The Jazz Guitar Chord Dictionary
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  1. #26

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    Don't discount tube amps. I took my 22 lb Fender Pro Jr and upgraded it with a solid wood cabinet and a 12 inch speaker. It is now noticeably louder than the original, yet still weighs under 25 lbs. With a 12AY7 in V1 it stays totally clean up to at least 1:00 (higher than I have ever needed to put it), and is plenty loud for my ensemble which includes two tenor and two alto saxophones, drums, bass, piano, and guitar. In terms of tone it is a big improvement over the original amp, which was already pretty good. The total cost for this amp to one that doesn't own a Pro Jr would be about $250 for the amp used, and $320 for the wood cab and speaker from Mojotone (with custom tolex and grille cloth). Total cost, about $570, give or take. The speaker I chose was the Mojotone Greyhound speaker, which is their choice for achieving a Fender Twin vibe.
    Last edited by snoskier63; 05-24-2015 at 02:59 PM.

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  3. #27

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    Quote Originally Posted by Jabberwocky
    You are fond of the Kemper. What about the Kemper Profiling Head that you already own plus an active monitor or the Kemper Power Rack and a monitor?
    What about the above but get an atomic amplifire instead of hauling the Kemper? One pedal into a lightweight active speaker is simple to set up and actually easier to carry than most combo amps with the specs you want. The atomic may not be as preferred as the Kemper but it should come close enough. Maybe if they offer more clean tones for download in the future that could work.

  4. #28

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    They (Peterson) carry Electro Voice speakers!

  5. #29
    Quote Originally Posted by snoskier63
    Don't discount tube amps. I took my 22 lb Fender Pro Jr and upgraded it with a solid wood cabinet and a 12 inch speaker. It is now noticeably louder than the original, yet still weighs under 25 lbs. With a 12AY7 in V1 it stays totally clean up to at least 1:00 (higher than I have ever needed to put it), and is plenty loud for my ensemble which includes two tenor and two alto saxophones, drums, bass, piano, and guitar. In terms of tone it is a big improvement over the original amp, which was already pretty good. The total cost for this amp to one that doesn't own a Pro Jr would be about $250 for the amp used, and $320 for the wood cab and speaker from Mojotone (with custom tolex and grille cloth). Total cost, about $570, give or take. The speaker I chose was the Mojotone Greyhound speaker, which is their choice for achieving a Fender Twin vibe.
    respectly, i've owned virtually every boutique tube amp ever made from dumble clone to original blackface fender princeton, deluxe, vibroverb, twin, marshall, carr, %13, fuchs, gries, ceriatone, two-rock, yada-yada. If you check my youtube you'll see that I've demo'd and endorsed most of them at one time or the other.

    Been there, done that. I have little interest in culling tubes and trying to figure out which tube is squealing or humming.

  6. #30
    Quote Originally Posted by 3625
    What about the above but get an atomic amplifire instead of hauling the Kemper? One pedal into a lightweight active speaker is simple to set up and actually easier to carry than most combo amps with the specs you want. The atomic may not be as preferred as the Kemper but it should come close enough. Maybe if they offer more clean tones for download in the future that could work.

    I've thought about that. It's still a hassle. Instead of just plugging in one chord, there's the pita of having to bring a power strip and then worrying about a power supply for the atomic, keeping a backup on hand, etc. For jamming I just want to have the guitar in one hand, amp in the other, plug it in and start playing.

    I do like the idea of the atomic though and I'm looking forward to checking one out but not for the stated purpose of this thread.

  7. #31

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    The zoom MS100bt runs on 2 AA batteries which should be ample for jams as it'll run 7 hours on fresh batteries; the amp models sound pretty good and if you spend some time tweaking the signal chains in your patches you can cover darn near anything. One TS110A, one MS100bt, 1 cord and a patch cord, plus guitar, and I am good to go. And getting lots of compliments on tone- more than I usually got with my Clarus/RE12, tweed Deluxe/RE12, Cube 60 or MB II.

