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I think I'm going to pull the trigger on the DV Micro 50 Mark II (over the Micro Jazz). I'm not sure how the voicings of the clean channels compare because I can't really find any descriptions other than those from the DV Mark website. From what I can gather, it just seems like the Micro Jazz is a stripped-down version of the Mark II. Why not get the more versatile amp? Also, after watching more videos, I think the Mark II can do what I want.
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12-25-2017 02:18 PM
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Let me know how it goes! Merry Christmas ;-)
Originally Posted by GregMath
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I actually think the Micro Jazz is just the Micro50 II without the overdrive channel. Since the prices are comparable, I opted for the Micro50 II. Originally Posted by GregMath
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What cab are you running the Micro 50 with? Originally Posted by lawson-stone
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I have run it through a 12" Quilter cabinet (8 Ohms). I also have an improvised 10" cabinet with a 4Ohm speaker that I like a lot. Somewhere I got a "Lunchbox" 6" cabinet. It's acceptable, not great, but not bad. Originally Posted by Jim Soloway
I have an idea I'm going to try: create in my Polytone Minibrute II a direct-to-speaker connection on the back, then I can run the Micro50 through the speaker (Polytone turned off of course) or just use the Polytone.
I realized a bit late that another versatile amp is the DVMark Little Jazz. It's the Micro50 Jazz, but it has a speaker, an additional speaker-out, an XLR out, Aux. in... an amazingly versatile little amp
I have a bunch of Polytones that I'm considering selling off, keeping maybe a Minibrute II and one of the little Polytones, but shifting to the DV Mark as my main amp.
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I went ahead and ordered a CMT50. Sounds like it will pull off great clean tones and has a decent overdrive channel to boot. It's the only mini head of theirs besides the Raw Dog that has a miniature tube in it. We'll see what it sounds like.
If I don't like it, I'll return it and pick up a Jazz 12 combo. I really liked how that one sounded at the store and it weighs like 6 pounds, no joke. Blew me away when I went to lift it.
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Curious why you are contemplating selling the Polytones . . . And yes the Little Jazz is quite a wonder -- for those of us that like it anyway. On my occasional gigs I always think about taking a tube amp, but grab the Little Jazz most every time. Originally Posted by lawson-stone
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Mainly because I have a lot of amps and want to thin the herd a little. Also, the DV Jazz has aux. in, XLR out, two things none of the Polytones have. Much as I like the Polytones, most of the time if I play "out" it's solo, with some backing tracks, so the aux. in is nice. Originally Posted by Longways to Go
It's just in the realm of mere pondering at the moment. I'm at a spot where I don't want to pick up any gear without letting something go, and I really like what I'm seeing with the DV Jazz Little.
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I was just having the same thought about the Little Jazz. It's small enough to pair with a cab if necessary or use on it's own when possible plus I like the idea of a balanced line out. There's also two dealers about an hour from where we'll be for the first three weeks of January which means that parts ought to be available here in Mexico if necessary. Originally Posted by lawson-stone
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I've used my RE Stealth 10 and 6/8ER cabs with the Little Jazz, as well as a Yamaha PA speaker. They sound good, but I've pretty much decided they're not worth the trouble. The Little Jazz sounds good enough, and gets loud enough, that the external cabs just aren't necessary. The only time I take my MB200 out is for church, and there's a speaker cabinet there, so all I need to take is the head. For everything else, I carry the Little Jazz and leave everything else at home. The Clarus head stays home also. It's a great amp, but it's a lot to carry along with a cabinet, when I can take just the one combo.
Another way to get a balanced line out is with the Line6 G10 wireless system. The receiver has both XLR and 1/4" outputs, and I've used the XLR out direct to PA. It sounds good, but I prefer the ability to change my tone and volume myself if it's feasible. But if direct out to PA or whatever works for you, it's a good choice. You can carry your entire setup in your guitar case. I carry an instrument cable just in case, but seldom need it. You can use both the XLR out and the 1/4" outputs at the same time if you want, one to an amp and one to PA, or even both to separate amps. I really like the G10.
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So I actually ordered a CMT head AND the Jazz 12 combo because I am some sort of glutton.
CMT should be here in a few days, but the Jazz 12 is on back-order until January. For the record, I got a Katana 100 for myself for christmas, but didn't completely love it, so its going back in exchange for the Jazz 12 essentially. The Katana actually has some very good cleans and features, but the gain stuff sounded fizzy and weak. I am not huge on effects, and my Blackstar HT5R combo does pretty much every tone the Katana does, but better.
The gain tones were totally useable in the Katana for anyone in the market for one. Its not that they didn't sound pleasant, its just I owned other gear that does it better, and I prefer the simplicity, sound, and weight of the Jazz 12 combo overall. I'll post my impressions of the CMT once it arrives.
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I think the Katana is an unbelievable deal for a budding but cash strapped jazz player. As for me, I wouldn’t tend to use the gain sounds anyway, I would use a pedal for drive. I just wish it were 5kg lighter. I’d be happy with a smaller speaker. It’s not different enough in weight from my PRRI to make it a no-brainer, and obviously the PRRI is in a different class.
