This week’s article was a difficult choice for me to make. I had a couple of options to choose from at Reeves Amplification. There is the Custom 10 or the Custom 12. I decided to go for the latter. If Spinal Tap can go to 11, I figure I had better go to 12.
One of the features that drew me to this model was the Power Scaling option. From what I’ve been able to decipher, power scaling allows you to dial in volumes ranging from bedroom levels to stage levels—all while keeping your tone. That’s a very cool feature to offer. Although the Custom 12 comes as a head it can also be purchased as a combo. Me, I’d get the head. It just looks so much cooler sitting on top of a separate speaker cabinet. Regardless of the style you choose, the feature list remains the same. They are:
- 2 x EL-84 tubes (output)
- 1 x 12AX7 tube (poweramp)
- 4, 8 and 16 ohm speaker output
- Volume, bass, mid and treble controls
- Drive control (on the Power Scaling models)
The official website for this amp head includes a YouTube video review that gives a very good rundown of the tonal options this amplifier provides (using humbuckers and single coil pickups). The amp seems to handle both guitar types nicely. I’d love to hear how this amplifier sounds with pedals in front of it as well. Without them though, the clean and fuzz/overdriven sounds seem to be very good.
I haven’t mentioned this in great detail with my previous amplifier head articles, but I do love it when an amplifier also happens to look cool. The Reeves Custom 12 does that easily. If I had this head sitting on top of my speaker cabinet/s, I’d be a very happy guy. Well, happier than I generally am (and I’m a happy guy!)
Disclaimer: I’ve not played through this head. I have not experienced the sound or tone of this head other than through video. That doesn’t matter. It looks awesome, it’s obviously played by winners and I want one.
One thought on “52 Amplifier Heads, week 9—Reeves Custom 12”