Cornford Hurricane 112 Combo

I bought this amp from Andertons (Guildford) in early 2009. It really has very few features. One channel, nice FX loop and reverb. It seems a bit unfair to score the amp as a 'five' but the point of these sites is to compare products, isn't it? Can you trust a review of this amp that scores the features as a 'ten'? I'm not being critical here- it's just a matter of fact.

I play all kinds of styles and have tried this amp with an Tom Anderson Classic, a Les Paul and a PRS Custom. This amp suits the strat very well, particularly on clean to just breaking up. The reverb is one of the best I've heard. I have to say that I don't like the distortion at all, once you push the gain past 7. In fact, it's horrible. If you need to play modern rock forget it. The other problem is that the 20 watts is nowhere near loud enough if you're standing next to a loud drummer, so this amp is limited to bedroom players or studios. Having said that, Cornford are clearly aiming at that market, so if you make that mistake, you haven't done your homework. In short, great clean, not so great dirty!

Hand wired, so I guess the insides will go for a long time. Picked the amp up after about 4 weeks of owning it and the bloody handle fell off! Good job it only fell a foot or so onto the floor. Oh well, quick to repair but not very impressive I have to say. This amp looks great in the corner of the room but it's very light and I'm not so sure how good it will look after 3 or 4 years in and out of the back of a van! Certainly not half as robust as my Boogie.

Emailed the company with a query about the FX loop and using it chained to another amp. No reply. Stunning British service. Doesn't fill me with confidence if something major happened.

It may seem that I'm a bit down on this amp but actually I'm glad I bought it. I wanted a good clean amp for home use and this fits the bill perfectly. I'm lucky I have an understanding wife who lets me indulge in various guitars and amps. If you only have the space or money for one good all rounder, this amp has too many limitations.

I bought this amp brand new from www.tonemerchants.com. This is a simple, old school style amp with some updated features. It's one channel with Hi & low input and an FX loop. Also has a 8 ohm jack from 1 speaker and 2 4 ohm jacks to run a extra 8 ohm cab. Also includes a jack for footswitchable reverb. For a simple amp like this, it has everything it needs. Any more would just make it more complicated and probably tone would suffer.

I play all styles of music. I've been playing for 30 years and have owned many, many amplifiers. I won't go into a list of amps but I've spent anywhere from $1500 up to $4000 for mainstream and boutique amplifiers. This amp is the best sounding amp I have ever heard. The clean is fat, round and bell like with a nice chime. That's what blew me away when I first tried this amp. For a 1x12 it has a very full round sound. Then I started moving the gain up and the distortion is amazing. It's not brutal or harsh at all. It's got a nice open sounding british distortion. Very tasteful. I have been using it with a slight breakup. For clean I just roll back the volume on my guitar and it cleans up very nice. For more gain, I use either an OCD or BB preamp pedal and it ads some nice gain with out changing the tone of the amp. The FX loop works very well and with a little delay through the loop, it really ads a nice 3rd dimension to the amp. Again, I have to say, I've owned all the big name amps and this amp blows me away every time I plug into it. It's an instrument in itself. The way it responds to your guitar is amazing!

I've only owned it for a month. I've had no issues at all. The amp is built very well.

Haven't had to deal with this.

As I stated above. This is the best sounding amp I've ever played through. One of the coolest things is, it only weighs 40 pounds. It's very light and easy to take to the gig. Because it's only 20 watts, you need to mic it. That's never an issue for me because where ever I play, I'm always miced up. Since I bought this amp, I'm playing more than I ever have. It's made me want to play more. That says it all right there!

I purchased my Hurricane new from a shop. I spent many hours playing it and grew more and more on me.

It's a simple 18 W Class A/B EL84 driven single channel amplifier loaded with a Celestion Vintage 30. It has high and low inputs, a spring reverb and a series effects loop. The reverb is foot switchable with the included foot swtich.

The preamp stage consists of 4 x 12AX7's and the poweramp consists of 2 x EL84's.

The Hurricane is very carefully hand assembled and hand wired using the finest quality components. Even the transformers are hand wound. The whole thing just reeks of quality. I am particulary fond of the leather handle hehe :)

The amp is very versatile, and can do everything with great class. Blues, jazz, rock, metal etc.

The Hurricane is truly the best combo I have ever had the pleasure of playing through. My guitar is an american stratocaster with a PAF Pro in the neck and a BREED in the bridge. This thing just oozes the most beautiful tone and it's a joy to listen to. The guys at Cornford have voiced the Hurricane to perfection. It's so rich and full. The overdrive is wonderful. The typical characteristic is a delightful dark, smooth, creamy sound that has an amazing singing quality. As one of the previous reviewers mentioned, you almost want to eat the tone that flows out of this amp. Low notes are tight and defined, high notes are smooth and full and can break out into wonderful sustaining, singing harmonics.

It's so responsive and dynamic, it increases your awareness of how you are playing and it certainly isn't forgiving with sloppy playing. It brings you closer to your instrument. This amp will make you adjust your playing and will ultimately make you a better player.

The reverb is lovely. It's lush and plummy. Never boingy.

I'd say my search for tone is officially over. A deffinite 10

As I already mentioned, the Hurricane has been lovingly assembled to a fantastic standard using the highest quality components. The circuitry is completely point to point hand wired. I have yet to gig with this amp but I have complete confidence in it.

Cornford are still a very small company. If you have any questions or problems, you can just phone them up and you are usually able to speak with Paul Cornford himself or the other guy (I forget his name) that works with Paul to design their amps. They are extremely helpful and enthusiastic and are a pleasure to speak to.

This is just an incredible amplifier. It may seem expensive but it's worth every penny. In my opinion there is just no need to bother with effects or overdrives with this. All you'd ever need is perhaps some delay and wah. The tone is just so beautiful as it is.

As it's only 18W, you can drive it really hard and you can get a great sound at polite volume levels. There is plenty of volume on tap for gigging.

If it got lost or stolen, I'd get another immediately. I probably wouldn't be able to afford another but I'd try and claim on the insurance at least.

When trying out amps in the shop, I also played the Cornford Harlequin, a Cornell Plexi, a Kosch Studio Tone and a Mesa amp I can't remember. The Hurricane was my favourite amp.

My only gripe with it is that when gain is high along with the master volume, it gets quite noisy, but not noticeable when playing and nothing a good noise surpressor can't reduce. It's pretty much the same story with any other valve amp.

If you ever have the opportunity to try the Hurricane out, please do. It is such a wonderful amp. The dark, smooth nature of this amp may not be for everyone but the more I play it, the more I love it. If you are thinking of making a serious investment on an amp, deffinetly give this, and the rest of the Cornford family a try.

Thanks for reading. Peace :)

This has already been covered by previous users, features are at basic vintage level but don`t be fooled by all the knobs and buttons on so any amps out there, this baby does NOT need them.

