Cornford Hurricane 112 Combo

Nothing to add here from the other reviews. It has what is needed, a few knobs, one switch and one astounding channel that will pretty much deliver it all.

This is really a note to the couple of reviewers who sadly keep their Cornfords locked away and scratch free...please please play them live. The Hurricane is amazing and goes everywhere with me dumped in the back of the car, no case, no cover. Also makes an excellent drinks table at gigs. The Hurricane wants to be scratched and bashed and played...!

Its sounds are excellent, read the other reviews, this is a top class gigging and practice amp. I play at volume 7, gain 5 and everything else around 7. Then I use the guitar volume and pedals (see below) for anything I need.

I use a strat and a PRS custom 24. I gig regularly playing covers at larger London venues and corporate / commercial do's and weddings.
I use an MXR micro amp, a boss giga delay, a boss tremolo, MXR dynacomp and distortion pedals. I like 'simple', robust kit but it must sound great.

I am up to date with different kit and regularly look in to and test out alternatives like the Mesa f50, matamp etc but they cannot deliver the same quality and depth of sound. They are also often way too loud to mix properly.

Excellent so far. I have owned it c. 2yrs with no problems so far. This is not the case with the likes of the Mesa F50 - check the reviews...
Sorry to have taken so long to write this.

No idea but gather you can simply call up the workshop and get stuff sorted if necessary. Thus my score - this is often not the case.

I have been playing for 20 years, haved owned all sorts of kit and it has taken me all 20 to find the sound I love as well as the confidence (and competence) to play it. Buy this amp and some good simple pedals (MXR's usually have fewer knobs than others) - you will be immensely satisfied. I cannot think of an alternative - perhaps bar a Cornford stack - but then you have to carry it and turn it down...

If it were lost or stolen I would replace it.

Did I say, please please gig with it? I think I did.

Oh and by the way, sound engineers love it and are consistently bolled over by it...can't say that for many amps (read any amps).

This is a quick follow-up to Franz's recent review of the Hurricane, where he "corrects" my earlier review of 09/16/2004 by claiming that the amp is in fact 20 watts class A.

Just for information to prospective buyers (and also to Franz, who appears to not be terribly familiar with amp designs), I would like to restate that this is an 18 Watt, class A/B amp as I originally (and correctly) stated. Franz, just because it says 20 W class A on the website doesn't mean a thing I'm afraid - lots of amp manufacturers make the claim of class A when they really mean class A/B: it's just sales patter. Read up some stuff on Google groups on class a versus class A/B guitar amp design before you go "correcting" the statements of others, please.

There is to my knowledge no such thing as a 20 Watt class A guitar amp powered by two EL84s. What the Hurricane is (in common with most small EL84 powered amps, e.g the Mesa/Boogie Studio 22+) is class A up to certain gain point, and then it reverts to class A/B for the final third of the master volume range. This is NOT true class A! If you are pernickity about class A design at all power amp settings, then try the 6 Watt Harlequin, which IS a true class A design. The Hurricane incidentally doesn't sound any worse for being class A/B at the top, and in fact no doubt benefits from the added definition and edge that class A/B can give at high power amp settings.

The reference I make to 18 Watts rather that the website's 20 Watts is taken from several reviews and from specifications mentioned elsewhere in the published literature. I haven't tested it to check whether output is in fact 18 or 20 Watts, but MOST of the specifications I've seen state 18 Watts. The Cornford website is one of the few places that 20 Watts is mentioned, and I don't think Paul has updated a lot of the stuff on it for a long time, so I don't take it as gospel.

Many thnks, Rob

To say it right contrary to my predecessor, it's (based on the Cornford Homepage) an amp rating 20 W in pure class A mode, powered by 4 x 12AX7 and 2 x EL 84 tubes. The amp has been handwired and PCB's of any sort are not used. It's a one channel amp, but rolling back the guitar volume works excellent to play cleaner parts. Especially looking for an amp with less wattage to play smal venues I checked the new MArshall 1987X, the Soldano Astroverb, the H&K Edition Tube, the Orange Twin Channel, and a THC Sundown with the result, that the Cornford Hurrican had been the clear winner. Spring Reverb, FX-Loop, 4/8 Ohm Speaker output, thats enough for a player which is used to gig with 1971 Marshall 50 W head and a 4x12 cab.

