedals. I don't need squat with the Cronford. Amazing. It goes from creamy thick distortion, to a bouncy low end growl without any wooliness or piercing highs on either end. I just turn one knob and can get it all. It'll match up to single coils and humbuckers with no problem. Every time I play through this amp, I just stand there and shake my head, the Brits can build a damn fine amp! My girlfriend who can't tell a Cornford from a corn dog thinks it "sounds better than the green one"(the Matchless). High praise indeed!

No problems, built like Hummer.

N/A never delt with Cornford, hope I never have to!

I've been playing for 28 years and I've gone round and round equipment wise. I can tell you that at least with this geetar player, the search for the perfect amp has ended. This amps gets that Beck/Allman/Page tone in spades. American players check this British amp out or at least go to the website and check the sound bites out, their pretty close to what you'll hear sittin in front of the speaker. Awesome amp!

Purchased new from Electromusic in Doncaster, England. Brand new 6w hand wired (no pcb's whatsoever) all valve combo using 2 x 12AX7 and 1 x EL84, designed for recording but still loud enough to fill a big room. If used on a gig it would need to be mic-ed up. I'll never gig mine. Very well made in a solid pine (not plywood) open backed cabinet and covered in a burgundy tolex-like material. Mine has the new black grille cloth rather than the old CNC punched metal grille. For what it's worth, I think these new ones look much better. All the screws, washers, corner protectors and handle fixings are nickel plated and the handle itself is leather. All in all, a very simple but classy looking combo. Bigger than you'd expect for a 1 x 12" too; 600mm x 450mm x 250mm. The controls run along the top, ac30 style and are, from left to right, Inputs HI & LO, (HI should be regarded as the normal input - use LO if less gain is required), 2 position voice switch (seems to alter the mid-range) and then volume, bass, treble and master, on/off switch and fuseholder!! This is a single channel, single ended class A amp very much like a classic Fender Champ but with control over the gain and volume; with the Champ you had to turn it up to overdrive it. There's no reverb, no effects loop and no headphone socket,(please!) and i don't wish it had any of these as the stand alone tone is gorgeous. I use it for recording so 6w is plenty - believe me it can go loud if you want it to. Single 12" Celestion Vintage 30 speaker. I thought I'd miss a middle control but strangely, I haven't even thought about it till now. No need for one on this amp. I'm giving it a 10 rating because I feel it is a very versatile amp - it'll do clean, jangly, overdriven and Hi gain sounds - just remember that you can't switch between them; you'll need to use your guitar's volume and tone controls - like the old days!!

I use a few nice guitars with it; SG Std, Les Paul Std, AM Std Strat, AM Std Tele (I guess I'm a Std kind of guy - you know, no frills) and record my own stuff at home with various influences; Indie, Soul, Rock, Techno (OK, not much Techno) but you get the picture. The Harlequin suits everything I've tried on it so far perfectly but as I mentioned, you'll have to get to know your guitars well to use it properly. No more everything on 10 - subtlety is the key. You'll have more fun too, as you discover the sounds that have been trapped in your guitar all this time waiting to be unleashed through the right amp. I even recorded my Roland jp8000 synth through it (LO input) and it sounded absolutely fantastic!! It really thickened the sound up compared to going into my desk. If Paul Cornford reads this; Sorry Paul, it had to be done!! There's an ever present faint hum and at the highest volumes, there is a bit of hiss but these have not materialised on any recording yet and i use a Neumann TLM103 mic; very sensitive. If I really wanted to record the hum and hiss I'm sure I could but I'm too busy recording great guitar sounds. While your playing, there's no noise. The volume control (or Gain really) is characterful; up to the halfway mark it's clean thru to jangly; Voxy, or even Hiwatt-like, but it's definitely got it's own sound. From halfway on it quickly gets richer and more overdriven until you get to 10 or 11 and you're in Gary Moore "Still got the Blues" territory .(playing skills permitting). With my Les Paul there's a harmonic richness that's very reminiscent of 70's Bill Nelson (BeBop Deluxe) that I have never before got even close to. It loves pedals too, but I think my collection of overdrives will get dusty from now on. The amp gives me all I need in that area. It somehow seems to warm up Digital Delays like my old favourite the Boss DD3. Now that's a good echo anyway, but through the Cornford, it's much richer and organic somehow. Chorus and Flanger (I've got various types including Boss, and all are Analog) sound superb and my Roger Mayer Voodoo Vibe sounds just awesome. A great "sound platform" for whatever you have FX wise and if you don't use pedals, a great sound. I plan on getting another one shortly for stereo recording. Well, you wouldn't buy a stereo with one speaker would you?!

