Thread: My Vintage Amps
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My Vintage Amps
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Default My Vintage Amps - 05-23-2008, 08:43 AM

I guess this coulda gone in amps also, but since I saw some other posts in "vintage" about amps, I decided to put this here. It's been slow in the forums of late, so I'm'a list my vintage amps (such as they are-- don't nobody expect anything rare, expensive, or collectable!), tell you a little about each one and how I came to acquire it (and for how much!), and entertain any questions you may have about any of them.

I'll start with my first "real" amp, a '60's Kustom 100, made at the Kustom plant in Chanute , Kansas. I actually saw this amp in a shop window from a moving car! This is a 100W solid state amp with Kustom's famous "tuck-and-roll" vinyl coloring. The vinyl on this'un is in the color that Kustom called "Cascade," which is a sort of aqua or turquoise color. This is a "metalflake" vinyl with little shiny bits inside that make it sparkle and gleam under lights.

The controls on the amp are as follows: to the left side are the main controls, Volume, Bass, Treble, and a High and Low input. In the center is a purple status gem light. To the right are the effects controls: Reverb, and, for the tremelo, Depth and Speed. There's also an input for a foot switch, but I've never had the footswitch for the amp. I'm guessing it'd be a 2-button type, with one for trem on/off and on for reverb on/off. If it's a one-button, it'd probably just turn the tremelo on/off. I'm not a big effects guy anyhow. But the effects work fine, you can get real surfy sounds with the spring reverb (just make SURE the amp is off before you move it though, or you'll hear a DEAFENING crash from the spring movement inside if the amp is moved or bumped), and the tremelo can get you that Tommy James & the Shondells "Crimson and Clover" note quaver.

Here's a pic from Kustom's catalog:



Note that the above picture has two jacks to the right side. Not sure what they are, as mine only has one, for the footswitch.

More about the speaker cab, and how I acquired and have used this amp, in subsequent posts.
  
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