OWNER’S MANUAL
KAA65
Thank you for purchasing the Kustom KAA65 model acoustic/electric guitar amplifier.
Kustom has listened to musicians throughout the world and stands proudly behind each
and every one we make. It was designed with your needs in mind. Flexible, feature
laden, great sounding, able to adapt to all kinds of music, this amplifier really delivers
what you have been looking and waiting for. Whatever style you choose, it’s ready!
Kustom, with a 30 year tradition of excellence in design, proudly delivers to you this
amp and rewards you with a rugged and dependable amp designed and engineered
in the USA. Again, thank you for your purchase. Please take a few minutes to learn
about all the professional features that are built in.
MICROPHONE
INSTRUMENT
MASTER
VOLUME
DIGITAL EFFECTS
MICROPHONE
INSTRUMENT
PIEZO ACTIVE
GAIN 1
BASS
MIDDLE
TREBLE
GAIN 2
BASS
TREBLE
FEEDBACK
LEVEL
PROGRAM
KAA65
5
1. BRIGHT ROOM
4
6
2. MELLOW ROOM
3. BRIGHT HALL
4. MELLOW HALL
5. CHORUS
7
3
6. CHORUS/ROOM
7. CHORUS/HALL
8. SLAPBACK
8
2
POWER
1
EFFECTS
PHASE
EFFECTS
ON
ON
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1.) Microphone Input - this is a 3 cond. XLR input jack for plugging in Lo-Z microphones. It is intended for microphones
and has 15V Phantom Power for condensor microphones.
2.) Piezo Input - this is a 1/4” 2 conductor input jack for plugging in your instrument. It is intended for an acoustic/electric
guitar with a piezo-electric pickup.
3.) Active Input - this is a 1/4” 2 conductor input jack for plugging in your instrument and will place a -20db pad in the circuit
which will allow use of active on-board electronics from pre-amplified guitars. This will help keep the signal extremely clean.
4.) Gain 1 - this control is the preamp input for the microphone input. Slowly increase the control to increase the volume.
5.) Effect On/Off- this switch will turn the effects for the microphone channel on and off.
6.) Bass - this control is the bass control for the microphone channel. It is passive and set to shelve frequencies at 100
Hz. Turning it fully clockwise, the signal is unaltered. Turning it counterclockwise, the low will be rolled off -12db.
7.) Middle - this control is the midrange control for the instrument channeI. It is passive and set to shelve frequencies at
1KHz.Turning it fully clockwise, the signal is unaltered. Turning it counterclockwise, the low will be rolled off -12db.
8.) Phase Reversal On/Off- this switch will reverse the phase on pins 2 & 3 for the microphone to help with feedback or
overly loud bass frequencies from the microphone channel.
9.) Treble - this is the high frequency tone control. for the microphone channel. It is passive and set to shelve frequencies
at 3KHz. Turning it fully clockwise, the signal is unaltered Turning it counterclockwise, the highs will be rolled off -12db.
10.) Gain 2 - this control is the preamp input for the instrument input. Slowly increase this control to increase the volume
on the instrument inputs.
11.) Effects On/Off- this switch will turn the reverb for the instrument channel on and off.
12.) Bass - this control is the bass control. It is passive and set to shelve frequencies at 100 Hz. Turning it fully clockwise,
the signal is unaltered Turning it counterclockwise, the low will be rolled off -12db.
13.) Treble- this is the high frequency tone control. It is passive and set to shelve requencies at 3KHz on the instrument
channel. Turning it fully clockwise, the signal is unaltered. Turning it counterclockwise, the highs will be rolled off -12db.
14.) Feedback On/Off - this switch will engage the Feedback control.
15.) Feedback - this control is a cut filter notch with an extremely narrow width. It sweeps between 50Hz & 500Hz and “fine
tunes” the midrange of the acoustic guitar. This helps elimate unwanted “ringing” tones.
16.) Master Volume - this is the overall volume level control for the amplifier. To keep distortion at a minimum, we suggest
you turn this up between 1/2 and 2/3, then bring up the individual channels.
17.) Effects On/Off- this switch will turn the digital effects for the entire unit on and off.
