DV Mark Little Jazz

**bluesholyman** · 09-25-2015, 01:42 PM

Ok, so here is what went down....

I picked up the DV Mark Little Jazz with a trade-in/trade-up special going on right now at GC for $280 - decent price I think. But this gets better....

I am on my way to GC and decide to detour to Sam Ash to see if that had anything else I might be interested in before I push the button on the DVMLJ. A used Blackstar HT5R but it was just not doing it for me and no other tiny combos sounded as good. Then I tripped over a used, nice but generic cabinet, that had come in to the store yesterday. I peak at the back to learn about it and its a half-back cabinet with this in it: JBL D131 Signature 12" speaker, circa 1960s.

BOOM!. It now has a new home under my LJ. I think it should do nicely with that amp.

**bluesholyman** · 09-25-2015, 09:51 PM

Here is the setup. I am beyond happy with this amp. I think by itself, it is wonderful, but paired with a good external speaker, this thing really shines (and puts out 60W vs the 40 with stock speaker.) This is a half-back, or 2/3 back, open center cabinet with the JBL D131 in there. It is really loud with that speaker, which is a 12W Alnico, from what I have read. Don't think I'll be turning it up all the way so I don't cook the Lansing.

Touch responsiveness is really impressive with this amp and with the larger speaker, it is much easier to tell. Oh what a wonderful musical tool this thing is.

DV Mark Little Jazz-img_1652_zpsxth1jjfm-jpg

DV Mark Little Jazz-img_1652_zpsxth1jjfm-jpg

**nodog** · 09-25-2015, 11:31 PM

Hi Bluesholyman,
That is a very nice rig you have right there. I am finding that i get along with the Little jazz more and more . It is sensitive to knob twirling took me a while to set it up the way i want it. I have just sent off to Thomann for a celestion vintage 30 harley benton 12 inch cab 112 bucks which is a steal just to fatten it up. Mind you the sound im getting from it is amazing on its own, i have no idea how they get that much tone out of a small speaker like that and lugging it around is a breeze.

(Im Old -If not now When? Make hay when the sun shines.)

**hkrause** · 11-05-2015, 05:05 AM

Hi

I haven´t tried the small DV Jazz but I am the owner of a DV jazz 12 and it´s pretty good. I use it a lot for "giggin". It is easy to carry and the volume is never a problem. I often go by bicycle with my gear and the DV is just perfect for that. I have had persons in here doubting that the Dv 12 was loud enough. Well, I am not a tecnical person but I use a Polytone minibrute 4 too. Looking at the watts it is suposed to be a lot louder than the DV...but it is not. When I do jobs with my bigband I always bring the DV. It is louder and cuts through it all. I prefere the sound of the Polytone, though. It is cleaner and warmer. The DV tends to have a coloured tone...as if there is a little reverb all the time.
Then again, I bought it as a specific jazzamp and as an alternative to a Henriksen amp. But it is much cheaper than a Henriksen,,,at least here in Europe.

Best Henrik

**Tom Karol** · 11-16-2015, 10:55 PM

I just received a DV Mark Little Jazz on sale from MF for $339. (They had a 15% discount on items over $200 for Veterans' Day.) It's not all that loud - I don't need it to be, as I've got bigger amps - but it sounds quite good! The fan is marginally audible when I'm not playing, but it doesn't bother me as I'm not planning to use it for recording. Just a preliminary report ...

I played it for a hour tonight with my Eastman AR403ce with the guitar's normal 'sweet-spot settings' for volume and tone. The amp was on the floor, and its settings were:
Bass 11 o'clock;
Middle 12 o'clock;
Treble 1 o'clock;
Reverb 9 o'clock;
Volume (up to) 12 o'clock.

I've said this before: I love little tiny amps (in theory) ... and I hate little tiny amps (in practice)! I've owned and sold a number of them: Roland MicroCube, VOX DA5 and DA10, ZT Lunchbox Acoustic. This one sounds warmer, more open, and louder than any of those. I'm sure it's not nearly as good as a Henriksen Bud, Mambo 8, one of the Quilter 8's, or an AER Compact 60 - none of which I've tried - but at 15 lbs. and just a fraction of the price, I'll happily use it for practice, solo, and duo work.

By the way, I'm ordering a pocketed slip-cover from here: Custom Amp Covers - DV Mark. I've had good results from Glen in the past.

**Tom Karol** · 11-17-2015, 10:49 PM

OK, I played it with my Godin Montreal Premiere tonight. All tone controls flat. Reverb at 9 o'clock. Volume at 12 o'clock. Again, nice sounding amp. Surprising bottom end. Good reverb. But yeah, it's not that loud - definitely usable for solo and duo gigs, though. The fan is audible enough that it would be a problem if recording. Build quality is just OK. For the price and weight, I'm still quite happy with it. But it ain't gonna replace my Henriksens in most live settings!

