{"id":2032,"date":"2011-10-21T21:28:52","date_gmt":"2011-10-22T02:28:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/theholtsite.com\/blog\/?p=2032"},"modified":"2012-10-18T13:40:09","modified_gmt":"2012-10-18T18:40:09","slug":"amp-shootout-kustom-defender-vs-laney-cub","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theholtsite.com\/blog\/2032\/","title":{"rendered":"Amp Shootout – Kustom Defender VS Laney Cub"},"content":{"rendered":"

I don’t normally do gear reviews on my blog, but since I had such a hard time making this decision, I figured maybe some GAS-plagued guitarists out there could use the help.<\/p>\n

This double review covers the Laney Cub 12R<\/a> and the Kustom Defender V15<\/a>. I just got both within the last few days and did a quick A\/B test. Not a lot of data here, just first impressions.<\/p>\n

Both amps are 15 watts, both use EL84s, both are within a pound in weight (25 and 26). Both have enough volume to keep up with a drummer – at least with the drummer I play with. My goal was a giggable, light, small tube amp I could carry in one hand. 15W seems to be enough tube power for my needs. When I play anywhere large they have a PA system anyway, so the amp just ends up being a monitor. I don’t understand the need for a half-stack other than looks. But I digress…<\/p>\n

Both amps are all-tube and touch sensitive enough to use the guitar volume effectively. Both use Celestion speakers and have power scaling. Ok, enough about the similarities. Let’s get to the differences!<\/p>\n

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LANEY<\/strong>:<\/p>\n

$400 new.<\/p>\n

Lots more knobs. B\/M\/T EQ controls, gain, reverb (spring-like), master volume. But cheap plastic knobs, one was loose and came off right out of the box.<\/p>\n

Two inputs, one for .75W, which is really nice for being very quiet.<\/p>\n

Footswitchable reverb jack. Just reach over and turn the knob \ud83d\ude42 It’s great that it’s there but I’d rather the space be used for a boost or something. Also has an effects loop that can be used for a line out. Good feature. Also has speaker out 8-16 ohms.<\/p>\n

The handle is rubber and sort of dinky, not sure if it would get brittle over the years or not. Feels like a pet’s chew toy. Cheap plastic corners. Due to the metal grille covering the entire rear, the power cord is velcroed to the back and you can’t put anything in there.<\/p>\n

There is *way* more distortion at lower volumes in this amp because of the gain knob. More practice friendly due to the .75W input. The problem is I don’t like the sound much. With all the knobs at 12, it has a scooped sort of sound with very raspy distortion (with humbuckers). I love smooth, mid-heavy OD, so it doesn’t suit me. With drastic tweaking of the knobs I was able to get a good tone out of it. In particular the tone knob is all the way down and treble up to get rid of the rasp without being muddy.<\/p>\n

Uses metal wire thingys to hold the tubes in place or prevent rattling, or both?<\/p>\n

Nice red pilot light. Tasteful brown-colored chassis.<\/p>\n

10” speaker so the overall package is a tiny bit bigger and therefore *seems* a bit heavier though it’s just more air inside.<\/p>\n

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KUSTOM<\/strong>:<\/p>\n

$300 new.<\/p>\n

Less knobs but more solid – one for American\/British bass response, tone, volume. Both EQ knobs are responsive, but there’s only two of them.<\/p>\n

4W or 15W. A decent compromise, but I’d really like a .1W mode too like my Bugera V5 had, that was a really nice feature. 4W cranked is too loud for my living room but not loud enough for a band.<\/p>\n

XLR line out jack with ground switch. Not sure how good the speaker emulated sound is yet, but good enough for going through a PA I’d imagine. Also has a speaker cab out for expandability.<\/p>\n

Handle is leather-like, sturdy, and wide. Metal corners, separate power cord. Has a nice metal grille to protect the tubes and speaker that doesn’t get in the way of sticking stuff in the back.<\/p>\n

I love the sound, I run it on the British setting to tighten up the bass, and tone about 10:00. Even response, takes pedals better than the Laney due to less high-end (I think?). I used this amp at band practice and it sat very well in the mix. Of course we’re only a three-piece, so it’s not that hard. Still, I like the balanced tone. I ran the volume at noon for a nice guitar-controlled breakup, and a boost pedal for solos. Worked very well, perfect amount of volume. I have not turned up the volume all the way and shredded yet, so I have no idea how it sounds with higher gain. I hope it keeps the same characteristics.<\/p>\n

Has small springs like filaments to hold the tubes in place, or prevent rattling?<\/p>\n

Nice blue light under the switch.<\/p>\n

8” speaker.<\/p>\n

\n

So obviously you can tell which I like. Actually I like them both and I’m trying really hard to talk myself into returning one. The Kustom is a lot cheaper, has a more tasteful sound, and seems to be made a lot better (both are assembled in China). However I wish I could add a separate gain control to the Kustom and maybe an effects loop and more EQ controls like the Laney has.<\/p>\n

Overall both amps are decent if you want a simple tube amp without too many features at a reasonable price. I may change my mind about the tones of both once I crank them more. I’d pick the Laney for music where you need lots of distortion. No, actually I’d pick the Kustom and get a metal distortion pedal.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I don’t normally do gear reviews on my blog, but since I had such a hard time making this decision, I figured maybe some GAS-plagued guitarists out there could use the help. This double review covers the Laney Cub 12R and the Kustom Defender V15. I just got both within the last few days and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2032","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/theholtsite.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2032","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/theholtsite.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/theholtsite.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theholtsite.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theholtsite.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2032"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/theholtsite.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2032\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/theholtsite.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2032"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theholtsite.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2032"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theholtsite.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2032"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}