Thats what this amp makes really shine. Not so bright like many modern amps, it sounds like somewhere in between an old VOX AC 30 and an old Plexi Marshall, but with way more gain. Thus its sounding very thick and three dimensional and in my opinion the Celestion Vintage 30 speaker seems a very good match to the overall sound structure. I played a lot of amps in the recent 25 years of playing in bands and had always been a Marshall man, despite I used and aborted Boogies, Bogners, Soldanos, and a lot of other high rolling tube amps. Unfortunatly the new Marshalls (except the Vintage and Handwired Series) sound too artifical to me and, like I mentioned before, I am not able to become friend with the "american" type of distortion Mesa/Boogie, Fender, and some of the so-called boutique amps deliver.
I checked the amp with three guitars, I as well basically use, e.g. a Gibson Les Paul Standard, a Fender Stratocaster, and a PRS Custom 22.
The LP and the PRS sounded excellent, but the Strat sound was a league of its own,I never heard a Strat sounding so good. The Hurricane works as well excellent with a TS 808 Tubescreamer, which I usually use to boost and fatten up the signal when playing lead lines.
Its an exeptional tube amp and I#ll gonna give it full score in this category.

It's too new to say something, but it has a 2 years warrenty.

See reliability.

At the moment the Hurricane marks the end of my search for tone, focussed on a low wattage amp. Sure, it would be good if it had two channels, a DI-out and probably a 16 Ohm speaker connection, but what counts at the end is sound, sound, and sound. If it would be stolen, I would replace it immediatly (whats not so easy because they are hard to buy in Germany. The only progression would be a 40/20 Watt switchable Hurricane Combo with 2 x 12" Vintage 30 or a head to be a little bit more flexible if as larger venue should be played.

English 18w 1x12" handwired single-channel class A/B valve combo (solid state rectification) with series FX loop, spring reverb (footswitchable), Celestion Vintage 30 and external speaker socket, hi & lo inputs, gain, master, 3 band EQ, reverb level. 4 x ECC83/12AX7 preamp valves, 2xEL84/6BQ5 power valves. No standby switch, but it?s cathode bias, and so warms up the power valves slowly. Preamp valve positions (looking from rear, right to left): V1-1st & 2nd gain stages; V2- 3rd gain stage and FX return; V3-reverb; V4- phase inverter. Mine is a 2001 model with the older metal grille.

Well constructed (large) cabinet made from solid pine, with preamp valve covers, a nice grade of ?oxblood? tolex, real leather handle, high quality chicken head knobs and heavy duty powder coat-finished top panel lending an air of understated class: you definitely feel that it?s made by people who care about what they're doing. I keep mine under a cover when not in use, since I just don?t want to scuff the corners or cover ? it?s the sort of amp that you want to keep in mint condition and maybe polish now and again. Not an approach I?ve ever felt necessary with my Marshall or Mesa Boogie combos, by the way, which look authentically distressed by years of rough living! I ran into a Univalve last week for the first time, and that?s got the same boutique ?look after me? appeal. If the Hurricane ever goes gigging, then I?m getting a proper case for it, ?nuff said.

If you like lots of front-panel buttons and controls to show off at rehearsals, and excitingly thick instruction manuals, then this amp is not for you. It puts you in charge from the start, so you just have to get stuck in and fiddle with the controls. I actually like this approach, since it makes you use your ears more than your eyes/brain when exploring for sounds. Cornford don?t place numbers around the control markers, and I find that this can make experimentation more intuitive. It?s the polar opposite of a rackmount processor with hundreds of subscreens and numerical increment/decrement adjustments (a Dr Z takes this even further, with no markings at all ?)

(As an aside, this might seem like a small thing, but ?ignoring the numbers? is really important if you want to find the sound you hear in your head. It?s all about getting the interface right: someday I may get back to my rack equipment and program in sounds based on what I want to hear rather than what the numbers say.)

It?s big brother to the Harlequin studio model, with increased power and clean headroom (18w class A/B rather than 6w class A), and flexibility: a proper mid EQ control (which to me makes a big difference), FX loop and built-in spring reverb. Basically, it?s a Harlequin that you can gig with if you want to, but it?s still suitable for home use too (which is where mine lives).

Others have commented that they'd like a standby option, which I agree would be
useful live to avoid nasty "thumps" when swapping leads and guitars. I'd also prefer the
FX loop to be parallel, but it's no big deal. Other than that, I guess a second channel would make gigging a little easier, but you can get around this with a pedal. I?ve just added a Seymour Duncan pickup booster and this works like a dream with a Strat and the Hurricane: DO try this out if you?re using a similar setup!

