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This is I think my first post here. I just wanted to share how much I like this amp
First, I'm a regularly gigging bass player, playing upright and electric, who also plays a lot of guitar. I have a tele and a 1978 Guild Artist Award. I've owned a lot of amps. A LOT. I dislike the Fender clean tone for jazz, because it has a such a pronounced mid scoop. For the last five or so years I was using an old Ampeg Gemini, which had a very lush tone. But it was noisy for recording and heavy for gigging. I also found myself always going back to the tone controls, searching for some sweet spot.
So I sold the ampeg and bought a Henrikson jazzamp, used, at a local store. This is the head and ten inch cab.
Wow, this is just a great amp for jazz. It's not "voiced," which is great--no mid scoop or boost, no famous player emulation. It has a really fat sound--something about the transients. The front edge of the attack on each note is really full and well defined without being tubby. The notes have a lot of "body." I took the thing apart--it has a HUGE output tranny and some very big caps, and I assume this is part of why it has so much booty.
The Eq section is fantastic. i do a lot of recording and mixing, so the five bands make a of of sense, much more than a knob saying "hi mid" or "low mid. There is 10 db of cut or boost at 100, 300, 1000, 3000, and 10, 000. The controls are extremely effective and small changes make a significant difference. The reverb is good but I have a hard time getting it as minimal as I'd like--I never have it over about 8-9 o'clock.
The amp is extremely quiet--very little hum or buzz. There's a line out that works well for recording, though a mic'ed cab sounds better.
But the tone is just great--smooth, warm, articulate, full. It sounds as good with a tele as it does with the guild--I tend to play with a tone that's sort of late 40s early 50s country/R+B swing on the tele, and it's perfect for that as well.
I'm really impressed with this amp. It's not a rock amp, it's not setup for jangly acoustic folkie strum, but it gives you a sound with a lot of body, very direct, smooth, and BIG. Not muddy or tubby.
I also have an acoustic image rig which I use with bass and sometimes guitar, and I liked the henrikson MUCH more, which surprised me. I'm going to email henrikson and tell them how much i like it.
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07-21-2014 12:08 PM
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Interesting review. A lot of people on this forum like these amps. However you are the first person I have come across who rates the reverb as 'good'; that's generous of you. Otherwise it works pretty well for jazz, as you say. I've had a couple.
Forgive the nitpicking, but there is no output tranny; it's a solid-state amp. What you are seeing is the power tranny.
There is - or was- quite an amusing warning about not using the amp ''in the bathtub or shower'' on the back. That was the designer's sense of humour. Nice touch of individuality.
What does PB & J stand for? Just spent a minute trying to guess..some jazz standard? some kind of dish? some beer?
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Any person in the US would recognize "PB+J" right away as the nickname for a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. I've been a parent for a long time and have made a Lot of peanut and butter and jelly sandwiches. Made one this morning for my daughter's lunch.
i think the reverb is ok. It woulkd sond nice at a gig, for an audience that wasn't foscused on reverb. Reverb in general is a pain imho
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Of course. You don't come across that here so much.
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+1...that's the power transformer. SS amps don't have output transformers because the speakers can be connected to the power amplifier without one, unlike a tube amp.
This being said, WELCOME! And, +1 on the choice of the Henriksen Amp. It is the logical successor to the Polytone MiniBrute. I, too, am an upright and electric bass player. I have been playing upright bass for 45 years, electric for about 40. I have played guitar for 50 years, since before I was a teenager. (Banjo even longer--not as good a player as Rob, though) I have been repairing and building amps since the early 70s. When I discovered the Polytone amp I thought I had the jazz situation covered. Well, Polytone fizzled out when its founder died a few years back. We can keep the existing stock of amps going, but there has to be a new amp that does the small, warm, jazz thing well.
Enter Henriksen. The Henriksen amp is just super. You have stumbled upon a real winner, IMO. It is quite well built, sounds great, and--as you have discovered--is neutral, yet allows you significant control over EQ. I think you scored, by the way, by getting the 10" cabinet. Some guys want the 12, but the 10 is the choice, IMO, for guitar.
+1, by the way, on the Ampeg Gemini. GREAT 60s amp for jazz, etc. I used to play a friend's Gemini II until it was stolen out of his car.
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I've had my henriksen for a year or two now and I always liked it ....
But after noodling in front of the TV unplugged for many months of playing I powered mine up and plugged in my L5WES and was just floored at how good it sounded .... much better than what I remember from when I first got it.
Maybe the speaker and circuits are finally broken in or whatever solid state amps do as they get older.
I've been runnnig my little collection of archtops through it since my rediscovery and they all sound great in this thing.
Last edited by Bluedawg; 07-21-2014 at 01:53 PM.
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Do any of you guys use these amp for your bass?
I started playing upright bass last fall and the one of my bands that had been playing guitar asked me back to play bass and I have been having a blast playing bull fiddle on swing tunes and some more modern big band pieces.
