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Honestly thats about the only thing I havent seen anyone review. I will definitely hit you guys back up and let you know how the volume issues work out when it comes to the drummer, first rehearsal I hit is probably this thursday. If remember, ill film a few standards with my [church] drummer there. He tends to be pretty loud, but ill keep him in line!
Honestly I will never get rid of my Rambler, Steven Carr is a magician, and hes a REALLY cool guy as well. His team of people are the best and I have friends who are employed by him and he also has a rep. of treating his people extremely well. When you run a company like that, or like Peter Henriksen I applaud those types of companies and business owners and how the run their companies. That said, The car is HEAVY when you regularly end up gigging in metro areas where you can't park near the front door or even stop there to unload with out being harangued by some parking enforcement or whatever. If i know where Im going or I need a loud amp, the Rambler is my no. 1 and honestly the henriksen sounds a lot different... theyre not really worth comparing except for in weight.
T
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02-02-2019 05:17 PM
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If I had one of these would my Raezors Edge twin 8 cabinent work for an extension speaker. The RE is a 4 ohm speaker but rated for a lot of watts.
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Hey Deacon,
Originally Posted by deacon Mark
The Blu says "8 Ohm extension" only. Maybe check with Henriksen to see if a 4 Ohm would be safe ..?
Re: playing loud with a band, etc. @sgcim, I "mini-reviewed" this in a couple other Henriksen posts. I've used the Blu and a 1x8 extension cab with a big band, and at a loud "jazz jam," and it worked great. I'm not sure, though, about the Blu by itself in such loud situations. In my trio and quartet, however, it's been perfect by itself!
Marc
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You can use a 4 ohm extension speaker such as the RE twin 8 as long as you disable the Blu's internal speaker. This is done by plugging a "dummy" plug such as a 1/4" to 1/8" adaptor plug into the headphone jack. Originally Posted by deacon Mark
Jonathan
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Thanks, Marc. Let me know if you ever try it with the big band and loud jam without the extension. I'm lucky to have a RS-10 extension cab that handles 8 Ohms, if I ever decide to pick up the Blu. Originally Posted by marcwhy
I was disappointed with a friend's Bud when he demonstrated it for me. He said it stayed clean when he cranked up the volume, and then when he did it, it was distorting pretty bad.
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I tried both at a store today. Difference in both weight and tone is very noticeable between Blu and the Bud. I was surprised as I thought they were gonna sound identical. That makes sense now. Originally Posted by Stringswinger
There was also considerable price difference between the two (Blu 1299, Bud 1799 Canadian). Of course part of the weight and price difference is Bud has two independent channels. But Bud also has input gain control. What I like about that is you can make the guitar sound a lot fatter at low volumes by increasing the gain. This input gain control I think is also part of the difference in their sound.
It might be possible to dial in the exact tone using the powerful tone controls but I didn't try that in the store.Last edited by Tal_175; 02-03-2019 at 07:39 AM.
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I use the input control on the Bud a lot. Turning it all the way up with a hot humbucker indeed causes distortion. Turning it way down with an acoustic guitar that has its own preamp and volume control on board makes a big difference in controlling the signal. The lack of it in the Blu would have been a deal breaker for me. Originally Posted by Tal_175
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I chose the Blu for its lighter weight and warmer tone. I am glad I did. While I like having the second channel, It is a luxury, not a necessity for me (I do not sing). I came back to my car from tonight's gig with the guitar and amp both on my shoulders. And my tone on the gig (at a not very loud volume) was as good as I could ever want. A 175 with flats and my Blu is my new go to gig-rig. Originally Posted by Tal_175
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I’ve had the Blu for a while now and, to be honest, it sounds ok, but it isn’t warm, nor is it suited for solidbody guitars in pop, rock or funk. But even though I have other amps, it is still what I play most of the time for sheer practicality. It’s a good amp for jazz guitar and the bluetooth connection is a godsend for practising with iRealb.
I did plug in an electric bass a few times and managed to damage the speaker and cause rattling. But replacing it was easy and now everything is fine. I also play a double bass through it often and at low volumes, this works well.
If I were to gig regularly, I’d probably bring a backup, but it is a very useful amp.
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I would not use the Blu for bass or pop/rock/funk as I have better amps for those applications. My flatwound strung Les Paul has as much warmth through the Blu as I would want. And my 175's/L-5 are plenty warm as well. If I need full on Pat Martino tone, my AI/RE rig is the only choice. But with the tweeter off and the EQ set flat, the Blu is very much a warm toned amp, IMO. Originally Posted by Reissueplayer
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I have a Bud, went to jam session a few months and the upright bass player forgot his amp??!! how do you do that, no idea but it happened. i said well, plug into the buds second channel. Rolled off the verb and presence, eq was pretty much flat. Also plugged in was my Victor baker..it was a quartet, drums and sax as well.. Couldn't believe it, sounded great, didn't break up, had a decent amount of volume going through it too!. Originally Posted by Stringswinger
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Originally Posted by sgcim
I play in a big band, haven't brought my Bud to the gig yet. Always bring my Mini Brute. Kinda affraid of all those horns, drums, etc drowning me out..Anyway i subbed the gig on NYE and my buddy brought his Blu. Was curious to see if it held up. He said it was no problem, guess ill have to try it
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Ok so I have had six rehearsals in two contexts. one was with a sop, alto, bari sax section who was running hits and stuff. The second was with a rhythm section and a saxophone player. My bass player was electric, and my drummer was loud, and the this thing didnt just do fine, it cut right through all of those situations without topping out. I am really blown away by how its possible. The only thing I could think was if we were all going to play louder at a gig, maybe that'd be a problem... Seems really legit. I'll see what happens with a full band within the week, and leave my remarks about that.
