Kustom Tube 12A Combo

I bought it new.
I play alot of Blues and old country so the sound is pretty good but I do wish it had a foot switch input, as far as power it is plenty loud for pratice and when I play in church.

I have 2 Tele's, 2 Stats,a Ibanez Axd82p, and a DeArmond w/ Gold tones, but I think it sounds better w/singles, but if you play w/ it enough you can get almost any sound your looking for from it.

I've had it for about a year and have had no problems with it at all, but I may replace the tube as others here have just to see what difference it'll make

havent needed them.

i am very satisfied with this little amp, and if I had to replace it I'd buy another one, it'll keep up with my sons peavey bluesman till about 6, so Its got plenty of punch. What got me is how small this amp really is, I have 3 other amps but this is the one I take w/ me when Im going to jam, and if I plug my Korg ax1500g into it I get every sound in the world and it all sounds good, but I do wish it had a fx inputs, but what do you expect for $99.
So I say a great little 10" amp that you cant go wrong with.

The perfect amp to start with. it has all you need for a good price.

The sound with the original tube is great on CLEAN but only medium on
DISTORTION,but as some others mentioned already ,it is more a blues sound that??s good with this amp.
I bought the amp 6 months ago and today i changed the tube for a
sovtek 12ax7wb and i was surprised how the sound became more clearer
and warmer without those little disturbing noises i had before, with the
chinese tube. To have a good clean sound, i turned the volume of my CORT
Z42 a little lower and it sounds better and sweeter than before .By the way, on distortion it??s also mutch better.

After 6 months ,everything is still fine.

So far i had no need for a support.

It??s PERFECT after changeing the tube (just 4 little screws )
For a good distortion sound you better use a pedale , i use a Little
Big Muff.For home use there is probably no better amp for this price.
For all the germans like me , who will read this,,Das Ding ist der
absolute HAMMER, es gibt keiner bessern Amp in der Preis-Klasse,,.

I dont own it, but I have played it a lot and i like it. The features are covered by others. The best feature probably is the line out for speakers. Wish it had an equalizer or something, but for the price, its great, and with a pedal, im sure you can get a vide variety of tones from it.

This amp has a beautifull clean and a very good distortion. The distortion is great for blues, classic rock, jazz and with some adjustments, it becomes good for hard rock. I havent tried the switch, but I think its ok. They explain it as a UK/USA tone type switch. Overall, the clean is great, the distortion isnt muddy and its better than a lot of solid state practise amps.

I dont know, because I only played it in the shop :P ... I looks solid enough to last for 3-4 years. I would gig with it with a speaker or without it but in a small area.

I dont know... Eh, but the warranty lasts for 3 years, and thats awesome! Its actually a guarantee that you will have it for 3 years! What more could you ask for?

I've been playing for about 5 months and im kind off new, but I can recognise good stuff ;) . If it were stolen or lost, I would buy it again! When I learn to play guitar really well, im gonna buy an all-valve amp and hopefully a Gibson SG standard ;) ... I compared it to Marshall MG15CD, Marshall MG10KK and Roland Cube 15 and it has a better clean and a less muddier distortion than all of theese. Its so awesome, for the price! I love the bluesy/classick rock tone and hate nothing. I wish it had an equaliser, but hey, its like 100???. The best practise amp ever! Buy it, you wont regret it!

Others have covered the features... basically a little practice amp with a couple of nice features like a pre-out and external speaker output.

I got this because I wanted a little practice amp that I could play at very low volumes. For that purpose it sounds pretty good. Better tone than most little practice amps. Nice clean tones. To me the gain channel sounds crappy.... I have no use for it, and since it doesn't have a foot switch you're better off with a pedal anyway. The Shift switch does essentially what the Fat switch does on my Blues Jr. I plugged in the 12" speaker from my Blues Jr. and that opened it up a lot and gave it more volume... actually can get pretty close to the Blues Jr. sound, but of course adding an additional speaker sort of defeats the purpose why I got it. I changed the stock tube for a Tung Sol, which opened up the sound and seems to drive it better.

I like the way my single coil guitars sound through it better than my humbuckers. It seems to handle pedals OK. My rating of 8 is compared to other little practice amps.

Seems built pretty solid.

???

For a little practice amp, it does fine. It seems solid and less gimmicky than some of the crappy little amps out there. Has a usable range of tones even at low volume. For the money this is definately one of the better buys out there.

