Cornford Roadhouse Amps - Winner of the Guitarist Mag Gold Star Award

Andertons Music Co have been long time fans of the hand wired Cornford amps. We're not sure what Cornford do to create such a magical tone, but the end result is a tube amp that sounds unlike anything else we stock & with a reliability track record that is streets ahead of any other amp manufacturer we deal with. On top of that, Cornford amps are all made in the UK (actually not that far from Andertons!), so you don't pay any of the freight, duty, or distribution charges that you'll typically pay on a USA made boutique amp. Quite often an identical quality amp built in the US will cost as much as 50% more than a Cornford! It's testament to how good these amps are that most of the Andertons guitar staff have ended up owning a Cornford amp (or are saving up for one!).

Point to point hand wiring an amp takes a long time &, as such, the cost of the hand wired Cornfords will put them out of reach of many players. The design team at Cornford began planning a PCB (printed circuit board) valve amp quite a while ago, and have taken the time to ensure they get the design right & find the right company (also UK based) to manufacture the boards for them. Whilst there is still something special about the hand wired amps (we don't know what exactly, we just call it "Mojo"!), Cornford have managed to design & produce a PCB based tube amp that creates some fantastic tones, has almost no background noise (a good sign that the components have all been well placed & shielded on the PCB), uses the same cabinet construction & speakers as the hand wired amps, and yet is less than half the price of the equivalent hand wired model.

If you're looking for a mid priced, gigging, tube amp we can't recommend the Roadhouse range enough - it really is that good. We just hope that Cornford can keep up with the demand!

We made some videos with Rob Chappers to show you a little bit more about how Cornford amps are made. Click the links in the video below to find out what goes into making an amp of this class!

Here's what Cornford say about the Roadhouse Amps

The Cornford Roadhouse Series of guitar amplifiers are stripped down and simple to operate: simple yet very versatile.

The Roadhouse 30 Head and 1x12 Combo offer a combination of enough power to cut through a mix but with a power amp design that can be pushed into overdrive, giving touch sensitivity and harmonic richness without too many decibels!

The Roadhouse 50 Head and 2x12 Combo offer more of the above but with a little extra power, for those players that need extra punch; the Combo also having the extra 12" Celestion Vintage 30 to shift more air!

Roadhouse 30 Head and Combo Specifications

30-watt, cathode biased, valve guitar amplifier head and 1 x 12 combo.

Output Valves: 2 x 6L6

Preamp Valves: 3 x ECC83 (12AX7)

Cabinet: 19 mm, lock jointed ply covered in black 'Lizard' vinyl with black grille cloth and white piping.

Speakers: Celestion 'Vintage 30' (combo only)

Transformers: Custom designed and built by one of the UK's leading manufacturers.

Accessories: All metal footswitch, to enable remote switching of the amplifier's 'Boost' function.

Effects Loop:Series effects loop. Send level is a nominal -6 dBV. Send impedance is 33k ohms. Return impedance is 145k ohms.

Control Operations

Input: I megohm impedance. Suitable for guitars with most types of pickup (the amplifier may, in general however, not give good results with the types of pickup associated with acoustic instruments)

Gain:This controls the amount of preamp gain and hence level of preamp distortion in the amplifier.

Boost: This controls the amount of extra signal sent to the preamp from the first gain stage and the amount of extra distortion in the preamp. This function is useful for heavier rhythm and lead guitar playing.

Bass: This controls the low frequency response of the preamp.

Middle: This controls the midrange frequency response of the preamp.

Treble: This controls the high frequency response of the preamp.

Send: This socket sends a low level signal (-6dBV) from the preamp suitable for driving effects pedals or rack processors.

Return: The output signal from your effects units is reintroduced back into the amplifiers signal path after the preamp, via this socket.

Master: This controls the overall output level of the amplifier and should be adjusted to suit your playing environment.

Mains/Standby: This is a 3-position toggle switch. In the 'Off' position, no mains power is sent to the amplifier's circuitry. In the 'Standby' position, the low voltages are switched on and the valve heaters are allowed to warm up before the high voltage is applied to them; allow 30 seconds or so in this position to prolong valve life. In the 'On' position, the amplifier is ready to play.

Rear Panel

Mains inlet socket: This accommodates a standard IEC mains lead. The mains fuse is contained within a drawer in this socket and should always be replaced with a fuse of exactly the same type and rating to reduce the risk of fire or electric shock.

High Tension Fuse Holder: This accommodates the high voltage fuse for the amplifier. If it fails, this may indicate that the output valves have developed a fault. Once again, as with the mains fuse, it must be replaced with a fuse of the same type and rating.

Speaker Sockets: There are a total of 5 speaker sockets: one is connected to the 16 ohm tap, two are connected to the 8 ohm tap, (this will accommodate two 16-ohm speakers or one 8-ohm speaker) and two are connected to the 4-ohm tap, (this will accommodate two 8-ohm speakers or one 4-ohm speaker). It should be noted that only one output tap should be used at any one time. That is to say a speaker load may only be connected to the 16-ohm socket, or one or both 8-ohm sockets, or one or both 4-ohm sockets. No other combination should be connected.

Please Note: To avoid damage to your amplifier, always connect a speaker to the output before switching on.     

Footswitch Socket: This is used to connect the supplied footswitch to the amplifier for remote switching of the 'Boost' function and overrides the front panel toggle switch.