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This is the new iteration of my "jazz stack": I sold my Deluxe Reverb combo, bought the DR head, and mounted it on the Weber California Ceramic pictured earlier. Heaven.
But I still love my Fender Jazzmaster Ultralight for its portability, size, and sound for live gigs.
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11-08-2013 11:23 PM
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I bought a Vintage Sound 15 (princeton reverb clone) a few months ago....what a sound! I sold everything else, including the Twin Reverb that I had assumed I'd keep forever. I never believed you could get such great sound from such a small amp. From the Vintage Sound web site: Amplifier Depth: 9 1/2″ Amplifier Width: 19 7/8″ Amplifier Height: 16″
Amplifier Weight: 35 lbs.
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yeah depends on what you doing with the amp.... if you a jazz guitarist lugging your amp in and out of gigs and sessions a few times a week... the ultimate amp is definitely one which is 'portable" but can still get your tone....
maybe i'm just not that fussy but i can get what i call a usable jazz tone for pro gigs with most any pro amp....
and hell yes i looooove old tube amps for tone dripping with "vintage mojo" but gave up lugging em around ages ago............and that does not mean that my ZT club or acoustic lunchbox are the 'best " amps they just the ones i gig with cos they lightweight /reliable and i get a tone outa them i can use
so yes given the choice i would love an old vintage tube amp.... i recently played a 40's gibson archtop through a gibson GA50 tube amp.... man was that laden with 'mojo' and the tone i looove BUT i wouldn't do a pro gig with either that guitar for the feedback nor the amp for the weight and noise but i'd leave that setup in my living room and enjoy it there
so maybe change the question to "best amp for ....(insert specific) ..... jazz needs"
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Thanks Keira, My thoughts exactly. I thought I would never compromise on the warm sweet sound I love but my back tends to differ on that to some degree. I have been trying the Fender Mustang iii amp, although it is early in my exploration of it's abilities;it has so far been proving itself worthy of most of the good comments I have seen on line. It is a modelling amp but it sounds quite good and only weighs in at just over 20 lbs. Not bad for a 12" speaker. Anyway thanks again for you comment. Keep pickin' and travelin'
Bryon
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THE best jazz amp is a vintage blackface '64 Fender Twin Reverb. Period. End of discussion. No use throwing other amps in, I won't change my mind and I'm not open for reasoning. There you have it.
I am afraid I really do feel that way about the Twin Reverb..... So yes, I do own a Twin Reverb (two actually: a late 60ies and an early 70ies Silverface), but I also own a 1x6" battery amp and just about every other size of amp in between, and they all get their use, depending on the size of the room, type of gig, means of transport I will be taking to the gig, the way I feel that day, who I want to impress..... So: lots of amps will get you there, be it solid state or tube, big or small. Trial and error will determine what you like. So: happy hunting!
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What if... you like a mid knob that works? find that a two-channel amp in which both channels sound the same (except for the effects) is pointless? find the reverb unusable past 2/3? find the tone too bassy / trebly and scooped? need master volume and fx loop? find the amp extremely heavy? Just joking
Originally Posted by Little Jay
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I have a 1965 Blackface Twin Reverb, and yes it is a quintessential jazz amp. But if you like that Kenny Burrell sound on his earlier recordings where he has a little bit of grit in the tone, a blackface Fender may be too clean. BTW, a lot of Wes' great recordings were probably made with that same tweed amp that Kenny was using, as they were recorded by the great Rudy Van Gelder. I love that sound, and wonder if a tweed twin can get the same sound but louder for gig purposes. I also have a Gries 35 which is a great jazz amp that is sort of a mini blackface Twin (Vibrolux circuit) with a great reverb in a small package (1x12 40lbs). It gets some grit due its lower wattage (35 watts) but I like it. I guess the grit makes it sound closer to some of Wes' recordings, i.e. 'James and Wes' from Jimmy & Wes: The Dynamic Duo. One of my favorite Wes tones. I wonder if that was a tweed amp with Rudy Van Gelder's famous reverb added later?
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I have noticed you do a lot of buying and selling, and seem to get satisfactory results. If I may ask, do you lose a lot of money in this process? At the risk of hijacking this thread, I would wonder if you have any tips to pass on as we try to get our "dream" amps. Originally Posted by lpdeluxe
Or is it just a "barraja"
in which you have to accept losing a little. money with each deal?
Thanks.Last edited by AlsoRan; 11-14-2013 at 09:40 PM.
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For me...AI Clarus 4s+ Buscarino Chameleon. Nuff said....
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This is a great thread. For me these days, it doesn't get better than the Quilter MP200 8" Combo. I'm just not sure what that amp CANNOT do.... it's amazing.
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I am happy with my Mambo and Henriksen / BarbQ... just curiosity
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I didnt know mambo amps, thanks for the info!
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that's one of the good things about this forum. Originally Posted by Leunam
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I've got a Twin with a buggy reverb channel and a Yamaha G50 410...love them both and don't mind the weight since I don't really play out anyway.
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I think there are two types of tone shaping.
1. Adjusting your touch/technique to get the sound you want.
2. Trying different guitars/amps/effects.
I believe you need to work on both of these in my opinion and not look down on the other.
