Kustom Quad 100DFX 212 Combo

I currently own a Quad 100 DFX 212 and really like the tone and headroom this amp has to offer, It's LOUD! Ther has been a problem with a small circuit board in some units, however, and Kustom has been great about replacing or fixing these amps. I went through 3 seperate amps before I found one that didn't fail, and Kustom was great about replacing them. I encourage anyone that has experienced any problems with the effects or the failure of one channel or any other problem to contact the retailer or Kustom. They seem to be a good company.

Problems but quick solutions.

No problems returning faulty units.

this amp has an unbelievable clean channel and doesnt distort at high volumes. the weird thing is its slightly compressed which makes it have tube sounds. u switch on the brilliance pre amp and its just amazing for country or blues lead licks. the neutral is really good for rhythm. the distortion is taylor made for ac dc style rock but isnt suited for the nu age metal.

owners of this amp will know that its 25kg. which makes it extremely sturdy. i havent had a problem with but it would be safe to say u wouldnt need a back up amp for a gig.

havent dealed with them. but its got a 3 year warranty

ive been playing for about 3-4 years and have just stepped up from a poor 10watt practise amp to this 100wat Kustom so it sounds amazing. if it happened to walk. i would definately buy a nu one (dn worry there will need 2 be atleast 2 to get away quick)
i wish it came with the footswitch cause im sure that would come in handy

This is an update from my review i wrote a year ago. I changed my mind on some point. I said i wasn't happy with the distortion and used my RAT II instead. Well, i recently started playing around with the settings and found my sweet spot there. I bought a footswitch and now use the distortion channel instead of the RAT. On the USA mode it sounds just awesome. It's a unique distortion sound. I use a Digitech Bad Monkey (same as Ibanez Tubescreams) to boost my signal when i'm doing solo's. It gives this mean, old school distortion sound. A perfect sound for in a (hard) rock band. It doesn't sound like a Marshall, it doesn't sound like a Mesa..., it sounds like a Kustom. It's truely it's unique own sound. Please, forget your distortion pedals and just play around with settings and EQ, you won't regret it.

Used it a year, still works fine. I spilled beer on it and it still works like nothing happened.

It has four settings, 2 clean and 2 distortions. 1 uk distortion and 1 usa distortion to be exact.

I am playing an epiphone g-400 deluxe with the gibson alnico v pickups in it. I love the sounds I am getting both out of the clean and the dirty. The clean sounds remarkable. I agree with everyone that you can use the clean with any effect and it would sound that much cooler.

I also love the distortion. The uk setting is a bit better overall tone where the usa is a bit muddy though. I have also used the boss ds-1 with the distortion channel combined and got some great sparkle out of it. THe straight distortion though just has enough omph and lets the guitars tone come out. It has good sustain on its own and is fine. I wouldn't use these distortions for any sort of metal but they are very usable.

I have used it out about 5 or 6 times now and each time get complimented on the tone it puts out. Just a good amp,especially for the price.

I have used it out quite a bit and has gotten knocked around. It holds up and seems to be just fine. Built very well.

i have not had any issues so i have no idea.

I have been playing for about 15 years. I have had a marshall jcm800 ( didn't know what i had til it was gone :( )also played a peavy classic 50 that was a friend of mines and played a carvin sx300 head through a carvin 4x12 cab. All sounded different but out of all of them, i have had the best luck with this amp. No issues with it, it looks good, gets compliments and i would recommend it to anyone needing a good amp for themoney.

The clean channel is what I was after in this amp and it delivers. I wanted a solid state amp that didn't weigh a ton to use with my Korg processor. The 7 rating is for the quality of that clean channel. I didn't like the effects much at all.

I'm just using a Lone Star Strat with two Tex-Mex hot single coils and a Seymour Duncan humbucker in the bridge for gigging. I'm playing in a cover rock band that plays a wide variety of tunes and styles ie. Nickleback, Puddle of Mudd, Judas Priest with a couple of older Classic Rock tunes. Most gigs are in small clubs and the amp is more than powerful enough for those settings. I've had no noise problems with the amp and my processor and Sonic Maximizer help it come to life. I play rhythm guitar but also do some soloing from Motley Crue distortions to clean 60's R&B. This amp is for you pedal heads or processor freaks since you can't switch between the clean and lead channels. NO FOOTSWITCH!!!

I've only used it for 4 gigs and it's been great. Too new to make this rating.

I bought it from a local music store so I don't have a clue about Kustom's people.

I've been playing since the '70's and have owned Fenders, Peaveys and Johnson modeling amps. I would definitely re-purchase one if it got stolen. With the right effects units this amp will reproduce for shredders, punk, country and classic rock enthusiasts. I was tired of messing with tubes and carrying the extra weight around. I recommend it for club and out door festival giggers.

