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K200B 3 [message #3591] Thu, 29 January 2004 17:12 moogyboy Messages: 9 Registered: January 2004 Junior Member hey all New here, and I had a couple of questions about this blue-sparkle beauty I won on eBay last week. My example is fairly well-worn, patched up a bit with blue tape, and has the selective boost and harmonic clipper (which I'm guessing is essentially a built-in fuzztone rather than an overdrive circuit). Even though I grew up playing with my brother's Kustom I Lead combo and, for a little while, a complete K150 or K100 stack, I know very little about the technical specs about this particular amp. Please be so kind as to fill any of my blanks. From what I gather this amp can be used for both bass and guitar, but most people seem to think of it as a bass amp. I intend to mostly use it with guitar and want to find a compatible modern cabinet, probably a 4x12. As soon as I got it I plugged it in to a PA speaker and noted all the noise, not to mention what felt a little like electric current. *gulp* So, what specs do I need to look for? I have no idea whether this thing is 4 ohm or 8 ohm. And will that help to improve the tone? I also had a look inside and noted that all of the input and output hookup wires inside were very thin unshielded wire, which I wonder if I should replace with shielded cable. Should I? At any rate, the first thing I intent to do is replace the power cable with a 3wire/prong one so at least I won't get zapped. Other things I noticed: volume drop on the bright circuit in the normal channel, and the clipper sounds dirty as the note dies away. Basically, do these things sound noisy inherently? Any other tech suggestions or answers would be REALLY appreciated. Thanks. Billy S. Report message to a moderator

Re: K200B 3 [message #3592 is a reply to message #3591] Thu, 29 January 2004 19:39 QModer Messages: 413 Registered: June 2003 Senior Member I don't why people would think its a bass amp with a harmonic clipper it should be a lead head. However you can use any head for bass they may not always be voiced exactly right for it but you can use it for bass with no ill effects. If you are referring to the high low inputs on the channels. I have always found the high input to be not quite as loud as the low Report message to a moderator

Re: K200B 3 [message #3606 is a reply to message #3592] Fri, 30 January 2004 10:57 moogyboy Messages: 9 Registered: January 2004 Junior Member I was actually thinking of the speaker outputs. Since I posted I did some more reading and it seems that 8 ohm cabinets ought to work fine as that's what the stock Kustom cabs were rated at (I think) even though they used 4 ohm drivers. I don't much understand the rules of impedance matching as regards speaker cabs anyway, much less what the output impedance of the K200 is. Btw, I plugged back into that PA monitor speaker again last night with my guitar chain. For some reason it sounded much, much better this time. Still some ac hum under everything, but LOUD, bright, and even that clipper circuit began to sound like it could actually be really useful (I jammed a bit on "The Light That Will Cease to Fail" by Stereolab using the clipper and the selective boost and NAILED Tim Gane's guitar tone). I tried the no-load trick I'd read about, left the speaker unplugged for a minute when I powered up. Does that really *do* anything, much less anything beneficial? Tube amp people say that running an amp without a speaker means certain death. cheers Billy S. Report message to a moderator

Re: K200B 3 [message #3611 is a reply to message #3606] Sat, 31 January 2004 14:05   LesS Messages: 477 Registered: December 2002 Senior Member Billy S., Leaving the speaker unplugged when powering up can damage the amp. The “gulp” on turn-on is not a bad thing – it is the sound of power; you will probably get used to it and actually like it. Kustom 200’s can handle a 4 ohm speaker load (or higher). -LesS Report message to a moderator

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