Polytone Amp in Original Cardboard

[golfus]

So I found this Minibryte I in Germany (Ebay), and It looked mint. As if it was used only at home. Seller said the speaker was original so I bought it. Well, here´s the amp.
The amp is very clean. Actually cleaner than it looks in the pix. Very well taken care of,which is strange at list around here. Nothing strange until now, but:

This story begins this morning.While at work my girlfriend calls me and says:

-You didn´t tell me that you bought another Polytone.

She never opens anything so my first thought was: how the hell does she know that it is a polytone.

-Sorry Darling I forgot to tell you.

So when I arrive at home I FIND THIS:


This Gentleman has kept the original cardboard box for 30 years!!!!!


And inside the box all kinds of documentation.Schematics , user manual, catalog...
This is like traveling in time.




The amp sounds superb by the way. Is this crazy or what.

Thanks to Martin for sending these things. Thank you.

[garybaldy]

Fantastic find!
I'd love to see the paperwork in detail and the original speaker.

[golfus]

I´l scan these things on saturday.

[Max405]

There are still really great people all over the world it seems.
It is nice to read something like this.
Joe D

[medblues]

I am confused. The box has Mini Brute II x'ed. But the amp does not seem to have a reverb (hence Mini Brute I).

[pauln]

I am confused. The box has Mini Brute II x'ed. But the amp does not seem to have a reverb (hence Mini Brute I).

...thing labeled "reverb" adjacent to the power light, it is upside down.

[medblues]

...thing labeled "reverb" adjacent to the power light, it is upside down.

"reverse" not reverb :-)

[Greentone]

Ah, a circa '86-'87 Mini Brute I. Great amp for every gig.

I love them. Reverb pedal and you're ready for jazz guitar. As is, bass for days.

Great shape, that one.

Enjoy.

[vintagelove]

Wow.

looks clean too, not like a hoarder owned it.

[garybaldy]

Exact same layout as my III.
Edit, Sorry mine doesn't have a mid!

[golfus]

I have a lll too. Exactly like this but does´t have a working poweramp. I must get around that. I miss the 15".

[BigDaddyLoveHandles]

I've never had a Poly with a mid control. How useful is it? I'm a mids guy -- what does it sound like when you bump the mids and lower treble and bass?

[pauln]

"reverse" not reverb :-)

Damn, that breaks my long running streak of always being right.

[medblues]

Damn, that breaks my long running streak of always being right.

And I just used up my annual allowance :-)

[golfus]

I have never had a Polytone without mid control. I also want to know first hand if there is magic involved in the no mids amps.
Actually I find it very useful, but I only know this polytones. Playing alone I use the pot in the first quarter. It´s a more acoustic cleaner sound. In a group I prefer it at noon. Again some of my guitars have more mids than others...

[pcjazz]

"reverse" not reverb :-)

So what does that do --- suck all the air out of the room?

[BigDaddyLoveHandles]

So what does that do --- suck all the air out of the room?

[Chazmo]

I think it has bass, mid and treble. See the word "Mid" below "Treble"? It looks like the treble pot is stacked with the mid control on the bottom portion.

[medblues]

So what does that do --- suck all the air out of the room?

Haha, switches polarity in case of electrical shocks or buzzing.

[Greentone]

Cutting bass and treble while boosting mids doesn't yield a flat sound as on a Fender because the Polytone has Baxandal tone controls.

Flat is when all 3 are half way up.

[BigDaddyLoveHandles]

Cutting bass and treble while boosting mids doesn't yield a flat sound as on a Fender because the Polytone has Baxandal tone controls.

Flat is when all 3 are half way up.

Yes, I'm wondering how "middy" you can make a Polytone with a mid control sound. The "anti" blackface sound

[KirkP]

I've never had a Poly with a mid control. How useful is it? I'm a mids guy -- what does it sound like when you bump the mids and lower treble and bass?

I don’t have an answer, but the question prompted me to think more about the mid-control concept. The problem with single-knob mid controls on any amp is that a designer had to lock in the center frequency and bandwidth of the control. “Mids” refers to a very wide range of frequencies. If the designer’s choice of center frequency and width doesn’t happen to be what you need for the tone in your head, you‘re out of luck.

Parametric EQ solves that problem by allowing the player to make those choices. But the circuit is more complicated & expensive to implement. It’s also more complicated to use, which could frustrated an untrained user, so most amp manufactures don’t see a demand to add them.

Parametric EQ devices tend to be fairly complex and expensive, but I wondered if anyone might be offering a simple, inexpensive parametric mid control in stompbox format. I found an old Guyatone pedal that seems to be exactly what I’m thinking of.

This more recent Artec pedal seems similar.
Artec Parametric EQ – Thomann United States

Boss used to make the PQ-4 pedal. It had no bandwidth controls (which classifies it as a “semi-parametric” or “sweepable filter” EQ), but it had two sweepable mid controls for independent control of upper and lower mids. The extra complexity might make it more difficult to dial in a desired tone though.

I’m just brainstorming.

[Chazmo]

A mid control on a Polytone--or any amp really--is great for fine tuning guitar tone because the frequencies produced by the guitar live largely in the midrange. If the guitar is too thin sounding it helps to boost the mids a bit. If the tone is kind of muddy, it helps to cut the mids a bit. On a Polytone, Henricksen, Acoustic Image--any amp that is basically flat when the controls are straight up at 12:00--EQ adjustments are usually just a slight twist to the left or right. It usually doesn't take too drastic an adjustment to dial in the tone.

[Hammertone]

Just get one of these. You get to pick between three different midrange control settings!

[Greentone]

Hammertone is essentially correct. Polytone amps do a tremendous job of bringing the Ampeg amp sound into a portable package. (The amp shown above is "portable," but you will strain your back carrying it. IME, every Ampeg is _heavier_ than the Fender amp to which it corresponds.)

Ampegs just sound better for jazz than Fender amps do, IMO. I love Fender amps, but I love Ampeg amps a bit more. It comes down to the Baxandall tone stack and the CTS speakers that often reside in the Ampeg.

Tommy Gumina took this recipe to heart when he designed the solid-state Polytone line. Baxandall tone stacks and CTS speakers everywhere. (Later, in the 1980s, he switched to Eminence speakers because CTS became unavailable.) The Polytone 101, 102, 103, 104, and Mini Brute series amps are all wonderful tributes to the great Ampeg amps of the 50s and 60s.

This being said, the VT-22 above will do anything you want a jazz amp to do with an archtop guitar. As a bonus, you can fill in for Keef on the Stones tour, too.