Kustom '36 Coupe 112 Combo

Great little amp, but, a few changes need to be made. The small toggle switch on the top to change channels breaks very easily. The handle is pure junk. Other than that it is a great little amp. I would also like it to have a master volume.

Does clean very well. The reverb lacks a little bit, definately not "fendery", but, isn't bad...

Other than the handle and toggle switch it is very reliable.

Never had to deal with them

Overall this is a killer little amp....

Made in USA. 2-Channels, reverb, 3 band eq. Channels are footswitchable and the amp has a boost for when you want to play solos, very cool! The footswitch also controls reverb (it say's "Effect" for some reason).

The amp is 36 watts and can get plenty loud. I do wish I would have gotten one with 2 speakers though (maybe the 72 coupe). I like the sound of 2 speakers, but this amp rocks! I wish that it had a master volume too. Would be nice for when you get your sound in both channels and just want to up the level of both, but it's not a big deal.

I play stuff like Weezer, Radiohead, Tool, etc, this amp can pretty much do anything. I tested a lot of amps. I wanted to "glassiness" of a tube amp but I also wanted it to be able to handle high distortion. This amp is the best that I've found...period. It's clean channel is beautiful, especially when you add turn the master up a little so it just starts to break up. The lead channel can get really distorted. It is awesome! I actually had some EL34's put in it and man, this thing rocks! I can't say enough good things about the sound of this amp. I almost bought a Mesa Boogie for around $2000 and I'm glad that I bought this one for waaaay cheaper.

This amp isn't going to make you sound better if you're not good. You do need to have control with your playing as it really reflects everything you do.

I've had this amp for about 6 months. I had to take it to a service tech because it was shorting out on me. Turns out it was the cable to the footswitch. So far so good.

Kustom customer support is awesome. They are very friendly and respond very quickly. Great people at Kustom!!

This is the best amp that I've ever owned. I get questions about it all the time because it looks so different. Many people comment on the sound too. This is a great amp. You probably won't be able to find these at many shops, which is a shame because for the money this is the best amp you can get...forget the money, it's the best regardless. I just can't say enough good things about it...

2008 Made in USA all tube 36 watt combo.
Two channel with bright boost, three knob eq and reverb.
Tube driven FXs loop, balanced speaker emulated output with level control. Boost level control.

Great feature set. It's not a fangled pod or tonelab but if you like the tone of your guitar - this amp will make you happy. This amp has turned into my daily driver. I have a plexi clone and a tweed deluxe both single channel.

I use all the features including the FX loop channel switching and line out. Simple and easy to use - old school knob turning delight.

It has enough power for rehearsal and small venues. I give it a 10 because all the features are very usable and effective.

I play a 1999 G&L Legacy (single coils). I am mainly blues and Rock. This amp is right in the pocket. You can crank the gain on the lead channel and get a very pleasing range of over drive and distortion tones. The lead channel is better in mho than the clean channel. It is very complex and rich. I have a Seymour Duncan FX1 booster in front of the amp to boost the pickups and thats it. I use the fx loop for the delay (rocktron cyborg) and reverb (boss RV5). Very quiet. I leave the amp reverb on all the time.

The clean channel is fenderish, not quiet the bell tone of the bassman more like a Twin. It's got plenty of head room and will break up nicely when you crank the gain. You can pull the boost on each channel to get a Vox type top boost. Very nice - too bad this feature is not foot switchable...

You can go between channels with out to much monkeying around. The amp is very responsive to the guitars volume and tone controls. This is all I do when playing live - the amp gets set and I leave it.

I give the lead channel a 10 and the clean channel an 8 so avg =9

Probably a bad idea to not have a back up with any electronic gear. But this amp is good so far. The quality and craftsmanship is A+. Every detail is as close to perfection as I have seen. This amp is heavy!

I have modeling gear (Vox tonelab), classic tube amps (Marshall plexi, Fender tweed deluxe) and solid state gear. After spending all that $$ I have to say this amp is at the top of the heap. My Fender Champ has a better clean tone, but when your rocking live this thing is close enough!

I fell into this amp. I had a 1976 Fender Silver Face Champ I was looking to trad for a strat on craigslist. I was offered this amp in exchange. I went for it and now every time I turn it on I feel like it's Christmas morning!

If you are in the market for a high quality combo - and you know your tone - give this thing a ride before you spend your money.

4 12ax7's and 2 6l6's. effects loop, reverb, interactive eq, and master volumes for each channel.

very versatile. the clean channel goes from fendery cleans to really aggressive drive (if you push the front end hard enough). the drive channel can go from a buzzy moderate gain character to really fluid drive. the EQ is really where the versatility is. you cna make the amp very dark and beefy or bright and articulate. i mainly play metal but when i'm in the mood for blues or rock, this amp can do it with a simple twist of the knobs.

36 watts is plenty loud for me, cuts through like a knife when i need it too through a band mix. for small venues and clubs youre set. if not you can always mic it OR use the built in direct out (which sounds phenomenal) and run it to the PA.

i gave it a 9 because you cant switch the eq to a traditional non interactive mode

i use high output active pickups and the clean channel can take them pretty well. i can make my bridge pickups sound crystalline or beef them up some by turning up the clean channel's gain to about 12 o clock. for practicing i like having both my masters at 12 and adjusting the gain with the level knobs. from clean to dirty blues, to rock and brutally heavy metal, the amp handles everything fine by itself. that doesnt mean it doesnt take stomp boxes well. i also use a big muff, metal muff, and a boss eq for various distortion or overdrive characters. the amp takes them all in stride.

the effects loop is wonderful, though for some reason its always active even when i have "effects" off on my footswitch. i've tried my wah pedal and my eq in the loop, and both work great. for a mid boost, i prefer the eq in front of the amp to drive the preamp. but say you want that mega scooped nu metal sound? throw it in the loop and set the eq for a scoop (not my taste though).

the amp's eq really shines when playing different styles. the treble knob controls not only how much treble, but how much bass and the frequency range of the mids. so at lower settings you have more bass, less treble, and low frequency mids. turn it up and you get the opposite. the bass knob controls the tightness of the bass. i use the treble knob to get the articulation i want at the moment, and the bass knob determines the overall "attitude" of everything. i'm usually at 3o'clock with the bass which sounds really beefy with mids down to 11"o clock. turn the mids up and POW more classic metal sound for playing van halen or iron maiden.

the boost function is fantastic. while frequency boosts are sweet, the coupe's power section boost is much more useful. your tone stays the same but its louder and stronger! i leave frequency based tone boosts to my stomp boxes.

the footswitch is very solid. a really strong metal casing and has a good weight to it. the clicking of the switches feels softer than i'd prefer and the fact that the effects button seems to only turn the reverb on and off is odd.

havent had a single problem yet, save for my pilot light blinking on and off for about a week. contacted customer support and they got right back to me. the problem went away by itself but its good to know that they responded and followed up afterward to see how things were.

customer support is great. they got back to me the next day and gave me an answer from one of the guys who designs the amps. they stayed in touch as well and i could tell that the support was done in-house and on a personal level.

i've been playing for maybe 4 or 5 years and have gone through maybe 4 amps before this one (one of those tube as well). i have never been so happy with my tone. at the first gig i played with it i got a lot of compliments--even from people who know squat about equipment or tone. chicks dig the looks too (i have the blue one).

if it were stolen or lost, i'd cry because i got an incredible deal on it. as a gear junkie i know i'd look at similarly priced options as well but the coupe would automatically be on the top of my list of amps to look into. if anything maybe i'd go for the half stack version instead.

i love the amp's cosmetics, the glow of the words on the chassis, the flexible controls, and all the features. the TONE is amazing and it comes at a ridiculous price. you are paying for quality stuff. i spend a lot of time testing gear to update my rig and i am 100% convinced you can do no better in this price range (and maybe in higher price ranges too!)

I have the Kustom Coupe '36 in Blue Sparkle. It is made in the USA with USA and foreign parts. I know the cabinet(birch) is made in the USA and I would guess the actual circuit boards are made in China or whereever. These are tube amps running two 6L6s and four 12ax7, which don't need biased when replacing, it has some hybrid system of biasing. These amps have features through the roof!!

On top it has pre and post knobs(volume and master on the amp) for both the rhythm and lead channels. Each channel has a pull bright on the volume knob and it modifies the sound a bit. They have tone controls of bass, middle, and treble that are for both channels. It also has reverb with intensity and tone. The tone for the reverb will make the reverb brighter. It has Hi and Lo inputs and and standby switch.

On the back of the amp it has a mic input that is speaker emulated so instead of mic'ing up your amp you can just plg straight into the back, that also has a volume knob with it to control the output volume. It has effects return/send jacks, and another cool feature on the back is the boost volume knob. The amp has on a footswitch a boost function, that will boost your volume(as much as 10 db) up for either channel, so you can for example play clean and boost to do a clean solo, or you can play dirty and boost for a dirty solo.

