In the mid 1960's, a young, small-town entrepreneur named Bud Ross battled the odds to combine America's love of music with its passion for high speed hot rods. Imagining the future wrapped in sparkling car upholstery, Ross experimented with covering speaker cabinets with the same colorful Naugahyde material. Musicians responded with an enthusiastic "outta sight!" and an icon of the modern music industry was born. As with all great ideas, the timing for Kustom was perfect. What began in Ross' garage quickly expanded into a full- blown facility in Chanutte, Kansas, with products flying out the doors to feed the dreams of musicians all across the USA.
Kustom responded to the burgeoning demand by developing a full-range of amplification products, from guitar and bass amps to P.A systems, organs, guitars and even the first Talk Box (The Bag), as used by Stevie Wonder and Jeff Beck.Today, Kustom honors its trend-setting past by building award-winning amplifiers and P.A systems with features and tones that inspire a whole new generation of players. Products like the all-tube Coupe Series guitar amplifiers and Groove Bass models are earning accolades in print and from an ever growing list of endorsers.
The Deep End DE200 bass combo combines classic, punchy tube amp tones and touch with the robust articulation of solid-state power amp design. Utilizing a 12AX7 preamp in tandem with a Tube Gain control, players can drive the tube preamp to elicit natural tube overload in varying degrees. From funky clean to mean and aggressive, the Deep End tube preamp has it covered.
What is Organic Clipping? The DE200 delivers 200 watts (RMS) of defined, articulate power. And when cranked up, its exclusive Organic Clipping power amp circuit reacts like an all-tube amp, generating lower order, musical harmonics and natural clipping characteristics just like the best all-tube designs. It’s the classic power amp “growl” that bass players know and love, with a smooth transition from clean to grind. Another benefit of the Organic Clipping circuit is that a power amp limiter is no longer needed. Many amp builders use heavy power amp limiting to prevent unpleasant distortion characteristics typically generated when solid-state circuits are pushed hard. Organic Clipping makes limiting unnecessary because when the amp is cranked up, it overloads with the same tonality as a tube amp. There is also more usable volume on tap, so you can get louder while pushing the amp further into distortion.
What is Room EQ? In addition to a classic, passive tone stack consisting of Bass, Mid and Treble controls, the DE200 features an innovative new approach to solving EQ issues quickly and effectively. Called Room EQ, it consists of Low Contour and High Contour controls, each solving the most common tonal problems that bassists encounter when performing. For example, the High Contour control can reduce ear-fatiguing treble peaks that often occur when a room or venue has hard reflections or be used to reduce treble presence or “sizzle” when required. Low Contour can be used to provide low-end definition in a large, boomy room or function as a shelving control when pronounced low-end cuts are needed.
Using both Room EQ controls, players can dial in the EQ structure that works most effectively in any given performance environment. To make life easier both on stage and in the studio, the DE200 offers a balanced Direct Out with Speaker Emulation. This output was painstakingly engineered to actually sound like a Deep End amplifier as heard by a bass player standing directly in front of the amp, capturing the unique tonality of the amplifier/speaker combination. Your soundman will thank you! Other DE200 conveniences include a Tuner Out, Effects Loop Send and Return jacks, and Power Amp In and Preamp Out jacks.
Take the time to investigate a new Kustom amp or P.A system for yourself. Listen to their unique, soulful tones. Experiment with their one-of-kind features. We think you'll come away wondering why you hadn't check out Kustom a lot sooner!
