The Jazz Guitar Chord Dictionary

View Poll Results: Which amp rocks?

Voters
134. You may not vote on this poll
  • Mambo

    53 39.55%
  • Princeton

    54 40.30%
  • Henriksen

    27 20.15%
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  1. #26

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    You aint kidding MedBlues. Modern equipment is so dialed in, you really cant go wrong with any of them.
    Get one, and explore the possibilities until your fingers fall off!
    Our Polytones would have put up a fight here for sure.
    Joe D.

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  3. #27

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    Quote Originally Posted by Max405
    You aint kidding MedBlues. Modern equipment is so dialed in, you really cant go wrong with any of them.
    Get one, and explore the possibilities until your fingers fall off!
    Our Polytones would have put up a fight here for sure.
    Joe D.
    Yes! I was thinking about trying out some Princetons. After watching this, I went deeper into the eq panel of my George Benson HRD and was able to get a convincing black face sound that could fool me (maybe even others).

  4. #28

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    I chose the Mambo, the Princeton sounds like a Fender amp to me and I've recently come to the conclusion that I'm not a Fender guy. I had a 65 Deluxe Reverb (not a reissue) that I never bonded with and stopped playing once I bought an Evans. I now have a 68 non-reverb Princeton (not a reissue) that I don't use, I'd rather play my Polytone Mini Brute III. I think jzjazz sounds great thru all of them.

  5. #29

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    To my ears, the differences - if any - are absolutely minimal and insignificant and I'm not sure I would notice them blindfolded. Likely whatever differencies there may be can likely be levelled out by very slight adjustments to the EQ settings. I could happily use all three.

  6. #30

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    I listened again with headphones this time and find the differences still negligible.... too small too choose one over the other for sound reasons. I would let price and weight be the decisive distinctions.

  7. #31
    what are the settings on the princeton and the henriksen?

  8. #32
    Quote Originally Posted by rexmiguechidoto
    what are the settings on the princeton and the henriksen?
    Princeton - treble 1, bas 1.
    Henriksen - everything except vol 12 o'clock

  9. #33
    Quote Originally Posted by Little Jay
    I listened again with headphones this time and find the differences still negligible.... too small too choose one over the other for sound reasons. I would let price and weight be the decisive distinctions.
    I should have made another option with "difference too small to choose"

    But price and weight can't be the only arguments - henriksen is cheap and light, but is also too quiet and often too dark for rooms with bad acoustics. Mambo doesn't cut through the band somehow. Both are lacking dynamics (are pretty flat in terms of dynamic), compared to the Princeton (I started learning using dynamic in my solos after getting the princeton! I haven't though of it for the last 2-3 years when playing SS). But this wasn't the question - question was which amp sounds best recorded. And the mambo won here, with a strong second Princeton. But I guess "all 3 sound good" would have won by far

  10. #34

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    Hey, Jakub,

    I have a 2016 Mambo 10 wedge, and dynamic response is great when choosing the "bright" position; I thing this is due to the latest fender tonestack on the mambo. The difference between middle position and the bright position is massive; I think Jon can upgrade your mambo to the latest tonestack. Worth every penny, it's a whole new amp IMHO; I tied a legacy mambo and mine next to one another, and while the original is very good, the newer one is brilliant - almost tube-like...

    Best regards,

    Bruno.

  11. #35

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    All of this interpretation stuff is so weird and subjective. I've heard some great guitar comparison videos in these pages where I had the same feeling: "three or four different guitars, many of them magnificent, but if I wasn't watching the vid, I probably would not have noticed."

    But I thought these amp samples were noticeably different. Especially the Mambo.

    Which means tomorrow I probably won't hear a shred of difference...

  12. #36
    Peter Bernstein's solo on Song For My Father

    Here a new video with the Princeton which is my personal favorite

  13. #37

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    I thought the attack was too prominent on the Princeton, while it sat in just right on the Mambo -- easily my favorite out of the three.

  14. #38

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    Nicely done, the video! I preferred the Princeton, never owned one and i think i have to get one at some point. Damn that modded Henriksen sounds fine, your tech did a great job, it sounds so much warmer than the rest of the jazzamps i 've heard (mine too!)