The cosmetic features are very cool aswell. The front of the amp has the cool tuck and roll look and silver piping all around the grill clothe. It has a blue jewel light on top aswell. However the best part is that on the top of the amp the channel you are on will have glowing letters. The rhythm will glow blue and the lead will red.

The footswitch is very nice as well, very sturdy, and it also has the glowing letters. It will glow red if you use the lead channel, the boost will glow yellow when you are in boost, and the effect, which is reverb, will glow green when in use.

As of right now there are no features I can think of that I wish it had, and I use every feature except for the effects loop, which I never use.

I use this amp gigging at bars (www.codeblueohio.com) and playing at home. Oh and this thing has two beefy tube guards.

I love the clean channel, I'm playing with a Fender MIJ strat with GFS pickups with this mostly. It reminds me of a Fender clean, however I only know that clean from playing in stores and certain albums. What I can directly compare this amp to is my Peavey Delta Blues. The Kustom hands down has a better clean sound. It has a much rounder, fuller, and brighter sound then the Peavey. On the Kustom the highs shimmer beautifully. I have also noticed that on the PVDB the higher up the neck you played the less volume you would seem to get, but the Kustom keeps the volume. The reverb is also much more powerful(I used to put the reverb on the DB to 12(there knobs go from 1-12), but on the Kustom I have it at about 1 o'clock.) You can taylor the clean channel to how distorted you want it(doesn't get too much) depending on how you use the volume and master controls.

With the pull bright switch and reverb tone and intensity controls you can get all sorts of sounds out of the amp, plus you can set the tone how you want on top of that.

The lead channel is also very nice sounding. I tend to keep the pull bright switch on for the lead channel where I keep the bright switch off on the clean. The lead channel is pretty smooth, but with some grit on top of it, I like it a lot. This amp has made it unnecessary for me to use my old pedals, I use to use a Behringer TO800 overdrive pedal(I still think its a very nice pedal, not that much battery life though) and a Behringer preamp booster, but now need neither. The distortion channel can get pretty distorted, but it also gets noisier with more distortion, don't notice it when playing ofcourse.

I see no need to buy another amp at all, it sounds great and has a ton of features!

Oh and the distortion channel would not be perfect for heavy metal, unless you put a stomp box in front of it, it would work for pretty heavily distorted rock though.

The amp and footswitch are VERY solid except there are two things I would change.

The actual toggle switch on the top of the amp between the Rhythm and Lead knobs is very small, and easily breakable. I bought mine with a broken switch and replaced it with another that Kustom sent me, this one too seems very fragile and I am very cautious when using it.

The other thing I would change is the handle. Mine came with a wooden piece screwed to the metal handle instead of the stock black most likely plastic piece. However, what is cheap is the metal, it is not difficult to flex and I think a regular amp handle would be better.

Other than those two things everything else is sturdy as can be, it has very nice jacks and knobs are sturdy as well. I acutally haven't had the chance to take it to that many shows, our band's members have had some bad luck, but it has held up fine from taking it to where I have.

This is where Kustom shines!!! I bought the amp used off ebay and the switch on top for channel switching came broken. I emailed Kustom and aksed if I could receive a switch. They emailed me back telling me that I would probably have to have them sell it to me through the local dealer and pick it up there. So I told them my local dealer and then I receive an email and it says to give them a call. So I called and they told me even though they weren't really suppose to, that they were just going to mail the part directly to me, for free! So I receieved the whole circuit board with the switch and lights on it to just replace the old one! Talk about customer service. I almost want to tell the person's name, but wouldn't want anybody in trouble. However, such great customer service makes me very confident in Kustom as a company. I would give an 11 for their customer service! Oh and when I called them I don't remember any machines or anything, just people, who directed me straight to the person I asked for.

I have been playing for about five years and have been gigging for about almost two, basically every weekend. I would definately try to get another one at a bargain if stolen, I don't think I could lose it, haha. I love the features of the amp, the two inputs, the boost function, the speaker emulated mic output, the bright switches, and the reverb controls! I use all of those features and feel that they are part of what makes this amp such a smokin' deal! Most importantly though, it has a great tone. Without all of the extra features it would still beat the Peavey DB easily for clean, and I think the slightly gritty tone of the Kustom is a bit more versatile than the more gritty dirty tone of the Peavey, which I still like too) When I add all the features that I acutally use to the Kustom, it is the ultimate amp for me! It seems like it is one of those things where they ask, what do you want in a gigging guitar amp? Well they definatley got it right!! Also I got it for a great price on ebay! I know it seems like a very glowing review, but I have had it for a while now (no more honeymoon phase) and it is just an unbelievable amp. James Brown (formerly of Peavey) designed this amp and you can watch him talk about how it is made and designed here: http://www.kustom.com/player.aspx?MediaID=1112

Very nice amp, especially at a used price, I don't think many know about these amps yet!

Hi and lo inputs, twin channels, clean and distortion (clean channel also has gain control to add grit), push/pull bright controls on each channel, stops a Les Paul from sounding too dark etc... variable boost on both channels, shared eq, reverb with tone and intensity (nice touch, Mr Brown) valve driven fx loop, ext. speaker out, impedance selector, footswitch with channel, boost and reverb/fx loop toggles.
The amp runs on 2 x 6l6GC and 4 x 12AX7/ECC83 valves which feature part fixed and part self biasing which gives more flexibility regarding valve choice.
Guitarists who find this amp lacking in features need to, in my opinion, either improve as a player or pursue some other interest.

This little amp says it like it is, it will not "flatter" your playing or your guitar, so make sure that both are up to scratch before proceeding!
What you get is great note clarity on both channels, irrespective of gain levels (and there's more than enough of that) this amp really sings with a good Strat or Les Paul (I only use the pull bright with the Gibson and then only on the dirty channel, as I like the faithful sound on clean.
My Strat has a 10k (single-coil) bridge pickup and I can coax drop-tuned metal mayhem with plenty of bottom from the non-brightened dirty channel. Same guitar quacks like Knopfler on clean, such is the versatility of this beauty.
The Les Paul goes from warm jazz through "whisky in the jar" to Slash in full swing.
One reviewer mentioned th idea of matching extension cabs, great idea!
To the Mesa enthusiast who hates the sound and reckons that every guitar sounds the same through the overdrive channel: clean your ears out mate, buy a decent guitar and learn to play it, otherwise take up gardening!

I've had the amp for nearly 2 years now and only one small problem so far, the power light flickers and goes dim at times. The solder on the bulb holder looked a bit grey, so I re-soldered the connection, to no avail. It stops doing it if I unscrew the bulb cover and give the bulb a push and twist, so it may be that working loose, or it could be dirty mains. Doesn't detract from any other function though and the amp is otherwise robust and dependable.

Not needed yet, hope I never need to call them, but if something goes wrong, I will.

I love this sweet sounding little amp, it delivers every time. It's tough but reasonably light (lighter than my Marshalls ever were) vesatile and loud as you like.
Dedicated extension cab would be nice.
If I lost this amp for any reason, I would replace it with the same model, the portability is good for a valve amp and the excellent emulated line out is there if more power is required.

I just bought this amp new at a small music store right across the border. Probably built in the past year...I'm not sure.First and foremost, I wanted a quality tube amp small enough for practice, yet powerful enough to cut through a band mix. I'm used to amps 40w and up, and I only vaguely assumed the '36 meant 36w. WOW! No wimp factor there. Two channels: clean and lead, with a switch pedal that gives you a nice straight-forward channel selection from clean/lead, boost, and effect button for the reverb. Another cool feature is that the pedal lights up, so you're never lost in a dark venue. This amp has a direct out, return and send jacks, plus a lineout for external cabs. So far so good. As far as versatility goes, this little beast covered balladeering cleans to reverb-soaked country picking to gritty blues rock to the crunchy ACDC tones remarkably well. And that's just from the amp itself. It's extremely stomp box friendly as well. The 4 Sovtek tubes do just fine for now, so no hurry on the swapping just yet.

I'm still in the experimentation mode, but for the little time I've had the amp, I'm very impressed with the clean channel. That's the first thing I look for, and I'll know in about 30 seconds if it passes the test or not. Everyone knows that Fenders are the kings of clean mojo, but imo, the amps in this particular price bracket get a little on the "brighty" side. The Kustom Coupe '36 delivers a 'just right' tone that sounds convincing with either a strat, or even a Les Paul. On the gain side of the coin, that's the part where I haven't fully grasped yet, because it sounds so different than amps that I'm used to...Fenders, Marshalls and Mesas. For me, it sounds best when both the VOLUME knob is rolled up at least to 12:00, and the GAIN opened up as well, for the tone to really breathe. You do have to tweak the two around a bit, but sonically it's very vesatile. From a mild drive to a bold hard rock crunch. I tested my Fender Strat first, and naturally the single-coils blended with the clean channel beautifully. With a bit of reverb, it was like buttah. My Les Paul and Ibanez RG550, eased through both channels with flying colors. The only one I haven't tested yet is my SG Classic, and I can't wait to see how the P90's work. A bit of playing with the EQ in the amp, it seems to work well with many types ogf guitars. How people can write this one off and give it a negative review is beyond me, because I'm one picky fool when it comes to tone. I can't seem to find many flaws with this bad boy.

