PRODUCT REVIEW
CORNFORD
Roadhouse 30 Combo
BY KENNY RARDIN
Cornford Amplification, a small company
in England producing very high-quality
tube amps, has been with us for quite
a few years now. It seems, however,
that they’re not widely known here in
the United States. With the introduc-
tion of the Roadhouse line of amplifiers,
Paul Cornford is about to change that.
The original high-end amps, such as the
Hellcat, The MK50-II, The Ritchie Kotzen
amp, and others, are of course still with
us. However, Paul felt that he needed a
new line of lower priced amps, built with
the same high quality, to help address the
needs of guitarists who could not afford
the high-end models.
The Cornford Roadhouse 30 1x12 combo
was the model I received for review. It’s a
small, lightweight package, similar in size
to a Blues Deluxe, and featurs a black grille
cloth with a black lizard vinyl covering.
responsible for the lower wattage it produces (Cornford’s 50-watt version is fixed bias,
and carries the same tube compliment).
Set ‘em Up
Digging in, the first thing that caught my
eye was the Celestion Vintage 30 speaker,
which carries an 8-ohm rating. The tube
compliment is also impressive: two EL34s
and three 12AX7s. Usually in a 30-watt amp
we’d expect to see EL84 type tubes, but
the EL34 is less noisy and has a better life
expectancy. The amp is cathode biased,
rather than fixed bias, which is partly
Starting left on the control panel, we have
the Input jack, which is 1 megohm, optimal
for electric guitar usage. Next is Gain, a
small toggle switch for activating the Boost
feature, the Boost control, and Bass, Middle
and Treble tone controls. This is followed
by the Send and Return jacks for the effects
loop, and the Master Volume control and
On/Off/Standby switch.
The rear panel features an IEC-type mains
inlet socket, high-tension fuse holder, and 5
