-
Well I did say AER's were industry standard - I didn't say for what ;-)
Originally Posted by Franz 1997
I'm not sure there is an industry standard archtop amp. Some want a more acoustic/floating pickup vibe, others want a more electric/fender vibe.
Mambos - sure. There was one doing the rounds in London, lots of guys trying it out.... I remember thinking it sounds good for the size...
Yeah, I don;t think I really like Polytones. Maybe it's the mid push thing. Mid is better for bands though....
I do like Henricksen's though - so go figure...Last edited by christianm77; 02-28-2016 at 04:46 PM.
-
02-28-2016 04:39 PM
-
I wonder if Jim has tried a mambo? Originally Posted by pingu
He used to use a G-K bass amp. Significantly heavier than the Compact 60.
-
Originally Posted by jorgemg1984
If money and weight are not an issue, the 12 with an EVM12-L, no doubt
The best compromise is the 12 Eighteen Sound Speaker ,nearest to an EV without the weight and cost.
Jon supplied my Mambo with this configuration ,after Chris's recommendation, 2 years ago and I am as
happy as Larry with it, only today i did an A/B comparison with it to an Evans AH200 + REStealth 12
ditto a Henriksen ER12. using four different , quality Archtops
The Mambo outshone both by a considerable margin in terms of clarity & tone
highs,mids & bass. I will shortly do a further test against a larger Fender and evaluate that.
Regarding the AER , I had one for a number of years ,it's insipid compared to a mambo ,& got rid of it
when the Mambo arrived ,no contest. However if I want a dedicated "acoustic style amp" for my Taylor
K24ce I would probably try an AER again, not having heard the Mambo acoustic
-
"Have you heard mambos down here? I thought I was the only person using one south of Watford..it's more a northern England amp - unsurprisingly, since they are made near Manchester"
I've used a Mambo 10 wedge predominately for quite some time, I used a Matamp and 2x12 cab before, I'm about 60 miles west of London on the coast.
-
Pingu,
Jim Mullen uses an AER because he travels by public Transport/bus ,light and easy
in the gig bag. ... a tremendously talented player.
-
Sorry Para. That's 2 of us then....and of course Alan ( silverfoxx) , so 3. Any more?? Originally Posted by Para
My favourite Jim clip is this one, where I think he's using a JC amp and a different guitar to the usual aria. But yes, he used a GK bass amp for some time, incl the last time I gigged on the same bill with him. He always sounds pretty much the same - great- which I suppose is an argument for not worrying too much about gear, if you have that level of talent. I certainly don't...
-
Bad news for me im afraid. jon Shaw just got back to me and said because of intellectual property issues they dont sell their products in the Asia -Pacific region.
Doest that just suck!
-
How much these go for again? Maybe I missed it. So far I've yet to find a small amp that I like the sound of. I hate boxy nasal sounding little amps. I own a Henriksed 112 and it sounds great, but only after I added the EVM speaker. No the amp weighs a ton, so it defeats the purpose. Henriksen's downfall is the Eminence speaker. What a difference after swapping to the EV.
If this amp sounds as good as the OP suggests then it would be a great solution to the heavy Henriksen. Or go with a Quilter Aviator 8"
-
The price is on the website
http://www.mambo-amp.co.uk/images/AA...ice%20List.pdf
I had an henriksen and I agree - it needs an EV! The Mambo with the stock Beta sounds much better than the Henriksen with the stock Beta - warmer, better eq, better cab dispersion, etc.. But they're in the same ballpark tonally, so not sure the upgrade is worth it.. The Mambo also sounds better with an EV, it's an incredible speaker.
-
You see I paid 600 for my Henriksen 112 and it was like new. So 1,078 dollars for a solid state feels like sin to me. I understand if it is a hand wired tube amp with a bunch of oil caps, huge transformers, carbon comp resistors a bunch of components such as tube sockets etc and big ole pine cabinet and high end speakers. But for a small cabinet an eminence beta that costs 25.00 dollars and a bunch of small parts soldered to a pc board. I just couldn't do it. Nothing to do with the sound. It might sound great. But I feel like I'm paying 10 times the cost of the amp and I'm just used to paying cost and not retail. I cheap I guess....
-
sure...and to make it even worse, there's no tax or middleman profit in these ripoff prices. I mean, how can it cost more than $107, right? Is the board gold plated or something???? Originally Posted by abelljo
Oh...it is....? And hand wired? Duh..old technology.
