The Ultimate Guitar Amp

[Jazzarian]

Originally Posted by rwfthesr

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

I've never had that problem with a tube amp.

[rwfthesr]

You have a tube amp that runs on batteries?

[Jazzarian]

Originally Posted by rwfthesr

You have a tube amp that runs on batteries?

That's (kind of) the point.

[rwfthesr]

At the Bistro in Chicago we move around from front, back to outside. I'd rather not play acoustic.

[nick gagg]

Originally Posted by derek

Mr. B,

Can't you get that same vibe out of say a Deluxe Reverb? Less power, less weight, one less speaker.

dont bother its voiced for country players its quite bass light and harsh trebly middly sounding i had one and sold it my advice is the blues deluxe reissue its far far wamer in the bass and has more headroom and its cheap you can have torres rebuild it in a boutique standard for a little over two hundred quid with tube reverb chassis mouted tubes point to point wiring etc and a lot cheaper than an old original fender LOL ! I TRIED A JAZZ SUPREMA ITS VERY OVER RATED IT AND OVERPRICED WHAT A DISAPOINTMENT (it sounded one dimentional not enough bass)transistor amps sound to processed and not acoustic enough though hope this helps

[blkjazz]

Originally Posted by derek

Mr. B,

Can't you get that same vibe out of say a Deluxe Reverb? Less power, less weight, one less speaker.

Yes and no. I have both. The DRRI is not exactly like the TRRI less one speaker. The "vibe" is different but closer than anything else I've tried. The TRRI is cleaner but significantly heavier and significantly louder.

I think the DRRI works just fine for most "jazz" gigs.

[nick gagg]

try a hughes a hughes and kettner edition tube 25th anniversary 20 watts 18kg very clean big bass no breakup. load very transportable great for jazz gigs extremely warm tone very cheap cheaper than fender by quite a margin!

[Bluesguy]

Originally Posted by nick gagg

try a hughes a hughes and kettner edition tube 25th anniversary 20 watts 18kg very clean big bass no breakup. load very transportable great for jazz gigs extremely warm tone very cheap cheaper than fender by quite a margin!

This is very cheap???

"The 25th Anniversary Edition Tube is in stock now and retails for only $1799.00" and
Web Price: £ 499.00 inc VAT

• SRP: £ 549.00"
• A sweet polytone is far less. A Fender Princeton Reverb is $1059 from Sweetwater and a Hot Rod Deluxe is $899. A Line6 Spider Vavle 212 is $829.

[nick gagg]

yep and its probrably better made than a fender although they can all go wrong and both amps give a good wes tone the h & k is lighter and easier to carry with more clean bass responce

[nick gagg]

Originally Posted by Bluesguy

This is very cheap???

"The 25th Anniversary Edition Tube is in stock now and retails for only $1799.00" and
Web Price: £ 499.00 inc VAT

• SRP: £ 549.00"
• A sweet polytone is far less. A Fender Princeton Reverb is $1059 from Sweetwater and a Hot Rod Deluxe is $899. A Line6 Spider Vavle 212 is $829.

just seen it for £418 wow.

[Bluesguy]

Still a lot more expensive.

[ffej]

I've been through three Polytone MiniBrute II's over the past 25 years or so, and have found them to me great sounding, reliable, and easy to deal with. I suppose the distortion isn't so hot, but I don't use it anyway. The reverb is weak, but it's for jazz, not surf. Though not mentioned in this article, I sure loved the sound of those old Ampeg Reverberockets!

[Scotto]

Anyone had any experience with the Standel amps that Wes used? I hear that they were pretty cool custom made hand wired amps that all the serious players had at the time. Here's a link: Standel Musical Instrument Amplifiers

[lpdeluxe]

I might as well bring this thread into November. Since my last post I received the Weber California Ceramic 15" that I had ordered back in September. I spent the evening with my 335 and Band-Master VM plugged into it, and I think this combination is going to become my serious 335 amp.

First, though, there's the little matter of my having had to return it due to their mounting it in the wrong cabinet. I guess it'll be another 6 weeks before I get [I pray] the correct one.

It's difficult to describe amps in words, and I have found that my own home-made adjectives don't sit well with people who have very well-defined stereotypes in their heads (I was told at another forum, for example, that my Blues Jr NOS, which I described as "chimey" COULD NOT be "chimey" because, by god, Fenders aren't "chimey").

