acoustic image clarus/henrikssen jazz amp???

whosgarethparry · #1 04-15-2011, 07:00 PM

hey all,
new to the forum, so let's kick off with.....
Looking at an AI clarus or a henrikssen jazz amp head. wondered what people thought of the amps, what they prefered. i've always ran small tube amps, from a thinline hollowbody-going for that grant green/boogaloo joe jones 60's bluenote/prestige vibe.i have a wah, maybe a graphic, or xotic RC. nothing too busy.
my reason for wanting to switch is that after years on the road i'm getting annoyed with twitchy amps, big repair bills, and carrying the dam thing. also, i'm flying a lot more or having to travel 'light'. hiring in amps way more often and having to put up with crap.
my thought is i can take a head with me and get a consistent sound.
i'd appreciate any advice regards these style amps anyone has
cheers
gaz

Greco · #2 04-15-2011, 07:31 PM

Hi...Welcome to the forum (from a newbie to jazz... and to this forum)

I am also looking for an amplifier head.

Some of the gear discussion in this thread might interest you:
http://www.jazzguitar.be/forum/guita...uitar-use.html

You will likely get many responses, comments/suggestions from other forum members who have a lot of experience with the type of amp(s) you are interested in.

I will be following your thread with interest.

Cheers

Dave

mr. beaumont · #3 04-15-2011, 08:25 PM

In my experience, Acoustic Image delivers a pristine, hi-fi clean--truly only amplifies what you plug into it. Probably best for solid topped archtops and acoustic guitars.

The henriksen definitely colors the tone in a modern jazz kinda way, however we've got a video running here now that proves it's good for other stuff as well. I own a henriksen, and it sounds great with a laminate archtop and a semi-hollow I own. It reminds me a bit of a polytone, with a better EQ section (that takes some screwing with to get right for every guitar, but when you do--woo hoo!!!)

Bill C · #4 04-16-2011, 03:49 AM

You might also consider the Evans AH200 head. Extensive tone controls and from the Evans combos I've seen with the same amp modules, excellent build quality.

NSJ · #5 04-16-2011, 04:08 AM

Can you mix and match heads and cabs--? Ie, is a Henriksen cab ideally suited for a Henriksen head? Or, alternatively, will a Claris head with a Henriksen cab sound truly like a Claris? Ie, the cab is only relevant for power/wattage???

IbanezAS100 · #6 04-16-2011, 04:26 AM

I recently got the Jazzamp head and 10'' cab myself. I've only used it for a couple of rehearsals but I imagine you will be able to get a consistent sound as it is very easy to tweak-the EQ will allow you to shape the sound as you want. I think a bigger cab will open up the sound even more and it does take pedals well (so you can get that 'edge of breakup' type of tone). The reverb is not the greatest (short and a bit 'boingy') but for Jazz it works nicely.

BTW, who is Gareth Parry indeed...if it's Gaz from Leeds, PM me and I'll tell you more-Themis here.

whosgarethparry · #7 04-16-2011, 05:40 AM

Great response guys. Cheers. I've rumours that the henrikssen build quality is a bit sketchy? Any thoughts? Also, and I know I'm wanting the moon on a stick, but how do people think they react to other guitars in different contexts? I.e, I'm gonna do function gigs with a tele, pop gig stuff, not just straight soul jazz. I used a roland jc120 for years and liked it, I know distortion sound achieveable won't be great (using xotic ac, wampler hotwired at the minute), but is it at least passable.

whosgarethparry · #8 04-16-2011, 05:58 AM

should say< currently using a Peerless Sunsent (hollow single cut, thickness of a 330) with roundwound 13-56 (plain 3rd)

Franz 1997 · #9 04-16-2011, 06:29 AM

I've had a few hendriksens, and opened 'em up to fix various things. The older ones had some design flaws and hum, but the newer ones are of good 'consumer' quality ( ie not hand-built, but reasonably well built), are quiet, and the cosmetics have improved. They are a great 'plug & play' amp. If you need to cover pop/funk etc, you might need the 'ER' model, which can get the highs. The others can't really, as the standard beta speaker is bass-heavy.
I got rid of mine only because I had the opportunity to buy a s/h evans head, and I found the 10''speaker a bit small-sounding. I think you'll be fine with a newer hendriksen - but look out for older s/h models, as they hum and make annoying noises. Also the very oldest ( 2005?) 10' combo model has only 60w and not much headroom. Basically I think it took Hendriksen a couple of years to ''de-bug'' the design from launch.
Service from Hendriksen is excellent in europe - they are very responsive.

