Epiphone Blues Custom 30

I bought one last year.
The features are summed up in the previous reviews.
I thought that the features presented were just great.
Shared eq, except that there's a separate mid control for the drive channel, is a stroke of genius.
Also the interactive option for the eq is as mentioned before.

It is also one of the most beautiful combos i have ever seen.
The fact that it is a stunnng view from the front and that the back of the combo has had as much attention to detail and is as beautifully finished as the front is unseen as yet.

I ve plugged in my 50th Strat-anniversary.
As much as i was raving about features and build quality, as much was i apalled by the sound it produces.
I am a professional musician and i have 15 years of experience with gear and i can honestly say that i have never heard such a horrid sound.
I just wanted a low wattage amp for practise at home, so i didn't test it in a shop and bought it for the looks as the amp was supposed to match my living room. As i trusted Epiphone for being a good brand (and i still do!), i didn't expect this anomaly.
I respect other peoples' opinions and i expect my opinion to be taken as seriously as any other. Therefore i was amazed by the raving reviews the amp gets here.
I tried and tried to get anything to sound rught but i just couldn't. One thing i can say is that the amp relatively matches "better(!)" with a tele than with a strat. I still didn't sound right, choosing my words carefully.
I didn't even find people to buy it from me! I bought it for 700Euro and had to sell it 2 months later to a poor (tonedeaf) sod for 300. Just imagine that!.
Mind you, my amp was functioning allright, because the shop had 3 other ones and they all sounded the same and 2 of them are still there!!

Had it for 1,5 months, so no opinion.
I won't harm a product for things i don't know.

Support was standard.

I had Epiphone guitars when i was young(er) and they were great, except for the fact that the pichups were subject to very early feedback when distorted. That was in 1995, so i guess things have improved since then. The guitars were well built and sounded right.
This amp however looks the part, but sound is another thing...

I would say, try it first!!!!!!
After weeks and weeks of trying to get one good sound, I just hated it.
I sold it with a great financial loss an bought a trusty Fender Hot Rod Deluxe White Lightning for exactly the same price, and i am LOVING it.

Was bought new in the UK about 3 months ago at a ridiculous price of ??270 which was bundled with an SG standard. I presume that it is therefore of latest design level w.r.t fuse problems, reliability issues etc all hopefully resolved since its launch. Certainly so far no problems, it works when it is switched on. It is completely stock, no mods whatsoever. It seems pretty poky - I had a Laney VC110 15W all valve amp which went noweher near as loud as this monster in 15W mode despite their identical power rating. I love the class A / class AB mode not only for the power difference, buit because of the different signatures sound. With the SG, I prefer the more edgy growl of AB, though in 15W mode its very smooth indeed.

It's been used with a new SG standard, and a Vintage V100 (les paul copy). I wold never have thought that the SG would sound so full and crisp in te centre pickup position, the amp is a boit hi-fi like: its pretty good at discriminating between a good and mediocre guitar - crap in crap out. It has a fantastic way of reproducing the dynamic feel, it's really very good at reproducing the tension of palm muted or even finger muted playing, you know the bits when you want the audience to shut up and listen quietly as you build them up slowly to a frenzy (step forward Angus Young). As far as distortion goes its a blues amp primarily, though playing a POD though the clean channel is good fun and as good as any modelling could be, by that I mean that modelling is only copying in concept, so if you want an authentic cound then buy the real thing etc.

so far so good.

Never had to deal with them

Been playing for about 30 years, have owned several guitars over the years, from epiphone SG, ibanez semis, to a yamaha sg2000 and a Gibson SG standard. I have only played 2 guitars through the amp, but as soon as I switched it on I knew it was special. The speakers have now burnt in somehwat and that top end raggedness has reduced, though it's still there in the background. I hate top en shrillness, in this respect I can understand why some find this a bit on the harsh side, but its better than the Laney and a world away from a Marshall MGFX100, but remember this amp was the same price as the Laney and not much more than the Marshall. Frankly neither are eve close to the Epiphone in its tone and dynamic voicing. It's a gem, and I'd buy another tomorrow.

i got mine in 2006 new. i've been playing a marshal 100 watt jcm 900 for 15 years. love it, but it does one thing only. HEAVEY ROCK! my playing has matured over the years and i wanted more from an amp. i started looking around playing alot of different amps and when i came across the blues custom 30 i new it was right from the first chord. it has two channels, clean and dirty. the so called clean channel is my favorite of the two. yeah, its clean at low volumes but who buys a two 12 amp to play at low volumes? this channel rocks some serious heavy tone when turned up past 11 oclock. the break up is raw and can be manipulated by how hard you hit the strings. channel two to me sounds like they were still working on getting it right and left it at that. a little thin to my liking.love everything else about it.

