The Jazz Guitar Chord Dictionary
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  1. #1

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    There is often a lot of talk about vintage amps, etc to create authentic jazz tone... I am often right in that mix because it is interesting and fun. Surfing around for some music to listen to/watch while doing some Saturday morning cleaning I can across this great band. Taking a look at the gear, you can see the Behringer Eurolive B205D powered monitor speaker is being used for the guitars... possibly a splitter adding the bass... hard to tell.

    summary... sometimes a $180 powered speaker is all that is needed. Much more is the musicians and the music rather than the gear.
    Access to this page has been denied. (link to the Behringer Euroline B205D)


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    The Jazz Guitar Chord Dictionary
     
  3. #2

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    That's a nice band there
    Sounds good through the little fella

    7lbs !

  4. #3

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    My bet is the archtop player is using it for a little bit more volume and the rest are playing acoustically or direct.

    Behringer, Bugera, great value for money gear.

  5. #4

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    Great playing by those folks.

    Here are my observations:

    The Gypsy guitar gets a better rhythm sound than the L-7. Perhaps it is the piezo pickup vs the magnetic pickup? That said, I prefer the lead sound of the Gibson.

    The fact that the Gypsy guitar has a stick on piezo informs me that they are not playing very loud (I have used those kind of pickups and they feed back at bar/restaurant volumes.) So that little powered monitor may be fine for a low volume gig. Perhaps the bass is acoustic and the monitor is there just to reinforce the guitars a bit so the leads can be heard? I would not count on that for a gig where average room volume is needed.

  6. #5

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    That's an interesting monitor.
    Looking at the spec, there are two mic inputs. Only one of which can be switched to an instrument input. (different impedance? - not my strong point!)
    So, assuming both guitars are plugged into it, which guitar would go into which input for best results?
    Thanks

  7. #6

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    I believe that the Gypsy-style guitarist (I don't remember her name, sorry about that) owns one of Stephane Wrembel's old Holo guitar, so it would be a contact mic (you can see it on the guitar on the bass side of the bridge). She's a great guitarist, and while I think the tone is lacking a bit, that could be for a number of reasons. That mic on the guitar sounds great when Stephane uses it (among many others). I personally like the combination of magnetic pickup and mic used together depending on what the guitarist is playing.

  8. #7

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    "Much more is the musicians and the music rather than the gear."

    They sound fantastic but they are playing some rather spendy looking instruments there, the behringer aside. Spent thousands on their instruments, bought behringer P.A gear. Obviously they are professionals but I don't really get cheaping out on the P.A at that point or do Gibson archtops really cost that much money? He does look like he's missed a few meals....

  9. #8

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    For nearly 3 years I've been with a 5/6 piece old time, most reading, band. I use my Loar 700 with floater. For much of the time I put it through a MBIII. More recently a Teeny Brute and very recently an old battery Peavey Solo amp with a new Jensen 8" speaker (got it for an outdoor gig). I get a great sound from all of them.
    Last week, just out of the blue, our Sax player, at whose home we rehearse, brought out one of these Behringer amps, covered in dust, for me to try!
    I wasn't expecting much as Ive tried the likes of the street cubes and powered speakers and not been particularly taken by the sound.
    I was very impressed with the Behringer. Just quickly plugging it in with pratically no tweaking it had a great sound. Not too dissimilar from the Peavey but slightly less mids.
    So, from now on, I only have to take a guitar to rehearsals!
    Here's a pic of the battery Peavey.Gypsy Jazz band using Behringer Eurolive B205D Powered Monitor Speaker-fb_img_1689160037542-jpg

  10. #9

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    Quote Originally Posted by Steve Z
    There is often a lot of talk about vintage amps, etc to create authentic jazz tone... I am often right in that mix because it is interesting and fun.
    Good band! I'm not a huge fan of gypsy jazz (it tends to be a little too dogmatic for my taste, although there are certainly a lot of exceptions to that as well). Time in gypsy jazz has to be absolutely rock-solid and in step, which they really nail.

    The use of this tiny little monitor speaker is also interesting. I'm wondering, however, whether that's what we're hearing or is there also a line out to the PA which is where the actual signal is coming from? I ask this because there's no audience sound but the band is clearly responding to an audience. So this may be a soundboard recording.

    "Authentic jazz tone" is something I find impossible to understand except that I think I know it when I hear it. What does that actually mean in terms of jazz guitar? Charlie Christian and Jim Hall had really different tones, yet both are a jazz sound. Ed Bickert and Tal Farlow sounded very different, yet both are a jazz sound. George Benson and Pat Martino are really different, yet both are considered a jazz sound. And how about Scofield and Mike Stern compared to Jim Hall? Or Allan Holdsworth compared to… well, everybody else in the universe? And, of course, those early foundational jazz recordings were made with whatever amplifier was around- not with a carefully curated, specifically designed, massaged and fettled booteeek amplifier like we have a plethora of today.

    Not that it is bad to have that plethora of options, of course. It's pretty amazing what is out there now, just within the last decade or so. The various Quilter amps, the Bose line array speakers, powered soeakers, Toob speaker cabinets and tiny little high-powered clean micro amps, class D power amps, what have you in addition to many tube amplifiers, hybrid amplifiers and then the thousands of pedals, preamps, DIs...

  11. #10

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    Band sounds great.

    Balance is better than I would have expected for acoustic violin and bass and guitars through that little Behringer. So, maybe something more complicated is happening.

    But it brings this to mind.

    I attended a house party for which two musicians had been hired. Bass and flat top guitar. Two mics. They played and sang in harmony. A number of different styles, including bop played on the flattop. Everything sounded terrific.

    For amplification they had a small mixer and everything went into it (two mics, bass and guitar). It fed what looked like a single 12" guitar amp. I don't recall the brand. Some very generic looking amp.

    This gig was in a courtyard, maybe 20x20'. So they didn't have to be loud and they weren't. Volume seemed exactly right for the venue.

    They had a bigger gig later that day and had a full PA in their van parked outside.

    These guys were consummate pros and they knew exactly what would work. I think a lot of duos would have showed up with a lot more gear and would not have sounded any better. More likely, worse.

    Sometimes it seems like conventional wisdom emerges about how to do something. Like you need this kind of guitar and this kind of amp -- but then you hear people who go in a very different direction with great results.

  12. #11

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    There are microphones involved. I can't see that the violin has a pickup, no visible wires, and the voices are loud and clear. The Gibson is amplified, perhaps the other guitar, but I don't see that the bass is. I can't tell where the mics are, but they're definitely present. Professional sound personnel were involved.