What guitar amp for my Eastman AR805 CE?

[Eastman805]

Just bought my 1st electric - an Eastman AR805 CE.

Now I need an amp for home use only,
- would like to stay under $500 ( used is preferred )

- I'm new at this and just learning the vocabulary,
but I'll try to describe the TONE I want

* warm, clear (is that the same thing as 'clean' ?)
* full (is that the same as 'fat' ?
* rich, lush, mellow, sweet - (same as creamy ?)

I bought the Eastman because I think it will give me that TONE
and I need an amp to match.

I'm teaching myself to play solo finger style (by watching training videos etc).

The type of songs I'm learning are classic top 10 hits from the
60s and 70s, Christmas songs and Church songs and a few odds and ends.

I"m a mellow fellow and was ' born to be mild '
So I'm looking for an amp to match.

Some suggestions I've had are
- Fender Blues Junior
- Carvin Vintage 16
- Vox Pathfinder 15R
- LIne 6 Spider III
- Roland Cube

Thanks for any help guys !

- Larry

[derek]

I think for that guitar, I would probably gravitate toward an acoustic amp, rather than the ones listed. Lots of brands like Roland, Crate, Fishman, Fender, etc.

If you are playing a very acoustic sounding archtop, and want to go mellow, I would think an acoustic amp might work better for you. Take the Eastman into a couple of shops, and try out as many types of amps as you can. Happy hunting.

[patskywriter]

Used Polytone Mini Brute. ...

that's exactly what i was gonna say! that's what i have (in addition to my little gallien-krueger bass amp, which also sounds great).

[Latif]

I'm loving my Phil Jones Cub. It's 11#, a not overly loud 100 watts, very warm and clean, has an effects loop and tuner out as well as direct out. Paid $400 new. I'm using a Hermida reverb and it's a great combination.

Latif

[tonedeaf]

I have an 805CE and I found I get a very nice mellow/acoustic sound through my VOX AC4TV, but only using naked finger picking. No picks or fingernails, they sound like crap. It is a surprisingly nice tone -- I never would have guessed it would work.

I did retube the amp with a lower attenuation pre-amp tube to back off the break up point.

[jeffstritt]

+1 for Polytone.

[wizard3739]

recommend a used Polytone minibrute. It will probably set you back about $200 - $400 on Ebay. This will give you the capability to play a good clean jazz tone.

wiz

[Greentele]

I would second some of your suggestions.
You didn't say if you were just noodling around the house or not, but.....since you're starting out:
I have personal experience with:
Roland Cube 30X (JC Clean Setting or Blackface)......Really nice.

The guys on the telecaster forum, (TDPRI.COM) just raved about the Vox 15R Pathfinder for bedroom/livingroom use. So I picked one up at MF for $99.00 to try out. It's an amazing little amp for the price (and amazingly loud for its size) and has a extension out for an extension cab if you want to go to a 10" or 12" speaker. I really like mine.

[Silentwiz]

I appreciate that this is a bit 'off the reservation' -- but following Carol Kaye's recommendation, I bought an Ibanez Promethean Combo. That amp is absolutely mindblowing. The best amp that I've ever owned. Light weight, CLEAN sound, works great for bass or guitar -- and LOUD if it needs to be. It's also a true head & speaker set up (detachable).

[BigDaddyLoveHandles]

I appreciate that this is a bit 'off the reservation' -- but following Carol Kaye's recommendation, I bought an Ibanez Promethean Combo. That amp is absolutely mindblowing. The best amp that I've ever owned. Light weight, CLEAN sound, works great for bass or guitar -- and LOUD if it needs to be. It's also a true head & speaker set up (detachable).

Bass amps make good, clean amps for jazz guitars. I think bassists are pickier about wanting an uncolored sound than guitarists (acoustic guitarists excepted).

[mr. beaumont]

Doesn't sound like our OP plays jazz, guys. I'd rule out the polytone and go for an acoustic amp.

Any reason why you figured an archtop would be the guitar for you?

[BigDaddyLoveHandles]

I took his "I"m a mellow fellow and was 'born to be mild '" and the adjectives "warm, clear, full, rich, lush, mellow, sweet, creamy" and bing! Polytone came up. He could get there with a tube amp, for sure (his description sounds like a tweed), but the $500 limit made that harder.

When I was hunting for a small amp recently, I was torn between a warmer, more colored, sound and a more acoustic sound -- the sound of the archtop, only louder. The second description won out and I got an acoustic amp (Phil Jones AG-100).

I'd say the OP should grab his guitar and go shopping. Time well wasted!

[mr. beaumont]

I'd say the OP should grab his guitar and go shopping. Time well wasted!

Indeed!

I only suggested that, because when I read his post I was picturing a James Taylor kind of playing...

I find the Polytone to really color the tone of a guitar (a coloration I happen to really like) and I find jazz tone and pure acoustic tone as different sides of the coin of "tone."

