DV Mark Little Jazz compared to Henriksen The Blu

[Alter]

I like both Dv Mark and Henriksen amps. The biggest differences for me are first, compression. The Dv Mark amps I've tried seem to have some compression on their sound no matter how you set them up, the Henriksen not. Second the price. Most Henriksen models today I find overpriced, whereas the Dv Mark amps have excellent pricing. I think the Henriksen sounds more natural, meaning closer to what you would expect coming from tube amps.

[Jim Soloway]

I like both Dv Mark and Henriksen amps. The biggest differences for me are first, compression. The Dv Mark amps I've tried seem to have some compression on their sound no matter how you set them up, the Henriksen not. Second the price. Most Henriksen models today I find overpriced, whereas the Dv Mark amps have excellent pricing. I think the Henriksen sounds more natural, meaning closer to what you would expect coming from tube amps.

Wouldn't the "natural" sound of a guitar be what it sounds like direct into a PA or recording interface? If it's about what's coming through an amp (either tube or solid state) that is different from the direct sound, I would think that is by definition added coloring which is the exact opposite of "natural" sound.

[Alter]

It depends on how you define natural. I used it above meaning tube-like sounding. I think the Henriksen excels at that, both in response and sound presence at gigs. If someone is after a sound akin to plugging direct, playing acoustic or using just an interface, i don't think neither the Henriksens nor the DV Marks are the way to go, but rather an acoustic type amp, and i would consider the Aer compact 60 king there. I would put the Dv Mark closer to the Polytone school of sound. But of course each brand has its own sound..

Personally i can happily gig with either a Henriksen (i've owned one for years, and it even was one of the first, arguably weaker ones) or a Dv Mark (which i don't own but use weekly, and have tried and heard in gigs), they are both great tools. A good thing is that they are quite popular too, so if unsure or if it's difficult to buy and return where you live, you can always find one used and flip it if you decide to go after something else.

[Greco]

.....you can always find one used and flip it if you decide to go after something else.

I only wish. Henriksen amplifiers rarely show up on the used market here.

[Jim Soloway]

It depends on how you define natural. I used it above meaning tube-like sounding. I think the Henriksen excels at that, both in response and sound presence at gigs. If someone is after a sound akin to plugging direct, playing acoustic or using just an interface, i don't think neither the Henriksens nor the DV Marks are the way to go, but rather an acoustic type amp, and i would consider the Aer compact 60 king there. I would put the Dv Mark closer to the Polytone school of sound. But of course each brand has its own sound..

Personally i can happily gig with either a Henriksen (i've owned one for years, and it even was one of the first, arguably weaker ones) or a Dv Mark (which i don't own but use weekly, and have tried and heard in gigs), they are both great tools. A good thing is that they are quite popular too, so if unsure or if it's difficult to buy and return where you live, you can always find one used and flip it if you decide to go after something else.

I believe that I know what you mean and I'm probably being pedantic but I really can't see how the word "natural" means a tube-like sound. Tube amps add enormous amounts of color to a guitar signal and different tubes and amp designs react in different ways. I suspect what you really me is that the Henriksen behaves in a manner similar to your expectations from a tube amp which is something very different. I'll also add that I've owned four Henriksen amps including a Bud and while I liked the way they sounded, they did not strike me as being especially tube-like. Ironically, I did think they sounded quite natural and uncolored, just not especially tube-like.

[DanielleOM]

Any one hear this one?

DV Mark AC 801P 60W 1x8 Acoustic Combo Guitar Amplifier | Guitar Center


Not sure if it is substantially different than the Little Jazz or essentially a Little Jazz with a cross over and tweeter added.

[coolvinny]

I believe that I know what you mean and I'm probably being pedantic but I really can't see how the word "natural" means a tube-like sound. Tube amps add enormous amounts of color to a guitar signal and different tubes and amp designs react in different ways. I suspect what you really me is that the Henriksen behaves in a manner similar to your expectations from a tube amp which is something very different. I'll also add that I've owned four Henriksen amps including a Bud and while I liked the way they sounded, they did not strike me as being especially tube-like. Ironically, I did think they sounded quite natural and uncolored, just not especially tube-like.