I've been using a Markbass amp, but I keep meaning to give the Henriksen a try.
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Don't hesitate to try the Henriksen. I used to play my upright and electric through _all_ of my different Polytones without adverse effects. The Henriksen should handle the upright just fine, it seems to me, and it is a pleasure to load in/out. This is where the old Polytone MB I was a dream.
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Not all valve/tube amps require an output transformer. There is a class called OTL amps (Output Transformerless). David Berning designs a guitar amp under the Milbert brand named the GaGa. Berning has been designing OTL hifi amps and tubed car amps for over 25 years. The GAGA guitar amp is a recent foray.
Anyway, good review on the Henriksen. Sorry for the slight detour into OTLs.
(I am a longtime audio anorak...)Last edited by Jabberwocky; 07-21-2014 at 02:21 PM.
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I got a JazzAmp 110 a couple years ago and great amp dig the sound and size. The digital reverb is okay, I think if they changed the release it would sound better. I haven't played my JazzAmp in awhile been using my AI and RE think its time to rotate amps in the woodshed.
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Congrats on finding an amp that floats your boat! I'm a Fender man myself, but there's room for more than one approach to tone
As long as you like it and your bandmates don't hate it, you're gold.
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I'm more like a kid in candy store ....
Originally Posted by D.G.
Congrats on finding an amp that floats your boat! I'm a Fender man myself, but there's room for more than one approach to tone As long as you like it and your bandmates don't hate it, you're gold.
I want one of each .... I like some nice Fender flavored tube amps myself
The latest generation of solid state amps can be nice grab and go amps, though. They hardly weigh anything.
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"The latest generation of solid state amps can be nice grab and go amps, though. They hardly weigh anything."
+1 So true. The new Rolands are BIG bargains in this department. Vox and Fender, too. Me: I just happen to already own a s#$t ton of amps--either vintage, or ones that I've built--and don't need to run out and but anything. But, it is a buyer's market.
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I got a princeton and a henriksen. And no amp GAS whatsoever.
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Mr Beaumont, is that your Princeton on your recording of Blue in Green? Lush man. What great tone and playing, love it. Any wonder you ain't got GAS.
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i had a acoustic image with re cab and swapped the cab for a redstone audio - a great improvement over the re (which was itself very good)
i got this to replace a 15' rivera jazz suprema - to cut a long story short - much better for my very mainstream jazz purposes
then i heard the henriksen 110 - that is a huge improvement over both the rivera and the acoustic image/redstone audio
no amp gas here - what a great tool!
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What are the main differences between the re and the resdstone? Why did you liked the redstone so much? thanks! Originally Posted by Groyniad
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Nope, thats the henriksen! Originally Posted by gggomez
i chose red stone over re too. More bass thump and a little lighter.
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Jazz rig: Archtop and Henriksen JazzAmp 112;
Pop rig: Semi-Hollow and Henriksen JazzAmp 110;
Rock rig: Tele and both Henriksen JazzAmps with the 110 sitting neatly on top of the 112.
No amp GAS here either!
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Henriksen amps are wonderful. The 110 is my go-to gigging amp. Of course archtop guitars sound lovely through it, but my main guitar is a 335 style semi-hollow - still sublime. Teles, strats, and j basses don't sound half bad to my ears either. I can get great tone in pretty much any room too. Highly recommend it!
When I play a show where I have sufficient room and time, I love playing with the Henriksen and a Fender running in stereo. THAT is a killer sound!
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Hi Bluedawg
I also use a Henriksen Jazzamp 112 which sounds good with my Archtops
can I also suggest that a Mambo 12 sounds even better with an L5CES ,give
one a whirl if you can , your opinion would be interesting.
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Originally Posted by silverfoxx
I'd love to try the Mambo ... according to their web site, at today's exchange rate the Mambo 12 would run about $1100 US (647 Brit Pounds by paypal) before shipping and taxes if I ordered directly
Do you know if they have a dealer in the US?
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No dealer in the US according to the most recent thread I have read about Mambo. Most on the forum, such as I believe a member named "Franz" say to send him an email. Originally Posted by Bluedawg
Be sure to check out the nice videos people have posted on the Mambo.
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Hi AlsoRan & Bluedawg
you are correct ,as far as i am aware thers is not a dealership in the US
but as you suggest forum member Franz1997 is the best source other
than to contact Jon Shaw direct @ Mambo Amps , both Jon and Franz are
extremely helpful , I obtained mine after very good advice from Franz.
Unfortunately we have the same problem in obtaining Evans amps.from
the US.
in the Uk we are big fans of the Mambo amps ,good luck in getting one.
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I borrowed a 110 jazzamp a couple of years ago and tried it out on a gig - I thought the reverb was fine, but I only like to have a little bit of verb to take the edge off the dryness.
I bought a yamaha stagepass p.a. online without demoing it, and the reverb on that was pathetic - more like a shaky delay raygun effect. Totally useless.
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