The sound quality of this amp is mind blowing, using an old 70`s Yamaha Les Paul copy set on neck (single coil)the tone quality on a low gain/clean setting is superb. Just flick to the bridge humbucker and crank up the pre amp gain and again you have a sustaining and sweet lead tone to die for. Before you waste hundreds of pounds buying Mesa/Soldano top gear which you will NEVER get to crank up to a sweet level, just try one of these and save years of looking and blowing brass. Small wonder nearly all `Guitarist` mag players use and own them. I`m so p****d I didn`t shell out a bit more tosh years ago to grab one. I also tried my Schecter strat, again sweetest strat tone I`ve ever got. Combo`s generally sound a little boxy, this does not! The tonal character of each guitar is well defined, this is lost with chip distortion which will make every guitar sound artificially compressed and soul-less.

Simple and bullet proof hand wiring, no PCB`s to burn out, top quality components throughout. There can be no doubt the amp will last a lifetime and should a repair ever be needed it will be easy to do and not detract from the reliability of the amp in any way. Short of the odd valve change every few years this amp will last a century!

Can`t comment as yet as never needed to use, I suspect as a hand made boutique amp made by Brit guitar enthusiasts they will be only too pleased to advise. These amps are more like individually born, not mass produced. Long may it remain so!

Its like finding the Holy Grail after looking for 30 years! Its loud fully cranked but its useable, there is little point using a 50 or 100 watt valve amp gigging small/medium venues at levels 2 to 3. If you can1t crank up and saturate the power valves to make em sing, its a total waste of time. Even if you can`t afford one, try one so that you have a benchmark as to what the best actually sounds like.

This is a hand wired British amp/combo. A single channel,loud 20 watt all valve with 4 ECC83 and 2 EL84. Contains a 12 inch Celestion G12 Vintage 30 speaker. Comes with metal floor switch and high quality lead for reverb off/on. The build quality cannot be improved, it uses top grade components in all departments and will last a lifetime. It runs very quietly.

Set the bass and mid to full, the gain to 75% and back off treble to 3 or 4. Master vol to 75% and plug in a humbucker guitar and enjoy. Pure bliss, you will be hearing the tone you have spent many years and a lot of money trying to find. It is small wonder these amps are used by those in the know. It is a combo that in medium to small venues will produce a big creamy distortion tone, yet clear and full of harmonics. THIS IS AS GOOD AS IT GETS THE WORLD OVER!!!! The amp will be best used live A/B with another valve amp set for clean sounds. This amp will produce a superb clean tone with vast amounts of reverb but in a live setting A/B is the only way as you will have to redail the eq and gains. This is how the pro`s use it. As a single channel amp this amp has it all and is the perfect studio amp.

Owing to the circuitry not requiring a PC board and that it is hand wired using NASA quality silent running components with ceramic valve inserts, reliabilty will never be a problem. Electronically it is bullet proof.

Doubtful if customer support will ever be needed, but someone who has hand built such a beauty will always be proud to advise.

This amp is a mind blower, try one out before parting with your cash on any other boutique amp at around ??1000.

This amp was made in January 05 as it says inside the chassis, The amps is quite versitile but it's limited by being single channel but I prefer the whole single channel thing anyway, im not a fan of stepping on a million buttons to get good tone.

Same features as all other reviews

The overdrive is very smooth it's just about enough gain to quick leggato lines and alternate picking runs it's not a shredders amp but believe me I can shred on it ;)

Such a nice warm tone.. there aren't enough superlatives to describe the tone that leaves that speaker cone.

I compared this amp to the following amps;
ENGL Screamer, Orange Tiny Terror, Splawn Competition, Marshall Vintage Modern.. Whilst looking for a new amp I was sick of buying boutique stuff because it wasn't worth the extra cash so I was looking for something good and solid since I thought my ideal tone didn't exist. Well it does.

I will gig without a back up, it's EL84 loaded so if i blow a tube I just pull a spare set out of my pocket and slap them in and fire it up again, ready to gig!.. I don't see this amp failing other than tubes expiring, built like a tank if anything went wrong it's such a simple design Im sure cornford could repair it very quickly. So it gets a 9.

I've emailed the company about the warranty, the warranty covers the amp for the first year, and is none transferable. I'd have thought an amp of this quality would have a life time transferable warranty.. My only gripe.

I've been playing since '93, I own a Splawn Competition as well as this amp.

I'd buy this amp again if it were stolen

Features are straight forward tonestack, two inputs, effects loop, etc... Would have given a 10 if it had a standby switch -

This is THE most toneful combo on the planet. Bad Cat, Dr Z, etc aren't even on the same plane as the Hurricane. Don't get me wrong - they're all great amps with some work and some tweeking, it's just that the Hurricane was AMAZING straight out of the box! I've loved my Fenders (Super Reverb, Blues Jr), Marshalls (JTM 45 with KT66's, JCM 2000 DSL 100, Vox (60's Royal Guardsman) and various and sundry other tone machines over the years. All of them had room for improvement, and went through tube and speaker upgrades, all trying to find their optimal tone. The Hurricane had it straight out of the box. NOTHING at three times the price has "eclipsed" this little tone machines sound.

It's been completely reliable for the two years I've had it.

Haven't needed any customer support - Don't know -

I started playing in 1972, and I've heard all the "vintage" amps and guitars before they were "vintage". I think memory fails lots of folks, cause there were good "sonic" and reliability reasons why they sold those things off in the first place. The Cornford has a sound of its own. It's the sound you all will never quite reach tweeking those Marshalls and Fenders. Tweek on forever, or just get a Cornford and get on with playing -

A recently-made Cornford Hurricane combo. To be honest this amp is not very versatile. Single channel. Standard three band EQ. No standby switch, quite a big omission to make. EQ controls are fairly responsive, more than a Marshall or Fender but less than a Laney or Mesa.

For a boutique amp I would have expected a standby switch and some kind of second switchable gain stage or second master volume to increase versatility. And I'm not too keen on the Vintage 30. I don't think it suits the amp that well.

I tested this with two guitarist friends of mine, several guitars and two bottles of whiskey. We mianly used a Gibson Nighthawk, Fender Strat (mexican, pickups changed), a Fender Tele with dual P90s and a Fender Jaguar (fitted with Seymour Duncan Quarter Pounder pickups). The cleans were best with the Strat. The best gain tones were given with the gain on about 6 using the Nighthawk.

The sounds it does unquestionably well are blues and classic rock. In the middle ranges of the gain control the amp seems to be in it's element. Few amps I've heard do low gain sounds this well. But overall, the amp has a fairly limited palette of sounds. The clean is pretty flat and uninteresting even at higher volumes. It doesn't even have enough gain to do good hard rock sounds in my opinion; I can't get the Van Halen first album tone I like. Metal tones? Forget about it.

Lack of versatility isn't the only problem. The EQ seems uneven in the bass ranges; on the clean you can turn the bass to full and with singlecoils it still sounds thin. Then, as soon as you start cranking the gain a lot of bass comes into play. Also, the difference between pickups seemed huge on the Cornford. It would be hard to balance the amp if you planned to gig it with a handful of different guitars. Even when adjusting the EQ severely.

