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"gigable" -- what does that mean? I've done a couple of gigs with the Little Jazz, but it seems like some other players need way more volume than I do. Does Jazz need to play as loud as rock? I can live with the old Princeton rule -- as in, if it's too loud for a Princeton, then it's TOO LOUD. IMO the Little Jazz can do this OK. I play coffee house trio stuff just fine with the Little Jazz -- not even close to pushing it. Pretty stout for 45w SS, and I really like the tone. just sayin'
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02-04-2015 12:14 AM
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Might be fine for a coffee house, but a bar?
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Tom,
I had the rare opporuntity of a few minutes of spare time before a rehearsal session last night and stopped at the Boston Guitar Center. They had a DV Mark Little Jazz combo there. I tried it with an Epiphone es175 and was pretty impressed. Good bass response for an 8" speaker and small size. It was a very warm and full tone. Much warmer/thicker than a Cube, as shown in the above youtube demo. The reverb was decent too, seemed like a room type of reverb that I thought was solid. I had the volume on 10:00-11:00 and it was pretty loud, though it was also risen on a shelf so it was near ear level when I sat. But it seemed to have decent power for its size, certainly for jam sessions and small gigs. I think it had a speaker cabinet out which would help for bigger playing situations. Oh, they didn't have it marked for sale there like it is on their website. I assume they'd "match" that, but thought it was interesting.
-Dan
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specs aside for now
is the little jazz loud enough
for a quintet playing something up
like Caravan ?
(ref cube 30 or 40 is not quite)
ditto the jazz 12 ....
if so these DVs are a bargain ....
someone here must have the answer !
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I think we're ignoring the question of the venue, and what's happening there; so far discussion has been about 'will it hang with a trio/ drummer/ whatever' - and that's one important aspect.
But anyone who's gigged around a bit know that the headroom which will be fine in , let's say, a reasonably empty pub or quiet bar bears little relationship to the headroom that's required for clean guitar sound when that same place is rammed on a saturday night with 200 people talking loudly. This situation can require a LOT of headroom in your amp, especially with a duo/trio.
In the first case, a SS 45W amp like the DV - or a princeton- might be fine at half volume. In the second case, IMO you need something with a lot of power - 150W up , if SS- to cut over the crowd noise. I've had the experience, with a vocal/gtr/ bass trio, of approaching max power from a 180W SS amp to be heard over a saturday night pub crowd. And that was just jazz standards; bass player had same problem.
I guess you could argue that the crowd would be so pissed by then that it didn't matter if you were heard clearly or not....
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A good point. For me, I see little reason to own a small low powered amp for quiet gigs and a more powerful amp for louder gigs as adequately loud amps can be found that aren't all that much heavier or larger(Quilter, AI, etc.)
Originally Posted by Franz 1997
That being said I do own a Lunchbox that I am not enamored enough with to use regularly but it happily lives in my trunk in case my main amp ever gives out on a gig. Maybe the Little Jazz would work for that, but the Lunchbox at least has enough volume for even most loud gigs. It's a better backup IMO.
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The best solution for headroom and portability is a small pa cab and modelling. Not conventional for jazzers but you can great tones, 500w or more and a small, light package.
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With SS amps my feeling is that you can never have enough watts, that's why I'm scratching my head about DV. Okay, the Little Jazz is supposed to be ultra portable but even its big brother, DV Jazz 12, a 1x12" combo, only has 45W. It's better to have the power and not need it than the other way 'round. Originally Posted by drbhrb
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Good point about the venue -- if we are lucky enough to play for 200 people (or even 50) than we need a twin reverb. But for most quiet, small jazz gigs sounds like the Little Jazz will work. I just ordered one...
