Disappointed with my new Henriksen Blu 6

[213Cobra]

Man, for the longest time I've been wishing for a Bud 8.

THAT, my friend, is called a "Little Jazz."

Phil

[Gustavo Eiriz]

Compared to Fender's tone you should remove some dbs around 650hz in a flat amplifier. To me this is the only way to unmute the tone of a flat amplifier, adding high hz will.make it shrill, cause the problem is somewhere else. In the mids mud. Depending on the amp the mid knob might move another frequency.

[Freddels]

. . . The tone on my AI is rich and full when I use it with humbuckers. Lots of jazz players have used AI amps - including Pat Martino, so he evidently didn't have a problem with solid state per se. My AI through a Raezer Stealth 10 sounds fuller than my early silver Champ. . .

What are your EQ settings on your AI?

[Woody Sound]

THAT, my friend, is called a "Little Jazz."

Phil

Bud has 2 ch.

[nevershouldhavesoldit]

I practiced through my Blu 6 tonight. I'm truly mystified at some of the negative comment about its tone, e.g..

"It was really hard to make them sound good."
"I suspect there's a tone in there somewhere"
"it seemed icy or brittle, and no amount of fiddling made it sound warmer"
"I don’t think anyone says this is the best sounding amp. It is very very good but people choose it for convenience."
" it still has this aggravating 'muted' sound"
" I have a Bose S 1 Pro PA system and the guitar sounds much clearer through that $600 system than it does through this amplifier"

So I put it on the floor, set all EQ to noon, plugged in my single HB 16" Eastman Jazz Elite 7 string, and recorded these three tracks to demonstrate what I think is the stellar sound quality I get from it. I emphasized close deep harmonies in several big chords. There's a walking bass line under some comping, and there's a country riff that runs the range from low A (41.2 Hz) to 12th fret high E. These were recorded with the mics on my TASCAM DR40x digital recorder straight into Audacity. There's no processing at all. The bit of reverb is the Blu's.

I may be losing my hearing, my faculties, or my judgment - but I can't hear a trace of a tonal problem anywhere in these recordings (which are typical of the sound I get from the Blu with all my guitars). The bass seems mighty solid and tight to me - and this is a 7 string. I hear no boxiness, "muting" or any other anomaly worthy of calling out. Closely clustered notes in the lowest octave seem clear and distinct to me. The highs are sweet to my ears, with no annoying characteristics. I had occasion to play through a Bose S1 2 weeks ago. My vocalist brought his to a gig and wanted me to play through it so he could hear how it sounded. I thought the bass was fat and flabby compared to the Blu, even with the EQ down. Low notes were not clearly articulated in chords, and high notes were just not very sweet. Keep in mind that I was backing a vocalist solo, so I was playing exactly the styles in these 3 demos. I was playing bass, comping, and soloing.

I hope those who don't like their Blus and Buds can find amps that make them happy. But I'm stymied as to how this amp could have elicited so many harsh sonic criticisms. I respect others' opinions - if that's what they're hearing, so be it. But I do not understand how this amp could generate such a polarized response.

[Cunamara]

My "I suspect there's a tone in their somewhere" was not intended as a negative comment. The EQ of these amps is just not traditional and has a learning curve.

[rpjazzguitar]

I practiced through my Blu 6 tonight. I'm truly mystified at some of the negative comment about its tone, e.g..

"It was really hard to make them sound good."
"I suspect there's a tone in there somewhere"
"it seemed icy or brittle, and no amount of fiddling made it sound warmer"
"I don’t think anyone says this is the best sounding amp. It is very very good but people choose it for convenience."
" it still has this aggravating 'muted' sound"
" I have a Bose S 1 Pro PA system and the guitar sounds much clearer through that $600 system than it does through this amplifier"

So I put it on the floor, set all EQ to noon, plugged in my single HB 16" Eastman Jazz Elite 7 string, and recorded these three tracks to demonstrate what I think is the stellar sound quality I get from it. I emphasized close deep harmonies in several big chords. There's a walking bass line under some comping, and there's a country riff that runs the range from low A (41.2 Hz) to 12th fret high E. These were recorded with the mics on my TASCAM DR40x digital recorder straight into Audacity. There's no processing at all. The bit of reverb is the Blu's.

I may be losing my hearing, my faculties, or my judgment - but I can't hear a trace of a tonal problem anywhere in these recordings (which are typical of the sound I get from the Blu with all my guitars). The bass seems mighty solid and tight to me - and this is a 7 string. I hear no boxiness, "muting" or any other anomaly worthy of calling out. Closely clustered notes in the lowest octave seem clear and distinct to me. The highs are sweet to my ears, with no annoying characteristics. I had occasion to play through a Bose S1 2 weeks ago. My vocalist brought his to a gig and wanted me to play through it so he could hear how it sounded. I thought the bass was fat and flabby compared to the Blu, even with the EQ down. Low notes were not clearly articulated in chords, and high notes were just not very sweet. Keep in mind that I was backing a vocalist solo, so I was playing exactly the styles in these 3 demos. I was playing bass, comping, and soloing.

I hope those who don't like their Blus and Buds can find amps that make them happy. But I'm stymied as to how this amp could have elicited so many harsh sonic criticisms. I respect others' opinions - if that's what they're hearing, so be it. But I do not understand how this amp could generate such a polarized response.

The recordings sound great. Your guitar and your technique and my computer speakers. With my guitar and my technique in my venues it seemed icy to me. Not bad but not what I hoped,

I also found the Bose S1to be too bassy and with insufficient eq to solve the problem.

[yebdox]

My "I suspect there's a tone in their somewhere" was not intended as a negative comment. The EQ of these amps is just not traditional and has a learning curve.

10 or 12 years ago, I tried an Acoustic Image for a whole day and returned it out of frustration. I had the same experience.

The dealer was frustrated that I didn't call and ask for advice, but I twiddled every knob from here to Sunday in every possible iteration and nothing sounded or felt good to me. But then, I'm an old L5-through-a-Twin / Les Paul-through-a-Marshall kind of guy, so I always return to that neighborhood, after a good tonal wandering.

While some of my heroes have sworn by their Polytones, they and their cousins have always left me cold.

To each his own. Not every search winds up at rainbow's end, but it's still worth the effort. Look forward to hearing more about your search!

[Cunamara]

I've had a Clarus 2r for probably 20 years. I've never been thrilled by it for electric (magnetic pickup) guitar- serviceable but not inspiring- but it sounds just wonderful with my acoustic (piezo) guitars. The trick is to turn up the master volume to 2:00-3:00 or so and use the channel level to set the room level (or vice versa, works either way) which warms and fattens up the tone.

But I prefer a guitar, a cord and an amp. My setup tonight was an ES-175, a DV Mark EG250 and a Toob Metro BG+. Sounded good to me and apparently the other musicians.

[nevershouldhavesoldit]

My setup tonight was an ES-175, a DV Mark EG250 and a Toob Metro BG+. Sounded good to me and apparently the other musicians.

…like me. I still have, love, and use it myself. To me, the EG250 sounds like a more powerful Blu or Bud with a tube front end. I use it when I need the biggest possible tone from the smallest possible rig for a gig for which the Blu lacks enough power. Even through the BG+, it’s warmer and richer in tone than my Quilter 202 in the 10” BlockDock.

But they got pricey - now up to $600 at the usual sources, with some discounts available from one or two at a time. There’s also been a strong rumor that DVM will be ending production of their little heads soon. The wide availability of fine, small, affordable heads and cabs may be coming to an end.