This is an update to my review - I should mention that you need to have the treble and bass knobs set at maximum on this amp - otherwise it sounds quite boxy and not very inspiring. With both tone knobs maxed, it sounds very nice.

I bought this new several months back. I like to think of it as a nice palette for all my effects, but it sounds great on its own. It sounds better now than when I bought it - due to 1) having broken in the speaker and 2) switching the Chinese tube for a Tung Sol. I'd recommend switching out the tube immediately. It's a big improvement.

Features:

12W of power - it has plenty of volume, but it sounds good at low volume
8" Celestion speaker - Not as open-sounding as a 12" speaker obviously, but still very nice once broken in.
12AX7 preamp section - makes a noticeable difference!
Gain and volume controls - pretty obvious what they do
Selectable Gain and Mid Shift functions - having a gain switch is great - I never use the mid shift switch
Low/high EQ controls - effective
Headphone jack - Not the greatest - it works okay, but it sounds much better through the amp's speaker
Line out jack - sends a line level signal while not muting the speaker
Speaker jack - haven't tried it, but I'd love to hear this through a nice speaker cabinet

It's got a lot of features considering it's a tube amp and costs only $100. Many more features than the Fender Champ or Epiphone Valve Junior, for sure.

I'd compare the clean sound to a Fender Champ. I tried one of the new ones, and my Kustom sounded similar but fuller, and can go much louder, and has two channels, and has treble and bass controls. I'd recommend the Kustom - it's a great little practice amp.

Changing the tube improved the dirty sound. With lots of gain, it's a unique sort of sound. Kind of reminds me of a Supro. But, what I normally do with this amp is set it on the dirty channel, but back off the gain so it's 99% clean. I find that when I use my overdrive and distortion pedals, the amp reacts much more naturally on that channel than on the clean channel. In conjunction with some great dirt pedals, I've really gotten some fantastic sounds this way. This is also the optimal way to use it if you want to use a reverb pedal without the problems of running reverb into the front end of a dirty amp.

There is a bit of background humming, but nothing major. Could be because I live in an old house with old wiring.

So far so good. You could probably gig with it if you used an extension cab. It's not rock solid, but it's not flimsy either.

No idea

Well worth the $100. I'd buy it again in a heartbeat. I wish it had reverb and an effects loop, but for what I paid, I can't complain.

For the record, this is my current rig:

Fender Tele

Boss PS-5
Monte Allums SD-1
OLC Supreaux
ROG Tonemender
OLC Professor Tweed
OLC Umble
Modified Big Muff
Modified Electric Mistress
Multi-effect

Kustom Tube 12a

I realize that's a lot of pedals into a little amp, but I'm really getting some fantastic sounds with this rig. It's a great recording setup.

This amp sucks at everything. It was my first amp and when I buy it I was very happy with the sound and all that stuff but with time... it became to me the worst amp ever. Perfect for people that want to make some noise with a guitar cuz that is what this amp do, making loud and horrible noise

The sound if bad. Weak distortion and the clean sound is basic. If you want to play live with this, you just can't.

Never had problems

Don't buy this even if you are a beginer at guitars and amps. Save some money and get some info before

2 Channels - Clean and Gain, tone shift, Single input, Headphone jack, Line out, Speaker out, High and Low eq, 8" Celestion, 12ax7 pre-amp, 12 watts. Can be plugged into a quadbox if you want more!!!

Sounds fantastic if you have the 'shift' button turned off. Can do everything from spanking clean to hard rock. Metal heads will need pedals. Vibrating coming from the back, but i'm sure a decent screwdrive will fix that :)

I've had it for an hour so no idea.

No idea.

Great amp, great price, not a lot to hate about it :)

This review is just to update with a suggestion for settings. If using this amp as a standalone, with stock 12AX7 tube, the gain will sound a little harsh on almost any setting... unless you dime the bass and treble controls, just max 'em out. Then it sounds VERY nice. Note also that the line out feature makers this a GREAT amp for small stages; you can use it as a monitor while the sound guy ppicks up the same sound you get practicing on it.

