Polytone amp vs Henriksen amp

[omphalopsychos]

I sold 2 henriksens before I started to appreciate them.

id love to try a mambo bc the only thing that bugs me about the henriksen is the stock voicing (totally flat mids). I’d love to flip a switch for a fender tonality like the mambo.

ive definitely hated every polytone I’ve played. The only time I liked one when I plugged in a guitar that was too bright for any other amp.

[wintermoon]

I sold 2 henriksens before I started to appreciate them.

id love to try a mambo bc the only thing that bugs me about the henriksen is the stock voicing (totally flat mids). I’d love to flip a switch for a fender tonality like the mambo.

ive definitely hated every polytone I’ve played. The only time I liked one when I plugged in a guitar that was too bright for any other amp.

I bought a new Polytone in the 80s and disliked it from the start. Years later I bought one for a song on CL only because I knew someone out there would buy it for 5 times what I paid and someone did. I never tried a Mambo, not even in dance but every Polytone I've ever played through sounded so sterile and lacking in character it bored me to tears. Haven't tried a Henriksen yet but I'm happy w my old blackface Fenders.
ymmv and probably does

[rpjazzguitar]

I've never owned a Polytone, but I've plugged into a couple over the years and never got a sound I liked.

I like the Little Jazz, but after a few years, I'm starting to get unhappy with a certain degree of bark (or distortion) when I play chords. Hard to describe. I just tried the Jazz 12 and returned it. Didn't solve the problem.

Side note: GC gets some flak, but they accept returns cheerfully and give a full refund without a hint of hassle. I like shopping there if they have what I want to buy.

So, I tried this. Guitar > Boss ME80 (reverb mostly) > Little Jazz (with speaker off) > Yamaha Mixer (to reduce bass a little more) > Mackie SRM350.

Played an outdoor gig with this rig and I thought, wow! I've finally found the Grail.

Then, a week or so later, I played another outdoor gig and never got comfortable with the tone.

Tried it indoors (complicated story and probably not a fair trial) and didn't care for it.

Tried it without the mixer, but I thought the EQ in the mixer worked better than the EQ in the LJ and there's something about the EQ in the ME80 that I don't care for.

Tried it outdoors (different venue) again (mixer and all) and never quite got comfortable.

Same rig, good, bad, indifferent. Perception? Acoustics? Sunspots?

So, some players I respect love the Bud and Blu and I'm thinking about one. But, it's more than I really want to spend on an amp that I've never heard and might be a slight hassle to return if it doesn't solve the problem. But, they sure get raves from a lot of players and only a few negative reviews.

The only speaker that small that I've tried was in the original Lunchbox, which also had some rave reviews. I couldn't get a sound I liked on any occasion. So, I'm reluctant to go to a speaker that small.

[Chris236]

I sold 2 henriksens before I started to appreciate them.

id love to try a mambo bc the only thing that bugs me about the henriksen is the stock voicing (totally flat mids). I’d love to flip a switch for a fender tonality like the mambo.

ive definitely hated every polytone I’ve played. The only time I liked one when I plugged in a guitar that was too bright for any other amp.

My Mambo does have that fender circuit thingy but I don’t really find it useful, personally.

I actually don’t disagree with some of the comments hating on the Poly’s sound….I felt the same way for a long time but eventually realized I liked the Poly ‘loaded’ on the front, and used an LXP-1 to do it. Eventually the Lexicon died and I figured out how to emulate that sound solely with the amps controls…..

I don’t think I paid more than $250 for any of the 4 I own and 2 of them get 20hrs a week of usage consistently and have for a very long time. One of them spent years living in my car (when not in use) in the NE to no detriment ….in fact, except for the known shitty reverb, my amps have been completely trouble free. Good deal and a time and battle proven great amp. Henriksen, not so much.

[Stringswinger]

So, some players I respect love the Bud and Blu and I'm thinking about one. But, it's more than I really want to spend on an amp that I've never heard and might be a slight hassle to return if it doesn't solve the problem. But, they sure get raves from a lot of players and only a few negative reviews.

The only speaker that small that I've tried was in the original Lunchbox, which also had some rave reviews. I couldn't get a sound I liked on any occasion. So, I'm reluctant to go to a speaker that small.

Rick,

I hated the lunchbox. Some years back, they sent me one and I could have had it for free in return for an endorsement. I sent it back. I did the same with JazzKat and Phil Jones. If I don't like an amp, I would not be dishonest about it just to get a free amp. These days, I am no longer playing festivals and so no amp manufacturer is offering me any free amps. I bought all three of my Henriksens and use them regularly. If you like, you can bring your guitar to my home in the City and demo a Bud 6 or Blu 6 (as I offered in an earlier post in this thread). I would suggest that before simply buying one. The little Henriksens deliver in a way that other small amps do not.

You get what you pay for.

[gitman]

And the same goes for Henriksen in Europe. I couldn't even get a schematic once...

There is at least one official agent in Germany for the Henriksen line :

Henriksen Jazzamps

And I'm pretty sure that you'd be able to get all the help you need in case something comes up.


Whereas the Mambo Facebook page has been dormant since 2017, the website is compromised and the prices are not very attractive
for the european buyer- thanks to BREXIT an additional 19-22 % VAT (PLUS shipping) hikes the price of the 10" model up to € 1450.00
All this made me very reluctant and weary and I decided against a british product, as good as it might possibly be.

[jorgemg1984]

There is at least one official agent in Germany for the Henriksen line :

Henriksen Jazzamps

And I'm pretty sure that you'd be able to get all the help you need in case something comes up.


Whereas the Mambo Facebook page has been dormant since 2017, the website is compromised and the prices are not very attractive
for the european buyer- thanks to BREXIT an additional 19-22 % VAT (PLUS shipping) hikes the price of the 10" model up to € 1450.00
All this made me very reluctant and weary and I decided against a british product, as good as it might possibly be.

As I said, when I needed it, I had to use my own resources. And they had several dealers around Europe, including my own country. They had the most horrible reverb I heard in my life in a quite expensive amp and didn't want to release a schematic for an amp that's basically a graphic eq attached to a power amp. Funny thing, some of the mods I did to the amp ended up on their current models, including the Neunaber reverb chip. It was a long time ago though, things might have changed.

As for Mambo, despite his low social media presence, I can tell you from personal experience Jon will back his amps. But i agree, with Brexit prices are much higher than they were.

Personally, I don't use Mambo or Henriksen jazz amps these days, only two Mambo PA cabs - my whole rig is digital, even sold my vintage Polytone. Just wanted to point out the risk an American carries buying a Mambo is the same an European carries buying an Henriksen.

As for sound, I thought the Mambo sounded much better than Henriksen's first generation - but I haven't tried the latest models, I've migrated to a Fender (digital) sound exclusively and left jazz amps where they should be, with bass players

[EarlBrother]

maybe this should be private message but.What could you get from gitterbug for say half that.Remember you can sing through them to( maybe gitterbug to) but still.Not dissing the company sounds awesome to deal with.and some can if i could i would.haha nothing serious here just having fun.But it might be worth looking at.Seems like a good to deal with as well.