Polytone Mini Brute III

**neatomic** · 07-14-2016, 04:56 PM

jb- the main out is the pre amp out..it was made for use with polytones sidejack powered cabs..so you are just getting pre-amp tone..it's meant to be power amped

cheers

**Greentone** · 07-14-2016, 04:56 PM

I have an honest-to-god Polytone Owner's Manual from that era around the house, here. I will look and read what it says for the main out for the Mini Brute.

Polytone Owner's Manuals are just about as scarce as support from the manufacturer used to be when Polytone was yet in business.

STILL great amps though.

**jbucklin** · 07-14-2016, 05:10 PM

Okay, so as long as I run it through a mixer I will get a strong enough signal? Don't know if the mixer is powered or not.

**neatomic** · 07-14-2016, 05:27 PM

yeah running into mixer is fine..if mixer is connected to speakers (and there's sound!) than there's a power amp somewhere!!

cheers

**jbucklin** · 07-14-2016, 05:36 PM

Yep, I came to same conclusion!

**jbucklin** · 07-14-2016, 06:52 PM

Just want say thanks to both youse guys!

**neatomic** · 07-14-2016, 07:22 PM

"forget about it"

hah

cheers

**lawson-stone** · 07-15-2016, 10:40 AM

Originally Posted by neatomic

"forget about it"

hah

cheers

I thought that was "fuggedabouddit"

But I'm from the south, what do I know? ;-)

**Greentone** · 07-15-2016, 04:25 PM

Haven't found the Owner's Manual, yet.

**lawson-stone** · 07-15-2016, 06:08 PM

here's a link to the couple of sheets that circulate around about the Polytone. I wish I had something more substantial, but this is all that usually comes up.

http://www.modernguitarist.com/wp-co...mini-brute.pdf

**Stringswinger** · 07-15-2016, 06:47 PM

I have a Polytone owners manual (for my Mini-Brain). I also have the original warranty card.

Here is what it says about the OP's question:

"Main Out Jack: solely a preamp signal for use with our powered Acoustic Reflections cabinet, any high quality amplifier, mixer or direct to recording console."

**lawson-stone** · 07-15-2016, 06:54 PM

Originally Posted by Stringswinger

I have a Polytone owners manual (for my Mini-Brain). I also have the original warranty card.

Here is what it says about the OP's question:

"Main Out Jack: solely a preamp signal for use with our powered Acoustic Reflections cabinet, any high quality amplifier, mixer or direct to recording console."

So there you are.

**Greentone** · 07-15-2016, 08:03 PM

Pretty sure that's about what it says in my manual, too, but I will continue to look.

**Greentone** · 07-17-2016, 05:18 PM

FOUND the Owner's Manual. The "Main Out" on the MiniBrute amps is listed as the Preamp Out jack.
Polytone Mini Brute III-polytone-owners-manual-jpg

**jbucklin** · 07-17-2016, 05:33 PM

Ah, thanks! Now we all know for certain what the mysterious "Main Out" is. It worked fine on the gig the other night, but I was still mystified by the confusing choice of words (or word).

**Greentone** · 07-17-2016, 07:41 PM

Yeah. Tommy Gumina should have written "Pre- out" not "Main Out." Main makes it sound like all of the power is hitting that point...like you could drive a speaker there. In fact, the manual does say you can drive the company's extension cabinets from that outlet--but not its regular cabinets, only its _powered_ extension cabinets. Aha! See, it IS a pre- out.

**lawson-stone** · 07-18-2016, 09:08 AM

Originally Posted by Greentone

FOUND the Owner's Manual. The "Main Out" on the MiniBrute amps is listed as the Preamp Out jack.
Polytone Mini Brute III-polytone-owners-manual-jpg

That looks more substantial than the photo-copied sheets that came with one of mine. I wish this could be scanned and made available somewhere.

**Greentone** · 07-18-2016, 10:08 AM

Yeah. Mine is the actual Owner's Manual from the 70s/80s--no photocopy. I'll see about scanning.

