Good Small Practice Amp for Jazz

[Doctor Jeff]

+1 on the Fender SCXD. About 25 pounds. Another nice amp that's even more compact is the Epiphone Valve Jr.--also about 25 pounds. Amazingly loud, has a nice warm tube tone.

[AlohaJoe]

The Lunchbox Acoustic (12lbs) has a decent reverb and a nicer 'jazz' tone than the standard Lunchbox, as well as a few other handy features the standard doesn't have.

[nopedals]

Mine is an oddball choice. I have a Danelectro Nifty Seventy with a ten inch weber chicago stuffed in it. Supposed to be a bass practice amp, but it sounds fine for guitar. Features: cheap, large OT for its size, closed back, three band EQ, no unpleasant distortion. And, of course, it doubles as a bass practice amp. Not made any more, but should show up used for peanuts.

Small guitar amps are typically designed for teen rock players and can't handle the low end that archtops dish out. The few that can handle archtops usually cost $$$. I have owned a number of booteek practice amps over the years, but this one has been the keeper.

[coolvinny]

Has anyone compared the lunchbox against the yamaha? The lunchbox sounds great. The yamaha seems to as well, but the yamaha has built in reverb etc that you'd have to pedal into the lunchbox if needed. The lunchbox seems to get fatter tones, and it's hard to find a jazz review of the yamaha.

In my experience the Yamaha is a toy, and not a good one at that IMO. The Lunchbox Jr. trounces the Yamaha, and the regular Lunchbox is in a completely different class. I've done big band gigs with it and I know pros that gig with it. No external cab even. But for practice the Lunchbox Jr. is plenty. I've never missed reverb.

[Greentone]

What's wrong with the Princeton Reverb set on 1? I gig with a Deluxe, but I practice with the Deluxe, too. I just roll it back...actually, I just roll it back with the guitar volume, truth be told.

[cc_mac]

Fender Mustang I on Twin Rvb. setting sounds good. These are very inexpensive used. Should be able to find one for less than $75 US. it's lightweight and easy to move around your house and doesn't take up much space.

[Longways to Go]

Greentone, I'm guessing the issue is that the OP doesn't want to move the Princeton from room to room all the time.

But I'm with you.
Princeton = great sound at practice volume, also, in my case great sound for performance!
BTW, superchamps are great too (but not as great as Princetons!) and not smaller enough to make a big difference.

[seaguitar]

Thanks guys - great suggestions and feedback.

Greentone/Longways - yes the princeton is fantastic but I have bad hip issues and my practice room is in a shed outside the house so lugging the amp into the house late at night would be real pain. Not to mention the rain we get around here frequently so having to protect the amp enroute. Sometimes my family just wants me to be in the house and after I've been practicing a while, I thought it might be nice to have secondary gear in the house for late evening practice that can be moved around the house easily.

[docbop]

I'm not a big fan of the Lunchbox, but based on you're needs I would say its probably the best choice for you. Henriksenn has new small amp coming out in a few weeks with a 6" speaker the sample videos it sounds way better than a Lunchbox, but the pricing is high to me.

[Eddie Lang]

How about one amp that stays in the shed, and another one that stays in the house, so you don't need to carry it around. One of the Fender Champ or Frontman could do the job, and they are inexpensive.

[Paul Hughes]

If it's just for practice and a "mini amp" to put in your case (ie you want something very small at a very low cost) have a look at the Blackstar Fly 3. It has clean, gain(not really applicable and delay. So, more aimed at Rockers and quite limited but the clean is good, it fits in my guitar case and costs next to nothing (£50 in uk).

If it's a small practice amp then again I found the one aimed at Rockers - the Marshall MG 15 played clean to easily be the best in that class and knocks the Fender Frontman out the water. Again very portable and reasonable (I don't think the shop in question would thank me for posting this but got it new for £57).

If it's something more like a proper portable amp and on a higher budget I'd look at some of the compact acoustic amps. They won't fit in your guitar case but they are light to move around the house and won,t "fart" etc they are also giggable and very true to the guitar's true sound but they will dent your wallet badly.

Just my thoughts and others tastes may differ.

[jazzuki]

Roland Cube. For performance-portability-size- price

[seaguitar]

How about one amp that stays in the shed, and another one that stays in the house, so you don't need to carry it around. One of the Fender Champ or Frontman could do the job, and they are inexpensive.

That's exactly the idea, the Princeton stays in the shed.

[monkmiles]

I have a fender princeton reverb RI which mainly use. But I would like a small portable amp that I can use later at night and easily lug around inside the house for impromptu practicing. I was looking at the Roland micro cube or Fender mustang. Was wondering if anyone had a recommendation. Note, I'm not looking for the perfect amp, just something that's great value ( inexpensive ), small and light and gets me a nice clean tone. Thanks for any info.

