Kustom Tube 12 Combo

Not much features, but about everything I need.

I am using Ibanez RG270, although I do not do metal. A bit of hard rock occasionally, but mostly jazz, pop. I voided warranty as soon as I got home, and went ahead to replace cheap 4558 op amp in preamp section with faster Analogue Devices OP275. Sound is very warm and clean. You can vary it a lot with just few pots on the top. Rattles a bit with deep bass, but I'll try to get to the bottom of that in the next few days. There was also a hum which I reduced by moving the transformer to the bottom of the case.

It looks reliable, from what I've seen inside.

Don't know. Warranty is void anyway...

Warmest clean sound I heard for the money (and above). Nice looks, sturdy pot caps, cool blue led on top of nicely crafted box. Throw in a Celestion speaker and a bit of tubes, and you got a winner. I was just about to buy Cube 15 when I saw this baby.

Nice, simple amp setup - but huge range of possible sounds with just a two band eq (with optional eq shift), pre and post gain. Many people mention the lack of reverb, but that doesn't bother me as I run through a ZOOM 505II.

This amp is really exceptional! Let's not forget that it's a budget practice amp and as such it excells. Clean or distorted, you get a lovely warm tone - great classic valve sound, well suited to blues and rock styles. It sounds much more than 12 Watts - especially with an external 12" speaker connected.. more than enough clout for practice, recording and even small gigs.

My only complaint about the sound is the loud buzzing from the mains transformer. I've not read this from any of the other reviews so perhaps it's not present in all amps. I've isolated the buzz by actually disconnecting the mains transformer from the main circuit board and powering it up... still hums away quite loudly. I guess the transfomer is a cheap part and the hum isn't enough to spoil the overall sound of the amp - I wonder if anyone else has seen this problem?

No problems as yet (apart from mains transformer buzz mentioned above). The circuit design is elegant... the power amplifier is implemented in a single integrated circuit, keeping component count down and thus reliailty should be good. The valve is hidden well out of harms way too which is a nice thought (it must have been tempting for the designers to put it on display as it's the main feature of the amp!)
.. I'll give it an 8 because of the transformer problem.

No idea yet!

I've not played a huge range of amps. My main amp is a Peavey Bandit 65 (with excellent Scorpion speaker). I bought the Tube 12 for recording, as for all it's up-front klout, the Peavey sound is a little thin for my liking.

On value, though, the Kustom Tube 12 rates 10/10 - there's just nothing else to come close for a budget practice amp.

AS previous reviews. This is the updated model with external speaker and line out. No reverb. But as others have noted this would increase the price and a poor reverb would compromise the sound.

Bear with me. I'll get around to reviewing this amp. I play at home just for fun and have no need for a gigging amp. For many years I used an 80s Sessionette 75 (British ss well regarded for sounding tube like) which was fine but not too good for high gain saturated sounds. I like to play any style which takes my fancy so I bought a J-Station which unfortunately just sounded muddy straight into the Session or in the fx loop. Lately I've started recording to hard disk and had been using the J-station which was extremely flexible and sounded great (I thought). However like many players I've been looking for that cranked tube sound in a package that delivers at a volume level that can be used at home. Recording is also a bonus. Having looked around there were a small number of options (Laney LC15R; Blues Junior; Cornford Harlequin etc). Cornford probably offering the real boutique tone but at #500 with no reverb - too rich for me. Also reading the reviews on this site consenus opinion was that even little amps like the Laney are too loud fof home use. In fact I've seen some knowledgeable comments that half a watt is about ideal for power stage tube distortion in a small room.

The solution? The Hughers and Kettner Tubeman three channel pre-amp. Like the Kustom Tube 12 this uses a 12ax7 pre-amp and can be used in front of an amp (again didn't work well with the Session) or for its real purpose as a direct recording device. Happy with the J-Station sounds? Not any more. The difference is like night and day. The Tubeman sounds like a real amp. Compared to the J-Station recordings now sound alive with every track sitting beautifully in the mix - very professional. The only downsides were the price (approx #250 sterling) and the fact that it doesn't work well for me in front of my amp although other reviews of the Tubeman suggest it is great direct into a pa. The other drawback is changing the tube which is a major operation which after a lot of practice I've managed to get down to 15 minutes - still a lot of hassle though. Again after reading reviews I sent off for some replacement tubes (Phillips nos and JJ Tesla 12ax7) which I tried in the Tubeman but wasn't impressed (loss of highs etc). I reverted to the orginal Ruby which the unit may have been optimised for. Like the Kustom Tube 12 the Tubeman has no reverb but I now route the Tubeman through the 'no amp' patch on the J Station but using the compression, noise gate, fx and speaker models to taste. The result is incredible for everything except for rectifier high gain (which I'm not that interested in and which the J-Station can provide anyway).

