Cornford Hellcat 212 Cabinet

Beautifully made oxblood coloured and with 2 Vintage 30 loudspeakers. very substantially built and more importantly, built to last .

i use my 2001 Gibson R9 and a Cornford Hellcat Head, a match forged in heaven. The 2x12 projects awesomely and has a huge soundstage , sit it beside a mdf marshall 2 x 12 , the cornford screams whilst the marshall is a muffled whimper. this 2x12 shows just how much a pain the ass a 4x12 is , all this astionishing tone from a box you can lift by yourself......outstanding.

had it 6 months, no worries at all , its a Cornford !!

Cornford will treat you well ,ive been askin em technical queries and they give you all the time you need, i cannot fault them.

cant imagine using anything else, made to partner the Hellcat and it sings . makes marshall cabs sound real bad, THD 2x12 is another gem of a cab, but id stick with the cornford, cornford build for musicians, not to screw every penny outta musicians with cheap junk. cornford outta be real proud of themselves.

Solid pine lock jointed with ply baffle board permanently dadoed into the cabinet. Covered in custom made ox-blood vinyl, grill front, Celestion vintage 30 speakers, All corners, screws, cup washers, etc. nickel-plated. It seems like a well made box. In Australia the price is ridiculous, mine was bought at 'mates rates'. It was reduced from over $2000 down to what I could buy a mesa box for. That evened the playing field a little I thought.

I use a H&K Triamp mk2. I'm setting the presence at around 3 and knocking the treble on the channels back a little to make up for the brightness of this box. The bottom end was bigger than a 4x12 mesa in the shop - wow. I can live with the top end. I like vintage 30's, and I'm enjoying the sound of this box head on - usually I'll listen to an amp from the side, to get some room ambiance because most speakers are too brittle head on. They're just about broken in the box really sounds great with anything plugged into it. A very 'farty' sounding laney was plugged into this box and - WOW - sounded like a Marshall or Mesa (no kidding). Very smooth distortion, I simply couldn't believe how this box makes heads sound. I recommend this box if you can get a good deal because they're pricey, but, they sound so good. Solid pine sounds more 'alive' than any birch ply box I've played through. Here's an interesting thing, when the amp level is at around speech level you can hear the box resonating - truly. It dissappears as you turn up, we recorded it like this with mics all around and got the most amazing rock and metal sounds. Good effect at times.

When I bought mine I played through a H&K triamp2 and tested various mesa boxes, a marshall 4x12/v30s, a line6 box with custom celestions. All boxes were about the same price(give or take a couple of hundred dollars) but the Cornford was easily the best sounding box. The clear winner was with overdrive, it had a great 'cutting' sound instead of that 'duller' or 'farty' tube drive sound that some boxes deliver.

What problems could you have? Speaker problems would be an issues for Celestion. The box itself is solid, light, fairly tough tolex. It's actually a good quality tolex which could be a mistake by the makers as it's not hard and plastic like, like mesa and marshall. I could understand how it could be ripped.

Paul seems like a cool guy. A bit slow in replying. I tested him before buying my box when I read the previous review, I asked him about some issues including price but he replied and handled it smoothly.

Good box. That's what it is. I was going to get a mesa with same speakers but this box just sounded more 'alive'. Price is an issue though - wow.

I bought this cabinet in 2004 to go with my Hellcat head. Its a mono Pine cabinet with 2 Celestion Vintage 30 speakers in it. I use this amp for Band Practices and local gigs. I have been playing approx 30 years and I really wanted a special botique amp. I have normally used marshall half stacks and still use a Boogie rack rig which I do like. But I wanted more of a vintage low watt amp, and Cornford fit what I was looking for. I have never really cared for the Vintage 30 speaker. It always sounded brittle in the upper mids and has a mid range honk to it IMO. I even stayed away from them in my Boogie rig and have used the custom 90, which sounded great with the boogie.
I recently changed the vin 30 's to a pair of G12H30's and really liked the tone of those! It seemed to fit the amp better and now Im not annoyed by that honky mid harshness of the vin30. THe Hellcat is a little more bright than im used to so I run the treble between 3-5. The new speaker was the ticket.