Power? Well, 18 valve Watts through a 100db/W Celestion works out as pretty loud for domestic situations, and is quite enough for rehearsals and small/medium gigs unless you play especially loudly, or want a wall of death metal (in which case this wouldn?t be a good choice anyway, since the voicing is all wrong). I?ve read good things about using extension cabs with these sorts of amps, but I?ve never found it necessary myself. If your gig?s big enough to need more volume it?s going to be miked up anyway, so no worries. Play this thing wide open in a small environment like a bedroom, and you?re going to suffer hearing loss prett

So far I?ve tried a 1989 Strat Plus (with Joe Barden Strat Deluxe pickups), a Danelectro U2 reissue, a 1965 Hofner Committee, an Epiphone LP Goldtop w/P90s (great cheap guitar!), and a few others. I?ve got to confess that it sounds so good with the Strat that I haven?t got around to testing out my other guitars properly, so I?ll confine my thoughts to the Strat alone, although rest assured that the others sound pretty good too.

The Hurricane really excels at classic rock, blues (clean, breaking-up and full-on raunchy all covered), but also has enough gain for legato soloing styles. Additionally, it can be easily tweaked to give a good spread of styles from clean country to 70?s British metal (Thrash/Death/NuMetal types would be better off using a 4x12? extension cab, but I doubt they?d be considering this sort of amp anyway.) At lower gains (but with the master up high), it does the lovely chiming Beatles/Vox thing really well (if you could stretch to a couple of Celestion Alnico Blues in an extension cab that would probably be something amazing to hear). For really twangy, ultraclean Fender/Jensen sounds you might find the basic Cornford / Celestion character a little dark unless you roll the mid down a bit and crank the treble. Paul Cornford?s basic stance on amp tone is that many modern designs are set with far too much treble, and this shows in the smooth voicing of his amps. So if you?re used to the typically fizzy, scratchy distortion sound of many mass-market amps (valve and solid state), this smoother sound may catch you by surprise.

Pushing the gain up, if your experience of guitar amps (including valve amps) is mostly standard production Marshall, Fender, Peavey (etc.) models, then this English rose may be something of a revelation. Compared to standard mid-price combos, it?s in a completely different league both in sound and feel/responsiveness when asked to produce classic blues/rock in the Hendrix/AC-DC/Led Zeppelin vein. The note definition, as written elsewhere, is stunningly clear and ringing, even when you crank up the preamp - it sounds very like an old JMP/Plexi but with extra available gain (albeit not 5150 levels). Roll off the guitar volume a little and it barks and snarls with a big, fat warm bluesy drive; roll off some more and it cleans up into a nice warm chimey Vox sound. Because the response is so sensitive, there?s an incredibly tactile feeling of connection with your instrument, as if it just came alive in your hands (as any really good valve amp should provide), such that you just start grinning and want to keep playing. I?d imagine that it would sound great at medium gain settings with a Tele, but I?ve not got one at hand to try out at present.

The volume taper on the knobs is such that you always feel that you?ve got power in reserve. Unlike many amps, you can set the Gain and Master controls each up three-quarters, and then find that you?ve still got loads of drive left if you push them further.
Naturally you get a fair bit of noise when you set both controls up very high, so if you?re likely to be particularly bothered by this then stay away from both controls flat out together (but don?t worry, since you won?t notice anything except your guitar when you?re actually playing.) I was concerned at first about this for recording purposes, but you could always use a gate for flat-out settings. In the context of a multi-instrument recording, you really wouldn?t notice it.

I?ve had it nine months and so far so good. I don't really think that's long enough to make a judgement on reliability, but it certainly looks like it'll last a very long time. I probably wouldn?t choose to gig it simply because (a) I haven?t the time any more, and (b) I?d be paranoid about scratching it. In any case, I?ve got a Boogie .22 Studio Plus for gigging (the Kurt Cobain/Nevermind amp), and I?ve never managed to kill that despite throwing it around for fifteen years. (As for the rubbish that people talk about valve amps being unreliable, I?ve yet to have a problem with the Boogie in all that time, save for when a preamp valve went down ? once! Wheras I?ve had all sorts of fun with solid state amps giving up the ghost over the years (27 years playing) ? go figure. Personally, I think it?s more down to discrete components/proper transformers/proper heatsinks than valve vs. transistor when it comes to reliability.)