Been using it alone and with a 112 Laney cab with Celestion speaker, and ZOOM G2.1u modeller on the front end. The Zoom has very nice clean sounds, but the built in gain is weak on any setting. By using the gain control on the Kustom, I can thicken and overdrive the clean settings of the Zoom, and it really sounds great. That means I have practice gear that I can carry to gigs on the subway or on my back. If using a modeller I suggest you set bass and treble to 12 o'clock then adjust according to setting. It's hummed a bit in some rooms, so one point off.

The speaker's still fine, the pots are fine, it starts up when you start it. I use it without a backup amp, but hey, my modeller is a backup.

Wrote to them and they never wrote back. But the product is pretty suppportive.

See my review below. This amp is so much value for the price that I may buy another to have a spare. Easy to use, sounds good alone and great with modellers, line out for small stage work.... any solo blues or jazz player is advised to check this device out. It has a more distinctive, tubelike sound than the Roland Cube series (which I think are great), you can mod by changing tubes if you like, you can practice AND perform on it, it's inexpensive, it's incredibly light.

Hybrid 12 watt guitar combo featuring 8" Celestion speaker and 12AX7 tube preamp. Controls Gain (and switch on/off), Low, High, Shift (on/off), Volume and Power (on/off). Connections: Input, Headphone, Speaker Out and Line Out. An effects loop would have been nice, but can't grumble at the price.

Using with various guitars, Yamaha SG500T and SE350, Hamer double cut, Jackson Professional Dinky, DeArmond Jetstar, old JV serial Squier Strat, Gibson Ace Frehley Les Paul.

I bought this little amp as I was fed up using amp modellers (Boss GS-10, V-amp etc.) and wanted to go back to recording mic'ed up guitar amps in my demo studio. It might just be me, but this little monster of an amp really delivers fantastic tone. The clean and slightly overdriven sounds it is capable of just confirm to me that no amp modeller can ever truly capture the sound of an amp/speaker moving air.

I use it with a Boss GT-3 effects unit and am capable of achieving a vast array of sounds, which when close mic'ed with a dynamic mic sit really nicely in the mix.

Haven't really had it long enough to comment, but it seems very sturdy.

No need to contact Kustom.

I have been playing guitar for 22 years, amp wise I also own a Vox Brian May Special (nice for a one trick pony) and a marshall 50 watt solid state combo which has been my main amp for about twenty years.

This amp really allows me to record some excellent authentic sounding guitar tones without upsetting the neighbours. I would definitely replace this if something were to happen to it.

http://www.myspace.com/jonpaulallen
http://www.jonpaulallen.co.uk

see my previous review - regarding mods to this amp

after my last modding it is really getting there

as standard it is FINE for practice etc

they sent me a schematic - bet they didn't realise i was going to tweak it though!!

I have placed an extra GAIN control in the power amp section as it is basically a power op-amp (fits in the hole left by the daft blue LED lens - which then rests against the chrome swith button and still indicates ON-ness). I have a 4 way rotary switchable set of 3 clipping diodes and an unclipped overdrive position. The shift button now also introduces a cathode bypass resistor to the second triode stage (100nF) to boost all freq above about 1kHz. And when the GAIN swith is out the first triode stage cathode load is reduced (ie gain increases a little so it's easier to overdrive) by adding a parallel resistor. BUT !!!! the best mod I think was adding a switch to allow the speaker to be put in series with a string of little (3 or4) low voltage low wattage bulbs e.g 6V 0.18A.

With the bulbs in series with the speaker you can crank gains etc up full to get real valve overdrive (as opposed to diode clipped nastiness) and still have a quiet low / level so as not to disturb neighbours etc.. AND remember they are non-ohmic so they pose low resistance until they heat up and then as they get hotter their resistance increase - giving a nice soft compression type of effect

IF anyone is interested in getting info on what I did (i can't promise instant reply!!) contact me on rush-home-mike@ntlworld.com BUT please remember playing with HV powered stuff is only for those people who have the necessary experience / knowledge and can pose severe risks. Alternatively anyone who has modded their TUBE 12A and wants to re their finding drop me a line as I don't think I can have scratched more than the surface of what you can do with these amps "mod-wise"

Bought as a closeout at Christmas, a gift from and to me. Key features: tube preamp, 8 inch Celestion (my faves) speaker, line out, working gain, volume, bass and treble controls, and a mid boost button (more below). No reverb, a sore lack that costs two points. But hey, the other stuff works in a featherweight package that you can use as a home practice, small room and stage preamp rig. Wow.