To me, the harmony of a chord on a jazz guitar is like the beach boys...everything blends perfectly in that echo chamber and the chord is a unified whole, only distinguished as seperate voices with some scrutiny.

An acoustic guitar sound is more like a choir--more definition in the voices, and a more open, airy sound, whereas the jazz tone is more dense and pianistic...

I like both tones, btw-- there's a place for both. For solo guitar I'm leaning more towards the more acoustic tone now, as you guys probably heard in my recent recordings...but for any ensemble work, or even a duo, I prefer the more colored jazz tone...

boy, that was long-winded...OP, take that guitar shopping!

[fep]

I play an Eastman AR 805 CE.

This is the tone I'm enjoying currently, I just did some noodling to give you an example:

Eastman test.mp3 - File Shared from Box.net - Free Online File Storage

Let me know if that's the tone your looking for and I'll give you all the details. You may be surprised.

[Eastman805]

Greentele
In my original post I forgot to mention
I need an amp for HOME USE.

=======
Last night I got to sample a tube amp and an acoustic amp.
=======

DEREK- I think your suggestion for an acoustic amp is a good one.
The acoustic amp pleased my ear more than the tube.

MR BEAUMOUNT - you are right, I don't aspire to be a jazz player.
...but the TONE I like seems to get classified in that category.
What I like about jazz in general and hope to learn from it are
some beautiful chords and chord progressions and music theory.

FEP- - the sample audio clip is a tone I like,
IF I had to guess, I'd say you added a little effect -
maybe reverb ?

BigDaddy - I've read good things about that Cub 100 -
tell me more.....hope I can find one local to try out.

So, for now, I'm going to check into some acoustic amps -
The ones I've discovered so far that are inexpensive and have good reviews are

1- the Phil Jones Cub 100 that BigDaddy mentioned
2- Ultrasound AG15 (possibly an AG30 - probably more than I need)
3- Crate CA15.

Anybody have Plus or Minus to say about those 3 ?

- Larry

[Scolohofo]

i had a gig with the cub this past weekend in open air and this amp did the job!

[BigDaddyLoveHandles]

BigDaddy - I've read good things about that Cub 100 -
tell me more.....hope I can find one local to try out.

I play my L-5 through the CUB 100:

https://www.jazzguitar.be/forum/guita...d-trigger.html

You've probably found the website by now: CUB AG-100 Guitar Amplifier | Phil Jones Pure Sound

A few points about the amp itself:

1. It's small! 11.5lbs and 2x5" speakers.
2. It's not a loud 100W. It's not a Twin Reverb . For one thing, the speakers are small and not efficient (mid-rangy speakers can be efficient, but hi-fi speakers like these aren't)

The sound:

Your guitar, louder. As I turn it up, I don't notice it at first, it sounds so much like my guitar. Clean all the way up to "10". I'm just a rumpus room player, and I got it to play over the upright piano, which it does well. The sound projection is curious -- it seems louder when you step further away from the amp. It's an acoustic guitar amp, so it doesn't color the sound the way a Polytone would, for example. It probably isn't the right amp for a solid body guitar, at least plugged straight in, without pedals. By the way, it doesn't have reverb (which you can fix easily, with a pedal), but I don't miss it. The sound isn't sterile like some SS amps. I've been meaning to get the amp stand to pick it up off the floor.

The only criticisms I've heard about the amp is that some folks wish it were louder -- there's always the AG-300, or one of the Phil Jones bass amps, if that's how one feels.

[Steve Z]

Last night I got to sample a tube amp and an acoustic amp.<br />

- Larry

Larry,

It was great meeting you yesterday and playing around with the different amps and guitars. I'll get an email off to you soon with some of the information we talked about.

Other acoustic amps to consider, and are currently on Craigslist locally so you could probably arrange to try them are (1) Roland AC 30 (Roland AC-60 (awesome acoustic amp!)) and (2) SWR Strawberry Blonde (http://nashville.craigslist.org/msg/1840592275.html). Although these are not traditionally jazz amps, you mentioned that you also wanted an amp that would nicely amplify your steel string and nylon string acoustics. I have no experience with either of these amps, but perhaps others might.

----

For the others, here is a quick summary of what we experimented with to assist Larry in narrowing down the field of amps to choose from...

- Amps demo'd were (1) Acoustic Image Clarus with a Raezer's Edge (RE) Twin 8 and then with a RE Stealth 12. We also played through a 1950's Alamo Montclair (2-6v6 tweed deluxe type amp) and a 1950's Alamo Embassy (1- 6v6 champ type amp).

- Guitars that were used were (1) Eastman 805ce with round wounds, (2) Eastman 810ce with Flat wound Chromes, (3) Benedetto Bravo with roundwounds, (4) Benedetto Bravo with Flat wound Chromes, and (5) a Taylor 714ce with medium Elixers.

- The AI/RE Twin 8 sounded fuller than the Stealth 12.
- Both Alamos generated feedback in the Eastmans much sooner than the Clarus amp.

The tone that we both agreed sounded the best with Larry's style of playing was the AI Clarus with the RE Twin 8.