As is said elsewhere, Cornford are about as friendly, helpful and approachable as you could wish for, so no problems there either. I?ve talked to them many times by phone, and they will spend as long as you want just chatting through their designs, giving advice on modifications, and have sent me little things like spare rubber feet free of charge. Can?t fault them at all.

27 years playing, loads of other gear, at least 14 guitars (far too many really, but I still want several more before I?m done), keyboards, basses, recording stuff, etc. Certainly too much to list here.

If it were stolen I expect I?d buy it again, but I?d also try the Hellcat head first (the new 2x12? combo is bigger than I?d like).

I doubt that there?s a better 1x12? combo for classic blues/rock on the planet, simple as that. I?d like a Matchless to go with it for cleaner stuff with a different vibe, maybe, but there you go.
I?ve tried a lot of amps over the years, and this is the best combo I?ve ever heard, period, no arguments. That doesn?t mean that others aren?t worth having also, because sometimes you just want a different flavour. So yes, I?d say that I?d prefer to use a Bassman for some things, and yes I do have other amps that are staying (I don?t sell most old stuff anyway, I just keep it for a rainy day.) The Boogie stays for everyday rehearsals and gigging (very versatile amp), and I?ve an 80s Marshall 50w combo that has two great sounds in it that I wouldn?t want to lose for recording. Likewise, I?ve a V-Amp 2 for noodling on headphones (buy one, they?re much better than the Pods!), and even a little Marshall Micro Stack for playing in the bathroom (!) which has a great overdrive circuit (seriously). And other options too numerous to mention. The Hurricane is something special though, and I won?t be parting company with it in a hurry.

One more thing: valves (or tubes to our American friends). I?ve played around with all sorts of NOS preamp and power valves with this one, made little charts and tried to come to conclusions, but the simple truth is that it sounds great whatever you put in it. It ships with bog standard Sovteks, but you?d do best to replace the ECC83s at least with their EH or LPS versions. Here?s some options I?ve tried (yes, I know I?ve got too many valves):

ECC83/12AX7s:
?50s, ?60s, ?70s Mullards
?60s Philips JAN
?70s RFT
?80s Sovteks
Sovtek LPS
JJs
Sovtek EH
?80s Chinese
?90s Chinese

EL84s:

?50s, ?60s Mullards
?60s Philips
?60s, ?70s Telefunkens
?60s Matsushita
?60s Raytheon
?60s Valvo
?60s Siemens
?80s E.I.
?60s G.E.
?80s Chinese
?90s STR Harmas (old E.I. or JJ/Teslas ?)
New Chinese
New Sovtek

I expect there are others I?ve forgotten about. If I had to plump for one combination, I?d maybe go with ?50s/?60s Mullard ECC83s and either ?50s Mullard or ?60s Telefunken EL84s, depending on how bright a sound I was looking for (I?ve found the Telefunkens sound a bit like ?hi-fi? Mullards). Your mileage may vary. The Raytheons have a great compressed drive to them, and don?t underestimate the Sovtek LPS as a preamp valve, even though many would choose the EH variant: they are really good. Happy experimenting!

Everything you need + a very nice reverb. I traded a McCarty sopbar for mine (it was used), so I'm missing the reverb footswitch, but I don't miss it. Plenty of power for small gigs and great for practice. As others have mentioned, It would be nice to have a standby. Otherwise a very complete package.

I couldn't believe how sloppy my playing had become. I've been using a Hot Cat 30 for practice, and it's much more compressed and has alot more gain. The Cornford is clean, even with the gain all the way up, it's an excelent reproduction of everything your fingers are doing, good and bad. This is a very honnest amp. I'ts basically a blues rock amp which suits my playing well. The clean is exceptional and the reverb is excelent. It can do the surf thing if you crank it, but it also has a very usable range as well.

The dirt on this thing is great. The gain is stepped so that it's progressive up to about 7 and then it hits a second stage? Anyway. It has about the same gain amount as my old Marshall JMP but with more clarity. I'ts very much in the Plexi vein but with a unique tone all it's own. The tone controls are sensitive, but subtle if that makes any snese. The Hot Cat tone controls vary the tone wildly with incremental chagnes. The Cornford's tone varies progressively and is much more intuitive, in addition every setting sounds good. The controls are set up so that there are no extreme settings that you would probably never use anyway. As with most good tube amps, your playing dynamics and guitar volume have a huge impact on your sound. This makes it very versital even for a single channel amp. The low input is very usable as well. It appears to take some of the mids out and is great for clean and barely distorted blues.