  15. #39

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    Quote Originally Posted by jzjazz
    I should have made another option with "difference too small to choose"

    But price and weight can't be the only arguments - henriksen is cheap and light, but is also too quiet and often too dark for rooms with bad acoustics. Mambo doesn't cut through the band somehow. Both are lacking dynamics (are pretty flat in terms of dynamic), compared to the Princeton (I started learning using dynamic in my solos after getting the princeton! I haven't though of it for the last 2-3 years when playing SS). But this wasn't the question - question was which amp sounds best recorded. And the mambo won here, with a strong second Princeton. But I guess "all 3 sound good" would have won by far
    Yes, I agree: (clean) volume/power (in relation to size and weight) and cutting thru the band are arguably the most import qualities of an amp!

    Now I was under the impression that small tube amps like the Princeton Reverb, Pro Jr, Blues Jr and alike don't deliver enough clean volume for me unless the drummers is really quiet, but I got to play a fellow guitarist's Princeton (no reverb!) at a pretty loud session in a noisy café and that little beast held it's ground! So now I want one of those, haha.

    But in your recordings all 3 amps sound superb with too little difference to prefer one over the other to my ear. But I agree that listening to a recorded amp is totally different from playing and feeling your guitar through it!

  16. #40

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    great thread - great service to the community man - thanks!

    i've had the mambo and the henriksen - i've spent years nearly getting a princeton

    the evans wins! hands down....

  17. #41

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    I day after I found out about them, this forum is trying its best to sell a Mambo amp to me...

    to my ears, with tiny headphones, it sounded the best. But the difference between to amps was really, really miniscule.

  18. #42

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    Quote Originally Posted by TKO
    I day after I found out about them, this forum is trying its best to sell a Mambo amp to me...

    to my ears, with tiny headphones, it sounded the best. But the difference between to amps was really, really miniscule.
    The difference of the recorded samples are indeed minuscule, but the "amp in the room" sound differences are much more pronounced!

  19. #43

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    Remember also that the Princeton is open back whereas the Henriksen and Mambo are both closed back. That can make quite a difference in terms of how the sound spreads in the room. The Henriksen Alfresco open back 12" would make for a slightly closer "electronics based" comparison, but there aren't too many of them out there.

  20. #44

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    Quote Originally Posted by coolvinny
    Remember also that the Princeton is open back whereas the Henriksen and Mambo are both closed back. That can make quite a difference in terms of how the sound spreads in the room. The Henriksen Alfresco open back 12" would make for a slightly closer "electronics based" comparison, but there aren't too many of them out there.
    coolvinny, can you elaborate a bit?

    I haven't played any open back amps/speakers for more than a decade, so i'm not really aware of how the difference between closed and open back reveals itself.

    Thanks!

  21. #45

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    I had a hard time telling the mambo and the Henriksen apart - but my favorite was the Princeton. There is something about tubes ...

  22. #46

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    FWIW, I've had both a stock JazzAmp 110 and a 112 for a number of years now. I love the 112, but I just sorta like the 110. I'm thinking of selling the 110 and my DV Mark Little Jazz (which I also like but don't love) and getting a Henriksen Bud, but I can't see myself discarding the 112 anytime soon.

  23. #47

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    Quote Originally Posted by JazzNote
    coolvinny, can you elaborate a bit?

    I haven't played any open back amps/speakers for more than a decade, so i'm not really aware of how the difference between closed and open back reveals itself.

    Thanks!
    In my experience, closed back enclosures are more prone to sounding "boxy" and less "round". At louder volumes in very reflective rooms that can be overcome though. And certainly not all closed back enclosures sound boxy or not round. This is tough to describe in words. I guess closed back cabinets also tend to have a punchier midrange and bass...but with eq-ing via amp controls they can sound very similar. I think you just have to go and try some out...

  24. #48

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    They sounded the same to me,Looks like played on the same good amp...:-)
    Best
    Kris

  25. #49

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    Nice playing!

    they all sounded good to me. The Princeton had a little more depth and sparkle than the others to my ears ... but it was really close and I would be happy with any of these tones.

  26. #50

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    Ooups, just noticed that I already had replied here ... at least the answer was consistent :-)