The Jazz Guitar Chord Dictionary
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  1. #351

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    Quote Originally Posted by musictech
    Picking up my VOX ac15 today. Looking forward to it
    did you get the AC15C1? i have that model. i also had the AC5CC1. it was okay but nothing like the AC15C1. it's amazing what a "C" can do.

    first thing i would do is change the tubes and perform the bright cap mod on both inputs. (if it's an AC15C1.)

    over and out.

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  3. #352

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    Quote Originally Posted by musictech
    Picking up my VOX ac15 today. Looking forward to it
    Quote Originally Posted by J. Murrieta
    did you get the AC15C1? i have that model. i also had the AC5CC1. it was okay but nothing like the AC15C1. it's amazing what a "C" can do.

    first thing i would do is change the tubes and perform the bright cap mod on both inputs. (if it's an AC15C1.)

    over and out.
    So far the amp sounds good. i will mod the AC15C1 some other time. Time to have fun with it.

  4. #353

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    Guys, I need help!!

    I want an amp that will accept pedals really well or super pedal friendly as they say for playing other genres, like rock/fusion. Also be able to play jazz through it, warm, mellow tone,meaning high headroom, with no easy break up. Tube amp available as a combo, mostly for home and small/moderate gig situations=playing with a drummer.

    I thought of the Fender Princeton Reverb and the Dr. Z M12. Not really sure which one to go for, any suggestions?
    Last edited by JPMike; 01-11-2013 at 04:25 AM.

  5. #354

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    Peavey Bandit 75 with the tone knobs all set at 12:00. Loud, clean, low-noise. A hundred bucks. Yes!

  6. #355

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    My Fender Princeton is ok for small gigs but breaks up when the Vol control goes above 4 - great for small blues-rock gigs.

    I use a Jazzkat for jazz. Nice warm tone, lots of headroom, effects loop and you can switch in a tube to add more bite to your sound. The perfect amp for a jazz guitarist.

  7. #356

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    Quote Originally Posted by Jim Soloway
    What's the weight like. I couldn't find any actual specs on that.
    VHT has the weight listed at 43lbs. it's in the downloadable pdf manual, not listed directly on the website. it's also a pretty compact design, making it easy to carry.

    due to the aforementioned compact form factor, i was experiencing some rattle in the higher watt modes. i purchased some dampers from "eurotubes" and tube retainers from "the tube depot". Now my tone is rattle and artifact free!!! absolutely loving it. (although i am still in honeymoon phase.)

  8. #357

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    regarding the VHT Special 12/20:

    i actually own and have rolled:

    JJ 6v6S
    JJ 6L6GC
    Tung Sol 5881
    EH 6CA7EH
    stock chinese 6v6s.

    in 12 watt mode everything sounds good, but going to full pentode 20 watt mode is where the characteristics of each tube really becomes discernible.

    and for me it's the 6CA7s. warm, clean, loud, tight bottom end, fat upper end, nice mid range...no 6L6 glass with higher notes. the Tung sol 5881s and JJ 6v6s just don't stay clean enough loud enough for me.

    i hope that helps somebody, somewhere, someday.

  9. #358

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    Quote Originally Posted by J. Murrieta
    regarding the VHT Special 12/20:

    i actually own and have rolled:

    JJ 6v6S
    JJ 6L6GC
    Tung Sol 5881
    EH 6CA7EH
    stock chinese 6v6s.

    in 12 watt mode everything sounds good, but going to full pentode 20 watt mode is where the characteristics of each tube really becomes discernible.

    and for me it's the 6CA7s. warm, clean, loud, tight bottom end, fat upper end, nice mid range...no 6L6 glass with higher notes. the Tung sol 5881s and JJ 6v6s just don't stay clean enough loud enough for me.

    i hope that helps somebody, somewhere, someday.
    Well 12watt mode is with 6v6s inside....you can go to 20 watt only swapping for bigger output tubes like 6L6,5881 etc..etc..about 6CA7 ( or EL34) I do not really like them,and since the bias is fixed for Octals, and tries to accomodate different kind of vacuum tubes wich have different voltage on plate,usually is set for lower current,so a bit "colder"...have to experiment,since not all 6L6s are the same

  10. #359

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    Quote Originally Posted by peterpanico
    Well 12watt mode is with 6v6s inside....you can go to 20 watt only swapping for bigger output tubes like 6L6,5881 etc..etc..about 6CA7 ( or EL34) I do not really like them,and since the bias is fixed for Octals, and tries to accomodate different kind of vacuum tubes wich have different voltage on plate,usually is set for lower current,so a bit "colder"...have to experiment,since not all 6L6s are the same
    thanks peter. the problem i've had with my 6l6s is too much tube rattle, with dampers mind you. maybe i'll get another pair and try them.