Best feature is definately the clean channel...as long as it continues to work!

I use the clean channel only (since the other is no longer working) and run my own effects through that. The amp is loud and sounds great.

The effects kinda suck...when they work.

Huh, well...hmm. First off, I purchased this amp on ebay from a store that claims it was a store model (aadinoaa...now you've been warned). The seller, according to other purchasers who also have bought this amp from aadinoaa as a floor modle, it seems he is selling off defective equiptment as I am not the only one with a problematic Kustom 100 DFX amp.

That said, after a few weeks of owning this beast, I noticed that my amp would not turn on, only after several tries did it come back on again. I see now that there are recent reviews claiming they have experienced the same problem.

Then, one day my amp just sounded like $%^& and I noticed that the second channel was not working right...or at all for that matter. Now I no longer have the second channel. I contacted another purchaser of aadinoaa's and sure enough they had the same problem. Not a coincidence I don't think.

I bought this amp to start jamming again and with hopes of performing live shows also. However, I think I'll stick to jamming with this one just incase. I guess I'll be looking for Marshall again...should've went that route the first time.

Hmmm, well I live in Canada. Apparently the 3 year warranty is only good in the US. From the sounds of it, even if there was service available to me, it would take quite a long time to have it returned...and at my expense also. I'm left with very little choice...

It sucks.

Sound is great when using the clean channel and is quite loud. I was very impressed at first. Unfortunately this amp appears to have it's common problems and you might experience them yourself if you own one or purchase one. Mine is very much defective and I'm pretty much screwed on this one...regretfully, as I read many good reviews on it before making this purchase.

I bought the DFXWT model with the cream colored tolex and black grill cloth. 100 watts, 2 12" Celestion, 2 channels.

First off, I use a Boss GT-3 processor through the front of the amp for all my sounds and effects and only use the clean channel of this amp! I also use a BBE Sonic Maximizer to futher enhance my tone. I bought the amp cus the clean channel sounded so good with pedals and processors. It is really a great clean channel thats very loud with great cut through. However......The distortion channel along with the effects suck!

For clean channel use it's great...10

Any thing else......0

This is pretty basic solid state amp with built-in dfx that has to be a joke. They work all right but only a level control is avaliable. I think the reverbs (spring and hall) are great and the distortions are usable. The rest of the fxs (delay, chorus, tremelo, slap back, etc) only can be adjusted by level control only so you can't expect much out of them. It's got 2 12" celestion speakers that sounded good and they're LOUD! Yup, a 100 watter that can rock you. The "quad" means it's got 4 amp models. 2 in Lead channel and 2 in clean channel. Each channel has 3 band eq and the lead has a gain control with a boost button on it. Because of the way the dfx is designed I'll only give this amp an 8.

When you want to play clean or some mild to hard rock this amp can do it. With my agile lp and a hot nashville pup in the bridge I got tons of tones out of this amp. With 4 amp models and 3 band eqs on 2 channels I've played from the beatles to black sabbath on this amp. The distortions on this amp ain't so bad but I've used the zoom 606 on it to get the boost for the distortions. What impressed me is that after I learned how to combine the settings of the amp with the settings of the zoom 606 I was really close to the original artists' tones. This amp sounds damn good for a solid state so I'm giving it a 10.

I've had this amp for about 4 months and I used the hell out of it. I'll play for 3 hours in the morning and maybe another 3 hours in the evening. Every day. It's been working great but I had a couple of times that the amp failed to turn on. One time the dfx didn't come on. I had to turn it off and then on again. That's unusual but it seems it's nothing serious. This amp is built solid and I mean solid. Way it was put together are actually good constructions. I think I can depend on it but then I'm not a gigger. I'm just a home player but jams with friends sometimes. I'm pretty impressed with this amp so I'll give it a 8.

No experiences there yet. (knock on wood) but I got a 3 year warranty on it.

I like this amp. I like it a lot that I'll buy another one if I ever lose this one.

Pretty standard set of features with the addition of a bunch of digital effects... most of which I never used. 100W Solid State, 2x Celestion 12" Super 65 speakers. I wont bother listing them all out again, but instead I will say that I was sold this amp on the basis that it was reliable and was a great platform for injecting a bunch of floor effects. I have owned this amp for 2 years.

The only 3 guitars I ever ran through this amp were a Strat with Don Lace single coils, a Cort KX1 with 2 Mightymite motherbuckers and a custom solist with active EMG's.