**Skadiddle12** · 07-26-2019, 01:48 AM

Hi all,

Someone I knew wanted me to try his Polytone Mini Brute 3 from the late 70s because he wasn't using it anymore. I've tried it for a couple days now with my Strat(175's being regretted) and I have a few thoughts. So with my Strat with all was at noon and volume at 8, tone rolled off on guitar, I feel like the sounds of the chords are mushy. I don't really hear the colours of the notes and more as one blob of sound. I tried putting the tone up and it felt better but thinner, maybe it's because of the Strat.

Another thing is that I find the amp kind of bassy. When I play, the thicker strings are emphasized and the highers strings sound weaker. I don't know but this is my feeling. Tone is pretty clean but just had a few comments. Is this how it's supposed to sound with a Strat(gauge 9 strings). Also, I practice at volume 8 and maxed on the amp for single not solos. Don't know if this is normal. Going to try with my 1980 175 next week. Is there a specific EQ setting I need to use? There seems to be a LO and a HIGH input, which do I use? I always used the HIGH.

Let me know what you guys think. I posted some pictures of the amp.

Thanks guys

Polytone Mini Brute III-img_20190725_221406-jpg

Polytone Mini Brute III-img_20190725_221406-jpg

Polytone Mini Brute III-img_20190725_221350-jpg

Polytone Mini Brute III-mvimg_20190725_221419-jpg

**Jabberwocky** · 07-26-2019, 03:36 AM

There are better amps, imho, than the 70s Polytone which, unless you are getting it for free, would be uneconomical to repair should it go south-with due apologies to Southerners-as it surely would anyday now.

Your description of the Polytone is not erroneous; it is woolly-sounding, in my estimation. It was beloved of a time when such a tonal palette was considered desireable due to Mr. Joe Pass making good sounds with it. That no-treble rolled off sock-in-the-mouth sodden bass tone was the standard of those days. I guess it sounded "horn-like", like a mute in the bell of a trumpet.

The DV Mark Jazz and Henriksen 112ER are streets ahead for today's tastes where clarity, extension and articulated notes are de rigueur. Joe Pass could play a cigar box and imbue it with meaning; such was his genius that you heard around the indistinctness of the Polytone, and your mind worked to fill in the details. Maybe that explains the appeal: it required you to use your imagination, work to get the rewards and that trumped being utterly obvious. Like a woman in a décolletage dress in the light of softbox to one being stark naked in the glare of a pea-sized flash, oink, oink, oink. Leaving something to the imagination is a good dramatic device.

Oh well, my tuppenny's worth. And with BoJo at Number 10, even a tuppenny may not be worth a tuppenny soon. Time to bring back the farthing.

**Greentone** · 07-26-2019, 08:26 AM

Put the tone switch in the Brite position.

In the photo, it's in the Dark setting. That's instant woolly.

**Greentone** · 07-26-2019, 08:28 AM

BTW, I own three MBIII amps. A 70s, a 80s, and a 90s. They are dead simple and reliable.

**vintagelove** · 07-26-2019, 09:58 AM

Huge polytone fan, playing through one today in fact (keep in mind, I have a 64 super reverb, incredible octal amps, etc).

I would go in the middle position.

9’s will sound weak on top, because they are. No offense, I play with little strings on a lot of guitars, but clean, sometimes the 9 just doesn’t have enough output to balance.

**Greentone** · 07-26-2019, 10:05 AM

I agree. 9s just don't pull their weight.

You need 11s, at least, to get a good tone.

**Stringswinger** · 07-26-2019, 10:51 AM

I have owned a number of Polytones over the years (7 to be exact) being that I am a huge Joe pass fan. As much as I enjoyed Jabb's post above for it's pithy prose, I cannot fully agree, nor can I fully disagree. Oh and I still have one Polytone, to wit, a Mini Brain reissue from 2008.

My thoughts:

The switch should be in the middle position with most guitars.

The 15 inch speaker is better with an upright bass than most guitars, though I have heard bright guitars (Ibanez GB's) sound great through the 15 inch speaker.

9's are too light for a balanced sound on any guitar. Some guitars need at least 11's as GT posted above, while some guitars can deliver a good jazz sound with 10's (modern American Standard Strats do better with 10's than 11's in terms of balance)

Polytones can be unreliable and can be expensive to fix.

In the 70's and 80's, Polytones were a great choice for jazz guitarists. Today, better choices exist (Henriksen, Acoustic Image and AER come to mind).