The Jazz Guitar Chord Dictionary
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  1. #1

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    A heads up up for a great new demo of the various Toob Metro 6.5” speakers as played by Jazz guitarist Petri Krzywacki , with a TC Bam200 head.

    Incredible that you get that much sound from such a small light package.

    I have the eminence version 6.5 lbs and I love it...




    Toob Metro Speakers-toob-metro-speakers-jpg

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  3. #2

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    Thanks for posting Pingu. Wonder what price tag it will have? The Toob site says "TBA".
    By reference the 12" Toob speakers come in at around 500€, so I guess they will be a little less...... Funilly enough the BAM200+Toob is a configuration I'm considering for my Höfner Violin bass so a to take up a minimum amount of space in my music room - the video shwos that it's a nice amp and it could be fun to alternate my guitars through as a break from playing the ToneMaster Deluxe Reverb.

  4. #3

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    Hi all! The MSRPs in Finland (incl. 24% VAT) are EUR 239 for 6.5 GP (20W Jensen) and EUR 269 for 6.5BG/FR (130W SICA Neo). We can sell direct for a little less, and non-EU buyers pay no tax. Pingu has a 6.5GP with a 100W Eminence Alphalite 6A, same as on the vid's Custom model. That tends to be too pricey for trade channels but is another option for direct customers. BTW, legendary session guitarist Tim Pierce now owns a telescopic TOOB 10T and plans to use it in studio work. Check out our FB and Instagram pages.

    Sorry if this sounds too commercial, but I think Ray's straight question deserves a straight answer.

  5. #4

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    Hi Gitterbug - thanks for the straight reply. Those prices look good. As I continue to equip my little home studio iI want to have a bass amp with XLR and have looked at the TC Electronics BAM200 - it has XLR out, which is what I want, and looks to be a good match with one of the Metro speakers. It's not on the top of my purchasing list yet, but maybe later in the year?

  6. #5

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    Thanks, Ray! The BAM is a super value, although price seems to be notching upwards. For a bit more punch and a four-band eq, the G+K MB200 stands next in line, but costs almost 3X. I got my first one from Musikia in Paris.

  7. #6

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    In the US the MB200 is only about twice the cost of the BAM. Which is still a big difference, of course. I bought mine long before the BAM was introduced. If I were buying today I would seriously consider the BAM, but I don't need both. The Toob is attractive, but I don't schlep stuff around much these days, so the cabinets I already have are more than enough for me. If I were starting over, I would certainly consider a Toob of some size, but I hope I never have to.

  8. #7

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    I was able to get my old MB200's at bargain prices by shopping used on the bass forums.

    And Gitterbug it's very hard for me to get gear in and out of Mexico but at some point I think I'd really like one of the 6.5 Toobs. I've said it before but it deserves to be repeated: I'm really pleased to see you stick it out and find some success. Innovation deserves to be rewarded.

  9. #8

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    What a great idea. I really liked the Eminence one.

  10. #9

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    That sounds way better than it has any right to.

  11. #10

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    Which version (speaker) was it? And what guitar?

  12. #11

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    Chiming in, I know it was a 12J. The first owner sold it, as he had taken delivery of a telescopic 10T (and another, and a 6.5 prototype). There's some 50 12J's in operation, and users typically characterize them as crisp, articulate and separating, almost hi-fi. "Muddy" to me is the unexpected opposite. I have no first-hand experience of the GSS amp in question. Many 12J users rely on DV Mark Micro 50s or Quilter 101Rs. I have just ordered a Raezer's Edge Luna 200R for what I expect to be a match made in Hel(sinki).

  13. #12

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    Quote Originally Posted by Gitterbug
    . I have just ordered a Raezer's Edge Luna 200R for what I expect to be a match made in Hel(sinki).
    Isn't that a bit overpowered for many of your TOOBs? My 10R is capped at 100 watts (8 ohms) and I run it with an approx 80 watt SD power amp (170/4 ohms) with a Jr Barnyard/El Pescadoro in front. It is plenty loud enough for big band rehearsals, crisp, clear and audible to all in its upright position, but a bit underpowered (front-facing) for perfomances where we rarely have a PA.