I haven't had it long enough to know how reliable it is, but hopefully it won't give me any problems. I've never used a backup once, (I know, I'm nuts LOL) but I'd definitely gig with this amp.

Never dealt with this company.

I've been playing for over 20 years, and I own 5 guitars and two other amps. ( one acoustic) If stolen or lost, I'd grab another one of these in a heartbeat. I think it's one of the most versatile amps I've ever owned, but maybe a tad pricey for what its worth. But isn't everything now days? ;) The only things that bug me a little, are the knobs tend to pop off in the push/pull pots, and the AC cord doesn't seem to fit snugly in the jack. Otherwise, everything is working like a top.

Madewithin a year. This is an all tube amp 4 tubes, 2 on each "side".
I've seen negative reviews from players who should be seeking mask distortion type amps. You need to know how to play to use this amp.
Anyone who flames this amp can't play. This is the most responsive amp to what strings I hit, that I've ever heard.
I'm up to trying my 5th guitar on this, and the Agile 3000 is WAAAAAAY out in front, my Schecter Exotic star sounds nice, but has taken a huge defeat in sound. No way did I expect that either. In short, heavy gibsons will rejoice with this amp.

I'm sold. I like it. I play it. I can't believe I'm wasting time away from it. No.... I guess I had to tell people.
I like this amp.

So far so good.

Never dealt with.

20-30 years. This has been my best amp ever, and I guess that passes quite a few. I can only hope that we keep getting better/better amps.
This amp is not for the player who doesn't want to hear EVERYTHING they play, I guess.
I haven't needed foot effects yet, this amp can nail sounds without that stuff.

Not sure when it was made, but they've only been out for a few years.
I play Classic Rock, Oldies, Classic and Top 40 Country. Amp has 2 Channels, Reverb, 10db boost with Level Control, Master Volume on each Channel, Pull Bright on both channels, 1-12" speaker, speaker output, Line Output (XLR) with Level Control & Ground Lift, 3 Band shared E.Q., came with Footswitch/cable. 36 Watts, All Tube (6L6 & 12AX7). Great sounding little combo, weighs about 43 lbs..

Very nice Clean and distortion sounds. The KEI Turbo 12" speaker sounds the best with this amp; tried a Clestion G12 and didn't sound near as good. Very punchy sounding amp. Clean channel can be set for light distortion, since both channels have a Master Volume Control. Distortion channel can go from slight grit to heavy rock sounds. The clean channel stays clean all the way to max. Have used several Epiphone Les Pauls and Fender Teles thru this amp, they all sound great! Humbuckers will give you more grit & breakup, single coils are bright and punchy. Covers all the styles that I play with no problems.

Had the amp for about 2 months, no problems of any kind. I have taken a back-up amp since starting to use the amp, just until I get to know how it will perform. Never had to use a back-up yet. Will rate this section after more use.

Bought the amp used. Never tried to contact the company. Guess I'll have to see if there are any issues with the amp.

Been a gigging musician for almost 40 years. Been thru a LOT of gear. So far, very pleased with this amp. Has all the tones I need, and is very versatile. I especially like the Adjustable Boost Function. Can dial in any amount of boost up to 10db. This is not available on most other amps with a boost function. This has replaced my Traynor YCV-40 Combo, which went down on me just before a gig. Also own Fender & Peavey combos. I like the small size of the amp, if I needed a bigger amp; I would by the '72 Coupe in a heartbeat! Might buy one anyway, just to have one! Would like to see Kustom come out with matching Extension Cabs for this line of amps, would make a very cool "mini-stack". Would definitely buy again.

36 watts, channel switching, XLR speaker emulated line out with gain and ground lift, 3 band E.Q., 10 db boost.

Great sound right out of the box. I play everything from blues and rock to country and standards, and this amp nails everything. I play a Rickenbacker clone and a Strat electric, and an Ibanez acoustic through it and everything cuts through great. Only downside was E.Q.ing the amp for the Ric and acoustic, the Strat sounded REALLY thin. A Boss E.Q. pedal added to my pedalboard solved that little dilemma.

Only had the amp for a few weeks, but seems solid as heck and I have no qualms about using without a backup.

No dealing with customer support.

Been playing since I was 14 (32 years now) and have had other amps, both tube and solid state. This amp stacks up against all of them, including my old Music Man 210-65 (which I gave to my son years ago). I had an old Kustom amp back in the day that had I known about effects pedals back then, I would probably still have that amp.

I think kustom came out with this amp 2 years ago. I live in an area were there are 3 music stores easy to get to from my home. I seen this amp for the first time at a little music store called Rossos.

The guys let me play the amp knowing that; I am a well respected guitar player. They really want my opinion. I told them " boy it has a lot of promise to be something great". They thought I was saying it wasn't good but that was not the case.

In my head I was saying 'Boy that sound is just waiting to come out of there, with the right tubes and right speaker, this amp can ride with the big boys,' meaning Fender , Marshall, Messia and Vox, just to name a few.

But I didn't at that time had the Money for it. Then the following year passed and at Christmas season my wife get her bonuness money, so she asked me what would I like for christmas. I said a custom coupe. She thought I was talking about a 50's hot rod car. I laugh and said no honey, it's a guitar amp made by a company called Kustom.

Now I remember Kustom as a kid. I really dug the way they looked, they sounded pretty good even though they were not a tube amp. But for solid state, they had the best tone conpared to other solid state amps at the the time. And C.C.R. proved it!

Any way back to my litle story, so my wife gave me the money and I went bought one. When I got home I set it up and played it. The sound was kinda quacky but on the better side of quackness, which told me --- must change the speaker. But to be fair, most speakers have to be some what broken in with time to sound their best. But I had a Tone Tuby acinco speaker that was well broken in. If I sold an amp I had, I would put back the orignal speaker and keep the T.T.

When I put this speaker in it, BAM! what a tone. I push it all the way, and then the standard tubes that came with this amp started ratting out with sonic tingles through the speaker. I went through my collection of tubes and put G.T. 6l6r's with a 5 rating. G.T. silver rated 12a,x,7's. And boy this this do wonders for the amp. It sounds great. It reminded me of how amps with tubes sounded like when I was a kid, that was one of the reasons I liked playing electric guitar in the first place.

Well I an 53 now and. had alot of great amps. But at 53, and still giging and playing hard and good, I needed an amp that was not gonna tear my amp off, or send me to the hospital with a her-knee-er,(sorry for my poor spelling, but guys ,you know what Im talking about)just for picking the dam thing up to put in my truck! Well I am happy with this amp. It sounds great, but you must experiment with speakers and tubes to get out of it what your looking for.

I think kustom gave this amp this speaker and Russian tubes to help keep the price down. Great tubes and high dollar speaker would have driven the price to high, and this might have kept it from selling well. It's an amp that Mr Brown ( He's responable for Peavey Classic 30's and 50's,good sounding amps for the money) desiged this amp for players like me, who are old but we still like to rock, and experiment with tone and sound.

Any old player out their that has at least 2 decades of playing time, ( playing in the bed once a week for 15 minites room doesn't count) I mean real road time with develope ears for tone will love the amp for it's blessed weight, and all it's well thought out bells and whistles.

Mr Brown I do believe you truly created the amp you aways wanted to build. It's definely better late than never. MAD MAX of the BADABING BLUES BAND.

This amp with how I have it set up with pedals, can take me through Jimie Hendrix, Robin Trower, S.R.V. Z.Z. TOP, Tom Petty, Chris Dante,
Cream, C.C.R,Robert Cray,Bad Company,Johnny Winters,Little Charley and The Night cats, Ronnie Earl,Smokin Joe Kubeck,Elves Presley,Led Zepplin,and I am not kidding. And I play all this stuff pretty good. I have C.D.s with this amp doing all the guitar work.

Well so far it has not given me major problems, but as each problem came, they were easy to solve, like a good old car from the 50 and 60's.

Well I haven't had to call Kustom as of yet, which means, they have built a pretty good product. But some problems that rose up for me were easy to figure out,so some others that has similar problems might need to call the company.

