The Ultimate Guitar Amp

[fast eddy]

Originally Posted by JorisFun

I use this setting (thanks to Mark)
Reverb: 4
Master: nearly 12
Middle: 8
Bass: 9
Treble: 6
On my BJ for a nice cripsy jazz sound

thanks Joris. I'll give those settings a go when my BJ tweed arrives out here in Thailand

[fast eddy]

Originally Posted by mr. beaumont

hey eddy.

it should be noted that before i go into my settings, i rarely use the blues junior for straight up jazz gigs anymore, since i got a hold of a polytone. the polytone is just to easy to get the right tone out of for me to go back.

that said, i do still use the fender, especially at home and when playing the occasional country/western swing stuff out or at a jam.

anyway, here's how i set things for the recordings i did with the BJ

mids: maxed
lows: little over halfway up
high: very low, 1 or 2

FAT off. i also rolled a bit of tone off on the guitar. since i don't really like reverb and the BJ's reverb is horrible for jazz, it was set at 1 or off completely. a few tracks were given a little digital verb after the recording...

that's pretty much it. i never looked too far into the billM mods, because it's sort of against my style to put 100's of dollars into an amp that (when i bought it, they've gone up in price) only cost me 350 bucks.

one thing i have considered is running a lower gain 12A_7 tube in V1, but i've never bothered, as 15 tube watts coupled with my low gain single coil pickups (not a humbucker man) has got enough loud clean for any of the settings i play in regularly.

Thank you sir, your words of wisdom will guide me. I have to say though, I'm feeling a tug away from jazz standards to jump blues. any thoughts on where to begin for that genre. Hopefully my rig will do me proud.

cheers

[rwfthesr]

I have a Fender "The Twin" that I've used for gigs since '88 and haven't found a better sound yet. But needless to say, the thing is HEAVY! I have a Mini Brute II that get's close but not close enough for me. But I will use it than battle with the Twin.
We collect many amps over the years but I can't beat the tube. So I just picked up the Blues Junior with the Jensen speaker and worked it last Saturday. I was amazed! Didn't like the reverb and had to keep it under 2 but for size, weight and loudness it suited me perfectly.
I've given two of my solid state amps to my sons. I just bought them to try to see if I could find a combination of setting that I could talk myself into using. But we all have different tastes! I'll try my POD XT Live next but I don't usually use effects unless I get called for RB gigs.

As I've said. We all have something we hear in our minds and I hope everyone finds it.


Randy

[lpdeluxe]

The best cure for the reverb is to replace the stock pan with a Ruby Reverb. It's under $40 with shipping, and greatly improves the sound...even though, anything over 3 on the dial is a little much. Must be a Fender thing.

I may have mentioned in an earlier post that I own the BJ NOS (Jensen speaker + tweed) and I love it with my 335 -- and the Ruby Reverb.

This fall's project will be a 1-15 speaker cab for my Band-Master VM head. The BM has a similar tonality to the Blues Jr, but more power and headroom. It's still light, and has digital effects that sound pretty good, and channel switching; but the convenience of the Junior has led me to gigging with it.

[JorisFun]

[quote=rwfthesr;42106]I have a Fender "The Twin" that I've used for gigs since '88 and haven't found a better sound yet. But needless to say, the thing is HEAVY!

A couple of days ago I went to the North Sea Jazz festival. Did the full 3 day's: sheer joy! Lots of great players of and lots of Fender Twins, I just love them to death. At the same time I love my back just as well so I settled for the Blues Junior. Also a great amp.
Reading your comments on reverb and other stuff I feel a bit like a moron. I guess I just like jazz, playing and guitars to much to be bothered by the things that you hear. Maybe it's just my ears. Anyways, if it's got strings and it's swings, I'm your friend.

Cheers, Joris

[jefchan]

There are a few of us who have never managed the switch to steel strings but still need to be heard. The complaints are clear; even the singer can't hear us.

[Bluesguy]

The Fender Acoustasonic Jr. does a reasonable job for my nylon string guitar--which sounds horrid and tinny through the PA direct.

[fast eddy]

Originally Posted by JorisFun
I use this setting (thanks to Mark)
Reverb: 4
Master: nearly 12
Middle: 8
Bass: 9
Treble: 6
On my BJ for a nice cripsy jazz sound

Originally Posted by fast eddy

thanks Joris. I'll give those settings a go when my BJ tweed arrives out here in Thailand

Ooooooohhhhh! Just played it this morning using my Ephiphone Flamekat Ltd edition on Joris's settings - beeaaauuttilishus

[JorisFun]

Way d' go Eddy!
I guess the Blues Junior made it to Thailand. Great you like the settings, I copied them from my guitar teacher.
I'm making do here in my house in Spain with a Cube 30 and a vintage Höfner 45(something). I could do worse off course, but reunion with my BJ (and L4) makes going back next week a little less sour.
Cheers, Joris

[janepaints]

Originally Posted by Brad

I want to check out that Roland MicroCube. Have heard about it but have not seen a jazz player here play one.

bpm

I bought a MicroCube when it first appeared. Wasn't looking for an amp. Walked into to a music store to buy strings, walked out with a MicroCube.

