Cornford Roadhouse 30 Combo

Enough features to get good sounds from. 2xEL34 Tubes that give a distinctive British flavor. All knobs work...

Oh - And, an 'effects loop' (!) Don't be lazy - Use this for BETTER tone!!

Oh#2 - the best external speaker arrangement out therr - all bases covered... 4,8,16 AND you can still have the onboard in series! Extra Nice cos it makes a big difference---read on

(Oh~3 -if you buy blind as poster 'PDM' below must have done - don't moan about it not being what you want - move on or adapt as I have...!). Just cos it didn't suit him doesn't make Cornford products rubbish as he implies...

For British, EL34-centric tones, this is it. Think some flavors of earlier Marshall combos and Vox chiminess into the mix. Clear, distinct but with Marrianne Faithful's gruffness... Not Lo-fi more Hi-fi in the 'quality' of the tone too. The Big cabinet makes a huge difference here. Link it in stereo and/or to an additional speaker and concentrate on playing properly for your part of the bargain!

Looks nice! Actually, I often stroke mine cos it feels nice to touch! Like you do when viewing a Porsche in the showroom...

Let it warm up for AT LEAST 10 mins... works best then. Have had mine 15 months and has been OK but it did pop fuses earlier if wasn't toasty before belted...

Very approachable guys and concerned that their products give pleasure.

Paul Cornford Supports Tottenham Hotspur however, so he loses two points for this! (as should they!)

I was waiting on a new (3 week old) Fender Bassman59 LTD to come back from Fender/dealer repair! The Bassman was my first valve amp (for all of 3 weeks) and I was concerned about getting a nice classic sounding amp to match my Gibson 335, Les Paul and '73 Fender Strat. I bought both amps blind (not at the same time!) but the Cornford in particular, on the recommendation of Guitarist magazine awarding a Gold for being a 'Tone Monster'. I didn't know at the time the Bassman would never return and had also just missed a deal on a Marshall 1974x, so had my blood up.... I wanted classic tone bad...

At first, I was not seeing a Gold Award's worth of tone that 'I' hoped to hear. I know many higher-gain-heads like this amp (Satch, Govan fans and the like), but I am more middle of the road, Brit rock/60's pop/blues oriented. It seemed great for the 60's Chiimes but missed a bit somewhere on the 'American' sound. Well, that's because it isn't a Fender! BUT with some experimentation I did find a nice edgy Deluxe Reverby sound that is nice with single coils. It involves dialing way down on the gain and boost, (boost engaged though), down too on the mids and bass and whacking up the treble to max. I added in a clean boost pedal (very transparent) dialed it back, added some 'Deluxe Reverb'-esque reverb AND linked the amp up also to an additional V30 speakered cab. Voila!

This is a nice contrast to the 'Mid'-laden modern rock tone you can get and is very 'airy'. The clean boost lifts the tone away from a Mid range and brightens up those otherwise dark Celestion V30s.

But I also found that if you stick with this setup but boost-up your clean boost pedal setings, add in a Telecaster and I swear this sounds like a Fender 57 Twin about to roar... as a result, I tend to leave mine like this most of the time.

Also this amp does not have to be 'belted' to sound good - the circuit is wonderfully controlled, quiet and refined. Each adjustment makes a difference and suddenly those 5 knobs become like a stduio full of options. And remember USE THE FX LOOP!

I have also recently bought a Fender Super-Sonic... guess what? Like the Bassman - has been back for repair with the first month!

I really, really wanted to like it, but I was very underwhelmed with this $1500 amp overall. Perhaps the most important feature is that it is made in England - that is very important indeed these days, and merits applause. I still must give it a low score for features, not just because it is only a single channel, with one set of tone controls, no switches of any kind for altering the tonal contour, not even a presence control - but mostly because using this amp is like riding a bike with training wheels - there is no way to overdrive the output tubes on this thing!!! I think I can safely say without fear of contradiction that the concept of the 30 watt all-tube guitar amp was developed long ago by several classic companies because it fits in with a certain band situation, volume level, etc. that allows the output tubes to develop that gorgeous crunch and wail that is the foundation of much of rock music. With this Cornford though, whatever setting is used for the gain and/or boost, the basic tone does not change when the master is cranked, even maxed out. It seems they don't trust people to know how to manipulate an amp's gain structure. And sure, you can drop it back down to whisper volume and the tone is very controllable and predictable - that's because all of the tone is happening in the preamp tubes!! The output tubes are just coasting along, wherever the Master is set. In my book, this is unforgiveable in an amp promising to deliver anything like boutique tone.