So I'll say the Weber is responsive. When I dug in with the pick, it had snap, and when I laid back it mellowed out. Particularly gratifying was the sound of the A and D strings up around the 9-12 frets: it spoke with authority, with none of the wimping out of the other amps I own.

The overall tone was full and rich, and my playing partner (on acoustic Martin) was quite complimentary of the way the Weber sounded. He's no pushover, by the way: he's not shy about telling me when he doesn't like what he hears.

So another month and a half, and I hope to have the killer speaker. l have promised RandyC I'll do some measurements upon its receipt.

The Band-Master VM head, by the way, has been very well behaved while I have experimented with different guitars and cabs. It has a typically Fender reverb, which means I like it, and it's not too heavy at 22 lb.

More to come.

[randyc]

Originally Posted by ffej

I've been through three Polytone MiniBrute II's over the past 25 years or so, and have found them to me great sounding, reliable, and easy to deal with. I suppose the distortion isn't so hot, but I don't use it anyway. The reverb is weak, but it's for jazz, not surf. Though not mentioned in this article, I sure loved the sound of those old Ampeg Reverberockets!

Oh yes !

My '61 Reverberocket is very strong and sounds fine but I dread the day when those 7868 Sylvania tubes (in my version) are unavailable. This amplifier was always a worthy competitor of the Deluxe Reverb with one possible exception: tone control flexibility.

A few years ago, Epiphone introduced a really fine design, similar to the Ampeg circuit but including a Fender-like tone control variation. Unhappily, the design didn't get translated into production effectively. Another design-to-cost fiasco, made in Korea from Chinese parts (erratic, inconsistent performance of Chinese tubes, selected for lowest cost, made the amplifier virtually useless).

The infamous hum problems of the Epiphone "Galaxie 25" (which could be purchased for as little as $200 a few years ago), resulted in Gibson pulling the amplifiers from the market and discontinuing product support. This was an example of really poor decision making - start to finish. Instead of accepting responsibility for the Korean contractor's errors - the contractor that THEY had selected - they turned their back on the problem.

(FWIW, my Uncle gave me one of these things five or six years ago. I cracked it open and made some changes and it's now the numero uno amplifier here. I'm NOT suggesting that Gibson should have done the same thing that I did, the changes required were unsuitable for production amplifiers since individual selection and matching of parts was required. At the target price, that would have been impractical. Whether we like it or not, companies are not run by quality assurance people or by engineers, they are run by bean counters.)

This amplifier COULD have given the Fender DRRI a run for it's money - at a fraction of the cost - if the project wasn't mismanaged with almost classic ineptitude.

RandyC

[pepelio]

tengo una ibanez af 105 n, y un amplificador crate GX 212, soy un aficionado y principiante del Jazz, me gustaría saber vuestra opinión al respecto tanto de la guitarra como el ampli, un saludo a todos

[Peter C]

Originally Posted by pepelio

tengo una ibanez af 105 n, y un amplificador crate GX 212, soy un aficionado y principiante del Jazz, me gustaría saber vuestra opinión al respecto tanto de la guitarra como el ampli, un saludo a todos

(Just helping out a bit here: )

"I have an Ibanez AF 105 N, and a Crate GX 212 amp. I'm a lover of Jazz and just starting out. I'd like to get your opinions on both the guitar and the amp. Cheers".

[jekell]

I use my old Ibanez GB10 thru an 80's vintage (dreaded red knob..don't worry..don't use it) Polytone for jazz gigs. Have a HRD that I biased "hot" with Eurotubes (strongly suggest checking them out!!). Find myself using my Fishman Performer more often now for jazz. Sounds great, and I can sing thru it as well. Great PA sound. Had a Carvin AG100D but got tired of sending it back (5x) for upgrades/repairs. My point....anyone try the Fishman Performer for Jazz? I suggest giving it a try!!

[jekell]

Lucky Dog!! I love those old Reverberockets and Geminis.

[lopakafern]

I did find a Roland Cube 60. Any suggestions on where to start settings, for that sound?

