MM90 / Cornford for P-Man

[MM90luvver]

Following on after hijacking Jimi's thread (sorry)

Pete,

Like you , I swapped a Hardwood Mk4 Boogie which I'd had from new for about 10 years for my Cornford Hurricane. Just spent too many years trying to convince myself the Boogie was the Dogs Nuts, just couldn't seem to get comfortable with it. Fancied a change so did a straight swap. Talk about Chalk and Cheese, one channel compared with 3 (6 with eq's in or out). 6 knobs instead of about 26. Basically I love it, but it has taken me a long time to get used to it. I do find it to be very noisy (hissing etc) particularly with gain above 6 or 7 though, normal according to Cornford. Do you find the same with yours ?

At the moment I run the gain around 7 with a Route 66 American overdrive. I can clean up the signal by winding down the volume on the Axis SS and then boost that with the compressor side of the R66. For lead Compressor off/overdrive on, wind up the guitar pot and .......Wow !!, I love this guitar .

My MM90 has now become my Number 1 guitar, leaving my trusty Levinson Blade R4 on the stand most the time. I wasn't particularly after an MM90 model, I had a 2 year old LP deluxe advertised looking for a PRS or an Axis SS and this one came up. Did a straight swap. Something tells me I need to get a Fender Twin for this baby as well

I play in a 9 piece band and the Hurricane's 20 watts has never been lost in front of a loud drummer and 4 piece horn section !!

Isn't there some kind of connection between EBMM and Cornford ?, I'm sure there was some kind of EB/Cornford band doing some demo gigs, might be wrong.

Anybody else using EBMM/ Cornford combinations ?

Cheers

Kev

 

[The P-Man]

Yeah, again, sorry Jimi! I tried to PM you Kev but my message was too long!

There was a EB/MM - Cornford connection. I think the link came about through a few players - Jamie Humphries being one who endorses both EB/MM and Cornford - but I wouldn't say the connection ran that deep. More like two companies with a similar ethos of high quality workman-like gear without being as anal as some boutique companies. Also, IMO, they both offer unique products unlike a lot of the boutique scene. I think that they both offer their products to certain guiar schools around the country and host some joint clinic tours as well.

Regarding the noise of the Hurricane I would say it can get a little noisy but then it has its roots in vintage amplifiers whilst adding something more. It's a trade-off I guess, the Mesa's are really clinical on that front but then to my mind that is reflected in the sound. The biggest complement I can pay it is that when I had the Mesa, I was always fiddling with the settings in a live context and never managing to get it quite right - I can't imagine this being a problem with the Cornford. When I'm playing live I want to plug in and forget about everything other than my playing.

I think every Cornford owner I have spoken to has the gain and volume around the 7 mark. Although the cleans are good, clearly overdrive is its forte. I use the volume on my guitar to clean up and then the SD-1 to push it a little bit.

One of the most famous guitar players I can think of using the Cornford - EB/MM combo is Vinnie Moore who uses the MK-50, Hurricane and a Silhouette Special and a couple of Axis.

Cheers,

Pete

 

[MM90luvver]

P-Man

Sent you a PM

Kev