**pingu** · 11-18-2015, 02:48 PM

the real question is ...

can the little jazz hang with a jazz drummer
playing with sticks ?
are you saying not Tom ?

from reports it would appear the dv jazz 12 can hang ....

**Top of the Arch!** · 11-18-2015, 02:55 PM

Ive used mine in a trio with bass and drummer and it was plenty loud . The venue was small though, it really depends on the size of the room. Bob

**Tom Karol** · 11-18-2015, 07:15 PM

Preliminary final assessment:

Pluses:

Size
Weight
Price
Sound - Quite good - well balanced tone with full bass, nice dynamics and good reverb. OK, so maybe not actually louder, but sounds 'bigger' than other similarly sized amps I've tried. Certainly loud enough for any solo, duo, or drummerless trio gig I might do.

Minuses:

Just OK build quality - reliability as yet unknown.
Fan noise - doesn't bother me, but I know many others have found it annoying.
Pingu - Maybe not loud enough to hang with drums/sticks - at least I probably wouldn't try to use it in that context.

Prognosis:

If my past history is any indication, I'll likely keep it for a year or so, sell it, and then get a Henriksen Bud, Mambo 8 Wedge, or one of the Quilter 8's at 3 times the price I paid for the LJ. But hey, life is too short to settle for, "Good enough!"

**Tom Karol** · 11-19-2015, 10:06 PM

Bad news: It's dead! Well ... "not dead, just sleeping!" I turned it on tonight, and got no sound except from the reverb circuit - an odd aural experience. I tried another guitar, exercised all the switches and knobs - still nothing. Then I wacked it on the back panel - sort of like you'd burp a baby - and it came to life and sounded fine. Turned it off for a few minutes and then back on ... twice, and it was still fine. And it does sound darn good, particularly with my AR-403 (roundwound 12's) which mates well with a dark sounding amp, which it sort of is! I'm tempted to take the back panel off and see if I can identify a loose connection, but I guess I'll have to return it to MF for a defective exchange. I'll let you know how that goes.

Two interesting factoids:
1) The block diagram in the manual shows a limiter at the end of the preamp.
2) On the back panel it says, "Designed in Italy/assembled in Indonesia."

And finally, one more plus/minus: the handle is nice, but the feet are too small!

**Longways to Go** · 11-19-2015, 11:24 PM

That's too bad. I'd return it for sure.

My Little Jazz has worked perfect for months now.
I enjoy the heck out of it. Tone is super and
My fan defeat switch has worked great.
Sorry your unit hasn't worked out so well.

**JWS** · 11-20-2015, 08:25 AM

I got my little jazz from DV Mark these days. Its really great for its size. Fan is louder I imagined. It gets on my nerves in the living room. If you play with others it would not be an issue.

Directly compared with my Fender Super Champ XD it gets some boxiness .. but the top of the tone is really great. I think about getting the DV Mark 12 for less boxiness and more volume.

Did anybody who actually got the Little Jazz compare it to the Jazz 12 from DV Mark?

The other way would by to get a extension cab. Any recommendations there?

By the way ... this is my first post on jazz guitar be ;-)... Greetings from Bavaria in Germany.

**Tom Karol** · 11-20-2015, 07:15 PM

Originally Posted by Longways to Go

That's too bad. I'd return it for sure...

Thanks, LWTG. I'll just call them tomorrow, get an RA number, send it back, and have them send me another one. A bit of a PITA, but not that big a deal. I do really like the amp and think I'll get a lot of use out of it, but I've got to be confident it will work every time when I turn it on!

**hkrause** · 11-21-2015, 06:08 AM

Hi

As I have written before: I am not a teknick/ tecnike/teknickally (? and my english spelling isn´t too good either, sorry) person. But I own a DV jazz 12 and I am pretty satisfied (especially considering the price) so I wonder: why would you buy the little jazz and a cabinet. The DV 12 jazz offer a 12" speaker at 8.6kilo?

Best
Henrik

**hkrause** · 11-21-2015, 06:25 AM

To JWS

I have the DV jazz 12. I like it for the tone, weight and price. But I prefere the tone of my Polytone minibrute 4.
To the question about the boxiness; the DV jazz 12 has some boxiness to the tone even with the 12" speaker.

Best
Henrik

**JWS** · 11-21-2015, 09:51 AM

to Henrik,

thanks for your answer.