The thing that others have mentioned is how it really lets the indvidual tones of different guitars shine through.

When I got it, it was a bit flabby on the low end (something I can't stand). I put a GT mullard repro in the first position, a matched phase inverter, and new EH EL84's and now it's tight and crisp. Howerver the one down side to this amp is that it does have a hum to it. I belive that another reviewer mentioned this. I've completely re-tubed, so I know that's not it. This would preclude recording with this amp as it is too noisy. For genneral playing, usualy my single coil hum is louder than this, but it would be nice for cornford to somehow address this issue.

Very well built, maybe not quite to Matchless or Bad Cat specs, but close, and it weighs much less. I had to shim the end of the reverb tank with a rubber grommet as it was buzzing at high voumes. They may want to rethink the mounting points to eliminate this

Have not had any reason to test their support. However I hear good things.

I've been playing 25 years. I'm currently using: Hamer Artist Korina w/p90's, Mcinturff Sportster w/T90's, 88 LP Showcase with 59's or Phat Cats, 66 Tele, 1960 Relic strat (both with Fralins). Each guitar has it's unique qualities that really shine through with this amp. They all sound good, but It appears to favor the Hamer and Strat.

I've compared this amp to pretty much everything out there in the botique world and found this to be my favorite. It's one of those amps that sounds really nice the first time you play it, and your appreciation grows the more time you spend with it. Just very nice solid tone that gives you great clean and great dirt in the same small package. It sounds enough like the vintage Fender / Marshall, but just different enough to be well... different. I think it's very rare for an amp builder to intentionally build that "difference" into their amps in a day and age where everyone is trying to build the ultimate 59 bassman / Plexi / AC30 etc.. What's even more impressive is that they seem to have hit on a great tone all their own. These amps are fairly unknown in the US so far, but I'm guessing they will make a splash pretty soon. If it were stolen, I would purchase another.

This amp has all the features it needs for the type of amp it is. There's no point in marking it down for lack of channel switching as the amp is designed to be cranked up the old fashioned way, with clever use of playing dynamics, tone and volume control to alter the sound. This amp does these things beautifully. I tried the MK50 head as a comparison before buying this amp and it was truly outstanding, same tone etc but with volume & gain boosts. However, I wanted a setup close to my old amp (Marshall bluesbreaker) with a little more versatility and portability. This does the job and then some. I also wanted an amp I could gig with and use in the house. Gigging volume is more than adequate, don't pay any attention to the power rating of 20watts - This thing can make your ears bleed! Many reviewers have commented on the lack of standby switch. Being used to valve amps, a standby switch has become a pre-requisite to warming up the valves and also cutting the signal to the speakers when not in use. As well as rock blues, I also use the amp for rock gospel in a church and although the amp is very quiet, a standby switch would be a much easier option than taking the master volume out when not playing in the service. The second downside is the lack of protection for the poweramp valves. A problem inherrant it seems with EL84 driven amps. The valves are just slotted in loosly with no containers and as a result I have to check they are snug in their sockets before playing as they are sometimes nudged out of place during transportation. Finally, an LED switch on the reverb pedal would have been useful as reverb is one of the more subtle effects an amp can use and it would be handy to know where you are at a glance in the middle of a gig. All in all, the amp does exactly what it is supposed to, but I would take a point off for lack of standby and valve protection as they are major downsides for me.

I play a variety of blues rock with a PRS McCarty. It took several weeks of playing with the tone controls for me to nail my perfect sound. Not that the other sounds were bad, on the contrary, the eq is so dynamic you can dial in a myriad of different sounds. The mid control is particularly versatile, at about 11 o'clock gives a great cutting sound. Push the mid to 3/4 and it sings of marshall 70's rock with it's own distinctive colour on top. Clean sounds sparkle and crunch settings ooze tone, but you just have to crank the gain as this has the best overdrive sound on the planet. Huge tight bass (enhanced by the 1x12 ext cab)and clear note definition for every chord or run you play. This is no way a one trick pony, although you can't switch between the sounds on offer, you're best off just finding your sound through experimentation and leaving it forever. The amp has that late 60's early 70's marshall grit in it but this thing is so versatile you could get whatever sound you wanted (bar extreme metal). There's no need for distortion pedals now. You will never find an overdrive this good anywhere else. I use an MXR Micro amp in the effects loop to add presence & volume boost for solo. In the line signal I have a boss eq pedal for some mid boosts, boss chorus, boss eq & danelectro delay. For some reason they sound better out front rather than in the loop.

