Fender Jazzmaster Ultralight - Original Cost?

[Bach5G]

I have a Fender JMUL with matching speaker cab that I bought second hand.

What did these sell for originally?

[AlsoRan]

I thought it was originally $850.00 or $750.00. I am sorry that I can't remember. I am thinking that it was $750.00 for head and cab.

[Fusionshred]

I wanna say the head was $799.

[monkmiles]

I bought the head and cab new when it was available and agree with the above in that I recall around $750-$850 for head plus 1x12 cabinet. Miss the head alot. Not the cab though.

[Bach5G]

I was looking through the manual the other day and saw that the head could be used with 4 and 8 ohm cabs. For years I thought you could only use 2 ohm cabs, or in other words, the Fender Ultralight cab. I guess that is why the unit came with a Speakon to 1/4” cable. I thought that running a higher load might be related to the power supply problems that afflicted these amps but the manual suggests otherwise.

I have an Ear Candy with an 8” Eminence Beta in it that I must fire up one of these days.

[monkmiles]

I was looking through the manual the other day and saw that the head could be used with 4 and 8 ohm cabs. For years I thought you could only use 2 ohm cabs, or in other words, the Fender Ultralight cab. I guess that is why the unit came with a Speakon to 1/4” cable. I thought that running a higher load might be related to the power supply problems that afflicted these amps but the manual suggests otherwise.

I have an Ear Candy with an 8” Eminence Beta in it that I must fire up one of these days.

Yea, it was weird the way they went with 2 ohm optimal load. Thing is, the output power gets reduced going from 2 to 4 to 8 ohm. That said, it still had good headroom and power.

[Nick-Ald]

thinking it shouldn’t be too much of an issue with 250 watt power. And higher impedance would put less pressure on the amp, as I understand things. Suspect the reliability issue might be the other way round - a 2 Ohm standard cabinet sucking too much power from a small head? Wondering about putting one through an 8 Ohm lunchbox speaker for a good toy town stack…

Yea, it was weird the way they went with 2 ohm optimal load. Thing is, the output power gets reduced going from 2 to 4 to 8 ohm. That said, it still had good headroom and power.

[Gitterbug]

Now that we have, once more, lassoed in people with actual experience of the amp in question, what did it sound like? Weight apart, how good was it, actually? We have the tube amp diehards, Polytone diehards and many others who don't think much of the contemporary amp offering. Fact, nostalgia or degenerated hearing? It beats my reason that when everything else is advancing, guitar amplification should be moving in the opposite direction.

[Nick-Ald]

I think the guiding principle for many jazz guitarists is that Things Ain’t What They Used to Be.

In fact I was talking myself into buying one of these - no experience of it as yet. But I was successful so can report back soon, I hope.

This other thread seems to support my theory that it’s the 2-ohm speaker causing reliability complaints. So I may replace it if I get that problem.
Jazzmaster Ultralight Speaker Question | Telecaster Guitar Forum

Now that we have, once more, lassoed in people with actual experience of the amp in question, what did it sound like? Weight apart, how good was it, actually? We have the tube amp diehards, Polytone diehards and many others who don't think much of the contemporary amp offering. Fact, nostalgia or degenerated hearing? It beats my reason that when everything else is advancing, guitar amplification should be moving in the opposite direction.

[Nick-Ald]

I think it’s a very good amp, overall.

Pros:

• Tons of power and headroom
• great clean sound, very classic fender (to my ears)
• tube channel is nice and warm, can be clean if you have the gain knob completely off (!)
• reverb is fine
• light and portable head
• quiet, little hiss and well engineered

cons:

• Can sound pretty bassy through its cab
• Weird effects dial with lots of random things you probably won’t use, especially as it’s hard to see what you’ve selected
• hard to use at low volume (gets really loud really quickly on the master volume dial). I end up using the low gain input
• gain channel goes very quickly into overdrive

I would say fine to get the head on its own as it would be plenty loud enough with a 4 or 8 ohm, or smaller speaker. You miss out on using the little magnetic footholds with the stock unit, but hey. Had good results running it into a little 8 ohm speaker which tames the above cons 1 and 3.

[nevershouldhavesoldit]

Now that we have, once more, lassoed in people with actual experience of the amp in question, what did it sound like?

A local player who often shows up at jazz jams has used one for years. He plays a Godin through it, and I find the sound to be somewhere between sterile and lifeless. It has no character of its own but manages to pretty much eliminate the essence of the Godin’s tone (which is clear, rich and pleasant through most other amps). Instead of the balanced tone with a bit of sparkle that most Godins (nylon or steel) produce, the Godin sounds like a cheap semi-hollow with builder pickups through this particular JMUL. It does get loud . But no matter how loudly he plays, the sound seems to have trouble making itself clear within the band.

I don’t know the impedance of his cab, but it looks like the original that would have come with it and he’s not a gear junkie. As I recall, his EQ was flat. It may just be this particular guitar and player, but I’ve heard others with Gibsons, Fenders etc over the years and they didn’t sound much better to me. I’ve never played through one though.

I hope the OP can get great tone from it and I’m sure we’d all appreciate a sound clip or two. It seems like it should be capable of decent jazz tone.

[Rainer]

Regarding an alternative cab
I once bought the head without cab.
Got myself a good sounding replacement using an empty housing and a Celestion speaker (Neo 250 Copperback - 250 watts, 4 ohms). I've since sold it because I've got the complete original again.