-
-
11-01-2015 10:42 AM
-
I had both - gone the digital route. Found the Mambo a much better amp - better eq, warmer sound, better cab dispersion, better reverb (although Henriksen has a new reverb now), etc... To my ears they sound different.
I liked Mambos stuff so much I use two of their PA cabs now.
But if you love the Henriksen, just leave it!
-
I wouldn't mind trying a nambo, but i have a bad feeling i'd end up buying one
That said, I'm also completely happy with my Henriksen head/redstone cab duo. Gotta use a reverb pedal though, none on my amp...actually...none of my amps have reverb, except for my practice amp (microcube)
-
I have never played the Mambo, but love my Henriksen 112! That said, Peter, of Henriksen, currently has my 112 and is upgrading it to the new 312. He is replacing the chassis and grille, and is adding a second higher frequency speaker for greater versatility. I can't wait to get it back!
-
the main problem on the henriksen which I love is that the treble control is in the wrong place so for pop music, funk or fusion it's not as versatile. If you play archtops exclusively, it's a great sounding amp. It's a bit more hi-fi than the mambo. The mambo sounds like a very high end polytone basically and gets a fantastic joe pass tone. It also doesn't have a treble control in the right place though he does have a new tone stack that is switchable between the original and a fender design which should be much better for modern styles.
Also, the smaller size of the mambo cabinet means that it doesn't have as big a sound so you are balancing portability and depth.
They are both great amps though. Not sure it's worth selling one to get another if you already have one. I would say that if you like Joe Pass Joy Spring, the mambo would be your best bet but if you like Jimmy Bruno type tones, the henriksen would be a better bet.
Neither sound anything like a tube amp though I'm hoping the fender tone stack option in the mambo might get closer. I'm supposed to get an upgrade someday. Been waiting 3-4 months however....Not sure when it'll be released. I just emailed again today.
-
I have both a mambo 10 and a Henriksen 110 ER convertible and I concur wholeheartedly with Jack's description above. Both great amps.
Originally Posted by jzucker
-
I think the answer's in the question Jon! Doesn't get much better than ''incredibly good".... Originally Posted by Groyniad
I love the mambo, and until a year or two ago when Hendriksen fixed the hum and reverb issues I'd have said switch, but it's not worth it for a difference which is really a matter of taste. These aren't cheap amps...
-
I'm not sure exactly what "not in the right place" means, but if you are referring to the high end frequency not being very useable on the Henriksen that is supposed to have been addressed with the new 312 model. In 1-2 weeks I will have mine and will know for sure. I have heard a lot of good things about the Mambo as well, and would love to try that some day. Originally Posted by jzucker
-
If John at Mambo still sends out a loan amp that might answer the OP's question.
-
no, it's not addressed. He moved the center freq from 10k to 8k. The typical jazz guitar speaker reproduces almost nothing over 3.5k-4.5k. For example, the emminence beta 10 which is used by mambo,evans and henriksen has a freq response up to 3.8k. Originally Posted by snoskier63
My acoustic image amp was modified to put the treble center point at 8k instead of 10k and I can turn the treble up and down while playing and it doesn't change the tone of the guitar at all.
The center freq should be 4k-5k to be "in the right place" for guitar. Unfortunately, many of the jazz amps like AI, henriksen, jazzkat and even mambo don't have a treble control that actually effects the usable treble frequencies of the instrument. They are all patterned after a mixer freq response or a bass response. 8k-10k is great for bassists who slap. Not so good for guitar.
Evans isn't quite right either. It's treble control is more of a high mid.
Of all the solid state amps I've played through, gibson, fender and peavey have it right in that regard.
http://www.eminence.com/pdf/Beta_10A.pdfLast edited by jzucker; 11-01-2015 at 01:12 PM.
-
That makes sense, but doesn't having the second high frequency speaker on the Henriksen make up for that to a degree? It is designed for use with an acoustic guitar, so I would think with both speakers on the treble control would be much better. I have the Tweety for use with my original Henriksen, and with that in the mix my 10k control is very noticeable and useful.
-
fascinating stuff
i must say when i cut or boost my top two knobs on the henriksen i get what seems to me to be a very significant alteration in the tone
though it does seem not to change the tone so much as the halo of harmonics around it (if you will)
but that makes a significant difference to the way the guitar sounds and feels
-
The beta response curve shows 95dB @ 5K, though it drops right off after that. As a general point though, I agree that most treble controls are in the wrong place for guitar. Originally Posted by jzucker
I have an Evans, and agree that the treble control is as unfriendly as the rest of them - I keep it on 0. However, on older models the 'expand' control brings in enough of the right frequencies, when turned right up. On newer models, the 'buff' control is effectively the guitaristic treble control. So in that respect, the Evans is very usable as a full range amp IMO.
-
Originally Posted by Franz 1997
spot on - and thanks for the sanity-check too
i do have hum issues - as soon as the vol gets around 3 and up it hums. when i put my hands on the guitar the hum goes - so its not too bad.
is this the sort of issue you mean? (my henriksen is just over 2 years old)
-
It's probably been fixed on your amp; that sounds like a string grounding issue, so don't worry about it Originally Posted by Groyniad
Older Hendriksens had hum issues, due to both the placement of the mains transformer near the speaker, and the ground plane connections inside the amp. My understanding is that these were sorted out by Peter H around a couple of years ago, together with the reverb. If it doesn't hum with nothing plugged in, it's OK.
-
To me these "which amp is best" questions boil down to how you're going to use the amp. For example:
- Do you just practice at home, or do you play out?
- If you play out, do you do solo guitar, duo or something bigger?
- How loud do you play when you play out?
- Is your amp miced or does it need to do the whole job?
