Cornford MKII 50 H

this is a follow up review, great amp, GLORIOUSLY BEAUTIFUL TONE! Exactly what I've been looking for.

If the tubes where biased a bit hotter it'd probably have a sweeter clean but otherwise great

The amp is perfect. I had some trouble with my foot switch and had that fixed. It was observed by my tech that the foot switch was not wired by the same person who wired the amp. The led light on my effect loop #2 was wired backwards, creating some minor problems. It's fixed now. My tech said the amp is of fantastic quality. He was particularly impressed with the build of the chassis but said everything was done exceptionally well. I've been going to this tech for years and he IS the man, so I trust his word, Alan @ West coast tube works in Santa Cruz, California.... So I give Cornford the benefit of the doubt that this doesn't happen often, with the foot switches. A great amp

hopefully my warranty will cover my foot switch repairs, so we'll see....

Great sound and features. I was miffed about the footswitch being an issue but no body is perfect but too my ears, the cornford tone is as near perfection as I've heard

See previous reviews...

No noise - all tone! Sings like no other amp I've ever played before. The clean channel alone is worth the cost of this beast... Strap-in, and hold-on! The MKII is one serious amplifier. It's probably the most unforgiving amplifier you'll ever play too. If your chops are lacking - don't blame the Cornford. Martin Kidd uses custom value tone pots, so forget about cloning the MKII with any accuracy. Words just can't express the magic of the Cornford MKII. Save your dimes, and get one ASAP. You'll be happy you did!
NOTE: One of the key features of the MKII is the FX loop. This is the only loop I have ever played through that doesn't effect your tone. I kid you not!
I have owned just about every "top-shelf" amp out there... The MKII is it!

I had to repair a cold-joint at the foot-switch cable. The RoHS solder doesn't hold worth a damn! I used 60/40 lead solder for the repair... Works perfectly! By UK law - builders in England must use the non-leaded RoHS solder. I'm going to remove all of the RoHS (Ross solder), and re-dress it with real leaded solder.

You're basically on your own after purchase. Cornford won't respond to emails. Maybe this will change? I was able to speak with Martin Kidd on the tele., and he was extremely helpful. I was never able to reach him again...

PTP wiring, hand-wound transformers, pinewood cabinets - what more does a man (or woman) need? If you're tired of going from amp to amp looking for a great tone, look no further than the Cornford MKII.

this is a "follow up" review. The amp still sounds great and really has every feature I need with tone in spades from 6 tubes, total. Tonal perfection for me. It Cuts....

exceptional sound quality

OK, it gets a bit hairy here. The tubes I got with it produced a buzz. This scared the crap out of me because these amps are QUIET. It was tube failure, so no big deal but now there is a burnt smell inside my amp chassis, (transformer possibly??) No output problems but still that smell scares me. I'm not a huge recording artist who can have a $4000 amp repaired with expensive parts and getting cornford parts is tricky (more on that.) The big one, though, is my foot switch and it's probably just a fluke but it has been a thorn in my side. My effect loop light decided to stay on all the time. Probably just a faulty switch, no big deal, so I got Cornford to send me a new switch and I was told it was a simple fix, so I under took it (mistake #1) I got the switch in and it didn't work at all. Too hot of a soldering iron, I suspect, but I cannot find another switch and I am still unable to gig this amp. It bums me out. I'm sure everything was tested and worked fine when it left England but the way they pack their amps for shipping is skimpy and in my opinion, stupid. People are paying alot of hard earned cash for these things! They should at least be surrounded by styrafoam like a Soldano. Shippers are not the most gentle and this thing came overseas!! It's just frustrating because it is such a beautiful amp....

The support is ok. Out of 15 emails to them I've gotten maybe 4 responses. The times I have spoken with them they have been pleasant and reasonably accommodating (they sent me a switch).

