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So for those of you who still don't know... we finally have a jazz amp maker in Europe (this means nice shipping and no VAT / fees)
I've been intrigued by these amps since they got out - they seem to be a refresh on Polytone amps: very small, very light (class d amp helps), very powerful (true 185w), a Baxandall eq and reverb - and, I hope, very reliable.
I tried a friend's 8 model today. It would be similar to a mega-brute but it's ligther, smaller and louder. What impressed me the most was thet I just plugged my Godin archtop, everything at 5 and it sounded aewsome... I messed with the eq, seemed to work very well but always come back to everything at 5. It sounds close to what I recall an old Polytone souds but it's not as dark, it's more clear and defined - sounded very acoustic in a good way.
Now the most impressive thing it room dispersion. I tried the wedge model which must help but I've mever heard anything like that, it filled a medium room in my conservatory... much more than my jazzmaster ultralight 1x12 cab say or than any small amp I've tried like AC-60 or Mega Brute. The sound just seems to come from everywhere... (my friend played large halls with a trio and no PA with the amp)
My only complaint is the reverb. It's usable but not very good imo.
I am getting one soon, either my friend's (he's thinking of upgrading to the 10) or a new one from Jon - who seems very nice on e-mails and has been willing to do some small mods for me like US-Euro voltage (going to NY nest year for a while to develop my jazz).
Last edited by jorgemg1984; 10-02-2012 at 08:49 PM.
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10-02-2012 08:46 PM
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Oh Jorge, you had just convinced me to track down a Jazzmaster Ultralight, and now this...! Anyway, sure looks nice. And it's cool that you're venturing to the US soon.
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Roger I still love the jazzmaster ultralight! I am keeping it - eventually selling the cab only because I have two really nice Dr Z cabs and now with the mambo I don't need portability anymore. But I am keeping the head, it still sounds great! (and also the henriksen head)
The mambo just fills a different necessity I have... I am in tons of stuff on my conservatory and I need a small amp to be on my trolley all the time.
I am looking forward to NY. It will be next summer when I don't teach and don't have classes - a really good friend of mine is living there now so I don't need to pay for an house
I hope to jam a lot and see tons of concerts, maybe do some private classes too.
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I think the head is going to be available in a couple of weeks; I understand from Jon Shaw it will be 300w into 4 ohms, 150 into 8 ohms. I've been using 8" and 10" cube mambo amps for several months now and everything else stays at home.
I'll ask Jon maybe to say something in this thread about the amps, if that's OK with other members ( mods say if not)
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I (and I'm sure many others) would definitely be interested in Jon's input, as well as your personal experience (what guitars you've been using it with, venue size etc).It seems like these amps are really something-I like the description of 'like a Polytone with more clarity/less midrange' under 10 kgs.
Originally Posted by Franz 1997
Jorge, thanks for the review.
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I'm trying to persuade Jon to post...he doesn't want to be seen as hard-selling anything. Let's hope he does.
I have effectively replaced everything( polytone, AI, Hendriksen, evans head, 50W tube amp with Altec cab for big gigs) with a 10" mambo cube. I have used it for everything from a front-room sized gig to a hall. The amp is the only amp I have that I can set at 5-5-5 and then plug in. It weighs about 20 lb and is very loud - but what makes it really work for me is that the sound has the warmth and ambience that I just couldn't get from other ''jazz'' amps. The amp does ''warm'' without being mid-heavy or having that polytone ''honkyness''. As Jorge says, it's very clear-sounding.
I have also looked at the build quality, and it's exceptional ( which wasn't always the case with other amps).
The other practical point is the size; it's only very slightly larger than the polytone baby-brute, but with more than twice the power and a 10", as opposed to 8", speaker. So, a very portable package that can deal with most gigs.
At first I didn't like the blonde wood look ( although others do..) but I got used to that quickly and now quite like it. The reverb is just a functional reverb, but then that's all I need personally, and it works well. at The 'harmonic' feature really does fatten up the top string notes, and I gather it's a proprietary technology.
Criticisms? No carrying bag yet......
Just one final point; Jon Shaw is so concerned with making a quality product that he even sent me the mkII version of the preamp board to reduce the noise level of my mk1 version from just-audible-with-your-ear-right-in-the -speaker to nearly zero. That's customer service IMO.
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Hi I'm Jon mambo, designer of the mambo amp.
A couple of members have been urging me to join the discussion so here is a quick intro;
I'm a guitarist myself I play a Hofner semi-acoustic mostly, also a nylon strung acoustic brazilian style, and electric bass. (Those are my guitars in the website pics.)
Like most guitarists I needed a really good small powerful amp but eveyrthing I tried was rubbish so I designed and built my own. (my real job is electronic engineer). I wanted v small/ v warm/ v portable/ powerful & a harmonically enriched sound. I have always preferred valve amps for the harmonic enrichmnent of the sound, and I have built a few, but valves are impractical for small/light/portable so I designed a rather novel circuit which adds harmonics similar to a valve to give some extra warmth. The wedge cabinet was an absolute pain to build at first... but it had advantages for monitoring and sound dispersion, plus (nearly) everyone thought it was cute.
I started gigging it and a few friends wanted one, then I bumped into Adrian Ingram (fine guitarist and educator, famous in the states I believe) in the pub, he tried the mambo and loved it, we did a few experiments to develop it further and he's using it all the time now rather than his bigger/heavier polytone. Then I went on to build versions for my acoustic and bass guitars. A gig with my friends looks rather odd due to the absence of large black boxes on the stage.
Anyway please ask me any questions and I'll do my best to answer them.
