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Epiphone Blues Custom 30

 

Review of the Epiphone Blues Custom 30 by The Man in the Jar

This handsome 2 x 12" gives you two kinds of valve attack.

The Epiphone Blues Custom valve amp is quite a handful to carry but nowhere near the weight of 2 x 12" combos of yesteryear. The cab is rugged and built to last but still has the vintage vibe that runs through the Epiphone amp series. The offset support across vintage gold grille cloth, the dark brown leatherette with cream piping and the chicken-head knobs all breath bygone class.

On the front panel from right to left we find the input jack followed by the dedicated channel controls. Channel one simply has a Volume control. Channel two has Drive, Mid and Level controls. The dedicated Mid control allows you to adjust the midrange of channel two independent of the main EQ section. There's a pushbutton switch to toggle between channels.

The first control of the EQ section is another pushbutton toggle that allows you to make the EQ section Independent or Interactive. This refers to the Treble and Bass controls only. In Independent mode a change in the Treble will do nothing to affect the frequency range of the Bass an vice versa. In Interactive mode they act as they normally would, each slightly affecting the other.

Next up is the valve-driven Reverb control followed by the Standby switch (allows the valves to get warm and stay warm whilst muting the amplifier) and the On/Off switch.

The back panel has quite a few goodies as well. Next to the Mains inlet and fuse holder there's a rocker switch that allows you to select either "30W Class AB" or "15W Class A". The 30 Watt option is a Pentode power option which gives a more aggressive sound, the 15 Watt option is a smoother toned sound. To complete the back panel there is a row of jacks. They accommodate the use of external cabs in 4 ohm, 8 ohm or 16 ohm options. The back panel finishes with an input for an Epiphone two-button footswitch (not supplied) that toggles between the channels and operates the Reverb.     

 

Sounds of the Epiphone Blues Custom 30

I started the Blues Custom on the 15W Class A setting on Channel 1 (the cleaner of the two). I was immediately impressed by the lovely smoky blues and woody jazz tones I could squeeze out of the single coils on my Fat Strat. Switching to the humbucker I was able to push that sweet warmth to the start of a very sexy break-up in the sound. I tried the Independent/Interactive EQ button while on this channel. The Independent option caused a drop in output and the sound was far fuller when I turned it to Interactive. Maybe I'm missing a subtlety here but I really preferred the Interactive EQ and left it on that setting for the rest of the review.

I then switched to the 30W Class AB setting (a word from the wise here - always drop the amp to standby before switching the class settings to avoid a loud and unpleasant switching noise!). The Clean channel on this setting is a natural choice for rhythm guitarists. There is a quite stunning separation of the high end which is married to a juicy tightness in the mid and bass range. It's a dream sound.

Switching back to the 15W Class A setting I ventured onto Channel 2 (the dirtier of the two). With the Drive control set at about 12 o'clock the Blues Custom was delivering excellent classic rock tones that could be fattened up irresistibly with a bit of tweaking in the Mid and Bass on the main EQ section. Having acquired this excellent tone it was great fun to scoop it out with the channel's dedicated Mid control.

Finally I took the Dirty channel into 30W Class AB territory. Here you can push the break-up to extreme, depending upon the output of your pickups. But even at it's most scary the Dirty channel held onto the warmth and depth of tone inherent to the Custom's valve construction. 

The manual details suggested settings for Clean Blues, Clean Jazz, Texas Heat, Thunder from Down Under and Classic Crunch. These are good starting points on which to build your own sound variants. 

Overall impressions of the Epiphone Blues Custom 30 

This is an impressive little tone monster on every level. The warmth and quality of tone is immediately endearing, especially of the cleaner settings where it's delivered impeccably via the classic two-by-twelve Eminence combination. The Class setting switch effectively gives you two excellent dual channel amps in one, and both of them are loud, the 30W setting definitely loud enough for small gigs. It's not a cheap amplifier, but the quality of this piece of kit is remarkable. Once you own it, it will be the only amplifier you'll ever want to use. 

Buy the Epiphone Blues Custom 30

Note: As with all amps equipped with headphone sockets, turn the Master Volume to zero before plugging in the 'phones.

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