KINGSLEY CUSTOM 30 USER INFORMATION

Congratulations on your purchase of a Kingsley Custom 30! Please read all the
instructions and feel free to contact us if you have any questions or comments.

For warranty and service information please read the attached warranty sheet.

Please be sure to read the following check list before turning the amplifier ON!

- Speaker(s) plugged in to speaker jacks on back panel with IMPEDANCE switch

- Tube rectifier/solid state rectifier set to desired position

- Amplifier clear of objects.

To turn the amplifier on, first turn on the power switch and wait a minute or two to let the
tube heaters warm up, then turn the STANDBY to the ON position. Be sure to turn the
STANDBY OFF when taking a break form using the amp, such as between sets at a gig.
This will prolong the life of the tubes. When not using the amp for more than 30 minutes
or so, turn the power off completely.

The Kingsley Custom 30 is a cathode biased. In operation it gets quite hot, although this
is not something to worry about. Just be sure to turn the amplifier OFF when not in use,
keep objects clear of the back of the amp and do not tough the back panel or tubes
themselves while the amp is ON.
Use and operation of amplifier

The Kingsley Custom 30 is a pretty straight forward amplifier to operate but here is some
background information on the controls and features:

INPUT 1 – fattest, cleanest sound, volume control pot not active. At low to medium
volumes the sound is full and clean. As volume is increased the power section of the
amplifier starts to overdrive, resulting in a very touch-sensitive response. Pick softly and
the tone is clean, dig in and the sound breaks up.

INPUT 2 – slightly leaner sound, activates an additional preamp tube for additional gain.
With this input the volume control is active.

The VOLUME control sets the amount of preamp drive for input 2. For preamp breakup
turn this control up and then set the output volume using the Master control.

Set the TREBLE, MIDDLE and BASS controls to taste. A good starting point is the
halfway point. These controls work in the pre-amplifier section. Note that these controls
are interactive and that changing the setting of one will change the response of the others.

The TONE control rolls off highs in the power amplifier section and can be used as a
global tone control with out affecting the relative levels of treble, middle and bass. Set
this control to the half way mark as a starting point. This control can be very effective
for reducing raspiness when overdriving the amplifier or when using a distortion pedal.
Note that the TONE control is a lot less effective when in negative feedback mode.

The MASTER control sets the overall output volume of the amplifier.

The 3-way BRIGHT switch adds high end response to the pre-amplifier. With the switch
in the middle position the bright switch is off. With the switch in the downwards position
a small amount of brightness is added and in the upper position more brightness is added.
Note that this BRIGHT switch is not dependent on the volume pot position, as it is on
many amplifiers.

The EQ switch de-activates the treble, middle and bass controls when set downwards.
The sound becomes very full and rich and there is a large increase in overall gain. In this
mode the TONE control and BRIGHT switches still work so that the sound can still be
brightened or darkened (note that the TONE control has reduced effect in negative
feedback mode – see NFB switch below). If the sound is too full in the EQ lift mode, try
plugging into input 2 as it has less bass, resulting in a tighter sound.

The M.LIFT switch defeats the Master volume control when set upwards. Note that if
you are using input 1 and the M.LIFT is active, then there will be no volume or master
volume control.
Back panel:

The FOOTSWITCH boost pedal plugs into the back of the amp and activates the EQ lift
feature. The pot on the pedal gradually takes you from EQ active to EQ lift mode,
effectively providing a boost that gets louder and fatter as the control is turned up. Use
good quality shielded audio cable to plug the footswitch in, as when the switch is
activated a pre-amplifier signal is running to the switch. Note that if popping is evident
when stepping on the switch, stop playing as you activate the switch. The switch is
mechanical and therefore there is a battery in the footswitch housing to supply power to
the LED. It has nothing to do with the audio signal and if the battery runs out the switch
will still operate, but with out the LED indicator. To replace the battery, remove the four
screws on the bottom of the switch housing.

The WATTS switch controls the power output of the amplifier. When set upwards the
amplifier is in maximum power mode. Set downwards is half power and set to the middle
position is ¼ power mode.

