Cornford MK 50 H

This is a very simply designed tube amp and the range of tones available is stunning. Once you get the hang of how a 'real' tube amp works you can find everything from SRV 'Twang' to searing overdrive. The controls on the amp may take a bit of getting used to but it is important to remember that the 'Volume' knob controls the pre-amp gain and the Master controls the power amp level. With the overdrive control you select how much 'more' you want to push the preamp, it doesn't switch to a different channel. You can get a vast range of tones from experimenting with different balances between the pre-amp and power amp levels. There are two master controls allowing you to set one slightly higher for a quick volume boost on either channel. Learning to work this amp is like going from driving an automatic car to driving a manual.
The only thing I would like to see is perhaps reverb, but I try not to use too much of it live anyway!

I am using this amp with an Ibanez JS1000 or a Fender Strat with Virtual Vintage pickups. This amp really shows up the differences between guitars, much more so than in any amp that I have ever played. It really seems to allow the voice of the guitar to come through clearly. I play all sorts of contemporary electric styles and this amp sounds great for pretty much anything. It just goes to show how a good 'fundamental' sound can get you through any situation.
It responds extremely well to dynamics. Adjusting the guitar's volume pot can take you from overdrive to clean very smoothly and some of the most beautiful clean sounds are to be found when rolling off the volume slightly with the overdrive kicked in.
Remember that this is a real tube amp, not an amp-modelling toy. You can't put the volume on 2 and the master on 2 and expect a fantastic sound. The harder you make the tubes work, the richer the sound. I found the best results by keeping the volume and overdrive fairly low with the masters both set relatively high. This yields a very Fendery fat bottom end. The exact opposite settings (Volume and overdrive high and Masters low) produce a more aggressive overdriven tone that is much tighter and defined. I personally prefer the fatter power-amp driven sound.

Built like a tank, looks like it'd survive being run over by a bus. Unlike my previous amp (Mesa Boogie, blew up 4 times in 7 months, fixed by authorised Boogie people all four times)

I was originally lent this amp on approval after returning all of my Boogie equipment which did nothing but blow up on gigs. I had to use it for gigs right away and emailed Cornford with a few questions (such a 'traditional' amp was a bit odd to me). Paul Cornford himself replied to my questions and was very helpful. I have no doubt that if anything ever went wrong with my amp, I would have no problem getting it sorted out. Much unlike my experience with Mesa Boogie.

I have been playing for 12 years, I have owned loads of amps (Fenders, Boogies etc.) I would have saved myself loads if I had just bought this in the first place. All you need is one fundamentally good sound and you can cope with anything. I have been looking for 'the last amp I'll ever buy' for ages and I think I've found it.

The amp was made in 2002, the amp is a handmad British amp put together by Paul Cornford and crew in Kent. This amp has a single channel but works like any other manufacturers two channel head. There are two 'channels' that are switchable by the provided foot switch, the foot switch also has an extra button to add extra gain. The amp is rated at 50 watts and is loud enough to cope with the majority of gigs whether you are professional or not.

I use the amp with a selection of guitars inc. a Musicman Luke, an Ibanez JCRG5, a Washburn N4, and a Fender Strat. The amp suits all musical styles from Rock to Jazz and even has enough gain to cope with Metal. You find yourself utilising the volume knob on your guitar to go from gain to clean.

I have had this amp for only a week but it is constructed very well so I cannot see any reason for there to be any problems. The amp is hand built so it could easily be fixed if required. I know Paul Cornford personally and I trust his craftmanship 100%.

The warranty is for a year and any support required is answered by one of the members of the team or Paul personally.

I have been playing for about 10 years and this is easily the best amp I have ever owned. I have had Carvin, Mesa Boogie Single Rectifiers, Marshall, Line 6, and Roland amps but this is definately the best. Keep up the good work guys.

This is a 50 watt 2 channel head complete with footswitch, effects loop. As far as I am aware this is a 2002 made amp. As a guitar teacher and session player this amp supplies me all the essntial features i need. Stylisticaly i range from trying very hard to be Gary Moore or Joe Satriani to whipping out some George Benson ideas. It is a Valve, hand wired demon!
I have no 89 , these are all hand built amps so us valve spotters can all discuss serial numbers later.