i play a 1992 gibson les paul birdseye standard with loller imperial humbuckers and a fender esquire with a semour duncan quarter pounder. this amp lets the best of these guitars personalities come through. so yes, single coils sound great through this amp. i tend to play heavyer styles of music (heavy/hard rock,punk,garage,dirty blues) and this amp delivers what i need. tones are thick and hold up to the rest of a loud band. it does take a little screwin around with to get used to it. but thats because its flexable. i dont like messy layouts. simple is easy to deal with when your on stage and your adrenalins all pumped up. a few knobs to tweak and yer on your way. i cant get the reverb past 2. its a bit much. but it great reverb. did i mention its LOUD.

so far so good. of course i replaced the tubes right off the bat. but no problems yet. i did bash it into a wall one night after a show. it weighs alot. but, i broke the mid pot for channel 2. i took it apart and extracted the pot and found an exact replacement. put it in myself and back in business. i rely on this amp. but, after reading some of the other reviewers problems, i'll be aware.

havent needed them yet. parts seem to be accesable.

i've been playing for 22 years. i know whats out there amp wise. this is an amp with something else to offer. like everyone says the only thing it doesnt do is the super heavy, high gain thing. but if this is what you need, then your looking at the wrong style of amp. get yourself a 4-12 cab and a 100 watts. my marshall does that best but thats all it does. the blues custom 30 does everything else. i would buy this amp again if needed. the mid knob on the dirty channel is useless to me. if its not all the way up it sounds thin. theres no complaining about an amp this cheap in price that sounds this good. its a born classic.

Not sure what year my amp is as I haven't looked and I bought it used and upgraded. I was asked to do a gig down in deepest part of Cornwall here in the UK and due to the amount of gear we had to take and that I wanted a cheap tube amp that I could knock about and not worry about I decided to buy one while I was down there rather than lug one of my Fender tweeds all the way there and back, nearly came unstuck as when I got down there there were very few used tube amps for sale in the local vicinity, anyway this one was in a local paper for sale so I decided to have a look at it, usually I wouldn't go for an Epiphone amp as I was used to Fender boutique amps and trusted them. The amps been upgraded with a full compliment of Tung Sung tubes and because the person was a radio electronics engineer for Racal at Goon Hilly Down (Google it) he gave the amp a full overhaul changing all the resisters and wiring for high quality items from his company, including a full overhaul of the transformer which he said was one the best ones that he had seen in any amp let alone a cheap amp. I have to say that I am really impressed with this amp and in testing side by side with my Fenders there's little in it in terms of sound quality, yep it sounds different to a Fender but not worse and in some ways sounds to my ears nicer. Considering it's about a 3rd of the price it wins hands down.

The sound quality is outstanding if you know how to drive tubes. The clean channel is clean and has quite good head room and the dirty channel is dirty which I would kind of expect. Not sure if the tube and electronics upgrades has improved the sound as I haven't heard a standard one to compare it to but side by side with my Fenders there is very little in it, I'm lucky enough to own an original 59 Basman, Hotrod deluxe, HRD Bluesman limited edition, Blues Deville, and a blues deluxe. They are all USA made and as far as I'm concerned about as good as it gets in tube amps and this cheapey little Epiphone keeps up with them easily and in some respects sounds nicer (To my ears) don't get me wrong I won't be getting rid of the Fenders but to be honest when I gig which is allot it's always the Epiphone that gets loaded on to the lorry. AS you can probably guess I play blues and a bit of rock and so far this amp does it all, it can be a bit hard to get a good balance between the two channels but if your a bit patient and know how to dial in tones with a tube amp then it can be done, once you've done it once it's pretty easy to do all the time. It just takes a little time and experimentation or experience to do it the first few times.

I would recommend that you upgrade the tubes in this amp as looking at the other reviews it seems that the stock tubes are not up to much, also any amp that you intend to gig with should always be given the once over by a good amp tech to make sure that it sounds as good as it can and also won't cause any interference or electrical safety problems, I must admit that watching your bass player get electric shocks off his bass is highly amusing but doesn't do your music career any good........

So far it's done about 30 gigs and hasn't missed a beat, but I always have a spare set up just in case (As a backup I take a Mac loaded with Fender Amplitube and then out put it to the house PA) also the band always have a couple of sets of high end tubes in case of problems. I bought a second foot controller just as a spare. I think the weight of this amp says it all, it's heavier than my Fenders, and the transformer is huge for a 30W amp which should mean that it's never under too much stress no matter what volumes you run it at. I think a set of casters would be a good idea although all our gear is put in flight cases for transport so maybe if you intend to gig it heavily a flight case would be a good investment.

Not sure and don't care, this is a very cheap amp and if it was to go wrong I've got an amp tech that would just repair it for me.

