Small but loud guitar amp?

[randyc]

NOTE: this post for light entertainment only

... I also have some Music Man amps but tube amps are so much heavier because of the transformers (among other things)...

I like those Music Man amplifiers, the 210 series especially. They can sing very sweetly. I always thought that the configuration was a good compromise ...

Here's a dichotomy that pure laziness has prevented me from working through and it's related to the excess weight of tube amplifiers versus solid state amplifiers (because of the differences in transformer requirements).

And of course, bodid, you are so right about those transformers and their weight contribution, so here's my (mostly rhetorical) "problem". A comparison between these two amplifiers, both of which I own:

(A) Fender Twin (vacuum tube amp, two 12 inch speakers, TWO huge transformers, 85 watts at 5% distortion)

(B) Sunn Beta Lead (solid state amplifier, two 12 inch speakers, ONE huge transformer, 100 watts at 0.25% distortion - talk about CLEAN)

Indicates these obvious differences:

The Sunn is smaller than the Fender (speakers are angled so that the cabinet is not so wide as the Twin).

Loudness ? I dunno, both are very loud. I HAVE cranked each of them in an outdoor environment but not side by side and I wouldn't trust my ears to make a comparative judgement of loudness anyway.

Weight ? Published Twin figures seem to vary (I haven't actually weighed mine) from about 70 to around 80 pounds ... The Sunn ? Well, one user estimated it at around 1,000,000 pounds.

Most estimates that I've read on the web seem to agree with that (Actually, as I recall the thing is about 90 pounds and I have NO idea how I used to move it around - I'm 5' 6", 130 pounds and was skinnier back in the day.)

Like I said, the question is largely rhetorical, the solution is no more complex than turning the amplifier around and taking a squint at the transformers and speakers.

But then I'd have to LIFT the dang thing !!! It's strange, isn't it, how conventional wisdom - and engineering intuition - can be so incorrect ?

I always hesitate to use terms like "my XXXXX blows XXXX away" and "this XXXXX makes XXX sound like a toy", you know, the Harmony Central sort of comparisons.

Having said this and with the exception of almost all bass amplifiers, the Sunn Beta Lead is probably the loudest guitar amplifier that most people could ever "hear" ! The extreme high power Class D amplifiers definitely included They clearly have more power but, configured as a guitar amplifier, are never utilized in a manner that takes advantage of their circuit efficiency. The speakers always define the limit of their performance.

(BUT, as PA amplifiers, WOW !!! That's what the Class D amplifiers were "born" to do ... no limitations on speaker size or weight.)

So, considering my brash claims, is the Beta Lead a useful amplifier ? No, not to a jazz musician. But then I was playing a lot of different genres at the time that I bought it and was obviously a great deal fitter than I am now.

Cheers

PS: amusing observation, while attempting to find a "hard spec" for the weight of the Beta Lead, I followed down various hits from Google. One led to a "mainstream" (? pop, rock, ?) where one of the guys that my wife refers to as the "13 year old engineers" made the following observation: "the difference between a 50 watt amp and a 100 watt amp is only 12%". That's the grin of the day.

[lpdeluxe]

My Music Man HD-130 Reverb head was 44 lb, according to published specs. It was an early one that had a 12AX7 in the pre circuit, so it was possible to dial up distortion (back when I used a bit of distortion). The last couple of years, before I traded it off, I kept it in our practice space, where I used it with a Hartke 410XL as a bass amp. That's where the "clean" really shines. But 44 + 88 lb meant is was non-portable, and in fact it was the amp that got me into downsizing. I figure I went from a gross of around half a ton to about a third!

Anyhow, I ended up with two excellent small amps: the Blues Jr NOS, and a Fender Jazzmaster Ultralight. The former is in your price range, but the latter is around $1200 (I didn't pay anywhere near that -- that's where all those behemoths went, in trade). The BJ is a little airier sounding; the JM is more focused. I tend to plug my Les Paul Jr into the Jazzmaster, and the 335 goes into Junior.

I just lately got a Band-Master VM head, which is 22 lb and 40 watts, and I find it has a musical tone. Right now I am scuffling over a speaker cab (just got a Weber 15 in their own cab, 37 lb, but they sent me the wrong one, so it has to go back). Used, you could pick up the BM for under $500 -- but it's fairly new, so they may be hard to find. I like the fact that I can make two easy trips with a head and cab compared to one more difficult trip with a combo, and my current bass rig reflects that: a Hartke 20 lb head, a 34 lb 2-10, and, for more grunt at outdoor jobs, a 50 lb 1-15. That adds up to 104 lb, but in small increments it's doable.

[tejastani]

Hey,all-- first post. I like my Phil Jones AG 100. I got it at Sam Ash for $299 (half price). I haven't got an a real jazzbox yet, but play a Wecter Pathmaker import with an Artec single coil pickup in the soundhole. I use an ART Tube MP for a little tube compression and the phase switch. Strung with TI flatwounds, it sounds great.

[BigDaddyLoveHandles]

Hey,all-- first post. I like my Phil Jones AG 100. I got it at Sam Ash for $299 (half price). I haven't got an a real jazzbox yet, but play a Wecter Pathmaker import with an Artec single coil pickup in the soundhole. I use an ART Tube MP for a little tube compression and the phase switch. Strung with TI flatwounds, it sounds great.

Hi,

I'm in the AG-100 fan club (bought it recently) but I payed about $450 US for it. I had seen that $299 price at Sam Ash (here) but as you see, that's marked "item not available". When did you buy yours? I looked and looked and could not find the amp at that price. I think that may have just been a special intro price. I just want to know what I can tell people is a good price for the amp that is available now.

[tejastani]

I bought it about 2 months ago in response to a clearance sale ad I got in the mail. The store is in San Antonio Texas and I'd seen the little amp on a previous trip, plus I'd seen a video review at acoustic guitar magazine's site.
I played an Ibanez thinline thru it and it sounded great-- warm and jazzy on the neck pu and brightening to a nice twang on the bridge. The center position had a rich, chimey tone for R&B rhythm. All with the amp controls set flat.

[tejastani]

Mine does not have the socket for a speaker stand as mentioned in another post. I can retro-fit one like I did on my Centaur Acoustic PA+ ( a polytone-like 12" combo w/3 channels that is also nice for jazz) I guess. But the gigbag is great. One trip from car to gig has long been my goal.

[BigDaddyLoveHandles]

Yes, only the latest ones have that socket in the bottom. (Mine does.) I was told the stand will be available the end of November and should cost about $40:

[tejastani]

Looks like a snare drum stand. I've got a pair of PA speaker stands, if I could just remember where I ordered the socket from, oh well. For now I have a 30" high kitchen stool that works great.