I been playing for 4 decades now. I own a lot of amps at one time, but getting old you just need a couple. I have a TSL 100 JMC 2000 TRIPLE LEAD HEAD 2 x 12 Avatar cab with relic 30 Celestions speakers, its a great cab, and the coupe 32 sounds even mighter plugged in to it, running on all 3 21's. I would but it again so far at this point, but I had it only for 4 months now and have done 22 gigs with it plus recorded with it. So far I said no major problems,( wish I could the same for the Marshall)

Others had described it here. 2 Channel - single tone control. 3 x Foodcontroller for channel / Boost / effect. Very useful in theory. I gave it a 6, because a thing like mesa boogie dc-5 can get a 10 (2 channels, two sets of tone control in front of the pre-amo plus an equalizer after the pre amp section) This little thing is useful but nothing more.

I hate the sound. Sounds like rat at lower volumes. The sound ist allways thin. So, remember, every tube amp has one special volume level when the power amp tubes are at its best - i call it the optimal volume level. A good amp sounds good at almost every volume level. The Boogie DC-5 is such an amp. The Fender Tone Master has an amazing out of the box clean sound at almost every level.

This little amp sounds really really poor - in my opinion.

The clean channel can not deliver the thick and rich clean sound that I knew from my other amps I used over the years (like Fender Tone Master, MB DC-2, MB DC-5, Fender Hot rod deville). My Fender blues junior had a better clean tone - even my Marshall 4203 sounds better.

The distortion is not that better. It really has that zz top factor, you can hear every note of a distorted accord. But every Boogie can do that, every soldano can do it better. The tone section is in front of the distortion so every controller interacts with the distortet and with each other tone controller. Especially the treble control has a big influence to the sound. May be one has enough time, to look for a great sound, may be there is one. I did not have that time.

Compared to its price it is a very expensive amp. My Mesa Boogie Dc-2 was cheaper and has an amzing out of the box tone at every volume level.

I am sorry I can not give more than a 5.

I forgot: Every guitar sounds the same thru the distortion section of the amp. You can not devide a 52Tele from a hot Les Paul Classic with ceramic PUs. Even my PRS swamp amp sepcial sounds bad with this rat amp.

I don't have it long enough.

I don't have it long enough.

Trying this amp is a complete waste of time.

I am playing for over 25 years. I play not that good. But my ears are allright and I know what a good amp is. I have almost 20 guitars.

2006 Version I believe of the US manufactured 36 watt class A/B combo. Features have been described by others. Dual channel master volumes, with shared eq and nice reverb, boost, bright, tube driven effects loop, and DI outputs. The amp is well constructed of multiply Birch and solid controls, hardware, and lighted footswitch.
This is a very affordable small combo amp with plenty of potential. Has very nice quality feel to it.

This little amp caught my attention quickly with the retro looks and clean reverb tone. The clean channel stock sounds very good at mid volume levels. Master volumes on both channels help keep tone good at lower volumes. EQ is interactive and shared and I had no problems finding nice settings with different guitars. Volume knobs have pull for bright channels and both channels have this option. Great Fenderish Deluxe tones on clean channel. Drive channel to me sounds like a cross between cranked tweed deluxe and Marshall plexi tone. I can hear the Billy Gibbons inspired gain structure for sure. The amp is super quite for tubes and reverb is excellent. I still felt there were some improvements that could be easily made to find my own person sound. More information on changes/mods below---

I have not had this amp for long and they are relatively new, out for a couple of years. Looks like a very well made amp and expect no issues.

Excellent. I had a couple of questions on possible speaker changes and was able to reach technical advise quickly. Very good support.

Been playing for 20+ years and have owned numerous vintage and modern amps. This is worth looking at in the $600.00 range new. Some will find the look a little weird, but I grew up the 70's and remember the original Kustoms. Bottom line is this amp sounds very good and it is designed and built in the US. I did some tweeking and will pass on my testing and opinions. 1. Changed the power tubes/ 6L6's to Svetlana's Winged C version. Better glassy tone and harmonic richness. 2. Changed the inverter tube, one right next to the power tubes, to 12AT7 JAN GE. 12AT7's smooth out the gain and reduce splatty nature. 3. Tested Fender Eminence 75 watt speaker, sound on cleans very fender deluxe tone, excellent if you want a fender clone amp and play clean. Lots of headroom and nails Fender tone. Driven sound was too harsh for my taste though and I was looking for better balance between clean and driven tone. 4. Settled on Weber 1265 ceramic. This is Ted's version of the old Celestion G12-65. This speaker is warmer overall, but with slight roll off of bass and mids it came alive. Very well balanced open tone in clean channel. Driven sound was much improved without the harsh high end that was present in the original and Fender speaker. SO I am happy with this tone for me and this may help some of you in your search as well.

i play funk,r&b,jazz,rock ect.amp is versatile,plenty enough power on club gigs,ecpecialy going through the front end.www.softspokenband.com

i love the sound of this amp ,ive owned vintage fenders,gibsons,boogie ect.it suits my style well.its a punchy little amp ,notes jump right out at ya,i think its very quiet,i own a blues jr too,very noisy .

ive sent it back to kustom,once,they gave me a brand new one,the first time the amp just kept dying on me,fading out as if you were flicking off the stand by but it was on ,thought it was the power chord but it wasnt,or the tubes,now i have my new one and i have problems with this one too,a howling and fading,i know about 3 other ppl who have had same problems,now i must bring back up amp to gigs .tube amps are great sounding but just a nightmare,actually thinking of getting a good solidstate amp just for more reliabilaty

good they gave me a new amp no questions asked

ive been playing for 25 yrs,ive owned tons of gear ,right now for amps i have the kustom,and fender blues jr.i really do like this amp but im losing faith in the reliability,,im having bad luck with tube amps,love the tube sound,but not the reocouring nightmares that go along with them ,is it worth it??????????

The amp features rhythm and lead channels with a bright boost for each, a reverb section with intensity and tone controls, EQ section: bass, mid, and treble, effects loop, dirct out, and an automatic biasing system. This is a very versatile amp for virtually any style.

1st thing: CHANGE THE TUBES!!!! I got the amplifier from Sam Ash and had it delivered to my home. When I opened the box, plugged in the footswitch, outlet cable, and then turned the amp on, I was very disappointed. I felt that the tubes were the problem. I called Eurotubes the next day and ordered JJ's 2-6L6s and 4 12AX7s. After replacing the tubes, this made a HUGE difference!!! The harsh and blatty tones became tight, focused, and clear. I can coax some convincing early Fender and Marshall sounds out of this amp. The gain is a little more than I would normally use; however, you can set the preamp gain down and dime the power amp section successfully. I run a Tech 21 Double Drive into the rhythm section for a different overdrive sound and the amp responds well with this pedal. This is as good as any amp out there on the market (NOTE: I have played, owned or borrowed MANY amps, boutique and otherwise). With humbuckers, the guitar sounds smooth and clear, with single coils, you definitely hear the clarity of the pickups, along with P-90s. This amp does a good job of bringing out the tone of your guitar. The reason it gets a 9 and not a 10 is that there is no "10" amplifier out there. The lead channel has a little too much gain, but with a preamp tube adjustment, I was able to reduce the gain somewhat. If you like 60's blues-rock guitar (Clapton, Green, Bloomfield, Santana, etc.), you will find this amp quite suitable.

Haven't had it break down on me yet. COMPLAINT: replacing the tubes was a nightmare. I had to take the bottom part off the amp and use a long phillips head to unscrew the tube "cages". Unless you have a convenient five-year-old around to remove the preamp tubes, you'll have to bend the preamp cage back to get to them. I probably voided the warranty, but those crappy Sovteks and EH preamp tubes had to go.
NOTE: If you buy ANY new tube amp (with the exception of boutique - those makers have enough sense), consider spending good money to replace the tubes because most amp manufactors put garbage tubes into their amps. Check out JJ's Eurotubes, or, if you have the cash, buy NOS 6L6s and 12AX7s. This will make ALL the difference in your tone.

I talked to them on the phone to see when my amplifier would be arriving. Otherwise, they seemed friendly to me.

I have been playing guitar for 26 years and I am estatic about this amp! I'm not going to ramble on about me owning this and that, which really irritates me when I read these reviews. KISS. I don't really care that you owned every Fender, Marhsall, Vox, etc. amp out there. This is a good product with great versatility (once you replace the tubes), and if I could afford it, I would buy another one. I think it is a better product than the majority of mass-produced amps and it really does a great job of emulating early Fenders and Marshalls.

The amplifier features a rhythm and lead channel with bright boosts for each. It has and EQ section of bass, mid, and treble. In addition, it features an extremely versatile reverb section with intensity and tone controls. Effects loop, power tube auto-biasing system, pedalboard, and direct output - this is overall a superb amplifier as far as features.

