hmmm...remember kustom amps?

[digi2t]

reverb tone control? funny, i don't remember there being one on any of the kustoms i had...and i've had a bunch over the years!!

You can see it, right next to the reverb intensity knob, it`s also on the schematic. A tone control for the reverb. Ammmmmaaaaaaazzzzzinnnnnngggggg!

[teemuk]

the ones i'm talking about there was reverb depth only, and you had a pot that panned between trem and vibe, a pot for speed, and a pot for intensity.

Yep, they made plenty of amps so throwing plain "K200", "K100", "K150" etc. isn't very descriptive at all because throughout the years most of those models were manufactured in about 7 different versions, almost each of those also as a specific version for bass, guitar, organ or PA duties.

The circuit to version you described would be something close to - if not exactly - (preamp) board PC1000. Again very different from the two previous schematics. Google search should find the schematics in a heartbeat in case someone has interest.

[Mark Hammer]

I hadn't realized, or maybe I forgot, that they made some pretty guitars.  Kind of a mélange of Rickenbacker, and the PRS SE semi-hollow.

[pinkjimiphoton]

hmmm...now i wanna build the fuzz, too... lol.

[digi2t]

hmmm...now i wanna build the fuzz, too... lol.

Well, here's a little present for ya bro (just in case you didn't have it);

[pinkjimiphoton]

hmmmm... i totally suck at this. i'm imagining it's just the parts immediately connected to the "to fuzz" terminal?

like...between where it says "effect" under r78 and r95?

or from r81 (input) to c44 (output)?

you guys are all wayyyyyy beyond me, here..

[Mark Hammer]

Finally heard a sample of the tremolo-vibrato effect.  It's an interesting and very pretty sound.  Very gentle.  Very worth cloning.

[pinkjimiphoton]

this is the amp i'm trying to get back

i've found the guy... thank god for the net... gonna call him in a little bit.



it is indeed a really nice sound!!

[digi2t]

Hmmm, from what I see, the fuzz section is fed from the preamp, and the output from the fuzz is fed back to the preamp. I believe the "in" to the fuzz would be C38, and the "out" would be C44. Two tranny fuzz, with clipping diodes between them. How it interacts with the preamp is a question mark, and then there is the boost section as well. I'm assuming that the "input" to the reverb/trem/boost sections comes from the preamp.

That gold metalflake, mother-of-barstool finish is.... man!.... I'm at a loss for words. Really. Just... aw wow.....um.... Just set that sucker out there, and nobody's gonna give a sh*t what you play like. If you can't impress them with chops, blind them with brilliance.

[pinkjimiphoton]

that one's a silver sparkle. earlier in the thread is a gold sparkle.

the silver one tho... man. 100 watts thru 2x10, with reverb and that sick vib, with an echoplex going into the dry side?

dude. DUUUUUUUUUDE.

i'm gonna do whatever it takes to get that amp back. i'm banking that he stuck it in his garage and it's still there. hoping.   

[digi2t]

i'm banking that he stuck it in his garage and it's still there. hoping.

Yeah, right next to a Ludwig Phase II. 

Sorry bro, set yourself up for that one! 

[pinkjimiphoton]

i know of two other pII's in the area...haven't seen 'em yet, but i hear of them turning up now and again, and being turned down because peeps don't know what they are.

this thing is gonna be my grail lol....

[Zipslack]

Anybody know if any of the Kasino models had the same feature?  Kustom goodness without the tuck-and-roll.  There was also another sister-company that I've run across before, but I can't remember the exact name now.

[pinkjimiphoton]

ross, kasino and kustom were all the same people.
plush looked like kustoms, but were tube amps more like earths.

[teemuk]

Kustom, Klassic, Kasino and Woodson amps often shared same boards. Not always but often.

Kasino and Klassic were alternative brands, established so that Ross, Inc. / Kustom could sell amps to as many different vendors as possible. Woodson, I believe, were an individual company that just bought amps OEM from Kustom.

Ross (Systems), Road Electronics, Krossroad and A.R. Acoustics were all companies Bud Ross or his son Andy founded after Kustom / Ross, Inc. had been sold to cover gambling depts in the late 1960's. Past that point Kustom was owned by several different companies. The current owner (Hanser Holdings) bought the - at the time bankrupt - company in 1989 and did a remarkable job in reviving them.