Having the ability to play two similar Eastmans with different strings and the two Bravos with different types of strings was a nice way for Larry to listen to round wounds vs flat wounds in one sitting to decide which type of strings he wanted to try for his next string change. If I remember correctly Larry preferred the sound and feel of the flat wound chromes.


Cheers,
Steve

[fep]

Hi Larry,

Here is my set up...

Strings (flatwound 12s):

Buy D'Addario ECG25 Chromes Electric Guitar Light Jazz String | .012 Gauge | Musician's Friend

Amp/speaker modeler:

Digitech GNX3000 Guitar Work Station - eBay (item 270605939413 end time Jul-17-10 20:27:05 PDT)

I use third party models that I loaded into that , the model I used is of a Gibson tube amp. I also used a little delay and a bit of reverb and a bit of compression - all of that came from the GNX3000.

The Gnx3000 was plugged into my computer for that recording. That's all, guitar & gnx3000. When performing with the gnx3000 I plug it directly into a mixing board or a small powered pa speaker (I actually use two for a stereo sound that I like). A keyboard amp would work well also. I wouldn't recommend a guitar amp with an amp modeler though.

The guitar volume was around 7, the tone was at about 6.

A nice thing about the gnx3000 is it's great for acoustic steel string and classical guitars as you can just bypass the modeling and just use the reverb and delay. You can also simultaneously run a mic through it and stereo line in, so it's kind of like a three channel mixer... guitar, mic, & stereo line in. Very versitile.

[Eastman805]

Thanks for the responses guys

FEP - that workstation is interesting - maybe too high-tech for me right now -
but I'm going to research the idea - thanks


Having a relaxed atmosphere and Steve to guide me through the basics of the equipment was wonderful !

I’m probably spoiled now by the high quality of Steve’s equipment.
However, if I can find something less expensive that my ears will be happy with then I’ll probably go that route for now. I can always upgrade later if I continue my adventure into the world of electric playing.

There are lots of music stores here in the Music City area.
Craigslist is also an option, as Steve suggested to me.
I’m hoping to find the amps you guys are recommending to me and try them out.
I definitely want to TRY before I BUY.

I’m a ‘ play at home amateur ‘ so I can take my time and shop till I find something that works for me.

That CUB sounds interesting.

I visited a store yesterday that had a used Crate Acoustic 60 for $199.
It sounded ok but not on the same level with Steve’s system.

Thanks again for your patience and help for a novice !
- Larry

[Eastman805]

MISSION ACCOMPLISHED ! - I have purchased an amp !

...and the winner is.....
a ROLAND AC-60 acoustic amp
like new, with case and user manual, only used at home a few times
for $275
??? IS THAT A GOOD DEAL ???

It just sort of, kind of,....fell from the sky into my lap
( I've read that all good gifts come from above )

I noticed it on my local craigslist and bought it the same day.

My thanks to DEREK who recommended a Roland
and especially STEVE Z who also suggested a Roland AC-60
and who was so kind to give me a 'guided tour' - that convinced me
an acoustic amp was the way for me to go.

I did not get to try all the other good suggestions made
because this Roland came along so quickly.

Thanks everyone for your help.
I'm going to put this and some additional information in a new post.

MR BEAUMONT - I just noticed I failed to answer your question
- WHY MY INTEREST IN THE ARCHTOP ?

I had a 'general' interest in adding an electric guitar to my set of acoustic guitars.
Listening to examples on youtube of various electric guitars,...
the hollow bodies and semi-hollow had a TONE I liked.
That led to looking at archtops like Ibanez and Gretsch
and that led to also looking at true - carved - archtops.

They were beyond what I could afford but then I found a local
Eastman 805 CE in Craigslist for $900 - so I got it.

STEVE Z has played and evaluated it and says that's a good price
and the guitar is in excellent condition, good intonation, good setup etc.

- Larry - newly electrified

[Steve Z]

MISSION ACCOMPLISHED ! - I have purchased an amp !

Congratulations on your new amp! After playing several different amps and speaker configurations you had a really good idea of the sound you like/want and what you did not want/like. I thing finding the sound you are looking for at a great price and with the amp being in great condition, I would say you found a great deal.

Have fun playing!


Cheers,
Steve

[Eastman805]

Thanks Steve, see PM on AGF.

Yes, I played for a long while early this morning -
hard to put it down

It's very satisfying to have the TONE I was looking for in
my first electric and amp ! (and at a price I could afford).

Many of the tunes I like to play as solo finger style instrumentals
are slow and melodic.
The sustain, reverb and chorus I have now with the
electric Eastman and Roland amp fit perfectly and enhance the experience for me.

I'm inspired now to study diligently to improve my skills.....
just wish I had given time to this when I was younger.

Why oh why, did I have to watch every episode of Bugs Bunny ??

- Larry

[Archie]

Because you'll know exactly what to do if you ever meet a coyote.

[BigDaddyLoveHandles]

Congratulations! Rolands are bullet-proof amps.