Been playing for 30 years on and off and most of the time professionally. I own half a dozen Vintage Fender Strats a mex strat and a few Gibson LP's
If it was lost or stolen I'd buy another one in an instant and get it upgraded straight away. Might try a selection of speakers in it just to see how it will sound. I've compared it to what I would regard as some of the best amps available and it holds its own against amps costing as much as 5 times as much which makes me wonder what exactly are we paying for........

All in all this amp seems to be a little gem that will do Epiphone's reputation a lot of good, if they carry on turning out stuff on this level and at a very cheap price I might even be tempted to take a look at their guitars......Heaven forbid...........

i use the blues custom with my stratocaster and i can say that is the best sound quality you can buy in that price range.if you want a marshall style amp this is it...

you can depend on it in everything...with the 2x12 lady luck and that you can do anything...

as i said i use it with my stratocaster and rat , fuzz , comp and wah pedals...mostly for hendrix sounds....it is absolutely a brilliant amp!
best buy!

30 Watt - 15 Watt switchable all tube, 2 channel, 2-12 combo amp with reverb. Very cool retro styled plywood cabinet nice black vinyl covering and nifty cane type grille cloth. This amp is very versatile for the rock-blues player. It is not for the high gain metal head. I play classic rock and blues so it fits me perfectly. The cabinet is built like a tank and weighs almost as much. The out put from this baby borders on punishing... it's the loudest combo I've ever heard!!! The only problem is the highs from channel 2 seem spiky and very directional.

I play through 2 Gretsch Electromatics, a 5120T, a Pro Jet 5235T and a 81 Squire II with standard strat pickups. The tone from this amp in stock form is every bit as nice as some amps costing twice as much. In 30 watt mode the lows are rich and full with clear mids and sparkling highs. the amp starts to break up very smoothly about 2/3 the way up. Great blues tones wide open on channel one. The O/D channel is just as nice but the highs seem slightly brittle. In 15 watt mode the break up comes around half volume and that class A creamy grease is smeared everywhere.
I decided to replace the tubes and install Weber beam blockers to smooth out the highs. A full compliment of Tung-Sol tubes with a JJ rectifier took care of the innards and installing the beam blockers(while not without a couple of minor installation complexities) was fairly simple. I fired the amp up and started to play..... OH MY GOD!!!!!! I could not believe the difference!!! The tone rivals any tube amp costing 2 to 3 times as much. And no spiky highs or directional sound. It fills every corner of the room with pure tone. All of my buddies now want me to mod their amps in the same ways so they can get that HUGE TONE. Total cost..amp 650...fully matched tubes 130... beam blockers...36... total...$816.00

So far no problems. This amp is BUILT!!! The PCB is very thick and solidly mounted at the tube sockets. Huge Transformers and a solid cabinet. "In this corner, weighing in at 69 lbs. and built to take a beating is the Epiphone Blues Custom 30."

Haven't had to contact them for service but I did request a schematic and they were very helpful.

I've only been playing for a few years and I don't have a lot of money to spend. I look for the best quality and performance from a product for the dollar. This amp wins hands down. Reasonable pricing and huge tone. If you play blues or rock and need a solid amp that will keep up with the rest of the band, this is it for half the money.

Don't really "get" the EQ thing. Interactive Etc. "Could use a direct out".

Does some things really good, like a blues sound. Has its own sound though. I use mostly a Les Paul with Humbuckers. It does not jump easly to single coils. But after some knob turning, works well with both. Does not really do heavy very well, kinda botoms out. Great clean, full of bass. Must change tubes! Everbody is correct about that! Can be very quiet and get great tones too. Don't have to be loud to get neat tones. I'd say its closer to Vox type or UK sound. But NOT Marshall.

The Reverb controll went out on mine. HAD to take it to the closest dealer (45 Miles), so they could ship it in, and charge me for the shipping. Not real thrilled about that. Then took several weeks to get back, and yes they fixed mine. The covering is soft, tears pretty easy. But since then, (been over a year now) works real good.

See reliability.

I don't see wheres theres anything better for the price. Lots of fun to mess with diff tubes and tones. I might try some others someday, but I'll never sell this one.

Mine is a 2007, somewhat versatile, its definately no metal amp, but all other styles, its great. Really wish it had a loop, but that aside, its got the greatest reverb of any amp I've owned, including Fenders. It has plenty of power for most gigs. I love the 15/30 watt switch. I use it in the 15 watt setting to get some power tube saturation at reasonable volumes.

I play a 40th anniversary Strat and an Epiphone Les Paul, and both guitars sound beautiful with this amp. I use a Jekyl and Hyde pedal through the clean channel for drive, but the amps drive channel sounds good. With Strats, its spanky and bluesy. With humbuckers, it gets a somewhat British sound, depending on the settings. It can get a little trebly, but I run the treble around 10 o'clock with no problems. Definatley can tell a difference in the class a/ab switch. I prefer the class a setting. But I've been in situations where I needed the extra wattage, and the 30 watt setting really helps it cut through the mix. No need to mic in small to medium sized gigs. Mine came with 6L6WXT's, which sound good, but I think this amp would be a good candidate for KT66's, which I may try.