I've got better results out of Laney amplifiers costing half or a third of this. They balanced their palette of sounds better and were very tolerant of pickup differences; bringing out the changes while still retaining a signature amp tone. With a Laney LC50's clean channel and the Jaguar's neck pickup, tone rolled off, I got a great jazz sound. On this Hurricane the same setting sounded really thin. I had niggles like this with all the guitars I tried through it.

The amp's construction is immaculate. It's not printed circuit board, it is a handwired sandwich board style often seen in original 50s and 60s amps. This means even if there is a problem it'd be easy to fix. Also the tolex was thick and nicely applied. It was all screwed together well too.

I've always been more of a amp freak than guitar freak. I've owned a Vox AC30 with bluebacks, Fender Twin, two Marshall JMPs, three Laneys (LC50, VC50, GH100L halfstack), an Orange Rockerverb 100 halfstack, and many others. Among them this amp is weak. If it was at a cheaper price point it might fare better, but when there are amps costing significantly less coming off the production line it doesn't make sense to favour a less versatile handmade model like this.

One of my favourite guitarists, Hal Stokes of The Theives, uses Cornford MK50 stacks live and often on record. Those are also good amps but again, they really don't have enough of a signature sound or advantage in terms of price to make me choose them over my current favourite, Laney.

Overall, Cornford amps are nothing to write home about. What also alarms me is that guitarists will pay for these amps and then spend more money changing out the stock speakers... if you're paying this much the amp should be perfect out of the box! More money than sense perhaps? Just my thoughts of course. Any questions don't hesitate.

2004 Hurricane, single channel handwired 1 x 12 22 watt combo.Comes with reverb and built in UK.

Designed (I assume) to be the next step up from the Harlequin and something you can gig with. Nice sound at low volumn however things get noisy as you turn the knob past 12 O'clock regardless of wether its single coils or Humbuckers.
Not a bad sound but the amp is very underpowered and there are many many amplifiers out there that sound a damn site better for a fraction of the cost ( i.e. Peavey Classic 30).

Seems very well built and would last a lifetime.

Emailed them a few times and they responded very quickly.

A very rugged and well made amplifier that would last any owner a lifetime.
A word of caution however.Don't expect to be able to compete with the drummer if you plan to gig with it.Very underpowered and very little headroom and very much a studio type amplifier which begs the question as to why they didn't make it 35 watts and make it usable in a live environment.
As a yardstick it's no where near as loud ( or as versatile)as a Mesa Boogie Subway Blues which is what I eventually swapped it for.
The guy who owns it now plays with a jazz trio and has it miked!.

This section has been covered by most of the previous reviews and my Hurricane is no different in its layout. The stuff I do the amp hosts all the features I need so its a ten out of ten from me.

Like the previous reviewer, I too am left somewhat dissapointed by the amp's delivery of sound - luckily I bought second hand and saved a packet of money. Mine was a "blind" internet purchase and so I did not try before buying. Clearly Conford have gone for an original sound as the voicing is really nothing like Fender or Marshall (don't let anyone tell you any differently). The previous writer is absolutely right about the Hurricane being way off the class of an old Marshall or Fender - I can only describe the Hurricane's sound as being gagged and not free and open and in the end, it just annoys me. Dialling in overdrive is simple and there is plenty of it too (sadly it is not terribly good). I have tried many different output and preamp valves and my experience of this is the JJ Teslas supplied in the preamp section are about the best for the money and importantly the quietest. The Sovtek output valves really need to be removed as they are harsh and don't handle overdrive well. To sum up - far from breathtaking!

Had it three months and everything is fine.

Never needed to contact their customer support.

Brand new - way over priced. Second hand at ?800.00 not exactly a bargain either. Will probably sell it in time. Have a Boogie and Tech 21 - the Hurricane is no better than the Tech!

Manufactured in 2006 my Cornford Hurricane boasts the exact same features as all the previous reviews. Approximately 18 - 20 watts class A changing to A/B in the higher gain stages. It has the following controls all operated by the attractive chicken head knobs: Gain, Reverb, Bass, Middle, Treble, Master. In addition to these controls the panel also has a High and Low Input facility and an effects send/return and lastly a mains on/off switch. The EQ controls work smoothly and do have reasonable scope for tonal sculpturing. Both the Gain and Master controls are linear meaning there are no sudden increases/decreases in volume along their respective rotary movements. The Hurricane is equipped with a Celestion Vintage 30 12" speaker which given the speaker's sensitivity, makes the amplifier loud enough for most pubs and clubs I have ever played at. Rating this section under the general heading Features is difficult so my rating will be based on what the features do for the amp.

To my ears the amp is really quite toneless and I have spent many hours playing and fiddling to try and find what everyone else raves about. Played clean the amp is way off the class of a high end Fender or Marshall - those sumptuous squashy sounds(compression)associated with Fender and Marshall are just not there. The response from pick attack is also sadly lacking. Turning up the gain does not realise a very good overdrive sound either - its thin and fizzy and unmusical sounding. I suppose this is a drawback for opting to go with preamp gain. Some of you reading this who already own a Hurricane will probably be hating me for writing bad things about this amp. I am sorry you may just thank me in the end - go and find an amp which produces overdrive sounds from the output valves and you will soon hear the difference. Music shops are really not the best of places to try out amps. One is only too aware of making too much of a din and frequently there are many distractions and other noises going on. Had I had the opportunity to try this amp out at home, I would not have bought it - it is simply not worth the money. My rating for this section is comparitive to other expensive amps I own which I would rate at 10.

I would say this amp might be quite reliable, it certainly seems well built and the compenents look neatly soldered into their position. Everything looks good quality.

Never had to deal with company.

I have been playing a very intense ten years. I play a Cunetto Strat. I also own a Marshall Bluesbreaker Reissue (built in 1990) a Custom Shop Fender Bassman and Cornell Romany Plus. I would never buy a Hurricane again.

The previous reviews outline the features so I'll get right down to my review. I've tried really hard to fault this amp and its incredibly difficult. The only fault I can find is the previously mentioned lack of standby switch.

The day I bought this amp I took it to the studio, and it sounded so good we had to re-record my other guitarists guitar lines, because it made his Engl head/Marshall 2x12 sound nasty. A few days later I used it live in a small venue. It sounded fantastic here, but I feel if we played any where else 20w might be too little. But generally you are ok as the venue should have its own PA.

I use a Fender Light Ash tele with seymour duncan pro 2 pickups, then through a few fx (crybaby, small clone, delay) and it really sounds fantastic. Havent played it through humbuckers though so I dont really know how dark it would sound.

I really love the way the sound breaks up into distortion, its just amazing. I've only ever owned two other amps - a Park practise amp, and a Spider 2x12 combo. Now I've heard valve theres absolutely no way I can go back to transistor amps ever again.

I tested loads of amps before settling on this - Vox AC30, Orange Combo, couple of HiWatt combos, Mesa Boogie F50, load of Fenders. It came down to the Ac30 and the Cornford, and I chose the cornford as it was much lighter (seriously painful moving the AC30 around!) and generally sounded more sweet.