I could get a Minibrute II for 500 EURO with defect Reverb. But I don't know what is exactly broken there and how much it would cost to get fixed. Kind of risky ...

Hopefully someone could state a little less boxiness of the DV jazz 12 directly compared to the DV little jazz.

You definitely right about the 12" and 8.6 kilo. With this little additional weight I should go for the DV jazz 12.

**David B** · 11-22-2015, 01:25 PM

Here's a new video from UK store Andertons, demoing both the Little Jazz and the Jazz 12.

**jkstigma** · 12-05-2015, 04:35 AM

Originally Posted by bluesholyman

I am picking up one of these today.

I am going to be doing some direct recordings of blues, with pedals, etc. Will have to post some junk if anyone is interested in the "how does it handle pedals" factor.

heyyy where is your recs ??
I am interesting about DV mark . I need a light amp with a clean headroom because i am using a lot of ambient sound effects. DO you think DV jazz can play a variety of music styles and especially ,,,is a pedal friendly amp.

and for god sake... the fan...how noisy is it? More than pc fan ?
Is there any video where we can hear that noise ?

**blackcat** · 12-05-2015, 06:30 AM

Originally Posted by jkstigma

heyyy where is your recs ??
I am interesting about DV mark . I need a light amp with a clean headroom because i am using a lot of ambient sound effects. DO you think DV jazz can play a variety of music styles and especially ,,,is a pedal friendly amp.

and for god sake... the fan...how noisy is it? More than pc fan ?
Is there any video where we can hear that noise ?

Superb amp for the money. Small footprint, light and for me works well with single coils ( Tele ) as well as it does the Super 58s on my Ibanez. Love the simplicity. Great build quality. Competent reverb and great unadulterated cleans.

Horses for courses on this one. When I had it at the same level as my ancient Compaq laptop with it's fan running it was a bit much but now it is a metre further way and on a lower shelf it is not an issue. Not remotely a problem in a duo setting,live. Did you watch the video from Anderton's in the last post - they specifically point to the fan noise?

Not sure what else you would buy at this price point considering all the pro's.

**jkstigma** · 12-05-2015, 08:08 AM

Originally Posted by blackcat

When I had it at the same level as my ancient Compaq laptop with it's fan running it was a bit much but now it is a metre further way and on a lower shelf it is not an issue. Not remotely a problem in a duo setting,live.
Not sure what else you would buy at this price point considering all the pro's.

thanks for that !

i saw that video, very helpful but it could be better if they have test those two amps with the same guitar.
This fan noise i guess it's not very nice...
i hope it's going to be less noisy than me fender projunior hum

**jkstigma** · 12-05-2015, 11:33 PM

it's very loud amp for 15w class A. I never had a problem with a blues jazz band. If you want to have more clean headroom you can replace the preamp tubes for less gain. 12ax7t to 12 ay7 or 12au7 will give you more headroom

**hkrause** · 12-09-2015, 03:32 AM

Hi there

There seems to be so much interest in the little DV jazz. I haven´t tried it but I have a DV jazz 12. Same amp, 12" speaker. Same sound, but very loud and portabel. Aprox 8 kilo and no too big. Carry it on my bike often. I use it on outside gigs and in my big band. It cuts through it all with a very clear sound even when the horns are loud. I use Polytone 2 or 4 in smaller groups. Better sound in my opinion. But I can recomend the DV jazz 12..it is just so handy, easy to handel and cheap.

Best
Henrik

**Guido_59** · 12-10-2015, 06:04 PM

Fan is audible but you can substitute with a low noise pc fan .The strange is that fan rumor came out from cone if you turn middle pot btween half and max I have heard this in 3 amps !
For me is very unbalanced amp with bass too evidence and a factory tone not neutral
Inthese amp you set tone almost eith mid control . Treeble has not great excursion and bass control ...attention don t tutn it over half
The same issue has the big brother 12" that not has fan problem
I hope this help you

**michael_bxl** · 12-23-2015, 08:07 AM

Hi,

I finally used mine last week for a caritative gig in a noisy hall, 200 people chatting loud, and I am glad to say it made it ! We even played caravan (-> loud drummer).

What I like about it, it is that we can turn the volume way up, and the sound stay clean.

**Tom Karol** · 12-23-2015, 11:05 AM

That's good to hear! Personally, I wouldn't try to use mine in that context, as I've got slightly bigger but much louder amps. I really don't like turning up the volume on solid state amps past 12 o'clock. But this thing sounds really good! It's all I use at home now. (And, yes, this one is still working just fine.) For gigging, I'd be comfortable using it for anything up to a drummerless trio; after that, I'd use one of my Henriksens depending on the context. But, I am glad I got it!