First thing: CHANGE THE TUBES!!!!!! I ordered my '36 Coupe from Sam Ash and took it out of the box, plugged in the pedalboard, outlet plug, turned it on and let it warm up. As soon as I hit the standby switch, I was pissed!!! The sounds were shrill and the notes sounded tubby and blatty. After reading all of these great reviews on this amplifier, I called JJ's Eurotubes. He recommended retubing the amplifier, and within three days, I received the new tubes. After retubing the amp and turning it on, I noticed a HUGE difference in tone!!! HUGE. The notes were tight with a smooth bottom end (a la Marshall Bluesbreaker), and a smooth treble that wasn't harsh or shrill. Tonally, this is one of the best amps I've played, owned, borrowed, ad nauseum (NOTE TO GEARHEADS - I'VE PLAYED A LOT OF GOOD EQUIPMENT...ENOUGH SAID). BTW...I really hate it when people send responses and they have to tell you every f&cking piece of equipment they own. Personally, I really don't give a rat's ass!!! Anyway...with humbuckers, the sound is really smooth and defined - with single coils, the true color of the pickups are really accented. P-90s, whatever, you will hear the detail in the pickups, wood, etc. The only reason it does not get a 10 is that NO amp deserves a 10. Music is subjective, as well as tastes; however, the crappy Sovteks and Electro-Harmonix tubes have got to go. With a $65.00 investment (JJ's tubes), you can have a really GREAT amp. If you want to spend the money on NOS high quality tubes, you will have a really EXCEPTIONAL amp. It works really well with pedals, as another reviewer said, especially with good overdrive and 'vibe pedals. Fans of late '60s blues-rock guitarists (Clapton, Green, Bloomfield, Santana, etc.)will really appreciate this amplifier. Great interpretation on old Fender and Marshall sounds with great versatility and a cool look (well...I have the black 'tuck 'n' roll'...the Schwinn Sting Ray banana bicycle seat covers is somewhat an embarrassment to the overall look - KISS). Enough said.

I haven't owned it enough to comment on this; however, getting to the tubes is a pain in the rear end. You have to either have small hands or the right tools. I appreciate the fact that Kustom designed a protective 'cage' for both tubes sections; however, I had to bend the preamp metal section back to get my fingers on the preamp tube protectors. This feat nearly took me forty minutes to change the preamp tubes...no kidding. The power tubes weren't that bad, but putting the tiny screws back on was a pain, not to mention I had to remove the bottom part of the amp to get to ALL of them...oh well.

I called them to find out when my amp was going to be shipped to Sam Ash. They gave me an immediate reply. It came with a warranty card that I haven't filled out yet. I have probably violated the warranty anyway by bending back the preamp protector and changing the tubes, so.....

(1) Consider this amp. One of THE most versatile great sounding all-tube amps out there.
(2) Spend good hard-earned money and change those crappy tubes. Look into either JJ's or a reliable NOS tube dealer. Seriously, you won't regret it.
(3) I wouldn't mind having two of these. Great product once you make the changes.
(4) FAR Better than most of the crap they're selling out there for about the same price.

This thing is a Classic sounding sleeper.
'05 (I think) '36 Coupe: all tube made in USA 1 X 12" combo amp.
45 lbs
2 X 6L6 power amp section, has some sort of self-biasing scheme.
3 X 12AX7 pre-amp (one drives the effects loop) and a 12AX7 inverter driving the power tubes (usual design).
Three button footswitch (stereo 1/4" cable) comes with and selects "Rhythm" or "Lead" channel, BOOST (either channel, up to 10db), and effects loop (reverb on the '36 Coupe, which DOES have an adjustable effects loop).
Two inputs, one padded 6db.
Standby switch.

This isn't a Swiss Army knife do-all hi-tech whiz bang. It's got good features and great sound.
It has some great features for a tube amp though, like a good effects loop, the BOOST switch, etc.
The Effects loop and direct out are fully adjustable, as is the boost.
It's bigger brother, the '72 Coupe has Tremelo/vibrato as well.

Sounds like a Carr Rambler in some respects. With my Telecaster (Nocaster pickups) it can get the most Classic Tele sounds either clean, overdriven, distorted, or twangy to the max.

I use it for Jazz jobs with a sextet, and can turn right around and get Country or Rockin' Blues sounds with just the floor switches and the guitar controls.

It operates and conducts itself like a tube amp all the way, and has plenty of tone control (bass, mid, and treble knobs, plus a bright pull switch on both channel volume controls).

So even though the three tone knobs are shared by the two "channels" (actually the LEAD mode cuts in another 12AX7 in the pre-amp), you can still alter the brightness with assigning the pull for BRIGHT switches on the separate volume knobs (each have their own Master vol as well), then use the footswitches to select lead and rhythm, and boost on either.
It's well thought out for the real world of getting good sounds quickly and logically. It's not confusing at all.

You can get crunch on the "rhythm" mode, then say, a darker tonal crunch with a bit more hair for solos when you turn the guitar vol up on the "lead" mode. Almost vica versa too, if you remember and take into consideration that "LEAD" is an extra 12AX7 gain stage.

It gets all the distortion I'll ever need. I generally just need some hair or crunch. The amp will go way further than that. Just dime the lead volume and set the Master where it needs to be. Seems plenty powerful enough for any club (even loud ones) I play in.
It's about a 40 watt tube amp, when all is said and done. Think Vibroverb with a Carr type feedback scheme for extra highs (or less dark) when you want that.

It can be bouncy like a Fender tube amp (sorta BF/tweed, like a Carr). The speaker handles lows just fine, and the midrange is smooth or can be snarly from the amp. Lots of Tele highs and twang available too.

I have never tried humbuckers through it (I'm a single coil kinda guy) but it seems like every great tube amp out there. It does NOT have the Mesa/Boogie "rasp." Which I don't care for anyway. It's a rounder, fuller, tone that can be smooth or skroinky, depending on your attack and set-up choices.

I can't say it's dark sounding, or crispy, in its natural state. It can do both.
Without experimenting a little it's just another generic (though good sounding) tube amp sound when you put everything in the middle. BUT, with a bit of mild control shifting, you can get boutique crunch and stellar tones without doing anything unorthodox with the controls. It just has a great sound that can be pretty widely varied to get the nuances of your guitar or technique to shine through.

It's not noisy. Quite civil, considering the gain and tones available.
Best sounding amp I've ever had, and that after years of debt spending and tone chasing.

It's an '05. Now we're 8 months into '06.
NO problems at all.

I'm a weekend warrior. Lotsa club duty.
I keep an old Polytone in the trunk of my car, but have not needed it so far.

Real metal jacks and switches.
Birch plywood cabinet (not chipboard).
Buy the cover for it. It's worth it.

It's a production amp, but good build features.

3 year warranty to the original owner.
90 days on tubes and speaker.

Never had contact with Kustom.

The store owner says they're a good company though. He talks to them.

I've had and old Kustom PA years ago that never failed, but of course that's a whole separate thing from a guitar amp now.
I think it was made in Chanute though (too).

Playing guitar since 1960. Piano before that.
Tried 'em all.

I prefer classic sounds of Rock, Blues, Country, Jazz, R&B, Gospel, etc.

I tend to like Fender type sounds in tweed or some blackface models, but I've also had Marshall, Ampeg, Vox, Mesa/Boogie, Buddah, Victoria, Roland, etc etc in tube and ss.

But I do NOT like the tweed sound if it's too primitive and spongey (like some Champs when you use single coil guitars). Round '59 Bassman sounds are a good starting point. Tweed Deluxe even better. The '36 Coupe doesn't sound like a Tweed Deluxe however. It has harmonic content, but not as much chime as a tweed Deluxe. A bit darker I guess. But it has its charms though!

A friend has a Carr Rambler I like a lot, and it's probably even more versatile, what with power attenuators, pentode/triode switches etc, but the particular Tele sound I like on the Carr is also available here on this '36 Coupe.

It's a growling punchy skronky tone that cuts through in clubs and has a round meaty kinda feel at a moderate volume level. Easy to get on this amp. NOT so easy to get on most production amps, though boutique amps seem to get it if they are "tweedy" sounding enough.

The Carr can blend in tweed Fender sounds into BF sounds. An excellent sound that the '36 Coupe can get too.

The styling cues on this amp are subtle modernized versions of tuck and roll Nuagahyde Kustoms of the sixties (like Fogarty used), and the control panel is that same black plastic face with the same style knobs, though mounted on top/rear now (easily read from in front of the amp when facing it).

On the amp's back are more controls (and full metal jacks, again), for effects loop levels, direct out, and boost level (1 - 10 db).
The power amp section tubes and driver/inverter are enclosed within a screen cage, as per some govt bureaucrats directive.
The pre-amp tubes have metal shields.

The footswitch is meatl heavy duty industrial, with an included LONG stereo 1/4" cable (with again, metal ends).

I'd buy one again and can recommend it to friends and players looking for good tone in something cheaper than a Carr Rambler, it's closest boutique cousin, I think.

Well thought out amp and great sounds.

