Small, clean, and loud amp that doesn't rattle with a working bass knob

**jjang1993** · 01-22-2018, 11:41 PM

Deleted

**Frank67** · 01-23-2018, 12:55 AM

I guess all of these would do fine. I would put a good word in for the AER (I have the compact XL). They are small and light, still very loud, built like a tank, you can run vocals through it as well, the line out works great into a PA, the EQ knobs are very sensitive, the amp is super true to your guitar tone, acoustic guitars sound great through it, the onboard reverb or delay sounds, I think, pretty good. They arguably look pretty cool :-)

**Jabberwocky** · 01-23-2018, 03:19 AM

How about a Fractal AX8 ($1100 currently) and an active PA cab like the Yamaha DXR10, active Buscarino Chameleon, Mission Engineering Gemini?

**feet** · 01-23-2018, 03:21 AM

a few suggestions that may be slightly outside of the norm-

if your amps are rattle-y and gassy, maybe just an eq pedal? a good parametric one, or even better, one with a low cut/high pass knob? with a nice parametric you can zero in on the offending frequency and chop it right out. it takes a little know-how and effort, though. my quite lovely fishman platinum pro eq has a low cut knob and its great for tightening low end and cutting out rumble and howls. and my guitars still sound quite big, without farting all over the place.

maybe a pa/powered speaker/line array type set up? could probably handle the lows better, but is more hassle to compile and deal with. it would suck to carry a mixer around but most folks love the results.

lastly, just take your tube amp to a tech and have him clean out, tighten and perhaps shim everything so the cab is quiet. you could do it yourself if you know the source of the rattle. a pick or some folded paper wedged somewhere could be all you need. or maybe those tube cage things, or those rubber rings?

i'd be hesitant to make a purchase this close to namm- something you'd rather have is bound to be announced the second you buy something. but for cheap and available, the roland ac line of amps is fairly impressive. i like how my archtops sound through it, at least. am using that fishman and a telefunken di, though. the set in archtops can sound pretty nice but it really loves my floater. i also approve of my carvin stagemate, but that is iffy now since they took their leave of this world.

**entresz** · 01-23-2018, 03:58 AM

The DV Mark little jazz is worth considering. Bass control is very responsive, has heaps of headroom and is very small and light. No rattles with mine...

**christianm77** · 01-23-2018, 05:22 AM

AER + American Sound pedal

**christianm77** · 01-23-2018, 05:25 AM

Or the Axe FX if you can afford it? The guy who mastered my album prefers the the $30 Joyo to Kemper (didn’t opine on fractal) and sansamp and this is a guy who spends thousands and thousands on gear and software. So I ordered another since my old one had died.

**Alter** · 01-23-2018, 06:43 AM

What guitars are you using? The big archtops are sure bass heavy, i actually prefer to use 10' speakers with them, makes for a lot more controllable bass when playing live. Playing jazz with an archtop is the only case where i feel that a good solid state amp isn't a compromise when compared to tubes, and this when going for an acoustic type tone.

From the amps you mention, i have a henriksen and the aer 60, and have owned a phil jones cube and an acoustic image in the past. I 'd say the aer is the most versatile, it sounds great with all kinds of guitars, and is dead easy to carry. The henriksen is really good at getting that one archtop sound, never had any bass problems. The acoustic image was ok, but i liked the aer better, and the phil jones was the weaker, kind of more digital sounding from all of them

Overall the aer is great, but i take the henriksen to jazz gigs with an elferink guitar, and i am also going for a very trebly kind of sound, as it is the only realistic way not to have feedback with a very sensitive archtop live. The quilters might be great, but i 've never played through one..

**christianm77** · 01-23-2018, 06:53 AM

Henriksens are cool. I hate the pj cube.

Quilters don’t really inspire me.

The Mambo lobby will surely turn up soon on this thread lol

**christianm77** · 01-23-2018, 06:54 AM

I’m going to give the Joyo Blue Jay a try. Super budget but sounds pretty nice. Turns up with little breakup. Has a tube in it though. Dunno how giggable it is

Dunno how loud it is.

Also Vox MV 50 Clean is certainly loud and clean. Not really tube.

