The Kustom Kollection of Gary Paul is now for sale

See the PDF linked above for amazing pictures of the collection.

One of the most interesting and largest collections in the United States! The Kollection consists of:
3 combo amps

17 heads

24 cabinets

Here are production notes for ALMOST every piece:

Amp Head Characteristics

K200A-2 20789
The standard by which the other heads are measured. Has a smooth, even tone, with no surprises along the way.

K200A-2 21172
Despite being only a few hundred units away from the first unit, this head has a much darker tone.

K200B-4 32652
This head is somewhat quieter than its brethren, without as much headroom. This means that adding extreme amounts of EQ or Selective Boost will introduce overdrive.

K250-4 83472
Uses a 16 inch Hammond reverb tank. Also has a Selectone control, which changes the frequencies of the Bass and Treble controls. Selectone 1 has slightly higher bass and treble frequencies, and the bass gain has a greater range. The treble has a smaller range. Selectone 3 has lower bass and treble frequency centers, with the treble gain having the most range, and bass the last. Selectone 2 is a compromise between these two settings. Graph courtesy of Kustom, retrieved from www.vintagekustom.com.
The story of Selectone doesn't end there, however. The knob position still has an effect, even with the bass and treble controls at their 12 o'clock positions. Selectone 1 is the most neutral. Selectone 2 has a midrange cut around 400Hz, and Selectone 3's cut is at around 175Hz., resulting in a downward scoop of the lower midrange at all tone control positions.
This amp has a ton more low end and high end than the older 200 series.
The overdrive capability is much lighter than the K200s, supplying more of a smooth overdrive than a true breakup. The overdrive is also limited to bass and treble frequencies – the midrange is completely unaffected here.

K50-2 69289
A 25-watt combo amp, has a 16-inch reverb tank, but the tank is unlabeled, so the manufacturer is not known. Part number is 4FB2A1A .  Amp has the flattest response so far in the recording.

K200A-1 19501
The earliest amp in the collection, this one was apparently owned by jazz guitarist Ray Crawford, who pioneered a percussive technique for electric guitar, almost like bongos. This amp has no reverb or other frivolities; it was purchased purely for its tone. We can't find any contemporary mentions of him using a Kustom amp, but his name is emblazoned in big letters with a Sharpie on the inside of the chassis, as well as on the cable tie on the power cord.
This is a bright amp, with frequency extension all the way up to 20KHz, and lessened lows. Turning the bass knob all the way down removes any low end below 300Hz.
The distortion is typically heavy, but requires more volume to come in.

K200B-1 62416 “Goldie”
Previously owned by the Bobby Goldsboro band, this amp came with a lovely champagne gold finish on the knob center inserts. The combination of those two oddities are what gave it its name. However, it was later discovered that the knobs weren't actually finished in gold, it was just caked-on smoke residue from decades of playing in casinos. The matching cabinet, the 2-12, also has this distinction. There are a dozen or more cigarette burns on the top, adding to its provenance.
With the advent of the “Bright” switch, there wasn't much need for an amp with an additional “Bright” channel. Yet here we are with a rare example of exactly that. This amp, like other Kustoms, has two channels which are identical in every respect, except that one is brighter than the other. Only the Bright channel has been emulated in this collection, to avoid duplication with other amps. Ironically, this amp doesn't have quite the high end extension of 19501, and has more low end overall. The “Bright” designation is for the peak at about 2KHz, which is effective all the time, and is accented further with the Bright switch.

K200-5 89704
This is a four-channel P.A.-type head, with each channel having bass and treble controls, and individual sends to the single 16” spring reverb. This head has better low-end response than most of the others, and while still not flat, it does respond all the way down to 20Hz. Distortion from the head is more gentle, not coming in until higher volumes.

K250-1 A two-channel head with the Selectone feature on one channel. What we've done is recreate the flatter response of Channel 2, as well as adding the Selectone option if desired. This gives you the best of both channels. A little bump in the low end for this head.