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Update on previous post. I took one home. I play a fender strat lonestar, HSS, maple fret board, TS9, and Vox wah pedal. The tone of this amp really is good and got alot better after working it hard over a few days. Earlier I posted that the clean channel breaks up too soon. This is not so. I can only describe it as a natural, subtle resonance that accentuates the guitar's natural acoustic sound - and man do I love it. I will not compare it to a fender. I played this amp in my home. It is no more noisy than any other tube amp. This amp will rock. I have not gigged yet. At low volumes tone is still good.

Too early to tell. That goofey power cord, the way it plugs up into the amp, loks like it could easily become unplugged. But that may be better than having your amp knocked over if someone hangs on the cord.

Haven't tried them yet.

Been playing for more than 30 years. I would replace it. For the cost and as well as the amp sounds how could I not? This amp is easy to tote. The pre-amp tube shields gave some buzz/rattle at certain frequencies but that is an easy fix. Also for some reason the #1 input jack disconnects when I seat the guitar cord into it. It only works with a 30 year old cord I have. I am sure it is a fluke and an easy fix but aggrivating nontheless.

Effects loop, volume boost 10 db, 2 channel, reverb. Tons of tone settings when you take the time to adjust the knobs that actually do something when you turn them.

Tone is great. I also have a Victoria. The Victoria is still my favorite but it costs about 2300.00. The guy that was talking about the tone in the earlier post must not know much about tone. I have been playing for 29 years I think I know tone by know. This amp sounds great. One secret to share is do this: retube with NOS rasc or GE tubes. The amp really kicks.

I think it can take it just as well as any other tube amp out there. It will for sure keep up with Fender. I never gig without a backup amp. I purchased this amp for a backup but I will run it front line most of the time.

These guys are the best in the business. Great to talk to will answer any questions. I didn't have any service trouble but called to ask some questions before I bought and they were happy to help.

If this was lost or stolen I would purchase another one. It is one of my favorite amps that has hit the market in years. Kicks Fender in the butt. I have been rather unhappy with the new Fender products in the last few years though.

I have been looking severly for another amp. I own a mesa DC3 and was looking for a 6L6 or EL34 sound. I messed with this amp for about thirty minutes in the store today. When I told the guy what I was looking for in performance and tone he showed me this Kustom. If he would have seen my face he would have stopped talking. I played in the 70s and 80s and kustoms were crap. But being the nice guy I am I let him plug me up.

This is what I like and this amp has it: Down and dirty and to the point. I don't like complicated crap. I play the entire spectrum of music. This amp captures a large portion of where I spend my time - rock & roll. The 6L6 tubes are sweet to my ears. The clean channel is workable but the lead channel with a tube screamer is sweet and EXACTLY what I like. I could'nt believe this was a Kustom. I remember my ampeg v4 eating kustoms for lunch - and thats if they worked.

I play a strat so that is what I plugged in. I'll have to go back there with my axe and really work it. I play blues, classic rock, and some progressive stuff, metal, blah, blah , blah. The store was probably about 1600 square feet. The amp was workable for the lower volumes required. It had a good bottom. It had better than acceptable tone but not what Mesa offers(IMO - reminded me of the difference between a non finished acoustic with no pick guard and no electronic crap to one that has all the stuff that sucks the tone out - sounds good but there is better). The reverb was better than my mesa DC3. The clean channel did not meet my snobby standards (it seemed to get dirty too easy, and well, I play Mesa's) but it is was good and I will enjoy it. The lead channel with a tube screamer was the cat's meow. Price is not a factor with me. I am looking at some high-end stuff and still may consider either a bad cat or another mesa. But for six bills as opposed to between fifteen and thirty I can get alot of other goodies so I can't ignore it. So I will get one, play the hell out of it, and write back later.

ciao

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I'm rating this amp again primarily for the customer support info. I will add here however, that with further playing I am still very pleased with the clean sound of this amp. I'm sure I'd rate it less if I had experience with some of the greatest amps, but in my ignorance I still get great joy listening to the beautiful sound this amp produces. On the other hand, I also have to say that I can't get distorted sounds using the lead channel that please me to the same degree. There are some good distortion sounds for some songs, but I have heard other cheaper amps sound just as good (distorted). I usually use pedals with this amp, and it's a great platform for that. I like a smoother distortion, so this may all be just my own preference, and not an amp shortcomming. I'd rate this category a solid nonexaggerated 8-9 on the clean channel, and a 6-7 for the lead. Oh, and I agree with another rater that the reverb is worthwhile, but nothing extraordinary or lush. I prefer a good pedal here too, but could get by with the onboard Kustom reverb.

See below for details. My problem may have been a fluke, but who knows.

I had a review earlier. I can now add something that several people put big question marks for, CUSTOMER SUPPORT. My amp did quickly develop a problem which apparently was caused by initial shipping (a broken solder joint in the power supply), but a really good joint would not fail in rough shipping. Though I'm very dissapointed with the problem, I must say emphatically that Kustom was very helpful and quickly fixed the amp (no charge of course). I was also very surprised and pleased at how easy it was to talk to a person in customer support. I called three times and quickly reached a person each time. There was no delay, hold or runaround. They were friendly and genuinly interested in the problem and my satisfaction.

You can read about them in my earlier post and others as well. I will add the fact the the FX loop is tube based according to the store owner, yet I haven't tried it out yet. The tubes are all mounted on the chassis which is better than some of the amps I've seen in this price range, such as the Traynor's I've seen which I almost bought one untill I discovered that little fact (see my Trainor post for more on that). I like the cathode bias on both amps, Fender isn't doing it, why not?. And for some people the volume boost control would be a plus, I don't think I'd use it much, but it's there and works. I got to say I'm still not too impressed with the plastic control panel even though it lights up to tell you which channel your playing, "Nice" but it's gonna get the shit scrached out of it. I think a metal plate with LED's would be a better choice. I haven't tried the line out but it has one.

When I first checked it out I was in a hurry (wife waiting in the car) so I only spent about 10 minutes with the amp. I went back just to give it another try, which I do often with gear before I buy something. This time I had a hardtime getting away from it (no wife this time) I spent almost an hour playing it, I went through several of my set songs at near gig volume and I think it's a pretty good amp. It's got a great OD for older Hard Rock and Blues and I got some good cleans out of it with volume turned up, which is most important to me, switching back and forth between the two is nice and didn't pop. I thought the reverb was better with My Strat than a Les Paul but adjusting the knobs helped it, still not what I call great verb but good enough to gig (most the time I use a verb pedal not the amp's). Still some hiss at playing level but I've seen worse, my old Twin is almost silent.

*** One little note to the guy who claimed 7 ply Burch plywood, big deal! My Twin is made of 5/8" plywood (not sure how many plys or what species)who cares? What's your point? And... thump a Twin? We'll see about that next weekend, if you mean volume then your playing too damn loud. And Twang is not just how bright your amp is, twang with tone is another thing and this amp is okay but lacks the belltone of the Twin. Vintge Twins are not even in the same race and have held their own for years while many new amps have come and gone. Too bad the new Twins are made so crapy.

????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????! Still the big question. I hope it's above average. I got to say, the most common problem is tube failure, which isn't the amp's fault. Todays tubes suck, but I think there getting better with the quality control.

???????????????????????????????! I bet better than Fender these days.

It's a good amp and I do like it, kind of a cross between a Peavey and Mesa Boogie, IMO. Both make good amps but priced like the Peavey with more features. I've owned a few Peavey's and liked most of them, used a few Mesa Boogie's which I thought were over ratted. Since I'm still looking at this amp, I may try it for a weekend gig, the Dealer is cool and we have some good history between us. If I like it at the end of a weekend's gig I may just pick this baby up. The gig alone will pay for the amp so why not get it if I like it, beats lugging my 75 lb Twin all over the place all the time. No this won't replace my Twin just save my back. You never know, I may just like it enough to use as my regular gig rig. I hope Kustom can sell this amp to the public and keep them in production for many years.

Brand new...
This amp has all the bells and whistles..Effects loop, Direct out XLR with volume control, Ext speaker jack..Ground Lift..Footswitch included,A volume control for how much boost you want,Pull Bright on both the Rhythm and Lead channels..
Only one set of EQ knobs for both channels but with the pull bright knob you should be able to adjust what you need and both channels seem to blend well..
Of course a Standby...
2-6L6's 4 12AX7's
Removable cord (Computer type) which is a plus if you leave your amp in a club overnight..
Made in USA but does some have some chinese parts..
7 ply birch cab.. your Fender doesn't have that..
Designed by the same man from Peavey that put together the Classic series and the 5150 ..

Sound...mmmm the guy before me, not enough Twang ??? Your kidding me right :) USE the pull bright boost knob...if you want the dogs to howl I've owned Twins and this can thump with the best of them..
I've owned HRD's, Twins etc.., and this amp is fantastic !! build is in VHT quality Level..
You can grind at low bedroom volume or gigging level no problem..
The clean is articulate and sweet(can't wait till the speaker breaks in)has enough jangel that I though my P90 equip Strat was a Rick..
Has that Classic Rock Twang..jangel..spank...Think Gloria...What I like about you....the hollies...Stones..