It is still the best amp I have played and I've owned and played alot. These little problems are just driving me nut. The amp was nearly 4 months behind schedule for delivery but they service Greg Howe, Dweezle Zappa, Gunthrie Govan, and others so I let that slide because they're obviously busy and the tone is worth it but I have not been able to use it out and that's the whole point. It just been a bit aggravating but once this footswitch deal is resolved, I'm sure all will be well

Just made and shipped from England, so 2009. The amp plays jazz tones to metal and shred. I just got it but I've been searching for a while so I feel I can be objective. It's a 2 channel with separate gain and overdrive, master 1 and 2 so it could be called a 4 channel but not really. It has all the features I need, clean channel that is clean and a distortion channel that owns all, in my opinion, as far as mix cutting and overall versatility go. It is not a brutal metal machine but most of those don't cut, they scoop and this amp is very focused. I have a Splawn modded plexi Marshall that was my favorite amp until I got this thing. It really is the versatility out of a very simple amp that has me excited. Plus the presence and resonance (like a sweep control on a Krank but this is 1000% the amp of my Krank but I do love my Krank) that actually make extreme tonal difference.

Sound quality, well this is a gigging machine. I've got KT77 power tubes in mine and it is unreal. popping clean machine with chime sparkle, fender, eat your heart out, and drive tones with a different response than a typical pc board tube amp. It surprised me. I was expecting no tonal difference between ptp due to all the write ups online but the tonal difference is staggering. I walked away from the Cornford stunned. I have never FELT anything like that from an amp. Amazing. It has a slight hum at maxed out gain/overdrive levels but it isn't offensive and the other guitar player and I are very ****** about unwanted amp hiss, so this is great at gig volumes and we play metal, so it's loud! The distortion has it's own character. There is PLENTY of gain but it isn't that scooped buzzy distortion of a rectifier or Krank (I love both of those amps, I'm not dogging them!) but for my live sound this is it. First 10 I think I've ever given on sound quality.

Just got it so that's undecided but I will say that the way it is packaged from England is shameful. A flimsy cardboard box and a flimsy pieces of styrafoam on each corner so small they fall off the corners in shipping! WHAT?!? Those Cornford guys must have some serious faith in what they produce to ship overseas like that. It's scary! Thankfully, Josh Sage at rebel amps (great guy and businessman, I highly recommend him) checked it over and had it double boxed but the box from the factory was beat up, torn, it was shameful, truly but if it can take that kind of beating, it'llk probably do fine with me. Point to point artistry can handle it I guess!

Now here's where I was a bit bummed. It took almost 6 months to get my amp. I was originally told 2-3 months. Cornford seems to have a bit of an issue responding to emails here in the states. Around the 5th month I started to get pretty impatient and they just don't like responding to emails. The amp is definantly worth the aggravation but I gotta give them a 5 since they responded less than half the time, way less....

Playing 17 years as of this year and this amp is my gigging amp. My Mesa stiletto will be my back up but this amp rules the heard. If it were lost or stolen I'd be bummed but not be able to replace it cos' it cost so much (a second job through the summer's worth!) I compared it to everything and I mean EVERYTHING. For me it is the mecca. Tone through SIMPLICITY!

2008 MK2 mkII. 2 channels (footswitchable) with 2 (footswitchable) master volumes. There are 2 effects loops which can be assigned to each channel automatically or switched independently (also footswitchable) and overdrive on channel 2 (again available on a footswitch). Hey a footswitch is included in the price. The effects loop are series and you can't adjust the input/output level (this doesn't bother me as with most effects units you can alter the in and out on the effects unit). It's 50 watt, mono, all valve, hand built point-to-point wired guitar amplifier. Attention to detail in the build quality is superb. If you don't want to use the footswitch you can change channels by using a switch on the front panel. There's master presence and resonance to boost hi mids or bass depending on your gig setting.
The back panel has the send and returns for 2 loops, mains in, HT fuses, 2 x speaker outs and impedance selector 4,8,16 ohms. Inside there's a switch where you can bias the amp for 6L6 or EL34 power tubes - nice touch. Some people might want built in reverb or loops that can be switched between parallel and series, and I've seen amps in this price range that offer this so I'm giving it a 9 for features.
2 master volumes is good, acts just like a boost button - go from clean chords to louder clean solo or Crunchy chord to deafening solo.
Comes standard with a high quality speaker lead and long mains lead.