Havent had it long enough to talk about reliability, but I'd be confident to gig without a backup. Its incredibly well built.

Again, havent had to deal with them, but I left a message on their message board about getting a flightcase and Paul Cornford let me know that they supply cases. Not much, but I was impressed at that.

No doubt the support will go downhill when more people buy these fantastic amps!

I've been playing for roughly 10 years, but with a 3 year gap. I've got rid of my previous amp - Line 6 Spider which was a nasty fizzy cheap amp. If it got stolen I'd hunt the person down, firstly congratulate him on his impeccible taste, then i'd procede to throw him down the nearest set of stairs.

I love the sounds this amp can produce, and what I like most is their "useful" EQ. Its not extreme like you find on others, which makes it really hard to dial in bad tone, which is alright in my books! Like I say I must have tried 7-8 different amps before hearing this. Before dragging this amp into the testing booth I was just about ready to call it a day and just get the AC30, but then my jaw dropped at the sound of the Cornford (and how there are no PCBs inside! YEAH!).

The only thing I wish it had was a standby switch, so I dont have to keep turning the master down to unplug stuff. I really can understand why they neglected the standby switch - I thought valves sounded best when warmed up :)

With regard to the price, at first I thought it was a bit extravagant - compared with the #800 education price on the Vox AC30. Thats #400 difference, and to my ears worth every extra penny.

This amp has been made by people who really understands electric guitar and guitarists. The bass, mid and treble controls are all kept within useful ranges. The same goes for the reverb, which is equally good sounding, no matter setting.

The features of this amp is perfectly tuned and adds up to the overall playing experience. It's not possible to make this amp sound bad!

I'm using an Epiphone Les Paul Special and a Strat-shaped Blade with both single coil mics and humbuckers, and they both sound terrific with the Hurricane. This is without question the best sounding amp I've ever had the pleasure to play. And after playing for over 30 years, I've had quite a few. Marshall, Fender, Vox, Mesa, Soldano, Rivera and many more.

So many good things have been said on this page about this amp, and I just have to agree with every one of them. But the main point for me is that the Hurricane acts like an extension of my instrument. It follows me and my guitar like a shadow. Enhances every nuance.

I've had the amp too short to really have an opinion, but I bought it secondhand, and despite being two years old it's in mint condition. So judging by that and the fact that it's built quite sturdily, I think this amp will serve me well for a long time.

Living in Norway I will have to judge the Norwegian dealer and not the British builders. But I'm sure that the guys at Cornford will be pleased to hear that I've been treated very kindly and effectively by Sagevik Music in Stavanger, Norway.

As I mentioned I've been playing for over 30 years, and for the last few years I've been using a very plain solid state amp. I have kind of revitalized my guitar playing for the last year or so, and decided I wanted a better amp.

So I've tried Hiwatt, Budda and the Hurricane. All being of roughly the same concept, I found that the Cornford amp had a much nicer gain, warmth and equalization than the Hiwatt. And although the Budda was coming close to the Hurricane, I thought it sounded somewhat harsh in comparison.

The only thing that I miss, like many others have mentioned, is a standby switch. I just can't understand why they didn't put that in.

But that put aside, the Cornford Hurricane is a superb guitar amp!

This is an update quickly after my followup review. As mentioned I had not been completely satisfied with the sound, neither given by the Celestion Vintage 30 nor by the Jensen Alnico Speaker replacement I chosed. So I bought one of the new Heritage Celestion G12H Speakers and put it into the Hurricane. Boooooom fellows, thats the sound I had been looking for, powerfull and shining like the G12H must have been in the old days, and much moree better sounding then my original Pre-Rola G12H Greenbacks. I only can recommend to Peter Cornford, use this type of speaker instead the CV 30 and an already superb sounding amp will sound awesome !!!

This is the follow up of my first review I made in this forum directly after I had bought the amp, maily concerning the sound of the Hurricane.

Loaded with the standart Celestion Vintage 30 speaker, the Hurricane for me is one of the best amps for playing a Strat in a low - medium gain mode. Anyway, when it comes to guitars which are not as bright sounding as a Strat or a Tele, e.g. the most guitars with humbuckers, the Hurricane sounds for my ears way too dark. So I experimented with different types of speakers. Always amazed by the sound of Alnico speakers unfortunatly the Celestion Alnico Blue is a little to deep to place it into the combo. Thus I checked one of the new Jensen Alnicos, the P12R, rating 25 W. Whereas, loaded with the Vintage 30, the Hurricane sounded close to an old Marshall on stereoids, the tonal directions has drifted now more to a Blackface Deluxe on adrenalin. Funny, isn't it, how much different kind of speakers really influence the sound of our beloved amps ?
Summerizing this experience I would say, neither the Celestion Vintage 30 nor the Jensen P12R Alnico represent the ultimate ratio concerning the sound of the Hurricane. One is too dark, the other not focussed enough. On the other hand, when I use the now Jensen loaded Hurricane in combination with my vintage Fender Bandmaster cab, which hosts two Pre-Role G12H Celestions, the sound is top of the line. What I'm gonne test next is one of the new Celestion G12M Heritage 20 W speakers, which can be found for example on board the Marshall Vintage Reissue 1974X 18 W combo.
Maybe this will be the best solution for the stand alone Hurricane user due to the combination of a more focussed sound, a ceramic magnet speaker produces, combined with the less darker character of the Greenback.

If you like the sound of vintage Marshall amps (e.g. model 1962 or 1987) but are missing the gain control then check the Cornford Hurricane. To me one of the best sounding amps for Blues and/or Classic Rock I've ever played in over 35 years. Works great in combination with pedals (I mainly use a TS 808 for leadlines. Don't be fooled by the 20 W power rating. I play small to medium sized clubs (100 - 800 people. In a small club the Hurricane is loud enough on its own, larger venues always have a P.A. so the Hurricane already will be miced. My 100 W and 50 W Marshall most time had to be played on 3-4, so there ain't no powertube saturation. With the Hurricane you'll always play the powertube section between 6-8, so you'll really get the great sound our heroes had in the old days when they played large venues with Marshall Super Leads running on 10.

Gain control,treble,mid,bass,reverb,Hi Lo inputs,effects loop,2xEL84 output tubes,Ax-7 preamp tubes,20Watts Class A, Celestion Vintage 30 speaker, Reverb foot pedal, 3 speaker outputs including 1x12(you can run 2 additional 8 ohm speaker cabinets.

I took a while before reviewing this amp. At first listen I wasn't blown away, but after a while getting to know it I can now say confidently that this amp rocks - literally. One important thing that I wish the manufacturer would explore is speakers. I took out the stock Vintage 30 and tried a Celestion Blue, Celestion Century, and Eminence speakers. For my ears the Eminence came in. In partular the Eminence Tonespotter and Wizard. The Tonespotter now resides within the Cornford because it is a very warm speaker with the ability to sound angry or chimey,or clean. The Wizard was much the same only louder. I think the Cornford guys should try the Heritage Vintage 30 G12H speakers if they are locked into Celestion - this was the speaker of the seventies rock guitar heroes and the Eminence Wizard is modelled on and they are CHEAP by comparison. I digress but this is important guys. This is a killer amp - more so with the my 1960 Strat, very chimey(Little Wing, Sweet Home Alabama) but beautiful breakup when needed(Blackmore Machine Head era), I found my 1960 Les Paul to be good as well with a bit more tweaking(Billy Gibbons pre 1980's). Right now I cannot think of a better clubbing or studio amp. No wonder Satriani loves it so. I've given it a 7 because of the amount of difference a good speaker makes to the sound and the expense added to an already pricey amp. Now it sounds like a 10.

