Polytone Mini Brute III Extension Cabinet

[Bebop Tom]

Joe Pass Portraits of Ellington sure sounds like a Polytone to me. Great playing, but definately a Polytone-like tone. All his live with Oscar Peterson stuff is Polytone as this can be seen in video clips. Joe always requested a Polytone. My old guitar teacher lent him his when Joe performed in D.C. I do not know what he used on For Django, but early video clips of Joe show him with a Fender Tremolux (I believe), head and cab setup.

[Greentone]

Here's Keith Murch playing a very nice Campellone with a floating pickup through his Polytone Baby Brute.

Here, Keith is playing an outstanding '39 D'Angelico through a Polytone Mini Brute IV. The sonic differences may be due, in part, to the room/mic differences, but I think you are hearing the difference between the Baby and Mini Brute.

[Herbie]

Here's Keith Murch playing a very nice Campellone with a floating pickup through his Polytone Baby Brute.

Here, Keith is playing an outstanding '39 D'Angelico through a Polytone Mini Brute IV. The sonic differences may be due, in part, to the room/mic differences, but I think you are hearing the difference between the Baby and Mini Brute.

Interesting. BB is a bit airier, MB a bit darker?

[Stringswinger]

After seeing Joe Pass live in New York City in 1974 (I was attending NYU at the time), I sold my Twin Reverb (with 2 JBL's) that weighed too much and went up to Sam Ash and bought a Polytone Mini-Brute 1 (which is what Joe Pass was playing at the time). Over the years, I sold a few Polytones and went back to Tubes (Fender, Marshall and Mesa)and went back to Polytones.

12 years ago I discovered the Clarus/RE combo and the AER Compact 60. In 2006 I bought a Polytone MiniBrute 2 and in 2008 I bought a Polytone Mini-Brain reissue. I sold the MiniBrute last year. The Mini-Brain will likely be my last Polytone. I prefer the Clarus/RE Combo. I sometimes use the Mini-Brain with one of my RE cabs.

I like the Polytone sound. But I have moved on.

[Greentone]

I can't disagree with your assessment of the AI/RE rig--especially with a Rich Raezer-era cabinet like you have. That combination sounds superb with a good archtop.

With the carved archtop/floater I prefer the sound when I play through my Fender Deluxe to the sound of my Polytone amps. With the laminates though, I think I still like the Polytone as the go to amp. It conjures up the sound of the time when I was really devouring jazz guitar--70s-80s.

I'm not saying, however, that I won't swap for an Evans RE200 or an AI/RE, at some point. For now, though, the amps out of storage and set up in the music room are one Polytone and one tweed Fender.

[Stringswinger]

Get an AI/RE rig and A/B it against your Polytone. I think that if you do, you too will move on. Even with laminate guitars. (I suggest the RE Stealth 10 as a starting point).

I still have a couple of Fender tube amps. They have a "sound" that SS amps do not, and at times that is the sound I want.

I would bet that your Tweed Deluxe sounds sweet...

[John A.]

I'd say overall my favorite classic jazz tone is Wes, but I don't think the amp figures all that much in it (except maybe negatively on some recordings where the amp is pretty overdriven on the octave and chord solos). Apart from that:

Kenny Burrell -- Either his humbucker guitars or the D'Angelico through twins. His tone seems pretty consistent over time (except maybe the 'Trane record), and I think the Twin Reverb has a lot to do with this

Jim Hall on the Sonny Rollins, Bill Evans, and Paul Desmond records -- I assume that's either his Gibson GA-50, or one one of the Ampegs in the Manhattan Guitar Club, but I think what really defines that tone is the 175 with P-90s.

Pat Martino on Exit -- I've never seen any write-up of what he played on this record. Every time I've seen him, he played through a Roland JC 120, with various guitars (IIRC, a Polytone, a couple of Riveras, and the Gibson and Sadowsky signature models), and he never sounded like his Exit on any of those rigs.

Joe Pass on For Django -- we all know it's the 175, but what amp? To early to be a Polytone.

I've never really liked Polytones, and never owned one, but have played through a bunch. The one with the red distortion knob and reverb was the one I used the most (Minibrute II?) and disliked least. I also played quite a bit through one with a 15 and no reverb (IV?) and hated it. Others, obviously, have succeeded in getting good sounds out of them, I've always gravitated more towards small and mid-sized Fenders.

John

[Greentone]

15"/no reverb = Polytone Mini Brute III. I have owned four of them over time, principally as upright bass amplification back in the 70s-90s. One blue 90s version has been in constant use, here, for the last 20 years as a bass amp for pit work, club work, bar work--you name it. I've used it a fair amount for guitar, too, but more for bass. It is what it is, and it ain't what it ain't. Ray Brown and Niels Henning Orsted Pedersen used the MBIII extensively (and well).

A better choice--if guitar is what's up--is the Baby Brute. The MBI/II are also good.

Realistically, they are all one-trick ponies, at this point, made by a defunct company. If you like the trick _and_ you know how to repair amps (me) or have access to a tech, they are viable jazz amp choices.

For somebody who is more interested in a post-90s take on jazz guitar amp tone, or who gets nervous owning/gigging with old, non-supported iron, there are more obvious choices, these days.