That said, one could buy one for a residency etc, and save you having to lug an amp to the gig, and have good live sound.
Anyway, the DV amps look good for that.
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I bought a DV Mark Micro 50 CMT a couple of weks ago and like it very much. I chose the CMT over the normal Micro 50 mainly because of the effect loop (I know the II has one but nobody seems to stock it yet) but also because of the concept of micro tube, whatever it is. And also because Cirro Manna is a very good player and plays a sort of fusion that pleases me and is quite close to what I like to play.
Ok, if you expect it to sound exactly as a tube amp, you'll be disapointed: it's a solid state amp. BUT...
For a ss amp it sounds extremely good, far better that anything ss I've ever played. Forget cheap Fender and Marshall ss things, they DO sound ss while trying to imitate overdriven Marshall stacks or warm Fender blackface.
The micro 50 CMT, once at gig or rehearshal volume, sounds fat and warm and very convincing. It keeps the directness of ss amps, so no sag or sponginess, but it doesn't have that iritating clinical high end typical of ss. It's quite bass heavy, I suspect it's voiced for their neodymium speakers. I use it with Celestion G12H30 Anniv or with a WGS ET65 and I set the bass knob like on 8 o'clock, mids on 1 or 2 and highs on 3 (o'clock). Tone controls are VERY efficient so you've got a wide control over the tone. The mid control is very important to get a 'tube' like tone.
The overdrive channel is as advertised actually an overdrive circuit added in front of the preamp. On the CMT its very progressive from no overdrive at all to a creamy low gain distortion. With the band I could effortlessly sound a bit like Holdsworth (I say 'sound like' not 'play like'
), the violin tone came quite easily. The band was impressed and liked the tone too, clean and overdrive. They said it made me play differently.
Note that the OD channel played at bedroom volume will sound like any amp played at bedroom volume: fuzzy. Like a tube amp the power amp must be tickled to gain some body.
If you put the gain level of the OD circuit low, like around 9 o'clock, you get actually an even better clean tone (as in sparkly clean, no distortion) with that typical tubelike warmth, just before grit starts, with very realistic highs and hig mids, more Vox like. So it can be used like that too with a pedal for your lead tones.
Volume wise it FEELS like a 50 watts, in the band I had the level knob around 11/12 o'clock with headroom still to spare. I think the celan channel will start to overdrive slightly past 12 o'clock, as would some tube amps but by then your fellow musicians will ask you more or less politely to 'turn it down, damn it!'.
So no, I won't sell my tube amp (a Budda SD18) but I would be totally confident to use de Micro 50 CMT at rehearshal or live. And at 1.9 Kg it's kind to your back.
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I finally got to play through my Little Jazz last night. Initially I played my D'Angelico EXL-1 with the three EQ bands at "noon". I backed of the bass a notch and bumped up the mid a tad. I set the reverb at about "3". The thing really has a nice, warm tone, yet punch to it thanks to the 8" speaker. Not punchy like a Champ, but closer to a Princeton with a 10" speaker.
I also played my Tele with N3 pups. To suit my taste I felt I needed to back off the reverb a hair compared to the archtop.
Both guitars had a warm jazzy tone, but the sustained trebles had a rounded bell-like ring to them. I see this amp being a great tool when accentuating dynamic phrasing.
No, it does not emulate a tube amp, but it is the best sounding solid state amp I ever played through. I have a five-day holiday weekend coming up and I hope to get some recording time with it. I plan to mic it as well as the XLR out straight into the Tascam.
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I forgot a few points to mention:
Turning down the volume knob on the guitar while on OD channel works very well, again very realistic.
The headphones output is useless because there's no speaker emulation. It sounds shitty on the clean channel and as expected god awfull on de OD channel.
The reverb is not bad but has quite some chorusing at mid to higher level it's better than no reverb at all but won't replace your favorite pedal.
The lack or removal of the XLR out has been criticized by some while others mentioned that it was useless without a decent speaker emulation. Since I discoverd recently the wonderful world of IR's I'll park in the 'regret' camp but I have perfectly fine DI's so I won't miss it.
My POD HD bean in the loop return with the correct settings on the POD sounds great as expected and offers much more tonal variety, so that's another possible use, although I'm perfectly happy with the pure tone of the DV Mark.
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@fabienlag Thanks for posting your impressions! Sounds like I made the right choice. I do wonder how tonally different the Micro 50 is from the CMT. It seems to me that the CMT might have more OD on tap, and maybe slightly louder volume overall due to the tube, but I wonder how much the clean channel voicing differs too. I was really tempted to get a first gen Micro 50, Musician's Friend has them in stock (as well as the 2nd gen mk II).
Generally I stray from "signature amps", but this one didn't seem to have the insane markup most do and seems to be made to play the kind of music I like.