Only had it a couple of months, but has produced every time. Taking the back panel off and seeing the workmanship you can tell that this amp is built to last

For a small company these people are second to none in their customer service. This amp aint cheap so I wanted to be sure on my purchase before I bought it. Both Paul Cornford and Martin Kidd coversed with me via email before my purchase regarding amp power ratings etc. After I bought the amp, I had yet more questions regarding effects loop setup and also advising me on a Dunlop MXR pedal for solo boosting. They must get literally hundreds of emails a day off geeks like me pestering the life out of them, yet they answer each one personally, whilst designing and building great amps at the same time.

My 16 year quest for the perfect amp has come to a close. This amp was to be the last amp I would buy as I wanted the perfect amp that I would never get rid of. A fairytale story I know, but I have matched the glass slipper with this one. I tried a VHT pitbull, MESA F30 & F50, Mashall DSL40. All were nice, but had I bought either of these I would have sold it in a year or so. This amp is going nowhere. The minor imperfections noted in part one are a smal price to pay for a phenominal amp. This amp is a once in a lifetime investment for most of us as quality costs money.

Same features as described below; single channel 1x12 class A/B EL84 powered master volume valve combo with S/S rectifier, reverb and f/x loop.
My amp was made in October 2003 and has the new fretcloth front instead of the powder coated grill of earlier prod. models, which really adds to the classiness of it. I could personally do without the f/x loop, but it's there should I ever need it. Other than that, it does everything I need it to do.
Oh, no stand by, which concerned me at first, but my amp tech drew me a very complicated diagram which explained why it wasn't necessary, so I'll go with that.

I play in a 3 piece Rhythm and Blues band, I use a 63 Telecaster and a 57 Les Paul Junior, both stock(ish) and they both work well with this amp.
I swapped out the EH preamp tubes and put some old Mullards in, because I had them, I also changed the Sovtek EL84s for some Harmas from Watford Valves which I've always had good luck with, again because I had them. Good quality valves always give an amp the best chance of sounding it's best.
The tone controls are particularly intuitive; you point the knobs to where the particular sound you're after should be and most of the time it's there. It's very easy to dial in and actually quite difficult to make it sound bad due to the careful voicing of the preamp, which is more than you can say for most amplifiers. The reverb is as good as any I've heard and reacts well to playing dynamics, which is really what this amp is all about. I was surprised to learn that Cornford designed this amp around S/S rectification, but I must say that it definitely feels like there's a valve doing the shunting in there.
We have quite a loud drummer and I was a bit concerned about the Hurricane hacking it in real world situations (small clubs with no in house pa, bigger stages for onstage monitoring etc.). For bigger venues I use it with a 2x12 extension cab fitted with old G12H30 Celestions, but it holds it's own and sounds just as good most of the time with just the onboard V30.
The actual sound of the Hurricane is really something special. I suppose you could say that it's ballpark AC30 non top boost at it's core with buckets more gain on tap if you need it, but you can lean it towards glassy Fender or hot rodded plexi type sounds. Whichever way you go it still sounds like a Cornford and little else will get near it for sonic quality.

I've had it six months now, no problems. Looks like it should go the distance.

I phoned them once for some advice on mismatching impedances and OT tolerance, Martin Kidd phoned me back within the hour and was very helpful and courteous.

I've been playing 30 years, most of my working life as a musician. I could have any amp I want. I have a 65 JTM45, which I will keep, but my other amps are gone since I bought the Hurricane.
I wish I'd had one years ago.

I mainly play blues/classic rock... and this amp is just amazing for it.... its an all valve, 1 channel, free reverb peddling blues beast!!
I have used this amp in quite a few halls.... you can get the valves
really going in most venues and if you mic up.. you can play any size!
The clean, crunch and lead sounds are all amazing!! for me its as versatile as it needs to be!!