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If you are playing a big loud room, I can't imagine how the Little Jazz would ever be a logical choice. But that is not my world. I wouldn't choose the Henriksen Bud for a noisy bar either -- just not enough speaker to count on IMO. In my little corner of the jazz world, drummers mostly have to use brushes -- it ain't exactly stadium rock
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Concerning the DV Mark Little Jazz, I don't know if it works the same for you guys, but Guitar Center even when ordering online charges sales tax, which in my town is 10%, bumping the price up an extra 35 bucks. So I called Musicians Friend and asked if they would match the $349 (Yeah, I know they are the same company, but they hadn't marked the Little Jazz down). They matched it, plus no sales tax.
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So here's the thing:
I love the idea of little tiny amps, as evidenced by the fact that I've owned a number of them over the last 10 years - Roland Microcube, Vox DA5 and DA10, ZT Lunchbox Acoustic (I even had a GK 250ML back in the 80's):
But I hate the reality of little tiny amps, as evidenced by the fact that I ended up selling all of them within a year of purchase.
I'm perfectly willing to give up volume for small size and portability - I'm keeping my bigger amps - but I am unwilling to sacrifice sound quality.
I figure that leaves the Mambo 8, the 2 Quilter 8's, and The Henriksen Bud - all too expensive for the intended use (practice and some-but-not-all solo/duo gigs). Since I don't think a small acoustic amp will give me the tone I want with my archtop, that leaves just the DV Mark Little Jazz as far as I know. Hmm ...
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Hi Tom - we seem to be on parallel paths as regards equipment! - Eastman AR403, AR371, Jazzamp 112 (all of which I love). And now I've just got a DV Mark Little Jazz!
The Little Jazz is great - small, light, great jazz sound, nice reverb. It's surprisingly good at the low notes and much louder than the Phil Jones AAD Ag100 cub I had once. On the floor it gets too bassy if you're not careful! It's not quite as nice sound wise as the Jazzamp 112, but I wouldn't expect it to be - it's much smaller, lighter and less expensive after all. I'll certainly use it for gigs, and mic it as appropriate (or DI it) for big gigs (not that I do many big, loud gigs, being a jazzer). Interestingly, the master volume is quite linear with most increases in volume being above halfway, when it becomes plenty loud. The only way I could induce any breakup/clipping was with master on full, guitar volume on full and guitar tone right off. And then it was too loud anyway for my type of jazz gigs. I found the fan very quiet and much quieter than the Vox AGA70 I had.
Only got it today and have tried the AR371 through it - sounded great. I'll try the AR403 through it tomorrow and with the Henriksen Tweety and update my comments. Now to find a suitable gig bag! Loving it so far.
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Hi Tom! Thats Earl Brother here.If you remember my Qs about certain guitars.I am enjoying my 03 tremendously.Cant wait to hear your research on the DV 12.Are you still happy with the Elixer nanos on the 403?
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mambo is the best solution IMO. DV is underpowered with a loud drummer
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Yes, the DV would be underpowered on its own with a loud drummer. But I'd use the heavier Henriksen 112 for that. Horses for courses. :-)
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Hate getting stuck with an underpowered amp. Don't understand why they didn't make it 100w? It's about $5.00 worth of parts
Originally Posted by davehobbs
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Hi everyone. Yes, still using the Elixir Nanoweb 12-52's on the AR403. Using 11's on the Montreal Premiere, but it doesn't seem too critical which brand as long as they're Nickel-Steel roundwounds. Sticking with the JazzAmp 110 (Weber California) and the JazzAmp 112 (stock Beta 12A) ... for the foreseeable future anyway. But I still harbor the unrealistic fantasy that some day I'll find a miracle sub 15-pound combo amp that sounds great and can go really loud if necessary!
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My mambo 10 should arrive in a few days. It's 180W and 15lbs with a 10" speaker
Originally Posted by Tom Karol
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Yes, I'm very interested in hearing how you like it, Jack, and that 250w Italian NEO speaker you mentioned!
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I was hoping to have it today but the Brits lost the customs forms and it was delayed
Originally Posted by Tom Karol
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Hi Guys. Like so many others, I've been looking for a really transparent, but warm SS amp (in my case, to gig with - replacing, or being options to, my old tube amps). This thread seems to be covering many of the small amps I've been testing or considering.
