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check out the marshall MG50. it has a very nice clean channel and has a pretty decent reverb.
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06-09-2009 01:48 PM
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On Polytones: does anyone have an opinion on IV versus V?
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Well guys I have decided on the Roland cube 80x it seems to be
the best for me and it has a awesome jazz tone and clean.
But, please still talk on this forum
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I played with the two(cube 60 and 80) and with the same settings I found that the 80 had more lows.But both sounds really nice.I bought the 80.
I played with a Asat G&L(telecaster hollowbody).
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What do people like about the polytone? I have too much tied up into tube amps and tube amp building but it might be worth trying to come up with something in that style.
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Just round tone of 1E and 2B.
Originally Posted by dh82c
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Search hard enough and you just might find a used Jazz Chorus. Roland also used to make other versions (lower wattage) of the Jazz Chorus which were less $$$. Maybe a used on the them.
New - definatley, a Cube.
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06-23-2009, 10:59 PM #33Stringbean Guestyup, that Cube 80 has a built in looper....radical Originally Posted by bfloyd6969
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find a polytone with an EV 12L.
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Used Ampegs might be a consideration. Tech 21 Trademark 60's can do the jazz thing well too and definitely can be had used for under 500 dollars.
=-) PJ
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What did I like about my Polytones.... Well the first one survived a number of overhead tosses from the front door out to the sidewalk (my ex wife was a real *%^$%$%) and the worst that ever happened was a reverb spring popped out of place. Put the spring back in place and it worked fine for years. Sounded great until I had it stored in the garage for a while and a stinking rat chewed a hole in the speaker cone.
#2 is doing fine though I tend to play through a Fender Blues Delux more than the Poly now.
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I say Cube. Polytones are cool for jazz, but that is it. My local guitar instructor had 3, and consistently had trouble with all 3, and changed to JC120s.
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those ones are nice to HH Amplification - Speakers
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bought a cube 80x yesterday. in canada they are 525.00 plus tax.
Last edited by valriver40; 08-02-2009 at 01:56 PM.
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I would say go with the jazz chorus. It's a little higher than your $500 budget but definitely worth the money. They are very transparent, great for gigging and sturdy.
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Would you say the Jazz King is Fender's JC-120? Or Fender's Polytone? (Or just the Steel King's baby brother?) I like the 15" speaker, a la Polytone. There's a new Jazz King in a music store near me that's been on their showroom floor for two years. I'm thinking of low-balling them to see if they're willing to clear some stock. Can't hurt. Originally Posted by TieDyedDevil
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That's used, right? I've been looking at amps lately (In BC) and in separate stores seen a new 60 ($C 400) and 80x ($C 540). The going prices in the US are $US 300 and $US 400, respectively, which should come to about $C 340 and $C 450. The things we have to put up with, in order to live in the best country in the world! Originally Posted by valriver40
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Update: I spent my lunch hour trying out the Fender Jazz King. First impression: loud! I typically like the gain 5-ish for a warmer sound, but with an archtop, I couldn't get the master volume to 2 without waves of feedback. But then I was in a glass booth. I kept rearranging myself to find a better position (I'm a big guy so there wasn't much spare room). I gave up and switched to a Tele. Originally Posted by BigDaddyLoveHandles
Other impressions: quiet! No hum at all.
The EQ: it's as TieDyedDevil describes it. Simple and Flexible. I really like it.
The reverb: I usually hate reverb. If there's no ambient reverb, I typically turn it just past zero (what's Groucho's line? If I were any closer to you, I'd be behind you?), but the Jazz's King reverb wasn't sproingy. Nice long decay. I found myself dialing it up to 1 or 1 1/2!
The weight: The store hadn't attached the casters, but the saleman carried it for me. I noticed he was grunting.
The sound quality: warmer than I thought it would be. I guess that's the 15" speaker. Not as dark as a 15" MiniBrute - the open cabinet back on the Jazz King helps. I really liked the sound. Chords sounded very clean, and I could make the single notes punchy.
Price: The going rate for a new Jazz King is $US 800. (Forgive me if I round up from 799). That would be 900 Canadian and they have it marked 940. As I mentioned in my post above, the markup was more on the 60 and 80x Cubes, so it's a fair market price.