I think this a well built solid amp. But do yourself a freakin' service, and as soon as you get it, replace the crappy no name rectifier tube. I think this is the cause to a lot of the popping fuse problems, because after a few weeks of owning mine, this happened. The rest of the tubes are sovtek and eh, but I noticed as I replaced the fuse and switched from standby to play, that there was a bright arc in the rectifier tube. So I pulled it out and replaced it with a NOS R.C.A. recifier tube. No problems since. Oh, and never use aluminum foil in place of fuses, don't take that advise. Fuses always blow for a reason. I gig with this amp at church twice a week, and I consider it very reliable.

Never used them.

Excellent amp choice for everything but metal, I got a Valveking halfstack for that! I traded in a Fender Hot Rod Deville for this, with absolutely no regrets. I thought that amp had the worst sounding drive channel ever. You really can't go wrong with this amp, especially for the features and price point. Its already gone up $100 since I bought mine, so get one before it goes up again, you won't regret it!

I'd like to ad this as an update for the blowing fuses issue that some of us, including me, experienced. (It concernes the fuse in the AC-cord socket.) This is how I fixed it. (DISCLAIMER: this is not an authorized method, and I can not guarantee that it will not cause damage to your amp. But it worked for me and since then I never had a blown fuse again.) What did I do: I wrapped one the blown fuses with ordinary household alu-foil (thus shorting it) and put in it's place. Then I switched the amp on. Since in my case the fuses only blew when switching it from standby to on, I figured it could be a faulty standby switch or it might even be the rectifier tube not working correctly and drawing to much current. So what I then did was rocking the standby-switch (turning it from standby to on and back) untill I did not hear any suspicious sizzling noises anymore (this sizzling always preceeded the blowing of a fuse). I then replaced the faulty foil-wrapped fuse for a new one and since then I never had a problem anymore!

Mind you, I am not a technician or an electronics-specialist! I have no clue why this worked (maybe I was just lucky) but I suspect I either wore in the standby switch or the rectifier-tube.

FOR YOUR OWN SAFETY: DO NOT FORGET TO REPLACE THE SHORTED FUSE WITH A NEW AND CORRECTLY WORKING ONE! AFTER ALL, IT IS THERE FOR SAFETY-REASONS!

The Blues Custom 30 is a great tube amp which delivers a variety of vintage tones at a really low price. If you are looking for metal stuff don't come close to this amp. It won't provide you with these. Everything else, this amp can do it. Still, I can't.

The Equalizer section is great as it can be switched between interactive and independent. Playing around with these two functions opens the door to a variety of sounds. Leaving the knobs in the same position and swithing from indepedent to interactive mode boosts the tone heavily. I wished this buttons was footswitchable.

The amp has a class A mode with 15 watts and a class A/B mode with 30 watts. And it has two channels. The first one being the cleaner one and the second the dirtier one.

And it has reverb.

Soundwise, this amp is the best I have ever owned. The first channel is the real thing. It has only a volume know and no gain. So, it can go from clean, at lower volumes, to incredibly great crunch sounds. If you fully turn up the volume it is the best crunch tones I have heard in a while. And in my ears the class A/B 30 watts mode sounds even better with this setting. I play a Tele with Harry H??ussel pick ups and a Gibson SG. And it is great fun to turn this amp up. Still, it is too loud to play at these volumes at home. If you play at lower volumes the first channel provides great crispy clean sounds which to me are fenderesk. However, remember that this amp won't stay clean for long. In live situations the band must be quite gentle to play along with this amp in clean settings. This problem is solved, of course, if you mike the amp. The reverb sounds cool to me.

The second channel in class A sounds really great, too. Here the distortion can be a lot heavier and creamier than i channel one. This channel won't stay clean, it is dirty as hell.

In class A/B mode, to me, the tone is too harsh and too noisy. This is not the strength of the amp. If you want a great loud crunch tone better crank channel one. If you want a not so loud overdrive/distortion you better use class A channel two. That is my preference and how I use this amp.

For the lack of great tones in channel two in 30 watts it is a 9 only. Plus, if you have a really loud band this amp won't have enough power to fill the room with music. Still, in most live situations this one will be miked. If not, in bigger venues I'd rather use my sovtek 60 watts amp. This one is not so beautiful in sound, but it is louder, of course.

I got the amp two weeks ago and if it would've broken down it would be the greatest piece of trash. Til now nothing happened. This amp seems quite reliable. We will see. Knock on wood...

In Germany you won't deal with the company directly. Only with the shop. So, no opinion here.

I love this amp. It has great tones and looks beautiful. I hope it will be with me for many years to come. Plus for this price it is a mustbuy!