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Forgive me as I imagine this has been litigated before. This weekend I'm getting a gently used Ampeg GVT5 and I'm pretty excited. Curious if anyone has demoed these against the Vox 4W, the VHTs, the fancy Fenders, etc. Blackstar is cool but more for rock/metal. I'm scooping up the Ampeg b/c it's out of production and a great price.
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01-24-2017 03:20 PM
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My fancy silver faced fender Vibro champ (I put a sticker on it in the early 90s)sounds great for recording and at home practice and jamming. To me it sounds better than the newer tube ampegs that I have played. Come to think of it, it sounds better than most new tube amps of any brand.
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For the time (honeymoon) being :
NAD : a home made clone
Very acceptable jazz amp if you keep low volume
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The Ampeg is a really nice amp, I have the GVT5H. The Ampeg has a big amp sound for a little amp. It also has a Baxandall EQ. Really nice amp that sounds boutique'ish for a low priced amp, much more range and clarity than other 5 watters (Epiphone Valve Jr, Blackheart Little Giant, etc). If you can find a GVT5 at a great price I'd seriously consider it.
For a Vox sound I just picked up a Hotone British Invasion for $84 on Amazon. So far - I love it!!! It's an outstanding bedroom amp. I suspect the British Invasion was voiced with extreme highs and lows attenuated and mid's boosted (like a 'loudness' button on some stereos) - it sounds full at extremely low volume where most amps sound thin at bedroom volume. Hooked up to a Celestion Greenback it's more satisfying than an AC4TV I had (I miss my old AC-15 but it was too heavy and too loud). Not much headroom but it sounds great at volumes where others in the house can't hear it.
Both are really great little jazz amps.
Last edited by MaxTwang; 01-24-2017 at 06:10 PM.
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Those Hotone nanos look really cool. Did you try the others? The reviews said they're noisy, what do you think?
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I don't find them to be noisy but I don't crank them for distortion.
I'm also trying the Diamond, Hotone's tweed, which is also good but I have a couple home built tweeds so the Diamond is going back. Between the Hotone's I prefer the British Invasion over the Diamond with all my guitars - there's just something about Vox highs that's very, very cool - clear but not harsh.
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i wouldn't call the ac4hw a jazz amp. maybe with an eq pedal in front of it. maybe if it had the normal channel instead of the top boost. its a heavy little bastard, too- north of 30 lbs, if memory serves. some cool sounds in there, but not super jazz friendly, in my opinion.
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I have the GVT combo 15 watter and mostly practice with it on the 7 watt setting. I really like it.
The speaker has broken in nicely and it works well for club and cabaret gigs on the 15 watt setting.
The amp tech I use checked it over and said it is constructed very well and all it needed was the revere connecting wires moved to stop a Buzz noise.
It does clean very well and takes pedals.
Highly recommended.
I had really wanted a Traynor Dark Horse, that looks really cool and distorts better than the GVT. But Thomann heavily discounted the Ampeg at the end of its production run so I jumped in. I'm glad I did!
One day I'll find the 5 Watter.
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I love the good old 5f1.
If you spend him a bigger cab and speaker you get very nice jazz tones.
I bulid a TAD clone in a ´53 Siemens radio cab with two 10" Jensens.
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Wow, that cabinet came out great!
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You have an eye for, and an appreciation of, the beauty of the wood, as evidenced by the cabinet you built and that stunning piece of cabinetry in the background. That you also have a very high level of skill in working with wood makes you richly blessed. Very nice work, Sir!
Originally Posted by Valdez
I love the good old 5f1.
If you spend him a bigger cab and speaker you get very nice jazz tones.
I bulid a TAD clone in a ´53 Siemens radio cab with two 10" Jensens.
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I LOVE the Ampeg GVT5. The Bax eq really makes it work for jazz and it gets a nice mellow tone without sort of rock-cliche overdrive. I use it mostly for home and recording on the half power setting. Just a great amp
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I LOVE the Ampeg GVT5. The Bax eq really makes it work for jazz and it gets a nice mellow tone without sort of rock-cliche overdrive. I use it mostly for home and recording on the half power setting. Just a great amp..
Oh and MaxTwang is that a CatalinBread Talisman Reverb? I use that same setup--that's a great reverb pedal.