Finally to the Kustom 12. With the line out facility the Kustom can do just about the same job as the Tubeman. Again just route it through the J-Station giving you your compression, reverb and noise gate etc and you have a great real tube recording sound straight to disk. Its also so much easier to tinker with the valve. Simply loosen the two side screws holding the electronics module and remove the two top panel screws. This allows you to simply rotate the module giving direct access to the tube. First time you will need to crack the green paint sealing the aluminium tube shield. I can mow swap in my Philips and Tesla tubes in a matter of seconds giving me a variety of tones and distortion characteristics (Phillips rounder and smoother; tesla higher gain, sharper). One word of warning if you do this is the tube shield will ratlle unless secured again. As I only use this at home I just leave it off.

As an amp I would only repeat what others have said. A nice warm clean tone and overdrive tones which is great for blues and classic rock but won't get you Santana of metal. I have to admit that I don't even miss reverb that much with this little amp. Finally I appreciate what others have said about about swapping the speaker but I haven't as yet experienced any rattles of buzz.

Volume wise this li

Nothing to report. I've voided the warranty (within hours) but can't imagine much could go wrong with the solid state bits and replacing the tube is a breeze.

Haven't tried.

Overall I would rate this at 9 to 10 given the sound price and potential. If you record and have access to a J-Station (or POD) you might just be amazed at what this little amp can do for your sound at a much lower price that a H&K Tubeman. You also have the added bonus of a great little standalone amp which is ideal for home practice. What do I love about this amp? I think it was designed by (in the US I believe) by people who like to tinker. By removing a few screws you can experiment with swapping tubes and tailoring our sound within seconds.

Finally I wish we could get US gear (Fender, Gibson or this) at the prices you can in the states. $100 dollars rather than #100 Sterling is a steal.

All it needs is a good reverb.

OK. This is the rating that matters. The sound is good. I'm not ecstatic & not disappointed. The clean is warm. The OD/distortion is a little brittle & congested, but it beats your average transistor in the pre. I'll likely stick with the clean. The sound is fairly tweakable, so you can get something that works. You'll experience the shakes if you push it (not you, the amp). I'm not a big basshead so I'm not worried about speaker fartiness. The stock Celestion seems adequate. I may put in another tube at some point.

This is my initial reaction. I've used the amp once for a few hours. It feels well-built & worked as expected---good start. I think that problem with hiss others have mentioned is either a) tube needs replacing or b) a lemon. I had a Mesa Subway Rocket with really bad hiss on the clean channel. Mesa was kind enough to give me replacement tubes (& a tour of the factory!) but something possessed me to never change the tubes. I just sold the amp. I think if I bothered this hiss might've subsided, but the same voodoo that made me not change the tubes made me decide to get rid of it. I don't think I'll have this problem with the Tube 12.

The documentation is sparce. What do you need to know? Plug in, twittle a few knobs & play. It works, so no need for customer support so far.

The distortion is somewhere between most solid state amps & what you'd deem acceptable, but I'd never expect a <$100 amp to be perfect. For this price the amp is a gift. It's more question of why NOT buy one.

this is a very versitile amp. solid state amps are typically more versitile than tube amps and this one is no exception. no, i didn't forget that it has a tube, which adds some warmth to the tone, i'm just saying it is still very versitle for all types of music. it has a headphone jack, which is nice, but no cd in. i've never heard of using the cd in on amps anyways so it doesn't matter to me. i use this amp in my bedroom and it is VERY powerful. don't get caught up in people saying that, "it's 12W therefore it's weak." THAT IS COMPLETELY UNTRUE. the way it works is that you have to multiply the wattage by 10 to double the output. therefore to double the output of this 12W amp you'd need a 120W amp!!! trust me this amp is LOUD!