I've used this amp often for three months with Reverend semi-hollow, Washburn and Squier solid body, and a Supro Folkstar resophonic modded with a hot single coil. I play juke modern, solo dance music in straight and open tunings, latter with a slide. The amp sounds good with all of them, but best with the reso. No surprise, because the reso has its own natural reverb built in, and this little box gives it a great sound, rich and warm. The mid button can sound grating, but properly eq'd does a great job of focusing the sound. Clean, the amp gets excellent bass for such a small unit, a key point for me. I've had no rattle problems, unlike some others. Sound has improved as speaker breaks in. However, I do find the gain a bit harsh; I will eventually try other tubes (thanks for all your tips, guys). The amp also responds well to a Digitech RP50, my favorite portable unit. Only thing I miss on this amp is the reverb, which I find very useful to shape low end.

So far it's been great. I would use on stage without backup, which is whzat I always do solo.

No experience with Kustom.

I've played 40 years and have become a small amp freak (I also have a Bassman 100 tube, which is incredible and incredibly heavy). I own several terrific guitars, notably my Reverend Slingshot Customs and Jetstream 390. This amp fills a gap -- I like to use a Microcube on solo gigs, but I found myself in a room that was a little large for that device. If it were lost or stolen I would replace in a shot. I tested against a Tech 21 Trademark 10, which has a great sound, but the speaker couldn't handle bass as well as the Kustom and the unit cost more. If you buy this thing play around with it, and you'll get some great noise. You can find them cheap, because the kiddies don't find it big loud and aggressive enough. If you play blues and classic soul, you will LOVE this box. In the ideal realm, it's not absolute tops. For the bread, it's a great device that enables you to practice and perform on the same gear without breaking your wallet or your back. Nice job, Kustom.

I've owned this little beast for about a year now. I mainly play alternative rock/pop, but also a lot of blues and jazzy stuff. I've only tried it with my Washburn hb30 (hollowbody electric) and the beefy, warm and natural sound of this type of guitar is surprisingly clear through the small 8" celestion speaker. The features aren't exactly plenty, but the high and low tone-knobs delivers a broad palette of sounds - kind of like the old saught after Fenders of the sixties. The gain is juicy and thick, the shift button is a little thin, though, but playing a humbuckered guitar it can be good when cranking it up high, cause' the tone gets a bit more clear, but on lower gain levels I'd say it's more lively without. The design is very classy in it's simplicity with black vinyl cover and sturdy chrome knobs which compliments the classic tone perfectly - if your into astetics.

Guess I described most of this above, hehe.. But the overall sound is very classic tuby and dynamic. Great clean chimes, classic hot overdrive and full out distortion. It simply sings.
With 12 watts and an 8" speaker it's obviously not your nr. 1 gig-amp, but for rehearsing, recording and perhaps smaller gigs, the sound has a lot of character and is very full.
Very versatile, should cover most styles well.

I play it for about an hour every day, and haven't had any trouble yet.

Haven't needed it.

I've been playing on and off for 16 years, I've tried numerous amps of all types and brands and I'd never want to part with this little guy. A reverb would be nice, but hey.. At this price? Go buy a quality reverb pedal and this little monsters' still a steal.

A simple single channel 12 watt tone machine. Has headphone jack and external speaker jack. Tube preamp section with solid state power amp section. A verry good blues sound can be dialed in (see sound below).

Stock it sounded good.
Humbuckers will drive it to distortion very quickly.
I changed the one tube to a JJ Tubes ECC 81 (less gain).
This warmed up the overdrive and cut the noise. Made the range more usable and cleaner. Great for blues.
I have a home built "detuned" cab with a V10 speaker. Plug that into the external jack and you will look look for the Volume control to turn it down! The little 8inch speaker sounds good, but it is a real eye openter with an external speaker or half stack! Yes half stack.

In two years I changed the tube only because I wanted to try something new.

Haven't used them.

I am a 58 year old hobby player with 3 amps (Peavey classic 100 & half stack, Fender Frontman 25R) and 8 guitars. This is perfect to take on vacation or play late at night. I would have to replace it if it was stolen.

good features for the price.....frequency shift aint fantastic , better left out in my opinion. Speaker out, option is great....plug this through a cab' and wooooooooooo !!!!

Amazing !!!!! bought for #69 and its easily on par with small Fenders.

Clean its 10 outa 10...