I'll reserve judgement for a while as it's still new, and I'll never gig with it anyway, but suffice to say it's a hand built amp, not mass produced and there's not a pcb in sight, thank God. Cornford constructs these amps one at a time and they're made in a way that makes any service or repairs needed a piece of cake for any competent technician. It exudes an air of "Functional simplicity" which, when you look at some of the stuff out there these days, is like a breath of fresh air. No modeling here, just honest to goodness traditional construction methods. I will update this review in a few months time to let you know how it's going.

Paul Cornford answered my E-mail personally (I was asking about linking 2 up for stereo) in a few hours, and I had a nice chat with Max in sales about the grille cloth/metal grille change. He told me they'll all be made with the black grille cloth from now on. We chatted for about 10 minutes and he was very helpful and genuinely pleased I'd called.. Try this with any of the mass producers!! Not so long ago, Yamaha denied ever having made a combo that I was trying to get a manual for!! It was 5 years old!! I think they eventually put the phone in a drawer and went for a coffee or something. I never did get the manual. I'm confident these guys at Cornford will sort any probs out.
Oh dear. Not sure about the warranty but for tubes, you usually only get a few months. I would hope the amp itself should be covered for a year at least.

I've been playing for 25 years and this is the best amp I have ever owned, and I've had just about all of them at one time or another. It's the sound I've heard in my head for all these years and I thought it was all studio done. Well, I can do it now as well. I put The Who "Live at Leeds" on and played along. I nailed the sound in 10 seconds. I tried it with the more guitary sounds on Jeff Beck "Blow By Blow" and nailed the sound in 10 seconds. I put Radiohead's "Hail To The Thief" on (and there are some lovely guitar sounds on that album if you listen) and nailed them. I love it's simplicity and it's versatility - it's simple versatility. If it were stolen (come on, I'm not gonna lose it!) I would definitely get another one when I got out of jail for killing the robber. I tried various low powered amps before this; Gibson Goldtone, Laney LC15, Orange AD15, Marhsall DSL201, Fender Pro Junior and Blus Junior and none held a candle to this one. The sound was just more open, more alive. It is more expensive but I honestly feel you're cheating yourself if you don't at least try this amp out, or if this one doesn't light yer fire, any of the hand made, dare I say "Boutique" type amps. Your guitars'll love you for it!! For me, it has everything; Tone, Soul, Character and it's own identity. Try and find any of those in a modeling amp.

As described by others.

I am writing this to tell the truth: Paul Cornford can design fabulous amps especialy if you need brown creamy distortion.

However, for some reason, my harlequin had 50Hz hum (and you can hear it) and also the cabinet sounded boxy ... not an ideal situation for a recording amp. Aparently the hum is kind
of normal, but cabinet was probably just my model ...

I now play Trace Elliott made Gibson GA15RV ...in the 6W mode
and it is better amp no doubt ... also THD Univalve ...

Good luck to you all ...

See above

This amp is number 566 built. There are no fancy features, it's a basic recording amplifier, with tone at just about any setting. No need for those Mesa hundreds of control pots.
The features it does have are great though, the slightest change in the controls gives different sounds. It has a solid pine cabinet which is very big, gives the Celestion Vintage 30 a lot of room to breath and achieves a big beefy sound. Point to point wiring, cathode bias, one EL84, two 12ax7s, in house hand wound trannys, custom made ox-blood tolex, speaker socket, tuned port cab and excellent build quality!

I use this with an Ibanez RG550, Dimarzio PAF in the neck with a coil switch, I never use the bridge PU. This is plugged directly into the Harlequin, at full volume with full gain there is hardly any hum at all!
I like many different styles ranging from blues, classic rock, instrumental, classical finger picking. It suits my style of playing perfectly you can use the controls on the guitar to get a wide variety of different sounds, use the volume to go from clean to dirty and everything inbetween.
The feedback is great on this amp, very tame and very musical.

The build quality is solid, the tone controls feel solid, the switches beefy. I haven't yet had a look inside this amp, but even when your playing through this amp everything feels solid.
This is certainly built to last.

Now this is one of the best things about Cornford, their customer service is simply unsurpassable! You can e-mail them and get a reply, you can phone them and they are friendly and helpful, not condescending and patronising like the big companies. You know the ones I'm talking about...

If this was lost or stolen I'd be devestated! I would buy this again, the people at Cornford really put effort into what they do.

I submitted the first review of corford harlequin here over three and a half years ago - it is still my only amp - so about time for an update of my tonal adventures.