  14. #13

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    Quote Originally Posted by Gitterbug
    I have no first-hand experience of the GSS amp in question. .
    The GSS amp is 50w into 8 ohms. The eq section is similar to the BAM200, with mid @ 400 hz, but with much available less treble, which some might characterise as muddy. It's an amp with a separate power adapter. I have both, so can compare them.

  15. #14

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    Quote Originally Posted by pcjazz
    Isn't that a bit overpowered for many of your TOOBs? My 10R is capped at 100 watts (8 ohms) and I run it with an approx 80 watt SD power amp (170/4 ohms) with a Jr Barnyard/El Pescadoro in front. It is plenty loud enough for big band rehearsals, crisp, clear and audible to all in its upright position, but a bit underpowered (front-facing) for perfomances where we rarely have a PA.
    As a SS, the Luna doesn't have to be cranked all the way up to deliver the mojo, I hope. Plus, pairing a 12J and 12R sounds great on the rare occasion where serious stage volume is needed. There will be a YouTube demo video on this soon, with guitarist Petri Krzywacki and bassist Ilkka Hanski performing "Mercy, mercy" at the Helsinki Tonefest. The amp was a DV Mark Micro 50M. In our test corner, I can't crank it much above 12 o'clock on clean, without my ears hurting. The dirty channel brings out the tears.

    This evokes the eternal question of tube vs SS wattage. A watt is a watt, right? OTOH, Fender's new Tonemasters are 100W and 200W, "comparable to" 22W and 85W all-tube. Pressure washer vs. fire hose? I'm sure someone has made actual SPL comparisons between tube and SS amps, but haven't seen any such data.

  16. #15
    joelf Guest
    Quote Originally Posted by ruger9
    Which version (speaker) was it? And what guitar?
    I think J10? It was a 10 inch speaker. I think the mini amp was the culprit anyway. Horrible, muddy yet thin tone. No body. A speaker only amplifies the sound already there. (Guitar is a Godin 5th Ave. Kingpin).

    But there's no accounting for taste. People swear by AER. I bought one b/c I was moving to Europe and it had a N. Europe current switch. But I may as well have played through a scalpel---sterile. Couldn't wait to dump it, and was lucky it was new enough to get most of my money back...

  17. #16

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    You're right, a 10J instead of the std 12". My bad. But this is the same "motor" with a smaller cone, so the tonal difference is very small. Much as I like my Kingpin, it gets very little air time due to its short, sharp and dry bark. When it was new, I changed the strings three times (stock>flat>half rounds) within a week before returning to .12 roundwounds.

  18. #17

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    A couple of weeks ago I commented on Gitterbug's post in the For Sale forum concerning the Tube Metro 6.5BG speaker, aimed at bass and guitar. At the time I only had the time to try the amp with guitars, having to go back to hospital for another (planned) operation. Now I'm out and able to get upstairs to my music room, I want now to add a few comments on how the Speaker coped with carrying my Höfner Beatle bass...... Original review is inserted for a complete picture.


    ORIGINAL REVIEW
    Got out of hospital earlier than expected yesterday afternoon so I was able to spend 45 minutes with the Toob Metro 6.5" BG and BAM200.


    The gear was bought principally for my MIC Höfner Violin Bass, but yesterday I tried it with my 1961 ES-175D and also an Ibanez MIJ Artist 2619 Prestige

    The Toob arrived nicely packaged and is robust and solidly built. The stand was easy to fit and points at a good angle, so all the sound is not "in your feet". The little platform for positioning an amp was pre-equipped with 2 velcro strips that were perfectly aligned for the bottom plate of the BAM 200 so the amp was effectively and solidly fixed to the speaker's platform in no time at all. Since the BAM has no reverb I used my T-Rex Duck Tail delay pedal to dial in an approximation of a small amount of reverb.

    With the ES175D All settings at noon. Full, balanced sound, getting close to a tube amp but with more clarity and precision. Rolling off the treble and (partly) the mids gave me a very satisfying "thunky" sound. I was surprised at how the lows came out nicely from such a small speaker,which projected nicely - I used a Boss W20 system to be able to hear from the other side of the room. The BAM is rated at 200W through 4 ohms, and with the Toob at 8 ohms the potential volume was reduced. For practice with gain at noon I found more than enough volume at 9 o'clock on the volume knob. I didn't push into higher levels yesterday other than 30 seconds with gain and volume at 3 o'oclock, but my impression was that there was plenty of power for playing out unless you have a noisy drummer. The Neo woofer in the Toob gave nice note separation at all the frequencies I threw at it. To be sure it didn't give the "oomph" of the 12 inch speaker on my TMDR, but that comes as no surprise, because it's not pushing as much air.