-
I don't mead to knock whomever owns or or uses this amp, but for me it's just too much. There must be intrinsic value that I can clearly see. I'm a dealer for mojo and tubes and more as well as Allparts and I have been building tube amps, reverb units and effects since 1998. Gold plating does not add 500 dollars, neither does assembly line handwiring of micro components. If anyone here feels is worth 1000 plus dollars go ahead. I know what goes into amps and how long it takes to build one. It may sound great, but most amps aim at the a warm tube tone from solid state and now a days is very much possible to get very close. Quilter is one such manufacturer and in my opinion looks like the MAY use much more expensive components. Just look at the cabinets, speakers and overall look. I personally think all these small amps targeted at jazz guitarist are WAY too expensive. If you don't agree, great go buy one and enjoy it. I won't. I'll take my extra 1,000 dollars any buy me a nice guitar or a nice Springtfield 1911 .45 ACP my other passion!
-
Out of interest, How long was it to take delivery of the amp after ordering. Does Jon have models on hand ready to ship, or is each one made only after an order is received?
Cheers!
-
You're getting it all wrong - if you knew the price cost of most of the stuff you buy regularly you would be shocked... in the case of a "jazz amp" what you're paying for is the "sound" or "design" of the amp, not the sum of it's components. That's what it's hard to do - designing a good "jazz amp" - not building it. Originally Posted by abelljo
I don't mead to knock whomever owns or or uses this amp, but for me it's just too much. There must be intrinsic value that I can clearly see. I'm a dealer for mojo and tubes and more as well as Allparts and I have been building tube amps, reverb units and effects since 1998. Gold plating does not add 500 dollars, neither does assembly line handwiring of micro components. If anyone here feels is worth 1000 plus dollars go ahead. I know what goes into amps and how long it takes to build one. It may sound great, but most amps aim at the a warm tube tone from solid state and now a days is very much possible to get very close. Quilter is one such manufacturer and in my opinion looks like the MAY use much more expensive components. Just look at the cabinets, speakers and overall look. I personally think all these small amps targeted at jazz guitarist are WAY too expensive. If you don't agree, great go buy one and enjoy it. I won't. I'll take my extra 1,000 dollars any buy me a nice guitar or a nice Springtfield 1911 .45 ACP my other passion!
And even if you just sum costs, well.. it's the preamp pcb, it's the Class D power amp, it's the cabinet, it's the speaker, it's the reverb chip.. and it's the man hours to assemble all this (done by hand or outsourced it's still a cost). It's the taxes. It's the website. It's the time to reply to all the e-mails. It's the cost of stock and inventory. It's the quality control. It's the marketing and brand development. And it's earning some decent money at the end of all this - I don't think any of the "jazz amp" makers has become vastly wealthy on this business, probably the opposite.
So all the active players in the market - Mambo, Henriksen, Evans, AI, etc.. - have reached a sort of "average price". What is up to you is to decide if these amps have something unique that deserves the extra money vs say a roland cube. I personally feel the Mambo is well worth the money. But it's not greed man, pure economics.
-
I believe there's a waiting time that has been variable. Contact Jon and he'll tell you! Originally Posted by Jazzism
-
If you feel the price of these amps are too much, it's interesting to compare and contrast to the price of small, super portable Class D bass amps and combos in recent years.
Jazz guitarists are a small minority. As a result, our needs tend to be catered for by small, boutique operations which don't have the economies of scale of the larger companies.
The explosion of the budget archtop market is a bit of a mystery to me, but rock, folk and blues guys can play an archtop... They couldn't play a super clean ss combo...
Hence how long it's taken for lightweight solid state electric guitar amps to appear in the mainstream market (I can't get a Quilter here in the UK for example)...
Most rock players do like, 1 gig a month, if that, and aspire to a Marshall or Mesa or something. If they tour they have a van and possible road crew (that they spend all their money on). They have no interest in practicality haha. Cover's band players seem to go for a Fender combo or something and drive to gigs.... (These are usually a few hours away anyway by car.)
In any case, it would be quite normal I think for any professional player to fork out between $750 - $2000 for a good professional amp.
I'm eager to try the new DV Mark head, see what it's like for jazz. It seems like what I've been waiting for for a long time IF it delivers....
Also, I tried my guitar through the Mark Bass Micro Cube. I thought it sounded great, actually. But I haven't worked with one.Last edited by christianm77; 03-01-2016 at 08:46 AM.
