Cornford Roadhouse

[dave_mc]

On the other hand I am really close to buying a Cornell Plexi 7 which sounds superb and Cornell say it is due in part to the ptp

I'll be interested to know what you think of it.  I was really keen on buying one but 600-odd quid just seemed too much for such a tiny and essentially limited-use amp.

haven't tried the plexi 7, but the romany plus (their low wattage fender-style amp) was awesome. but as you say, £600 (or closer to £800 in the case of the romany plus) is a lot for a very low wattage amp.

PCB does NOT mean bad construction methods.

i'm not complaining about their moving to PCB, i'm complaining about their using PTP as justification for their extremely high prices, until they decided to use PCBs on their newest range of amps, when suddenly, "it makes no difference!"...

...

my engl is PCB, and i'm not changing it any time soon.

[jpfamps]

Actually Cornford use tag board, which is often wrongly callled PTP. True PTP means that the components are wired directly to the valve sockets etc with minimal tags. Very few amps are truely PTP and making anything more than a simple amp using PTP is very hard. Contrary to popular wisdom repairing PTP amps can be a total nightmare — a well laid out PCB is much easier to work on. Incidentally I don't like tag board construction much either — eyelet or turret board is much easier to work on. Additionally the material used to make tag board, synthetic resin bonded paper, is a poor material for the job as it can absorb moisture and be prone to DC leakage. I have experienced this in amp I've built in the past and no longer use it.

I don't think Cornford's prices are out of line with what you should expect to pay for a hand-wired amp built in the UK. It's labour intensive, requires a lot of skill and you have to pay a proper wage, not a Third World wage. Regardless as I have posted elsewhere, I would agree that Cornford have made a big selling point of the fact their amps contain no PCBs to demonstrate that they are superior to other amps....

Regarding "limited-use amps" — well most of the working, ie professional, musicians I know (and have done work for) use "limited-use amps". Their limited use is in fact their strong point. You can get to a gig, plug in and there's you sound. If you don't like the sound of the amp, you've got the wrong amp. These amps sell on the quality of their sound, not the number of features.

[horsehead]

Lew I've just watched those videos & Guthrie is an a amazing guitarist & at the beginning of those videos he starts off (IMO) very well. The solos is melodic & tasteful, then all of a sudden he just goes off on one. It's like all of a sudden something in his brain goes "I've got to prove I can do lots of amazingly fast things". I don't think anyone can say the guy isn't talented, but he needs to slow down & realise that sometimes playing fast is just that...playing fast.

Still I've always loved Cornfords, I'd like to try one of the Roadhouses first because you can't really tell from the video

[Philly Q]

Regarding "limited-use amps" — well most of the working, ie professional, musicians I know (and have done work for) use "limited-use amps". Their limited use is in fact their strong point. You can get to a gig, plug in and there's you sound. If you don't like the sound of the amp, you've got the wrong amp. These amps sell on the quality of their sound, not the number of features.

Good point, I agree with everything you said.  I really like simple amps, the fewer knobs the better as far as I'm concerned.  They have their own character and, frankly, with less options there's less for me to f*ck up.

But just to clarify, when I referred to the Cornell Plexi 7 as "limited-use", I was talking about the power, not the features.  £645 is a lot of money (IMO) for an amp that would be used essentially as a practice amp - and wouldn't be much use in the very unlikely event that I ever started gigging.  But anyway, I'm still quite tempted to buy one.

[hunter]

Who cares about marketing anyways? It gives us GAS yeah, but in the end, nothing counts anything as long as it sounds good.

Even the price is just to SOME extend cost related. Price is what people are willing to pay, ever heard of Cournot Equilibrium? The more you wanna sell, the lower the price. They have capacity for 6,000 PCB amps a year versus a few 100s PTP. Guess there is much more profit in 6,000 mid priced amps than 300 top priced ones.

So there is marketing truth and there is tone truth. We should not bother and let our ears decide!

[Lew]

Lew I've just watched those videos & Guthrie is an a amazing guitarist & at the beginning of those videos he starts off (IMO) very well. The solos is melodic & tasteful, then all of a sudden he just goes off on one. It's like all of a sudden something in his brain goes "I've got to prove I can do lots of amazingly fast things". I don't think anyone can say the guy isn't talented, but he needs to slow down & realise that sometimes playing fast is just that...playing fast.

Still I've always loved Cornfords, I'd like to try one of the Roadhouses first because you can't really tell from the video

Fair point :)


I am probably going to miss the Cornell, I was going to go with a 2 amp set up but by the time I get the Lehle pedal to switch between them, it will be the same price to get my pedal board sorted and finished.

Anyone selling a strobe tuner? :P

[dave_mc]

Actually Cornford use tag board, which is often wrongly callled PTP. True PTP means that the components are wired directly to the valve sockets etc with minimal tags. Very few amps are truely PTP and making anything more than a simple amp using PTP is very hard.

good point. :)

Regarding "limited-use amps" — well most of the working, ie professional, musicians I know (and have done work for) use "limited-use amps". Their limited use is in fact their strong point. You can get to a gig, plug in and there's you sound. If you don't like the sound of the amp, you've got the wrong amp. These amps sell on the quality of their sound, not the number of features.

if i wanted an amp for only one tone, i'd prefer an amp only aimed at that tone too... they normally do that tone "better" than a jack of all trades...

[Tellboy]

Lew I've just watched those videos & Guthrie is an a amazing guitarist & at the beginning of those videos he starts off (IMO) very well. The solos is melodic & tasteful, then all of a sudden he just goes off on one. It's like all of a sudden something in his brain goes "I've got to prove I can do lots of amazingly fast things". I don't think anyone can say the guy isn't talented, but he needs to slow down & realise that sometimes playing fast is just that...playing fast.

Yes - I read somewhere that he is getting a bit pissed off because a lot of people at his gigs expect him to 'perform' all the time. Perhaps he was trying to make a statement by droppping Cream's 'Crossroads' lick into the solo at the end - as Clapton was in the same situation back in his "God" days and (IMO) lost the edge after that.

Having 2 Cornfords myself and listened a fair bit of Guthrie material I would say that is not a particularly good video and does neither of them any favours.