How about a Fender Champion 600? Tiny tube amp great for around the house. Not boat loads of headroom but it doesn't sound like you need that and it's louder than you might expect. I have one and like it alot for playing at home. In my opinion it sounds better than a Mustang or Cube amp.

[seaguitar]

hallpass/Eddie lang - you know I didn't know anything about the Fender champion 600. I'm a sucker for tube sound and this is only 199$. Hmm, I guess I've to pick between 2 choices now. Will see if I can try these out. I know I can probably find the champ at G.C. Don't know about the lunchbox.

[boatheelmusic]

I found the microcube much less satisfying than the Mustang I set on Twin Reverb.

The Microbe couldn't handle my ES175 or L-4CES at all.

[vinnyv1k]

You only live once. Don't waste your time listening to cheap amps. Get a Henriksen 110. 24 pounds.

[Longways to Go]

If you were going that route, I'd go for a Henriksen The Bud.

Also +1 on cheap Marshall. I dig the Marshall clean sound for jazz. Not very flexible on EQ, but if it jives with your guitar . . .yum.

[nodoubtkit]

Roland cube has built-in effects and modeling amp ability; however, I'm affect this modeling amp cannot give me the natural sound of the guitar.
Am I right?
I have tried an old JC-120 which sound very good but that is too big for me.
I bought ES-335 recently and wanna replace my current amp Blackstar HT-1R.
Any recommendation?

[Eddie Lang]

It's a matter of personnal taste, but I had a Roland Cube, and I hated the way it sounded at any setting. Maybe it's the fact that I played solid, carved guitars with single coil pups. I did not try a humbucker on it. Obviously, many people love them, so they must have something to like.

For something light, but better quality (and very different) than my previous suggestions (Champ, Frontman, $75-$200), there is a Phil Jones CUB or a used JazzKat.

• Champion 600: 5W, 12ish lbs. I sold mine because the sound was not satisfying enough (stock), but if one can make a few small mods themselves, they're said to have the potential to become great. That means injecting possibly more $$$ than the initial cost. Was about $169-$199 new; mods (grill cloth, baffle, tubes, pots, caps, speaker) may run an extra $20 to $300 depending on which ones are made. With or without mods, it is a super cool little amp nevertheless.
• Frontman 25R: was about $110 new. 25 lbs. Very honest amp; versatile too. I can make it sound princetonesque.
• Phil Jones CUB AG-100 or 150: used $300 / new $600, and they come with a gigbag with shoulder strap; 11 lbs for the 100, 15 lbs for the 150; they're both rated at 100W and the main complaints are that they are not very loud for 100W combos. There are ways around that to a certain extent (L.R. Baggs ParaDI for exemple will give you a little more), but it's not an issue for practice. (I've played mine with a trio, two electric archtop guitars and drums — plus three microphones - we all sang; volume was not an issue, even in a room of under two hundred, but the audience was there to listen, not to eat, drink, talk, shout, etc.)
• JazzKatt, the older model: used $350-$500; great sound; between 20-25 lbs. Classic jazz sound.
• Another one that I did not mention is the Yamaha THR series. Now, these are smal and very portable! Surprisingly, they sound much bigger too. The one I tried was the THR10.

[seaguitar]

Any opinions on the jazzkat Acoustikat vs lunchbox acoustic?

[medblues]

Any opinions on the jazzkat Acoustikat vs lunchbox acoustic?

I remember two YouTube videos from a Sharyl Smith where he compared 5-6 small amps including the Lunchbox Acoustic, may or may not have included Acoustikat but might help you.

[coolvinny]

You guys don't make this easy do you

Actually I think it is pretty easy to choose from the 2 or 3 obvious choices given whta you originally wrote:

"I have a fender princeton reverb RI which mainly use. But I would like a small portable amp that I can use later at night and easily lug around inside the house for impromptu practicing. I was looking at the Roland micro cube or Fender mustang. Was wondering if anyone had a recommendation. Note, I'm not looking for the perfect amp, just something that's great value ( inexpensive ), small and light and gets me a nice clean tone. Thanks for any info."

...but a lot of the responses are ignoring what you wrote, IMO. Good luck to you.

[seaguitar]

Thank you.

I'm leaning towards the ZT LB acoustic, but have the opportunity to try a JAzzkat Acoustikat so I'm down to two. Obviously my ears will be the final judge but I respect the vast knowledge available here and peoples experiences as info to consider in my final evaluation.

[uburoibob]

ZT Lunchbox is a great little amp. I have paired mine with a Tech 21 FlyRig 5 and it's an amazing little setup that weighs less than 10lbs and go from whisper to playing with a combo in a small room.

Bob