Cornford Hurricane Guitar Player Review

[sysexguy]

Following the appearance of the Cornford Hurricane review in the October issue of Guitar Player, many people have been questioning the photo on page 122 which shows a PCB circuit although the caption reads "The Hurricane sports an ultra neat hand-wired circuit" In addition, one can see etched in the board "Soldano Astroverb". There is no conspiracy theory, urban legend, copied design etc. so let's stop this right away.

 

All Cornford amps are hand wired, hand built and 100% point to point without anything even resembling a circuit board with any logo whatsoever..... and the designs are those of Paul Cornford and Martin Kidd.

 

The pic below the front panel is indeed a Soldano Astroverb which is a very fine product, but wasn't being reviewed at this time. GP has acknowledged the error and afaik, plans to reprint the correct photo. The review is accurate in all other aspects and we are very flattered to receive the Editor's Pick award along with the excellent review.

 

Either Cornford or my company would be happy to supply via e-mail, the correct photo to anyone who wishes to see the internal workmanship of the Hurricane's power plant. Please feel free to enquire at info@cornfordamps or diffusion@attcanada.ca

 

Andy

[myles_rose]

Originally posted by sysexguy:

Following the appearance of the Cornford Hurricane review in the October issue of Guitar Player, many people have been questioning the photo on page 122 which shows a PCB circuit although the caption reads "The Hurricane sports an ultra neat hand-wired circuit" In addition, one can see etched in the board "Soldano Astroverb". There is no conspiracy theory, urban legend, copied design etc. so let's stop this right away.

 

All Cornford amps are hand wired, hand built and 100% point to point without anything even resembling a circuit board with any logo whatsoever..... and the designs are those of Paul Cornford and Martin Kidd.

 

The pic below the front panel is indeed a Soldano Astroverb which is a very fine product, but wasn't being reviewed at this time. GP has acknowledged the error and afaik, plans to reprint the correct photo. The review is accurate in all other aspects and we are very flattered to receive the Editor's Pick award along with the excellent review.

 

Either Cornford or my company would be happy to supply via e-mail, the correct photo to anyone who wishes to see the internal workmanship of the Hurricane's power plant. Please feel free to enquire at info@cornfordamps or diffusion@attcanada.ca

 

Andy

Andy,

 

Many times a fiberglass substate such as a PCB is used in many of today's amps. If you look at a reissue Marshall 1959SLP or JTM 45, you will notice that the pots are still chassis mounted, and the board components are mounted on a fiberglass PCB rather than tag board.

 

Amps can still be hand wired to this substate, in either case.

 

What I have noticed over the years, is a "hand wired" amp like a black face or tweed Fender, will many times measure a resistance from a component to the substate when it is tag board. Tag board, over the years, absorbs moisture, and fiberglass does not, to the same degree.

 

A good design is good, and a poor design bad, no matter how the amp is wired.

 

Comparing a Soldano to a Cornforn is not a fair contest. The Soldano amps use pop riveted output tube sockets (to change one of these, get out your power drill), and some other methods of construction, that are all fine in many aspects, but are nowhere close to the Cornford amps. I have worked and played models of both, and the Cornford amps have a higher level of build quality, and in the case of their Mk 50 II, it is a much more versitile amp than any of the like Soldano models.

 

I have taken note on Cornford amps, of not just their sound, but the details of the cabinet work, covering of the cabinet, and even the powdercoat used for the chassis is of much higher quality and baked much longer, than many other amps.

 

Over at Groove Tubes (my day job), we ran a big series of tests on Cornford amps, and if I were an amp reviewer over at Guitar Player, I would have needed a great editor, as talking about any of these amps in less than 10 pages, would be difficult for me. I could write half a page on the powder coat alone, and lord help those that would read what I would have to say on the great transformers and the way they were mounted.

 

Many folks look at the front panel, the obvious features, crank the amp all the way up, and if it covers their mistakes with distortion, then it's a winner. Then they look at price, and in many cases, go for the "most gain for the dollar", which really translates into the "most distortion for the dollar". What they do not see or hear, is the touch dynamics or construction.

 

I have many amps, from many vendors. They all have their strong and weak points. Many of my clients have asked me about Cornford amps to replace or augment a Mesa amp. This is usually during a "Mesa 6 month service". They know that Mesa amps in touring situations, need to have the amp stripped and everything re-torqued and tightened two to three times a year. There is nothing really wrong with this, it is just the by product of having heavy items such as transformers held to the chassis with self tapping sheet metal screws, rather than be attached with nuts and bolts as on a Cornford or Rivera amp. Then again, one can buy a Mesa 100 watt Boogie combo for a lot less cost than a lot of other amps, or a Dual Rectifier as an example, at a nice price.

 

Tube amps require attention, some more than others. I think in the case of Cornford, the attention will be limited to occasional tube replacement, and keeping the cabinet clean and pretty. The construction of the Cornford amps is extremely high, whether people print the right or wrong picture, or do not accurately describe a product.

 

Myles