The Best Tube Amp For JAZZ Guitar

[DUBYA R M]

I've had the Roland, after my mid-60s blackface Fender Super Reverb was stole'n in 1975. I tried many amps over the years, and own more than a few, but what I use for most gigs is my Fender Tweed 40W Blues Deluxe. I get a great Jazz tone with that amp and my Heritage Sweet 16.
For a very small room I can Get away with my little Laney LC15R with a Carvin 10" speaker. That one really sounds cool when it starts "breaking up" just a bit with natural distortion.
I miss the old days when every corner drugstore had a Tube-Tester and you could check out your amps tubes to see which one or ones needed to be replaced..and you could buy tubes right there!

[Tom Karol]

Well, I have a Henriksen JazzAmp 112, and I love it. I wish I had a Sadowsky Semi-Hollow! Roger Sadowsky himself said, "I was absolutely blown away" (Henriksen Website). That being said, The Rivera Jazz Suprema (all tube) is supposed to be truly awesome (but heavy).

[Flat3]

Rivera Chubster. Great clean channel. One of the best. Also light to carry. Great for combo work.

[BigDaddyLoveHandles]

Rivera Chubster. Great clean channel. One of the best. Also light to carry. Great for combo work.

What's a ninja pull switch? And light? 45 lbs would be heavy for a SS amp.

[Flat3rd]

The "ninja" is a boost that works with a foot switch. I barely use it, but it depends on who you're playing with i suppose. Some write ups say that it has "ninja" pull switches. It has pull switches for adjusting tone mix on bass, middle, and treble. Those work well. Yes, 45 lbs.

[63superreverb]

Has anyone tried a carr rambler for Jazz? it has a huge amount of clean overhead....the best amplifier i have ever played!

[msr13]

I just ordered a Headstrong Lil' King. Played it quite a bit a a shop with my guitar (a semi), a Sadowsky Jimmy Bruno (Ahhh, that was an awesome playing instrument...) hanging on the shelf, and a couple other cool things. It was warm and tonally beautiful. I modded my order a little. I got the innards of the Lil' King, which is a Princeton clone, in a slightly bigger cab. Anyway, I recommend trying them out.

An aside, they had a new Henricksen. The higher wattage one with the 10" speaker. Awesome sounding little guy. I compared it to the AI with a Raezor's Edge, and liked the Jazz Amp better. Mind you, the AI was fantastic in it's own right.

[Little Jay]

I've had the Roland, after my mid-60s blackface Fender Super Reverb was stole'n in 1975. I tried many amps over the years, and own more than a few, but what I use for most gigs is my Fender Tweed 40W Blues Deluxe. I get a great Jazz tone with that amp and my Heritage Sweet 16.
For a very small room I can Get away with my little Laney LC15R with a Carvin 10" speaker. That one really sounds cool when it starts "breaking up" just a bit with natural distortion.
I miss the old days when every corner drugstore had a Tube-Tester and you could check out your amps tubes to see which one or ones needed to be replaced..and you could buy tubes right there!

+1 for the Fender Blues Deluxe, and underrated amp for jazz I think!
40 watts offer enough clean headroom, it's small enough to not scare the rest of the quartet or quintet (as guitarplayers already have a bad name for bringing too big amps along....), and it has a real good tone!
I have mine since '94 and still love it!

[gingerjazz]

little jay does the blues deluxe rattle or buzz at high volume i have a blues junior which rattles and resonates at higher volume which has been a let down for me however i like the fender sound so am thinking of upgrading to the deluxe unless anyone knows of a cure for the blues junior rattle(hmmm great title for a tune there)

[Little Jay]

little jay does the blues deluxe rattle or buzz at high volume i have a blues junior which rattles and resonates at higher volume which has been a let down for me however i like the fender sound so am thinking of upgrading to the deluxe unless anyone knows of a cure for the blues junior rattle(hmmm great title for a tune there)

(At the risk af hijacking the thread

Gingerjazz,

I think rattle is usually caused by the (power)tubes, when the many small metall parts inside get loose. Due to the design of a combo-amp, the speaker is very close to the tubes, so those get bangered by all the frequencies the speaker throws out... you do the maths: rattle will occur at some point!