How can i describe to people just how good the sound of this amp is! I have no problems with any hum that have been reported by some other reviewers here. I was lucky enough to obtain a small quantity of Mullard 12AX7s (8) and EL84s (4).
I was happy with the sound until i switched those tubes in now i would describe it as breath taking.
Firstly i position the amp diagonally across a corner of a room (8m x 4m) so the is a bout a 30cm gap from the wall corner, this helps re-enforce the punch.Ok, here is how i set the amp controls. I run the master volume fully open, and set the gain to just get a very clean sound, with my stock explorer bridge pickup this is just before the 9 o'clock setting, a little bit more with my friends jaguar. Hi input socket. Voice switch always down. Bass control max, treble set to about 1 to 2 o'clock. Sets up a good bell like chime to any notes played, perfect note seperation in chord work. Most importantly it sets the pre-amp tubes right on the edge of breaking down, and the power tubes are adding serious punch and weight to the sound. It is a seroiusly fat, sensitive clean tone.

Ok now the important part, the distortion tone. I use an external pedal, a Ibanez TK999 noise gate model (which is switched off), tube has been replaced with one of my magic mullard pre-amp tubes. Pedal settings, bass max (passive), mid between 12 and 1 o'clock (active) and treble 3 to 4 o'clock (passive). Now i find the vloume of the pedal to be extremely important to the sound, more so than the gain control. As the amp is configured so that the pre-amp gain is low, any larger signals than the guitar push the tubes into serious saturation leading to a massive all frequency fatness and punch. By increasing the amp gain and decreasing the volume i don't find that the punch and saturation is as good. Usually the pedal gain is around 50% any more and the musical feedback gets a little out of control. How to describe the sound. Heavy, crazy bottom end from a 1x12, fat, but not midscooped, the bell like chime has remianed from the clean tone, no fizz, buzz or fuzz to the sound at all. Guitar recognition remains though enough to tell the difference btween my explorer (500T) and a studio (498T)
Admittedly it is loud enough to be heard anywhere in the house, but i dont get any compliants from neigbours with party walls at all (old house)

How does the amp distortion tone (pre-amp gain) on its on compare, well its not as good, it can never compare to the pedal sound as it is not possible to hit the pre-amp tubes with the same large signal that a pedal can produce, and the effect any associated pre- pre-amp EQ has on the sound. But it has a part in the mix with the pedal to create that awesome tone

Still no problems, just gets better with age. Ive tried loads of diffeent pre and power tubes with no problems.

Only spoke to the guys at cornford when i ordered the amp all those years ago.

No been playing 8 years, the tone of this amp has kept me playing and loving everynote, that is probly the best compliment you can give. If it was stolen, i would be very annoyed, but would get another with the insurance. Tubes could be harder to replace though

As described by others: no loop, no reverb but OK.

Let me say immediately: I sold my unit. Maybe I was unlucky but
I doubt it - my unit had the hum and above all it had the 'boxeness'. Yes, the amp is great and surely can sing, but it was difficult to have very warm clean tone and avoid this boxeness.

My hope is that my unit was an anomaly. In any case apart from 'boxeness' these amps do produce 50 or 60Hz hum ...

I am warning prospective buyers not because I am against Cornford - I am not - but Harlequin is not exactly what everybody claims, or at least not every unit out there. I think that the problem is not the amp but rather the BOX that Cornford uses:
yes it is pine but simply doesn't sound nice ... period.

If there was no hum and boxiness the amp sound had a potential for 9+, but with boxeness it's 6 at best (rather bland).

So, the amp is 9-10, but the box only 2-3.

Paul Cornford is obviously a visionary and knowledgable and was probably unlucky with my unit.

Potentially great combo, but too big a box that sounds 'boxy'.

Hums at 50 or 60 Hz and you cannot remove it.

Test it before you buy. I sold mine and I do not miss it ...
My hope is that other Cornford models are better but I
remain very sceptical about their boxes - cabinets ...

I guess the way to go is to buy just a head only ...

I give it 6 in order to WARN people that not all units are as described by others and above all to warn demanding pros
like myself to verify the boxiness ... actually I cannot possibly give even 7 to my particuar unit ...