i use this with my telecaster. i was really surprised by the high end this amp has. pressing the "high shift" button and turning up the treble produced highs i had never experienced before. with the high eq turned up all the way it hurts my ears at low volumes. it wasn't until i started adding more bass eq (i keep it around 8) and pulled back on the high eq (around 4) that i was able to create a really beefy tone even from the treble strings. turn on the gain and you really got a heavy metal tone! this amp also produces killer clean tones. blues sound really good from my telecaster with the clean channel (amp doesn't have a clean channel per se but you can un-push the gain button to make a clean tone). i've had no problems with noise from this amp.

never gigged with this but it is definitely loud enough and since only its pre-amp is solid state it you don't have to worry about output tubes breaking, which are usually what bust before pre-amp tubes. typically you should replace your 12AX7 ($12) once a year but it really all depends on how much you play and how hard you drive the amp.

this amp is very reliable-- i've never had to take it to customer support!

if this were lost or stolen i'd definitely buy it again because this is the best amp i've ever had and it's value is second to none. this product is analagous to the marshall valvestate line, which also feature a tube pre-amp and solid state output stage, except they cost upwards of $300.

Apparently Kustom has been paying attention. The model I bought about a month ago from Musician's Friend HAS a line out jack, an external speaker jack, headphone jack. I noticed a lot of reviews said that theirs just had a headphone jack. Like others, this would be the perfect little practice amp if it had spring reverb. As far as the power, it is great for practice or certain recording applications. It looks retro-cool and it is very light weight. I think that by its self, it is well suited for You really couldn't ask for more for less than $100.00

I play a Hamer Echotone Custom electric(ES335 type) and an Ovation Celebrity Deluxe shallow bowl. Since I play mostly blues and pop-rock, the amp is well suited for such. Because of the tube in the preamp, it is great for that thick warm bluesy tone. Though the gain is relatively smooth, it will not satisfy most heavy metal players because the gain is more a "crunch" than "shred". If you like seventies rock, it works great. It will work great for metal heads too if you use a good pedal. I did replace the cheap tube that came with it. I chose the Groove Tube 12ax7r, even though it too is a Chinese made tube. It still has a warmer less brittle tone than the stock one. I will eventually replace the celestion speaker with something like the other reviews listed below. By the way, THERE IS A LOT OF GOOD ADVICE LISTED IN THESE REVIEWS! Some talked about the amp casing ratling when used at high volumes. I didn't have the rattle but I did have the speaker break up and get muddy. The clean is good and vintage sounding. I have a fender as well and you really can't compare the two. The Fender can't be beat on the clean channel. I bought this little amp because I wanted a "tube" sound for blues playing and seventies style rock. For that it deserves an 8. As one person suggested in an earlier review, turn the gain on and move it back from the 10 o'clock to 2 o'clock and crank it up to about half way and it really sounds good. If you play clean and turn the volume most of the way up you will get a mild distortion. The amp is not especially noisy if you play at moderate levels.

Since I have only had it a month, who knows. I think if you play it for what it is intended, it should last.

I have been playing off and on for years. I play mostly as a hobbyist and enjoy playing different styles of music. So what I paid, this is a great amp. It is simple and not flashy. I love the metal knobs instead of plastic. If it were stolen, I would replace it because it is a good balance of size/sound/price. It doesn't sound like a 4x12 cabinet or anything but if you buy one based on what it is suppose to be, you won't be dissapointed.

New Kustom Tube 12, I hear actually made in China through American company Kustom. Suits my needs very well...it's a smallish, 12-watt hybrid tube/solid state amp that almost sounds like someone miniaturized a Marshall tube combo. It's got a quasi-second channel that is activated with a push of the "gain" button, plus controls for bass, treble, and a mid shift switch that boosts your mids signal. Eight inch Celestion speaker, open back, big cool blue jewel light to signify power on.

As it is, the features are very good, but a completely controllable mids knob would have been nicer.

I play through this amp with an Epiphone G-400 with '57 Classic pickups in it, and it sounds great. Unlike pure solid state practice amps, which tend to get crackly when you turn the gain up, the gain on this sucker is real smooth and easy, the product of the 12AX7 tube residing within. At the highest gain settings, it sort of lacks that real heavy metal bite--it's not an amp well-suited for the heaviest of the heavy unless you run an extreme distortion pedal through it...but it's very well suited for hard rock. Think AC/DC! It's not hard at all to get that smooth, overdriven, hard rock tone with this baby.