In my experience, EL84 tubes are even more suseptible to rattle. I have a Peavey Classic 20 with EL84s, in which I use only EL84M tubes, being the russian military variety (so I'm told) that's more robust and doesn't rattle (so far). The 6L6 tubes in the Blues Deluxe also can develop rattle, but I think - due to their design? - not so often and so quick as the EL84s.

So to answer your question: yes, I have experienced rattle in the Blues Deluxe, that was always solved with changing the (power)tubes. The more robust a tube, the less rattle. Unfortunately, the most robust tubes are not always the best sounding ones! (I like TADs for example, but they seem very vulnerable and wear out quickly). Of the current production tubes, simple Sovteks last the longest is my experience.

I recall that the Blues jr can also get very hot, due to a hotter bias-setting. Hot tubes rattle easier I believe. So to cure your rattle:
- adjust your bias so that the tubes run cooler (does affect the sound though)
- use more robust tubes

[Tarek]

I wonder if anyone has experienced with archtops through acoustic amps and what do they think about those amps? The acoustic amp is supposed to maintain the guitar's acoustic signal, so, I'am assuming it should be easy and straight forward to get that clean jazz signal. I heard that Jimmy Bruno once played through a Fender Acoustasonic Jr Amp.

Can you use the tone controls on an acoustic amp and dial in that warm jazz tone for archtop? I'm not sure about getting a "fat" tone from acoustic amp though. I played so many nice archtops though Henriksen amps with tweeters at the store and they sounded great. But the Henriksen I liked was $1,200 plus tax and I am trying to get a warm jazz tone for about $400. I have Fender Acoustasonic 30W and Hartke Ribbon 150W, both being acoustic amps and I still can dial a relatively nice tone from both and both were about $300 - $350, but I am not convinced that it is a true jazz sound. Does anyone else think it is doable to get the jazzy tone from an acoustic amp?

[Bill C]

Does anyone else think it is doable to get the jazzy tone from an acoustic amp?

My own experience is that a carved top guitar worked nicely through an acoustic amp. I prefer a laminate guitar through an "electric" amp. I think it depends what kind of sound you are after - lots of variables!

[76byrdland]

This is my first post ... but I've been playing over 40 years ...

I am the very happy owner of a GT Soul-O 45 and have been for a long time. It's a great amp and contrary to the earlier post, it DOES have built-in reverb. Some people do not like the reverb. Personally, I only use a little and it's fine.

I have not plugged a Sadowsky archtop into it, but the amp loves my Fender D'Aquisto and Gibson ES-347. I added a closed-back Avatar 1x12 to it with an Eminence and that adds a bit of girth to the sound while still leaving the whole rig a lot more portable than a Twin or even Pro Reverb.

I have run the amp with KT88s and currently have 6l6s in it. Both set-ups are great. Good luck in your quest, but if you get a chance to play through a 45, I think you might decide to stop there. My prior amps include Pearce G2r, Pearce G1, early silverface Princeton Reverb, etc. The 45 has made me very, very happy. Cheers, Jim

[bborzell]

I like my Princeton.

[Marto]

There are plenty of tube amps that sound great for jazz. A Deluxe Reverb can sound great. Rivera amps have a beautiful clean channel, they make a version of their suprema with a 15' speaker that is meant for jazz. There are loads of boutique amp makers that do amps that sound great.
I love the Fender clean sound though and my favourite amp is a Fender Concert. Its an early 80s model that is point to point wired, it sounds fantastic.

one thing about tube amps though, you need to make sure you have enough head room to play clean at the volume you want. Also an amp like a Twin is really loud it needs a lot of volume before it really starts to sound good. Even My Concert amp is too loud for most of the places I get to play.

[kris]

Peavey Classic 30 with Eminence Tonker speaker.

Nice for all my guitars: hollow,semi, and tele.


Attachment 71078

[mattymel]

twins are too bright, too dark and too heavy for me. i like PR best for jazz, though DR are nice for a louder gig. i also like tweed amps for jazz. less scooped mids than BF.

[kawa]

Settings, Inst ; '67 ES-175DN V8, T10, Belden 9778 (3 m) Compaire and close to '66 Vibrolux Reverb(V2.2 T1 B3.5) (Jensen C10NS) by footswitch.

'74 Silverfece, Rola 12" (Fender Special Design) 27297 2857704
Very Sweet !!! (good for the vocals backing etc)
V7
T1～2
M6～8
B1
（1 = Min)
Master Max.

