Versatile Gear for Jazz

[QsDuesBlues]

Nice to see someone using a non-valve Fender Champ - underrated, reliable (mine was last serviced 7 years ago), light, great tones for jazz.
And at 25lbs, my 80's Champion 30 1 x 10 conveniently fits snugly into a 'Sainsbury's' heavy duty grocery carry bag (if it rains, I turn the bag upside down).

Too bad that when I recently bought an early 90's hybrid solid state/valve 1 x 12 Fender Champ 25se on E-Bay, it turned out to be the biggest and heaviest Champ amp Fender ever made, I think (38lbs) - and no, it won't fit into the 'Sainsbury's' carry bag !

But......described by one online owner-reviewer as "like having half a Fender Twin", the clean channel alone is indeed truly classy - and certainly worth the $188-00 (£150-00 equivalent) it cost me here in the UK. Sound-wise it's also not a million miles away from one of my favourite all-time amp sounds - the 80's Musicmaster 1 x 12 RD-65 - but at a fraction of the cost of sourcing a vintage one over here (around £500 - £600).

So no, I don't feel a chump for owning two Champs - I'll just check the weight and dimensions a bit more closely if I ever buy another ....

[RayS]

Seems there's a Catch 22 when it comes to archtops. Low end archtops can sound pretty bad. While most of the guitars that play and sound good are too expensive for those that should be playing them. And as the guitar player advances, music doesn't pay well enough to upgrade to the next level.

YMMV , inexpensive jazz Samick ...

he has a bunch of other finds that are really interesting.....I agree his L5 sounds really$$$$$$really great.....but, he gets a great sound out of a lowly $500 (on a good day) Samick Lasalle !!!!!!

Anecdote: had a friend who was a true athlete, he could play any sport...with or without "proper" gear..We all had the latest driver and iron golf sets..he showed up with those really old hickory bendy rusty sticks and blew his drives/irons way past ours....He could just play golf, hockey, foot you name it....So yah, you can play Jazz on any guitar you want....

Ray

[Christian Miller]

Official NYC subway jazz guitar rig, which will be taking 2 or 3 train rides today. Fender Champion 20 amp with artisan-hand crafted duct tape amp cover, 77 Hawk Jazz guitar, and Mono M80 case. Nothing truly irreplaceable (except maybe the amp cover ...), but I'm not letting any of it out of my sight.


Attachment 91959

Call that a subway rig? No. That’s way too manly for me.

The champ…. What does that thing weigh? 10kg or something? (whatever that is in stupid units, no idea because I don’t have to know and would refuse even if I had to.) Too bloody heavy is what it is by any measurement system.

Im not carrying any amp I can’t lift with one finger.

Believe it or not gigging is much the same for where I am - city of 9 million with a good public transport network (albeit more spread out so it takes longer to get everywhere) and generally hostile to drivers.

Now my amp weighs around 1.5-2kg I get very snotty about having to lug even my AER Alpha (which I’ve currently left in a pub in East London cos I can’t be arsed to schlep it home.) thank you Mikko (and quilter) for making me weak and spoilt. Like a violinist.

I remember when I was desperate to get an AER because everyone used them and it was the only amp that was gig worthy that weighed less than 10kg. How things have changed….

Sometimes there’s a house amp which is mostly nice. Fender Hot Rods are popular house amps and I’m happy with that. Those things work.

[Spook410]

.....but he gets a great sound out of a 500$ one !!!!!!

There is a cottage industry on YouTube demonstrating how great inexpensive instruments sound. However, IMHO this does not translate to the non-YouTube world. I have a Washburn J6 and a Korean D'Angelico along with hand carved Chinese archtops and Gibson L5. When you're in the room with the guitar and you can feel the resonance of the carved guitars against your chest, the difference is immediate and apparent.

[RayS]

There is a cottage industry on YouTube demonstrating how great inexpensive instruments sound. However, IMHO this does not translate to the non-YouTube world. I have a Washburn J6 and a Korean D'Angelico along with hand carved Chinese archtops and Gibson L5. When you're in the room with the guitar and you can feel the resonance of the carved guitars against your chest, the difference is immediate and apparent.