It's kinda-spoiled other amps for me. I LOVE it's sound and now, when testing larger amps, am always seeking a similar sound, but louder.

However, I regularly use it for gigs which would usually require a louder amp. Two ways of doing so:
1. run the Microcube's line-out to the PA, or to any larger amp which can accurately reproduce the line-out signal. I have a 30-watt bass-combo amp with a very flat/clean sound, no distortion, which does the trick.

2. the way I prefer: put the 'cube directly in front of me, close, aimed right at me, placing it on a stool or chair.... then, mic the speaker.

Used thus, I think of the Microcube's speaker as the 'bell of a sax'. Horn players & singers don't require amps, do they? They just require a microphone.

Caveats:
--I always run it via batteries. Sounds better, battery-operation creates 'sag' similar to tube rectifiers in tube amps. Plus less wires all over the place.

--The small speaker farts out at higher volumes. Tho the amp doesn't have an 'extension speaker' jack, it's easy to have one added, or as I do, use a second cab for the amp. Mine is a small pine cab with an 8" 4-ohm bass-guitar speaker. I transfer the entire actual ''amp" (which is circuitry mounted on an L-shaped metal panel, held in place by 9 screws) to the same-sized opening on the larger cab. When finances permit, I plan to get a second M-cube to permanently mount thus, which will also allow me to use stereo M-cubes, running off effect boxes with stereo output.

Regarding the entire Roland 'Cube' line of amps, tho all are similar, the circuitry and overall sound varies, and the M-cube remains my fave, even though it lacks footswitching capabilities, which I don't need. I had the 30-watt cube for about 3 days, returned it to Sam Ash. Lacked the warmth & 'feel' of the Micro-Cube.

The Micro-cube is the only solid-state amp I've ever owned which I totally love. I forget it's solid-state. I forget it's even THERE. I just play and the sounds I wanna create are there in the air, floating around.

In some ways, it's the closest thing (in electric guitaring) to acoustic guitaring. Electric SOUND, but absolutely minimalistic gear.

Tho not playing jazz, or using the amp's cleaner 'jazz' settings, this video of the Micro-cube is a hoot...the WALKING TOUR of Ontario, Canada, via m-cube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qb1zvbuMHL0

[lancegross1]

Hi ,
I am new and love the site...I use Crate V-18 . It has a single 12 ...you can get it with twins...I like the single and it is warm without being muddy. It is light and easy to carry around. And as for price it was 149 dollars...It is a really great little amp for the money.

[jefchan]

Fantastic thread!

[msr13]

Having had it now for a couple of weeks, I have to put my two cents in for the Phil Jones Super Cub.

[PaulD]

In the article, it says:

"update: a reader reports using 2 Cube 30s work even better than 1 Cube 60"

Sorry to sound stupid, but can someone explain that to me? Is that splitting the guitar signal to 2 amps or plugging one amp into the other?

Thanks,

Paul

[HotClubBrampton]

I think I am getting a nice sound from my ES-175 and my Roland Cube 60
Check both together here :


YouTube - Confessin' - Gibson ES-175


(forgive the playing, check the sound)

[Anandbhat]

Great tone.The sound quality on the backing track is kind of distracting though.I think you play great.Nice rendition of "sultans of Swing" too!

[lancegross1]

That is a nice sound... and you play well. Thanks for the tune.

[valriver40]

since my last post i upgraded from a cube 30x to a new cube 80x and love it.

[Caleb Cook]

I'll have to say that I disagree with the last comment, about buying online is the best option. Buying online offers no service, and does nothing do support local business and boost local economy. I work at a music retailer, and I can't tell you how frustrating it is to have people come in ask questions for an hour, try the amp out, request to take it home and try it, and then bring it back only to buy it online for $50 bucks cheaper. And when they have problems with the amp, who do they come to ? The local music store because online shops do not provide the service and support of local busines. I don't mind helping people out in the store, in fact I enjoy it. Its just frustrating to spend an hour or so helping someone out and they've already decided from the beginning that your time is not worth the extra $20 they could save online. If it keeps up all local music stores, except for giant corporations will be out of business and all there will be is low service online shops, where you can't even physically touch or hear a product without making some kind of a commitment.