Dirty its 9 outa 10... as it can muddy up a bit with everything on full but hey ! who cares at this price.....

can't comment as I've only had it a week ! but it certainly looks sturdy enough for the money. Valve is protected , all okay to me....

can't comment...no prob's here...

Fantastic........at this price...........Buy one Now !!!

this is a addition to a review that i posted earlier.

even better now!!! please read below...

hopefully better now

dont know

the amp sounds really good and expensive in the clear mode. but when i turned it up beyond half volume something rattled badly and destroyed the tone. so i took the amp apart. i threw away teh cover of the tube, put a jj-tube in and glued the speakerplate to the cassis. then i put glue on the bolts and rebolted. i put screw-glue to the bolts of the speaker as well. now the rattle has stopped and the amp sounds raelly, really good and tuby! kosted me euro 20 to do the fixup and it is worth it! only hope the tube will not fall out but i geuss not, because it sticks really firmly....
very satifying job to do. makes you feel like a real amp-freak ;^)

basic 12W amp about 2003/4 vintage
1 input channel
GAIN switch which basically gives the first op-amp stage either variable gain (0 to say 100 via GAIN pot) when pushed in or leaves it in unity gain (when out & GAIN pot does nothing)
1st half of ECC83 dual triode (gain approx 20 ish) is driven by this first op amp and the output of this first triode drives 2 pairs of back to back 1n4148 diodes (HARD clipping) which are sitched in when the GAIN switch is IN.

this then feeds the tone control LOW & HIGH - another push button called the "SHIFT" button changes the frequencies affected.... and then on to the second triode (gain approx 20 ish) which feeds into a second op-amp stage (gain approx 0.5) and on into the power amp chip

Original state it will have a clean sound which is fine and a rather crass heavy distortion

I mod'ed mine to have the diode's altered in terms of types (germanium / silicon / LED / FET diode) and have the ability to switch them in and out of circuit when GAIN is selected

Now I have the ability to get the naughty distortion as well as more subtle and NO clipping when the GAIN button is depressed

I also added a bypass cap on the cathode resistor of the second stage triode that is 100nF that is switched in and out by the SHIFT butoons unused othet half - this gives a boost in gain with rising frequency above about 1kHz

NOW the little brute sounds like it should have - to my ears

It is simple and well made - not really a brick Sh*thouse but sturdy enough for any "normal" practice scenario

I think it fine - apart from the mains transformer gets a bit warm but that's it


I have managed to tweak it and still ahven't blown anything and I HAVEN'T FINISHED YET!!!!

good

good website

I like this amp as it gives the tweaker ample opportunity to fiddle as it is a conventional pcb no SMD and it is easy to see what's going on.

BAD point is the original GAIN switch set up.... I dont like the fact there is no gain control when its not pressed.

In original state it is good clean but distortion is too heavy handed
Don't mess with the tube / valve just mess with the diode in the clipping section (or get someone who knows what they're doing to do it!!)

mod it and you will get a really funky little amp for a few pennies more than you pay - albeit at the expense of voiding the warranty , so maybe wait a year!!

Unprecedented (I think) in the category of hundred dollar practice amps. High and Low gain Channels, Boost/Voicing control, High/Low Tone, Mater Volume, headphone jack, line out jack, and here comes the killer..... Extension Speaker Jack (More on that later)

I have used this amp in 3 possible configurations. First, as a stand alone practice amp. The clean sound is warm and full, the overdriven sound is full and harmonically rich, the tone controls are very dynamic on both channels. With its little 8 inch speaker you won't be deafening anyone and will not knock the plaster off the walls. Furthermore, the speaker is really solidly constructed and I got no buzzing or distorting from driving it at maximum power.
Next, I have used two different extension speakers with it, one a single 12 inch Jensen, that begins to open the amp up quite a bit, and the other a 2x15 celestion loaded cabinet, and that was really cool. There was a substantial volume boost with either of these configurations, enough to be heard at a reasonable practice against my drummer and fellow guitarist.
The last configuration, using the line out jack and bypassing the power section alltogether, makes this little guy shine even more. Now it functions as a tube pre-amp, and it does this job very, very well. I ran it into a 85 watt solid-state Fender on the clean channel. Now, I love Fender amps, but their solid state distortion just hurts my ears as one of the ugliest sounds ever. The Kustom warmed that amp up so nicely. The clean channel went from pure solid-state steriliy to the much warmer and open tube sound. With the Kustom on its overdrive channel running into the clean Fender channel, I had one of the nicest sounds ever attained to my ears.
I know I have given this a stellar review, and perhaps a little biased from my style of playing. Our band is and alterna-country-pop-rock outfit in the styles of Material Issue, The Gear Daddies, Soul Asylum, and The Replacements. We are a song-driven band, not a gear or musicianship driven one. (Nonetheless, we ran a 70's Les PaulSG, a Harmony 335 copy, and an Alvarez Telecaster copy through this and got exactly the sounds we wanted). Guitars normally take a backseat to the singer, but low overdrive with enough 'poke' to stand out for an occasional solo and Kustom delivered perfectly.
I use this amp interchangeably against an all tube Fender Princeton Reverb and a Real-Tube overdrive pedal.... I say this amp stands up more than adequately against a rig at six times the price..... that takes balls. For Jazz, Blues, Rock, and Country, can't be beat...... Beware metal heads, though, this amp is probably not for you.

