The Jazz Guitar Chord Dictionary
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  1. #1
    Looking for a new solid state amp. Which solid state would you prefer for great clean sounds and small gigs?

    ATM I've narrowed it down to:
    1. Peavey Envoy 110
    2. Boss Katana mk2
    3. Roland cube 40 (discontinued, but can look for used)
    4. Roland JC22
    5. DV LJ
    6. Kustom KG 100FX 112

    What else is there on market? Any suggestions?

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  3. #2

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    I still have no regrets about my Fender Champion 50XL. 12" celestion speaker, very usable selection of amp models, fx, reverbs, delays...plenty loud. Best part is it only weighs 19 pounds and it's not a mini amp.

    Only other one that interests me some would be a DV Jazz 12, but thats over twice the price of my Fender.

  4. #3
    Quote Originally Posted by cosmic gumbo
    I still have no regrets about my Fender Champion 50XL. 12" celestion speaker, very usable selection of amp models, fx, reverbs, delays...plenty loud. Best part is it only weighs 19 pounds and it's not a mini amp.

    Only other one that interests me some would be a DV Jazz 12, but thats over twice the price of my Fender.
    would you take 50xl over katana or envoy 110?

  5. #4

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  6. #5

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    My favorite at the moment is the Quilter OD200 head. Small, powerful, great sound. This plus a light 1x12 cab is a very gig worthy setup. I use mine with a ported 1x12 by Pure 64. I'd be surprised if both together weighed much more than 20 pounds.

  7. #6

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    Quote Originally Posted by djg
    Quite a few years worth of reading in this link!

  8. #7
    Quote Originally Posted by Greco
    Quite a few years worth of reading in this link!
    I red the post.
    tbh half of the amps mentioned there are history and/or not even sold on EU.

  9. #8

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    DV Mark Little Jazz is a great amp. I have one.

    Peavey Envoy 110, I had & sold. Nice build, but I never could find an EQ setting/tone that I liked.

    Roland Cube series is great, and I could get along fine with the Fender Champion series.

    But my favorites are Henriksen and Acoustic Image. More expensive, but great stuff.

  10. #9
    Quote Originally Posted by Longways to Go
    DV Mark Little Jazz is a great amp. I have one.

    Peavey Envoy 110, I had & sold. Nice build, but I never could find an EQ setting/tone that I liked.

    Roland Cube series is great, and I could get along fine with the Fender Champion series.

    But my favorites are Henriksen and Acoustic Image. More expensive, but great stuff.
    what would you choose from acoustic image?

  11. #10

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    IDK. I only know the gear I have.

    I have an older Acoustic Image Clarus head & Raezer's Edge cab.
    It's a great sounding rig. I expect everything they make sounds great.

    I also have a Henriksen 110ER. While I like the sound of the Acoustic Image better,
    the Henriksen Combo is more convenient, so the Henriksen gets used more often because I am lazy about lugging gear around.

  12. #11

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    I'd definitely pass on the Roland JC's, any of them. They're all hissy and I think they sound really cold. They were great for their day but that was a very long time ago and there are a lot of better alternatives that have come out in the last several years. I have two DV Mark amps, a Little Jazz and a Micro 50 Jazz head with a cabinet and like both. Neither are expensive and as I understand it, they're readily available in most of Europe.

  13. #12

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    Quilter Tone Block 202 with a DV Mark 1x12"Neodymium Cab ultimate small rig that will,cover any gig anywhere!
    Quilter Aviator 1x8" Combo ultimate for smaller venues and rehehearsals.

  14. #13

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    I'll start with the caveat. I'm not trying to sound like Wes (I wish I could though), meaning I don't play with a classic jazz tone, so what I like may not matter to anybody else. That said ...

    I regularly use a friend's Roland 40X and my own LJ. Different rooms.

    I prefer the LJ, but I can get a reasonable sound out of the 40X. The 40X has a lot more knobs (ie tone options), but I don't use them.

    The LJ weighs less.

    I don't play with a lot of lower frequencies (I often have the bass control on the LJ at zero). I suspect that the 40X would be better at lows, but I don't need that.

  15. #14

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    The only one of those I've tried is the Roland cube 40, which I liked. I like the Fender Champion modeling amps a lot (I have the 20). I also really like Henriksen amps (especially the Jazz10).

    John

  16. #15

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    Quote Originally Posted by Longways to Go
    IDK. I only know the gear I have.