With the Cornford name, and at this high price point, and stripped down with so few features, I'm sorry - very good tone is not good enough. Anything less than a truly stellar tone from this amp must be considered a failure, which is why I rated it so low. Don't get me wrong - this amp does have some very enjoyable preamp tube overdrive and distortion. I went back and re-tried it on several days to be sure of my ears - it has a nice roar, and is very dynamic and controllable, and I guess people who rely on pedals and such for their overdrive and distortion love the sound, but, get real - my $180 Hermida Mosferatu overdrive pedal plugged into any decent amp can roar toe-to-toe with this amp ??? so can many, many other combinations of pedals, amps, tube and otherwise that cost about half the price of this thing. I have to say, I am surprised that there are so many raves about it's tone. To my ears, it does not offer anything unique or significantly different from gear I already have, and it???s certainly not worth the money and trouble to make a place for it in my rig.

This printed circuit board method is brand new for Cornford, so there is no data on how well they will hold up. I'd have to guess that, based on Cornford's reputation, and with it being a good British-made amp, that everything is properly sorted out, with heavy-duty components, good British plugs, etc. and that it's very reliable.

I have not dealt with them, although I understand that they are very good blokes to work with from what I have read.

I was expecting something truly great that would knock my socks off, something in my price range that would be really special, that I could rebuild my whole guitar rig around and be really proud to gig with. But, instead of happily doing that, I am sitting here typing this. I am mightily disappointed, let down, and thoroughly pissed off. I feel bad for the salesman who sold it to me, who will have to lose his commission when I return the amp. It's not his fault. But I'm not rich, and I can't afford to support Cornford by trying to talk myself into loving this amp. It's not a bad amp, it's a very good amp, but like I said - a Cornford at this price should be a fantastic amp, and this amp just ain???t that!! It really seems like a play-it-safe, good-but-not-great attempt at a profit-making device for entering the mid-to-high-end American amp market. I say, Cornford, get with the times, study what companies like Egnator, Traynor, Orange, etc. are doing and go back to the drawing board ??? we deserve better!!!

This review will contain the text of a letter I send to Cornford company today regarding this amp. I had to break it up into sections so it would all fit. FYI, this amp is a departure for Cornford, using printed circuit boards instead of point-to-point hand wiring like all of their other amps and a more affordable, if not cheap, $1500 price tag.

Dear Sirs,

With all due respect, in the free-wheeling, uncensored spirit of the internet, I would like to give you a very brief review from here in the US, Northwest New Jersey, of the Cornford Roadhouse 30 amp, which I just received the other day. I will probably be posting this review here and there on the internet as well.

I have to say, I had high expectations when I ordered this amp, based on Cornford's enviable reputation. With the stripped down, simple design and minimal features, along with this brand name and at this price point, it seems this amp's mission is to do just one thing and do it extremely well - deliver truly great, world-class all-tube lead guitar tone in a somewhat more affordable package than the rest of your line.

Unfortunately, after a few days of trying it out, I have found this amp's lead sound to be distinctly underwhelming - a very basic, average sounding lead guitar tone on a par with amps costing far less. The Roadhouse 30 does not sound bad, and it seems like a very well-constructed, reliable amp. I shouldn't need to point out however, that there is one hell of a lot of high-quality competition in this price range, especially with some of the newer models coming from brands like Marshall, Egnator, Orange, Traynor, etc. that deliver some really tremendous, flexible lead guitar tones with sophisticated, useful new features at prices below $1000.

One thing I noticed is that almost all of the overdrive tone from this amp apparently is generated in the preamp tubes, with a gain structure that allows little if any overdrive of the output tubes - something that surprised me greatly. I noticed that the master volume control has very little effect on the amount of distortion - the real character of the tone stays essentially the same from maxed out to even the very lowest volume. This lack of output tube overdrive would seem to seriously hamstring an amp's ability to produce a great, complex lead tone, and is probably why the Roadhouse 30 overdrive has somewhat of a two-dimensional sound - more like an overdrive pedal than a top quality tube amp. This stands in contrast to the now common feature of many modern tube amps to provide various ingenious ways to produce delicious combinations of preamp-tube and output-tube overdrive at controllable volume levels.

