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Hate to put some G.A.S. into some of you, but have you heard of Sequel Jazz amps?
SeQuel Jazz Amplifiers
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02-18-2015 11:02 AM
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They seem to be modern recreations of classic Gibson amps. A few forum members have had experience with said amps and have thought very highly of them.
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I notice they are sold through Sound Island Music: SeQuel Jazz Amplifiers | Jazz guitar tube amps | SOUNDISLANDMUSIC.COM
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I have the Ravine - it is awesome and my first choice for any gig/performance situation.
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I have to say, spendy. The Ravine is $2500, but I guess that is booteek territory.
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And WORTH every red cent!
Originally Posted by BigDaddyLoveHandles
Being local to Seattle I had the privilege of visiting Sound Island in 2013. I gave mention of the Sequel amps in a previous thread. I was shocked to hear his Tribute designs. I came close to pulling the trigger on the Tributary, as it was the most natural sounding amp I'd previously heard...the music appeared to come out of a dead silent black hole...as if an audiophile built a jazz guitar amp back in the 50's
I've thought of selling my Headstrong Verbrovibe and buying the Sequel...they're exceptional amps.
...he didn't have the Tribute or Ravine in at the time of my visit.
Michael, the owner of SI is a first rate dealer, and easy to work with!Last edited by 2bornot2bop; 02-19-2015 at 04:24 PM.
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I listened to the soundclips on the Sequel website, and even they sound stunning,
I've got so much GAS for one of these I might just burst.....
Better reach for the Deflatine......
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not to hijack this thread, but did you try his vintage sound amps too? I bought my Henriksen through sound island & have been curious about the JZ Princeton size amp ever since . . . Originally Posted by 2bornot2bop
And WORTH every red cent!
Being local to Seattle I had the privilege of visiting Sound Island last year. I gave mention of the Sequel amps in a previous thread. I was shocked to hear his Tribute designs. I came close to pulling the trigger on the Tributary, as it was the most natural sounding amp I'd previously heard...the music appeared to come out of a dead silent black hole...as if an audiophile built a jazz guitar amp back in the 50's
I've thought of selling my Headstrong Verbrovibe and buying the Sequel...they're exceptional amps.
...he didn't have the Tribute or Ravine in at the time of my visit.
Michael, the owner of SI is a first rate dealer, and easy to work with!
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I did, I tried the JZ-15 and the JZ-50. I liked them both, but not enough to make the paradigm shift to tubes from SS. The Ravine was a different story - it had that certain some-something. Originally Posted by Longways to Go
A great thing about the Ravine is I can use my chambered Les Paul and get a really convincing jazz tone with warmth and roundness. I don't pair these up often, but when I do it's good.
+1 on Michael being a great guy!
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I picked up a ravine last month. Fantastic tone. Not cheap, but cheaper than a lot of nice archtops and, personally, I think they're worth the money. Also, not that it should matter, but these are some of the prettiest amps on the market...
Has anyone directly compared the ravine and tribute?
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I LOVE my Tributary. My favourite amp for sure. It is an outstanding amplifier.
And as mentioned above, dealing with Michael at soundisland was a fantastic experience on all levels: communication, requests, service. A++
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What's the secret sauce to these amps? He mentions the Ravine has 6L6 power tubes (think Fender Twin), so that's not unusual but not vintage either. Is he using less common preamp tubes?
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For one thing, very good speaker/amp pairing resulting from lots of testing...and without worrying about pesky details like the cost of the speaker... Originally Posted by BigDaddyLoveHandles
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Do you know what model the speaker is? I'm wondering if the amp could be recreated on the cheap, to a certain extent.
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I understand that it's a Fane Alnico speaker, made over here and imported. They are an expensive item even in the UK. Originally Posted by BigDaddyLoveHandles
Fane speakers were standard equipment for HiWatt amps , last century...
I think the amps might also have octal ( larger, old style) preamp tubes, although coolvinny could confirm that, or not.
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Yes, website confirms old style octal tubes.