To new yet...but comes with a 3 year warranty

Looks very sturdy..and well thought out .. I"m not worried about it!
I'm not giving a opinion here because it's too new..

I really think Kustom is trying to be one of the big 3 in the amp builder market..and it shows in this amp!
Dealer has been great!

If your looking for something different...to lead and not follow hte crowd but you don't want to sacrifice your tone or flexiblity ? this is the amp for you...
You'll get more looks with this amp from the tone then the looks..pick a color :)
I've got a couple bouitques...and I'm thinking this amp will be my main gigging amp ..soon

Brand new this year. I own it. This amp is nearly impossible to get a BAD TONE out of. Crank the knobs full one way then the other and this thing just sings.

I am actually gigging with this amp now. Plenty of juice on stage and the DI out (emulated) is awesome as well.

I use a Swampkaster with a Bill Lawerence T1 and T2 pickup in the neck and bridge and a 80s American Fender HB in the middle position. I play what we call Rockabillycountryrockpopandblues. (www.2footsquared.com)

I notice a little hiss when the tone controls are set to bright and when I'm sitting directy in front of it. Back off to normal stage distance and you don't hear a peep other than the wicked tone.

I can play anything from Aaron Tippon to ZZ Top on this amp and the whole gamut of Eagles tunes from Desperado to Life in The Fast Lane.

If you go into the low input the clean channel stays pretty clean. In the high input you can get a bluesy breakup on clean if you run really hot pickups.

The distortion is so versatile, classic rock to Green Day tones are all in this little amp.

Can't say, but I won't give it a bad mark because it hasn't broken and it just keeps on working.

Dunno, I got tired of waiting on the 72 watt 2x12 model to ship... and got the 36 watt single 12. I wish they had gotten on the ball with the long overdue 2x12 Coupe 72s.

I have been play for 30 years. I use the above guitar thru a VS Route 66 compressor and OD, volume pedal, VS H20 chorus and echo, into a Boss tremelo. I would definetly buy it again. I am being serious, I am not a 12 year old with a new toy... I am 45 years old and know what I like. The tone of this little amp is incredibile. It is worthy of it high marks.

Tuck and Roll, with volume control, and tone to the bone, channel switching, more on that later. Think Classic 30 with more features, some not to great extras, volume boost control on the back and XLR output could be usefull, the power cord detaches and may fall out because it hangs upside down in the chassis, it did this when I played it at the store, the music stopped!!! had to re-plug it in. Has a Boost and Reverb foot switch too, I like that.

I didn't have the Twang I was looking for, the clean was good but not as nice as my Twin Reverb, that my standard. A little noisy hiss but not bad, however it's new and may get worse as it ages, those things don't usually go away. Reverb was to dark for my liking.

Nice try

Well it worked when I turned it on.

The big question?

I would not buy this amp, for 2 reasons:

1. Seems kind of over ratted, I think Kustom was on the right track when they built this amp I liked the setup and the options and over all the way it worked, but then they went the wrong direction when it came to looks and tone and some question if the quality is good. They could have left off the Tuck'N'Roll and I don't think it would hurt sales any, heck if I bought this amp and a Pink Stratocaster I could make a good living on the Gay bar circuit, heeheee.

2. With so many other amps out there to choose from and some with a known respect for quality and service I couldn't chance my money on this amp without a long hard test of it's stature playing gigs.

I did like the amp and the looks we're reminiscent of the good ol' days but some of those days wern't so good for Kustom amps, part of the reliability issue. If you want a Vintage looking amp this aint gonna do it, if you just like the amp as it is I'm sure it will sute you fine. If I had money to blow, I would get this amp and take to it's limits just for fun and see what its made of.

Have to give it that, lot's of cool features. No need to rehash, read below if you want all the redundancies. But, does it deliver in tone.....??????? I give it a solid 7 for features though.

Tone....hmmmmmm......the only thing that really matters. Good solid tone, does it blow my mind? No. Is it a serviceable tone? Yes. Does it compare value-for-value against other amps in this price range? Hmmmmm....no. It's Kustom, with a K. Like Kraft Mac-and-Cheese....emphasis on the CHEESE. Folks, you just can't polish a turd. Sorry. It's alright. Average street around $600. Take your hard-earned $600 and go buy a used Victoria Champ on Ebay. Volume and Tone knobs only, but will annihilate this Kustom cheese. Oh yeah, the Victoria is AMERICAN made, point-to-point hand wired. Kustom is CHINESE PCB (circuit board) with that fabulous tuck-and-roll look that put Kustom out of business the first time around. Point made?

Too new, can't fairly say. It's still Velveeta city no matter how you look at it.

Nice folks selling cheesey products. Nice effort here, but again, you can't polish a turd.

Just so much better buys out there for your $600!!! Not just the Victoria I mentioned above, but also check out MANY used amps that pop up on Ebay and other places all the time. You just know this Kustom COUPE will be gone with the wind and worthless within a few years (like other similar "retro-cool" offerings as of the last few years i.e. Peavy WIGGY amps, Line 6 Duoverb, Fender Cyber-Deluxe, heck, even most of the recent VOX offerings (more chinese cheese) as of late. My point (LISTEN!)...spend your $600 on something WAAAAAAY cooler than this! Be smart, use your ears (not your eyes). You'll find it!

THe features on this amp are pretty straight forward. Does have channel switching from rythmn to lead. You can really tweak around with this amp to get different sounds. Has a spring reverb, which is pretty decent. Has effect loops, cabinet simulator, and also a volume boost in the back of the amp.

I'm playing a Les Paul through it, and it sounds great on either channel. The clean channel breaks up pretty early, and I can get a much cleaner tone when I use my strat. The clean channel sounds like a Fender amp to my ears, and the speaker has a very Jenson sound to it.
The lead channel has a great crunch sound, but you can't really get any type of high gain marshall tone here...no heavy metal sound out of this amp......but it's not made for that. But you can get a classic rock tone out of this amp zep or ac/dc, and nice clean tones as well depending on the type of guitar you are using. I have to say I'm very impressed with this amp. You can plug a cheap guitar in this amp and it will sound great. I did pull out the Sovtek tubes in the power stage and replaced them with original black plate RCA tubes and this even gave the amp more of a nice harmonic balance. But even with the Sovtek tubes it still sounded great.

Only have had it for a weak now, but seems to be made very well.

I have been playing for about 25 years, and have owned a versatile collection of guitars and amps. JMI Vox ac30, Korg Vox AC30, Fender bassman, Laney, Marshall. If this amp was stolen or lost, I probably would buy another one, you really can't find any better sounding amp for the price. Kustom is getting ready to release a 2X12 version of this amp at 72 watts, and I may purchase one of those as well.

Let me make it clear up front that I am not an experienced player. I still feel I can offer a few useful comments on this amp.

Certainly an amp's sound is paramount, but features matter too. In this area this amp is an absolute 10. The features alone almost sold me on this amp. I've seen many amps where reviewers say the amp is great but they sure wish it had a standby switch (this one does), or if it only had an external speaker jack (this one does) or if it had an effects loop (this one does) or if it only had a spring reverb (this one does, with reverb depth and tone controls). It seems the designer put almost everything he could think of into this amp. There is even a three position switch for different speaker impedances (4, 8 and 16 ohms). There is a direct line out with speaker emulation, along with a volume control for this and even a ground lift to help eliminate ground loop hum.

A three switch footswitch is included for lead, boost and effect. The effect being for the reverb. The footswitch boost has a volume control on the amp.

Both the lead and rythm channels have separate volume and master volume controls, as well as a bright option by pulling the volume knobs. Of course, there are three tone controls for bass, middle and treble. This may seem a "duh" to some, but I have a nice boutique amp which only has a single tone control. There are also two inputs, one having 6 dB lower gain. I haven't used this yet, but Kustom says this can help provide a cleaner sound, or may help when pedals are used in front of the amp.

I may be leaving something out, but enough said regarding features.

Remember my low experince when reading this category! I play (or try to play) blues, rock (vintage to Alice in Chains), country and clean gospel etc. The amp seams to be well suited to my needs, but nothing will be perfect for everything.

On this amp I have used a strat with fairly hot Texas Special pickups and a Gibson SG with humbuckers. The clean channel stays clean enough for me with both guitars. The distortion in the lead channel sounds smooth enough, but I prefer power amp stage distortion and this amp is too loud for me to drive it in my living room. The lead volume (for distortion) must be carefully adjusted along with the tone controls to avoid mushy chords, but I suppose this is normal with distortion channels. The heaviest distortion may not be brutal enough for shredders, but it's pretty heavy.