    With the Ibanez Artist 2619 Prestige Much the same as for the 175, any essential differences being down to the brighter Super 80 trisound pickups on the Ibanez, which when thrown into a series configuration got me a very pleasing Peter Green sound.

    No recordings at this stage, my health issues have prevented me from moving forward with my home studio as fast as I would like. But maybe in summer I'll be in a position to do so.

    Conclusion - if someone is looking for a quality, compact, robust speaker with good mids and lows, that will also fit into a small sports bag, then the Toob Metro 6.5 BG presses all of the buttons for me.

    During the week I'll try to find time to plug the Höfner Violin Bass into it......

    Review with Höfner Beatle Bass
    All controsl set at noon on the BAM200 Amp. I play principally fingerstyle on the neck pickup, rhythm mode engaged, with black tapewound strings to get as close as I can to an acoustic bass sound. From the kickoff, I was very surprised at how clean and full the little 6.5" speaker sounded - at all volumes. The upper and mid range were rich and full, but the last 5 notes on the bottom E string didn't have as much "punch" - after 3 minutes adjusting the neck pickup the lower notes came into a better focus (proabably the shortcomings of the pickups on this budget level bass (about 350€ a few years ago). Note separation was fine, and by using vibrato I was able to get a nice sweet singing tone on held notes, particularly near the 12th fret. Moving the right hand nearer to the bridge brought out some nice harmonics without loosing the bass sound. Finally, I (exceptionally) moved from neck to bridge pickup, to find nice bright tones that cut through, digging in with a pick at full pickup volume gave what I think is a nice sound for rock, so the amp seems to be able to handle that register as well. Same comment about level of "oomph" compared to playing through my TMDR, but same caveat - less air is being pished than with a 12 inch speaker. I suspect that mounting the speaker vertically will help in most venues. Great little speaker !

  19. #18

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    FYI, prototypes and earlier versions have been in use by NY/Brooklyn jazz musicians for a year. Among them, bassist Dave Baron, Ron Carter's star student from Juillard, now has a final-issue 6.5BG in his arsenal. Actually, it was he and guitarist Greg Ruggiero, one of the busiest jazz club musicians in the Big Apple - both owners of 10" and 12" TOOBs since 2018 - who first came up with the idea of an even more portable, yet gig-worthy cab.

  20. #19

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    Would one of these work well with a modeller such as the HX Stomp?

  21. #20

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    Yes, the FR version has a 130W SICA 6 D 1,5SL Neo speaker ranging from approx. 70Hz to 15kHz. It's meant as a stage monitor for modeling amps but performs well with acoustic guitar, keyboards, harmonica, violin etc. Christian Miller has been testing one, alongside the BG (bass & guitar) model, and I'm awaiting his verdict with interest. We also have a 12", 150W FRFR TOOB in test stages. It's sheer dynamite!

  22. #21

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    Quote Originally Posted by Gitterbug
    We also have a 12", 150W FRFR TOOB in test stages. It's sheer dynamite!
    I would be really interested in hearing this paired with a Strymon Iridium for amplification.

  23. #22

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    We'll hunt for one.

  24. #23

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    So, I took my Toob Metro BG to a rehearsal today - big band (socially distanced which was funny.)

    I decided to walk to the venue - about 15-20 minutes from my home and found the speaker to have hardly any weight at all. After all these years of hauling an AER around it felt like a feather.

    I used a BAM 200 amp as a head.

    The amp and speaker performed really well, more than loud enough to project for solos with proper drums (albeit jazz). The other band members had no trouble hearing me, and all were intrigued and impressed.

    I plan to do a video soon.
    Last edited by christianm77; 07-23-2020 at 04:00 PM.

  25. #24

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    Having spent countless time listening to Jensen’s online speaker demos I quite liked the MOD series. Have you tried one of those?


    Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

  26. #25

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    I believe the C6V is labeled as MOD for the US market.

    Edit: As I'm not sure, I've sent an inquiry to the factory.
    Last edited by Gitterbug; 07-27-2020 at 05:00 AM.