And I play a hotrod deluxe by the way, and it is a little muddy with humbuckers. But another part of my issue is that the Ibanez Artcore that I play on just has awful sounding pickups in my oppinion. I'm thinking about dropping in some '59 seymore duncan humbuckers because I've heard a lot of good things about them. Also if you have a HotRod Deluxe and you're looking to get a little more umph or warmth out of it, try replacing the groove tubes that come with it, with the American made groove tubes. The white ones seem to give a little more headroom before brekaing up, and the American made ones are definitely the way to go. My strat sounds great through it.

[lkmuller]

We're fortunate here in Honolulu in that there is a store here that will match the internet price on almost every item. Saves us on shipping, plus we get a chance to actually see and feel instrument. And I'd rather spend the money here.

[Drifter]

Just as an aside: Why not charge people for your consulting service if they end up buying nothing? I wish shop owners would do that instead of giving me frustrated frowns when I enter a shop. And, of course, not once they had the guitar or amp I was looking for in stock. OK, bad luck, but instead of offering to order it on trial they *always* try to sell something else that I don't want. My experiences with local music shops have always been frustrating, I prefer to order online with a good return policy.

[HotClubBrampton]

Originally Posted by Caleb Cook

I'll have to say that I disagree with the last comment, about buying online is the best option. Buying online offers no service, and does nothing do support local business and boost local economy. ...

I have to agree with the statement above. I buy my stuff at three stores, I enjoy getting in the store and waving at the sales staff. In one store, they have become sort of buddies and we will chat about new gear and exchange comments. On the other is strictly business, but they have bigger stock. Still cool. The third one has all the vintage good stuff, the fact of being able to touch and play valuable instruments has no comparison.

Even if sometimes is expensive, if the staff has been working with me to get my stuff I would always buy from the store. Online buys are only for hard to find items, or no-representation brands. Of course, if the sales guys are indifferent or not friendly, I just walk out ( but this has not been the case so far, luckily)

[Dystonian_Mode]

Originally Posted by Caleb Cook

I'll have to say that I disagree with the last comment, about buying online is the best option. Buying online offers no service, and does nothing do support local business and boost local economy. I work at a music retailer, and I can't tell you how frustrating it is to have people come in ask questions for an hour, try the amp out, request to take it home and try it, and then bring it back only to buy it online for $50 bucks cheaper. And when they have problems with the amp, who do they come to ? The local music store because online shops do not provide the service and support of local busines. I don't mind helping people out in the store, in fact I enjoy it. Its just frustrating to spend an hour or so helping someone out and they've already decided from the beginning that your time is not worth the extra $20 they could save online. If it keeps up all local music stores, except for giant corporations will be out of business and all there will be is low service online shops, where you can't even physically touch or hear a product without making some kind of a commitment.

I agree with the sentiment and I do try and buy locally. Besides, it's worth the extra 20 bucks or so to have the gear in my hand right then and there instead of waiting; impatient old sod I am.

I will buy online however, because the local stores here (there are two cheeso stores in this little crap-town) just don't seem to stock the type of gear I want. As a jazz player, it's almost impossible to find all of the gear that I want around here, so when I don't find what I need, yes, I go online.

I bought my Washburn J9 guitar and my Seymour Duncan 84-40 tube amplifer in town, when amazingly, one of the stores was actually stocking decent enough gear. Since then, both stores have gone the route of stocking el-cheapo crud gear, geared towards the intermediate, head-banger guitarist.

One of the advantages the local stores used to offer was payment plans geared towards guys like me. I don't always have 1000 bucks tucked away to buy gear; however, if offered a payment plan to pay it off over a year or two at low interest, I usually jump at that and get the gear. Now nobody seems to want to offer that so I haven't really been jumping at buying that extra piece of gear.

[BigDaddyLoveHandles]

Originally Posted by Dystonian_Mode

I will buy online however, because the local stores here (there are two cheeso stores in this little crap-town) just don't seem to stock the type of gear I want. As a jazz player, it's almost impossible to find all of the gear that I want around here, so when I don't find what I need, yes, I go online.

My experience, too. I live in a city of 100,000, but can I find a jazz amp? Polytone? No. Acoustic Image? No. Phil Jones? No. Henriksen? No. JazzKat? No. Evans? No. I have to wait until I'm in Vancouver or Seattle to try them out.

[lpdeluxe]

I ALWAYS go to my local store first. If they don't have something I'm interested, they will order it and let me try it out. They have found used guitars for me at bargain prices, and given me trade-in when I decided to move up. In fact I do a fair amount of horse trading there: all the stuff's real, not virtual, which kids brought up on the internet have a hard time distinguishing between.