How is this relevant to the OP?

I'm saying one can play jazz on any guitar, the OP is not talking about an L5 , I certainly can't afford one and definitely not debating it's not a better instrument!.....I've tried Eastmans and Heritages and they were/are sweet... the Samick (carved top! apparently!) in the video sounds just as nice as these others for way less $$......and of course a strat doesn't have any body resonance on the chest, unless you really pump up that amp...just saying....

Ray

[John A.]

Call that a subway rig? No. That’s way too manly for me.

The champ…. What does that thing weigh? 10kg or something? (whatever that is in stupid units, no idea because I don’t have to know and would refuse even if I had to.) Too bloody heavy is what it is by any measurement system.

.

It's nowhere near that heavy, more like 4 or 5 kg. This is one of the digital modeling amps with a class D amp, not a Champ or Super Champ X2. I can easily carry it around with one hand. It's cheap, too.

[Spook410]

A $500 Samick is not close to an Eastman or Heritage regardless of what you may have heard on YouTube. And it won't have a carved top in that price range.

And good archtops cost what they cost. Kind of surprising it's so little given the skill and materials that go into them.

[Christian Miller]

It's nowhere near that heavy, more like 4 or 5 kg. This is one of the digital modeling amps with a class D amp, not a Champ or Super Champ X2. I can easily carry it around with one hand. It's cheap, too.

Ah ok, don’t know those ….

personally I’ll always prefer a head/speaker thing because you can split the weight (and put the head in your guitar bag in the case of micro head options) but 4-5kg is not bad at all. I’ll let you off!

[SerCorr]

They have the rights and votes that all Canadian citizens enjoy.

The long history of discrimination against First Nations children

In Italy we say: " una rondine non fa primavera".
However, in Indonesia there are no discriminations, as far as I know. And China is where iPhones and Mac's are built and assembled.
I don't see any good reasons for preferring an instrument or another depending on the country they're built. Globalization made all of us get in touch, talk together, buying goods costing less, abandoning all the obsolete ways of thinking and prejudices. Music is a way to dialogue peer to peer. Not a top down show. I hope having expressed my thought clearly, even if English is not my mother tongue.. Best regards

[JohanAbrandt]

The long history of discrimination against First Nations children

In Italy we say: " una rondine non fa primavera".
However, in Indonesia there are no discriminations, as far as I know. And China is where iPhones and Mac's are built and assembled.
I don't see any good reasons for preferring an instrument or another depending on the country they're built. Globalization made all of us get in touch, talk together, buying goods costing less, abandoning all the obsolete ways of thinking and prejudices. Music is a way to dialogue peer to peer. Not a top down show. I hope having expressed my thought clearly, even if English is not my mother tongue.. Best regards

Well, this is not the place for this, but …

If you are seriously claiming that Indonesia and China has the upper hand on Canada in terms of democracy and civil rights, then you are either ill educated or smoking something you shouldnt.

Last comment from me on this topic

[SerCorr]

Well, this is not the place for this, but …

If you are seriously claiming that Indonesia and China has the upper hand on Canada in terms of democracy and civil rights, then you are either ill educated or smoking something you shouldnt.

Last comment from me on this topic

You reply says a lot about you, not about myself. Please read again what I wrote, if you have time to waste.
Thanks

[Litterick]

I read it carefully, and you do seem to be saying Indonesia and China are superior to Canada in human rights. I do not want to spoil this thread with political arguments, so I will end my comments here.

[pingu]

there goes the thread !

[SerCorr]

I read it carefully, and you do seem to be saying Indonesia and China are superior to Canada in human rights. I do not want to spoil this thread with political arguments, so I will end my comments here.

Sorry, I didn't say that.
None is superior to others, nor country or people. Everyone has something to regret about their history or behaviours. About guitars, I had a Larrivee L10E and it was wonderful. But I chose that for its sound and beauty, not for political reasons.
Same for Ibanez or Fender or Gretsch.
They're built in Asian countries because that give more gain to Western companies, not for other purposes. And I like my Squier, my Gretsch and my Ibanez as if they were built in Cremona Best regards.

