The Jazz Guitar Chord Dictionary

View Poll Results: Which amp sounds best?

Voters
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  • Black Princeton 65 (Jensen C10R)

    32 47.06%
  • White Princeton 65 (Jensen P10R)

    15 22.06%
  • Henriksen Jazzamp 110

    21 30.88%
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  1. #1

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    Which of these amps do you like most?

    1. The black one is a Princeton '65 RI, standard model with Jensen C10R
    2. Blue/white is a Princeton '65 RI limited with Jensen P10R
    3. My oldie - Henriksen Jazzamp 110, without tweeter, a bit modded speaker

    Both Fender amps with the same settings - treble 1, bas 2-3, input 2. Guitar (Aria PE-180) with both volume and tone knobs full open.

    Last edited by jzjazz; 04-21-2017 at 03:54 PM. Reason: link missing!

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  3. #2

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    I like the Limited PR with the alnico speaker the best.

  4. #3

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    What a cool video. Thanks for posting.

    I liked the 1st and 3rd best, but the 2nd was also good. Final verdict: all sound good!

  5. #4

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    The white Princeton the high end sounded muffled to me, didn't like it. The BF Princeton and JazzAmp were very close in sound and like both of them.

  6. #5

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    Although I love my PRRI, I voted for the Jazzamp. The white Princeton was, to me, a distant third.

  7. #6

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    Order of personal preference would be 1, 3 pretty close, 2 last one. From your perspective, how do these amps feel besides the sound in comparison? I also noticed the henriksen has a buzz in the background the others don't

    What mod did you do to the Henriksen's speaker if i may ask?, as i have the same one and yours sounds great!
    Last edited by Alter; 04-21-2017 at 08:22 PM.

  8. #7

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    2
    3
    1

  9. #8
    Quote Originally Posted by Alter
    Order of personal preference would be 1, 3 pretty close, 2 last one. From your perspective, how do these amps feel besides the sound in comparison? I also noticed the henriksen has a buzz in the background the others don't

    What mod did you do to the Henriksen's speaker if i may ask?, as i have the same one and yours sounds great!
    The henriksen mod story is here:
    Henriksen Jazzamp 110 MOD-story


    Regarding the hum - thank you for mentioning. It was always there. Moreover I had another from this era (the exact same), without the mods - it also had it. I had two technicians already trying to get rid of it ("oh, this is and easy fix" and then failing ), so the henriksen isn't too good for recording, because you can always hear that when the band gets quiter (or in a small group).


    Regarding how they fell - the henriksen is easy to play, very compressed and less dynamic than both princetons - after playing transistors for a couple years I actually have to learn to play tubes. Both princetons feel great - very dynamic and they are both much brighter than the henriksen (although this video doesn't show that too good), especially when comping.


    Apart from the much better feel, the henriksen is too quiet for me (it's the 60W version) and very often too dark in live situations - I play often in restaurants and event spaces with poor acoustics, often in duo or trio settings (with vocals and vocals + db) and I'm lacking heights almost always.


    Regarding the comparison between the two princetons - I like the white one a bit more. I feel that your judgement might come a bit from the worst take of these three of that solo - I intentionally left it and didn't record again because I though that the white princeton will win this poll easliy anyhow! So wrong! :-)


    Anyway - the white one feels meaty and mid-focused. The black one seems to have a nicer bottom and overall "hi-fi quality"/"wow-effect", BUT it has an inacceptable presense - too much of it. I also recorded a track with the tone knob at 7 on the black princeton - sounds almost identicall (so I didn't include), so to get a decent sound for the heights I need to turn down the tones and/or vol on the guitar pretty heavily, which negatively affects the mids and lows.


    But this is just me

  10. #9
    It seems that two groups are being formed - the "2" group and the "1 or 3" group, whereas the second is much larger based on the poll results (so far). Very interesting! As stated above, I'm in the "2" group, but I woud vote 2, 1, 3 - simply because I know how dark the henriksen is in bad-acoustic-rooms.

  11. #10

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    I prefer 2

  12. #11

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    Thanks for such great pro comparison!

    I would vote: 2,3,1.

    The standard Fender is very bright and hi-fi. You can hear this especially on track without background record. The white Fender has less trebles so sound is more rounded at top and warmer in general - without loosing punch from tube. The third to me is the best for low volume but I played henriksen and it colours sound a bit (but high) and indeed for bands and lower volumes may be too dark (not mentioning already mentioned hum :P).

    So from this comparison the white seems to be the most versatile choice. Keep the white!

  13. #12

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    Have you tried moving the Henriksen a few feet away from the guitar for recording? Mine gets that buzz too, and with some guitars (or pickups i would say) its actually unusable if you are say 4-5 feet away, but if you move away the buzz disappears. (This happens more when the electricity/grounding etc is less than optimal). I 've done recordings with it being in another room and there was no buzz.. I 've also tried having the guitar go into a DI and then into the amp, which seemed to help.

    About the white princeton i figured the overall sound was a take thing. And it is always worth noticing how differently sound works in a solo and in a band context. It is in the second where the mid heavy/focused types of guitar sounds seem to excel. Also the sound that impresses you and the sound that stays with you are sometimes different (Taylor/Martin? ). But as good as the Henriksen sounds (and i consider it a great tube amp alternative), competing with tubes is a difficult thing to do, if you take into account dynamics, and the overall ''presence'' of the amp in a live setting. I love the Princetons, i need to get one someday ..