I've tried and eliminated (for my personal taste) the following...
-Quilter MicroPro (sent back during 30 day trial), and Aviator 12 (still own, but don't care for the tone... brittle, or something just a little distracting)
-DV Mark Little Jazz and Jazz 12 (returned to GC. Can get one decent tone, but wasn't happy with tone - and underpowered for my use in quintet and trio. Fizzy, compressed and the fan is distracting when playing low.)
-Fender George Benson (still own, heavy, nice for archtops, but not my Teles)
-ZT Lunchbox (demoed with a Tele having Lollar CC neck and Zhangbucker Chimecaster bridge... lacked bottom, and fuzzed out on chords if gain was past noon, and digging in). I do want to try a Club (great in depth review in this forum!)
I guess I am picky as @!$#, but I know what tone I like in a tube amp - just need to approximate in SS. To date, my best sounding option continues to be the Ethos Overdrive amp/s through a (or two) Cannabis Rex 1x12 cab/s - I play in stereo in one group. I do use quite a pedal board in that config.
All that said, I am interested in real world impressions of the Mambos and Henriksens. Do/can you gig or rehearse with them at realistic levels - with uncolored clarity? Is there a brittle element in context with a group?
I don't post much, but have read a bunch(!), and almost feel like I know you guys. Jack - I've appreciated many of your videos. Hope you post your thoughts on the new Mambo. Thanks guys.
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What I keep forgetting is that we all have a different idea in our heads of our perfect jazz tone. Currently, for me, it's the classic Jim Hall 'Live!' tone - not that clean, rather muffled and bottom heavy - which I can get from either the Jazzamp 112 or the DV Mark Little Jazz (at lower volumes). At other times, a cleaner, more hi fi, sound with more sparkle, seems more 'perfect', and I get various takes on that with the Jazzamp plus Tweety, an acoustic amp, or a small PA.
I've long realised that I'll never get all shades of 'perfect' from one set up and, frankly, weight is more important to me now (at 60) than some idealised perfect tone. Some of my favourite jazz guitar recordings, including those by Joe Pass, Jim Hall, etc use what some would nowadays consider an awful tone, but the beauty of the playing, invention etc seem to make such niceties irrelevant. Probably, I just need to stop being so fussy about equipment and start improving my playing. ��
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One thing that's interesting to me is relative power. Seems to me (I'm not technical) that apparent power is more related to speaker size than claimed wattages: more air being moved, I guess. My Roland Cube 30 (10") seems as loud as my DV Mark Little Jazz (45w, 8"), which in turn seems louder than the Phil Jones AG100 (100w, 2 x 5"), which is louder than the ZT Acoustic (120w, 6.5"). The Jazzamp (120watts, 12") is loudest. But they're all loud enough for me.
Last edited by davehobbs; 06-17-2015 at 02:58 AM.
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that's cool but none of those 45w and lower amps can hang with a loud drummer in a loud club. And unfortunately, many jazz clubs don't have house systems. I've been on too many gigs that started out as quiet background jazz and ended up in louder territory and as said before , the worst thing in the world is to be in that situation where you have the wrong amp. Therefore, I *NEVER* bring the wrong amp. I bring the amp that will work in any situation. Class D power is ridiculously cheap. Literally pennies per watt. There's no need for a 30 watt jazz amp in this day and age IMO. DV dropped the ball IMO. Originally Posted by davehobbs
Another datapoint. We went to hear esperanza spalding last night at cain park in cleveland. The guitarist was using a pair of VOX AC 30 amps and was mic'd. He got a beautiful sound but the guitar was totally lost during intense moments when he soloed. It's a horrible feeling when you are soloing and you are picking as hard as you can to hear yourself. Even if you are in a venue with a dedicated soundman (as this guy was) I don't want to depend on the soundman completely.Last edited by jzucker; 06-17-2015 at 07:40 AM.
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