[Ukena]

As a former anthropologist, I would venture that there is no nation on earth that still has an indigenous population that can brag about the treatment those peoples have received from the responsible governmental bodies.

And I say "still has an indigenous population" because there are many instances of indigenous people being completely wiped out in their native countries.

The argument about which country has better "human rights" is unwinnable, from the standpoint of indigenous peoples.

Back to guitars!

[guavajelly]

Really? If you like benson you should try an Ibanez GB ?

That may be a good starting point. :-)
No really, the OP is asking for it and as owner of a GB10 and 200 I can confirm that these deliver if the player has the chops.

[Tal_175]

I like to use a tubescreamer pedal to get a more jazz friendly sound out of single coil solid-bodies. I found on youtube
that someone made a great video about this very useful trick:

[RayS]

A $500 Samick is not close to an Eastman or Heritage regardless of what you may have heard on YouTube. And it won't have a carved top in that price range.

And good archtops cost what they cost. Kind of surprising it's so little given the skill and materials that go into them.

Again I'm not saying the Samick is as good etc as any other archtops mentioned...... Listen to the

..Rich gets a very nice sound out of this cheap guitar....And while I can afford an Eastman (well at the lower end anyways) I've sadly not come across a Heritage I can

There are however available on my local Kijiji, a Samick JZ3, a Mr Wu custom made guitar , A Gibson Tal Farlow, an Epiphone Howard Roberts, a J. Simoneau (local Luthier) made archtop .........a DeCava custom L5 inspired . a '79 GB10 and a gorgeous Victor Baker model 14 .....prices vary from 650$ to $6000 cdn.....One can "play" jazz at a variety of prices ....

Ray

[itsmyname]

I like to use a tubescreamer pedal to get a more jazz friendly sound out of single coil solid-bodies. I found on youtube
that someone made a great video about this very useful trick:

interesting, with this tubescreamer, I would choose the neck pick up and problably low the tone to the mid, in way to cut some trebles and high mid from the strato but not from the amp, maybe ?

[Tal_175]

interesting, with this tubescreamer, I would choose the neck pick up and problably low the tone to the mid, in way to cut some trebles and high mid from the strato but not from the amp, maybe ?

One of the reasons why this works is, a lot of amps become more dynamic when the input is boosted. Archtops have a more explosive dynamic range than solid bodies in my experience. So, boosting a weak strat pickup helps with making the guitar feel more dynamic like an archtop.

Also strats tend to sound a bit scooped. That's partly the reason why they have that sweet "thinness" to them. Mid-focused tubescreamers fatten up Strats. But I think they fatten up Tele's as well.

I also like the smooth, and compressed sound of tubescreamers.

[Spook410]

blah.. blah.. politics

This is a jazz guitar forum. Take your politics elsewhere.

[Spook410]

blah.. blah.. poliltics

This is a jazz guitar forum. Take your politics elsewhere.

[Spook410]

blah.. blah.. politics

This is a jazz guitar forum. Take your politics elsewhere.

[Spook410]

Well, this is not the place for this,

That is correct. Take your politics elsewhere.

[itsmyname]

One of the reasons why this works is, a lot of amps become more dynamic when the input is boosted. Archtops have a more explosive dynamic range than solid bodies in my experience. So, boosting a weak strat pickup helps with making the guitar feel more dynamic like an archtop.

Also strats tend to sound a bit scooped. That's partly the reason why they have that sweet "thinness" to them. Mid-focused tubescreamers fatten up Strats. But I think they fatten up Tele's as well.

I also like the smooth, and compressed sound of tubescreamers.

some years ago I put some kinman hx pickups in place of the original one, the kinman helped me to find what I like to sound jazz with my strato (my goal was not to play jazz with my strato but....every way goes to Rome ), without loosing what I like when using that strato to play other styles.

interesting !