18.) Effects Level - this control adds the digital effects and mixes them into the main signal buss.
19.) Effects Program - this control selects between the different digital effects. Effects include: 4 Reverbs, 1- Delay, 1-
Chorus, 2-Chorus & Reverb.
20.) Jewel Light - this jewel light lets you know that the amplifier is on.
21.) Power - this switch turns on and off the AC power to the amp.
Back Panel - (not pictured)
Speaker Out - this is a 2 conductor 1/4” speaker output jack. This will disconnect the internal speaker and allow an external
speaker cabinet to be employed. Rating is 8 ohms.
Line Output - this is a 2 conductor 1/4” line output jack. This will allow an external amplifier or mixing board to be supplied with
the signal from this amp.
Effects Loop I/O - these are 2-2 conductor 1/4” jacks. This will allow an external effects device or equalizer to be patched back in before
the power amp section in this amp. One is send and the other is return.
Footswitch Jack - this is a 2 conductor 1/4” jack. This is for hooking up a footswitch to turn on/off the onboard digital effects.
Suggested Settings
(These settings are general starting points. They
are designed to get you close to the sound you are
looking for. If the control is not shown, then it doesn’t
apply to this particular sound. )
MICROPHONE
INSTRUMENT
MASTER
VOLUME
DIGITAL EFFECTS
MICROPHONE
INSTRUMENT
PIEZO ACTIVE
GAIN 1
BASS
MIDDLE
TREBLE
GAIN 2
BASS
TREBLE
FEEDBACK
LEVEL
PROGRAM
1. BRIGHT ROOM
KAA65
5
2. MELLOW ROOM
3. BRIGHT HALL
4. MELLOW HALL
5. CHORUS
4
6
7
3
6. CHORUS/ROOM
7. CHORUS/HALL
8. SLAPBACK
8
2
POWER
1
EFFECTS
PHASE
EFFECTS
ON
ON
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Standard Single Input Setup - in this setup your acoustic/electric guitar is plugged
into input 2. (Remember, if you are using an active guitar or pre-amplified guitar, select
the active input. We also suggest that you turn it’s output level to about mid way up and
this will give you a cleaner sound as well as giving you available headroom for leads.)
The tone controls follow both inputs.
Of course, you can adjust the tone controls to any desired sound, but in this setup we
suggest these tone control settings. It will deliver a clear, clean sound that has enough
top end clarity to cut through. Add low and low mid for a beefier presence, but be careful
as this can “muddy up” the sound.
Adjust the reverb and chorus to suit the music or to your taste.
MICROPHONE
INSTRUMENT
MASTER
VOLUME
DIGITAL EFFECTS
MICROPHONE
INSTRUMENT
PIEZO ACTIVE
GAIN 1
BASS
MIDDLE
TREBLE
GAIN 2
BASS
TREBLE
FEEDBACK
LEVEL
PROGRAM
1. BRIGHT ROOM
2. MELLOW ROOM
3. BRIGHT HALL
4. MELLOW HALL
5. CHORUS
KAA65
5
4
6
7
3
6. CHORUS/ROOM
7. CHORUS/HALL
8. SLAPBACK
8
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POWER
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EFFECTS
PHASE
EFFECTS
ON
ON
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Standard Dual Input Setup - in this setup two inputs are utilized. Guitar is plugged
into guitar input jack and a Hi-Z microphone is plugged into mic/line Input. Assuming you
are also using a microphone, plug it into the mic/line jack and slowly turn up the mic/line
volume control. Balancing the two types of inputs gives you a much more natural acoustic
guitar sound.
You could also plug in any combination of inputs such as: keyboards, microphones or
other guitars.
This can also be a basic mini-PA system. It could be used for plugging in a CD player
or cassette decks and a microphone for singing. It can be used for playing over prerecorded
tapes with mixing capabilities.
As mentioned earlier, you can adjust the tone controls to any desired sound, but in this
setup we suggest these tone control settings. Of course it depends on the listening
environment. It will deliver a clear, clean sound that has enough top end clarity to let the
acoustic sound cut through.
Adjust the reverb to suit the music or to your taste.
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