Product: Kustom I Lead 112 Combo
Price Paid: US $70.00
Submitted
01/04/2005
at
06:46pm
by
Buglecorps
Email: dl-lm at att<dot>net
Features
:
7
Single channel SS 35 watt 1x12 combo, 1978 Chanute Kansas production. H/L inputs (not a huge difference) V, T, B, R, MV. Back pannel has speaker jack and rudimentary line out(never use it except as tuner out). No loops, phones ect. everything you need nothing you don't..perhaps they could have thrown in a mid control.
Kustom, marked this as a small gig/recording amp..and thats what its great at; plenty of power to keep up wih a small band. The 35 watts is a VERY conservitave rating. By todays standards it's not that small, and is suprisingly heavy (pretty big transformer) and is aranged in a usefull vertical format that gets the speaker up a bit, and makes the controlls easy to use..Pretty plain (simple B&W graphics) but the look grows on you and it won't attract unwanted attention.
Sound Quality
:
8
Used with Tele with CS "Broadcaster" PUs and a budget 335 copy.. blues rock + a bit of surf and country instrumentals. Does this very well, has a fat clean sound with a bit of chime..very much like a cross between vintage AC-15, and a '70s Ampeg..think classic Stones. Not real noisy except with volume cranked which seems to kick in a fuzz circuit.... I tend NOT to use that setting..the MV just alows you to dial in various amonts of growl, This is not a hi-gain amp, and in my experence does not take well to distortion peds..Just plug and play, and work that guitar volume to clean/dirty things up. To get the best out of it you NEED to TURN IT UP a bit; say to 4 or 5..this is not a bed room amp. BTW watch the "verb; it gets a bit ....DEEP..... past 1/2 way.. a touch is nice.
Reliability
:
8
Was a bit crackly and had a dead input when bought..I retentioned the jack and, cleaned the pots..vola sounds great. Pretty good construction, sturdy cab..killer tolex(they even put it on the handle!!!) Has a rep for toughness..take 'er out! It's lasted this long.
Customer Support
:
No Opinion
Company has been bought/sold several times..a few inde web sites cover the older stuff. This was a pretty common line in the day.. most older techs should have no problem with it..as long as they can sub parts.
Overall Rating
:
8
Yep $70.00 (with 30 day warranty!) and this thing rocks..it's full of great tones that people pay 10X or more for for in modern amps. I would look for another if this one went missing. Not much else out there that combines such a big toneful sound in a tough, resonably small package, much less at a giveaway price. Kustom gear from this era is really under the radar, try it you will like it.