So far so good -

Cannot say enough good things about these guys, they have always been extremely patient and helpful with my somewhat anal questions

Been playing for 30 years, I use USA boutique pedals, a 1960 strat with bareknuckles "Irish Tour" pickups, a Gibson Les Paul 1960 "Classic" reissue with Bareknuckles "Mule" humbuckers that were custom wound, and George-L cables. The only effects I use are Wah(Reece RMC-3)Analog Mike stuff, Roger Mayer Octavia(signed by the man himself)Arion Stereo chorus, Sweetsound ultravibe.

Follow-on to my earlier submittal -

Time for the 10. This amp just keeps sounding better over time. I've used it through a 2x12 cab with Celestion Blue Alnico's - with both open and closed back - and it sounds great. But here's a surprise: I found it sounds better through my broken-in Marshall 1960AV with the Vintage 30's. I expect Paul and Martin voiced these amps for the V30's.
I'm currently using a new Eric Johnson Strat through it and it sounds GREAT. I love the sound of the Les Paul and the Flying V98, but the strat sounds amazing too. Most amps favor the single coil OR the humbuckers. The Cornford loves them both.
Kudos guys - you've got a GREAT amp sound. If I ever decide to look for another, I have no intention to look any further than Cornford.

No problems so far, and with the build quality I really don't expect any.

Martin always answered emails promptly

Have owned Marshalls, Fenders and Vox, and played through Dr Z, Bad Cat's, etc., etc. I'm only interested in what Cornford is putting out these days.

All has been said. Very simple but tonefull amp. I have it since 7 months ago. Cornford has no distributor in France so I've ordered it at the Oxford guitar gallery in UK (very cool shop, very trustworthy). So I have it with the original english plug, a true english classic !

I use it with a Gibson '61 reissue SG (with Wagner crossroad pickups) and this team sounds fantastic. The tone is very warm, dynamic and responsive. This amp can do a lot of different sounds, from bell like clean tones to creamy distorsion. All the reviews are right, the tone is really great. With the SG, think Black Sabbath or Cream. With the hurricane you can play a lot of different styles. It's mainly a classic rock amp but it works wonderfull with blues, pop, reggae, jazz, hard rock etc... It's not an amp to play pantera or korn style. But if you like some vintage rock tones a la AC/DC, led Zep, Kravitz etc... it 'll be difficult to find a better amp.
And 20 W is far enough to play in a band situation ( and I play loud...).

Point to point hand wired, very well built and smells good. What else ?

First class. They answered to all my e-mail very fast and recommended the Oxford guitar gallery to me. Very friendly and serious.

Nothing is perfect but this amp is a really a bomb. In french I would say "ph?nom?nal !"
Send me an e-mail if you have some questions.

Usual cast of characters already outlined below. Simple, straight forward tonestack, 1 - 8ohm and 2 - 4 ohm speaker outputs. Two changes would get this a ten: 16 ohm speaker output and a standby switch.

This is the "initial" review, as I've only had it three days and have about six hours playing time on it.

Day 1:
Initially I wasn't as impressed as I thought I would be. I was comparing it to my Marshall DSL 100, and before you say "WHAT???", let me say the DSL isn't quite stock. I run it with G12AX7M "Mullard Reissue" preamp tubes, which are very musical, and the EL34's are gone, replaced with either two THD YellowJackes with JJ EL84's for 20w "Class A", or with four of the same for 40w. I'm running the 20w or 40w through a 212 Avatar cab with Celestion Blue Alnico's (using either open or closed back), and the overall tone is REALLY nice.

In comes the Hurricane. I initially fired it up, and was a bit disappointed in not getting the high end I was used to with the Marshall. Felt the voicing may have been lacking in the treble department (that's intentional - by design, by the way). The cleans were really nice, but it seemed to lose articulation with volume/gain added to the mix. Played it for a while, and considered shipping it back to the dealer and spending some bucks on a Mercury Magnetics output transformer for the DSL and adding another 212 cab with G12H30's to fill in more low end.

Day 2:
I'm using three guitars through this amp: Gibson Les Paul Custom and Flying V'98, and a Fender Eric Clapton Strat with the Vintage Noiseless pickups. While playing the "V" through it yesterday, the amp really seemed to start "opening up". It brightened, but not in a "harsh" way at all - a really nicely voiced high end thats clear, singing, but not "painful" to hear - even at higher volumes. I played more with the tonestack and the articulation was there. I then plugged the 8 ohm vintage 30 into one of the 4 ohm speaker outs, and plugged the 16 ohm 212 with the blues into the other 4 ohm (comes out to about 5.33 ohms), and MAN this thing started singing.
I know there's something to dealing with some component, output transformer, and speaker "break in" time, and perhaps thats whats happening here. All I know is that three days into playing through this, my home is about to become a "Marshall Free Zone". Doesn't look quite as cool as my DSL 100, JTM 45 (yep - it's going too), and the 1960AV cab all piled up together...

Lessons learned - I used a THD Hotplate with this amp the first day so I could wind up the Master to 8 and the Gain to 7 in my music room at home. The Hotplate seems to squash some of the tone. Found out this amp sounds great even without cranking the el84's, so out goes the Hotplate. With the Master on 3 and the Gain on 7, and through the Vintage 30/Blue Alnico speakers, this thing sounds great.
Also - give the Hurricane a few good hours of "melodic mayhem" and though it sounds really good right out of the box, it will, in short order, open up and really start singing.
I'll write another review after I've beaten on this a few months. If the trend continues, and from the user reviews below it looks like it will, I'll be entering my "10"s on "Sounds", Reliability", and Overall Rating".
Stay tuned -

Don't know, as I've not had it long. From the build quality, which is clearly VERY good, I'm not worried.

Martin Kidd is prompt and helpful in answering any questions I have. These guys care, and keep up with all their babies they're sending to us whacko musicians around the world. He and Paul would probably beat some of us if they knew how we treated their amps...

ALSO - I live in the Dallas TX area, and there's no Cornford dealers nearby. Gary and Shawna at GuitarX in Denver (bought the Hurricane through GuitarX) were the BEST to work with in this "long distance" purchase. Look no further than them for Cornford amps.