K100-1 25171 An early two-channel head, also with the bright and normal channels. This head has been sampled on both the bright and normal sides. Amp overdrive on the normal channel is much more linear than most other heads, with less of a brick wall at the loud end, and more smooth introduction of clipping. The response of the clipping also has a ton of low end, and removes the high-mid peak typical of Kustom amps, resulting in a warm, thick response overall. The bright channel, by contrast, is quite nonlinear and has an interesting two-stage overdrive, with even more distortion entering the signal chain at higher volumes.
Each channel has only the basics – volume, bass and treble.

K100-1 25188 – This amp refuses to power up.

Frankie Black - The second-flattest response of any Kustom head, the Frankies do still exhibit a bump in the high mids. But the relative abundance of low end is emblematic of this series, and they are often used as bass amps, though Kustom did not market them as such.
The overdrive in this amp is markedly different from any later amps, with a characteristic some call tube-like, while others say it's no such thing. In any event, this distortion retains dynamics well. The head has a 12” 2-spring reverb unit, and it's the reverb unit that requires the distinctive “Frankie” layout, with the top section of the head using up more space than the other sides. The reverb unit is screwed to the inside top of the wood cabinet, requiring additional clearance above the steel amp chassis. Servicing this amp requires that the reverb assembly be disconnected, and a ground screw removed, before the chassis can be slid out of the box. Later designs would wisely move the reverb unit inside the chassis.

Frankie Red – J695RV 3091 – The flattest low end response, but with a large amount of overshoot. Will sound great as a guitar or bass amp, no so much as a hi-fi amp. Has a two-spring reverb, just like the black Frankie head, but this unit is a Cascade 247, added by a user after production. Overdrive is very light on this head, and retains dynamics exceptionally well.

Frankie Gold – Contains two channels, one labelled for Guitar, the other for Bass. Both were sampled for this project. The guitar channel has a distinct response rise at the upper range – about 8KHz. This increase diminishes as overall volume increases. The bass channel, ironically, has no additional bass response. What it does have is a lack of upper midrange, compensated for by additional highs. Once the amp is driven into distortion, there seems to be much less difference between the two channels. The amp's distortion follows dynamics well.
Note: Power supply caps need replacing, as a 60 cycle hum is present, and getting louder

K200B-1 61021 The normal channel has an amazingly flat (relatively speaking, of course) frequency response up to about 5KHz, where it starts to trail off. Driving the amp into overdrive removes most dynamics. The bright channel, by comparison, has a distinct bump in the high end, and a dip all along the lows.

K200B-1 Blue No serial number on this head. Electrically, it should be identical to #14 above, but of course, it is not. There isn't quite as much low end in both channels. The amp overdrive is based on a square wave, but has an extreme dip in the highs, achieving a thicker sound than expected from a transistor distortion. The EQ and Bright controls do work similarly to the other head. The low EQ is (as is typical) centered around 60Hz, the high EQ at around 8KHz, and the Bright switch adds a boost at 3.15KHz.

K200B-1 Normal channel has relatively flat response from about 250Hz to 2KHz, which is the most desirable range for guitar. Bringing in the overdrive flattens out the response considerably from there, giving a great, full-range, smooth crunch. The Bright channel has a bit less low end, and a peak at about 2KHz.
Production Note – Bright switch cuts off signal on Bright channel.

K400B-1 – No Serial Number. Being a 4-channel head, this is often considered to be a P.A. Head, but the channel configuration, with two normal and two bright, gives an indication that it's more suited to multiple guitars and basses than vocals. It was best to use this stereo head for the stringed instruments, and a separate P.A. Setup (also Kustom, of course) for vocals alone. Frequency response on the Normal channel is is flatter than earlier Kustom amps. The amp needs to be driven hard before overdrive sets in.

K50-2 – 79886 Combo amp. Unlike every other amp, this serial number is quite late in the sequence. There's a distinct bump in the ultra-low end. The overdrive on this amp is very square wave-based, and is more subtle than other amps – it takes a fair amount of level to get distortion.