The Blu is warmer than the earlier iterations including vs. the Bud. The Blu really does have some of that tube warmth. Switching back and forth between my Blu and a very nicely dialed in Blues Junior (OK, not the greatest tube amp but if dialed in to match a guitar well then it can sound very good) using a laminate archtop, there was only a very slightly drop off in that warmth we normally associate with tube amps.

[rpjazzguitar]

Thread revival.

Just got the Blu and used it for about an hour, trying various settings.

I'm a long term Little Jazz user.

I bought the Blu in the hope that it would sound better than the LJ and, more important, sound good at a volume usable with my big bands and on my smaller gigs. The LJ failed at that. I'm not sure it was just because of volume, but, rather, because it didn't sound that great at full volume to the leader in the big band and because I thought the chords sounded harsh at adequate volume in a fairly quiet restaurant gig.

The Roland JC55 worked fine for all those situations, but was getting to be difficult to move comfortably.

First impressions:

It only took a couple of days to arrive, with free shipping. For the optional shipping fee, what? They tell me where to find one that's already in my house?

Arrived in its carrying case in a well padded box. Came with a power cable. No manual. No paperwork of any kind. How will I know how to use it safely?

Started right up. And, my first impression was that I hear more pick attack on the Blu than the LJ. Caveat: I am at a loss to use words to describe sounds. The Blu's notes were very clear with a strong attack; the notes pop right out. In contrast, the LJ's notes seem dulled just a bit (is this the compression some have posted about?).

I prefer things not to pop right out. I don't care for that transient, so I needed to try to dial it out. There's EQ, input signal level and tweeter defeat as options. See below.

I tried various levels of every knob, with and without tweeter, with and without wedge (the little thingie that elevates the front of the amp, not a monitor). As part of that, I tested volume. At one point I turned them both to max.

I found that the Blu is louder than the Bud, but I didn't think the difference was all that great. I'll have to see how it works in the big band on Monday.

I mentioned in other posts that I couldn't hear the impact of the treble control on the Bose S1 (nor could my wife). The high frequency knob on the Blu is labeled Presence. I heard its impact very clearly.

Then, midway through this post, I remembered that I had my new hearing aids in my ears. I usually play music without them to avoid amplifying the already-loud. Without the hearing aids the Presence control did nothing perceptible. The next lower band wasn't too noticeable either. The band after that, the middle of the five bands, made a big difference.

And that pick attack issue went away. The two amps could sound pretty much alike. To me, anyway. To a person who hasn't had an opportunity to build a warm, close relationship with their audiologist, it might sound different.

Supposedly, the hearing aids have a built in limiter. So, I have to redo the volume test.

The hearing aids amplify high end which makes speech clearer. But, trust me, you can hear trumpets without it.

So, most of my first impressions turned out to be of limited value because of the hearing aid issue.

[Tom Karol]

While I've never tried a Henriksen Blu, I have both a Henriksen Bud 6 and a DV Mark Little Jazz. Both are older models. I actually prefer the LJ for low volume archtop jazz guitar: It's warmer and, yes, a bit compressed. The fan doesn't bother me. The Bud has some significant advantages (to me) which make it much more versatile if you play a number of different instruments (jazz guitar, pop-rock guitar, acoustic-electric instruments, vocals, and even bass at low volumes):

• Much more clean headroom;
• Built in defeatable tweeter;
• 2 channels;
• Input gain controls;
• Bright switch on Channel 2 (good for pop-rock).

Both amps benefit greatly from adding an external speaker.

Note: I didn't realize until very recently that the EQ on the Bud and the Blu have different center frequencies - interesting!

And: Like Woody, I still wish Henriksen would make a Bud/Blu 8!

[Boze]

Thread revival....

With respect and appreciation for your post, let's start a campaign to eliminate thread revival: it invariably leads to folks answering the OP (in this case from five years ago) without realizing that it's only your comment on page five that promoted it to the top of the subforum.

I for one would have no issue with you starting a new thread called "Bud vs Little Jazz (Slight Return)" or some such just so folks know where to start reading (i.e.the beginning and not three posts and counting from the end)

Thanks for the comparison update in any case. I just tested a Bud 10 for the first time at my LGS. They had a DV there I meant to try too.