With this amp i use a variety of guitars but predominantly a Yamaha Pacifica 812W with seymour duncan pickups , Fender Strat plus with Lace sensors, and a Burns Brian May with burns trisonic pickups. This amp makes all the sounds u ever wished for! I have hunted long and hard for the amp that gices me crunch for chords and searing sustain for lead lines, I have owned Peavey 5150 Soldano SLO 50, numerous marshalls, recently i was running a Boss GT5 into the Marshall 20w Valve Stero power amp through 2 2x12 200w cabs, LAney Lc15r through various cabs. All have done certain things very well, this amp does all the things well ! I have heard people remark that the distortion isn't quite as evil as perhaps metallers would like. Have u tried detuning though 2 4x12 and just making the power amp work?? Its got enough trust me !
Clean? i keep the amp on the overdrive channel and just back the volume on the guitar down....remember before amp switching and pedals?? cleans up beautifully and just gives you more richness of tone..and is that what an amp is for!!!

Well so far it still works. It is built like a bomb shelter and weighs quite a bit too. I can't see it going wrong but if it does well its made by hand and there fore is repairable by one too :-)

I have yet to deal with the company as the service from the shop I purchased it from was so good. They inform me that Cornford are very friendly and helpful. So i guess they are great. I hope never to have to contact them because the amp will always be fine.

I have been playing over 20 years, a GIT graduate, Former guitar shop employee and now teacher and recording artist. I have had lots of gear in my time. This is the most i've ever spent on an amp, but once i'd heard it and tried it on a couple of rehearsals, the money wasn't an issue, the issue was do i want the head or the Harlequin 20 watt combo. After lots of deliberation i plumped for the head just because i have lots of cabs and the Head looks sooo damn good !
If you haven't tried one of these amps I strongly urge you to find a stockist ( I use GUITAR VILLAGE in Farnham surrey) and try any of the range, I tried all of them and they all blew me away. However don't do what one of my students did, to my disgust, buy the 6 watt combo then plug a zoom pdeal in the front end !! Ketchup on cordon bleu cooking is the phrase i believe.
Only thing i wish it had , and i am really really nitpicking now, is an emulated out so i can not have to search high and low for a palmer speaker simulator! (bit loud for most home studio work ! )
Visit their website www.cornfordamps.com i think and read the list of users, and if u get a chance check out the demo cd they have, pretty impressive stuff. Cornford...THANK YOU I have a tone !

The features have already been listed .. suffice to say what it doesn't have, it doesn't need. Having previously owned Boogies with all the whistles and bells it is a breath of fresh air to just switch an amp on and play through it rather than muck about with knobs and buttons for half an hour first. The tone stack doesn't do a lot but thats half the beauty of it. I defy anyone to get a bad sound out of this amp. To illustrate this point, when I take the amp to gigs I just put it on top of the cab, switch it on and start playing. I have never once felt the need to check the settings first. They undoubtedly move around in transit but it just doesn't seem to matter.

Like the other contributors I tried a lot of the high-end US amps before I bought the Cornford. They were all excellent, but twice the price (or more!). Cornford have produced an amp that sounds sublime at a very sensible price. I know it's expensive when compared to Marshall et al but you kinda get what you pay for.

This is also the first amp I have ever owned which lets you roll the volume off on the guitar to clean the amp up. I know all amps will do this to some extent, but this amp does it so effortlessly you find yourself playing in a completely different way. I am used to having to channel switch to change tones, like most people. You simply don't need to with the Cornford. I actually leave it in overdrive mode all the time and just roll the volume off for clean .. don't even touch the supplied footswitch.

What I do use the footswitch for is to boost the volume for solos. This works well for two reasons. One, it boosts the volume (duh..) and two because you are now driving the power stage that bit harder it drives that bit better and adds just a tadge more compression .. lovely!

Oh, and it makes my Strat sound like a Strat for the first time ever (are you listening Randall Smith?).

Haven't blown it up yet .. not planning to either. I take a back up POD with me just in case but more out of habit to be honest.

Jo at Cornford is exceptionally helpful and has answered all my daft questions with a patience beyond the call of duty.

This is a purely subjective comment .. This is the best amp I have ever owned or heard. There may be better out there .. who knows, but I am absolutley delighted with it and for the money I don't see any competition. I think that Mr JC Marshall ought to be as terrified as the day the Gibson guys first saw a PRS .. which in the long term might be good thing for all of us.

I got this new from Chandler Guitars, number 51, built in 2001. I play power blues and this amp has everything for my style. It is marketed as a single channel amp, but has both a clean and overdrive pre-amp section, each with it's own volume boost for soloing; and all this is footswitcheable! So, although a single channel amp in the purist form, it really is more versatile than any suppossed twin channel amp without individual tone controls. No reverb, but it does have an effects loop to allow a quality unit set into the signal path.

It's a 50 watter, but being tube, these are loud watts and I can't think of a live situation this amp would not be suitable for.

