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My little Jazzkat (tweed, 8" with a whizzer cone) is dying and I am not in a place with access to easily have it repaired. I liked everything about it, tone, size, weight, volume, etc... Im looking for something reliable and with a similar tonal footprint but am open to the new and strange too. Would love some recommendations. I'm limited to $500 and it will be used for gigging in small combo situations.
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08-02-2022 08:06 AM
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Here's something for half your budget: the Fender Champion 40. It's a much more Fender sounding amp but it's also really flexible because of the modeling features. It takes a bit to find the sound you want but it's a very nice sounding and playing amp at a bargain basement price.
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Or a Laney Cub 10, either the new model or one that has replaced the Celestion speaker. Or a 2nd hand Laney VC15, i saw one go for AU$215 a month ago!
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Jim's little Fender is a fine choice. But I'd recommend a DV Mark Little Jazz. I have both the 8" (Little Jazz) and the 12" (Jazz 12) versions and gig with them regularly. The electronics are exactly the same. DV Mark reverb is a little odd in that it gets chorus-ey when the knob is turned up beyond 1/4 to 1/3 of its full rotation. But used lightly, it's a fine reverb that adds just enough to enrich an extra-dry guitar tone.
You can get the LJ for between $250 and $280 on sale from Musician's Friend and other similar online vendors during the perpetual recurring sales that pop up every few weeks. The 12" version is usually about $100 more, but I find the 8" to be more than enough for all but the biggest gigs and venues, and I play a 7 string. I used it before Covid when my group played regularly at the cafe in our local Whole Foods, which is huge. The cafe area is on the ground floor and opens through the floor above, so the ceiling is probably 50' above us and the sound spreads through the entire store. The LIttle Jazz was more than enough with keys, bass and drums. It even holds its own when I play with horns - no strain and no breakup at pretty high volumes.
My other favorite rig is my RevSound RS8 cabinet (another 12 pound, 10" cube) with any of a number of the new tiny class D heads. Right now, I have a Quilter MicroBlock and a DV Mark EG250. But I've also loved it with a Trace Elliot Elf and a Vox Night Train tube head. The cab is $350 and a great micro head like a Warwick Gnome or TC BAM200 is about $175. I've also been impressed with the little Joyo heads and the tiny Vox class D heads, all of which are under $150.
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Thanks. This is all very helpful.
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This is a bit off topic, but I’m interested in what seems to be wrong with your Jazzkat. I still have two that work fine, but I’d like to know what might be apt to fail after all these years.
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KirkP,
Mine is seems to be an early tweed Pizzarelli model, before his signature was added, and is pretty beat up (I got it that way plus the effects are not working at all). I had recently been working with the effects loop and headphone/output jacks in back and it caused the guitar input to start making noise had random signal loss. After turning it off for a while and then turning it back on everything was fine, but it just made me think that maybe she is starting to show her age so I should start thinking about a different amp. I like the Jazzkat a lot. Its a perfect size for me and though its not the greatest amp it suits me fine.
How are yours? I would love to get another one in better condition if I could find one without any issues.
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I played through both a Little Jazz and a DV Jazz Micro head and enjoyed both a lot. I tend to forget about them these days because they are so expensive in Canada and importing from the US is very difficult. THE LJ here is $600 CDN and even accounting for the weaker currency that's still over $475 US ... and that assumes you can find one.
Originally Posted by nevershouldhavesoldit
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Because the JazzKat has the whizzer cone, are you looking for a similar bright acoustic sound?
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Not really, I am more looking for a standard flat-type of sound that I would class the JK in with things like Polytone and similar type of amps.
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I really like my Little Jazz. It's cheap, small, light, and can get a wide variety of sounds because the tone controls are very effective. I tend to use it at home more than my larger and more expensive options. I think it can get very close to the Polytone sound with the settings flat, or just the highs rolled back a little, very little. It gets loud enough to require the use of earplugs, at least for me, far louder than I would ever want to play. It's often under $300 in the US. Check Musician's Friend and Guitar Center. They're essentially the same company, but their sales aren't synchronized.
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My other option I was thinking of was getting Jazzmus' Brute EQ and running it through a powered cab or Alto?beringer PA.
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That might work. I have never tried that pedal, nor running any other through a powered cab. There are certainly many options available. To try them all out, all you need is time and money.
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If it already had issues when you took delivery and now it has more issues, I'd walk away from it. Who know how many beers the previous owner spilled on it or whatever other abuse they inflicted. Plenty of small, light amps out there. Originally Posted by TheGrandWazoo
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I don't own one, but I have read in the past that their life span is not too long. They went out of biz, too bad, nice idea. I think they used the same cheap multi-efx elex others used that were prone to early failure, and that failure often affected the rest of the amp. I met John twice, wanted to ask him about it, but I thought it was out of place to do so even though were talking about gear. He is a really nice guy.
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+ 1 on Fender Champion 40 and the Little Jazz. I use a Champion 20, and I find it to be plenty of amp for small groups in small venues, and it's a little lighter and easier to carry than the LJ, so I'd add that to the list. I'd also suggest checking out the Bugera AC60 (cheap clone of an AER compact 60). Lunchbox is another.
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