  11. #360

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    Quote Originally Posted by J. Murrieta
    thanks peter. the problem i've had with my 6l6s is too much tube rattle, with dampers mind you. maybe i'll get another pair and try them.
    Just so you know, rattling is not a problem with 6L6s in particular (or any other kind of tube for that matter), but rather with specific brands and sometimes certain production runs.

    It's almost impossible to know without trying whether a tube will be microphonic or not. You can ask your tube supplier whether they test for microphonics; some only test preamp tubes on the (mostly correct) premise that the first preamp tube is going to have the biggest issues with microphonics.

    Some vendors will test all tubes for microphonics. Eurotubes here in Oregon comes to mind. (FWIW, I paid Eurotubes a visit this past week and was very positively impressed with their attention to detail and their customer service.)

    One thing I've noticed in the past - and my sample size is far too small to hazard a "rule" about this - is that tubes with certain shapes of micas seem more susceptible than others to microphonics. (The mica is the slice of insulating material - there are normally two per tube - that touches the inside of the glass envelope and has holes punched to fit the supports for the grids and plates.)

    The first kind of mica is shaped like kind of a squared-off circle. It has only four points of contact with the glass envelope. I've found that tubes having this shape of mica tend to be unusually microphonic. My theory is that the four contact points between the mica and glass envelope tend to separate as the tube comes up to temperature and the glass expands. This allows everything inside the tube to move, which is the cause of microphonics.

    The other shape of mica is a circle having a rather large number of triangular points along its periphery. I've noticed that in tubes constructed this way, the mica points get bent back to fit inside the glass envelope. This means that there's some tension between the points and the glass. The slight elasticity of the mica helps to maintain its contact with the glass as the tube heats and expands; therefore there's less of a tendency to microphonics.

  12. #361

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    I didn't read EVERY post, but I didn't see much talk about the speaker, which to me, is ALMOST more important than the amp. I can use a lot of different amp heads (or run out the head of a combo) but I've got to use a 15 inch speaker. My favorite extremely portable rig is a very old Jensen 15 each speaker (from a vintage Ampeg Gemini VI) powered by a Roland Micro Cube. Yep. BION, that little battery amp pushes that 15" speaker into sonic nirvana. It's much louder than with the stock 5" speaker and it works great for coffee house gigs or playing with a percussionist. I prefer the Black Panel setting for its bass or the JC Clean otherwise. My premium sound is obtained by splitting my signal and feeding 2 amps - a bass amp and a brighter guitar amp. This gives me ultimate control over those 2 aspects of my sound and I can add chorus and reverb on the brighter amp but leave it totally off the bass. Sometimes I'll use a mini active crossover by Rolls to split my signal at an adjustable frequency and use that to feed each amp. Or I'll just roll the bass off one amp and roll the highs off the other. What's nice is that I can get away with using a small bass combo amp that uses a 10" speaker and even the same for the guitar amp. And you don't have to spend a lot of money to get two portable amps. I also own the Roland Micro Cube Bass amp, and it'll work in a pinch as the bass half of my sound split with another small battery amp. I want to emphasize again the use of effects on only the bright half of my signal. This keeps the bass clean and tight and makes for more articulate chords. This is my first post here. I promise I want be so long winded next time..........
    Last edited by Cellomangler; 01-12-2013 at 10:51 PM.

  13. #362

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    Acoustic Image...

    I've owned:

    Roland Cubes of all shapes/colors
    Fender of all shapes/colors
    Ibanez bass/guitar amps
    Lunchbox (club and original)
    ...a bunch of boutique amps more tuned for rock, etc...


    In my experience, for clean pure jazz, guitar and bass...there is none higher than AI.

  14. #363

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    Interesting how everybody has their own objectives and taste. I've had a lot of the same experiences as SilentWiz and the Acoustic Image is one of my all time least favorite amps. I heard lots of players sounding good through them but I've owned two and played through lots of others and found it to be incredibly unsatisfying to play through. Obviously lots of other people have had a very different experience.

  15. #364

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    Port City Pearl 1x12 Combo in the making, will be here in 3-4 weeks.

  16. #365

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    Quote Originally Posted by peterpanico
    Well 12watt mode is with 6v6s inside....you can go to 20 watt only swapping for bigger output tubes like 6L6,5881 etc..etc..about 6CA7 ( or EL34) I do not really like them,and since the bias is fixed for Octals, and tries to accomodate different kind of vacuum tubes wich have different voltage on plate,usually is set for lower current,so a bit "colder"...have to experiment,since not all 6L6s are the same

    thanks for the input peter. after reading this i went back and did some more rolling. i've now settled on the Tung Sol 5881s. i'm using them in high volt mode, 20 and 12 watt. they are a little "warmer" and "antique" sounding. i'll think i'll stick with them for a while.

    i also just received an empress parametric eq pedal which really helps nail the exact tone i'm looking for.

    i'm good...at least for now.