Separate cab can be pretty light. And flexible if you want a bigger speaker and are driving

Re pres, the AMT F1 sounds great. Doesn’t have battery though. Does Fender Twin very convincingly.

Maybe plug into a class D power amp? Then a light cab? Splitting the weight might make it easier to transport.

**christianm77** · 01-23-2018, 07:00 AM

Matrix elements? They do an amp classic 500 or something.

Class D bass heads with a certain Chinese made preamp pedal (I know I’m obsessed) - GK do one

Small Powered pa speaker with the same?

Boss Katana 50? (Bit heavier.... wish there was a 10” version. 12” not needed for jazz with acoustic bass imo)

Fifteen years ago you had one ss option (the AER) under 10kg now there’s dozens....

**christianm77** · 01-23-2018, 07:07 AM

Also get your tube amps looked over by a good engineer. All equipment needs maintenance. If you amps are hand wired they will be far easier to fix than modern ss stuff.

**mr quick** · 01-23-2018, 08:28 AM

DV MARK JAZZ 12 !! Weighs next to nothing and sounds gorgeous. Responsive ctrls too

**whiskey02** · 01-23-2018, 08:47 AM

BROKEN RECORD ALERT:
Too much bass = how close to the strings are your pickups?

**ThatRhythmMan** · 01-23-2018, 09:41 AM

For gigging, I basically use my AX8 exclusively and I used an AxeFX for years before that. While I use tube amps at home, gear like these Fractal units make for the easiest load in, sound checks, monitoring, load out, basically everything about a gig that I’ve ever experienced. I would be glad to share my preferred presets with anyone, should there be any interest.

**mad dog** · 01-23-2018, 09:49 AM

I've been using an early 80s Polytone Minibrute II for practice at home (not being near good enough to try jazz in public yet.) This amp really impresses. Small, quite manageable, can certainly get loud. Very easy to get the right bass levels, especially with the brite/middle/dark switch used as a preset.

As a longtime tube amp lover, I'm kind of surprised to find SS amp so satisfactory. It has a rich sound. Seems to be a perfect match with the P90 hollowbodies I mostly play.
MD

**Danny W.** · 01-23-2018, 09:50 AM

I've been using Acoustic Image combo amps (Corus+ and Ten2) for many years for everything outside my house. They are small, light, very powerful, have useful features, stay clean at any volume and do not rattle.

For jazz I use them straight, for rock/pop/pit band I use them with a modeler, currently a Fractal AX8.

Note that they are sealed, not ported; they have bottom-firing bass drivers. I have found that this works really well on any surface except grass/dirt. Luckily, I rarely find myself playing on that.

Danny W.

**sgosnell** · 01-23-2018, 10:04 AM

+1 for the DV Mark Little Jazz. It's small, portable, light, loud, and clean. I have an AI Clarus and Raezer's Edge 10" cabinet, and what I take out is the Little Jazz. It sounds as good, and it's much more portable. And it's reasonably priced, so if it gets smashed by a drunk it's not the end of the world. It's a great sounding amp with lots of bass, but you can remove that with a slight twist of the knob if you want It doesn't have a lot of knobs, but the ones that it has work very well.

**rio** · 01-23-2018, 11:55 AM

The Bud is amazing. It is super loud and solid sounding, has great eq control (which I barely ever need to use since that amp sounds great flat but helps to have the eq for playing in problem rooms), and being able to sling such a powerful and good sounding amp over my shoulder since it is so small and light to only need to take one trip from the car is amazing. It really is the best amp I’ve ever owned and I highly recommend it. I’ve gotten complements on my tone in the past but when I started bringing the Bud to gigs there are always comments about the sound being so good and seemingly not possible coming from an amp this small. I also use it as a bass amp now and it is very capable in that regard too.

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**TedBPhx** · 01-23-2018, 12:07 PM

Here’s a shout from way back in the cheap seats:

Try a Boss Katana!

May work for you.