Pull the trigger? I'm in no hurry. As I wrote, this Jazz King has been on the showroom floor for years. The store is Rock-oriented (although they have two JC-120's). I'm going to wait for a deal. Also, it's way louder than I need. I'm still leaning towards buying a cheaper amp, like the 60 or 80x Cube, and when I want to trade up, I hope to be have the option considering something at the Jazzcat/Hendriksen/Polytone/Evans/Acoustic Image level, but none of those are for sale in my town. Even the Cube 60, 80x and Jazz King were all in three different stores. I'll be checking music stores out the next time I'm in a bigger city, like Calgary or Vancouver. (Outside of Calgary, In Rocky Mountain House there's a store that specializes in steel guitars, and they sell Evans amps -- who knew? CountryPickin.com)
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I just bought a Frontman 212R last week and I've not had a lot of time on it, but I can say that I'm already happy. I paid $300 for it new at Musician's Friend.
So far, it is a far cry above the crap I was playing (10" Peavey). Tone is great and I have plenty of power for the outdoors and it sounds good in doors turned down a bit. Overdrive and Drive channels offer all the OD I need and the built in reverb is great (only I wish the reverb would switch on the peddal like the OD).
The only real con I've found so far is the weight. The thing weighs 48 lbs. So, hauling it from the trunk to the stage/practice room is a pain. But nothing a dolly doesn't fix.
Great for the money if you are on a budget.
~DB
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I don't know... I've only played one Polytone; I don't know which model. Originally Posted by BigDaddyLoveHandles
Now that you've played the JK, do you hear a resemblance to other amps?
[QUOTE[I like the 15" speaker, a la Polytone. There's a new Jazz King in a music store near me that's been on their showroom floor for two years. I'm thinking of low-balling them to see if they're willing to clear some stock. Can't hurt.[/QUOTE]
The Jazz King has been discontinued for a while. I'm surprised you were able to find one new.
IIRC there was a US$100 price jump during the JK's lifetime. Maybe that shop has had this amp for longer than you think. Try offering them US$100 less (adjusted for your currency) and see whether they'll bite just to get it off the floor.
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In the 80's I had a MiniBrute (II?) with a 12' speaker that I really liked. But sound is so subjective. Unless I've got the amps lined up, I'm cautious about comparing amps, then you add in the factor of the particular guitar you're playing... Originally Posted by TieDyedDevil
But if I had to say, I'd say the JazzKing colors the sound less than the Polytone, but is less sterile than a JC-120.
But in the end, as much as I liked the JK, I'm just a hobbyist and it's more amp than I'll ever use. I try to live simply but I still have to fight the urge to accumulate more and more stuff.
I've just come back from a trip where I drove down to Seattle to catch a flight. There's a cool place in Seattle that specializes in just jazz guitar amps:
Jazz guitar amp specialists: Sound Island
Acoustic Image! AER! Evans! Henricksen! JazzKat! Phil Jones! Raezer's Edge!
But it's open "by appointment only" and I didn't have the nerve to go there just to oogle the amps.
(Speaking of accumulating stuff, I was visiting my parents and there's a ES 335 from the 70's in my old bedroom closet!)
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That's what I decided, too. I'm trying to sell mine locally on Craigslist. Originally Posted by BigDaddyLoveHandles
Geeze... I never found anything like that that when I went back for a visit. I'm jealous.(Speaking of accumulating stuff, I was visiting my parents and there's a ES 335 from the 70's in my old bedroom closet!)
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If I was in your position I would try like hell to get a polytone mini brute or maybe even a henricksen (although dont know if you could for under $500). After that I would say go with a Cube...they are great
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psst.... that last post was from July 2009.......
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not trying to stir the hornets nest here, but I'm honestly perplexed at the amount of jazz love for Cubes. when i plug into my students the first thing i notice is the annoying lag in the digital signal. the next thing i notice is the wacky ingrained EQ curve that the amp has in general.
my instant prognosis is that i was playing through an amp designed by non guitarist computer nerds that have a stereotypical idea of the "jazz guitar sound" made even worse by the fact that I'm hearing all 1's and 0's. i was instantly having the strange experience of remembering the "good old days" when SS was king...WHAT???!!! yes, I'm tube biased...
I've just never understood how SO many jazz guitarists will spend THOUSANDS of dollars on their beloved arch tops and then plug it into a roland cube...the amp is HALF the sound after all.
I've got no beef with polytones, but i AM opposed to paying twice as much for what is in reality a not-so-well made SS amp just because i am a jazzer that sees a POLYTONE logo on an amp? these days you can find hundreds of SS amps that will sound as good if not better than any polytone for half the money. people are practically giving them away. peavey is an excellent example. i got one for $50 that i have kept in my trunk for years for when I'm too lazy to bring my good amps. if it breaks, oh well. but its lasted forever...Last edited by mattymel; 01-11-2012 at 05:33 PM.
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