Kustom Defender 15H Guitar Amplifier Head (15 Watts)
This affordable guitar amplifier head from Kustom is protected by a rugged metal housing.
Overall User Ratings (based on 4 ratings)
Submitted June 25, 2012 by Bob B in Herman, NE
"Bedroom Playing on 4 watts"
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At 4 watts they say it is meant for bedroom playing so it won't disturb the neighbors. That's a true statement if you live in a FARMHOUSE 10 MILES IN THE STICKS OR YOUR NEIGHBORS ARE DEAF!!! This thing is loud and very responsive to pick dynamics with sweet tones from nice spanky clean tones to high powered well defined crunch. I have never had a tube amp and this amp is so responsive I had to learn better pick dynamics. I am a hobby player and this amp plays the blues, rock, country, and anything else you can throw at it. It takes pedals very well too!!! I am a Kustom Lover now!!!! Anyone want any solid state practice amps?!?!? It's small but heavy and the transformers are huge. It would be nice to have a gain knob but that is a minor detail since it takes pedals very well it seem.
Musical Background:
Used to play bass 25yrs ago and just picked up the guitar Jan. 1 2012
Musical Style:
Mostly blues with some rock and country thrown in.
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Submitted February 2, 2014 by charles gilzow in north port, FL
"Kustom Defender 15H Guitar Amp Head"
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Best tube amp on the market for its price and features i never owed a 3-tube amp. Closes I got was the orange tiny terror that only had preamp tube. I've tried many 100 watt marshall solid states the tone just wasn't their. I have a digitech rp1000 in front of this amp turned off the amp modeling and use as effects pedalboard. No matter what distortion or overdrive pedal i use this amp gives you a great tone then add reverb,delay etc. and your ready to rock,metal,blues. It also has a crisp clean tone when all effects are bypassed. I record right out the back with the speaker emulated direct out .That's why you don't need to use the amp sims in your multi effects pedal. Buy one no matter what pedals you have. Your ears will be happy......
Musical Background:
15 years playing around in home studio for enjoyment.
Musical Style:
rock metal blues
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Submitted September 9, 2014 by 1 INTHEPIPE in Watertown, MA
"Kustom Defender 15H Guitar Amp Head"
Verified Customer
zZounds has verified that this reviewer made a purchase from us.
Great amp for $200.00. Sounds good. Made by Hasner, the company that makes the Bad Cat Cougar series, Charvel Guitars, and a lot of other products. The amp doesn't have many settings, but volume, gain, and tone is about what a player needs to learn his or her stuff. The amp drives a 4 ohm load and handles peddles well. I also have a 5 watt Kustom head, a Bad Cat, and an Orange head. Dollar for dollar, the Kustom is great.
Musical Background:
40 years in electronic. Build and mod guitars, more than a play. Build amps and cabs. Have very high end tube powered 2 chann
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Submitted December 14, 2011
"Power and performance with excellent features in a small light package that you won't need to make payments on."
This review has been selected by our experts as particularly helpful.
As long as this unit keeps working i'm good. If it were stolen I would buy another in a heartbeat.
Sound
Kustom 15H Defender Tube amp is a quality product in a small, light package. I easily tote this amp around from room to room due to it's portability. Only weighs about 10 lbs and is a potent piece of work. 15 tube watts is plenty to work with here especially if you have potent high db speakers like the newer eminence designs. I have a B-52 ATA 412 cab that has very loud speakers and i'm lucky to get to 2-3 on the volume knob on my 100 watt B-52 tube head and it screams with the 15H. I'm using it with High quality Celestion speakers now and the 15H really brings out the warmth and depth of those speakers. The power selector knob with 4 and 15 watts works great. 4 watts for lower volume and earlier breakup or 15 watts for cleaner work or louder distortion. The 4 position bass response knob works good to dial in your speaker type or music style. The bass response is basically a tone selector switch that works well with the tone knob for finer adjustment. Some of my speakers like more bass then others. The rear panel has 2) speaker outputs and a switch for 4,8 and 16 ohms. Now for the best feature and the reason why I chose this amp is the XLR output on the rear panel enables me to connect to a PA with the same tube tone as the amp and is optimized for a celestion speaker response out of the PA. I have thus far used the 15H with the speaker output connected to a 1X12 monitor and XLR out to a Crate 150 watt Power Block amp and a PA speaker column and the sound quality came through and reacted with bass and tone controls favorably. I could not find this feature in any other small tube amps.
Features
2 channels would have been nice but not complaining. The power switch, tone and volume controls work well together.
Ease of Use
Very easy and simple. Switch on and go.
Quality
This product is everything I need it to be. No issues with reliability yet. Seems to be a durable product. Can't believe how light and loud it is.
Value
Very good value for the money. Big bang for the buck.
Manufacturer Support
No experience with Kustom equipment or customer service before this is my first Kustom product. Kustom has been around a long time and probably for good reason.
The Wow Factor
Most appealing was the price and features. Power and performance, lean and mean thats all I needed. I didn't care much how it looked as long as it didn't have that ancient Kustom padding around it I was good.
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