A lot of reveiwers say that the gain "channel" on this amp is pure crap, but that's just not true. Or maybe I just happened to get an exceptionally well-built model of this amp...but when I was still using my old solid state practice amp, I could REALLY feel the difference between it and a full tube stack. It was crackly, with the bad kind of broken-up sound. But with the Tube 12, though it's definitely NOT in the league of a full tube stack (what do you expect for less than a hundred bucks?), it emulates a full tube stack a LOT more closely than any other fairly low-wattage solid state I've ever heard. Push the gain button, roll back the gain knob to about 11 o'clock, crank the volume, and experience that feel-good rock n' roll sound that kicks so much ass.

So far, while I haven't taken the liberty of beating the hell out of this amp, it's withstood everything I've used it for. It also withstood the bumpy ride over and played great right out of the box...I wouldn't be afraid to take this thing with me anywhere I went.

No opinion.

I bought the amp during a big clearance sale at Music123.com, hence the $65 price tag on it. Since it was only $65, there's no way I could give this less than a 10, because it really was a FANTASTIC value. If I had paid the street price of $99, I probably would give this amp a 9, and if I had paid the list price of $149, I would give it an 8. But if you're on a tight budget and want that tube sound, you cannot go wrong with the Tube 12. Especially if you're a novice who hasn't yet been able to fully appreciate the sounds of a full-blown big-ass tube amp, because then this amp will REALLY sound good to you. The bottom line is that this is not a Marshall stack, which is what I think a lot of people expect of it because it's got one tube in it (okay, slight exxageration, but still). However, it's a great little amp that will give you as close to that tube sound as you will ever get for $100 or less brand new.

The metal knobs on this thing are really cute and seem high quality compared to the plastic knobs you usually get. The controls feel real smooth when you turn them. It has a cool retro look and is a better bargain than a vintage Fender Champ that is usually well worn. More compact than A Vox Pathfinder which also comes with the same kind of Celestion speaker. If it had a spring reverb and an external speaker jack on the back, it would be just about perfect. Add about $45 to the price I have listed if you want an Eminence speaker installed. I listed the price that I paid for the amp in the box, not even counting postage, which was about $8.

It's definitely not a Fender Champ. The sound falls somewhere between a Vox and Marshall sound. It sounds more Marshally than Marshall's own little MG series low wattage amps when you use the gain knob for distortion. It sounds much bigger than what it really is. If you sat it behind a curtain and played it, few guitarists would guess that it is a little 12 watt amp with an 8" speaker. I put an Eminence Legend 875 in mine because it has a really good low end for an 8" speaker, and stays clean as the power is raised until clipping of the output transistor occurs. That makes it good for a chunky fat country sound which is mainly what I use it for. It now stays cleaner than a Fender Champ as the volume is raised, and much tighter in the bass. I have a mint used Rickenbacker 660 in Fireglo with 6 strings, which is similar to the Tom Petty signature model but cheaper and doesn't have the 12 tuning key headstock or 12 saddle bridge or Tom's signature on the pickguard. It came standard with the scatterwound vintage reissue pickups and it is better than any Telecaster I ever owned. It also cost a little more than any Tele I ever owned, but the sound and quality is from another planet compared to most Fenders or anything else I ever owned. The Kustom amp is good enough for practice with even a Rickenbacker, I am not embarassed to be seen with it because the sound is fine. My Champ is spending a lot more time in the closet. The Rick and the Tube 12 have a retro look that goes together quite well. I am looking for a little reverb tank I can install in the bottom, then it will be just about perfect for practice. I gig with a Fender 65 Twin Reverb reissue which is way too big and loud for a practice amp. This thing is better than any Fender practice amp they make now until you get up to around the Blues Junior which is in another category entirely since it is all tube, bigger, heavier, too loud for in the house, and more expensive. The reverb on it is junk compared to a Deluxe Reverb, so I decided to get this and try to add a little spring reverb that would be at least as good as the Blues Junior's, and still have a smaller amp better suited to practice in a home situation. The Tube 12 goes plenty loud for me at home and at practice sessions. Really easy to carry around.

I did a stint in the military as an electronics tech, so I fix things like this myself. Replaced the speaker, snugged everything down tight, and no problems so far. I cannot rate this as I know you must play an amp about 5 years to really know what it will do in the long run. One more thing, I soldered the speaker leads to the Eminence speaker, since they felt a little loose and that is a common area to have problems and can make a good speaker sound really crappy when loose.