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It should be noted there are 2 Vox AC4 models: The AC4TV w/ a 10" speaker for $320 and the AC4HW w/ a 12" speaker for $799. The AC4TV is very small with a circuit board, the cabinet may be too small to get a good jazz sound. I haven't tried the AC4HW but this is a handwired model with a bigger cabinet with a partially open back. Unfortunately the AC4TV and AC4HW don't have a Top Cut control which could help as a jazz amp (both AC15 handwired's I've owned had a Top Cut).
The AC4TV is 20lbs the AC4HW is 30lbs.
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great small 5 watt combo!
LAMPOWE COMBO GITAROWE 60'S typ "5W class A" :: ELMUZ BEYMA PL
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Good call, Kris. Nice sound file examples too, for a change!
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The exchange rate makes it only £250. Very attractive!
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Originally Posted by PB+J
PB where do you have the bass/treble set? Lack of mid knob was a worry but I figured I could make it work... I get it Sunday. Any other effects beyond Catalinbread Talisman Plate Reverb? I usually go light on the jazz effects but I was thinking lack of reverb will help me break out my underused Boss DD-500.
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Mr T. The middle control is more for driving the bigger amp into distortion along with the gain control.
The bax tone stack boosts and cuts frequencies.
Try both straight up at 12 o'clock then turn clockwise for boosting and anti clockwise for cutting.
For the record with single coils and flatwound strings I have the bass at 1 o'clock and treble at 11 o'clock.
It must be mentioned that the volume and tone on the guitar adds and removes bass and treble frequencies to tidy up your sound.
So another way to get a nice tone is to try the following.
Wind up the volume on your guitar. Select the neck pickup and roll on the guitar tone control so it's muffled.
Set the amp volume to your liking and then roll on the bass control on the amp as you are plucking the heavier wound strings of your guitar. Can you hear a wow and flutter as you roll the bass tone control? Leave it where its neither flubbery or soul less (your ears are the judge of this).
Now wind the guitar tone back so it's bright again. Select the treble pickup (or strum near the bridge for a single pickup guitar) and then roll on the treble control on the amp while plucking the high strings and until the the tone is neither piercing or flat.
Now roll back the guitar volume and use the tone to add or remove the highs you can hear.
If you have a middle control on your amp you can do the same with both pickups on and the guitar tone half way up and plucking the middle wound strings.
There is no science to this its just a starting point and will help you judge your flavour with amp tone and different guitars.
I find I have to tweak the amp slightly from guitar to guitar.
Another factor is that you can adjust the tone this way for the space your playing in. Mix up the speaker cabinets from closed to open and placement etc.
I suffer with sinus problems and blocked ears and my amp tone moves around a lot.
Good luck.
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Beautiful! Originally Posted by Valdez
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Originally Posted by PB+J
Good eye!!!
Yep that's the Talisman, great pedal. Have you tried it at 18 volts? Really opens up dynamics and clarity - sounds like a good studio reverb.
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I love my tweed Princeton clone. It's not a straight clone--10" and 8" speakers, ability to run 6L6 or 6V6. Not sure if it's "the best" but gives a great jazz sound. Only modification I would make might be to have more tonal control instead of just the single tone control (treble cut?)
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
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truth be told, i have one of each. the old ac4tv and the ac4hw. i guess i wouldn't recommend either for strict jazzing purposes. you can easily find something cheaper or lighter or solid state that would fill that need as well or better. Originally Posted by MaxTwang
as you noted, the cut knob is intstrumental (heh) in not just fine tuning your sound, but matching your guitar to your amp. it does that so well. an ac15 (or 30) with a normal channel and a cut knob can be appropriated as a jazz amp with some success, but it wouldn't be my first choice for that, either.
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I use it mostly on half power, and I have the bass and treble set treble at 9:30, bass at maybe 10:30. I love the Talisman reverb, but I also sometimes use a Strymon El Capistan as a reverb. I really like the Supro Drive pedal as a dirt pedal, but to make it work for me I had to add an expression pedal--without the expression pedal its too gainy. Originally Posted by tomems
here's a short clip--my homemade hollow tele through the Ampeg. First dry, then with the talisman, then talisman and Supro drive. My daughter walked in the door from school right in the middle
Distracted
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Yes I run it at 18 and its far and away the best reverb I've ever had on a guitar outside of a DAW or a studo. Originally Posted by MaxTwang
For the the key is the hi-pass and the pre delay. Both of those controls let you get the reverb to "sit" right. so it's present but not in the way
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