  8. #32
    ]i'm looking for a combo. I don't want to deal with a separate head and cab.

  9. #33

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    How about a fender Mustang 3

  10. #34
    haven't tried the mustang 3. I did try one of the new peavey modeling amps. Nice sounding but hated the user interface. I'm spoiled from using the kemper .

  11. #35

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    Quote Originally Posted by Stringswinger
    Jack,

    For lightweight portability, I use an AER Compact 60. Mine is the second version and weighs 18 pounds. The newer third version weighs 14 pounds. It is 60 watts and is loud enough to play organ trio, big band, etc. Used examples can be had for $600 if you are lucky. I bough mine used for $750, but it is the deluxe version with a solid oak cabinet (I had one of the regular plywood cab versions and believe that the oak improves the tone a bit)

    My friend Mimi Fox uses this amp as do most of my European jazz guitar friends. It sounds great with both electric and acoustic guitars.

    If you have not tried one of these, you should.

    Cheers,

    Marc
    I was on the verge of getting an AER Compact 3 when I needed a light amp, but I found a JazzKat for $400 used, and I've been very happy with it.
    It's more versatile than the AER because it can get a decent treble response for more funk oriented things, which I don't think the AER can get.
    Still, a good jazz amp that weighs only 14 lbs. is hard to pass up, so maybe when I see some AER C3s selling for used prices I'll check one out.
    Last edited by sgcim; 05-25-2015 at 02:48 AM.

  12. #36

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    Check out the Roland Blues Cube Stage. Its a bout 600 € in Europe. Dont know about the US.

    60 watts, 2 channels, 1x 12" speaker (open back)
    Weight: 14 kg
    built-in reverb

    ----

  13. #37

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    An older Roland Cube 60? (Without the whole COSM-shebang.) Good basic sound, enough power, good sounding spring-reverb and not too heavy if I recall correctly. I occasionally stumble upon one on jamsessions and they always do it for me. Not an outstanding sound, but a good basic sound.

  14. #38

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    Quote Originally Posted by Little Jay
    An older Roland Cube 60? (Without the whole COSM-shebang.) Good basic sound, enough power, good sounding spring-reverb and not too heavy if I recall correctly. I occasionally stumble upon one on jamsessions and they always do it for me. Not an outstanding sound, but a good basic sound.
    They're a good amp for that purpose, but even with a lightweight speaker (Weber) the little bastard still weighed about 28 lbs.
    That's one reason I never got it fixed, and went for a JazzKat amp that weighs 18 lbs.

  15. #39

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    Yamaha THR 10 or THR 10C.

    Apart from the Fender simulations, the bass setting yields some nice jazz tone. The "flat" setting works well as a platform for pedals with integrated cab sims, such as the Sans Amp or Joyo American Tone.

    It is tiny, looks nice in the living room and really versatile. It sounds much bigger than it is. You need to check if you can yield enough volume for jamming though, as it can get boomy when cranked too much.

  16. #40

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    Quote Originally Posted by Duotone
    Yamaha THR 10 or THR 10C.

    Apart from the Fender simulations, the bass setting yields some nice jazz tone. The "flat" setting works well as a platform for pedals with integrated cab sims, such as the Sans Amp or Joyo American Tone.

    It is tiny, looks nice in the living room and really versatile. It sounds much bigger than it is. You need to check if you can yield enough volume for jamming though, as it can get boomy when cranked too much.
    +1 but it probably wouldn't be enough for jamming. Many users with jamming needs have been clamoring for a bigger THR. The current model is enough for me.

  17. #41
    i had a roland cube 60, felt it was underpowered for louder playing. Not interested in '80s or '90s amps. Most are too heavy. I'll probably get a mustang III. Jazzkat is intriguing but it's $1500 !

  18. #42

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    What about the new roland blues cubes? has anyone tried them?