Im using single coil and humbucker guitars with this amp and they both sound pretty good. You have to be careful with the treble on single coils however. The Cab with the g12h30 sounds very big in the btm end and I can actually pull the bass control back a bit. The speakers sound good clean but will breakup a pinch when pushed, but its way smoother than the vin30. About 50% of every review I read had someone saying how they either loved the vin 30 or absolutly hated it! They even described their problem them same way I would have. People seem to have a love / hate relationship with the vin 30. If you hate it as well, try some of celestions other low wattage speakers. Ill rate it a 4 with vin30 and a 9 with g12h30.

I dont think I would need a back up. As long as your wiring is secure nothing is going to happen. However this is where I digress with dissapointment!

When I changed the speakers I had to open it up, and what I saw inside really bummed me out. The cab is cracked all the way through both sides from the handle mounting screws. Its also cracked in 2 places across the bottom on the seam where they glued strips of pine together. The side are cracked because they did not predrill the holes when they screwed in the handles in. I dont know why the bottom is cracked, maybe due to shrinkage. I had to use corragated fasteners with glue to hopefully prevent the cab from completely vibrating apart. So far Im not hearing any vibration.

The other thing is that a cabinet that list at $1100. It should be made with alot better quality. For instance the baffle board is only 5/16" thick. Most cabs are 1/2 to 3/4. I think they did this to enhance the tone so it would souond stiff. The other problem I have is the back is made from MDF or some type of fiber board. Why not use real wood? My boogie cabs are completely made from 3/4" baltic birch ply. Also the tolex they used is so thin I have 2 tears just from loading it in the back of my SUV and taking it to gigs. Not very many gigs either! Probably 5 or 6. I dont think this cab will last long at all. It sounds good, but so do many other companies cabs. For what you get its way over priced! If you get one, use it as a studio cab or get a road case. I know there are pros using the 4x12, like Kotzen and Guthrie, but they probably have road cases and I think the 4x12 may be made from birch ply. Regardless, everyone I have talked with says everybody building cabs should know by now that hardwood cabs have a tendency to either Crack or warp. If you are going to use solid wood you probably shouldnt take shortcuts in manufacturing. Ply wood is fairly indestructable. And I dont think the tonal difference is worth it. I cant tell exactly but it does not look like a dovetail joint in the corners. I think its a rabbet joint with a dadoed baffle. Hard to tell though.

The company has always responded to my questions asbout product until I had a complaint. I did email Martin Kidd and Paul Cornford and told them what I found. I never got a response. I told them kindly that they might want to reexamine their quality on this product. I felt that I could not ask for a refund because I had changed the speakers and had already tore the tolex. Frankly I thought they would think I abused it or dropped it or something. Anyway its still usable. I guess Ill just chock it up to a expensive learning experience.

I have been playing and teaching for approx 25-30 years. My main rig for the last 10 years has been a Triaxis/ Simul 290 with recto 1x12 cabs with custom 90's and various pedals. I still use it and its never failed except one time I had a power tube fail and also blo the fuses.
If the cornford cab were lost or stolen I probably would not buy another cab from them. Mostly due to price and weak construction. I usually dont bicker over price if I feel Im getting what I want as I usually buy the best! Their hellcat head is supreme! The Hurricane is also a great amp. They just cut too many corners on the cab. They did use metal handles and matal corners but so do alot of manufactures. I mean if someone told you a balsa wood cabinet was the greatest sounding cab in the world, you wouldnt buy it knowing balsa wood will fall apart. My point is they might have gone so far for tone they left out construction. How much more effort would it have taken to drill holes for the handle and use a bolt with a lock nut? Then the cab maybe would not have cracked.

I will probably have one custom made from a friend or buy a used marshall cab. Avatar speaker cabs are very similar to the cornford 2x12 and alot tougher. And for about 1/2 to even a third of the cost. I feel its a really good value for all things considered, if you dont have to have a matching cab.

Lastly I would say, I think Cornford is a good new company with some great product. I feel their prices would not be a concern if they really did not spare any expense in manufacturing a great sounding cab that you didnt need to be so careful with. They could also learn to respond to complaints. I really have not seen much in the way of constructive critisism. Most guys seem to be really satisfied.
Thats it! Rock on everyone!