At the store where I bought it, the salesman dismantled one for me before I bought it. Inside, we found a neat little circuit board mounted very securely to the chassis, with basically no glaring flaws in its design. No extra wires, nothing loose, and just about nothing to come loose. The tube was very secure and had a protective sleeve over it. Very nicely made. The cabinet was very well put together, glued and screwed tightly, no gaps anywhere. Regardless of country of origin, top-notch construction.

It has survived some heavy practicing with zero glitches, I'd gig with it without a backup.

I can't give a rating yet, but Kustom is coming around as a company, and had the balls to put out this little gem, I just hope they live up to the standards they've set here.

For the price, it simply can't be beat. For twice the price it would still be a heck of a deal, and Fender put out a killer little amp like this guy for three hundred, which i thought was getting into the spendy range for what it is (A super cool tube hybrid amp, but alas just too small to justify a higher price). I said everything I could say above. I just love it.

This is a pretty basic practice tube amp with simple tone controls, etc. It's the first amp I've ever owned, because I had just bought an electric to play around with. All of my prior experience on guitars has been with steel strings and classicals. But I didn't feel I needed a slew of features, because I just wanted to play some bluesy and jazzy things on it with clean tones. The guy at the music store said this would be just right. Other than that, I did no research.

I'm playing a Squier Standard Tele with flatwound strings through the neck pickup with the treble rolled all the way back; the classic Tele jazz sound. I play it strictly for my own pleasure in a small 4 season porch; a tiny little room. My playing is way not ready for public consumption. When it works OK (more on that later) it sounds rich and smooth and creamy. Yummy. If that were as far as it went, it would be great. Unfortunately, the amp has resonance problem. Many times you up the volume even a little bit (I'm not talking real loud here; this is a small space), you get a REALLY irritating buzz beginning about at C on the 5th string up to E/F. It drives me nuts. That's why I give it a low rating on sound. I'm a reformed audiophile and former audio writer, so I can't tolerate a flaw like this. Like fingernails on a blackboard.

See resonance problem above. Other than that it's reliable. It turns on, plays, turns off; the controls work.

I just don't want to mess with warranty service, so I haven't tried to deal with the company.

I've been playing a couple of years. My other guitars are a Larrivee OM and a Hohner cheapie. If I could live with the buzz, I suppose this would be a decent little amp. But I don't think I care to. I'm planning on selling it and getting another amp, probably a Roland Cube 30. If I can't sell it, off it goes to Goodwill. Needless to say, I wouldn't buy it again.

Pretty basic stuff, there's a button to switch between clean/boost channels, & a mid-boost button. Gain, low, high, & volume knobs, that's about it. For $95.00, that's sufficient, I guess.

I just got it yesterday, I tried it w/ my guitar straight in at first, the clean channel was fairly warm, the boost channel had a decent amount of overdrive, good for hard-rock type rhythm sounds...Then I ran my new V-Stack pedal (very cool pedal!) through it, after a little experimenting, I got a pretty good lead tone by mixing the boost from the pedal w/ the amp distortion. I ran it through my Marshall 4x12, it had a surprising amount of bottom end, it also sounded pretty good through a Marshall mini-stack cab w/ a 10" Celestion in it. I'm not too crazy about the 8" speaker that's in it, but most 8" speakers aren't going to sound good in a guitar amp, I don't think...One note, I bought this on eBay, the guy that I got it from had changed the tube to a Sovtek 12AX7LPS, so mine is NOT stock, from reading the other reviews, the stock tube might be less good-sounding. Rating takes into account that this is a $95.00 practice amp, don't expect it to be the tone of the gods, but it sounds a whole lot better than my Marshall MG piece of crap, pretty damn good for the price!!!

