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I posted periodically about my efforts to put together a modular rig. I've played a bunch of gigs with it now and while the front end evolved a bit for over the first few, the setup has now been unchanged for enough real world trials to have a really good sense of what it can do and what it can do is really impressive.
The set up is a Joyo American (Fender Amp sim pedal) into a UAFX Evermore reverb pedal, into a Yamaha Stagepas 100.
The Stagepas 100 is the real star of the show. It's tiny, lightweight and extremely portable. This is the battery version but that's the only difference between the two versions of the 100. It's remarkable noise free and without having to get really loud, it fills a much larger space than I would have expected. It was an option that i had been considering for a long time but then it got discontinued (along with the larger 200) and Yamaha had their dealers blowing them out at at least 50% off. I paid $300 CDN ($208 US) including taxes and shipping. At that price I had to give it a try and it's turned out to be a great bargain.
It has multiple inputs, including one with a Hi-Z setting along with fairly functional treble and bass controls. Plugged in direct, the sound is very dry but if you were playing an archtop you could probably get away with it. Playing my solid body, I think it needs at least reverb and even then I prefer how it sounds with a Fender style front end. The combination of the UAFX Evermore and the Joyo American and a really nice match and the Joyo is absurdly inexpensive. A few months ago I had my hands on a UAFX Dream '65 pedal. At some point if I'm feeling really flush I might try one again. Having only pedal would be nice and there's no questions that the Dream is a much higher quality device than the Joyo but I'm definitely not in any hurry to make that change. The setup just as it is, is getting consistently the best comments on my tone that I've ever had. And all of this with a tiny footprint and extremely reasonable price.
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12-29-2024 01:38 PM
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Appreciate the info Jim. Would you use these pedals with Quilter Superblock US or just work with the Quilter settings?
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I'd probably just use the setting on the Quilter but this sounds a LOT warmer.
Originally Posted by ewall
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Thanks for your input.
Did you try also the tc electronic combo deluxe 65 pedal?
Would be interesting in comparison to the Joyo.
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There is no doubt that Quilter amps are bright, probably by design. But I can get a very warm tone out of my Quilter Mach 3 Combo by using the EQ of the amp along with the tone control of the guitar. Originally Posted by Jim Soloway
I think Quilter amps are underrated for jazz guitar. And the brightness of them is not as bad as many here claim.
Jim, that said, Congrats on finding a rig you like!
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I did try the TC and it sounded good, especially recorded. It has reverb, a DI and headphone out, none of which are on the Joyo. On the other hand, the Joyo has the voice control that gradually goes through different Fender voices so you get much control of the basic voice. That has turned out to be a really useful control. I also wasn't really thrilled with the reverb on the TC. It's very faithful to the sound of the Fender spring reverb and after many years of using primarily digital reverb, I've come to prefer a hall sound. Originally Posted by bluenote61
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I have no doubt that many players can get a lovely warm tone out of Quilter amps, I just don't happen to be one of them but that has a lot more to do with me than it does with the amps. Ultimately, the sound that comes out of any amplifier begins with the sound coming out of the hands of the player. Because of the way I play, the sound coming off my hands is very bright (someone here described my tone as "Crystalline") and not very loud. Because I get so little volume from my hands, I have to push the amp and that can make it sound even brighter and thinner. Originally Posted by Stringswinger
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Jim, that looks like a tiny speaker (6 inch?). If you don't mind my asking, what kind of gigs can you do with this rig?
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I've used this rig to play two Christmas markets (one small is but the other was a decent size conference center hall filled with exhibitors and attendees). I also played a late Christmas dinner with about 100 people at a local community center and every Friday I have an odd little gig at a very high end grocery/produce store. That's the one I really use to judge how well it works. Since I play there every week and have used a few different rigs, I have a strong baseline to work from. It's certainly doing a much better job than the Tonemaster Princeton that I had, at least in part because the sound distribution is so good. It's a fairly large store and people are hearing the guitar throughout the store. without having to get really loud. A lot of them don't see me until they're on the way out of the store and the reactions to this rig have been so much better than anything else I've tried (including a lot of people who are socked to find out that it's a real musician their hearing rather than the piped in recorded music they thought it was). So I'm pretty sure I could use this at a decent sized restaurant or catered event with no difficulty. Originally Posted by swampguide
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Jim
Thanks for this
Instructive and insightful, as ever
A quick (and likely ignorant) question, if I may?
do you *only* use this for performance or does it also work well for playing and practicing at home?
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My wife and I are in such a small space now that I very rarely play through an amp at home but I have played it at low volume just to experiment and yes, it worked wonderfully. Originally Posted by lesyeuxnoirs
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Interesting Jim ,
If you were playing an archtop
would you need the pre-amp ?
or just go , guitar , reverb , yam PA ?
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I think for most people here it would be guitar, reverb, pa and it would sound a lot like a Bud. For me with an archtop it would sound like feedback and I'd be really frustrated. Originally Posted by pingu
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That's an interesting point. I just finished my evaluation of a Blu and I ended up thinking that it's a good deal like a powered speaker with 5 band EQ. That makes sense because the Bud was designed to be used for vocals -- and the Blu, reportedly, sounds the same, barring, apparently, different settings on the EQ (Blu and Bud have different EQ center frequencies) and the Bud's input gain control (Blu doesn't have one). Originally Posted by Jim Soloway
I think for most people here it would be guitar, reverb, pa and it would sound a lot like a Bud. For me with an archtop it would sound like feedback and I'd be really frustrated.
I've now fooled around with this issue more than I can justify and I've ended up thinking that the Blu and Bud are, sort of, FRFR powered speakers with 5 band EQ, in a particular speaker cabinet with down firing port.
Based on all the glowing reports, this is a good formula, perhaps more for archtops.
All that said, I think that somebody contemplating buying the Bud or Blu could reasonably consider a quality powered speaker at half the price and add an EQ pedal if the speaker doesn't have adequate EQ for your application.
The advantage would be more volume when you need it (the Bud and Blu are praised for volume, but the Blu did not keep up with my Roland JC55). And, depending on the speaker, more channels, the ability to put it on a pole and maybe even FX.
The Everse 8 had all these features, but sounded cold to me. The Bose S1 didn't have adequate EQ, but sounded great when I could get it dialed in. I didn't want the outboard EQ box for simplicity, but I think it might work well.
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I like what the Joyo does for the system. It gives me Fender style tone controls and the "voice" control is really powerful without being complcated. And best of all it was $43 CDN including deliver through Amazon. Originally Posted by rpjazzguitar
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