studio series 4 valve [message #17756] |
Tue, 27 November 2012 13:28 |
chris 23
Messages: 2 Registered: November 2012 Location: florida
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Junior Member |
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Hello peeps my name is Chris I am a proud new owner of a Kustom studio 4 valve amp and I am not sure if I have a very good amp or an old piece of not so good furniture. I was just wondering what this thing may be worth? I got it from a guy and it sat in his closet for at least 9yrs he said and with a cover that was made for it, this amp is solid oak and is in premo condition and sounds amazing, I have owned an original 65 twin reverb and would out this thing in it's class. The pots don't even scratch when they are turned it is pretty unbelievable. So if you have any insight please let me know. oh and it did not have the footswitch.
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Re: studio series 4 valve [message #17768 is a reply to message #17756] |
Thu, 29 November 2012 07:06 |
stevem
Messages: 4772 Registered: June 2004 Location: NY
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Senior Member |
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Your original twin is a great and valuable amp, and if it still has its original tubes in it they sound far better than late manufacture the tubes used in the kustom!
Also if your twin is orignal so are its power supply filter caps and preamp electrolytic caps. You can be sure that atleast 3 or the 5 power supply filters have, or are well on the way south and need to be replaced!
I would get it checked out so it keeps sounding good and does not start to blow fuses on you, and of course this maylay always starts at a important gig and not at home!
[Updated on: Thu, 29 November 2012 07:07] Report message to a moderator
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Re: studio series 4 valve [message #18075 is a reply to message #17768] |
Mon, 21 January 2013 13:01 |
PxDxBx
Messages: 11 Registered: December 2012
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Junior Member |
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I know this is kind of an old post, but this is an extremely well built amp. I've had this amp completely apart. The jacks are all Switchcraft. The front panel pots are high quality an showed little (if any) wear. The PCBs are nice and thick. Heavy duty interconnects. Accutronics reverb tank. This amp is built like a tank. I put some money into rebuilding it to my specs. Some would say that I'll never get my money back out of it, because it's an odd hybrid and they're not popular (mostly because they're so rare). That's not an issue for me, because it's not for sale. I get to keep my money in the sum of the parts. I'll keep it till it goes up in flames. They REALLY don't make em like this any more. Kustom was onto something here and it would have been interesting to see what would have come of it had they decided to continue the line. Great amp!
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Re: studio series 4 valve [message #18086 is a reply to message #18084] |
Wed, 23 January 2013 21:36 |
PxDxBx
Messages: 11 Registered: December 2012
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Junior Member |
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In the 100W version of this amp, the push-pull pairing of the valves is staggered. If the sockets are numbered 1-2-3-4 from left to right, 1 is paired with 3 and 2 is paired with 4. The low input is on 1&3 and the high input is on 2&4. If you want to try running it on 2 tubes, I would suggest sockets 1&3 (though I'm not entirely sure how well it will be matched with the output transformer).
I considered doing this when I built mine (to get a little more adjustment on the master volume), but I opted to build it with all 4, because that was the way it was engineered with the factory transformer. When my cathode resistors burned up, it was basically running on 1&3 (resistors on 2&4 burned open). It sounded OK. I didn't know there was anything wrong until, took it apart to fix the solder joints on the ch2 pot. That's when I found little chunks of carbon in the bottom under the socket PCB. If you're not overly concerned with output matching, it will run this way.
[Updated on: Wed, 23 January 2013 21:51] Report message to a moderator
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