I've been playing since 1972. Owned Vox, Fender, and Marshall amps. I've played, and tried to like the Bad Cat and Dr Z amps, and although they're really great amps, the Cornford sound, in my opinion, is better. This one is rapidly moving out front of the pack of my favorite amps.
I'd really like to see a Cornford dealer here in the Dallas, TX area. Maybe "Charlies Guitar" (Charlie Wirz did lots of guitar building/repairing for SRV in the old days), "Brook Mays", "Larry Morgan Music", or "Guitar Center" (Sponsored the Clapton "Crossroads" concert here in Dallas?). BUT - until there's a Cornford dealer down your street, talk to Gary and Shawna at GuitarX in Denver.

I bought this used in Jan 2004 from a store selling it on E-bay. The features have been outlined in previous reviews. Here are the basics: one channel, master volume amp with controls for gain, reverb, treble, mid, bass and master volume. There is also an input and output jack for the FX loop. Pre-amp, power amp and reverb are tube powered with a solid state rectifier, 1 Vintage 30 Celestion speaker. 4 12AX7 and 2 EL84 tubes. Large cabinet for a single 12" speaker. A very basic, useful, simple and toneful combination of features.

I waited almost a year after getting this amp to write a review. This is the best sounding amp I have ever played through. I first played through a Huricane at Fazio's music in St. Louis about 3 years ago. I was looking for a 1 x 12" combo that could do a Marshall OD sound well. I have a bad back so a 1 x 12" combo is the biggest amp I like to lug around. I tried for about 18 months to find an amp I liked as much as the Hurricane, but at a lower price. I tried some really nice amps: Dr Z Maz 18 and 38, Carr Slant 6V, Mesa F-30, some Marshalls, but I could not find anything that compared to the Hurricanes crunch and distortion sounds. Luckilly I found a Hurricane on E-bay.
I have a Fender American Telecaster and a Parker Fly Deluxe (guitars at opposite ends of the technolgy scale) that both sound great through this amp. I love to play classic rock, blues, a little 80's metal and funk in that order, and the Hurricane has a range of tones from clean to hi-gain that can do each of these styles well. My only current regular playing out is about twice a month at church for a contemporary service. I have never heard an amp that can do both beautiful cleans, all ranges of OD all the way up to Marshal like distortion sounds. I usually play the humbucker equipped Parker throught the hi-gain input. With the volume about half way up, the Parker stays really clean up until about 4.5 on the gain knob. From there on up you can add mildly overdriven sound with the gain knob. The kind where you dig in and the amp barks back with some hair on it, or dial back your guitar volume to clean it right back up. Increasing the gain further gives you a singing lead tone and chunky rythThe Tele w/ single coils throught the same setup stays really clean up until about 6 on the gain knob and can do crunchy rock sounds with the gain even higher. The amp tends to emphasize the midrange (due to its circuit and its speaker) and the usually bright Tele takes on a more rock sound than with a Fender amp. The 20 watt rating is a little misleading, this is a loud 20 watts. The efficient Vintage 30 speaker probably has a lot to do with that. The sounds I am describing are for the the guitar straight into the amp, but the Hurricane responds well to all my pedals, that include overdrives (VL Sparkle Drive, Barber Direct Drive SS), modulation effects (Line 6 MM-4, MXR Phase 90) and delays (Line 6 DL-4).
I just got a Celestion Neodymium Vintage speaker for Christmas and had it installed. I have only played about 2 hours on the speaker, so it is not broken in yet. The sound is very similar to the Vintage 30 (which what I wanted since I liked the original tone)but this new speaker is about 7.5 lbs lighter than the old! I am pretty sure in 10 years almost all instrument and PA speakers will be made with this new material because its still sounds good but weighs about 33 - 50% of an iron magnet speaker.

Because of the hand wired construction, quality components and excellent design, I will assume the Hurricane will remain trouble free. I won't take a backup amp to a gig, but always carry spare power tubes in case of a problem.

I have e-mailed them several times, most of the times with quick responses from one of the amps two designers. They also sent me a copy of the Manual in Word at my request. Seem like a stand up group.

I have been playing guitar for about 17 years and this is the finest amp I have ever played or owned. I own several other amps including 3 Fenders, a couple of more guitars and a bunch of pedals. I could do almost any gig for the style music I play with just the Hurricane and my guitar. The best part about the amp is the incredible tone and versatility from clean to high gain. I would definitely rplace this amp if something happened to it. I wish it weighed about 15 lbs and cost around $500. but you do get what you pay for.

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!!!

This amp deserves 100%, so I need to modify my expectations. Let me put it like this - it has all the features you need. Granted, it is a single channel 1x12 combo with no standby. Why would you want to spoil it with unnecessary extras?
OK, it looks a bit 'hand-built', like say, a Dumble, but that is part of the charm.

I confess to having bought my Cornford Hurricane on the strength of magazine reviews and the opinions of others (mainly on Harmony Central). Last night, for the first time I used it at a band practice. I was hoping to play some blues, so took along my David Noble Bluespower (a very tasty hand-built semi with Tom Holmes humbuckers) and plugged in.

Oh my God! Plagiarising from the TV sitcom ?Friends?, let me replace the word I want to use with the word ?puppy?. This amp is puppy awesome! Puppy gob-smackingly puppy fantastic! This motherpuppy is beyond belief?.Why? It turns my distinctly average pentatonic noodlings into A1 cool guitar playing. For example, I wiggle my fingers a bit on the G-blues scales at 15th fret and the puppy thing plays Freebird exactly as on the record. I play my blues lick in the 5th position and the pupper plays genuine Santana circa 1977.

It truly is the most responsive thing I?ve ever played through. I?ve owned a number of digital modelling amps and, until now, I thought that they were ?as near as dammit?. How ignorant I was!

It sounds equally good with single coils, for example, a Parker Nitefly.
The best amp I've ever heard.

I haven't owned it long enough to give an opinion, other than to say that anything built to this standard cannot help but be totally reliable. As already stated, this amp desrves 100%, so I give if full marks.

Small company of dedicated individuals.
Not sure about warranty.

Age 43. Playing for 28 years, use Gibson Les Paul Studio Gem with P90s, a Noble Bluespower, a Parker Nitefly, Crate VC115, various Line 6 amps, Yamaha DG Stomp. This Cornford Hurricane is unique - I'd replace it with another one immediately.

My amplifier is serial number 415 and I suppose it was built in 2002. I bought this amp used. This amplifier is certainly versatile enough to cover most styles. It isn't a channel-switching monster, nevertheless it has rather conveniently located send and return jacks and an wonderfully rich reverb. Currently I'm using the amp at home, but I do internd to use it for gigging and recording in the future. Don't be fooled by the 20watt tag: this amp has enough kick to keep most people happy!

I own a Gibson Les Paul Standard with a Jeff Beck at the bridge and a '59 at the neck and a Fender Mexican Stratocaster. I've also played a PRS McCarty through it and listened to a beautiful 60's Gibson Firebird through it. One thing remains constant: the all sound remarkably different i.e. the Hurricane preserves the sound of each guitar beautifully. You need to crank this amp a little to get the best out of it; it does clean (country & warm jazz), it's also wonderful for Hendrix/Trower blues-rock when using a strat. With the volume cranked it sings beautifully.