Channel one is the clean channel, I always used to use reverb to liven things up but trust me it's not needed, this clean channel is plenty 'alive'. Strats sound like strats, all the bell like tones jump out. You can get nice jazz tones from humbucker guitars too. The tone controls (bass, mid, treble) on channel 1 really work, set the channel volume and enjoy
Channel 2 is the crunch/drive channel, you want SRV, tick, classic 70's rock, tick, good chunky distortion, tick. There's plenty of versatility, back off the guitars volume and hey presto, cut-through cleans are back. Again the eq section is fully functional hours of fun, scoop the mids, push the treble to break glasses, it's all here.
Channel 2+Overdrive switch=high gain land, searing solo's, Satch and the rest are all here.
I've tried a few amps before I stopped at this one, OK it's expensive - no 2 ways - but the tone is exceptional, try one and you won't be happy with anything else.

I've not had it long enough to comment, but I checked a few forums before buying, I suggest you do the same, everyone says they're bullet proof.

First class. I emailed them a couple of times, they got straight back; I phoned them and spoke to the designer/builder he answered all my questions and was really helpful. I asked them for an extra speaker lead and they put an extra one in the box FOC - shouldn't have told you that cos you'll all ask them for an extra one now.

If it was stolen I'd get another one no question. It has a fantastic clean sound and an even better crunch/overdrive channel, it really put a smile on my face. I tried a lot of amps before stopping here, plugged it in for the first time with the band and they all commented on how good it sounded (and normally they only complain that I'm too loud!) that's good enough for me!

Build in 2006, with the serial number 0300, the MKII Head is the second Cornford I own. In need of a modern and more reliable amp than my 50 W vintage Marshall I came back to Cornford, after I had sold my 20 W Cornford Hurricane Combo some month ago. Basically I play Hardrock, so I prefer an amp which has a fairly good clean channel and excellent overdrive skills.

I don't wanna repeat the description of the features, but in my opinion its all what you need and sometimes less is more, particulary in live situations. Sure, a build in spring reverb would be fine, but anyway not essentially necessary.

Sound, thats always the thing I had been heading for in the last 35 years of playing rock music. I'm using the amp with custom made Stratocaster guitars, the first in S/S/S , and the second displaying H/S/H configuration. Basically, my Marshall Model 1987, which had been made in 1971, represents for me the sound reference all other amps I played are compared with. To nail the sound of the Marshall works, lets say, to 95 % with the advantage, that the Cornford could gather medium-gain sounds without the loss of dynamics that I will have, when I use a stompbox in front of the Marshall. Channel one seems to be better suited for clean sounds than channel 2, due to its more fenderesque voicing. Comparing the two channels, channel two points clearly into the Plexi-Marshall direction, especially very thick sounding when activating the overdrive. Switching between the two channels you could notice, that based on the same position of the master controls channel 1 sounds little more louder and sturdier than channel 2. That makes it tricky in live situations, especially when you want to change from channel 1 in a clean position to channel 2 in overdrive mode . Why this ? You?ll aways have a noticeable increase in volume when changing from clean to overdrive concerning both channels. If you have, lets say Master 1 clean in Position 5, you have to have Master 2 overdrive in position 4 to compensate the clean/overdrive jump in volume. But to go from Master 1 clean to Master 2 overdrive you have to switch either in the way Master 1 clean ? Master 1 OD ? Master 2 OD or in the way Master 1 clean ? Master 2 clean ? Master 2 OD. In the first way, you have a volume increase from Master 1 clean to Master 1 OD, in the second way a volume decrease from Master 1 clean to Master 2 clean. To make it easier, I personally play always the overdrive channel and roll the guitar volume back to get a cleaner sound. For lead lines I'm using a Rust Boost, which sounds neutral an has the possibility to add a little more gain. The amp is very stomp box friendly, so it's also possible to use it with the OD Channel just slightly overdriven for rhythm sounds and to add more gain by using a good overdrive device. Compared to other modern amps the OD sounds very organic and never artifical, no matter what type of guitar you use.