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Cool! Again, with a proper extension cab, you should easily be able to handle the louder gigs! (and/or go direct if using a PA)
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So glad you are loving the amp Marc! Yes I should have phrased my feeling on the down firing port more clearly, but you are right that it needs a larger flat surface in order to sound "it's best". Normally a chair or bench will work fine and as it is pretty easy to deal with, in that sense to me it's "not an issue".
Here in Beijing I stick this thing in the basket on the handlebars of my bicycle (hey in Beijing traffic it's faster than a car!) and with the guitar on my back, getting around to the gig couldn't be easier and I LOVE the sound!
Disclaimer: No I don't normally ride the bicycle in Beijing with the L5 on my back. One tumble and that would be the END for my beloved Wesmo!
And yes Sir Bruce did say he's using either his Blu or Bud (he has both) for 80% of his gigs these days. Most of his gigs are small group or his solo Red Guitar show.
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Doug, the Blu has become my main amp. I have both the guitar and amp on my shoulders as I walk from my car to the bandstand (on some San Francisco gigs, my walk can be as much as half a mile). Most of my gigs are small group or solo these days (there is never enough money for a large group these days, and I do not play for free, and playing for tips is, IMO, playing for free). I think that as long as the Blu is not on top of a speaker cabinet or slatted chair, the downfiring port is not an issue. Here is a picture of me on my solo gig last Saturday. As you can see, I have the Blu elevated on a wine barrel that has been made into a table. Originally Posted by Gitpicker
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I haven't had the opportunity to hear a Bud in person. How accurately does the following video represent its capabilities?
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Is a blu (or Bud) louder than a little jazz ?
(Not the specs , in the real world with a band....)
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Tried a Little Jazz some time ago...in my opinion, it didn't have enough volume to gig with in any capacity, save for maybe a polite audience at a solo gig. Very underwhelming. Originally Posted by pingu
The BLue and Bud seem to be real, giggable amps.
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i was afraid of that ! Originally Posted by mr. beaumont
looks like a blu or an 8" mambo will be my next amp
when my comp60 gives up
not cheap tho ,
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I've never been in the same zip code as any Henriksen, AFAIK, but I've used a Little Jazz many times, including repeatedly at a blues jam that I attended for awhile, until I quit because it was too loud to bear. At not much above half volume, it was as loud as the much bigger Fenders, Katanas, and other amps in the club. I cannot understand why anyone would think it isn't loud enough, because mine gets painfully loud, even with the guitar volume rolled back near halfway. I think one reason it cut through so well is that it has robust mids, something really lacking in the Fender tube amps. Probably if I rolled the mid control way off it wouldn't be as loud, but I'm not a fan of the Fender scooped sound. I tend to put all the tone controls flat.
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This amp far and away stood up to three saxes, and a full rhythm section. It WAS almost maxed out but it worked, and I ended up actually turning down at one point. So there you go. It DOES WORK in big band or sextet arrangement settings, I was using a Michael Tuttle Telecaster (big ups to Mr. Tuttle, a wonderful guy and luthier.) and I was able to be heard by all, and like I said, I did eventually even turn down a bit. I have officially retired my Rambler to studio work (which I never get) or special occasion gigs (gigging at a huge room/ballroom or outside).
A fine product in its entirety. It's worth noting that Peter Henriksen is no slouch when it comes to his customers.
I was able to get in touch with him directly zero difficulty or wait time, and perhaps have even made a new amp making friend.
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Heard a classic 17 piece big band in a room for about 100 (not full) yesterday.
Guitarist had an Epiphone full body into a Blu. Classic jazz tone, particularly impressive on comping chords.
Volume wise, he was perfect.
I complimented him at the end and he mentioned that he had a lineout from the amp into the PA.
So, I have no idea whether the Blu would have cut the gig. But, I can attest that it sounded great -- line out, speaker or both in some combination.
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My Blu TEN arrived today, and I have only had about an hour to try it out. But, here are my early impressions:
It seems much more powerful and the sound seems to be much bigger and with perhaps more color than the Henriksen Jazzamp 12 that I owned a few years ago. I don’t think I’d have any trouble getting gig level volume with plenty of clean head room from this amp.
The EQ and presence controls provide a lot of sensitivity in dialing in the tone you’re looking for. With everything set at 12:00 and amp volume at 10:00 with the volume on my L5 around 9 and tone around 8 it is very bright and even starts to break up a little bit in the higher registers. If I dial back the high frequency EQ to about 10:00 and boost the low mid and high mid to about 2:00, bring the presence down to about 10:00 and boost the amp volume a bit the tone gets much more creamy but the acoustic character of the guitar still comes through in a great way. It’s very much of a Kenny Burrell sound, which I’m always trying to find.
As I experiment more I may try and post a couple of videos. But, I have to say that I’m very satisfied so far.
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Thanks for the impressions. I'm going to try one out at NAMM next month. I have a Blu 6" and am curious to try the 10!
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