jzucker · #10 04-16-2011, 07:26 AM

you won't get grant green out of the henriksen or clarus. Those 2 amps are very dark sounding and more in the jimmy bruno camp. You should look at the evans amps if you want a SS amp that can do the bugaloo/green/early benson tone

jzucker · #11 04-16-2011, 07:28 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Franz 1997

If you need to cover pop/funk etc, you might need the 'ER' model, which can get the highs. The others can't really, as the standard beta speaker is bass-heavy.

i don't agree with that.I have the ER model and it's still dark. The problem is that the treble control is voiced too high (8k) so you can't get that guitaristic treble boost at 4.5k though I use mine with a barber Barb EQ pedal to solve that issue. Also, tweeters sound awful for funk and overdrive. By the way, you can switch the tweeter off but the eminence beta speaker has a fairly low treble rolloff point so it's pretty dark. It sounds better with either a legend speaker (for rock/funk) or with an aftermarket speaker like the emi delta 12a

whosgarethparry · #12 04-16-2011, 07:46 AM

cheers jzucker, interesting thoughts. i've located a henrikksen and a clarus to try out in the next few days or so. I saw evans, look great, but cant find one in England, or a dealer who could get one to try it out.
i have quite a few decent boosts (Xotic rc, xotic ac, wampler hotwired and a maxon graphic), do you think i that would be enough to beef it up a bit with AI/Henrickssen?

Franz 1997 · #13 04-16-2011, 07:47 AM

My particular hendriksen ER 10" had an emi ragin cajun in it, which had a higher rolloff point and was less dark, although hardly a bright amp even then. They seem to have stopped using those now. My point was simply that you can get more highs from the ER model; I've never used it for funk etc., so I concede that it may well sound awful. I just disconnected the tweeter anyway.

jzucker · #14 04-16-2011, 07:54 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by whosgarethparry

cheers jzucker, interesting thoughts. i've located a henrikksen and a clarus to try out in the next few days or so. I saw evans, look great, but cant find one in England, or a dealer who could get one to try it out.
i have quite a few decent boosts (Xotic rc, xotic ac, wampler hotwired and a maxon graphic), do you think i that would be enough to beef it up a bit with AI/Henrickssen?

Yeah, the RC boost works well as a tone control for both those amps. Without that I think you'd have a hard time getting a bugaloo or funk sound out of either. Also, the cab makes a big diff. Both of the cabs either of those manufacturers make are ported and somewhat Jimmy Brunoish sounding. You'll probably want to run through an open back 1x12 or 2x12 or 2x10 to make it more vintagey.

gcb · #15 04-16-2011, 08:02 PM

Henry Johnson endorses the Acoustic Image Clarus amp. Here´s a link:
Henry Johnson Jazz - Gear Page

jzucker · #16 04-16-2011, 08:33 PM

henry also uses the jazzcat

gcb · #17 04-16-2011, 09:11 PM

Yes, and in some You tube clips can also be seen -and heard- plugged into a a Fender blackface. Great playing and tone.

Jake Hanlon · #18 04-17-2011, 08:06 AM

you couldn't take my henriksen away from me if you had a gun. best amp i've owned and I was always a tube man up until I bought that amp a year and change ago.

Tom Karol · #19 04-17-2011, 08:21 AM

I agree, Jake, I'm really happy with my JazzAmp 112. I also have the outboard tweeter. It's nice with the hybrid guitar when doing acoustic flavors, but otherwise I don't use it. However, based on Jack's comments about speakers in another thread, I have a new 'best' way to buy a Henriksen: Get the head and the 112 speaker box separately. Put Jack's recommended Delta Pro 12A in the speaker box replacing the stock Beta 12A. Then you'd have a 7 lb. amp and a 33 lb. speaker cab instead of a 41 lb. combo configuration.

jzucker · #20 04-17-2011, 09:08 AM

i think i'm going to go back to the legend speaker on my henriksen. Anyone want a delta pro 12a speaker?

mr. beaumont · #21 04-17-2011, 09:36 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jake Hanlon

you couldn't take my henriksen away from me if you had a gun. best amp i've owned and I was always a tube man up until I bought that amp a year and change ago.

I feel the same way. I got really lucky when I matched up the henriksen head with my redstone speaker cab...amp gas is completely gone.

