Cornford or Cornell???

flyingv

Looking for a small combo' for home use only, so neighbour friendly' sorta and am really gassing for either a Cornford Harequin ? a Carrera ? or a Cornell Plexi 7? I know the Cornfords can get the tones I'm after ( thin lizzy , classic Rock ) off the bat a lower levels, due to having the master volume, but like the idea of the power clipping with the plexi? In anyone's experience with the latter? Do you still need to play it at a sizeable volume to achieve those type of tones??? Ta.

hotpickups

Both are great amps. I loved my Cornford Hurricane when I had one. Probably more useful than the Harlequin IMO. There's one in the classifieds going

Cacofonix

Hurricane every time for my money. Super sounding even at lower levels.

I spent months researching before I got mine. I never really liked the Harlequin.

Not auditioned the lower wattage Cornells (not that I remember anyway).

ChrisCox1994

hurricane sounds *great* at any volume, buy mine

Fretwired

I had a Harlequin .. great sounding amp but it needs pushing and it is loud - 6 watts into a proper-sized cabinet and 12" speaker.

flyingv

@FretwIred so even with the master vol at low levels the Harlequin struggles?
@ChrisCox1994 I know it's not massively powered' but didn't really need the extra power, for tinkering indoors?

flyingv

@hotpickups
@Cacoponix
Thanks for the comments

ChrisCox1994

The hurricane definitely has a different bigger vibe about it compared to a harlequin I played and a blackstar ht5 I owned, even at low volumes, does that thin lizzy tone bang on with an LP. The master does exactly what its supposed to do I suppose, I'm only selling as I prefer the suhr badger as its a head, but even that I rarely use the power scaling and just use the master volume (another good master volume) for home use (not loud)

Fretwired

flyingv said:

@FretwIred so even with the master vol at low levels the Harlequin struggles?

It depends on your house .. I'd say to get a good rock tone you need to drive the amp and the speaker which means it can get pretty loud in a confined space. Gorgeous tone though no usable clean tones.

DaiCapp

I had a harlequin and have a plexi 7 (12inch speaker version). The Harlequin was lovely and a bit of a bargain if you can find one but the plexi with it's built in attenuator is a touck more flexible and sounds amazing. Worth checking the Romany too if you like the more Fender type sound... If you like really natural sounding amps have a look at Dr Z Carmen Ghia. It's a loud 18watts mind...

flyingv

DaiCapp said:

I had a harlequin and have a plexi 7 (12inch speaker version). The Harlequin was lovely and a bit of a bargain if you can find one but the plexi with it's built in attenuator is a touck more flexible and sounds amazing. Worth checking the Romany too if you like the more Fender type sound... If you like really natural sounding amps have a look at Dr Z Carmen Ghia. It's a loud 18watts mind...

Is the Plexi  a (comfortable volume ) even at the lowest power setting when fully driven?

jpfamps

In my opinion Cornells are much better built than Cornfords. I also prefer their sound, although of course this is subjective.

Cornell in my experience give very good after sales service, and as they are still trading this would another plus in their favour cf Cornford.

SidNewton

jpfamps said:

In my opinion Cornells are much better built than Cornfords. I also prefer their sound, although of course this is subjective.

Cornell in my experience give very good after sales service, and as they are still trading this would another plus in their favour cf Cornford.

This is definitely the case. I bought a Cornell Romany Plus from Coda Music a few years ago. It was supposed to be ex demo but they'd sold that the day before and hadn't updated their website so, to their credit, they let me have a brand new one for the price of the ex demo.

When it arrived it had a slight cosmetic flaw. I contacted Denis direct and he sent me a replacement and arranged collection of the other one. He didn't have to do that. I've had contact with him a few times since and he's always very generous with his time and advice.

PS Fantastic amp.

flyingv

@jpfamps @SidNewton The BIG issue I have with Cornford amps ( only from what I've read ) is their after sales service? Not very good by all accounts, where as Denis Cornell' a totally different rep' Plus his only about 15 mile away from where I live!

jpfamps

flyingv said:

@jpfamps @SidNewton The BIG issue I have with Cornford amps ( only from what I've read ) is their after sales service? 

It'll be non-existent now!

flyingv

Another question with regards to the power scaling? The older amps had a three stage attenuator' where as the newer models have four?? Is there a reason for that? Or is it like Nigel Tuffnels Marshall, that goes all the way up to eleven!

flyingv

jpfamps said:

flyingv said:

@jpfamps @SidNewton The BIG issue I have with Cornford amps ( only from what I've read ) is their after sales service? 

It'll be non-existent now!

Have Cornford completely folded now?

jpfamps

flyingv said:

jpfamps said:

flyingv said:

@jpfamps @SidNewton The BIG issue I have with Cornford amps ( only from what I've read ) is their after sales service? 

It'll be non-existent now!

Have Cornford completely folded now?

For a few years now.

DaiCapp

flyingv said:

DaiCapp said:

I had a harlequin and have a plexi 7 (12inch speaker version). The Harlequin was lovely and a bit of a bargain if you can find one but the plexi with it's built in attenuator is a touck more flexible and sounds amazing. Worth checking the Romany too if you like the more Fender type sound... If you like really natural sounding amps have a look at Dr Z Carmen Ghia. It's a loud 18watts mind...

Is the Plexi  a (comfortable volume ) even at the lowest power setting when fully driven?

Definitely - It's my main home amp and can easily get to break up at home volumes. It's a really good bit of kit...

notonlybutalso

I am currently playing a Cornford Roadhouse 30 combo, great tones at any volume, even with the gain cranked to full you can take the master volume up to nearly half without killing small birds and rodents