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From the Dutch bopper site.
Originally Posted by Drifter
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09-19-2014 05:45 AM
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Don't forget this gem of a video with Mambo Amps
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My 10" Mambo arrived today. Great service from Jon. Well packaged. I got the dedicated gig bag for it. It looks and sounds great. Video to follow, hopefully over the weekend.
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Well, it's a quality amp, for sure, but I am returning it - shock, horror! Why? Well, there's nothing wrong with the amp. I'm using a Gibson 345 through it, and not getting the sound I'm after. I think this is a fantastic amp for an archtop, but with a thinline it is hit or miss whether you like the sound or not. Again, nothing wrong with the amp.
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Rob, get the 12". I had he 10" and was impressed, I ordered the 12" and was blown away. I play a semi through it.
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The one I got was the 10". It weighs 18lbs and is very small. It normally comes with an eminence Beta 10" speaker which is a little dark for my tastes so I ordered mine with an 18sound 10" speaker. The 18sound speaker is flat to about 5.5k whereas the beta 10 is flat to about 3.7k.
I didn't care for the 18sound speaker. It did not have the high frequency content I was expecting, nor did it capture any type of fendery high end. Instead it sounded nasally/middy to me and the bottom end was lacking. I tried turning up the bass control on the amp but in doing so realized that I was not getting the expected headroom out of the amp that I was looking for.
I ended up swapping the speaker for the beta 10 and now the amp sounds great. If you're looking for a traditional Wes Montgomery, Howard Roberts or Joe Pass "Joy Spring" sound, you'll be very happy with this amp.
The eminence beta I installed (and which is also the normal stock speaker) is this one:
BETA-10A - Loudspeakers | Eminence Speaker
It's rated freq range is 51-3.8k
Pros:
- Very small
- Very light
- Very powerful
- Gorgeous traditional, dark, smokey jazz tones. Very guitaristic.
- Good reverb
Cons:
- somewhat boxy (though not as bad as the Raezer's Edge cabs
- treble control more like a high mid
- Can't get a bensony treble attack
- Missing some of the high end necessary for funk rhythm
- Not much tubeyness, even with the harmonics switch on
- Not cheap. I paid $1150 shipped from the UK for mine.
Jon Shaw who builds each one to order indicated that they are experimenting with a fender tone stack and at some point there may be a version which allows switching between the fender tone stack and the baxandall tone stack that is currently stock. [EDIT] Jon just emailed me and said that it looks like this will be field upgradable but will not be ready for several months.
I will update this review when I have had a chance to try it in some other situations including using it with a modeling preamp.Last edited by jzucker; 06-30-2015 at 02:40 PM.
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thanks for the review man ... glad you're happy ... !
interesting about 18sound speaker being
A bit nasal and bassless
pingu
a happy(ish) AER Compact 60 user ...
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What happens if you turn the high end knobs all the way up and the bass knobs (almost) all the way down? Originally Posted by jzucker
Do you get some acceptable funk rhythm tone?Last edited by Jazz_175; 07-01-2015 at 02:59 AM.
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I have not tried that. Will give that a try tonight and report back. Originally Posted by Jazz_175
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Hi Jack, glad it worked out for you. I agree the Mambo excels as a "jazz amp" but is not a good platform for Fender sounds... I hope it still serves you well.
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I like mine very much but agree that it doesn't do the fender sound. That's ok with me. I have a little deluxe for that. The mambo does the quintessential jazz tone for me, and its small and light. I like that.
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Jack, do you like the Mambo more than the Henriksen for straight ahead jazz and chord melody ?
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wow, that's a tough one. If you're talking about the 12" henriksen, the henriksen sounds warmer and fatter but the reverb is not very good IMO. I have not heard the bud. That would be an interesting comparison. Originally Posted by vinnyv1k
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also, the mambo just nails the joe pass joy spring sound IMO.
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wanted to post an update. I'm so happy with this eminence beta speaker. It is a little darker than a full range speaker but it sounds so perfect for jazz guitar. I just pluged my GB10 into the mambo and it sounds amazing. I've never heard it sound better. The mambo arguably sounds better for jazz than my kemper though I could probably find a SS amp profile on the kemper to match. Or maybe I'll profile the mambo, lol.
Probably just my ears getting used to it though.
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interesting ... is gb10 naturally a bright guitar ? Originally Posted by jzucker
wanted to post an update. I'm so happy with this eminence beta speaker. It is a little darker than a full range speaker but it sounds so perfect for jazz guitar. I just pluged my GB10 into the mambo and it sounds amazing. I've never heard it sound better. The mambo arguably sounds better for jazz than my kemper though I could probably find a SS amp profile on the kemper to match. Or maybe I'll profile the mambo, lol.
Probably just my ears getting used to it though.
it'd be funny/ironic if you end up modelling
your small rig on your bigger rig !
you're a tough nut , tone wise jz
well done john @ Mambo !
I feel quite proud to be British ...
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Fantastic! So you're sticking with the Kemper? If/when my playing improves a few notches, I will be looking for another amp (a Yam THR fulfills my needs for now). The Mambo would seem a great choice, sounds great, is more stylish etc. but the Kemper isn't much more expensive where I live. It does seem a better value. Even if I used just 5-10 profiles, and only 10% of the K's abilities, it's still 5-10 amps vs just one. While players in other genres rave about it, there's not much feedback from jazz players, but given the ability to profile any amp, no reason why it wouldn't cope some ideal jazz tones as well. Hopefully the K will inspire other makers. What if one day a beautiful unit like the Mambo incorporated some K-like technology allowing perfect tone control? Originally Posted by jzucker
wanted to post an update. I'm so happy with this eminence beta speaker. It is a little darker than a full range speaker but it sounds so perfect for jazz guitar. I just pluged my GB10 into the mambo and it sounds amazing. I've never heard it sound better. The mambo arguably sounds better for jazz than my kemper though I could probably find a SS amp profile on the kemper to match. Or maybe I'll profile the mambo, lol.
Probably just my ears getting used to it though.
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Originally Posted by m_d
well price wise the kemper will set you back for the profiling unit then you still need an amp and speakers to play the kemper through ... since unless i misunderstand the Kemper it is just the 'brain' and still needs speakers...so you need to add it to the price of the Kemper where the Mambo is a complete amp
btw i did some playing through the Kemper at a recent expo and got some great tones with the kemper going through a PA speaker....which you can see on the floor behind me they had a marshall cab set up too.... but thats kinda like modeling something then playing through a marshal
i was using a really nice Tokai telecaster ...very sweet jazz tones ... from the combo of tele and kemper and PA speaker
i think a must for studio's a Kemper these days is gonna be industry standard BUT for live use no matter how well you profile an amp the cab you use is still gonna colour it ....but thats just me
Last edited by Keira Witherkay; 07-02-2015 at 05:00 AM.
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Jack,
Did you get the cube or the wedge? Don't recall reading any mention of this. Are there supposed to be sonic differences between the two from what you know?
Thanks!
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i got the wedge. The internal baffle of the cube is built like the wedge so there are no sonic differences.
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Jack,
Now that you've had your Mambo for nearly a month, has your opinion changed or remained the same? Would you still recommend this amp over similar offerings for traditional jazz sound?
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