The Best Tube Amp For JAZZ Guitar

**monkmiles** · 02-16-2012, 11:38 AM

A 5751 is a good slightly lower gain alternative to a 12ax7.

**Uncle Meat** · 02-17-2012, 04:22 AM

The Vibroverb Reissue has a very full sound without being muddy or trebly. With archtops especially, it reproduces the sound really naturally

**Flat** · 02-17-2012, 03:07 PM

I've been using a Mesa Boogie Studio 22 Caliber, which has been alright. The clean side is clear and bell-like. Not really really the sound I have in my head for jazz, but workable. Better than my playing deserves, really.

But somehow I've gotten it into my head that I need to swap it out for a Carr Mercury one of these days when the cotton is higher. The glassy trebles on those things just send me.

**West LA Jazz** · 03-08-2016, 01:23 AM

Is there a reason tube amps aren't a mainstay with Jazzers?
Unless I'm wrong bluesmen seem to be friendlier.

As I mentioned before, a friend of mine has been RAVING again about these Carr amps. The Skylark in particular. 18 watts seems insufficient but these amps have oomph. Should this be the last amp a jazzer should ever own? Ha.

Here are a few live clips of the Skylark below in a full band mix. It's miked up for sure.

SKylark live: 1

Skylark live: 2

Skylark Review

And the here is their new model (CARR LINCOLN) which Jazzer's might dig a little more...

**vintagelove** · 03-08-2016, 02:37 AM

The vintage twin and super reverbs are about the best sounding clean amps ever made.

They are also heavy.

**kid335** · 03-08-2016, 02:50 AM

I'm a big fan of Carr amps and own an Impala. For me, its perfect with solid and semi-hollow body guitars. My Teles kill through it! However, it doesn't cross over very well with archtops due to early feedback. I would think the Skylark would have even less headroom. You should definitely check them out, just don't expect to be happy plugging an L5 into it. For that I would gravitate towards a Twin Reverb, Pro Reverb, Port City Pearl, etc.

**Guitarbean25** · 03-08-2016, 04:09 AM

Love carrs...recently got a 4x10 Imperial and I think they're the best.

**Little Jay** · 03-08-2016, 04:16 AM

I don't know Carr amps, but they seem something I should try.

Meanwhile I have this: http://www.award-session.com/pdfs/GB-BB22-001.pdf

**DanielleOM** · 03-08-2016, 06:01 AM

Only Carr model I can lift is the Raleigh model. Didn't think it would work on a gig.

**vernon** · 03-08-2016, 08:02 AM

My jazz journey amp-wise began with an Evans amp that translated my 335 better than my fender HRD and Alessandro working dog. Then I found quilter and AI with RE cabs and discovered what people were talking about regarding rich clear consistent jazz tone. Then Tim Marcus at Milkman sound came out with a no frills tube head with plenty of headroom that I could afford. The Dairy Air is 40 watts with 6L6s and sounds simply amazing. I play solid bodies through a Jupiter speaker cab and archtops through an RE Stealth 10... works great for me. Best of both worlds. Now back to practicing.

**marcwhy** · 03-08-2016, 08:56 AM

Hmm, I'm not sure "tubes aren't a mainstay with jazzers .." Most of the "classic" recordings we listen to are tube amps; pull up a video of a current player you like in concert, and chances are he/she is playing a tube amp onstage. Yes, we live in the age of Quilter, AI, Mambo, etc., all of which are great amps, and jazzers play tubes, too.

If we did a study on this, my prediction would be more jazzers play a Fender-style tube amp rather than an AI/Quilter.

[FWIW, I have two different tube amps, and an Aviator 8.]

**339 in june** · 03-08-2016, 09:32 AM

Look at this:

The Most Popular Jazz Guitar Amps (Top 25) - Survey Results

**Klatu** · 03-30-2016, 02:17 PM

Originally Posted by vernon

My jazz journey amp-wise began with an Evans amp that translated my 335 better than my fender HRD and Alessandro working dog. Then I found quilter and AI with RE cabs and discovered what people were talking about regarding rich clear consistent jazz tone. Then Tim Marcus at Milkman sound came out with a no frills tube head with plenty of headroom that I could afford. The Dairy Air is 40 watts with 6L6s and sounds simply amazing. I play solid bodies through a Jupiter speaker cab and archtops through an RE Stealth 10... works great for me. Best of both worlds. Now back to practicing.

I agree with your assessment of the Evans. While I own several high end tube amps, they aren't necessarily better than my Evans.

**Bluedawg** · 03-30-2016, 05:28 PM

Most of us love tube amps ....

But they are heavy and good SS amps can sound pretty dang good and SS amps several pounds lighter

Most gigs aren't worth the hassle of a heavy tube amp IMHO ... especially for us older players

But some gigs may well be worth the hassle of a tube amp .... like a serious recording session ... if I was ever that lucky

**Toat** · 03-30-2016, 07:28 PM

The fender tube amps are NOT voiced right for jazz guitar. Sure some great players used them but it was a compromise imo (e.g. Rolling the treble down, etc.)