OMG.
soweet!! this is dream amp. With this amp on a good drive and using the bridge humbucker on my gordon smith its sounds like jimmy page has taken over the building!! sweet. i have had this amp for a couple of months. and have yet to get over how amazing it is.
There is one thing however.. which i dont really understand...
when reverb and volume are on full when running clean a buzz slowly gets louder and louder... this is normally solved by turning the reverb down a bit... anyway... its still amazing!!!!!!

havent really had it for that long...
no problems yet.

not tried yet.

See the other reviews. A simple but flexible amp. The feature is TONE at all levels of gain (rock not metal)!

I've had some pretty good valve amps in the past, Rivera Chubster, VHT Pitbull, Mesa Nomad but none of them really did it for me. The Hurricane is in a completely different league. As others have mentioned you really hear the guitar - I' have a good Strat, Anderson Hollow Drop Top & PRS McCarty - they all sounded brilliant - both clean & cranked. Its impossible to describe the sound but it is articulate in a way I've never experienced before - you not only hear the guitar you also hear everything little thing that you do - sounds stupid, but you try it - it's a bit exposing! It's even true going flat out! I'm playing it through a boogie verticle 2x12 1/3 open with Vintage 30s & it sounds massive. Still sounds good through it's own speaker - but adding the bigger cabinet....!
If you are looking for top quality clean, on the edge & rock tone try one. They are very cheap for what you're getting. The amps I listed above are in the same ball park price wise but they don't have tone like this one. The reverb is very good even when set pretty high. The amp is quiet and responsive.
I agree with all the positive points made in the reviews below, I'm bowled over by this amp.
I often play completely clean now which was rare in the past - each note just sounds so gooooood.

Should be good due to the type of construction & parts quality.
The reverb tank had a rattle in it that I fixed with some glue but thats down to accutronics.

Chatted with one of the guys for a while - very helpful.

Been playing for 20+ years, sometimes gigging.
I think this amp is awesome & can't wait to use it live!
I love the look of it - it looks vintage though its new.
Try one! Or one of the other models - it sounds like they're all very good.

Single channel with Gain,Bass, Midd, Treble, Reverb and Volume.
100% tube tone. 20 Watts may sound little, but you have the opportunity to really get the amplifier to give its best. Can coop with indoor gigs, otherwise, just mic it up!
Very simple amp to use, yet very versatile in a rock'n'roll context. Not much to add. This baby doesn't shine through the use of hundreds of knobs and channels switchings, but with an AWESOME tone that has to be heard to be believed.

I own a PRS McCarthy, a Gibson ES-135 and a Fender Strat (with a Dimarzio Fast Track at the bridge).
What I really love about this amp is that your guitar just shines through it! You can really hear the tone of whichever guitar you use, that's just amazing! It's very responsive to your style of playing as well (dig your guitar hard, and the Hurricane will growl, pluck it smoothly, and it will cry!!! It's that good!!!).
The basic tone is caraterized by a dark, brown, chocolaty overdrive that seems to have been created in heaven (or hell!!!). It's so beautiful and smooth that you want to 'eat' it!. The dark overdrive, sustain and overall dynamic are among the best (if not the best) money can buy (the tone is tridimensional!!!).
It's perfect for 'old school' rock'n'roll (a la Led Zeppelin, Cream, Deep Purple, you name it), and the blues (I had an amazing Eric Clapton 'Bluesbreakers" tone with the PRS).
But this baby can also handle a very very convincing jazz tone when using a hollowbody (very Wes Montgomery like!).
However, it's not for trash or heavy metal (but who would complain?!?!?).

It's built to last forever!!! As simple as that!

Very good!!! Cornford is still a very small company, and they treat their clients like real stars!!! It's a real pleasure to deal with them.

I've been playing for 8 years. I play mostly rock'n'roll, blues and jazz. I used to have a Mesa/Boogie Mark I, which I loved, but I think that the Cornford is just a category above! Had a couple of Marshalls as well, but I never caught up with them, they are just too bright. Comparing them with the Hurricane is like comparing a Cadillac (the Hurricane), with a Toyota (the Marshalls!!!); it's simply impossible!!!
Another thing is that you are buying a 'boutique' amp for 1 300 Pounds. You'll have to pay 10 times this price for a Dumble or a Bad Cat, which are not necessarily better than the Cornford.
It's incredible value for money given the price, the built quality and the TONE!!!
If you get this baby, you'll have to learn how to drive an amp into overdrive the old way (just by cranking up!), but it's part of the charm of the Hurricane, and God only knows how charming this amp is!!!