They have an on-site tube amp tech, an on-site guitar tech, and it's the place to go to pick up gigs and hook up with other musicians.

The owner took my '63 Chet Atkins Country Gent to a guitar show and sold it for me multiples of what I paid for.

That's a pretty high bar for MF to jump over.

[TieDyedDevil]

I'll buy gear locally if it's available. Some lines or items simply aren't stocked by the local shops. If I'm patient, I'll have the item special-ordered through the local shop. If I'm in a hurry, the business goes to the online retailer.

Prices are pretty much fixed everywhere at MAP (minimum advertised price) unless you're willing to haggle. (I am, and do; sometimes I save a bit over and above what I'd pay online, even considering free shipping.) A local store that's losing business because their customers can save $20 to $50 online isn't going to stay in business much longer. My advice to any business owners in that situation is simple: become competitive! Is it really worth losing five or ten sales to get the *one* guy who didn't do his homework and is willing to pay you the $20 to $50 extra?

[gremboul]

Originally Posted by janepaints

I bought a MicroCube when it first appeared. Wasn't looking for an amp. Walked into to a music store to buy strings, walked out with a MicroCube.

It's kinda-spoiled other amps for me. I LOVE it's sound and now, when testing larger amps, am always seeking a similar sound, but louder.

However, I regularly use it for gigs which would usually require a louder amp. Two ways of doing so:
1. run the Microcube's line-out to the PA, or to any larger amp which can accurately reproduce the line-out signal. I have a 30-watt bass-combo amp with a very flat/clean sound, no distortion, which does the trick.

2. the way I prefer: put the 'cube directly in front of me, close, aimed right at me, placing it on a stool or chair.... then, mic the speaker.

Used thus, I think of the Microcube's speaker as the 'bell of a sax'. Horn players & singers don't require amps, do they? They just require a microphone.

Caveats:
--I always run it via batteries. Sounds better, battery-operation creates 'sag' similar to tube rectifiers in tube amps. Plus less wires all over the place.

--The small speaker farts out at higher volumes. Tho the amp doesn't have an 'extension speaker' jack, it's easy to have one added, or as I do, use a second cab for the amp. Mine is a small pine cab with an 8" 4-ohm bass-guitar speaker. I transfer the entire actual ''amp" (which is circuitry mounted on an L-shaped metal panel, held in place by 9 screws) to the same-sized opening on the larger cab. When finances permit, I plan to get a second M-cube to permanently mount thus, which will also allow me to use stereo M-cubes, running off effect boxes with stereo output.

Regarding the entire Roland 'Cube' line of amps, tho all are similar, the circuitry and overall sound varies, and the M-cube remains my fave, even though it lacks footswitching capabilities, which I don't need. I had the 30-watt cube for about 3 days, returned it to Sam Ash. Lacked the warmth & 'feel' of the Micro-Cube.

The Micro-cube is the only solid-state amp I've ever owned which I totally love. I forget it's solid-state. I forget it's even THERE. I just play and the sounds I wanna create are there in the air, floating around.

In some ways, it's the closest thing (in electric guitaring) to acoustic guitaring. Electric SOUND, but absolutely minimalistic gear.

Tho not playing jazz, or using the amp's cleaner 'jazz' settings, this video of the Micro-cube is a hoot...the WALKING TOUR of Ontario, Canada, via m-cube:
YouTube - Microcube TOUR!!!

I tried the micro cube and ended up buying the cube street as I felt it sounds a bit fuller. I agree with what you mention, and may buy a cube 60 for more punch, as I play different styles,...sometimes even twang. What I really like about these amps is the versatility (amp emulation), acoustic, multi-effects, etc.

[rwfthesr]

Originally Posted by gremboul

I tried the micro cube and ended up buying the cube street as I felt it sounds a bit fuller. I agree with what you mention, and may buy a cube 60 for more punch, as I play different styles,...sometimes even twang. What I really like about these amps is the versatility (amp emulation), acoustic, multi-effects, etc.

I did the same thing. I'm at a bistro for brunch on sundays and this little battery powered amp has been getting many compliments even though it's almost max volumn.

[gremboul]

Originally Posted by rwfthesr

I did the same thing. I'm at a bistro for brunch on sundays and this little battery powered amp has been getting many compliments even though it's almost max volumn.

Question...I haven't tried it with batteries yet. Does it sound any different?

[rwfthesr]

It sounds the same. When the tone changes you know it's time to change batteries. After about 12-15 hours.