If yall can't tell from alot of my posts ... im a Flea Market Junkie. There's such good stuff in there for next to nothing. I find tons of great stuff there all the time.
Anyways Yesterday I Found Kustom 12A Amp. Sitting on a Table amongst a few other SS amps, some old 80s home stereo equipment, tape decks .. etc, a few turntables, and a few other random electronics nobody wants. But there it sat .... Adorned with Purple Duct Tape ... just begging to be overlooked. And at first i did, but on second glance and after reading the back, i noticed it had a tube preamp.
It has a 12AX7 Preamp and a Solid State Power Stage. Controls are Gain/Bass/Highs/Volume. With a Gain Boost Button similar to that on the VHT. And a "Shift" button, that is a Mid Boost. So it kinda sounds like a Brit style amp with it off and more Fenderish with the mid boost.
Anyhow the guy wanted $30 for it, but i beat him down to $20 and got him to throw in this lil realistic mic with a case and cable. I couldn't test it before i bought it, so i just hoped for the best.
I tested it just now and not only does it work,but it sounds SWEET! I can't wait to try it with some pedals. Reverb/delay and even would really like to hear it clean with the harp attack or joyo American pumping the Tone.
The mic was garbage, but i got a case and cable out of the deal. Aswell as a nice mic shell. I like the shape of it. And who knows maybe it can be fixed.
Anyways this amp sounds great! Especially for $20. Ill let you know what i think after a little more time with it, but keep your eye out for one of these suckers on the cheap. Its pretty small, lightweight, nice warm sound, good range of clean to bluesy to crunchy tones. Its pretty nice.
Never know what you ll find at The Dirt Mall !! ----------
Cool, love this kind of stuff. You can adjust the gain with tube swaps. The mid boost should work out well for harp. 20 Bucks!...BN
http://www.musiciansfriend.com/amplifiers-effects/kustom-tube-12a-practice-amp?source=3WWRWXGB&gclid=CI_Fr57PgM0CFUYehgodmcAKow&kwid=19959388920x8011105460x151905500
Last Edited by Barley Nectar on May 29, 2016 6:13 PM
I remember when they came out they were about $100. There was a dicussion on the old Big Road blues board about swapping tube to AY7 to cut the gain
The boost is not very useful for harp
It had a good celestion speaker
It didnt sound bad but was not Fender sounding at all to my ear. More of a Marshall sound- I remember it broke super fast with a bullet type mic and stock tube. Maybe better with a low z mic to get more usable volume
Hey barely buy a bit of dank for that $20 so how can you lose.
Yea haven't had too much time to play with it. So im not really sure about it yet. But yea $20. It has a decent speaker and relatively good sound off the bat.
Why would it break with a bullet. I tend to play with either a Dm13 or a 57 with a xfmr.
And what about it would break? Just the tube? ----------