- What kind of sound are you going after? Benson? Pass? Scofield? What?
- Do you just use an archtop or do you use other kinds of guitars?
- Do you just play jazz, or does this amp need to create rock, funk, country or other sounds?
Lots of amps are fine for just playing at home. The more extensive your criteria get, the trickier it gets. If you're playing all kinds of music in different venues and different volumes with different groups and different guitars, that requires a much more powerful and versatile amp. You may even need to have more than one amp if that's the case. If you're just doing solo or duo guitar in a restaurant, a one trick pony that does that trick well might be ideal.
There really aren't any absolutes here, so in my view the question of "which is the best amp" isn't easily answerable. You've gotta do the calculus, and even then it's often a compromise. In the end you just try to find something that you can make work for you.
-
no hum with nothing unplugged
a very faint hiss when turned up high - but that doesn't seem serious to me
no - its a lovely amp. its beaten everything that came before it hands down.
i love the way the eq shapes the tone - though i'm still not sure how i like it best. so i tend to have everything at 12.00 o'clock. when i boosted the bottom and the two highest frequencies i did get something that sounded a bit fender-ish to me. (but i've never had one of these amps and my impressions may be eccentric here)
i only just worked out how dramatically the relative volumes of amp and guitar shape the sound - (after thousands of gigs) - so i must be pretty stupid about this stuff
once the gig starts i have hardly got the brain cells available to think about the amplifier.
i was told - by someone i trusted, perhaps wrongly - that you really have to have the vol and tone on the guitar up full to optimize the amplified tone of the instrument.
but - i now find - that produces a very bright and often brittle tonality that is unfriendly and hard to live with. it can be good in certain circumstances (if you're not cutting through the mix) - but its generally an unfriendly sort of set up.
turning the amp up to 3 or above and the guitar down to 6,7,8 territory thickens things up and smooths out edges without compromising definition and clarity (too much).
the henriksen sounds really great at these sort of settings.
-
No, not at all. I think you're missing the point. The point is that the frequency that needs to be adjusted is the 5k center point. *THAT* is what the standard is from the guitar players of the '40s up through the '00s. The high frequency speaker is great for acoustic, nylon string and slap guitar, not so useful for archtop electric unless you are going for a mic's acoustic guitar tone. Through a standard electric guitar pickup, you still want a center freq at 5k regardless of what speakers are in your amp. Originally Posted by snoskier63
-
Jon, now this is my personal opinion for what it's worth but I personally like the Henriksen better than the mambo by a hair. They are both great amps. I have the convertible Henriksen, so it is a bit inconvenient to setup. The carrying case is bigger and takes me about 1 minute longer to set up (yes I am that lazy). The mambo is my grab and go amp. It sounds great. The Henriksen is my go to amp if I have more time for set up and don't mind lugging it. Overall if both were set up next to each other all the time, I'd use the Henriksen. I like the sound of my Tele through the Henriksen better too.
If I was you, I would stick with the Henriksen since you already have it. If you didn't have either of these amps, I would recommend you to get at least one of them. They are both great and the differences at really only marginal.
-
thanks for elaborating alain - very helpful
how do you tend to handle the eq settings on the henriksen with your L-5?
-
11-01-2015, 04:45 PM #21Dutchbopper Guest
I know both amps and they are both great. But I like the Mambo better because it's way smaller and still sounds as good if not better. There is no doubt in my mind that the Mambo 10 offers the best sound/size/weight ratio on the planet.
The Mambo 12 does not sound better, on the contrary. The 10 is the one to go for. So thinks Jon, its creator. He only makes it because people ask for it.
DB
-
Old-school guitar amps use first-order low-pass filters for treble control. The treble knob sets the cutoff frequency, and the frequency response is attenuated 6db/octave above that.
Sounds like Hendriksen and some other jazz guitar amp use shelving EQ instead. The knob for the highest band adjusts the attenuation at a particular frequency, but the frequency response is flat above that.
The two approaches will certainly have different results. Like Jack, I tend to prefer the old-school treble control. But a since a passive tone control in a guitar is also a first-order low pass filter, I can use that when I have an amp with shelving EQ.Last edited by KirkP; 11-01-2015 at 05:18 PM.
-
Hi Jon, Originally Posted by Groyniad
I tend to keep all knobs at about 10 o'clock.
-
Which speaker did you try it with? Originally Posted by Dutchbopper
-
I'm probably one of the very few people who have both heads - Mambo and Henriksen in their stock configuration. My Henriksen is an older model without reverb (but refurbished just last year) which I bought used from Soundisland Music. Also, my Henriksen does not have adjustable "Gain" since that only came out with the newest models.
I like the adjustable Gain on the Mambo but if I already had a Henriksen with gain - or if I didn't need that feature because, say, I pretty much only play one guitar - I would not have bought the Mambo. But, alas, I needed something that works for both big band and combo stuff and for that I find the Mambo a bit more versatile. The Gain knob and the switches for harmonic/clean and bright/normal/dark help me quickly dial in a different tone which is useful in big band. The fact I bought my Henriksen as a used model which I could sell for about what I paid for it was relevant too.
But, you know, the choice of cabinet probably makes as much if not greater difference as the head you are using...unless you are looking at a combo? The beauty of a head is that you can just add a cabinet later if you need a bigger sound.
Ok, so the more I think about it, I think the main difference between the Mambo sound and the Henriksen sound is that the Mambo is a bit "woodier", perhaps that means it's a bit more "dry", in a woody sense...especially on the treble strings. Maybe the Henriksen sound is slightly more "electric". Maybe that means nothing now that the Henriksen has a gain knob though...
Reply With Quote
Recommandations for Hollowbodies for $600 and under?
Today, 05:20 AM in Guitar, Amps & Gizmos