  19. #43

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    Mustang 3 is going to be underwhelming tone wise after what you've been used to.
    I had one a while -- sounded OK solo, but it always fell back in the mix with my trio.
    I sold it off pretty quickly. Henriksen & Quilter both outperform Mustang 3 for jazz tones.
    Enticing package that doesn't quite deliver the goods IMO

  20. #44
    Quote Originally Posted by Longways to Go
    Mustang 3 is going to be underwhelming tone wise after what you've been used to.
    I had one a while -- sounded OK solo, but it always fell back in the mix with my trio.
    I sold it off pretty quickly. Henriksen & Quilter both outperform Mustang 3 for jazz tones.
    Enticing package that doesn't quite deliver the goods IMO
    I have owned both henriksen (dark) and quilter (nasally) so those are underwhelming to me as well. The clips of the mustang sound good. I'm tempted to get a peavey transtube bandit and rehouse it in a pine cab and use an ultralight speaker in it. I bet it would be 25lbs or less.

  21. #45

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    Quote Originally Posted by Longways to Go
    I had one a while -- sounded OK solo, but it always fell back in the mix with my trio.
    Funny, that's exactly what I am experiencing with the newer Fender tranny amps (Mustang, Champ 100), the older FM-series actually did better on that (but don't sound so good in general).

  22. #46

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    Quote Originally Posted by jzucker
    I'm tempted to get a peavey transtube bandit and rehouse it in a pine cab and use an ultralight speaker in it. I bet it would be 25lbs or less.
    I think that could turn out to be great!

    It's actually what I did with my Award Session Blues Baby 22: pine cab, NEO-speaker and it weighs in at around 18lbs. Too bad it only has 22 watts, if Award Session could only pump that up to about 80-100 watts or so.........then they might have a golden eggs laying goose for jazz guitarists. Maybe I should suggest that to them, tone-wise it's the best delivering tranny amp I've come across: sparkly but still round highs (not muffled or dull at all) effective mids control with both boost and scoop (Blackface) pre-set switches, and with the Dynamic Feedback circuitry in the NFB-circuit they actually succeeded in getting pretty close to the feel of a tube amp, also for the clean tones. Still, for me it works in a lot of situations, but things can get too loud for that amp pretty quick. Too bad....

  23. #47

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    The blues cubes is working well. It Cut well and has Some real power. This amp works for me at least. Check it out if u get the oportunity.

    I have one on loan. Like it a lot. Here is a jam clip with it.


    Quote Originally Posted by jzucker
    i had a roland cube 60, felt it was underpowered for louder playing. Not interested in '80s or '90s amps. Most are too heavy. I'll probably get a mustang III. Jazzkat is intriguing but it's $1500 !
    Last edited by Hjalmiz; 05-25-2015 at 12:45 PM.

  24. #48

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    Quote Originally Posted by jzucker
    Jay, what's a tranny amp? In traditional terms that would be an amp with power and output transformers but I think you might be talking about "trans-tube" or something else.
    Oops, I thought I was referring to the transistors (Semi-conductors, ICs) but as a non-native English speaker I confused some terms I guess. You're right, over at TDPRI they sometimes talk about trannies when the mean the transformers

    *edit: seems that the Brits talk about tranny amps though!
    Last edited by Little Jay; 05-25-2015 at 01:45 PM.

  25. #49

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    Quote Originally Posted by jzucker
    i had a roland cube 60, felt it was underpowered for louder playing. Not interested in '80s or '90s amps. Most are too heavy. I'll probably get a mustang III. Jazzkat is intriguing but it's $1500 !
    I got my JazzKat used for $400 and change on Ebay.
    I got my AI for the same also on Ebay.
    I got my RS-10 used for $225 from Golden Age.
    I never buy new.

  26. #50

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    How about the Mark Bass Micromark?

    Cheap, light, packs a punch. I was pretty impressed when I plugged my guitar into one. Loads of head room, super clean.

    Loads of other super light Class D bass amps. You may need an EQ pedal though...
    Last edited by christianm77; 05-25-2015 at 02:29 PM.