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I haven't been able either to try one myself before buying, DV Mark products are not as popular as Mark Bass. In Europe big stores like the german Thomann and Music Store (where I bought it) have them, the dutch Bax Had only the micro 50 gen 1. But small more local stores dont carry them.
I expect the CMT to have less gain than the micro 50, based on not much I admit. The micro 50 M is metal oriented and should have more gain of a more agressive type. The CMT is fusion oriented so less gain I'd say
I wouldn't be surprised to learn that all micro 50 power amps are identical with a different voiced preamp. The micro jazz might be identical to the micro 50 without OD channel. It would make sense marketing wise. Same circuit, chassis, ins and outs with just specifically voiced preamps and front design.
If you liked the couple of YouTube demos of the CMT by Cirro Manna or others you'll like the amp, it sounds exactly as the demos. Just don't put all tone controls at 12 o'clock on the clean channels to start with, you're gonna freak out (boomy). Bass at 9 o'clock and mid and high at 2 o'clock is a good start. After setting up the amp for myself like that I saw that these are the settings on the Cirro Manna demo himself. Probably not a coincidence.
Enjoy your amp! Hopefully
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Just got done playing MY EXL-1 through my new Jazz Little. These two really seem to like each other. This has been a great new gear year. Guess I'll have to post some pictures soon.
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My Micro 50 CMT came in a few days ago. Here's my little review:
The clean channel is phenomenal. It sounds really good, like it has some sort of extra depth to it. EQ works well, you can really dial it in very easily. The mid control really boosts the volume as you sweep it forward. These amps also have bass for days.
The reverb is pretty good as long as you dont go too crazy with it. Pushing it too far results in an almost chorus-y sound, but it sounds kind of artificial.
The overdrive channel was a disappointment. It produced a pretty smooth little drive, but it seemed very sterile with no character. It was also hard to get any definition out of it, though that could be my setup. Like no matter what I did with the treble knobs, I couldn't get a decent tone that cuts without it sounding shrill. I A/B'd it with my BB Preamp pedal, and the BB pedal sounded much better.
My unit came with an incredibly scratchy volume pot. Shame because it made the headphone feature of the amp next to useless, because as you sweep the knob you get volume fluctuations.
I actually wrote DV about it, and they said the volume knob shouldnt make any noise at all as you sweep it. I wondered if I had damaged the amp because I used the headphone option without a speaker load connected, but I only did so because I knew the amp was solid state and I read somewhere that it was designed to be used this way to make it a nice, portable practice option on the go.
DV even confirmed in the email that the amp was safe to use this way, so I guess I just got bad luck. The box I received actually looked like it had been opened before, so who knows. Musician's Friend is usually pretty good about that stuff.
Anyways, its going back and I'm going to rock the Jazz 12 combo. Its a proven piece of kit for me. Thanks for reading!
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Sorry to hear it didn't work out for you.
At low volume the OD does sound somewhat sterile but my experience with the band at band volume is that it's fat, organic and cuts through as well as my Budda. But it's also a question of taste.
My volume pot is crackling too but only if you turn it while there is signal going through it, exactly like the classic boost circuit, he one sold by Zvex for $180 that costs you about $10 and an hour to make yourself even without any experience in electronics :-). So I thought it was inherent to the circuit, I have not much problem with it as long as it doesn't get worse.
Hopefully you'll enjoy the Jazz 12.
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Forget the overdrive channel, when I need that dirty sound... i go:
(I changed the tube to a TAD ECC83-Cz RT003 to get a more creamy sound but that's a matter of taste..)Last edited by DonEsteban; 12-31-2017 at 01:01 PM.
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Any love for the Micro 50 Jazz single channel?
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I've got the DV Mark Jazz Little coming next week. It's basically the Micro50 Jazz with a speaker. I'm assuming it's basically the clean channel of the standard Micro50, nothing different. I ordered the Jazz Little to get the XLR out. Originally Posted by Skip Ellis
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Wow, I just found out about the newer DV Mark products. We used to have the Frank Gambale combos in college, but I hadn't heard about the Micro heads and the Jazz combos.
The ad for the Micro 50 mentions an "input special circuit" meant to better interface with pedals. So, can anybody confirm whether the input section of the Micro 50 differs from the CMT head and/or Little Jazz in that regard? Did you try out these amps with your pedalboards and if so, how did they take the OD pedals?
I am a little confused, as they don't mention this "special circuit" on the other amp heads...
(The reason being: if the input section is the same on all the models and if they all take pedals well, I might - due to the fact that the OD section on the heads seems to be a matter of taste - just get the very convenient little combo and add pedals to taste)
Any insight would be much appreciated.
(as mentioned before by another poster - if only the Boss Katana offered a micro head... the katana 100 combo seems on the heavy side...)
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CMT takes pedals very well, just like my other amps. Loop workshop great with pedals too.
I'd expect all micro 50 models to share the same 'input circuit' and to differ only by the OD: smooth on the CMT, aggressive on the M, in between on the standard and missing on the Jazz. But that's only a gut feeling.
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