As electric guitar players I do believe the second option sometimes explored too much when the first has not been developed. This is amplified by just the sheer amount of customization available to the guitar compared to other instruments. (amps, strings, picks, pedals, guitars etc)
But really, anyone who really cares about their sound should be working on both aspects.
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Man it was a long time ago I had the JA112 with the EV... it was significantly heavier. But these days I learned 12kgs or 18 kgs is the same - I need a trolley to carry it either way
I tried the head and the combo with other speakers... the Jensen Tornado is nice but it's a little bass heavy and the eq on the henriksen does not take properly care of it :/
In the end I sold the Henriksen and kept the EV on a big DrZ cab... and got the Heriksen again but the head this time - and modded it a lot to my taste. I don't think the amp is worth the weight and price of the EV but that's because I don't like the amp stock... with a lot of mods and a barbeq it's brilliant though
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Thanks a lot man! Always great to read your thoughts. I'll have to look at the Tornado, it seems like it may do it for me. (I'll definitely need more research but weight wise it looks great)
I'm still using the nova system > stock henriksen and have been fairly happy with it but it just sounds really fuzzy and unnatural to me with any sort of gain.
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Hi Bryon, Originally Posted by Bryon
Welcome to the forum. You MIII V2 should serve you well. Any of the classic clean Fender models or the studio preamp sound great. I find a tad of compressor adds character.
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Hmm if that is the trouble the EV or the Tornado will make it worse... because they have more highs than the Beta!! What they improve is the clean sound... If you go with the Tornado maybe the 16 ohms version is safer. Originally Posted by itsall4you
The tone on the overdrive / distortion is not able to remove the fizz?
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I'll echo the Quilter Micropro 200 8". At first, there was a little too much of a hump in the lower mids. Playing it for a few weeks has worked that out of the speaker and it's just an amazing little amp. I am in love with it.
Bob
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I like small amps, and I have a couple that I love, but all too often I've encountered situations where I thought the size of the venue and the gig did not justify bringing a big amp, but in the end it turned out to be a noisy bar with a high ceiling and my little amp just could not cope with the sheer volume a large crowd can make.... To me, my Twin Reverb is the only amp that can handle any situation you throw at it: it sounds great at whisper soft volumes but also stays clean and still delivers a good tone with an overenthusiastic drummer competing with a screaming B3 .... Whenever I can, I take my Twin, so to me that's really the perfect jazz-amp, unless the gig is in the centre of town where no cars are allowed and the venue is this basement only accessible thru a steep narrow staircase with a stage so small the Twin takes the space for the bass player.......
And I still haven't tried the Mambo and Quilter amps, so they might change my opion :-) I tried Henriksen, Lunchbox, Polytone, Roland, Acoustic Image, Session, AER and although they all have their own merits, they didn't change my mind about my Twin. I kept the AER (Alpha model, 1x8" 40watts) and the Session (Rockette, 1x12", 30watts) for situations I described above (which occur are actually more frequently than situations that allow me to take my Twin), but the Twin is it for me. And with a Tubescreamer at low settings and an EQ-pedal I can dial in some grit too!
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Jay if you can try a Barb EQ in blackface mode with the mids on zero in front of a "jazz amp" with the eq flat and a trouch of reverb... I think you'll like it
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I will add that I have three stages of preamplification on my pedal board:
1. Barber Tone Press - used to add a bit of sustain without affecting the attack. Adds a bit of its own tone, which has a mellow lower mid boost
2. Voodoo Labs Giggity - this is one of the greatest pedals ever invented. I use it to voice the amp. It has four switch settings, ranging from full sun to full moon (bright to dark) which essentially set the tone center. Then it also has a loudness knob, which is gain-like, but also seems to play with tone a bit. Then there's Body and Air, which control preset ranges of lower and higher frequencies, but not like bass and treble. Used subtly, this is a truly magic pedal.
3. Earthquaker Devices Tone Job - an EQ with a volume control. However, the Mid setting determines the tonal centers for the high and low points. Again, a great pedal for tone shaping.
It takes a bit of playing and listening to get everything where you want it. But once you've got a handle on what everything does, wow. Just a great front end. Obviously, if you overdo it, you get into the clipping and distortion area.
I also have a Barber Gain Changer which is a compact and exceptionally versatile Overdrive pedal. I seldom use distortion or overdrive, but when I do, this is the best I've found for my sound.
All this, plus Strymon Timeline, El Capistan, Lex and Flint, plus a TC Corona and Mini Polytune, all on a Pedalboard Junior, and you have my whole setup.
Bob
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The Quilter on its own won't change your mind about your Twin, Jay. However, wheel a 2-12" cab in and it'll easily hold its own against a Twin. Me, I just can't manage a 60 to 80 lb amp. I once carried a loaded Boogie (serial #47) to all my gigs and it weighed 85 lbs.... but I was much younger. My older back wishes I hadn't done that...
Bob
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I think I found one video of J.Zucker playing Henriksen with Barb EQ in front, but I was not much impressed, Originally Posted by jorgemg1984
Jay if you can try a Barb EQ in blackface mode with the mids on zero in front of a "jazz amp" with the eq flat and a trouch of reverb... I think you'll like it
unless I watched a wrong video or probably I should listen more carefully with headphones.
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