On the whole I think this amp is capable of producing some very nice tones, however they weren't the right tones for me. The good speakers leave the clean channel well set up to accept outboard effects, however at higher volumes my unit tended to make funny noises and rattle when I dialed in the brutal chug I was after. It worked extremely well for a variety of blues tones and without effects it did OK for some more laid back rock tunes, but I could never get any sparkle out of this thing on the distortion channel, it was always a bit muddy, and it was certainly NOT powerful enough for any metal or hard rock (although I wont hold that against the amp since clearly it wasnt designed for it). Basically, to sum up the sounds... Nice clean tones, nice blues tones, decent mild rock sounds, but bad for heavy stuff and lacks brilliance and definition in the distortion.

For the first year or so of its life this amp performed flawlessly through light gigging and home studio use, however following that stint so far I have had to put it under warranty for service twice in 6 months for stupid things. The first time the on/off switch broke and it took the best part of a month to get the amp back after sending it in. The second time something in the wiring went spastic and the thing would just change channels on its own... very embarrasing. It has been 3 weeks and it is still in for service. I have dealt primarily with my music store and not Kustom themselves, but I trust the guys at the shop when they tell me Kustom just don't seem to be all that quick with the servicing.

Once it returns from servicing this time, I will be replacing it due to the reliability issues and other things.

Besides the fact that their service dept. seems to take longer than necessary (4 weeks to change a power switch?), I have had no dealings with Kustom whatsoever.

I have been playing for roughly 6 years, and as of now I own a custom built soloist and the strat. Overall, this amp has performed well. I was initially dissapointed, but I realise now that I was simply expecting things from this amp that it wasnt designed to provide. With that in mind, I thought this amp was solid, and had great clean tones and blues tones, but needs improvement in the distortion deparment. Even without more saturating gain on tap, the amp was a tad dissapointing since even with maxed treble the crunch sound was muddy. It did the job with outboard effects, however the recent ongoing reliability issues ive had with it and the slowness of Kustom repair service has left a bad taste in my mouth, so I will be replacing it ASAP with an amp with a better reliability reputation and tones that suit me more 'out of the box'. If it were stolen... No, I would not buy this combo again. For the record, I will be upgrading this to the 60W Genz Benz El Diablo 112 Combo.

100 Watts, solid state baby. It's very loud. Totally gig material. If you need louder, you need to be mic'd. It's got two 12 inch Celestions, very nice.

I bought mine used but they aren't old. 3 band EQ on each channel, gain and volume on lead, volume on clean. I'm playing a lot of stuff but mostly progressive alternative rock with some dance and folk influences. The amp is obviously a rock amp first and does that no problem, but it's also great for more industrial or dancy/electronica sounds. With the brilliant switch engaged and a Tele or Strat... country city. Not really great for metal; it just has more of a rock hi-gain sound, not a metal sound. It has two channels, each with their own pre-amps, which actually do make a different in sound, especially at higher volumes. Turning on the brillant switch is great for acoustic guitars too. It has an effects loop, line out (XLR), speaker out, line out (can probably be used for headphones but I just headphone out from pedals), footswitch for effects/channel. Boost switch on the lead channel cranks out more gain and volume, but it's usuable. It also has some good effects. Problem is there is no way to edit them... just a level control. But they are alright... I use the spring reverb effect at quite a low level. I don't use the effects loop so dunno how it is but have read it's muddy. Also, I'll admit that while the connectors in the back aren't impossible to get to or anything, they aren't what I'd call convenient. The LEDs are beautiful, my bassist says the amp was worth it for the LEDs alone haha.

Anyway, it's got all I need and then some for a show amp. All I really need is a reliable, clean, loud amp. It's big too haha.

Playing with lots of guitars... love the singles though.

It's not noisy. The lead, with hi gain, and hi volume, will hum, yeah. But it's not too loud... you probably wouldn't notice at a gig that would warrant turning it up that loud. The clean channel will hum very little... it's kind of nice though haha.

Anyway, the thing sounds great. Good range of sounds from warm and full to tinny or industrial. I use the clean mostly and it's wonderful. Great bass. Clarity on the clean is a blast. The distortion is distortion, not really nice overdrive, but it's useful. I use pedals for all OD and most distortion but still sometimes use the amp's distortion. It's good tone for rock especially. It isn't a tube though, and tubes and transistors are going to sound different period. I don't say "Oh it sounds so tube-like"... if I wanted tube sound, I'd play tube amps. I do like tubes, but I recognize the utility of both kinds of amps, as well as their tones... both good. I use tubes too, just this is my main show amp.

Built like a tank. Big and heavy as it should be. Bought it used but it's in great condition. I gig without a backup no problem.

I've been playing for seven or eight years... I own lots of other junk haha. If it were stolen, I'd get a new one right away.