K100C-8 4-10 Combo 46962. Owned for many years by John Macy, famed steel guitarist. This is an unusual combo amp, as it has 4 10 inch speakers, but is still light enough to easily take to gigs. It has a low mid attenuation centered at 275Hz, but the low end comes back below that point. The spring reverb is a 16-inch, two-spring. Overdrive is a bit tough to realize on this amp, only occurring with pretty high volume, but is included nonetheless. Its characteristic is very square-waveish.

Cabinet Characteristics

“Goldie” 2-12, with CTS speakers. 2 ports on the front.

3-15, with CTS speakers. 2 ports on the front

4-12, with no-name Malaysian white-coned speakers, slotted back, 2 ports on the front
Breaks up slightly at certain mid frequencies at high volumes

1-12, with Kustom-branded speaker. No ports, but it's a semi-open back, so the rear mic will be important.

2-15 K28851, Dark Gold, with Kustom speakers. This is a standard guitar cabinet.

2-15 Champagne no serial JBL D140. Contains the famous JBL K140D speakers, so it has a more high-fidelity sound than those with the Kustoms.

2-15 Black, no serial, CTS Bass Speakers. These speakers have a square magnet, and are made specifically for bass. Their serial number indicates they were manufactured in February of 1967.

2-12 CTS speakers, but this time they're made for guitar.

1-12 Combo 79886. This is a single 12-inch Kustom speaker, with a cabinet that has a port in the back, but not in the front. Thus, the rear port mic works as a back-of-the-speaker mic, and there is no front port mic.

2-15 Champagne STS, no serial. We became excited for this cabinet, as it was on the lighter side when carrying it into the studio, and our spirits were high as a result of not testing our stamina. Unfortunately, all was revealed when we took the back off to confirm whether there were indeed the promised STS speakers within. Inside was a lonely 1980's Roland 15 inch full-range, which, while it claimed to be heavy duty, seemed more suited to playing lullabies, thanks to its tiny little magnet. Undaunted, we sampled it anyway. Though we were careful to plug the empty speaker hole, it still rattled, and it ended up that the port had a much better low-end response than the speaker itself. We'll just have to see how it turned out. This same cabinet will also make a later appearance, once loaded with period-correct 1974 STS bass speakers.

2-15 Dark Gold Jensen cabinet, no serial. These Jensens were made in 2006, and the back shows obvious signs of removal and replacement, so something bad happened to the original speakers. Thank goodness they were at least replaced with actual Jensens. The cabinet itself is sealed – no ports, no slots, unlike most other Kustom cabinets.

3-8 and 2-12 “302 PA” P.A.Cabinet serial 49882. This behemoth was never intended as a guitar cabinet, only as a full-range PA cabinet for vocals. But that didn't prevent some enterprising players from trying to use it for guitar, and even bass, occasionally even having some success. For this use, we modeled the ribbons and 421s with the 12” speakers, and the SM57s with the 8” speakers. There's a port in back, which is modeled with the Rear Port microphone, and no front port. It will also be more useful than not to include the front M/S microphones, as those will receive the full range of both speaker types. The SM57s picked up a 5Khz peak, but this is out of the range of normal SM57 peaks, so the cabinet itself has a peak right around there.

2-15 Black CTS, no serial.

2-15 Champagne STS, no serial. This is the same cabinet as # 10 above, but this time, loaded with STS speakers.

4-10 Champagne STS 11206. These speakers could more properly be called 9 inch, but common classification demands we call them 10 inch. They're 16-ohm STSs, wired in parallel, presenting a 4-ohm load for the cabinet. They go down surprisingly low, peaking at about 150Hz, and are smoother than a typical guitar cabinet at the top end. This vertical cabinet is small and light, and the magnets are square, implying that this is really a bass cabinet, according to Internet wisdom. It is not. It's a full-range vocal cabinet, proving that not every square magnet STS is a bass speaker. There are no ports on this cabinet, so no port microphones.

2-12 Black KEI 23779. Though labeled as KEI cabinet, there is only one KEI here, the other two being G12 Celestions. Thus, the first model is built from the KEI speaker. We'll use up another slot for the Celestions. The KEI has a very interesting null point at 150Hz, which exists whether the port mic is included or not. Has some distortion at low-mid frequencies, both at mid and high volumes.

