Product: Cornford Roadhouse 50 2x12 Combo
Price Paid: GBP 800
Submitted
03/25/2009
at
06:54am
by
Steve Hayward
Email: stehay<at>gmail dot com
Features
:
8
I sold my Mesa Stiletto Deuce to buy this amp. I love it's simplicity:
One channel with foot-switchable boost.
Controls:
Gain, Boost, Bass, Middle, Treble, Master
Ins and Outs:
Input (1 mega-ohm), Send (-6dBV, 33kila-ohms), Return (145kila-ohms)
Details:
Poweramp Valves: 2 x EL34
Preamp Valves: 3 x 12AX7
Cabinet: 19 mm, lock-jointed ply covered in black ???Lizard??? vinyl with black grille cloth and white piping. Metal bar type side handles.
Loudspeakers: 2 x Celestion Vintage 30
Transformers: Custom designed by Cornford
There are three features that I feel are missing from this amp that would move it from being a great amp to the perfect amp:
1) A good Cornford tube reverb.
2) An LED on the footswitch so you can tell when the boost is on or off.
3) A volume increase with the boost for solos, not just a gain increase.
Sound Quality
:
10
Ibanez RGA321 with Bare Knuckle Nail Bomb pickups
Fender American Deluxe Strat with Seymour Duncan Custom Custom pickup in the bridge
Fender American Vintage Hot Rod '52 Tele
My pedalboard looks something like this:
guitar into...
- Fulltone USA Clyde Deluxe Wah
- Pete Cornish P-2 Fuzz
- Keeley SD-1 Stacked Mod
- Lovepedal Eternity
- Keeley BD-2 Phat Mod
...into amp input
effects send into...
- Cusack Tap-A-Whirl
- Cusack Tap-A-Phase
- TC Electronic Nova Dealy
- T-Rex Room Mate
- Pete Cornish NBM-2 Linear Boost > Korg Pitchblack Tuner
... into effects return
This is the first amp I have found that can truly give me every sound I want. I play in a punk/metal band and with the gain on full and the master on 5 and a kick from the Keeley SD-1 this amp has a stunning punch-in-the-mouth crunch tone that left me and the other guitarist in my band grinning from ear-to-ear. It cuts through the mix in a way that my Mesa never could. And the lead sound... OMG! Thick, smooth, singing leads with crazy sustain. When I switched to the neck pickup on the Ibanez I got this thick, syrupy, fuzz type violin tone. I absolutely love it.
I also like to do a bit of rock stuff with my Tele, like Paul Weller's solo stuff or even The Jam. If I back off the gain to the break-up point and push the power amp even more I get this bright, powerful, jangly, kick up the arnus, which would please any owner of a decent AC30.
Reliability
:
10
I would happily use this to gig with without a backup. Built like a tank.
Customer Support
:
10
I spoke to Cornford already about the missing LED in the footswitch and they said I was the 3rd person to call them this week with that request. They were more than happy to talk me through modding the footswitch and were very helpful. The other thing is they are only an hour away from where I live, which is cool should my amp ever need to pay them a visit.
Overall Rating
:
10
Very happy with this amp. Sound-wise it is a marvel. Features-wise it needs an LED in the footswitch, an all-tube reverb, and a proper boost and it will be PERFECT!