I was anticipating something great, but instead feel great disappointment to discover that the Roadhouse 30 fails to live up to the promise of its brand name or this price point. I am not wealthy, so I will be returning this amp to the dealer, since it does not add anything unique or special to my current, modest amp rig, as I had hoped. It is worth it to me to absorb the cost of shipping it halfway across the country back to the dealer to get my $1500 back and to underscore the point that I don't think this amp design is ready for market.

I do applaud the fact that these amps are made in your facility in England, rather than in China where so many amps are made lately. I believe that this is to become an increasingly crucial factor in buyers' decision making in the years to come. It's very likely that made-in-England amps like this could create a major new niche for you in this class of the guitar amp market. I'm sure there are legions of buyers out there who would love to see this be successful; it does seem however, that this amp needs considerable more R&D to deliver the kind of tone one would expect from your brand, for this price, to fully realize this potential.

No idea how product suppport will be for this new, relatively mass produced line.

Please do beware that consumers do not suffer this kind of disappointment well. Marketing a solid, sturdy, reliable amp like this with a good, if uninspiring, tone might seem like playing it safe as a first foray into the American market in this product class, but I think you may have underestimated the sophistication of the tastes of the guitar players here in America. When it comes to the emotional decision of spending this kind of money on an amp, especially in these economic times, it does not take much to tip buyers away from a brand if there is even a hint that they try to bump up their profits by putting their prestigious brand name on "just average" products and charging premium prices.

I wish you the best of luck with future iterations of this and similar products.

Used to own a harlequin, which had a great lead tone but had no effects loop or reverb so the loop on here's a real bonus. I just wish it came with a good spring reverb built in - can't seem to find a pedal to do that properly. very straightforward to use and well thought out. the amount of control over the gain with the gain and boost switch is fantastic. eq seems well voiced and responsive.

Great. Very Guns n' Roses. Versatile though - the only things it won't really do are shimmery Fender cleans and really scooped metal (guess you could always get a pedal for the latter). Seems particularly suited and voiced to kinda middish gained rock - it keeps making me want to dust off my old Pearl Jam riffs. Also does a very nice 'just on the edge of breakup' Little Wing tone. sometimes seems a bit 'smooth' and wish it was a bit more 'raw' sounding - guess I could always get a big muff or something...

seems very solid and looks wonderful.

no need for this yet; fingers crossed.

very impressed with this so far; it just seems very well thought out. I much prefer it to the mesa express I tried recently. It is versatile but I increasingly think that you're never gonna be able to kill all birds with one stone. this does a huge range of tones in the middle of the spectrum brilliantly.

Everything about it just seems to ooze quality. If it came with a spring reverb I think it'd be just about perfect.

Made in 2008.
Simplicity itself not 1000's of knobs to twiddle!
1 Channel no fuss no mess.
Wish it had reverb though but by no means a problem as I use fx's anyway.
It's 30W and still very loud I need high quality cleans and dist for the stuff I play which is in church. It's and EL34 design beats the Marshall TSL122 I did have hands down it's so quite and 10KG's lighter at 25KG
Some say it's not versatile because it only has one channel but it has a boost and I bought it knowing this. I put my fx through the main input anyway.

Sweet cleans, nice boost and everything generally very very good. It's virtually silent - well sorted boost makes it a bit more noisey but then again you can only hear that when you are not playing.
Nice vintage distortion. It has a Celestion Vintage 30 1 x 12 and lots of options for speakers to connect to. I got fed up of gear lugging and unreliability of other amps

100% never let me down so far but only had it 3 weeks!

Cornford are ace, they are a small compay in the UK that hand make theri gear. They alsways go out of their way to help and have a dedicated users forum where lots of users can chat about the gear.

I have been playing 25 years. If it was lost or stolen I would not be able to live without it! I was going to buy an Orange Rocker 30C but went for this instead.