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My understanding is that there is absolutely nothing in the entire amp that could be interpreted as being "on the cheap". Originally Posted by BigDaddyLoveHandles
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None of the VS stuff was my cup of tea...too much like a Deluxe Reverb, which isn't my sound either. The Sequel's stand on their own...I've never heard anything like them. Originally Posted by Longways to Go
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The Sequel website says Jensen 12 and 8" Alnico's in the Tribute. No specific information given. Originally Posted by BigDaddyLoveHandles
SeQuel TRIBUTE [to Jim Hall] - SeQuel Jazz Amplifiers
I highly doubt recreating the Sequel. After hearing it I attributed its unique performance to the design, which if memory serves me correctly is Michael's, Sound Island's, take on an old 50's design circuit with Michael's personal touches.
What makes me scratch my head about the Sequel amps is how often do you read posts from members complaining about amp weights. And here you have a small amp with a small footprint that sounds like a winner, yet no one knows about it...small distribution, I get that, but still, if it weren't for coolvinny taking a chance from Canada there'd not be one person on this forum that actually owns one.
I'd have bought the Sequel that day if I'd have had more time with my Headstrong, but I'd just bought it and wanted to spend more time with it before passing it along...I'd actually prefer the smaller amp with a much lower noise floor in the Sequel.
Leave it to this forum to give me gas for a Sequel again! Here's some payback below. Photo's don't do these amps justice.
Last edited by 2bornot2bop; 02-19-2015 at 04:50 PM.
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My next daydream: what do you think about a head version of the Ravine?
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I'm not a head guy. Originally Posted by BigDaddyLoveHandles
BTW, the sound clips on the Sequel website are pretty close to how the amps sound. Clear, warm, jazzy. I recognize the playing used on the samples...I'm pretty certain that's Michael of Sound Island playing on both sound samples.
Audio - SeQuel Jazz Amplifiers
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Fane Alnico Blue in my Ravine. Originally Posted by 2bornot2bop
But you give me too much credit 2bop...I don't take many chances! I'm just very good at finding excuses to visit Seattle. I plugged into it before buying it.
+1 on the compactness of the Ravine. It is physically smaller than my RE 10JG cabinet, and only slightly heavier but it's easier to carry due to the small size. There are less pricey 50w-ish jazz tube amps out there, but they aren't that much cheaper and they are usually considerably bigger/heavier.
@BigDaddy: tube heads to me are just the most unpractical things. They are usually still quite heavy and physically large with awkward dimensions. I've never owned one and don't intend to. And besides, then you lose the matching of the tube amp and speaker which plays a big role in the overall sound.
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It's a little sad how we have gotten so used to so many things that we buy, amps, appliances, shoes, etc, being made "cheaply" with compenents chosen because they are the lowest cost that the manufacturer can find, that when something is made well, and costs LESS after adjusting for inflation, than what it would have cost decades ago, we THINK it's expensive. I'm not saying $2500 is small change, but a comparable amp 35 years ago would have cost more in today's dollars, and we didn't have the "sticker shock" because major manufacturers generally tried to build quality products that would last, rather that building the cheapest shit they could bring to market. To continue my rant, ask your parents what they paid for a refridgerator in 1975; keeping in mind that that fridge would likely last 25 years or more. Now take the figure they give you and plug it into an inflation calculator, check out appliance prices today,, knowing that on average now, that fridge will last 5 years if you're lucky ( my wife and I have not been so lucky ) and you'll see your parents got a much better deal that you will experience. We all love a bargain, but low prices are not usually the bargain we think. Originally Posted by BigDaddyLoveHandles
Not jumping on you big daddy so please don't take offense. I can point fingers at myself here too.
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^^^ I love 15's. This gets better and better. I notice the Tribute lists different preamp tubes: pentodes. Any idea how that compares to the Ravine's tone?
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Michael has no inventory at the moment, otherwise per this thread I'd likely have drove down an bought the Ravine. Originally Posted by BigDaddyLoveHandles
It was 2013 that I was there, and per my conversation with Michael just minutes ago, he suggested I chose the Ravine over the Tribute as the Ravine was more of a purist sound...I only heard the guitar, nothing else...which jives with my audiophile sensibilities. I sampled over 10 amps that day so everything but the Ravine was lost in the fog.
Michael reminded me on the phone that I didn't care for the Tribute as much as in his words the Tribute had a darker sound. I can't even remember plugging into it. Ha, but I still remember the Ravine...go figure.
Michael has the Tribute amp that Jim Hall played at jazz alley but it's not for sale...no surprise there.
So amp builds are 3 months out...that's a lot of time to get over my gas, or sell my Verbrovibe in the mean time...whatevr comes first...at any rate, thanks for the trek down memory lane.
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