Is someone wants to make a boutique jazz-voiced tube amp to complete with the solid states of today then I'm sure jazz players would try them.

**neatomic** · 03-30-2016, 07:52 PM

65+ years of fender amps down the drain! in one quick post

hah

cheers

ps- do you realize that the great jazz producer rudy van gelders preferred guitar amp was a fender deluxe..probably on hundreds of iconic blue note recordings...and twins were everywhere..ugh

**gggomez** · 03-30-2016, 08:30 PM

i think Fenders may still be the main stay, off the top of my head

Kreisberg, Hekselman, Bernstein, Silberstein, Scofield Benson, Malone (i don't think I have ever seen Russell Malone mentioned on the forum).
House amp at Small's and Bar Next Door Deluxe.

Yeah Lund and Rosenwinkel seem to use trannies but to my ears when Lund plays at Small's on the Deluxe he sounds way better.

Then around the world Martin Van and Jesse Van, Ant Law valve, Reinier Baas, Szymon Mika, Rafal Sarnecke all valve amp luggers.

**Klatu** · 03-30-2016, 08:36 PM

Originally Posted by neatomic

65+ years of fender amps down the drain! in one quick post

hah

cheers

ps- do you realize that the great jazz producer rudy van gelders preferred guitar amp was a fender deluxe..probably on hundreds of iconic blue note recordings...and twins were everywhere..ugh

While true, I believe the Deluxe that Gelder used in his studio was a Tweed Deluxe with higher mid content than the later blackface.

I'm an oddball in that I think that there is room for both tube and solid state amplification without the need for sacrifice. The line I hear most often is that solid state amps are cheaper and weigh less than their tube counterparts, but that there is a real tonal compromise to be made. Both my tube and solid state amps get plenty of use.

**Ol' Fret** · 03-30-2016, 08:50 PM

The last amp a (freak) jazzer should ever own is an all tube Hohner Orgaphon 60 MH with the fabulous ECC808 and EL503 tubes. It was developed as a bare industrial design universal 2x12 amplifier "in studio technique" with Reverberation and Vibrato, available in the mid 60s. Hardly known in the US or elsewhere out of Germany, I suppose.
It's the most clean, yet still punchy sounding tube amp for jazz guitar with an almost acoustic quality I've ever come across. Pretty much different to a Fender circuit. Players, not only organists, from other genres love these Hohners also, so it should be an universal amp.
My Fender Twin is collecting dust since years. I just keep it for the guitar buddies who want to do a direct A/B - though it's sort of an unequal comparison: the Hohner (ca. 34kg) dwarfs the Twin not only by weight. We call these large Orgaphons "Orgasmphones"...

The Best Tube Amp For JAZZ Guitar-hohner-orgaphon-60-mh-b1-jpg

The Best Tube Amp For JAZZ Guitar-hohner-orgaphon-60-mh-b1-jpg

Never found a smaller or much lighter tube amp that could match; this is probably why you might as well use one of the small and lightweight SS amps. The limited portability is probably the reason why jazzers leave the monster tubers at home or in their home club. My Polytone is much more helpful for gigs, but sounds comparably tired and anemic. Hard to put in words, but, typical for SS amps, even those with two speakers, the tones don't pop out of the speaker(s) so fresh and crystal clear as of a great tube amp.

**Gilpy** · 03-30-2016, 08:56 PM

I have been using a Carr Rambler (28 watts, 38 lbs) for years. These now sell for over $2500 new, which is not affordable for many players. (Mine was used...) If you play for a living like me, I think it's worth it. Beautiful tone, plenty of clean headroom and utterly reliable.

**GNAPPI** · 03-30-2016, 11:07 PM

Threads like this are a push pull of emotions in many of us.

On one hand the SS amps offer reliability, weight advantage and tonal flexibility with judicious use of effects, but bare to me most are sanitary sounding.

OTOH, tubes (to me) generally offer wider native EQ possibilities sans effects, less reliability if not looked after, and sometimes a weight disadvantage.

I think the benefits of the former are sometimes overstated as much or more than the drawbacks to the latter.

Both have places in the studio, on the road and home. Personally I would not want a situation where only one was available.

**abelljo** · 03-30-2016, 11:29 PM

Jazz guitarist want loads of clean headroom and that can certainly be achieved via tubes but with that comes heavy transformers, speaker etc. Sound shape in terms of mids can be modified in any amp. Blues guitarist go for lower wattage tube amps because they want the amp to distort some and like the singing quality and compression of tubes. Then they get that in lighter packages in the tube world, such as the Deluxe, Vibrolux Blues Jr. etc. Most jazz players appreciate the sound quality of tube amps, but they gravitate towards the Twin Reverb, old Ampegs or Tweed bassmans in terms of sound, but those amps are not very practical to carry around.

It's all about the clean headroom, decent mids, portability, warmth and good tone. If the amp is tube great, but often they go for SS for the portability and headroom aspect. Some argue that the other elements are all there in their SS amps. I personally am not the biggest fan of SS. But some can sound good with an archtop as some tube amps can be too boomy, especially with an 18 guitar.