It's build like a tank but it's hasn't been too much the road 'till I bought it.

According to my experience with the Hurricane Peter Cornford and Martin Kidd are very helpfull and friendly. They responde quick, if you have some answers.

In the last 35 years I played Marshalls (Modells 1959, 1962, 1987, 2204, 4203, 2558, TSL 2000, 9100), Fenders (Twin Reverb, Princeton Reverb, Deluxe Reverb), Mesa/Boogie (Triaxis, Mark IIIc, Dual Rectifier), KOCH (Twintone), Soldano (Hotrod 50+), Bogner (Shiva), Cornford (Hurricane), Teisco (professional Bass), Peavy (50/50), with several cab and speaker configurations (combos, 1x12, 2x12, 4x12, vintage 30, G12T-75, G12M, G12H, EV, Jensen). Compared to these amps for me) the MKII is the best to suit my style (basically Hardrock).
It's a warm and fantastic sounding amp with all the features I need, nothing less and nothing more.Period.

This amp, following on from the success of the MK50, is the new MK5011 (or MK50 H MkII, if you prefer). Completely redesigned, it incorporates the great Overdrive Channel found in the original, with the addition of a seperate Clean Channel.

This amp features:
? 50 watt output.
? Two Sovtek 5881WXT power valves.
? Four Sovtek 12AX7WA preamp valves.
? Single guitar input.
? Two seperate Effects Loops.
? Two speaker outputs.
? 4, 8 and 16 Ohm impedance selector.
? Two channels.
? 5-way metal Footswitch & long stage lead.
? Custom designed in-house, hand-wound transformers.
? Nickel plated corners, screws, cup washers, handle fixings, etc.
? Bespoke CNC punched and powder coated grills.
? 14 gauge (2mm) powder coated chassis with 14 gauge base / screening plate secured to chassis with 4 machine screws.
? Leather handle.
? Chicken Head knobs.
? Metal toggle mains switch.
? Speaker and mains cable included.

The front panel features, from left: single Input Jack, Volume (with LED), Treble, Middle, Bass, Channel Select toggle switch, Gain, Overdrive (with LED), Bass, Middle, Treble, Volume, Master 1, Master 2 (with LED), Presence, Resonance, three-way mains Standby-On-Off toggle switch (with LED).

The back panel features, from left: Mains Input, Mains Fuse, HT Fuse, Speaker Impedance Selector, 2 x Speaker Jacks, Effects Loop 2 Send and Return Jacks, Effects Loop 1 Send and Return Jacks, Footswitch multi-pin socket.

The supplied 5-way metal footswitch controls Channel, Master 2, Overdrive, Effects Loop 2 and Effects Loop Auto Assign.

I use this with my three custom Royal Electra guitars, a custom Manson, a custom shop Jackson, Kramer Baretta and PRS Artist. These are all humbucker equipped, but several have single coil taps.

I play most styles - Metal, rock, pop, blues - pretty much anything except jazz.

I won't wax lyrical about this amp. Suffice it to say I think it's fantastic. The best I have ever heard.

The new clean channel is wonderful - rich, smooth and chimy, with tons of headroom. This amp is rated at 50 watts, but you'd swear it was more.

The overdrive channel is just a dream, Any level of mild break-up, into organic crunch, right through to all-out rock-raunch nirvana. Switch-in the overdrive and searing leads, with sustain for days, are a doddle.

No adjustments are required to get a great sound - the whole tonal pallet of the MK5011 seems to be one big sweet spot. I haven't found a bad sound anywhere.

You always feel 'connected' to your sound with this amp. Every note is rendered audibly with great detail and complexity. It's never harsh and the Presence and Resonance controls actually do something here, allowing you to dial-in just the right amount of bottom-end depth and high-end sparkle, or to 'tune in' for variances in speaker cab or venue.

I invariably plug straight-in to this amp - no overdrive or distortion pedal required. Instant mid-Atlantic (read 'love child of Marshall and Mesa') brown-sound lusciousness. No wonder that a host of stars have bagged themselves a Cornford, no matter what their endorsement profiles say they use...