2-12 Black Kei 23779 with Celestions. This is the same cabinet, but using the other two speakers, which are G12 Celestions. Also has some distortion in the low-mids at medium and high volumes.

2G-1H 2-15 1-18x9 Champagne 38611. Part of the 300 and 600 line, this is a big, heavy cabinet with 2 15-inch CTS speakers and an 18”x9” baffled horn. This horn was made to military standards, willing to withstand being rolled down a long flight of stairs and only end up being angry with you. Its stability is not helped by the fact that it's front and top-heavy, so it must be handled with some care. Marketed in various ads as being both for bass and guitar or for P.A. use, this particular cabinet was used at some point as part of a larger PA system, as it has “Left #1” emblazoned on the back with a very professional Marks-A-Lot.
The SM57s are pointed at the horn, and the 421s and ribbons are pointed at the speakers. There is a front port, and a more even tone may be accomplished with the M/S configuration.

K100C-8 4-10 Combo 46962. A very unusual combo amp with a 4x10 cabinet, one might think this would be the heaviest of all. But its weight is kept down, thanks to smaller magnets than we're familiar with from Kustom, and the cabinet being quite shallow. This box has rear vents, so it has a port mic to capture that response, but there are no ports on the front.

X3-15B KEI Black 53908. Another gargantuan cabinet, this came with three KEI speakers from the factory, and they're still there. One of them has been remanufactured by Kustom, and its sticker has a datestamp of June 8th, 1975. It's not clear whether this speaker was pulled out at the factory, or returned by a user for replacement under their lifetime warranty. Either way, it finally decided to give up the ghost after fifty years, and had to be left out of the sampling process, and the remaining two speakers used. The cabinet has two ports, but no rear vents, as is typical of these cabinets.

3-15 Jensen Red no serial. This is a Frankie head, containing Jensen P15L speakers, which were manufactured in the 10th week of 1966. All three are original. The “L” designation means that they are the most efficient and loudest speaker that Jensen made at the time. These speakers were not designed for bass, as they don't quite do down to the lowest E string, but that won't stop anyone from experimenting.
Production Note: Both of the functioning speakers buzz, as they may be weakened with age.

3-15B KEI black 55496. Special Design bass speakers. One of these speakers is remanufactured by Kustom, but it has no datestamp. One speaker is a Stromberg-Carlson Slimline from 1959, but it was originally manufactured as a dual-coil coaxial, and both the second coil and its cone have been removed. So we didn't sample that speaker.

1-15 1-H Black no Serial. A very unique and rare design, this cabinet has a single 15 inch Jensen Special Design speaker, along with a 15 inch horn made from a police siren. Designed to cut the guitar signal right through a crowd of people, it does exactly that. Although the high frequency response goes no higher than 7KHz, it just doesn't matter.

3-15 Pyle Driver Blue 14809. One of a pair of tall blue cabinets, this one has had all of its speakers replaced with Pyle Drivers, which break up easily on the low end. There's no indication on the input jackplate what the originals were. This is a ported cabinet, though the port doesn't extend the low end response beyond what the 421s pick up.

3-15 Kustom Blue no serial. Loaded with the original G15A Kustom by Ross speakers, this cabinet is also ported, and has no serial number.

2-12H Black 08380283. This is a later cabinet designed for use as a P.A speaker, so it's meant to be full-range. There are no ports on this cabinet. is now for saleThis was a special series made as a tribute to Johnny Cash, but of course it bears no resemblance to any amps Cash may have used. Though designed in the USA by Kustom, it's assembled in China, using all Chinese components. The tuck and roll upholstery isn't a true roll; it's puffy, but the fabric is pulled down by sewing to give the impression of a tuck and roll.

2-12 Jensen 6658. A small cabinet, but still has two ports on it, so there is a port mic. The ports are proportionally smaller than with 15 inch speakers. The Jensens are “Special Design” and are model C12N-C8774, the same as was used in the blackface Fender Twins. Date codes are 220004, signifying the year 2000, last week in January.