I'll probably never use them. I think I could fix it without a schematic. It only had one tube and one output transistor that I could see. There is nothing simpler than that in a guitar amp.

This gets a 10 for what it cost. It is really about an 8 compared to the expensive boutique practice combos you can get (when you upgrade the speaker). I prefer not to spend that kind of money on a practice amp. I had hoped that somebody here had tried installing a spring reverb tank and telling what it sounded like. I'm not into the digital reverb found on most cheap practice amps. Rather do without it than go that route. I guess I will just have to order a little reverb tank and find out for myself. The Marshall AVT20 was also a bit too heavy and loud for what I needed, but reasonable at around $300. I think it's better than the Blues Junior and cheaper to keep going. It has a better reverb than the Blues Junior, for sure, but weighs even a bit more in spite of being mostly solid state. The Crate VC508 just has a painted particle board cabinet and costs almost as much as the AVT20. This is the only amp that sells for less and is smaller than the AVT20 that I find acceptable. Kustom really needs to make it available with a spring reverb then it would be serious competition for the Marshall AVT20 in a smaller package at a lower price. What about it, Mr. Kustom Man??? A plywood cabinet option would be nice also, making it tougher as a small gig amp.

12 watts of power driving a little 8" Celestion speaker. You don't get any reverb, which is a bummer since I am an old chicken pickin' country player that doesn't do those pedal things like the young kids do. Maybe I will find a cheap reverb unit on eBay that I can hook up to it. Somebody said I could get a little one for about $40 on the internet, but I forgot the name.

I have owned a lot of guitars over the years. Most of them cheap and not worth mentioning. I have an old beat up Gretsch hollow electric that can outdo them all, and that is about all that I use these days. Other than that, I just use acoustic guitars. I needed an amp that I could carry around easy and didn't cost too much. I like the sound of good tube amps, but I don't like changing all those tubes when they get old. A bad tube amp can really aggravate you. I remember years ago when the bands would start up their old tube amps and all kinds of noises would come out of those things. It was real common to see an amp fry itself if a person that was ignorant on amp maintenance owned it. I paid a bit more for this thing than most of these young kids that write most of these reviews, but I got it from a dealer I know that fixes tube amps and he put in a new old American tube and went through the amp before he sold it to me and now it's as tight as a tick. It doesn't use power tubes, so my dealer said not much trouble out of it since those are the ones that cause the most trouble. No rattles or bad noises. I don't play it turned all the way up, and I don't use the gain button. I just turn the gain knob all the way back and use the volume knob because my Gretsch sounds just the way I like it without distortion. I can make the speaker give a distressed sound if I play a lot louder than I normally do, but that was just to test it and I haven't done it since. I am real pleased with the sound for what I give for it. A friend of mine has a Fender Deluxe Reverb that sounds nicer, but he gave an insane amount of money for it also. I can buy one of these every couple of years and still come out ahead, I figure.

I have had no problems, but I know that you have to change the tube every couple of years or so.

I lost the warranty card. I think my dealer could fix it cheaper than pay postage both ways to the company.

I've heard better, but not anywhere near this price. I really like the small size and that it will play loud enough without having to get a heavier amp. At my age I have better things to do than carry around an amp that weighs over 40 pounds. For what I paid, I think this is a fine little amp. But remember mine did not come straight out of the box and was checked out by my amp dealer that put in one of his recommended tubes. I forgot the name of the tube, but it is an old American one and it sounds good.

Finally, a cheap practice amp with serious tone. Everything else you get at this price is just icing on the cake. My oldest brother said that Saul Marantz of the famous Marantz stereo gear of the 60's was involved in the design of the old Kustom amps of the 60's and 70's. They were used by Creedence Clearwater Revival and the Doors, I believe he said. I doubt if old Saul helped design this new Chinese amp that Kustom has surprised me with, but it is nice and warm sounding in the same way that my old Marantz solid state integrated stereo amp from the 70's sounds so much better than most other imported stereo amps from that time period. Plus, it lasted while most of the others died a quick death at our frat parties. I only buy old Marantz stereo amps from the 70's. A friend of mine majoring in electrical engineering owns them also. We find them dirt cheap with problems and he fixes them up. Sell most to fellow students, but kept a few of the best ones for ourselves. He helped me modify my Tube 12 amps, and said that while they are cheap and have some minor problems, they are really killer for the prices you can find them selling for. No, they do not have the tuck 'n' roll styling with colored padded vinyl coverings like the 70's amps, just a thin black tolex covering over particle board. Nothing fancy, but rather dead acoustically and no rattles. I like the cool retro look that Kustom gave this little blaster.