The Twin (Red Knob)
V1.2
T1
M6
B0
(The Twin's Min = 0)

Very nice !!!

Some　era's speaker has too much low for hollowbody.

('74 Twin Reverb and The Twin etc)

Important enough low and fat, also littel treble for good sounds.

Heavey Low and Era
Almost guitar amps use to with solid body guitars, needs heavey low.

Chosen speakers tone matched so.

Notice for hollowbody, set a touch of the Bass and Treble.

'65 Twin Reverb Reissue (early version)
Eminence(Fender Special Design) Very Clear & Tighten Push Tone
V3
T1
M6～8
B3～3.5

These my jazztone by POLYTONE Mini-Brute2, Serial Number P-29428
Inst : '67 ES175DN V8 T10, Belden 9778/1.5m(guitar～Sw-box), 2m(Sw-box～Amps),Amp Stand/Ultimate AMP-150
Reference Amps ; '65 Twin reverb and '66 Vibrolux Reverb(C10NS),the two amps switched by footswitch in quickly for comparsion and close match.
The both amps tilted and listen the front sound directly from about 1.5m distance posision.

Setting : Master/Max(Normal Way for Master VR Type, Equal to Without Master VR.
Tonal Color Switch/Normal(Center Posituon)
Gain/3(Use to VR)
Contour/9～11 O'Clock Position
Program/Edge Position
Treble/+1
Mid/+2
Bass/+1
Results : Excelent Jazztone by use to "Sonic Circuit"

Impression : 1E and 2B's traditional Polytone rounded tone by special Eminence.
3G,4D and 5A's 5flet area tone is thin. Dynamics and rezonant are little less, then I try the Sonic Circuit and got the good sounds .

Notice !!! : Side Handle Design !!! , Prevent for the reverb unit troubles,
As well as keeping the "Upright" (in the car etc) http://www.murchmusic.com/polytone.htm

The any good amps has good characteristecs, pull up the goodness and don't over demands.

__________________

[jorgemg1984]

Any other Fender should do it - Vibrolux, Pro Reverb, Deluxe, Princeton etc... even Rivera or Zinky era Fenders should do it. Personally I think fender amps can sound much better for jazz with some voicing adjustments, they are made with single coils blues / rock / country players in mind,

Old Ampeg, old Gibsons or the several Fender derived amps are also loved by many for jazz.

[marcwhy]

Lots of them out there, depending on your budget, desired "sound," etc.

Several issues go, "Just Jazz Guitar" magazine had a nice article with some accompanying videos posted of the authors demo-ing several tube amps. You can probably find it on their site.

I use tube amps by Jack Anderson in Washington; he's a great guy, and really works with you on the sound you want. That, and his prices are wonderful for a handmade, "boutique" amp.

Marc

[Jazzman301]

Here is a discussion with literally pages on this exact topic I started in December or so.

Tube amp alternatives to Fender

There is just a ton of great information on alternatives to fender for tube amps.

'Mike

[PTChristopher]

Prosaic amp descriptions are tough for sure.

>>> twins are too bright, too dark

Hmmm. I suppose "too scooped"?

It is an often maligned amp for low headroom, but I really love the current Princeton Reverb. I put in some very late breakup tubes and a Weber Speaker and added a remarkable level of clean headroom vs. the stock setup (no db meter, but its loud).

I also did the old classic mod of putting in a midrange control on the back using the speaker jack hole. But now with the Weber, I leave the midrange pretty much where it would be in the stock tone stack, so a needless mod.

The current Deluxe sounds quite good also. All in my opinion.

Chris

[ruiner54]

fender hot rod deluxe amps are abundant on the used market at least where i live and although a stock hrd is not great for jazz as it overdrives early on the clean channel, can be transformed into a fantastic jazz amp by simply switching out preamp tubes. I replaced the stock 12ax7s with low gain 12au7s which are extremely clean...they also lower the overall volume and make it useable for practice. 12at7s are somewhere in between and are apparently good as well.

[ES350]

The older Ampegs are a very nice alternative to Fender (which I think are kinda thin sounding)...try a Gemini II or a GU12; you may be amazed.

[Jazz_175]

I recently bought a Deluxe Reverb.
I like it so much.