-
Maybe it's too small a demand for there to be a reasonably priced small solid state jazz amp. Roland being a giant can price the cube series reasonably for example and it's probably not fair comparison. I get it, but I can't afford them at new retail prices and most guitarist I know can't either. We are always waiting for the used ones to come up on ebay. Many times when we get them we end up disappointed and wonder how where they ever so much in the first place. Hopefully this amp will change all of that. I agree that for some the search continues and maybe this one will be the one!
-
I understand that frustation and they're not cheap, at all. But the market is very small, no "economies of scale". 80s poltones sound amazing and can be had dirt cheap..
-
Frustration with my temperamental polytone MBII led me to purchase a Mambo 10" Wedge based on other reviews! Played both side by side and was blown away by the Mambo to the point that the polytone was put in its flight case and then in the loft...!
As well as Jon Shaw being a gentleman and a pleasure to do business with:
- the amp is very flexible thanks to the deep/normal/bright switch
- sounds best to my ears with the tone controls at 12 o'clock
- using the wedge to push the sound up rather than along the floor really brings the amp to life
- there's still a little bit of noise/hiss but no worse than any other amp i've ever played and it's only noticable when playing solo guitar in a quiet room.
- good build quality
- buy the wedge option!
If you're in the market for a small and flexible amp that's well made and able to out-polytone a MBII for jazz guitar but is more than just a 'one trick pony' this amp is worth considering.
Gazzer
-
Very nice amp indeed. Haven't been lusting after anything else since I got it 2 yrs ago. Not a good amp for this forum, though: it cures the craving for new amps... and buying gear is fun...
regards,
Bruno.
-
The newer "fender' - emulating circuit on these amps does make it more than a one-trick pony, and really extends the versatility of the amp IMO.
I'd say 'no affiliation', but that wouldn't be true; I bought a very early - in fact a prototype 8" version - amp from Jon in 012, and have been banging on about them here ever since, and tried all the amps over time. Considering Jon still doesn't advertise, and his business comes from word of mouth, this forum, and a few demo amps in the UK, he's done very well, deservedly so IMO.
I still have my polytone baby brute though, can't put that one in the loft...
-
I don't have a Mambo 10, but I have a Mambo 8 wedge (with the original tone stack, not the new one) which I like a lot. The wedge shape is great - no need for an amp stand. It's great to get the sound upwards away from the floor. It has a good Polytonish sound - no need for preamp pedals to shape the sound. I also have a Mambo head which works great with a Redstone 10 cab. However, I use it more rarely because the Mambo 8 wedge is so small, light and convenient to carry around. I can wholeheartedly recommend them.
-
I have a Mambo 8 Wedge and use it mostly for duo stuff. Recently i used it parallel with a Aer Compact 60 as i was playing in a larger venue than usual. That turned out to be a very good experience. Got the best of two worlds this way, the Mambo providing the archtop-warmth and the Aer reinforcing the bottom making it sound huge. For smaller venues where i bring only one i much prefer to take the Mambo, not the Aer.
-
Update:
Jon has been in contact today as he was concerned about my commnet of 'acceptable hiss' as there shouldn't be any unless your ear is up against the speaker and he's right! After some experimentation, I figured out that I was tilting the amp back on top of a coil of mains lead - doh! A little repositioning of the mains and now it really is quiet! I must confess to being an Electrial Engineer so should have known better
Thanks to Jon for outstanding customer support...
Gazzer
-
Thinking seriously about acquiring one of these.
Currently I have a Ulbrick venue 30 Class A valve amp which sounds incredible but I need a forklift to carry it so it sits in the music room unloved. ( Just put up for sale on Gumtree ).
I use mainly a Phil Jones Super Cub. I do like the sound but find in a band environment the upward facing speakers exaggerate the volume of the guitar to my ear resulting in my playing tending to be a little quiet to the audience.
I would be interested on any feedback re the comparison of the Mambo to the PJ Super Cub.
I have communicated with Jon who kindly referred me to a local user (700 K away) Australia is a big place.
He gave glowing reviews but had put one up against the Ulbrick and felt the valve amp was better but due to weight not very practical.
appreciate any feedback
Mike
Reply With Quote
Recommandations for Hollowbodies for $600 and under?
Today, 05:20 AM in Guitar, Amps & Gizmos