**pingu** · 01-23-2018, 12:12 PM

finding rattles is sometimes a pita
in amps ....

tip
get at a looper pedal and loop a bit
of the offending notes ...

then you're free to fiddle about
with your amp , hold onto panels
components , to isolate the problem

(of course it it could be the actual speaker rattling !)

good luck ,
the DV little and 12 are good
and good value

**John A.** · 01-23-2018, 12:17 PM

Originally Posted by jjang1993

Thanks for the replies everyone! I'm definitely looking for something more portable and lightweight like a small combo than a large and heavy PA speaker, a mixer, and a Joyo amp sim pedal.

The culprit with the Fender Princeton clone I have is the chassis rattling inside the cabinet. It rattled on the 13th-16th frets on the D string unless the four screws that are holding the chassis in place are loose. I have those silicone O rings on the top of the preamp tubes, and for the two that are more exposed, I have three rings on those. I have 4 silicone O rings on each power tube, basically 2 pairs on each tube, one on the bottom of the glass and one on the top. To keep the back panels from rattling, I have rubber washers in the screws. Most recently, I lined the entire perimeter of the top of the chassis with two layers of 1mm thick foam tape. That may have solved the rattling, I'll wait to see how it holds up tomorrow. The rattle would be gone if I got the chassis perfectly lined up, only to wake up the next day to hear the rattle return. The rattle isn't blatant but enough to annoy the hell out of me when practicing. I really don't know what to do besides all that. All the screws are tightened down, I only use preamp tubes that don't rattle and and the more compact 6L6s like the Tung-Sold and TADs. I've tried it in different rooms. While it would be nice to have the builder look at it, I'd have to ship it to the other side of the country and lord knows what UPS or FedEx would do to the amp, even if I filled the whole box with as much packing paper as possible.

Having a small but powerful solid state amp that doesn't rattle would be worth it, one as a change of pace amp, and two as one to use when the tube amp needs maintenance or is straight up acting up like it is now. I can't wait until I can try out the Henriksen Bud. I wish I knew someone in town who has one. Michael Biller is always out of stock unfortunately.

I'm keeping my eyes peeled for an acoustic amp or class D bass amp of some sort on Craigslist. I remember liking the Roland AC-60 I tried at a local store here.

What's your budget?
How small is "small" to you
How loud do you need the amp to be? (based on your saying you have a Princeton clone, I'm assuming not hugely so?)

The things guys are suggesting here, like AER, AI, Henrickson, DV, are all cool so I wouldn't contradict any of those recommendations. FWIW, I've been very happy with a small Fender modeling amp (Champion 20), that is way cheaper than any of those. Larger models in the Fender (Mustang and Champion variants) and Roland (Cube variants) line are worth looking at if you need more power.

John

**rio** · 01-23-2018, 12:25 PM

Originally Posted by John A.

What's your budget?
How small is "small" to you
How loud do you need the amp to be? (based on your saying you have a Princeton clone, I'm assuming not hugely so?)

The things guys are suggesting here, like AER, AI, Henrickson, DV, are all cool so I wouldn't contradict any of those recommendations. FWIW, I've been very happy with a small Fender modeling amp (Champion 20), that is way cheaper than any of those. Larger models in the Fender (Mustang and Champion variants) and Roland (Cube variants) line are worth looking at if you need more power.

John

I would also suggest the Mustang. I didn’t mentio it at first because it is not as small yet not as loud as the Bud but it’s versatility is great and it has a good jazz sound in several of the amp models. I have refined my settings on the models I like the most but this was a video I made to demo the capabilities of the Mustang GT100 for jazz guitar. I use the Bud for basically every gig but I bring the Mustang to rehearsals sometimes and almost always practice with it at home.

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**coolvinny** · 01-23-2018, 12:42 PM

Originally Posted by christianm77

Henriksens are cool. I hate the pj cube.

Quilters don’t really inspire me.

The Mambo lobby will surely turn up soon on this thread lol

Mambo lobby here, although admittedly it's not my main amp (I prefer open-back 12's for most live situations, vs. the closed back Mambo's). My Mambo is the Wedge 8 - I've had it since 2012! The Mambo 8 certainly can be very loud and still sound excellent, and there are no rattles whatsoever, and I've used it on gigs in smaller rooms.