I sold my Marshall small box 50 to get this amp - not because the Marshall was a bad amp, just for reasons of portability; I've also owned a Fender 'silver face' Twin, Fender 'tweed' Bassman, Mesa Engineering Triple Rectifier. The latter amp was incredibly disappointing (possibly I didn't know how to get the best out of it).
Also, it responds extremely well to volume variation on the guitar.

I'll let you know!

I've e-mailed the company once and am awating their reply.

I've been playing on and off for 15 years and I have owned a lot of gear in that time. I'm in the process of selling my Mesa Engineering V-twin which sounds very good through the Hurricane as does my ProCo Rat II, though I'm looking to get hold of suitable overdriver/boost pedal e.g. Fulldrive 2 or Hotcake. My Fulltone SupaTrem sounds wonderful through the amp. Overall I'd say that this amp is best suited to minimal effects.

I won't bore you with the details, they are correctly outlined in the other reviews. My additional comments are:
- 5 or 6 knobs that actually make a difference is perfect for me and beats the hell out of 12-30 knobs that do relatively very little
- what a pleasure to finally use a valve amp that, due to its power, needs to be used from volume 6 onwards (volume 6 will start to shine through a generous drummer, volume 7 / 8 creamy, 9/10 screamin')- you actually get to hear what a class A valve sound should be. If you need more front of house power - mike it up
- how amazing to have amp light and small enough to be handy but which I (and countless other guitarists) would choose ahead of any stack (with perhaps the exception of a Cornford stack if the volume was really necessary)and, in fact, any other amplifier on the market!

Well, a strat actually sounds like a strat, a PRS sounds like a PRS...I cannot think of any other amps that do that. If you want it clean its warm and generous, if you want it driven its whatever you want it to be EXCEPT unclear. You will hear every note and nuance that you play (or mistakedly play)even on max gain, max volume...it is stunning! (Assuming that you hit a few notes).
I tend to stick the amp gain on 7 and use the guitar volume and drive pedal to alter the levels of drive that I need - frankly you can do whatever you want, it is still stunning!
Variety: whatever you want
Brutality: whatever you want but the notes (remember) will always shine through

Built like a tank.

Don't know but I guess and I have heard that you simply call the man himself thus my score - his agents are certainly 'hand-chosen' and very kind and helpful.

I play a strat ultra and a PRS, I use a GT5 and a separate wah for effects, I gig regularly. I love it, I realise now how limiting my prior amps were (over-loud and over-heavy!)- Marshall / Mesa / Fender
I will use Cornford until I am wrinkled and old.

Bass, Mid, Treble, Reverb, Hi/Lo Gain and an FX loop...what else do you need?

I use a LP Custom, Strat and Axis and they all do something crazy through this amp...they sound like a LP, Strat and Axis. It's amazingly versatile. I can play blues to metal and even use my acoustic on it and it keeps amazing me. I get to do something I haven't done for years...use the volume control on my guitar to change sounds, not just volume. Reverb is the "best" I've ever heard and the distortion is "creamy" and "brown".

Used it for 6 months now and it's had not a single issue (aside from my playing)

Talked to the company direct via e-mail and Paul Cornford himself e-mailed me the same day. Then, Jo Molloy did a follow-up e-mail the next day. Incredible product, incredible people.

It was a bit pricy but hey, compared to what??? I had a Koch (piece of garbage), Mesa Tremoverb (not good, not bad, just kind of there), Marshall (I had a couple and had probs with every one of them I ever had...serious JUNK). After I got this amp, I sold everything but my vintage stuff. I gig about 200 dates a year and this amp is the answer to my prayers. If I need more volume, I mic it...novel concept, eh? Thanks to Cornford amps for making my life easier and for making me sound good. I will be getting their 6 watt Harlequin for my studio and maybe the new 35 watt Hellcat head (I collect and I think these things will be great collectibles)

20 Watt All Valve amp made in Britain. Built to last

Brilliant, Great Blues tone
Brings out the best of any guitar put through it.
Strats sound better through this amp than my Fender Blues Junior.

Built like the proverbial Brickhouse

Never had any cause to use it.

Beats any other amp I have used, i.e. Fenders and Marshalls

This amp was made in 2001 it is number 295 produced. The amp is very versatile. Personally, i can get any tone i have ever wanted out of it. Despite its single channel and few controls it is more versatile than a lot of multi-channel all singing amps i have tried (MESA Trem-O-Verb!). The power is just right - plenty loud enough to cut through at a small gig, small enough to be miked at bigger gigs and not piss off the P.A. guy!

I have recently read that Joe Satriani has produced most of his new album with Cornford's and that the Hurricame is his personal favourite amplifier. I'm not really a fan but it impresses me that such a simple amp can be used by people like him and yet at the same time be perfect for blues, country etc. The reason is that the amp sounds incredible. I use it with a 52 reissue tele. It makes the tele sound good even though it ain't. More to the point it makes me sound good but at the same time it makes me want to improve. Crank it up (turn up the gain) and it really is like being in front of a far sweeter, more manageable vintage marshall. Incredibly though, if you turn down the gain, turn up the lush reverb and it sounds exactly like a samll Fender.

I've had no problems to date. I really can't see any problems occuring - these are simple amps built well. Treat them with respect and they'll last a lifetime.

Cornford are a newish brand and there is a lot of hype around them now. I hope they remember me when they are rich and famous - i'm sure they will! One year warranty - not quite as good as a Matchless lifetime warranty but then look what happened to them!

I really cannot emphasise enough for people to go and buy this or any other Cornford amp. I had to sell my old Mesa and i felt bad taking money off the guy who bought it knowing he could have spent the money on a Hurricane! Oh well! I would buy another one in a second if i lost it.

This is a no frills amp having a single channel, with reverb and the usual gain, bass, middle, treble and master volume controls. It's rated at 20 Watts configured in class A, via a pair of EL84s. There are 4 preamp valves, one of which drives the full length reverb springs. It has solid state rectification. The cabinet is pine and contains a Celestion Vintage 30 speaker. There are extension speaker sockets and also a reverb on/off footswitch(supplied). And not forgetting the effects loops jack sockets conveniently located next to the input jacks (Hi and Lo). Note: there is no standby switch.
How versatile is this amp? I would imagine in the studio you could wring out any kind of sound you wanted, short of the heaviest type of scooped metal. However, I bought it as a gigging amp that I could turn up 10 (OK so 7 is about right!) to drive the power amp and play aggressive blues. So for me it does everything I require. This is an amp you set up and forget about, using the guitar volume to change the amount of grit and a volume boost pedal for those isane moments.
As I bought this amp for a specific purpose and it fulfils all my needs I would give it 10, bar for the lack of a standby switch, which I do miss between sets and while setting up etc.