Road amps date to 1970's, Krossroad and A.R. Acoustics amps came much later, in the 1990's. None were very long living.

At least Road outsourced manufacturing to Kustom's plants. Likewise, manufacturing of Legend amps (also from 1970's / early 1980's) was also outsourced to Kustom plants. The latter had no other affiliation with the Ross family or the companies / trademarks they had founded.

Ross Systems' gear was - if I'm correct - never manufactured by using Kustom's resources. First pedals and amps were manufactured by Keas Electronics. In the 1980's the company was sold to International Music Corp. and manufacturing was located to Korea, Japan and Taiwan.

Other tuck-n-roll styled amps (ISC, Plush, Earth, Dorado, etc.) probably have no other relation to Kustom / Ross than copying the stylish (not to mention patented) cosmetic design.

[wavley]

ross, kasino and kustom were all the same people.
plush looked like kustoms, but were tube amps more like earths.

Plush and Earth I'm pretty sure are the same company (I had an Earth Super Guitar for a long time until my wife decided that I needed to unload an amp, I still have the cab. Very well built great sounding amp, but pretty much a Fender)

I have an early Kustom 100, it was a beast to get quiet.  Replaced all the transistors in the signal path of the vibe channel with low noise devices and disabled the other channel, because the vibe is really the only reason to own this amp.  It's pretty quiet, but has recently developed some sort of crackle that I haven't had time to open up and find, so it's sitting on a shelf waiting for me to be done with my Ludwig.

I've also been wanting to clone the trem/vibe circuit of this amp.  There is something special sounding about being able to mix the trem and vibe sounds in these amps.

Here's mine

Other tuck-n-roll styled amps (ISC, Plush, Earth, Dorado, etc.) probably have no other relation to Kustom / Ross than copying the stylish (not to mention patented) cosmetic design.

Plush and Earth on first glance seem to have the same cosmetics, but actually don't, they aren't tuck and roll like the Kustom amps, they are puffy, but the puffs are in a grid with buttons.  Close, but not exactly patent infringement.  Now the Earth amps with Peavy cosmetics... that's a different story.

[teemuk]

I've also been wanting to clone the trem/vibe circuit of this amp.

As said, preamp board PC1000.

In this case, the Vib-Trem circuit is a lot simpler than in the previous schematics. And yes, extremely easy to adapt to scheme with two 9V batteries forming a bipolar supply.

[pinkjimiphoton]

tried googling that pc board, comes up at the klassic kustom site, but all their resources were lost in a "hard drive crash"

gonna surf the wayback when i get a little while... hopefully will be archived.

[wavley]

tried googling that pc board, comes up at the klassic kustom site, but all their resources were lost in a "hard drive crash"

gonna surf the wayback when i get a little while... hopefully will be archived.

http://music-electronics-forum.com/t19861/

Not same as my amp being that it has boost and mine doesn't.  I never actually turned up the proper preamp schem for mine, it's not PC1000, but I got enough info from the others to figure out (with the help of a scope) what I wanted to change.  I do believe that I found the schem for my power amp pcb, but that's irrelevant to this discussion.  When I get my studio renovation finished and my Ludwig done the Kustom was next up to work on.  I'll make sure I pass on whatever I find.  I haven't been motivated to clone the trem/vibe yet because I just pull the amp out when I want it, but one of these days, bang zoom right to my pedalboard.

[teemuk]

I don't see a boost feature in PC1000 circuit.  

...

Wavley, if you know the board numbers of the boards I can dig up my archives to see if I have corresponding schematics.

Yours has likely two preamp boards.... one - probably the aforementioned PC1000 - with VOL, TREB, BASS, SPEED, INT, TREM-VIB and REV knobs in it. All for one channel. And another preamp board for another, much simpler, preamp channel with just BASS, TREBLE and VOL knobs.

K100 will have a 100W power amp board + regulator of the particular time period but all in all those didn't change much except for very first Kustom amps with very "vintage" design with interstage transformers and all. They got rid of that about right from the beginning and went forward with the simple RCA circuit, just upping the rail voltage and number of power transistors if higher power was demanded. I think they didn't change that strategy until they abandoned the tuck-n-roll styling alltogether.