Kustom 150 Combo

I've got a tuck n roll plexi-front 150 into two 10" Jensens. Tremo-Vibe and Reverb on inputs one and two, treble and bass controls and volume, too. Inputs three and four are affected only by their bass and treble and volume controls. Of course, it's solid-state...and state of the art as it was back in the late 60's.

Mostly, it has spent its time in my basement. I was getting a lot of static and hiss about a year back and, frankly, the amp didn't sound that great to begin with. I took it into Tim at Songbird in Toronto and he pulled out all the carbon comp resistors as, I guess, they had had too much exposure to moisture. Once he had put in the replacement carbon comp resistors I had a completely different amp. The Kustom was going to be sold once repaired...now I can't let it go. It has the spankiest clean I've ever heard. I use an American made squier of unknown vintage and with stock pickups. Suprisingly, the two together are fantastic. The thing, though, that really freaked me out was when I used a sansamp bass driver DI as a stomp. WOW!!! This Kustom loves the BDDI! The combination has the most amazing tube-like harmonics and tube-like compression; I hate the phrasing tube-like because if you close your eyes and listen, it sounds like a Fender Bassman but with reverb and tremolo! So, I can really do everything with this setup except grossly overdriven thrash sounds. It's great for jazz, blues, country, funk, whatever.

Well, when I got it, it was a stinker with the static and hiss. Then one of the transistors leading to the tremolo and reverb stages came loose. That was probably and oversight of the tech when he replaced the carbon comp resistors. Now that it's fixed ($200 later), I've got one of the Jensens out to be reconed ($60). Once it's all back together, I'm sure that it will be as reliable as it was when it was new...37 years ago.

I've never expected to contact Kustom as the Kustom that is now is not the Kustom that was back then. However, Songbird in Toronto is a decent place to bring an amp to be fixed, as long as you're not in a huge hurry and your amp doesn't have surface-mounted electronics.

I love this amp now. Over the last few years of gigging I've been renting amps because I could never find what I wanted to buy and wasn't sure that I could afford it if I did find it. In the end, I've found it and the Kustom taking up half a shelf in my basement turned out to be the one. Patience was required to bring it back to life (the tuck and roll still needs repair) but now that I've gone through the trouble I would be upset if it were stolen. I would however, have to laugh at the thought of some stupid bugger hauling that 80lb bastard around trying to be discrete about his attempts to fence it.

early 70's, 4 ten inch speakers were replaced by kustom because the guy who had it before me used it for bass and blew out 2 sets already. these rock. 150 watts i think peak, 75 rms. tahts how they all rated them before the rukes came down. this is a very loud solidstste amp. it can be used with fx well because "it" does not distort. you can get way more volume than you would with modern day amps. i y-cord the two channels, gets even better. has tremolo and vibrato, with blend ctl, great in-between sounds plus spring reverb. reverb feeds back at high settings. the amp has a purple pilot light, was made to military specs, thick all aluminun alodined chassis, was guarenteed for life, no matter how loud, how many instruments, etc. the amp is still as solid as the day it was made. heavy, real heavy, i mean, r-e-a-=l heavy. but thats wht it is so solid 30 years later. this amp is built to take punishment. and dish it out. mine is black tuck-&-roll. 2 channels, 1-vol,bass,treb,pull bright,reverb mix,trem-vibe intens-speed-blend, ch 2- vol-bass-treb both with high/low inputs. tuff grill cloth, chrome center spks, semi-closed back, 25 foot ac cord, cast arms to wind it up on, line out, no ext spk out, a great amp. couldnt afford to make them like this now. would cost a fortune.

no real "sounds" by itself, but is great with pedals/fx for that it gets a 9, by itself, a 5 so ave to a 7

super

7 is low, because it has a niche only, but in that its great.

A seventies model solid state amp with Tuck and roll covering. It has 150W (75w/2) Channel one has volume, treble, bass, speed, intensity, trem-vib, and reverb.Channel two has volume, treble, and bass. Each channel has a high and a low input.

It has a great sound to it, very vintage. It sounds great and doesn't distort when you turn the volume to max. If you have the right effects pedals you can produce any sound you want. I play a Fender Strat, a Les-Paul, Epiphone AJ-18SB acoustic, Epiphone EA-250, and a 1937 Gibson J-35.

My Dad purchased this amp new in the 70's, so it must be pretty damn reliable.

?

I've been playing for years. I know what a great amp sounds like. This sounds like a great amp! I don't think someone COULD steal it. It weighs damn near three tons and I know they couldn't carry it down the stairs without waking me up.

Early 70's combo model. Solid State. Tuck and roll covering. 150W (75/2) 2 channels, each with high and low inputs. Channel one has volume, treble, bass, speed, intensity, trem-vib, and reverb. Channel two has volume, treble, and bass.

Nice vintage tone. Great for CCR. Although it does have a loud roaring sound at times which can be very annoying, but I think that this can be fixed if I would take the time or effort to fix it. (The roaring doesn't come from the guitar, it will even roar when there are no cords hooked to it). Unlike most large combo amps, it doesn't distort very much when you crank it, it sounds great. (That is, on days when it doesn't roar, I dont understand it). With a Zoom 505, you can get just about any sound you can imagine, although it's not great for metal, I have a Fender Rock-Pro half-stack for that. I play a Fender Fat-Strat, Les-Paul copy, Applause AE38, Epi-dot, and a 1935 Gibson J-5 that I can mic to it, although I prefer using the Roc-Pro for this, too. Without the roar, I would give the sound an 8.

It's lasted two generations, and the only other flaw is the blown on/off light.

No idea

I have been playing constantly for over five years, but honestly, I sound like I have been playing much longer. If it were stolen, I don't think I could find another one easily. I would probably buy a nice new Vox Cambridge reverb twin. If anyone knows anything about that *amned roar, please tell me.