It's a 50 watter, but these are LOUD amps, in every sense; both clean or distorted. The sound is also QUALITY, with it's own distinct voice. It's tube and has the most pleasing edgy sound, where it just starts to go in the throws of distortion; wonderfully warm and musical. And that sums the sound up in a word; musical. There are no bad sounds to be had, and the voicing is very sweet, although has the bite to really rock when asked.

It's built to last. Maybe in a few years time I will revisit and update the site. I do use it at gigs without a back-up, and the build quality inspires the confidence to do just that.

Never needed to try them as yet.

Been playing 26 years, and I use my PRS, Tele, Strat, Les Paul, Silhouette and SG. Each sounds wonderful, but each in their own very different ways. And this is the key to this amp. It brings out the best in whatever guitar you put through it and does not try to change it's voice; only amplify in a very musical way.

I have a Mark 3 boogie, which is very nice, a Boogie Blue Angel, which never always cut it in medium to large clubs and bars, a JCM900 (single channel version which is vastly superior in sound to the dual reverb models) and a Flextone Line 6. However, the sound this amp makes is in a totally different league. I tried it against many american boutique amps; Soldano SLO 100; Bognor and a Matchless combo. Each time I preferred the voice of the Cornford; and in England Cornford's are less than half the price of the American equivalents. If it was the same price or slightly more I still would have got the Cornford. Due to their scarce availability in England, I doubt if many Americans will get to hear, let alone try one. If you can, do so; you won't be dissappointed.

Mine is a 2001 model bought new from Sounds Great Music in Cheshire. They're one of the few retailers for this brand in the UK and I wanted to compare the Cornford to VHT Pitbull and Soldano Lucky 13 having narrowed down this shortlist from UK magazine reviews. I'd previously been playing a Marshall JCM200 TSL122 and the break up on it was just 'unmusical'. Although it was great for the crunchy stuff and the clean channel was good by Marshall standards, anything over a moderate gain level you couldn't really tell the difference between guitars except whether they were single coil or humbuckers. Also the build quality was really quite poor in places (see the Harmony Central database for more comments about the footswitch!).
Features etc. are well covered in the previous review. I thoroughly endorse the comments about build quality - this really is a top class piece of gear. Athough I wasn't overly keen on the oxblood covering, it's grown on me with use and it's certainly distinctive on stage. My bands play pubs, clubs, parties and bigger corporate events and this amp is plenty loud while retaining the quality of the sound at both low and higher volumes. I also bought the matching 2x12 cabinet (Celestion Vintage 30s - 499 GB Pounds) and this combination gives the amp such an amazing tonal response - particularly a beautiful bottom end with careful use of the resonance control - that I can't imagine another speaker combination doing a better job. In an ideal world I wish the amp had built in reverb but it would certainly affect the price and if you have a good quality effects processor for the loop you'll be covered anyway. Goodies supplied include really good quality guitar and speaker leads and a footswitch with captive cable that's built like a tank. Only minor gripes are that I'd like to see the captive cable going out of the side of the switch so you don't either tread on it or have to tape it out the way, and the cable for the speaker lead coloured to avoid confusion with patch leads.Where this amp really shines is in the sounds (that's 'tone' for our USA readers). It can produce a range from a twangy crispness to the warmest blues overdrive and, if you go really stupid, a monster r-o-c-k noise, but all the while keeping its own voice. This is not an amp that just does impersonations of other amps - it just covers all the areas I want with real class and with its own sound. I can honestly say I've had more compliments on my guitar sound since I've been playing the Cornford than with any other amp. I can't fault it really - it's one of those amps that just makes you play better because whatever you do sounds good.

I use mostly Strats - one with a set of Rio Grande Halfbreeds - a PRS Custom 24, Les Paul Standard, G&L Asat and a Charvel Surfcaster. It sounds great with all of them. We play mostly RnB, blues and whatever category you'd put John Hiatt in and with the footswitch options of 2 master volume levels each with or without overdrive - I can get a really nice slightly breaking up rhythm sound, a boosted version for lead figures, a dirtier rhythm with the overdrive on master one and a balls out lead sound with master two and overdrive on. Like all new gear it takes a while to find your own settings - particularly when you can't really set it up to sound bad if you try. The tonal controls seem to have a better (ie more usable) range than many other amps I've used. The presence does what most other presence controls do, but the resonance is a real plus for adding a nice low end particularly in venues that are a bit bright acoustically.