On the subject of channels, the two stated is a little deceptive, as in practical use, far more versatility is available...
1) Clean Channel with Master 1
2) Overdrive Channel with Master 1
3) Clean Channel with Master 2
4) Overdrive Channel with Master 2
5) Overdrive Channel with Overdrive switched on through Master 1
6) Overdrive Channel with Overdrive switched on through Master 2
Then add in the two FX loops possibly with eqs/boosts in there...I'm losing count already!

Like the Hellcat, you can play with this amp for hours and still keep finding new sounds.

None of my four Cornfords have ever failed me and I'm not worried that they will. These amps are solidly built. Even the chassis bottom plate bolts on to the main chassis, to form a complete sealed box before it goes into the wooden case. Belt and braces construction...

Talk to Paul Cornford or Martin Kidd on the phone, email or their forum. There for their customers, pure and simple... great guys too.

I have been playing for 20 years and have spent more money on gear in this time than I care to remember. If you read this before you do the same, save yourself the time and hassle and try one of these now.

The fact that I have chosen to buy this amp as my 4th Cornford to date, tells you all you need to know about how I rate these amps. What's more, it won't be my last. Each of the models I have has its own unique character and application - duplication is not an issue here.

This amp really puts a smile on your face when you play and surely, that's what it's all about. The best of British to you all!...

This is the first HC review of the latest valve amp from Cornford, which is an evolution of their original Mk50 Head (which got astounding marks on this forum).

The main difference is that the Mark II has two channels, clean and overdrive, with a 50 watt power output stage that can use 6L6 family valves (Sovtek 5881 WXTs are the stock tubes) or EL34's with a flick of a small bias switch; rectification is solid-state. It has two series effects loops that can be assigned to each channel if desired. The channel switching can be controlled from the amp itself or the footswitch but the overdrive, Master Volume assignment and loops can only be controlled from the footswitch (which is provided along with a quality speaker cable and long power cable).

The amp has 4 global controls that affect both channels equally: Master vol 1, Master vol 2, presence (clarity) and resonance (bottom end). The clean channel has volume, treble, mid and bass controls. The OD channel has gain, overdrive, the same three tone controls and a "master volume". There are two speaker outputs with an impedance selector; the on/off switch also has standby and there is a single guitar input. There is a lot of versatility packed into this amp.

The amp is handbuilt in England and uses top notch components and point to point wiring throughout. The only thing some people might want is reverb, but many similar heads don't have reverb: for one not everyone uses it and for two, it can be quite difficult to engineer a spring reverb in a head format.

All in all there is everything you need and nothing you don't.

I use the amp with a Tom Anderson Atom and Drop Top Classic. I play everything from rockabilly to metal.

Switching on, the amp is extremely quiet. This amp will go from Fender-Twin-on-steroids clean through to liquid high gain sustain and all points in between. The clean channel has loads of headroom.

With the option of two master volume settings per channel, you can tailor your clean and dirty sounds very effectively which along with the switchable overdrive boost allows a nice range of dirt which you can shape even more with the addition of an appropriate OD pedal in front (you may not need it though).

Having two loops means you can use delay on one and chorus on the other, or both, or neither.

So how does it sound? Gorgeous! and loud!!

This is my second Cornford amp and I have had no problems with any of their amps ever.

Gig-wise I always take two amps and a spare set of valves. It's no reflection on Cornford its just that sh*t happens!

Extremely good support by phone, email and the official Cornford amp forum.

I've been playing 20 years and I love this amp. It is one of the most versatile and well-built amps I've ever owned and I've owned a few, from Marshall to Mesa Boogie. My two Cornfords are the only ones I've kept (apart from my little Cornell Romany Plus).

It is now insured and if stolen, I'd get another without hesitation.

As far as the price is concerned, for us in the UK it is a no-brainer when you take into account its boutique status, construction, components, PTP wiring etc. as we have to pay such a premium (import duties, VAT) for the US amps such as Bad Cat, Soldano, Bogner, Mesa Boogie and Carr amps (all excellent by the way...). Those in the US will have a similar problem in reverse, but it might be worth auditioning one if you get the opportunity.