The SEND and RETURN jacks give access to a passive series effects loop. The SEND
jack is the preamplifier output and the RETURN jack is the power amplifier input. Note
that because this is a passive loop, if you use it as a traditional effects loop for patching in
delay, reverb etc, then you will want to use very short patch cables to avoid high end
signal loss due to potential impedance issues. One way of avoiding this is to use a buffer
or buffered bypass pedal plugged into the SEND jack and situated right next to the
amplifier. Then you can run a longer patch cable to your effects on the floor and
effectively the SEND jack will now be buffered. Note that the SEND jack is located after
the Master volume control. This means that the Master volume will work as a send level
control. When the Master is set higher you may overdrive the inputs of any effects placed
in the loop.
The RETURN jack is also useful for accessing the power amplifier, for example when
using other preamplifiers.

The variable level LINE OUT on the back of the amplifier allows the user to send a
signal produced by the Custom 30 to another amplifier or power amplifier. This signal
will include all the tone shaping performed in the pre-amp and power amp, but will not
include the effect the speaker has on the sound. This can be used to increase the volume
of the Custom 30, or to send a signal to effects such as delay, chorus, etc.., which may
then be amplified through another guitar amplifier. The advantage to this manner of
routing of effects is that the effects come after the whole amplifier, including power
amplifier generated overdrive, which is a definite advantage when using time-based
effects.
NOTE that the LINE-OUT in not a recording compensated output and as such is not
designed to be fed directly into mixers or recording equipment. Our logic here is this: a
large part of the tone of a well designed guitar amplifier comes from the speaker(s) and
cabinet and when recording the best way to capture this is to put a good microphone in
front of the speaker to get the sound of the whole amplifier. Therefore it is suggested to
make sure that when the line out is used, that whatever this signal it is fed into, it should
still terminate with a good sounding guitar amplifier speaker.
If you are feeding the line out into another guitar amplifier, make sure you bring the level
up very slowly, as the signal will easily overdrive the input of the amplifier it is being fed
into.

NFB – this 3-way mini switch allows you to tailor the response of the power amplifier. It
can be useful for fine tuning the amp to different speaker cabinets and also for different
guitars.
In general, the more negative feedback is added to the power amplifier, the tighter and
leaner the response becomes. In practice the power amplifier has a higher damping factor,
which means that the power amplifier is better able to control, or dampen, the excursion
of the speaker cone(s).
When set to the up position the negative feedback is at its maximum (you will notice the
leanest/quietest response). Set to the lowest position is one step less negative feedback
and set to the middle position there is no negative feedback.
Tone-wise you will notice that there are more highs and lows (and volume), with less
negative feedback. For smoother overdrive tones you may prefer more negative feedback.
More negative feedback may also be useful for bass heavy or thick sounding guitars, as
the amp will sound tighter and leaner.
Less negative feedback can be nice for a looser, more “vibey” sound. I find it especially
useful with low output guitars and single coil pickups.
Note that the Tone control only works properly when the NFB switch is set to off (middle
position). There will be some effect from the Tone control with NFB applied, but it will
be very subtle.

SPEAKER OUTPUTS

The Custom 30 head needs to be plugged into an appropriate speaker cabinet at all times
when in use. You may use a 4, 8 or 16 ohm cabinet by using the correct speaker jack on
the back panel. Always use speaker cable with ¼” jacks and never use instrument cable
to make the connection from the head to the cabinet. Do not plug in a speaker cabinet
that does not match the output impedance of the amplifier.

TUBE/SS rectifier switch – with this switch set upwards the circuit is tube rectified. Set
the switch down for solid state rectification. Put the amplifier in standby mode before
operating this switch.
Note that the difference between tube and solid state rectification will not be apparent
until the amplifier is working hard (turned up loud). At this point the tube rectifier will
give a more compressed feel and response, as well as slightly less clean output power
(only a couple of watts).
TUBE LAYOUT:

When describing the tube positions in the amplifier, all descriptions are looking at the
back of the amplifier. As well as the visible row of tubes at the back, there is a row of 3
pre-amp tubes situated on the right towards the front of the amplifier. The one closest to
the input jacks on the left is V1. The next one is V2 and the third one is V3. Then, along
the back of the amplifier, the tube furthest to the right is V4, then V5 and V6.

V1 - first pre-amp tube. This tube is for input 2 only – 6SL7

V2 – second pre-amp tube – affects both inputs – 6SL7.

V3 – Phase splitter – 6SL7

V4 – Output tube – 6L6

V5 – Output tube – 6L6

V5 – Rectifier tube – 5AR5

PLUG IN, have fun and take care of you KINGSLEY.