I've only had it a few months and I've now bought a matching flight case for the head from Cornford, so based on the build quality and with tender loving care it should last longer than me. I don't take a backup amp, only a Session 'Jerry Donahue' JD10 preamp/speaker simulator so if everything broke down I could use it through a powered monitor to get me through the gig. Can't see I'll need it now though.

When I was considering this amp I phoned Cornford just to ask if hey had plans for a combo version (my original preference) and spoke to Paul Cornford himself. He was very helpful and explained they had other projects in the pipeline so it might be a while. I've also since ordered the flightcase from them after seeing it at the Music Live Show in Birmingham and met Paul C on the stand there. They are justifaibly very proud of their products and seem on a bit of a mission for superb quality amps at not cheap but good value prices. I got regular e-mails on the delivery of the case and very prompt responses to queries. I've also since had them make a custom version of the footswitch with a removable jack for my pedalboard. Again very prompt response and a rather nice touch in that the switch is signed and dated inside by the person who made it.

I've been playing about 30 years and I think I've finally found MY sound with the Cornford and the guitars I've now got. I don't find myself thinking "It's great, but I wish it would just do...a bit better". This amp is it for me and it was streets ahead of the VHT and Soldano when compared. I would certainly get another if it went AWOL. I'm sure that this combination of build and sound quality at this price is pretty much impossible to match in the UK market.

The MK50H is a 50 watt head with some unique features and sounds. It has two foot switchable master volumes and a foot switchable variable gain boost as well. Although it is not really a two channel amp, it can behave as one, more on this later. It features a single preamp control as well as a single set of bass, middle, treble and presence controls and an adjustable resonance control for low end(think 5150). It also has an ohm selector, an effects loop (I don't know if it is series or parallel, I never use it) and comes with a dual footswitch for the master volumes and gain boost. The tube configuration is two 5881s and four 12ax7s. The amp is all point to point and is literally built like a tank, it even features an additional metal plate between the open side of the chasis and the heads cabinet which it is pressed up against. The only reason that I did not give the amp a 10 is because it is not a true multi channel amp.

I use this amp with a Tele, Strat, Les Paul, but mostly a Gretsch 6120(it loves them all), with either a vintage 30 loaded straight front Marshall 4x12 or an old bassman 2x12 cab with an ongoing selection of speakers. I play mostly hard edge and straight up rockabilly, hard rock, blues and twang. This amp is a very organic punchy straight up rocker. My favorite way to use this amp is to set master 1 high without the preamp too high for a plexie sounding, slightly less gain than an AC/DC style crunch, during which the amp cleans up very nicely with the guitar's volume control providing excellent punchy spanky twang. Then for the over the top stuff I step on the gain boost switch with the boost set about half to send the amp to a full on rage. Also with the foot switchable master volumes I no longer have to rely on the sound man at solo time, very cool. The resonance control adds tons of chunky low end while staying extremely tight. The tone of this amp is definitely British, but not in a boxy way like a Marshall. The amp does also does a clean-dirty thing by setting the gain very low with master 1 high and then simultaniously stepping on both switches and turning the gain boost on with the level full up and with master 2 set much lower to match the clean sound's volume level. It sounds confusing but it works very effectively. This amp has tons of gain on tap while staying extremely tight and brutal all the way, much more gain than I will ever use. It eats Marshalls, Rectifiers, 5150s, etc. for lunch, and I have had them all as I have been playing for thirty years. The sound as I said before is much more organic and real, British, but with its own voice. It is very loud, I can't always use it at smaller gigs, but you can get good sounds at lower volumes, but I prefer to open it up and let it rip.

As I said before, the thing is built like a tank. It could probably fall out of the back of a truck and with new tubes work perfectly. It has never given me any problems and I have had it for almost a year.

I found out about this amp while I was on vacation in England almost a year ago. I was checking out some of the UK guitar mags when I saw this raving review about this amp that I had never heard of. I called them to find out where I could hear one and they told me that they weren't really in any shops yet, but that they would be happy to bring a stack to my friend's house where I was staying to check it out, I couldn't believe it. Anyway I was blown away, they told me to give them a call when I got to the US and to put it on the credit card and in about a week in a half it came. I would never have done this before, but after meeting them I had no worries. The guys at Cornford are the most committed to building the ultimate amp I have ever seen, one of the reasons I bought the amp, also they are super cool. To say they are obsessive would be an understatement.

Summed up the amp is a monster. It truly ended my quest for the ultimate amp. If I was to wish for something different, it would be for a slightly lower power combo with reverb for smaller stages. I know they also make a killer 6 watt recording amp, but I don't think it would cut it on a smaller un-miked gig. If it were lost I would definitely get another.