I've had it for one day, so I don't have much to go on...Seems well-built enough, I guess....I probably wouldn't use this on a gig, it's more for my home use, although it sounds pretty damn good...

Don't know...

Been playing seriously for about 28 years, I have a variety of Marshall amps, both tube & solid-state, I bought this one to have a small tube-based practice amp, & possibly for recording use...For this amount of money, can't beat it!!

Bought it new USD 99 shipped at geartree.com .. ... low and high knob ... gain knob .. gain on/off button .. mid shift button on/off ... unfortunately theres no reverb or effects loop ... its quite loud ... the only weakness is the speaker is too small .. no good for bass ..

I used Gibson Les Paul classic .... switched the stock tube with Sovtek 12AX7LPS ... turn off the mid shift ... low and high knob at 1 oclock ..
gain knob at 3 oclock..turn on gain button ... turn on the amp for 5 minutes to heat up the tube .. and bam! .. i got a very good tone that suits my rock style ... good sustain ... good overdrive tone .. it would sound a lot better in a bigger speaker ... this is truly what i call a practise amp ... if u can play it good with this amp .. u got no problem when gigging with bigger and better amp .. the best practise amp u will ever get at this price. With better speaker .. this amp will rock as long as you dont turn the volume till the output transistor clipping occur .. basically this amp will kick any cheap solid-state ass out there .. including Marshall MG series (pure SS) ..

i didnt break so far .. but this is definitely not to be used for gigging .. bc its a practise amp .. sheesh .. it doesnt look sturdy enough for gigging ..

no problem so far

I have been playing for 7 years .. started playing seriously since 3 years ago. I play most rock music ... i like high gain sound of tube and this amp gave me that ....

This is a very basic amp - similar to the tube-driven Fender Champ in sound and functions except that this has a push button option of distortion. As mentioned in the other reviews, this has a line-out, headphone jack, and extention speaker jack. The claim of 12 watts seems legitimate

The amp reminds me a lot of the Fender Champ - it is musical and rich in tone, though with a warmer tone and less bite than the Champ ( I had one for years and can compare them competently) The amp is better suited to single-coils or hot sounding pickups. My hot-rodded Telecaster sounds great through it, my Les Paul Custom less so, unless I'm looking for a warm sound. The amp is quiet, the clean channel is responsive to changes in your guitar's volume control level. When maxed out the clean channel has a pleasant edge - just the start of breakup. The distorted channel does not have much character - a generic solid state distortion sound.
The amp is fine for country, blues, and mainstream 60's-70's rock (think of CCR/Bad Finder or contemporary retro-bands like the Strokes or Jet). As long as you're not in pursuit of heavily saturated distortion, this amp sounds great and responds well to pedals. I would be curious to hear it with a small p.a. speaker under it as an extension speaker. Kustome sells a 10" cabinet and the presence of the horn might add enough bite to make my Les Paul sound better through the amp than it currently does.

I've had it for six months and have had no problems. It's not loud enough to play live with unless you used the line-out feature, used it as part of an A/B/Y stereo rig (which I might do for smaller gigs) so I haven't pushed it hard for hours as you want on a working stage.

I've been playing for 37 years and, not surprisingly, have owned and played through a wide variety of gear.I own quality Fender, Vox, and Traynor tube amps. Keeping in mind the tonal limitations it has, the Kustom needn't be embarrassed to be in the company it keeps. I would buy another one, if stolen, and think two of them would sound great together with a stereo chorus or flanger and would have enough volume and depth for those who perform in church. It could be improved with on-board reverb, a channel switching pedal, and a bright/presence knob/switch. I don't hate anything about it and feel like I got a great deal by finding it in like-new condition for such a low price. Even if you pay the retail price an amp with tube richness in the preamp section and sonic depth in the overall tone is a fine deal. It also weighs very little, takes up little space, and is great for carrying around in your vehicle.
I haven't recorded with it yet but expect it to sound very good.