There is plenty of tone control. I found the tones swing rather quickly through their wide range. For example, the treble control very quickly swings past what I want, and careful adjustment is necessary to nail a sound. For a given guitar, much of the range isn't useful (for me), but I think the wide range will make the amp suitable for more guitars and pickups.

I think the speaker does a fine job for most styles. I still found myself wanting a tighter, punchier bass response at times. I plugged in a Brown Soun 12 inch hemp cone speaker and the amp gave me a wanderful bass, but this speaker is overall a bit too dark. I think Celestion vintage 30's may work great but haven't had the chance to try it yet. Basically, I think Kustom provided a fine speaker, but that there are better ones out there for this amp and my ears. Of course, my Kustom's speaker isn't broken in yet, so it should definitely only get better.

While idling, my amp is quite quiet. I can barely hear that it's on.

Unfortunately, I have not yet tried any pedals through this amp yet.

My rating on this category is not a put down of the amp. I just want to be realistic, and this amp is definitely not the end of my tone search. The amp sounds great and has many wanderful tones, but it's no 10. I'd like to rate it a 7 or 7.5, but too many people will equate that with a poor rating since ratings have been pretty inflated. With the perfect cabinet I might click it up a notch.

Still too new to rate this, but it looks well built. Externally the quality looks very high all over. I haven't looked at the wiring and internal pc boards yet.

No experience.

I have not mention the "vibe" of the amp yet. Kustom has tried, successfully, to capitalize on the retro look without going campy (except for the campy yet intentionally funny owner's manual introduction page, where you read "Congratulations! You are now a hipper person than before. You look better, you seem smarter and you've probably become more popular").

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, but I think this amp looks super nice. The blue jewel power light and blue rythm and red lead channel lights couldn't look better, as does the entire control plate. Everything looks very neat in the back. The whole thing looks great and well built.

There are no features I want that this amp doesn't have.

I would want to replace this amp if it were stolen. I think that the features and sound offered on this amp for this price is quite a bargain. I sincerely would like to thank the designer, Kustom's James Brown, for making this amp the way he did.

This is not a Chinese made Amp. It was origionally gonna be. But Kustom said they couls not control quality with the oriental parts and assembly. This amp is designed and built in the U.S.A. With the best components they could find that were suitable for this application.

Mine is still on order... the 72 Coupe 2X12. I can't wait till it gets here.

Update to my earlier review. I spent some more time with this amp and did an A/B against the Peavey classic 30, and I must recend my earlier statement. The Coupe beats the Peavey in all sonic aspects. I haven't gotten to compare to the new AC30's, but this amp is a real contender. I am now considering running a stereo pair of these amps.

Also, The amplifier is made in the USA. I was mistaken earlier when I said it was Chinese. (It does use some Chinese parts though, big deal). The amp does have a litte noise, but I think it is probably just this amp. I am going to have it checked out by Kustom.

After 1 year of waiting, I finally received my 2005 KUSTOM 36 Coupe all tube combo. Was it worth the wait? It has two channels with individual volume and master volumes, channel switching, effects loop and lo-z direct out. It has a heavy duty three button footswitch that switches channels, activates a lead boost and turns the effects (REAL SPRING REVERB) on and off. As the name would suggest, it's 36 watts of all tube power. The rhythm channel is nice and clean for the jazz player and the lead channel has TONS of gain.

As soon as the amp arrived, I ripped out my 81 Dean and had at it. The DiMarzios SCREAMED through it. It actually made me sound like a better guitar player. I then switched to my G&L S-500 and I fely like Stevie Ray Vaughn was reborn in me. The tone was unbelievable. Today, a buddy of mine stopped by with his "Jazz Box" and it was unreal. The tone was very natural sounding and NOTHING sounds quite like a real spring reverb. It sounds GREAT for all styles of music we played through it, Thrash, blues, jazz, this amp does it all.

The amp was built in the USA by KUSTOM and it was designed by James Brown, designer of many of todays most popular tube amps. I have full confidence in it.

The retailer was very helpful in keeping me updated on the progress of these new amps. It's very new and have had no issues but I'm confident if I should, I will be well taken care of.

I've been playing over 30 years and have tons of gear including guitars from $700-$7000 and amps from $50-$5000. Not only would I replace the amp if I needed to, I plan on buying a second to leave at the studio. This amp compares to my marshall and blows my AC-30 away! NO KIDDING!

2 channel all tube 36 watt combo amp. 1x12" eminence speaker specially designed and voiced for this amplifier. Includes rugged footswitch. Built in effects loop and enough gas to push an external cabinet. Modeling amps rule in this category so a 7 is really a ten by normal amp standards.

Playing a Fender Strat Ultra with EMG's and a 72 reissue Tele with humbucker in bridge. First off the amp just looks solid. The designer of this amp is James Brown. He is the same one who designed the Classic 30, XXX and JSX amps for Peavey and Peavey's are indestructable. The clean tone on this amp is above average. I find it to be punchier than a Peavey Classic 30 and have way more bass response than the Fender Hot Rod Deluxe. Infact it's hard to believe it is a 1x12 combo it has so much tightness in the low frequencies. Crank the clean channel and you get a pretty harsh sounding overdrive. The Distortion channel is good, not great. It is usable for somethings, but I will definitly use stompboxes with this amp as it lends itself to this very well. The size and power make it a great gigging amp for small clubs where stage realestate is a premium. I currently use a Matchless Clubman 35 and it is no danger of being replaced, however the Kustom will add a very useful tone to my guitar rig. I would defintely recommend this amp over a Fender Hot Rod amplifier. It would be a tossup with the Peavey classics. The Kustom has a better clean tone, but the Peavey clearly outperforms the coupe in the overdrive department. I give it an 8 because the clean channel is just that good. P.S. - The Reverb is excellent on this thing.

This amp is too new to determine reliability, however, it is a Chinese made amplifier. They don't seem to have the same longevity that American made amps have. I know a lot of the folks at Kustom and they are upstanding people. I know they went to a lot of trouble finding a manufacturer who would be consistent with these amps. I would give it good rating based on that.

Kustom is very easy to deal with and I have worked with them for years selling their PA gear where I work. I am satisfied with their products and feel they are a good value for what you pay.

Overall I would say this is a great work horse amplifier that would be perfect for the musician on the go.

Number two amp from the factory.This is part of the new line of American made tube amps from Kustom designed by James Brown. Here are the specs : 36 all tube watts, (2)6l6 power tubes, (4)12ax7 preamp tubes,self-biased power amp, two channels with dual masters,tone controls consist of bass/middle & treble,one of the best reverbs I've heard, xlr out with cabinet emulation, 12 inch KEI speaker designed by Eminence, baltic birch cabinet,direct volume & boost volume on the back cabinet for further tone shaping, & a heavy duty stainless steel footswitch that controls channels,effects & boost for both the clean & lead channel.Overall, very well planned out and great for live applications.

This amp was well thought out and built like a tank. Even the little things like all steel connectors on the footswitch cable & internal speaker cable.I play mostly classic rock & blues styles and this amp is one of the best I've heard. I've been playing over twenty years and have owned Mesa Boogie,Rivera,Peavey,Fender,Crate & Ampeg just to name a few.The clean channel is up there with some of the best Fender designs I have experienced such as a Fender Vibrolux.Yes, it's that good. The amp has a good deal of clean headroom before it clips.The distortion is very musical and great for classic rock & blues. You can set the volume,(gain)all the way up for a liquid sustain & roll off the guitar volume to acheive a nice blues tone.I believe this amp to be well in the league of all the overpriced boutique amps on the market.So far I've used this amp playing out with my Fender 80's Strat Plus and the tone is first rate.

I haven't owned this amp a week yet and I've just used it for this weekend's gigs. As I said before, It's built like a tank and the cosmetics & hardware are all first rate.Even in this short amount of time, I'd rate this amp at a ten for reliability just based on how well the amp seems to be manufactured and well designed. With all tube amps, I always have spare tubes with me rather than have to carry two amps to a gig.

The amp is so new, when I bought it the manuals were still being made up at the printer's shop.Speno Music in Auburn, New York called and one is hot off the press on it's way. The response was given as I was at the music store buying the '36 Coupe.That seems like great customer service form Speno's & Kustom.

I have been playing over twenty years as noted above, and in that amount of time have purchased the standard Strats, Les Pauls & Paul Reed Smith guitars as well as some knock offs & acoustics.I also own three different Traynor tube amps which are also very good units.I can
tell the design team at Kustom put some real thought into this amp and it shows.If you go down to your local Kustom dealer and try one of these '36 Coupes, I think you will be as pleased as I am in so many of the details that we're taken to deliver an outstanding tube amp to the market at a great price.The amp sounds so good, for the first time I can remember, I haven't run any external effects.Both channels, (four with the boost)are outstanding and very musical.