    I have an older Acoustic Image Clarus head & Raezer's Edge cab.
    It's a great sounding rig. I expect everything they make sounds great.
    I have a Clarus 2r series III that goes through a Raezer's Edge Stealth 12 and sounds fantastic with all of my guitars; I never make use of distortion so it's all clean tones for me. Quite frankly it could be the only amp in my house and I wouldn't be missing anything. However, GAS is what it is and so I do have six other amps.

    I have a Polytone Baby Taurus that I bought from forum member Lawson. That too is a great sounding amp and works well with all of my guitars, perhaps not as well with the nylon strings as the Clarus does but especially well with the archtops. My other amps include a self-built tweed Deluxe 5E3 clone, an early 70s Fender Pro Reverb, an Egnater Rebel 30, a Roland Cube 60 and a tiny Fender something or other that was under $30 new and is the workbench amp.

    If I was only going to have one amp, which I really should because I've given up on gigging, I would logically keep the Clarus/RE set up. It's dead reliable, sounds great, is easy to work with. Emotionally, though, I would keep the 5E3 because I built that.

    In terms of recommending amps to others, I often recommend the Roland Cube series amps. They sound good if maybe a little bit sterile, they're very reliable and they can be had really inexpensively on the used market. I gigged many times with mine and it always got the job done.
    Last edited by Cunamara; 02-15-2020 at 05:04 PM.

  17. #16

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    Quote Originally Posted by jads57
    Quilter Tone Block 202 with a DV Mark 1x12"Neodymium Cab ultimate small rig that will,cover any gig anywhere!
    I heartily agree, though I like mine in the BlockDock 12. Always been more of a combo amp guy. Bloody expensive and worth every penny.

  18. #17

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    Always depends. While I'm very impressed with the Quilter 201 and Roland Artist (sparkle tone capsule) I've gotten sucked into the dark side of amp models and cabinet IR's.

    A Strymon Iridium into a Schertler Roy is an expensive set up. Into a Unico even. And it takes time to dial things in as you get used to a new toolbox. But it is warm, flexible, and will support anything from classical to metal. To my taste, sounds better than anything else I've tried. (caveat: for jazz the 81 Fender Concert augmented with a 2X12 with Celestion V30's is arguably better for jazz. But not solid state and not 100 pounds better.)

    You could use different boxes on the front. A Line 6 Helix Stomp for instance. On the back, I haven't heard anything warmer than the Schertler stuff.

    If I were going to limit the choice to combo amp, I suspect the Fender Tonemaster Twin is better than that Roland Artist though I haven't tried the former yet.
    Last edited by Spook410; 02-15-2020 at 07:04 PM.

  19. #18

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    From this all, I would kick out Kustom for some reason.

    And if you are limited to jazz only, kick Boss Katana, and Peavey Envoy.

    And if you are not jazz limited only, then I would go with Katana or Envoy.

  20. #19

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    Old orange cube 40 sounds great, if it's lightweight your after. Maybe a slight bit on the muddy side for my ears, but negligible on the bandstand.

    I've said it before and I'll say it again: Yamaha G50 ii.
    Supreme clean sound, plenty of head room, good reverb, very good bass presence. I think the circuit is based on a Fender twin or such and does have a Fender-like sound.
    Drawback is it's a bit heavy. But, they can be found for cheap.

  21. #20

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    Polytone

  22. #21

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    Does anyone have any thoughts on this. there are some obvious ones like price, better reverb( suggest other solution possibley) power output. Personally I like to see both run from a battery rather than mains. I would be interested in your thoughts please. Sibbs

  23. #22

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    For running on battery, some people use a battery power supply. There are some posts on the forum about this. I don't have a link handy, but a search should turn some up for you. Users claim that the power lasts for several hours when using a solid-state amp, and a Class D amp allows even longer use. I've never used one of those, but I've never needed one.

    I have a DV Mark Little Jazz, and a Clarus head with a Raezer's Edge cabinet. I like both, but for home use I slightly prefer the AI/RE combo. But they're heavy and bulky compared to the LJ, which is what I take when I go out. If the LJ is not loud enough, then it's too loud for me to stay and play. The reverb in it is okay, not great, but then I don't care much for reverb. If I can definitely hear the reverb, it's too much. I have a TC HOF Mini reverb pedal, and I sometimes use it turned up just enough to fatten the tone a little. But mostly I don't use any reverb at all. YMMV. This is an entirely subjective subject.

  24. #23

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    Thanks you so much for your response and advice, I search the forum re the battery. I also like your comments and thoughts on the reverb. Appreciate your input Thanks Sibbs

  25. #24

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    DV little jazz is the only one I’ve heard on a jazz gig and I thought it sounded pretty good.

  26. #25

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    Oh that’s not true actually. Roland cubes are good too. Tbh I think the Katana would be a good shout.