Kustom Amps

[mayfly]

My latest thing is that I've become obsessed with Kustom amps.  Not the latest batch that have the Kustom name and not much else, but the tuck and roll monsters with the 15" speakers from the 60's and 70's.

Part of what drives my obsession is footage like this:

[youtube]plj82F4kY7o[/youtube]

Now that's pretty kick ass guitar tone.

The other part of what drives my obsession is that these things were solid state!  In fact they used mostly BJTs!  How the hell can a solid state amp sound like that - and one made in the 60s to boot?

I gotta find out more.  Maybe make one. 

For the group:  Anyone have experience with these things?  Anyone actually have one?

 

[Tonar8352]

My good buddy Ron from Uncle Spot Amps has a warehouse full of them. One of the best speaker cabinets I ever ran my Brownie Super through was a Kustom bass cab loaded with one 15" JBL and two 10's.  Oh my!

What would you like to know.

By the way the tremolo circuit in the ones I have play is AMAZING.

 

[DarkPenguin]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aRqIH5sJmTY[/youtube]

Goddamned editor links do not work on Edge and I don't have flash installed for firefox.  Bah!  Anywho, I knew Uncle Doug did a video on it.  I don't remember how deep he went into the amps but there you go.

 

[sixstringsamurai]

I had a Current production 36 coupe for a few years before I went half stack.
It would keep pace with a twin reverb with no issues, and was really great in the studio.
So I would not discount them completely.

Although I do understand the obsession, as when I took lessons in the 80's these were the amps used.
Big tall and sparkly tuck and roll all over  :headbang1:

 

[mayfly]

My good buddy Ron from Uncle Spot Amps has a warehouse full of them. One of the best speaker cabinets I ever ran my Brownie Super through was a Kustom bass cab loaded with one 15" JBL and two 10's.  Oh my!

What would you like to know.

By the way the tremolo circuit in the ones I have play is AMAZING.

Hi Greg,

Do you recall what the overdrive sound was like?  Did the amp pretty much stay clean?  How noisy was it?  Is Ron interested in selling one?

 

[Tonar8352]

Mostly I remember the tremolo. 

Check your PM.

 

[fdesalvo]

My good buddy Ron from Uncle Spot Amps.

Hey, I know that guy!

Best thing about those Kustoms is you can sleep on em.

 

[ChristopherG]

When I was a kid my Dad had a tuck and roll kustom combo with reverb tank. 2 x 12. Heavy. As. F@#$.

Pardon the necro-bump.

 

[dmraco]

Great video mayfly.  I have heard some killer Kustoms.  Great amps.

Btw...the only thing funnier than John Fogarty's haircut was his white guitar cable coil

 

[Glimmer]

Great video mayfly.  I have heard some killer Kustoms.  Great amps.

Btw...the only thing funnier than John Fogarty's haircut was his white guitar cable coil

Yeah, kinda reminds me of:

[youtube]_QNEf9oGw8o[/youtube]

(The hair, not the cable.)

:icon_jokercolor: