Henriksen Jazzamp 110 MOD-story

**jzjazz** · 03-08-2014, 03:23 PM

Hi guys,

I just wanted to share with you some mods I’ve done (or let somebody do) to my henriksen jazzamp, here’s the story:

1. Bought used henriksen jazzamp 110 from 2006, without reverb, 60W version – isn’t easy to get one in Poland (new – impossible), so I got it from the Netherlands at a pretty good price (thanks Pukka-J!)

I first liked it pretty much, but wasn’t really in love with it. I felt that I’m getting a better sound out of my Rivera Thirty Twelve, although a very different one. I play a floating pickup D’Aquisto copy. But since the main reason for looking for a rivera-alternative was the combos weigth (Rivera is about 45lbs, Henriksen – 21lbs), I though that it is still OK, and also loud enough for me (I play in a quartet with vocal, double bass and percussion)

2. Decided I needed reverb.

I’m rarely using reverb during my gigs, but I use it regularly at home, my room has a very short reverb, so a bit of „air” is always welcome. A couple years back I had a „Martinello Acoustic Amplifier” – an AER copy made in Poland by an enthusiast, which was a pretty good amp but, more importantly, with a GREAT reverb.

Decided to contact the guy and it turned out that he’d love to modify my henriksen. So he added the reverb with 2 knobs – TIME and MIX, this way I can have just a bit of a long reverb or more of a shorter one (depending on the situation) – sounds really, really good. Great reverb. He didn’t have the schematics, but still installed it as FX loop, so when turned off, it doesn’t affect the guitar sound at all.

3. Other mods

He also fixed the amps pops when turning of and did some sealing of the cabinet, but more importantly – called me that he didn’t like the speaker frequency response, he felt that it wasn’t warm enough, and didn’t have the necessary „air”. I said just „OK do whatever it takes”. He ended up doing a membrane mod as in the picture below.

Henriksen Jazzamp 110 MOD-story-img_8936-2-jpg

Henriksen Jazzamp 110 MOD-story-img_8936-2-jpg

4. Result

I feel that it’s a completely different, much better, amp. The speaker response is so much softer, without the annoying high-mids. Also the 10kHz eq control on the amp started doing something to the sound (didn’t notice any effect before the mod). And the reverb is superb. I’m not planning to turn the rivera on anymore, it’s already on ebay

And you wouldn’t believe but I paid for all the above about 120$ including shipping

**Pukka-J** · 03-08-2014, 04:20 PM

Hi Jakub,

very interesting! I may contact you for details.

Glad you like it now :-)

**jorgemg1984** · 03-08-2014, 05:34 PM

I also did some mods to mine that vastly improved it! Glad to know I am not the only one

**Engine Swap** · 03-08-2014, 05:53 PM

Nice! Any sound clips?

At my old job, there were a couple of guys from eastern Europe who were really sharp when it came to electronics. Sounds like your tech knows his stuff.

**pingu** · 03-08-2014, 08:07 PM

can you or he write anything here
about the speaker mods ?
I love to know more .....

**Jazz_175** · 03-09-2014, 07:18 AM

Originally Posted by Pukka-J

Hi Jakub,

very interesting! I may contact you for details.

Glad you like it now :-)

Hi Pukka,
Glad you are back!!

**kris** · 03-09-2014, 09:06 AM

Originally Posted by jorgemg1984

I also did some mods to mine that vastly improved it! Glad to know I am not the only one

one mods guitars another mods amps....nice!

**jorgemg1984** · 03-09-2014, 09:09 AM

Originally Posted by kris

one mods guitars another mods amps....nice!

I mod everything

**kris** · 03-09-2014, 09:12 AM

Originally Posted by jorgemg1984

I mod everything

Like me...

**jzjazz** · 03-10-2014, 04:04 PM

Hi,

I've contacted the tech to write something about the speaker mod, I know only that it's working and sounding better than before

Just came back from a rehearsal with my band, the first one after changing guitar (Ibanez FG100 to D'Aspiranta floating) and amp (Rivera Thirty Twelfe to Henriksen) and the setup works just great.

But as always... when I asked the rest of the band about the new gear, they said, they liked it, but didn't really hear any difference

)) So it's probably again more about how someone plays and not what equipment he or she uses...

**kris** · 03-10-2014, 04:23 PM

"But as always... when I asked the rest of the band about the new gear, they said, they liked it, but didn't really hear any difference

)) So it's probably again more about how someone plays and not what equipment he or she uses..."

Jakub,
Probably...You have to buy Tele or Strat and 100 watt Marshall heavy amp...:-)

**jorgemg1984** · 03-10-2014, 05:02 PM

It's normal not to notice details on other instruments sounds.

**jzjazz** · 03-10-2014, 07:27 PM

Ok, we won't have more information than so far, he won't share his secrets. Most important that it works :-) I've also been asked to revise my statement of Martinello being a AER-copy - according to its creator, it's a completely different amp

**mangotango** · 03-11-2014, 01:31 PM

I'm contemplating selling my Henriksen. When I bought it, the guy who was selling it told me that he was moving up to a Jazzkat. All this time later, I now have a Jazzkat (Blueskat) of my own and it does most of what I want better than my other amps. The only thing that the Jazzkat doesn't do so well is the low volume level, clean for days, duo stuff - and my little Fender Super Champ does that.

I took the Henriksen to a quartet gig, whereby the previous gig with that band, I had used the Blueskat. Jorge, you say about not noticing others' sounds, but I have to tell you that all of the musicians on that gig who had been there previously asked me where my other amp was and their comments by way of comparison did not favour the Henriksen. It had that clean, middly jazz guitar sound - but nothing else. And no matter how much I dug in, I could never get it to push on and gave me more. Which is probably down to me bringing a knife to a gunfight. And to be fair, the other guitarist who sat in and used my amp, sounded good.

So next I took it to a workshop band session, where it had to fight a dozen or more horns for level. Same thing - glassy clean middle sound, but no matter how much I worked the EQ, it couldn't cut through and in trying to push the highs, I eventually got to the edge of feedback (it's the original version with a lower output than the current model).

So where does that leave me? I'm loath to move it on just in case; I've done that with guitars in the past and really regretted it. OTOH, it could go to a home where someone might truly appreciate it; and besides, I could do with the £££'s.

I'm going to take it to a duo rehearsal tonight with the Fender and A/B them, to see if I can rediscover the Henriksen's USP. If not....there might be a new thread in the "For Sale" section.

**Jazz_175** · 03-11-2014, 02:01 PM

Originally Posted by mangotango

(it's the original version with a lower output than the current model).

So your amp is rated 60 Watt, isn't?

**Franz 1997** · 03-11-2014, 02:27 PM

I had the 60W Jazz amp for a year or so. I think the amp's USP is exactly what you said it is! Nothing wrong with that, but it just didn't have the headroom that I needed, and would go into breakup at quite modest volumes

I must say I haven't regretted moving mine on..

**mangotango** · 03-12-2014, 05:59 AM

Originally Posted by Jazz_175

So your amp is rated 60 Watt, isn't?

Yes it is, and after last night's duo practice, I still haven't made up my mind about whether to move it on. Indecision might, or then again might not, be a terrible thing......

AS Franz 1997 says, it is what it is and makes a good job of it. I hadn't played through it for a while until last week; so maybe I need to devote a bit more time to rediscovering its virtues. I have a new reverb (T Rex Tonebug) which goes well with the Henriksen (though didn't like the Fender??) so a bit of experimentation with the two together is in order. Certainly not going to rush into anything just yet.