it is a chinese made tubeamp. bass+ treble-control. a midbooster and a gain-pushbuttom. that is about it. i has one tube. a musician friend recommended it to me, because i was looking for a home-amp. ordered my wife to get it for me as a birthday-present. i could not be much happier, because the amp sound really good and has all the features i need. plus it has really ccol looking telecaster-style control-knobs! considering the price, one can give it nor less than a solid nine.

now comes the best part of the little amp: the sound. it is really, really tubish and versatile. the clean-channel is rich and harmonic and the distortion can be tweaked to ones need. i use it with lapsteel guitars and it gives me that lindley-sound no problems. strats sound great with the amp. i play it with a boss vb-2 vibrato and it sounds open and free. i woul use it live with an acoustic band but not wit a loud rock outfit. the little celestion speaker sounds really authentic. i can tell, because i have another souped up bluejunio-tubeamp with a celestion vintage 30 speaker. for roots/folkrock/classicrock/blues-players like me, who are looking for a good cheap amp to have a great sound at home, in coffeeshops or at parties, i cannot think of a much better amp for the price. i compared it to other little voxes, marshalls and fenders, they cannot touch it!

seems well made, all knobs go softly. is light, so you can handle it with care.

no idea.....

i ca n ot recommend it highly enough! thanks to my friend i found this little piece of art. kustom is totally unknown among guitarplayers in germany, which is too bad. anyone should have one, it sounds just great and is really inexpensive.

Ive had it for about a year and a half and Ive had no problems whatsoever. Nice and cheap for a tube amp, and I play blues and classic rock mainly. 2 channels. I like simple amps without a lot of unneeded features and this one is good. Good for band practices, never tried to gig with it. The variety of features work for ME.

i use an epi sg and an epiphone joe pass signature model. The clean holds very well, and sounds good. I dont like the distortion because its over the top for what I play, it would surely cater to the tastes of a metal guitarist in terms of rough rhythm and cutting lead. Both channels can get real loud. I really like the clean channel. The low and hi knobs are very responsive.

never had any problems... but i take good care of my amps.

none needed

Ive only been playing for 2 years, but i get in as much practice as possible. Ive played many amps, my circle of friends are experienced musicians with tonnes of gear and I feel at home with this amps clean tones. Again, dist. is harsh for my styles. Good investment for practices.

I just purchased this amp from Musician's Friend the end of February. As stated in the previous report Kustom has added a line out and external speaker jack to this combo. It has a clean channel and a gain channel. It would be nice if it had a touch of reverb and maybe a footswitch to change the channels. But for what it is, you can't beat the price. It is 12 LOUD watts!! The tube preamp has a 12AX7 tube and solid state power section. It is built pretty well, small, and light weight.

I play a Carvin TL60 with ms22 p/u. The clean channel is really nice considering it only has a 8 inch speaker. The gain side to me is a little to distorted. It's not a clean distortion but a rough distortion. I am going to put a 12AX7R in it to clean it up a little. I ran my Digitech RP300 through it at my bands practice one night and you should have seen the looks on their faces when I started jamming on this thing. I hooked it into my 2X12 Carvin cabinet and you should have seen the look on my face when I started playing. This little amp has some potential. It does need alittle better 8 inch speaker and some are suggested below by guys who I think know what their talking about. When I put it through the PA system via the line out it had a little noise but again to my suprise it sounded really good. It has really good pick dynamics too. I'm rating this amp a nine for the following reasons, for a $80.00 dollar tube amp you really can't beat the sound. Also you can add an external cabinet, and run it through the line out to the PA and have a very good setup for the price.

I bought this amp for practice. I have a Carvin SX200 and Behringer GX212 amp for live applications. But if either of these other two amps were not available to me I would hook it up my 2X12 cabinet, run it through the PA and use it. Kustom has been around for a long time. I looked at the circuitry and it looks to be very well assembled. Nice and clean.

Haven't had to deal with Kustom service people.

I've been playing guitar for over 35 years. Like many other musicians I have owned alot of guitars and amps, both solid state and tube. Personally I think solid state amp technology has came along way over the years. Kustom has stepped out and put this little tube/solid state amp on the market for those of us who can't really afford the high price of tube amps. If this little unit was stolen I would get me another one. Just because an amp don't cost $500.00 and have some major name on it dosen't mean it can't sound good. I think you will be pleasantly suprised if you get one too!!