Product Evaluation

I am adding a product evaluation  for every Kustom product. I will accept the first four usable product evaluations on each product. I will continue until the entire Kustom and Kasino product lines are accounted for.

Keep your opinions interesting and to the point. I will not necessarily accept the first four, but the first four good
ones. Be sure you have an intimate knowledge of the product and that you have actually used the product. Also, I will accept no foul language or childish remarks.

 

1.  Kustom 100 Guitar amp head with two 12" Jensen speaker cabinet

 Hello, my opinion of the Kustom 100 is pretty high. It was good for its day, but the electronics signal to noise ratio
 is not good by modern standards. In other words, it has a definite "white noise". Other than that, I like it. When
 we are gigging the room is usually noisy anyway, so a little extra hiss is barely noticeable. When I add my effects
rack I get incredible sound from this simple little solid state head!  Submitted by J.F.

The 100 is ok, the reverb is very "tanky" but it does allow me to get a very cool Surf sound. I rate it as a great
collector piece. Mine has never been on a gig, so no comment there. Submitted by D.J.

I use a V mixer quite a bit. There is not a whole bunch to say about it except when I need extra channels and have
to mix on the fly, the V mixer is great. It is so simple, yet fairly responsive tone wise for two band rotary type tone
controls. Real clean and rack mountable, pretty big for only 6 channels though. Submitted by Y.D.

Own 2 of this model, and I also use them as an extra channels backup mixer, but occasionally I use the expander
section and hook them up together and make a 12 channel out of them. This has saved me several times when
mixing variety shows at an all day event when you have no clue what is on stage next until show time.
I would agree about the good tone and clean operation. Highly recommend. Submitted By  W.J.

I use mine on outdoor gigs with my Roland Workstation Keyboard, WOW. This thing has power! The head is
capable of more tones than a cabinet with just 15's are capable of reproducing, so my cabinet is loaded with a
 bullet tweeter also. The voicing or "master tone" control is nice. The head is not real pretty to look at, sort of
industrial looking, but other than that I love mine. Submitted By E.G.

 Back in 1979 I was looking for a Bass rig, I decided on the IV because of the power, but the price was too rich for
my blood. I wound up with a III Bass head with a single 15 cabinet. I still own the III and it has served me well,
but I never forgot the IV. While checking Ebay one day, I had a chance to bid on one a IV that the owner said
needed some work. Well, I won the bid at only $25.00, and when I got the head I found out it worked perfectly!
My lucky day I guess. Anyway enough of my story....I have used it quite often and can say that although I love
my III, it would have been better for me to have spent the extra cash years ago, this amp is everything anyone could want in a bass head! Enough said!  Submitted By R.H.

I picked one up last year... Paid two hundred for it. Not bad, I must say... However, the top is really tinny, and the bottom is
really mushy... So what do you do? play somewhere in the middle, and when you kick in the tremolo, it sounds really nice and
rhodes-y. Also, the tremolo on super intense and fast makes it sound like a duane eddy type of rockabilly GUITAR!!! Funny
things you can do with electric piano synths.... But I must say, its a great tool for song writing, with its head phone deal, and
its a tank, (it blew out the window in my band's bus) but I believe it should last a long time out there whatever you do with it...

 Price Paid: US $350 used Ease of Use: 10 Electronic Piano from early 80s that never goes out of tune. One sound but
 effective. Includes bass, treble, and tremolo controls. Tone and tremolo controls are switch able via lighted pushbuttons.
 Features: 3 It was built in the early 80s so there's nothing here beyond tone controls and tremolo. No MIDI, sorry. The
 keyboard is a weighted action made by Baldwin pianos and it feels like the real thing. Expressiveness/Sounds: 5 There's only
one piano sound. The piano sound is "tubby" and it worked really well with a guitar band. Much better than the Rhodes piano
I used to have, that could never cut through guitars. Compared to today's ROMpler pianos the K-88 is badly outdated. What
is surprising is the piano like timbre for the time (1980), it was a TOS design (never goes out of tune) but not only did it have
 the usual 12 tone dividers, it divided into untempered harmonics. These harmonics were strategically summed at different
keys to get the piano timbre. At the time every other electronic piano sounded electronic, but the K-88 sounded quite natural.
They even left the top 21 notes undamped, just like a real piano does.

 The overall sound is muddy and begs for EQ. I used a Moog parametric EQ on it to great success, sorry I don't know the settings that was a long time ago. The stock K-88 piano sound is static, it sounds a lot better with slight phase or chorus. I put it through a Leslie 760 rotating cabinet and that was sweet. Reliability: 8 It never broke even with heavy gigging, although the silver keyboard contacts had deformed and oxidized over time. The contacts are fine springs which tend to stretch out and
mistrigger so be careful when buying one. Customer Support: 8 Before I sold my K-88 I replaced all the contacts and it
worked a lot better. Kustom still had the contacts in stock but that was back in 1990, so I don't know if they still have parts.
Overall Rating: 3 If you want an 88 key electronic piano with weighted action, a headphone jack and you're not going to cart
the thing or use it for MIDI, the K-88 is a good fit especially at today's prices of $150. I paid $350 for mine back in 1983. It
does weigh 150 lb. and is a real bear to carry, today's electronic pianos are much more reasonable. It would be perfect for
an apartment or a cocktail club, plus it never goes out of tune.

The K-88 comes in its own flight case, the lid becomes the stand and the support legs and large hand screws bolt to the lid
so they can't be misplaced. Definitely a two person job for setting up and it is real solid, you can bang on the thing like Jerry
Lee Lewis. This is one of the few pianos that don't bounce when you slam the thing. The top of the piano is a large flat surface
and is perfect for stacking other keyboards or a recorder. Every piano player that tried my K-88 loved the piano feel.

Going from the Rhodes to the K-88 was a joy, especially with that lovely Baldwin key set, it feels just like a piano. I replaced
 it with a Kurzweil MIDI Board and ROMplers for obvious reasons. The K-88 is a good electronic piano, but there are not
 too many places for it today. Unlike a Wurlitzer or Rhodes piano, it doesn't have a unique voice that people desire and pay
 more $$$ for.

   Price Paid: US $350 used. The Kustom 88 is a very under rated instrument. I believe that it was one of the best "band
  friendly" designs out there because the 88 can compete with the other instruments quite well. It cuts through the mix good.

Made by Baldwin, the Kustom 88 came out at a bad time, the digital revolution was just getting
started and Gary Nueman (sp?) came out with the hit song "Cars" which was a huge hit and definitely changed the way
keyboards were used in popular music. Simply put, the Kustom and other designs like it were left in the dust!
Anyway, it is a great piano. I use mine in a recording studio and it is easy to get a good sound, and it is versatile enough to
 handle most any piano part. It has a nice big space on top for a digital keyboard so that is handy also.

> I bought a used Kustom II (mid 70's) bass head from a fellow who said  that it was stored in his Father's garage for many years.I flashed it up and had it plugged into my vintage (early 70's) Traynor 15 inch, 8 ohm,80 watt cabinet and it worked! The amp head was very dirty and so I took it apart and cleaned the interior and exterior, gave it a coat or two of Armour All and it looks pretty good.The first channel is  very noisey but channel two is pretty good for volumn and tone.The head snaps and pops once in awhile but thats cool, I only use it for practice.My main head is an early 70's Traynor YBA-1 tube head.I love the tone from the Traynor but I do like the sound from the Kustom.I  paid $60 Cdn. (about $45 US) for the head and I would not trade or sell it now.I like the sound and hope that it keeps on ticking for a good number of years.Cheers from a happy Canadian vintage Kustom owner. Submitted By: Al Clarke