This is where it gets interesting. I had bought an old 4x8 cabinet from my oldest brother that was used for country music gigs. It was beat to hell looking from being hauled all over the place, but had solid plywood still, and he had recently loaded it with different models of speakers since he said that blended speakers sounded better than using all the same type speaker in a cabinet. He had installed two Eminence Legend 875, one Celestion Vintage 8, and one Jensen P8R-8 then decided to stop gigging due to job demands and sold it to me at a cost that was too good to pass up. I had remembered that SRV was rumored to have used several amps at once in his recordings, and I was wanting to give the concept a try. I decided to look for small amps with good sound that maybe had blown speakers and I could pick up for a song. The Marshall AVT20 was too expensive for my project, but it was the yardstick for tone since one of my jamming partners owned one. None of the really cheap solid state amps compared to the AVT20, but the Kustom Tube 12 held the most promise after visiting every music store in the local area. They are both hybrid designs. The Vox Pathfinder had good tone but less volume than the Tube 12. I also read in the HC reviews that some Pathfinders suffer from bad chips in the tremolo circuit which affects the loudness, plus it is not as compact as the Tube 12. My jamming partners and I accumulated four Tube 12 amps over the next couple of months while my Marantz tech played around with circuits, speakers and tubes. He made a low cost DC filament circuit from a rectifier bridge, a 470uF 25V electrolytic cap, and a 2W dropping resistor that dropped the DC voltage to 12 volts exactly (the filter cap charges to near peak AC volts, and must be dropped down to RMS or DC value according to my tech. You could use a 12V DC regulator for the ultimate mod, but a resistor will do just as well since the load is constant plus it's cheaper and less likely to fail and provides slightly reduced voltage at turn-on when the filament is cold and drawing heavy current. Trust me, my tech is a whiz on these things and a little guitar amp is like Stone Age to a good Marantz integrated amp.). It cut the hum from the heaters down tremendously and allowed high gain/volume settings without that annoying hum some people have mentioned. A remote speaker jack was added to each amp on the back panel. Each amp got one of the speakers from the 4x8 cab installed in it, and all the Celestion Super 8 speakers were mounted in the 4x8 cab for added boost at live gigs, usually in a corner for max bass effect. I always hated that guitar cabs come in a square speaker arrangement. This is for transport ease and making the sound project efficiently to the front, sort of like a telephoto lens on a camera. That is all wrong for a smaller club or frat house where you want to spread the sound horizontally while maintaining tight vertical spread. PA columns or audiophile speakers like those made by the Magnepan company in Minnesota are vertically oriented to achieve the right effect. My brother has a pair of their tall Magneplanar panel speakers, and they are AWESOME. The acoustic term is "line source" for this arrangement. I wanted that quality they had in the guitar amps, so we stacked them on top of each other. Also we put them near a wall corner in the frat house to bolster the bass and keep them from being knocked over as easy since this whole arrangement is top heavy. Pulling them away from the wall gives a more open sound. To gain access to the control knobs, we had to turn the amps on their sides for stacking. All those knobs running down the side look funky cool. We put wide strips of velcro on the sides to keep everything in place while the amps were playing and vibrating away. We sat them on a 2' tall heavy duty speaker stand that was filled with lead shot and sand owned by one of the frat bros, then threw a 20# bag of lead shot on top of the top amp

Ron can fix anything, and when he mods something, it rarely breaks down later on. Except when he says, "Hey guys, I've never tried this before, but I thought you might want to give it a shot..........". Watch out for the fireworks!

Customer support? We don't need no stinking customer support!!!

This is the most fun we have ever had with an amp. It's our own special design 4 channel/4 flavor Tower of Power. For our Christmas and New Year's gigs we decked it out in flashing christmas tree lights and set it on a beer keg. The beer had lots of fizz, and people tended to NOT want to hang out too near the keg for long periods of time. We got lots of comments on the look and sound of our stack. Our bass player has recently begun to look into small bass amps as well........