Quickly! Someone give me a good reason not to buy a Cornford Harlequin at £350

ourmaninthenorth

richardhomer said:

I played one when they first came out, after reading a rave review in Guitarist. It convinced me the reviewer was deaf....

Same here... I had the choice between a Cornford or one of those little Soldano Astroverb thingy's..., and bought the bloody Cornford, much to the surprise (and mirth) of the guys in the shop. Soon sorted it out though, went back a month later and swapped it...for a bleedin Carrera...I am a very very slow learner....When that one was through the door in quick order, I went back to the shop and bought a Matchless..which some wag at the time commented.." glad to see you've finally stopped pissing about..." 

The only thing I've become convinced of since is that I must have been temporarily deaf, or daft...never can quite tell most of the time. 

frankus

How does this new "let's not be mean to people" thing work?

If this was Joe B or Joe S this'd be closed by now, but since it's Paul C (not @PaulC) it's okay cos everyone's agreed he was a bad sort?

I'd like a Hurricane, but I've got a Twin and a Romany atm so I kinda have all the sounds covered

CHrisP86

Would be interesting to know if the difference came down to who was doing the building. Even early on I'm guessing Martin Kidd didn't make every amp that left the factory.

I also don't think the cornford amps were the same post factory fire when they were built by a third party.

Might be wrong but with a hand wired amp there must be some variation between builds of the same circuit.

ICBM

ourmaninthenorth said:

Same here... I had the choice between a Cornford or one of those little Soldano Astroverb thingy's..., and bought the bloody Cornford

In the interests of balance, the Astroverb is shit too, so you didn't do as badly as if you'd spent even more on that .

Also an amp with the wrong speaker - a friend of mine had one, which sounded in an entirely different league when we put a G12H-30 in it instead of the stock Eminence Legend… merely not very good, as opposed to terrible .

ourmaninthenorth

ICBM said:

ourmaninthenorth said:

Same here... I had the choice between a Cornford or one of those little Soldano Astroverb thingy's..., and bought the bloody Cornford

In the interests of balance, the Astroverb is shit too, so you didn't do as badly as if you'd spent even more on that .

Also an amp with the wrong speaker - a friend of mine had one, which sounded in an entirely different league when we put a G12H-30 in it instead of the stock Eminence Legend… merely not very good, as opposed to terrible .

Phew, another lucky escape..!! 

The one constant in all this though is I can make any amp sound like shite... I'm naturally talented in that way. 

:-\"

jpfamps

CHrisP86 said:

Would be interesting to know if the difference came down to who was doing the building. Even early on I'm guessing Martin Kidd didn't make every amp that left the factory.

I also don't think the cornford amps were the same post factory fire when they were built by a third party.

Might be wrong but with a hand wired amp there must be some variation between builds of the same circuit.

The last Cornfords were made by Straight Edge Manufacturing, who incidentally have and do make many UK amps, including, as far as I am aware, Victory amps.

ThePrettyDamned

jpfamps;833603" said:

CHrisP86 said:

Would be interesting to know if the difference came down to who was doing the building. Even early on I'm guessing Martin Kidd didn't make every amp that left the factory.



I also don't think the cornford amps were the same post factory fire when they were built by a third party.



Might be wrong but with a hand wired amp there must be some variation between builds of the same circuit.





The last Cornfords were made by Straight Edge Manufacturing, who incidentally have and do make many UK amps, including, as far as I am aware, Victory amps.

Did they make the mk models? They were good, very heavy sounding and big sounding. Good riff amp for heavy rock.

CHrisP86

Not saying straight edge are bad, obviously not as they make lots of amplifiers. The cornfords they made definitely sounded darker to me though.

Also just musing over whether two people with the same/similar set of components would end up with the same sounding amp or if building technique affects the tone.

Gadget

Production of both the MK50 and MK50 II started at Cornford Whitstable and latterly moved to Straight Edge.

ICBM

CHrisP86 said:

Also just musing over whether two people with the same/similar set of components would end up with the same sounding amp or if building technique affects the tone.

Not that much. The main reason the amp sounds the way it does is the circuit design.

johnonguitar

Those recordings that Guthrie done years ago, the Larry Carlton and Robben Ford etc jam track ones... I'm sure those were a Hellcat with a treble booster in front. I always used to think it was a Harlequin

monquixote

Necro bump.

Tried one of these today and actually thought it sounded alright.

That said I was using a very mid focussed blues rock type sound and I was also playing a custom shop Strat so that probably helped

Stevepage

Quite surprised to see peoples opinions on cornford. 

I thought they were all the rage a while ago.

I had a Harlequin for a short time and I quite liked it. Never thought about getting another one though. 

I did love the Carrera I played through with a stock USA Tele. One of the best tones I've ever achieved.

Evildurka

Stevepage said:

Quite surprised to see peoples opinions on cornford. 

I thought they were all the rage a while ago.

I had a Harlequin for a short time and I quite liked it. Never thought about getting another one though. 

I did love the Carrera I played through with a stock USA Tele. One of the best tones I've ever achieved.

opinions are like arsehoes in that everyone has one. I have never had or played a cornford but I do love victory amps which  I have owned several of.

hotpickups

I used to have a hurricane. It was my first real proper boutique amp I loved it but not as much as the Hellcat following it. If it wasn’t for the fact that the hellcat combo was so heavy I probably still have it....... probably

sweepy

Amps are weird things, we all thankfully have different tastes in what makes a good sounding amp. To my ears I have yet to hear a Victory amp that made me want to go and buy them, the ones I've tried seemed as harsh and gritty as JCM800's and just didn't float my boat at all . As with most gear, go and try it out, if it works for you then that's awesome and when it comes down to it, that's all that matters

TheBigDipper

I still own a Harlequin and play it at home. I can't get a Fender clean out of it, but there's a nice 'neutral' clean at low pre-amp settings. Not as sparkly as the Hurricane I regret selling. The rock tones are good. There's a lot inside it if you can be bothered to try and find it. 

tone1

I’ve owned a Harly and the Carrera and thought both were ok until I tried something with proper top and bottom end. They both missed that proper low end thump. 

57Deluxe

...that the world may end tomorrow and the new valves for its revalve won't turn up in time??

crunchman

I didn't like the Harlequin at all when I tried it.  The Hurricane was a lot better.  With a better speaker than a V30, the Hurricane might actually have been quite good.

If anyone wants a 5W amp, the VHT Special 6 is a lot better sounding than the Harlequin.  I've got one (head version) I've been looking to sell if anyone is interested.