[Dr.K-Miller]

Originally Posted by nick gagg

try a hughes a hughes and kettner edition tube 25th anniversary 20 watts 18kg very clean big bass no breakup. load very transportable great for jazz gigs extremely warm tone very cheap cheaper than fender by quite a margin!

Is this the same as the Statesman Dual EL84 just in a different wrapping?

I've got an Gibson ES330 TDL through a MesaBoogie DC-5 ,preamp tweeked with a BOSS GT-10.The guitar and the sound of the single coil pick ups is very responsive especially when I overcome my hatred of putting new strings on.
The trouble can be that valve amps don't always sound exactly the same every time you switch then on,warm up time,ambient temperature and I'm sure atmospheric pressure etc can make a difference.But either way when its all going well; You can't substitute the 'tingling' edge to the sound produced by a valve amp with a transistor amp.
There is another benefit of a MesaBoogie DC-5....only one speaker=less weight.There is absolutely no fear of lack of power either! handled by one Black Shadow 12",master volume has never been above 3,even at a gig.

[Big Ron]

Am I the only guy in town with a Fender Cyber Deluxe? Agreed that about 80% of the presets are only for people with less than 19 birthdays, but the clean (manual) side of my Cyber Deluxe sounds a lot like a ...well.. Fender Deluxe. If you want to step out of the Fender box, there is a literal WORLD of sounds in that amp and you can select and save any of them to about 32 different programmable presets. One of the factory presets (Number 13) is called Jazz Box, and it is really a great amp sound for Jazz or non-distorted blues (think B. B. King)

I alreay ran into player buddies who POO POO the whole idea of a solid state amp. - Agreed that I like a great tube amp as good as the next guy, but a Mesa Lonestar Special is a little out of my price range. I have A/B ed a Hot Rod Deluxe and my Cyber Deluxe a couple of times and can fool just about anyone who doesn't peek.

Ron

[lpdeluxe]

You're right that a lot of very musical amps are overlooked because they don't have the magic tubes. I've written above about my Jazzmaster Ultralight, which hits a real sweet spot in tonality, versatility and portability. Players seem to get caught up with what's socially acceptable rather than what's musically useful.

[randyc]

So true, so true. I love vacuum tubes, as anyone on the forum will attest, but my BEST jazz amplifier is a Sunn Beta Lead solid-state amplifier. It's big, heavy and ten times louder than any sensible person would ever require, but my word, what a sweet tone ! It does exactly what it's supposed to do: make my guitars louder (Of course, one has to start out with a decent guitar .... LOL.)

[zovanou]

Roland cube 60 utilizing the blackface mode really works with my joe barden equipped g.e. smith telecaster

[djanka]

Originally Posted by dirkji

More about the most popular guitar amps used in jazz here:

http://www.jazzguitar.be/jazz_guitar_amps.html

What guitar amp do you use?

-----------------
Honestly, the Fender Super Reverb is a great great amp for jazz if you don't pull it very loud. It has a incredible warmth and tons of harmonics (4 Jensen speakers and vibrating bitch cabinet). Very good also for funk, blues and rockabilly. The black face reissue is really great!!!
Why leave it out?

Djanka

[goinbaroke]

I have a Peavey Bandido 65, it sounds pretty good to me! Didn't cost a fortune either!!

[djanka]

Originally Posted by goinbaroke

I have a Peavey Bandido 65, it sounds pretty good to me! Didn't cost a fortune either!!

----------------------------------------
There is no RIGHT AMPLIFIER but only THE RIGHT ONE FOR YOU.
If you are happy with the one you play, well, that's good. It is enough for you and enough for me.
I just wanted to say: why let a classic of tone (like the Super Reverb) out of the list?

[guitaroscar]

Originally Posted by valriver40

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

I moved up from a micro cube. I di have several other amps; A Fender princeton, An epi valve jnr (great for blues!), and a Strauss (Aussie brand) 30.
As for the Fender it is too bright. A local luthier says that the only way to get a decent jazz sound out of a Princeton is to unplug it.

The Cube 80 is everything I have ever wanted in an amp; fantastic jazz sound and solid state reliability.
I am not anti valves, and I am not a brand name person. If it sounds good and is reliable, and fits a few other criteria (like the boot of the car, the wife's idea of an amplifier budget...(no amp can meet that one)), then I will go for it.