  17. #366

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    I'm a bottom feeder I guess :-) I use a Trace Elliot Supertramp Twin Chorus that I replaced the speakers with some that came out of a JC120. It gives me a nice clean sound and has a lot of features I don't use playing jazz but I see other genres sometimes too so it's versatile. But it's heavy and I'm old, so a few weeks back I had a gig and just couldn't bring myself to lug it down the stairs again so I grabbed an old Crate GT60 I had stashed over the garage for like 15 years. I paid nothing for it really. Its old claim to fame was Yngwie used them for practice amps :-) but the overdrive channel on mine has never worked so it's just a basic SS amp with a 12" speaker. Amazing how many compliments I got on the sound, I put my archtop through it as well as the AS100 and it did sound pretty sweet. This weekend my bass player put his upright through it and it sounded pretty good for him too. I played years of loud music and my wife says I'm either losing some of my hearing or ignoring her even more than usual (hmmm) so I may be missing something, but right now I can't see going crazy over an upgrade..

  18. #367

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    I have owned many amps over the past 45 yrs. The ones that sound best with my Benedetto Bravo or ES-175 currently are my 1966 Fender Princeton (non-reverb) and my 1974 Fender Viborlux Reverb. A very close second and probably better for gigging is one of my Vox AD30VT amps. These are modeling amps with tube preamp and first stage amplification, second stage is acoustically neutral solid state into a 10" spkr. The Boutique Clean and Tweed 4x10 settings sound great and are quiet with appropriate gain adjustments. These amps are very inexpensive (used clean ones are $150--200 on eBay) and versatile and have held up well for me (I own two). Upgrading the 12AX7 is worthwhile.

  19. #368

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    Only had to amps I regret getting rid of the first was a Fender BF Princeton Reverb that I had Paul Rivera do his mod on he was doing for all the studio players back in the day. Great sounding and small and portable. The second I miss not as much was a 70's SF Super Reverb really nice sounding amp, but would over power situations with those 4x10's cutting thru.

    I've had Boogie's, tweed Deluxe, old Champ, old Ampegs, all sorts of amps, but those two old Fenders were magic and could do anything.

  20. #369

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    the old Fenders get it done!

  21. #370

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    sure, the old Fenders have it...I have a Fender Champ (1958) andere a Princeton Reverb 1974 sounds perfect for my (old) jazz style .
    And my Gibson EH-150 sounds superb;-)

    Regards
    Clavan
    (Netherlands - Europese)

  22. #371

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    hello everyone,

    thanks for all of the great information! in preparation of buying my first amp, i read every post and did a lot of searches for many of the interesting amps and models mentioned here. i ended up getting a jazzkat tomkat, which i still can't believe only weighs 16lbs. to restore balance to the universe and pay my dues to the lower back pain gods, i'll probably end up adding a twin reverb to the fold at some point.

    best regards,
    ben

  23. #372

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    For a lower powered Fender I like the 55-56 era Bassman's, 30 watts, dual rectifier tubes. The four tens respond well to the low notes and if you pull one of the rectifier tubes you can induce more sag, a more bluesy jazz tone.
    For a high power amp I use a 61 Fender Twin. No reverb but a beautiful brown face vibrato and big tone.

  24. #373

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    Quote Originally Posted by bodidR
    If you can find ANY Evans amp, in good playing condition, for less than $500, I'll buy it. Yes, their tone controls take some getting use to, but they are the cleanest sound I have found, and certainly for straight ahead jazz with an archtop, the ULTIMATE JAZZ GUITAR AMP (IMO). The trouble is they are very seldom available used, and then usually for much more than $500. BTW, my Evans has a 15" which I like a lot. Not sure I could like a 10" or even a 12". Oh well.
    rdr
    I just found a super clean Evans FET 500 LV with a 15" and snatched it up...not sure yet if I'm going to keep it but as far as clean, loud, with great reverb and no coloration just guitar and technique, this amps got it all in spades....any one else play one of these? The Ultimate Guitar Amp-20150809_092119-jpg
    Last edited by Six; 08-12-2015 at 08:52 AM.

  25. #374

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    the ultimate guitar amp (for me) is still the Kemper profiler going through an Alto TS110A powered speaker. 600w of clean power. Not cheap but well under $2k used. I used it at a jam session over the weekend where we played everything from Benson's Body Talk to My Romance to Acid/Jazz/Fusion. I used a fender vibroverb model for 90% of the jam but I used a dumble overdrive special for some of the fusion tones and it sounded incredible. I have not heard *ANY* other amp with that versatility. Having owned several boutique dumble clones including Kane, Two Rock, Ceriatone and several others, I can say that this amp hangs and possible exceeds any of them. Same results with the fender and it also smokes my mambo amp for smokey clean jazz tone though I adore the mambo amp. The kemper is just ​THAT GOOD.

  26. #375

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    What profile are you using for a warm jazz tone? I had a Kemper for a couple years and warm jazz wasn't something I found easy with it, then again I had a hard time bonding with FRFR monitors which could have been the real issue for me.
    Last edited by MaxTwang; 08-12-2015 at 03:17 PM.