Mind you, it took me six months to figure out exactly how I liked the EQ set (I got Jack to thank for a tip on that too!)

wizard3739 · #22 04-17-2011, 10:10 AM

I am now totally addicted to my Acoustic Image Clarus II / Raezers' Edge Stealth 12 ER matchup. I was very happy with a vintage Polytone 15" minibrute IV for over 30 years until I played through the AE/RE matchup at a jazz guitar party. Since I am now an old coot with some lifting issues, I am looking to trade my 12" Re Stealth ER model (35 lb) for a lighter 10" RE stealth ER (22 lb) or a 10 " Raezers' Edge Nighthawk ER (20 lb). I'm saving my tip money to buy the Nighthawk or something equivalent. Mr. B, I have never played through a Redstone Cabinet. Can you tell me a bit about your experience with Redstone?

Wiz

mr. beaumont · #23 04-17-2011, 10:50 AM

Two Summers ago, I had some business up in West Allis WI, and, knowing I wouldn't be too far from Jeff Hale's place, decided to drop in. I had just purchased the Zt lunchbox and was enjoying it, but was desiring a little more bass for solo gigs.

I had it in my mind that I'd eventually buy a nice dedicated jazz head, like a henriksen, AI, or evans (or even a polytone minibrain) so I decided to go speaker cabinet hunting so I'd have a cab to use with the LB and then my eventual head purchase in the future.

Jeff of course carries Raezer's Edge stuff, Henriksen, and Redstone. So after my conference, I drove out to his shop and spent the afternoon testing speakers with my tele and the lunchbox.

I told jeff I was looking for a 10" cab, and he handed me a speaker cable and said "try out whatever you want."

I found the Redstones to be pretty comparable to the Raezer's Edge stuff of the same size. Both were perfectly clean, very light, obviously high quality stuff. I had originally wanted a 10" speaker, but I found after A/B-ing I actually had plenty of bass with an 8" speaker! So it came down to a RE NY8 and a Redstone RS-8. Both were under 20 lbs (the redstones a lb. or two lighter than the RE, actually)

So Jeff comes by and sees that I'm actually digging 8" cabs and says "Hey, I got a used RS-8 in the back. Guy bought it and brought it back the next day saying he changed his mind and wanted a 10 incher."

He sold it to me for $100 less than the RE ($50 less than the new Redstone) So it was a no-brainer for me!

So basically they're the same kind of idea as a RE-- light, clean, clean clean, and really marketed to jazzers, I guess. I'm surprised I don't see more of 'em around, really. I guess the biggest drawback to 'em is they're kinda homely compared to those sexy looking Raezer cabs!

kris · #24 04-17-2011, 11:08 AM

Acoustic Image work great with Red Stone cabinets.

jzucker · #25 04-17-2011, 11:18 AM

are the redstone cabs ported? One thing that makes the RE cabs unique is the porting. I'm actually really keen on trying the evans cab. They have a really cool concept (on paper at least).

mr. beaumont · #26 04-17-2011, 11:46 AM

They do ported and non ported cabs, I beleive. Mine is non ported, actually, but still has a bunch of thump.

NSJ · #27 04-17-2011, 12:03 PM

I haven't played my ES 339 in a couple weeks, but I just did this morning. I tell you this a beautiful setup, about as beautiful, singing, clear, clean as a tone as I can configure-

ES 339, with CC (neck pos only)
Henriksen Convertible
Electro Harmonix delay and reverb

The Henriksen to me is the holy grail of jazz amps since i picked it up used off CL a few years ago--strange thing is, the guy who sold it to me said it just wasn't a right mix with his L5, so he went back to his Fender. with my Jim Hall, it sounded incredible.

which begs the question--do people really use it with their carved archtops? I've heard Bobby Broom with his carved Hofner use a Henriksen at the Green Mill, and that's about it.

Paul Kinnear · #28 04-17-2011, 03:13 PM

Hi NSI, I use a Henrikson 12" with reverb and an eastman 905 seven string or my 335. Prior to the henrikson I always used an old early 70's vibrolux. I am surprised to say that I don't miss using the fender. On duo gigs I also use a bose l1 ii and we both plug into that which does sound very cool (very full and disperses the sound well). The Henrikson does sound nice and warm and handles the seven string great. I would say it is my favorite amp now.

jzucker · #29 04-17-2011, 03:43 PM

how does the bose work for louder gigs?

Paul Kinnear · #30 04-17-2011, 04:48 PM

We mostly use it for d'oh or trio jazz gigs (the bose). We have use it for some weddings and some outdoor tent type gigs. I have used it specifically as a p a For some rock and rythm and blues. I have yet to have a problem it sounds great all the time. We used to use a cargo van for even small restaurant gigs (two vibrolux in cases big pa system speaker stands cable etc....man I don't miss that). I mostly use the henriksen for sideman jobs although I do like to use it for the duo.