Very simple amp - 6 chicken head knobs (I love chicken heads, every amp should use them). It satisfies me to look at such a simple control layout, my heart sinks when I see an amp with a zillion controls, push this, pull that etc. No reverb but I switched off the reverb on my amps about 10 years ago and have never used it since. Single channel with a footswitchable boost function. This is a bit of a limitation because, having set up the basic tone to your liking, you have only one control to shape the boost function. The boost seems to have an effect on both gain and volume and the increase in volume is more marked as you wind the master volume up. I will reserve judgement on how well this works in a live situation as I haven't gigged the amp yet. I play about 2 or 3 times a month, next gig in 2 weeks time. As far as I can tell from playing at home Cornford seemed to have judged this about right as I compared it to the amount of extra volume and gain I would normally get from using an overdrive pedal.

I play a Gibson SG Junior heavily modified with a Seymour JB at the bridge. The band I play in does mainly smallish pubs (unmiked) or larger clubs with a sound guy. I need an amp that comes to life without being deafening particularly when I'm having to cope with a sound guy who's only happy when the amp is virtually turned off. The band plays mainly original blues material. I also play occasionally in a rockier covers outfit. I don't have much use for a totally clean sound, I want my basic sound to be on the verge of break up so that it's clean when I play softly and growls when I hit harder. The Cornford does this superbly. The amp is clean until you get the gain to about 5 when it starts to break up in a beautiful vintage style. I have never heard another amp do this so well at low volumes. There are lot of different degrees of drive available just by travelling from 5 to 6 on the gain control. From about 5.5 onwards the sound gets really thick and strong - if this tone was a bowl of soup you could stand your spoon up in it. Kick in the boost and it's like you added a liberal splash of tobasco sauce to the recipe. I've tried setting both gain and boost to maximum and the sound is unbelievable, masses of gain but still beautifully defined. As I mentioned, the boost function is going to take some adjusting as the amount of gain in boost mode is dependent on the amount of gain in un-boosted mode but I feel confident that I can make this work for me. It's a price worth paying for not having too many controls to faff around with. Others have mentioned that this amp is more forgiving to play than other Cornfords but I'm finding that I'm having to work a bit harder than normal probably because I got used to too much gain and compression fom my previous set-up. It's going to be worth it because this is the best sound I've ever had. The sound of the amp is somewhere in the vintage British amp arena - think late 60's early 70's back when we Brits used to make good amps i.e. Marshalls and Hiwatts. The Cornford obviously has a lot more gain available but it really sounds like a non-master volume amp cranked to the max with a great drive pedal kicked in when you engage the boost. I've listened to demos of the newer Marshalls, Deizels etc and they don't come close to the dynamics of this amp. I can't think of another amp I'd rather have.

This is Cornfords first effort at a PCB based amp. Their hand wired amps have a great reputation for reliability. I hope this amp is the same but cannot comment due to only just having bought it.

I did have a small problem when I first got the amp but it was sorted out with no fuss after a couple of conversations with Andersons (the retailers) and with Martin Kidd (designer of this amp). The service I got was beyond excellent - I've never been treated so well by ANY company. Many thanks to Martin and to Alan at Andertons - top top people. 10 +. I've given no ratings other than for customer support only because I haven't gigged the amp yet because this is what counts. I don't really have any worries because I think I have enough experience to make a judgement based on how the amp sounds at home but I will post again once I have couple of gigs under my belt. For the record I have been using Laneys for about 10 years (VC50 and VC30 depending on the gig). They're great amps but I think the Cornford is in a different league.

I'm a 50 year old Britsh Civil Servant so to America and the rest of the world this means I don't get paid much. I did get a small bonus this year and decided to gamble it (plus some other meagre savings) on this amp without hearing it first. I'm hoping this is the last amp I will need to buy.

Brand new, produced May 2008. I believe mine is one of the first run of Amps for the UK.
While being only a 1 channel amp the sounds are very versitile, every thing from clean, twangy country to heavy overdriven 'Vai Like' sustain, and everything in between.
There is a footswitch, however this is for switching on the 'Boost' which is kinda like having a built in Boutique Stomp Box, gives you that extra edge of volume / overdrive when you need to go 'Over the top' for solos etc... sometimes I just leave it on all the time.
There is tons of headroom, even though this is only rated as 30 watts. I think it is every bit as loud as my VOX AC30 or a Marshall Bluesbreaker combo.
The only thing I wish it had was the wonderful tube reverb, as found in the other Cornford amps, but I guess the Roadhouse 30 is less money than those other amps and Cornford were trying to keep it 'sub ??1000'.
I have rammed a Boss RV5 in the effects loop and it sounds devine.
If it had Reverb (or even a cost option of reverb) I would have scored it 10.