  14. #13

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    They sound about the same to me. I need my hearing checked.

  15. #14

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    Nice job on the comparison. I'm also in the 2, 1, 3 camp. #1 seems a bit too "tinny" and #3 a bit too dark. #1 might come closer to #2 if the guitar's tone control were turned down a bit. But I find all the tones pleasant.
    The hum in #3 isn't that noticeable with the backing track, but when I'm playing just knowing the hum is there drives me nuts, even though I'm the only person in the room who notices it.
    If I were considering these amps for myself I'd use different settings, turning the volume and tone knobs on the guitar down as much as half, then turning up the volume knob on the amp to compensate. That would complicate making a video like this, but it's the setting I typically start with on the bandstand and changes everything.
    I'd also want to hear how the amps and speakers respond to fairly high volume levels. Do they give me a sense of having some muscle behind me or do they start farting out too soon?
    Last edited by KirkP; 04-22-2017 at 11:15 AM.

  16. #15

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    Quote Originally Posted by Jabberwocky
    They sound about the same to me. I need my hearing checked.
    Me too. I think I heard the white princeton as darker on the top end, but I may have been influenced by reading some comments.

    At this point in my life, I'm categorizing tones as "I like it" or "I dont." No time for obsessing on minutiae. All three of these sound great to me.

  17. #16

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    I definitely hear a difference, its is even more obvious when I chromecast the video on the TV and sound system.
    I think I finally prefer the 2nd one (P10R equipped), notes are rounder and you can always add a bit more treble on the amp should you need it. It is also a bit more efficient than the C10R in the regular PRRI by not much but still.
    For my taste it is 2,1 then 3

  18. #17
    Quote Originally Posted by KirkP
    If I were considering these amps for myself I'd use different settings, turning the volume and tone knobs on the guitar down as much as half, then turning up the volume knob on the amp to compensate. That would complicate making a video like this, but it's the setting I typically start with on the bandstand and changes everything.
    I'd also want to hear how the amps and speakers respond to fairly high volume levels. Do they give me a sense of having some muscle behind me or do they start farting out too soon?
    That's very good advice. I usually don't use my guitars turned down, I hardly use the tone knob - I feel that the guitar looses its character. I sometimes do for improvising with the band if the band sound isn't too dark (I like to turn down the tones for high single note lines, but it definitely has a bad effect on low frequencies).

    About the playing loud thing - I used the white princeton today with a small jazz band (acoustic guitar, double bass, my guitar and vocals) on a outside venue and I was lacking volume. I mean it was OK, but I could use more. But it sounded great - even a bit too bright and I turned down the tones for single line stuff.

    So eventually I will probably swap the speaker anyway - question for which speaker if I want to stay close to the P10R from the white one? I've read some threads already, so the candidates are:

    1. Eminence Lil Bud
    2. Weber 10F150T
    3. Tone tubby

    No, I won't start a new poll :-)

  19. #18

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    Try a Weber 10F150 (NOT the T version, which has a thin cone and is very bright....good for blues and rock, not so much for jazz). The regular cone version is very warm and IMO, will be an upgrade from the cheap, Italian made Jensens.

  20. #19

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    Quote Originally Posted by jzjazz
    Which of these amps do you like most?

    1. The black one is a Princeton '65 RI, standard model with Jensen C10R
    2. Blue/white is a Princeton '65 RI limited with Jensen P10R
    3. My oldie - Henriksen Jazzamp 110, without tweeter, a bit modded speaker

    Both Fender amps with the same settings - treble 1, bas 2-3, input 2. Guitar (Aria PE-180) with both volume and tone knobs full open.


    I didn't have a preference among the amps, but I thought your playing sounded terrific.

  21. #20

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    This is a really cool video. I like you you put it together. I like the sound of all of the amps - all slightly different but all fundamentally good sounds. My favorite is the Henriksen. I have stopped using other amps for the most part since getting on board with Henriksen (most lately with the Bud) but if some of these Fender amps were small and portable like that is then I would be interested in checking those out and yours both sound good.


    Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

  22. #21

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    I think all three sound just great.
    The only thing I don't like about Princetons is their tonestack is limited for jazz players.

    Regarding speaker swap possibilities, the Celestion Gold is also a great option.

  23. #22

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    While I voted for #1, all three sounded great. #1 seemed to have a bit more high end and I think maybe worked better with the backing track.

    When soloed, the Jazzamp had some audible hum.

    The main thing is, I like to hear the woody tone of a jazz guitar, and it is there in all three versions.

    Good problem to have, which of three great sounds to choose from.

  24. #23

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    Have you tried turning Princetons up to 5 and guitar volume down, I find they do not wake until they are turned up.


    Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

  25. #24

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    I prefer the first, but I have to agree that the differences are very subtle. They all sound great. Nice playing, by the way!

  26. #25
    Quote Originally Posted by gggomez
    Have you tried turning Princetons up to 5 and guitar volume down, I find they do not wake until they are turned up.
    They actually have been recorded at about 4,5-5, pretty loud home volume But now that you mentioned it I turned it up to 7 and guitar volume down and it sounds sweet. But I guess it's more of the guitar which sounds much darker with the volume knob down.