Now the pleasurable bit - the sound. Firstly, I mainly use a horrible old 80s Strat, but while it looks horrible (BMW metallic blue - yuk!) the maple neck and whatever wood is hidden under the paintwork, makes it sound good through any amp. But through this amp it sounds great. I set the gain so that there is just enough dirt when the guitar vol on 10, back off when I need it slighty cleaner and hit the vol boost pedal when I need more. But the best setting is the first one. This amp seems so much more responsive than I remember any of my other amps sounding.
Over the years I have tried to deafen myself with various 100W halfstacks and none of them gave the sensitivity to pick attack like this baby. (Ok so I have finally learned that I only ever needed just a few watts of delicious valve power:o) )
I do have to say that despite the single 12" speaker and the relatively small cab size (although big for a single speaker amp) it produces all the lows required. It seems clear that the amp has been designed to produce the whole frequency range, not just annoying raspiness of some amps. (BTW all comparisons are to other vavle amps. I would never entertain the idea of buying solid state - not until the digital modelling bit rates improve anyway).
You do have to spend time playing with the tone controls as they are configured in the traditional vintage way and hence are both passive and interactive. i.e. move the treble control and the bass is affected too. (The rough settings for me are gain on 7, reverb on 4, bass on 6, middle on 3 and treble on 4)
The sound is best heard rather than subjectively described. If you are thinking of buying a high end guitar combo, ask yourself will you be using all those features and all that power than comes with a thousand pound price tag of the typical PCB based, mass produced amp? Just try one of these babies and let your ears decide.
The sound rating is an easy 10. whilst I haven't had the pleasure of playing all the best amps, I've had a few.

I have gigged it a few times now and rehearsed with it and so far so good. The only slight concern is how the lack of a standby switch will affect valve life. For the techies amongst you this amp is configured with cathode bias so the current rises slowly as it's switched on. I would still have preferred a standby switch though if only for reason mentioned in the features section. Not sure how to grade this section as the amp is still too new to be judged. If the apparent build quality can be taken into account, it will last longer than I will. Naturally being hand assembled, point to point wired it is built like the proverbial tank. Does that make it a 10? Guess so.

Despite them taking two days to answer one email I guess they're OK. - Only kidding! How many amp manufacturer's would even bother to reply?
Martin the production manager rang me back and was quite willing to discuss the amp's design.

I've been playing for 27 years now and have owned various Marshalls, Boogies and Fenders. Currently, I also have a Mesa Dual Rectifier - in case I get a touch of the male menopause and start another rock band. In this section I'm supposed to say what other amps I compared it with, but given that I wanted a point to point, hand wired combo I could listen to and love, that didn't cost the earth (i.e. over 2 grand like some US boutique amps)is there anything else?
Anything I wish it had? Hmmm, I guess if I'm completely honest with myself, for those less than "turn it to ten" moments, perhaps the option of valve rectifiction would be nice to compress the clean sound a bit more at lower volumes. But that really is being picky.
This section is another easy one to grade.......10/10

Have fun. Johnny Fretwell.

Burgundy, hand made in Britain (October 2001)
20 watts,all valve class "A" combo. Gain, Bass, treble, mid, master volume, reverb (with reverb pedal), effects loops. One channel. Just an amps with the basics really. Very pleased about the reverb and the effects loop though. I use a delay, so find this useful and the reverb is nice for around the house. I don't mind having one channel. Too often, 2 (or 3)channels can cause more bother than it's worth. One channel is simplicity. Set yer sound, away you go. With amps like this, I don't expect and don't want bells and whistles, so to judge it low for lack of features misses the point really. One buys stuff like this because they sound and perform well. More of that later though. One thing I do
find odd, is the lack of standby switch. Don't know how that is going to affect anything like saving the valve life etc, or allowing it to warm up - I shall see. I suppose when a company puts so much effort and time into a product like this, there must be a reason - perhaps it simply doesn't need one...

Guitars used; 1960 Closet classic strat, 1952 tele reissue, Fender custom shop strat and a gibson flying V.

Yeah yeah you've heard it all before I know. But this is something special. Really, it is. Think of a sound you want (Thrash or doom metal excepted perhaps - this is a little combo after all), think of that sound and you will find it hear. SRV? No prob. Little Wing? Easy.
Gilmour? in spades. AC/DC, Beatles, Gary Moore, Townsend, Shadows...they are all there. And you know who else? Yep, Me. Thats who. It sounds how I always wanted to sound. But never quite managed.

How do you think a strat should sound? Plug in and you will hear exactly what one should sound like. Do the same with a tele, or a Les Paul etc. They all sound exactly as they should and how you want them to be. This little bugger has character and it WILL make your guitars and you sound better than they ever ever have.

Clean (gain low) is full, bright, deep...beautiful really. Sprinkle a little reverb and you will not stop playing all night. If you generally play rock, this will make you play clean. It's that plush.
Ok then add a little gain. "Clean, but dirty". Oh my....You can still play clean here, just hit the strings less hard. Hit 'em hard..?Wallop! Clean her up with your guitar Vol if you want to...it all works...better than you had ever imagined. Total complete response from your amp - it does what you tell it to do. Gain up high and you have a gorgeous distortion. Not brittle and harsh. Think smooth and full; creamy, if you will. Even with a lowly 1x12 this sounds so rich it will amaze anyone.
One interesting point here. This amp is only 20 watts. How often have we all bought amps that were 100watts, 60watts etc and really never used 'em to their full capacity even on stage. Most musicians I know in bands, play in pubs and clubs where this kind of volume is not remotely needed. These same amps in the bedroom are equally as daft; what is the point of a 100w Marshall DSL for home use? I had one, and never, ever got to see the best of it. Same with my Fender Prosonic. Now think of this; an amp which you can actually turn up and push it, really push it, to get that sound you want, without annoying the club owner; How useful is that? And it sounds equally as good at home. Why? Because it is small. But trust me, this thing can belt it out with the best of 'em if needed. C'mon hands up. Who has bought a huge amp, and never really really used it, thinking bigger was better and cooler? A lot I imagine. For people who do use this type of volume, Cornford also do a 50W head (and cab), which sounds equally as good. To conclude, once you have played on an amp as good as this, you will never go back. I will not criticize other amps; Marshall, Fender etc because they all have their place, and players can, and do, sound amazing through them. C'mon these type of amps are our musical history for gods sake. I would however say that an amp built to this standard just seems to have that extra magic and versatilty to enable you as a player to be what you want.For all the talk of Hybrids, or Modelling amps etc, they will simply never sound like this can. Even if you cannot afford one, or do not even want one, just try one; Just once, and hear what magic like this feels and sounds like

Built with pride. Looks expertly put together, and feels and looks like it will not let you down.. take a look in the shop and you will see a product that cannot be faulted on build quality.

I have e-mailed Cornford once or twice, and Paul Cornford replied immediately and personally. This type of small company will not let you down. Therefore no problems. When I bought the amp, I was quoted 2-3 weeks. It came on the 14 day

You should know by now what I think of this amp. Easily the best I have had and I have had a few. Marshalls and Fenders mainly but I also had Line 6 and a Mesa Subway rocket. And an AC30.

This is exceptional; though. True it is also (in some instances) double the price of some amps, but heck, it is worth it when you plug in and play. Don't take my word for it, try one in a shop and see. If you don't like then hey, good for you. But at least you would know