I give the Harlequin a 10 in this category because it does exactly what "I" want it to do, which is pure tone without a pile of tone sucking gadgets and pots. It has two inputs, one high and one low, a voice switch ( which is amazing! I'll get to that later ), volume, bass, treble and master knobs. It has one on/off switch with no stand-by and one 1/4" 8 ohm output jack for the speaker (12" Vintage Celestion 30 comes stock). 1 - EL84 power tube and 2 - 12AX7's in the preamp. All point to point construction with a large twin-10 sized solid pine cabinet. Pure simple tone circuit and it equals PURE TONE!! The full sized cabinet gives the tone depth like that of a 2X12 cabinet with absolutely NO boxiness to this tone! It will also easily push a 2X12 cab if more volume is needed. That takes on a whole new tone altogether. Also killer!! You will be so amazed by the combo cabinet's tone that you will probably never plug it into anything else. And I am a player who always HATED 1X12's!

This is where you will fall in love! The tone this amp will produce absolutely defies explaination. Your mind tells you this is a 6 watt single EL84 amp but your ears are hearing something completely different!! The tone has to be heard to be believed. Plugging into the "high" input gives you a hot overdrive and the "low" input puts you into an amazingly vintage very responsive territory. The amp is extremely touch sensitive. Amazing for only 6 watts. It is chunky as hell and doesn't compress out until you really push her into high gain land. Then she sounds like a Soldano SLO-100. Maybe better. Trust me I know I have a SLO-100. The voice switch is another super feature. Position one is pumped up midrange in your face vintage British tones (vintage hot rod Marshall). Position two turns it into a clearly American / cranked hot rod Fender tone! You will not get "black face" clean out of this amp. Not surprising at only 6 watts. But the amp does get amazingly sweet and just ever so slightly overdriven when you role back on the volume knob or lighten your attack. When you dig in every note hangs until it slowly decays into beautiful harmonics. I have a pile of VERY expensive boutique amps and I find myself playing the Harlequin not because it sounds good without being loud as hell but just because it sounds SOOOO GOOOOOOOD!! Go to Cornford's website and listen to the sound bytes of the Harlequin. It will sound exactly like those sound bytes plus another huge array of great tones they don't cover.

This little beast is built like a tank. I am sure it will last forever with proper care.

Email or call Cornfordand and Paul Cornford himself will likely answer the phone or your email himself. He is living his dream. Creating great tone is his labor of love and it really shows. Yes, I would definitely buy this amp again. I will never be without one.

I have been playing far longer than most the pop guitarist today have been alive. I own a staggering collection of boutique amps and guitars. The tone alone places this amp firmly along side the best boutique amps out there at any price. The fact that it does these tones at a truly usable studio volume level puts it in a class all by itself! Yes, I would buy this amp 20 times over again if that's what it took to always have one in my collection.

Features are limited, as the original intention for the use of the amp. It's a 6 watt with 12' Celestion speaker. No line out, no effect loop, no reverb. For full features check out www.cornfordamps.com .

HOLY MOTHER OF CHRIST! I'm in tone heaven. What more can I say if you don't hear it in person. Cornford amps sound very different from any standard mass-produced so-called tube amps. IMHO most of those amps sound pretty much the same (I know there're different, of course, but i mean they're in the same league...). THIS IS TUBE--capital T.U.B.and E. I know I won't use any other amps in a while...I haven't had a chance to listen to US boutique amps like Matchless or Dr. Z, but, man, do yourself a favour and check out some Cornford stuff. There are so awesome sound clips on their website too.
Even though I'm more of a guitar 'player' than guitarist, i.e. I mess around with guitars while my main job lies else where, I've got myself a PRS Custom 22 and I LOVE how they sound together. Plug it in, and I don't really miss reverd or any other effects. I'm sure my guitarist will appreciate it too. Just beautiful, from a dark-ish clean tone to Singing lead. The search is over, ladies and gentlemen! I'm just so excited!
Great tone at bedroom volume? You'd better believe it!

100 per cent handwired. One of the toughest looking amps around (but not too sure about the handle and the knobs...look pretty fragile). Well I won't gig with it anyway, so no worries.

Paul Cornford replied to my e-mail personally. WOW! It was like getting a message from the President of US of Tone, ahahah. He even told me that I can get my amp rewired for different voltage if I leave England, at no extra charge!

For home use and recording, this is as good as it gets. Well the price isn't too cheap if you wanna compare other amps in the same voltage level. But this is the guenuine article! I also have a Tech 21 Trademrk 10, well, I think it's great too (also quite expensive at 260 pounds) but there should be no comparison here.
Overall, yes, I think anyone who appreciate a good tone should hear the Cornford amps in person. If you're into lots of effects and death metal kinda gain then I guess you should look else where. Harlequin (and other Cornford amps too) gives you NAKED GOOD TONE. I'm beginning to suspect that anyone who ever owns a Cornford is likely to be an unofficial spokesman for Cornford for the rest of his/her life. Yes, it's THAT good.

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