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I wanted also to add Jon has been very nice and open to make custom stuff - which is how things should work in the 21st century anyway (tried several times to have henriksen help me upgrade the reverb and the eq sectio with no luck; but I know I will have my father draw the schematic one day and take care of it)
He's willing to put the whole reverb in the amp: this means two programs (instead of one), control of reverb time and two filters (plus the stock level control). When I have it I can comment again but I bet these new controls will put me where I want.
He's also been willing to add US-Euro voltage and stuff like a speaker out (and I just asked for speaker in and internal speaker mute). This way you can this tiny thing as a cab, a combo and an head.
It's tough to compare it right now to my henriksen or jazzmaster ultralight heads - because I just played it for 2 hours and didn't do any A / B. And I have been using both heads with big 1x12 and 2x12 cabs so not fair...
But still - with everything at 5 I guess the mambo and the henriksen should sound similar, this is flat frequency. For some reason they don't... the mambo is not boomy and does not have that spiky up-mids the henriksen has. It can be the 8 cab but I guess part of the amp's design contributes to that... When i have the amp I can connect the henriksen to the cab and compare (still love the henriksen as a pedalboard base).
The amp is closer to the jmul in the sense it just sounds good without any pedals - except both could have better reverb (altough the mambo is possible to improve and not the jmul). The jmul does not sound good right away with everything at 5 but it does with bass and treble at 2 and mids at 5 - which is close to flat frequency in a fender. They still sound different because they are different designs but are comparable in that sense: the first two jazz amps I tried you plug an archtop, make small adjustments if needed, and sounds great, period.
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Hi Jon and welcome, Originally Posted by jonmambo
There's been quite a buzz about your amps so it's great that you're chiming in, thanks. Are there any plans to maybe post some soundclips on your site? I'm mainly asking for the benefit of others, I'm only an hour or so away myself (Leeds) so you'll probably hear from me soon. Is there a showroom at your workshop or is the best option to order one for a demo?
Cheers,
Themis
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Hi Jon, amp sounds like everything I've ever wanted. I am good friends with Adrian, Ian and Trefor and they are always going on about your new amp. Adrian even asked me if I wanted to buy his old polytone since buying your amp! I'll be in touch soon, cheers.
Last edited by jamieh; 10-03-2012 at 11:11 AM.
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I'm trying to persuade Jon to make the head smaller by the way...I'm going to order one and will report on it when I get it.
Thanks for the case idea Jorge - looks good!! At the moment I use a shopping bag...
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Thanks for checking in with us. Have you given any thought to establishing a U.S. distributor for your amps? I'm intrigued by your amps, but shipping from Europe sounds prohibitively expensive. Originally Posted by jonmambo
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I'm digging the very hip old Hofner.
Is it a T2S, T4S or T4st?
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These amps looks amazing, they're a bit out of my price range at the moment but I can definitely see myself picking one of these up in the near future. Looks like it'd be the next step on from the ZT Lunchbox I'm using at the moment.
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I've got a free trial 8" amp from Mambo Amps. I have it for a couple of days, but it really only took one minute to decide that I would like one. A beautiful, clear sound, with weight to the notes (if that makes sense).
The thing is, it makes my Aria FA-77 sound fantastic, and if I'd had this amp a couple of weeks ago, I might not have forked out for the Godin Jazz. That said, the Godin Jazz sounds stunning too!
After the owner of Mambo, Jon, heard my videos, he suggested I would like the 10" version more, with the added depth, but, really, the 8" version sounds great.
I need to sell one guitar to pay for the amp. Anyone want to buy either an Aria FA-77 or a two-week old Godin Jazz? Honestly, I'd be happy with whichever I'm left with, as long as I can have this amp!
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I'm a bit scared about making an audio clip, as Jon himself isn't keen on them. So how else are you to know how it sounds? I'm in a quandary here, as Jon has been so nice, sending me a trial amp, postage free, even the return postage is covered by him. If you live in the UK, he will send you this trial amp, I'm fairly certain.
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I'm glad you like it Rob - yes the notes do have 'weight'. In fairness I've got to point out that I paid for the postage to you, so you'll have to when it gets sent on!! I used that demo amp on a trio recording with Dave Jones last week, and I think I might post the result- the tone is great, even if maybe not the playing...
if you fancy posting a recording it certainly can't do any harm
Chris
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mmm put me on the list for one of these too...especially since they offer a battery option that is high powered 100W which is awesome ..as most other battery amps on the market are only 20 - 30 W max at highest and most even less at around 5W-7W ..but for me a 100W battery amp is nothing short of absolutely a dream amp, and add to that being small and light and aimed at jazz use ......i think i'm in amp nirvana .....
bit pricey mind but i guess worth every penny if they prove reliable as your/my regular gigging amp , and can take the abuses on the road (where unfortunately a few other amps fail dismally when exposed to the rigours of the working /gigging musicians world )
so yes in the next while i will be watching keenly to see how the reliability factor comes into play , and like with all newish gear only time proves that
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Keira, I've only had it a couple of days, but I can tell you it looks very strong and tough, and I can imagine it being road worthy.
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Here's a link to a very short recording out-take - only a few bars of guitar, but the bass solo is worth a listen anyway! 8' mambo, set at 6, 5, 5, no eq on the board, a bit of echo added.
my funny valentine - bass solo to end.mp3
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Sounds great.
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Yep, sounds great
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how it was recorded? Originally Posted by Franz 1997
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just Direct out into the board, with some ambient mix added in. I guess through the speaker it would be slightly darker and with a bit more mids. The speaker sound is there in the ambient mix, picked up by one very good mic in the middle of the room. Bass was just Direct.
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My 8" wedge has been ordered and will be here next week, can't wait!
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