I play many different styles but lean towards a Robben Ford, Larry Carlton, type Blues/Jazz. This amp is very dynamic and with the right setting (gain at 3.5 boost on) I can get the sound to go from clean to overdriven on my Les Paul just by my picking dynamics.
It also cleans up real great with rolling off the guitar's volume.
Crank the gain and past 5 your into Van Halen / ZZ Top Plexi meltdown, with amazing harmonics jumping off the guitar everywhere...
even the feedback is musical. With a single coil Strat you can also get some great Jimi tones, both clean and overdriven. I plugged in my Boss DD 3 and instantly was in Eric Johnson's tone world.
It's gets even better a loud 'gig leval' volume. I have to say many amps I have owned in the past disapointed me when they were turned up loud, even ones that were meant to sound better loud!!! The Cornford on the other hand stays real tight and snappy, and what's more stays controlable with high volume.
Whats more this seems to be very much a 'players amp', unlike a lot of handmade amps out there, the Cornford kind of 'helps you along' rather than shows up your shortcomings
This is the closest I have ever got to dialing in that sweet Larry / Robben / John Mayer Dumble sound.
Awesome!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Seems built like a Nuke.
This is still early days but from what I've heard Cornford are like 'Boss' of the amp world, their products simply don't break.
Remember this is handbuilt in England, not mass produced in a sweatshop in China or Mexico.

The dudes at Cornford all frequently go 'online' at the Cornford Forums and are very cool about answering your questions. In fact this helped me decide to buy one, as so many amp manufacturers are 'Faceless, Corporate Sluts and don't give a rats *** about customers. You know who you are!
Cornford are different.

I have been playing over 17 years and over 10 years on a Semi Pro basis.
This is the only amp I have ever owned where I know I would straight away buy another one if this one got nicked.
This is the kind of amp that makes you want to bin your stomp boxes (thank god for ebay) and get back to the real source of tone (your guitar, your fingers and a damn fine amp.
I also played a Mesa LoneStar which was also delightful, however the Cornford is half the price, you could buy 2 Roadhouse's and run them in stereo for the same price as the Mesa!
Take my advice, if you are interested in true, uncomplicated, sublime guitar tone sell a limb or a kidney and buy a Roadhouse 30. IMO ??750 is cheap for what you get, Cornford could have got away with charging upwards or ??1200...

All-valve single-channel combo with solid-state rectification, 3 x ECC83/12AX7 preamp valves, 2 x EL34 power valves

Series effects loop

30 watts

Bass, Boost, Gain, Master, Middle, Treble

1 x Celestion V30

This is the amp I've been looking for because don't be fooled by the 'single channel' title. I use my Gibson LP to dial in a chunky rhythm tone, use the guitar volume to go clean, but then using the 'Boost' function, the amp goes into lead solo heaven, and as well as being able to dial in just the right amount of gain, you can also dial in exactly what solo level you want.

Using my LP or Clapton Strat it sounds fantastic. I just can't stop playing it. I play in a rock/blues covers band and it suits everything I need to do. The term 'creamy fat tone' sums this amp up. It does take pedals. My Carl Martin Quattro adds some lovely delay. but to be honest I don't need the compressor or the overdrives on the quattro at all with this amp. Used in the series loop the balance is great.

The amp is very low noise and although it has no reverb, it just doesn't seem to need it. I might buy a Reverb pedal but it seems to have a natural space to it because of the deep cabinet. It's nearly twice the depth of my Fender DRRI.

Only had it 2 weeks! Delivered next day by Andertons online, and boxed very well.

I've spoken to Paul Cornford on the Phone! He happened to answer. But I've also had replies on the Cornford Forum from Martin Kidd (MK50!)and at every turn it's like talking to your mate. These guys just want to help. The forum's great and it's good to hear how others are finding the Roadhouse C30.

I would drive to Kent to buy another if anything happened to this. I need a cover and don't know if Cornford do them, but the guys said they'll send replacement backup valves if I ring the office....with my CC of course, but at least I know I'm getting exactly what they use.