Polytone Mini Brute II Price

[lawson-stone]

I often get away from my Polytone MInibrute II (90's pre Sonic-Circuit) and play the Fenders, the Quilter, but when I come back to the Polytone I always find myself thinking "What sound can I not get from this?" The Polytone is a marvelous amp for jazz players. I love my stable of other amps, especially the Fender Princeton Reverb Reissue. But still, if I only had the Polytone, I could make all the music I want.

[BabyBrute]

Thank you all for your answers. I have another question:

Is there any fundamental difference between the baby brute and the baby brute taurus?
or are they essentially the same?

[Greentone]

Let me take a crack at your questions. The MiniBrute II is THE standard amp for jazz guitar for the 70s-90s era. It still does anything that it would have done then. I own a couple and they are my go to amps for gigs. In fact, I have been called up to record some stuff for a show this weekend, and I'm taking the MBII along with a Strat, a 335, and a 17" archtop. The amp sounds great with all of them. You should be able to get one in good shape for $300-$400, depending upon which era version we are talking about. They are all good.

The Baby Brute is something truly special. IMO, it is the best of the best of the Polytone line. The 8" speaker in the 1-cubic-foot cabinet sounds fantastic with an archtop, but especially with an ES-175. It typically commands a price that is a bit higher than the other Polytones.

The Baby Brute and the Baby Brute Taurus sound very much alike, but they are different amps. The Taurus typically has an open back cabinet configuration, and it features a different 75-watt power amp than the Baby does. (The Baby Brute has the old 75-watt power amp that all of the Mini Brutes had before they went to 90-100 watts.) IMO they are both great amps. Lawson has owned a BBTaurus and can speak to its virtues with an ES-175, in particular.

The best I ever heard Joe Pass sound was when he played into a Baby Taurus for the 1992 Jazz Baltica concert. He plays his prototype Gibson ES-175 Joe Pass model (never put into production) into a Polytone Baby Taurus. The sound is simply sensational.

[BabyBrute]

Thank you for the detailed answer. That is very interesting and valuable information.

I managed to find a baby brute taurus and was very happy. I just realised that it does not have a reverb while in the pictures I have seen so far it does.

Could it be the bass version?

[jazzmus]

No, its just... a no Reverb version, the core of the preamp ( bass, treble, volume, d-n-b switch) is the same on all models mini b and taurus amps nomatter the additional features like reverb, dist. mid, gain sw. etc etc.

[wintermoon]

Don't worry about reverb, if it's a Polytone it'll already be broken, or will sooner or later.

[BabyBrute]

I see...

In that case, the non-reverb version is still very much on the table.

While we are at it, what is a recommended reverb pedal for the polytone?

[Cunamara]

I can't speak to the question about your version of the amp, but I bought one of Lawson's Baby Tauruses and it is a fantastic little amp. I found my previous MBII to be a little boxy, but the open back of the BT doesn't seem to have that. It's somewhere between a Fender and the MBII. I find that flatters my archtop guitars very well, in particular. The reverb is rather low-fi and has its own funky charm; I tend to use reverb very lightly, just as a little seasoning,

[Hammertone]

Don't worry about reverb, if it's a Polytone it'll already be broken, or will sooner or later.

The weird thing is that after not working for the past 20 years, the reverb on my early '80s Baby Brute started working again. So hang in there!

[marvinvv]

BabyBrute have you thought about Mega Brute, 8" pokey, the NON sonic circuit version? they are also excellent with Archtops,

[marvinvv]

It did occur later there are some people who don't probably like fixing things, possibly an age thing?? .my son does not really think, about fixing they replace, experience and sniffing out good repair people, as they differ, much like guitar repair guys differ, you learn over the years who is good.

I personally dont think amps have come that far, yes more power, lighter smaller. I could be way off.


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[Stringswinger]

I was an early adopter of Polytone amps back in the early 70's after seeing Joe Pass use one at a gig in an upstairs New York City jazz club. After the gig, Joe walked down the steps with his guitar in one hand and his amp in the other. The next day, I went up to 48th street and ordered my first Polytone amp (a Mini-brute, the same model I had seen Joe Pass use the night before). I soon sold my Fender Twin Reverb after that.

Over the years, I have bought and sold a few Polytone amps and continue to follow them. I have owned six combos (all 12 inch mini-brute, some with reverb, some without) and a Mini-Brain head (that I still own).

In recent years (2004 onwards), I have gravitated to more modern (and perhaps more reliable) solid-state amps for jazz including AER, Henriksen and Acoustic Image (IMO, all three of those get me a very pleasing jazz guitar sound with an archtop or solid body guitar).

Over the years, I have had three mechanical failures with Polytone amps: A reverb failure which was a VERY simple fix, just replacing the $18 reverb tank; a Speaker failure which was a bit harder to fix as the 4 ohm speaker that Polytone used are no longer in production so a compromise needs to be made using other speakers; and a failed bridge rectifier which cost over $200 to repair.

Used Polytones of all sorts seem to be on offer from $100 to $400 depending on condition here in the USA.

At this point my last Polytone (the mini-Brain head) remains in my stable of 4 solid state amps partly out of sentimentality and partly because I probably could not get much for it (I figure $300 at most) and do not need the money to eat.

If $400 was my top dollar for a jazz guitar amp, Polytones would be my choice hands down, but if more money was available, I would go with a Henriksen today. IMO, the folks at Henriksen have brought the Polytone amp concept into the modern age with a lighter, more reliable combo amp. That said, I am glad that I have both to choose from.

[marvinvv]

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Over the years, I have had three mechanical failures with Polytone amps: A reverb failure which was a VERY simple fix, just replacing the $18 reverb tank; a Speaker failure which was a bit harder to fix as the 4 ohm speaker that Polytone used are no longer in production so a compromise needs to be made using other speakers; and a failed bridge rectifier which cost over $200 to repair.

Used Polytones of all sorts seem to be on offer from $100 to $400 depending on condition here in the USA.

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Im getting old, re 4 ohm 8" 4 ohm speakers you can now get again, they were available in low power handling ie 25-30W but now Faital Italian make a 8" 4 ohm for pretty reasonable price about £30 $25 ish handles 150W I think Lawson-Stone from here has one. So thats a little bonus, if folks want to keep a old Poly alive,

I hear you about newer amps, i was really talking about if you have a Poply with no problems or not having had one repaired, then there is not many amps on tje market that are better, sure newer, possibly more power but Polytone always had reasonable power, Baby Megas all fairly small and light, yes Little Jazz is lighter but not oin the same league, Trust me swe have all of those, inc old Rolands my Father's 78 Cubes.