Head vs Cabinet - Which is more dominant?

[fixingahole2]

I'm too comfortable with Polytones, they are what I played with always, but I dread the day that mine will die.

I am very much interested in a modern substitute, but also wondering, what component in the Polytone is more dominant, the amp, or the speaker (or, it's just the combination).

Luckily, I have the following:

Polytone 12" minibrute combo.

Polytone minibrute head.
Polytone 12" cabinet.

Acoustic Image Clarus
Acoustic Image Cabinet.

I would like to conduct an experiment:

Compare the combo polytone to:

1. Acoustic Image Clarus with Polytone Cab.
2. Polytone Mini Brute Head with Acoustic Image Cab.

Which combination do you think will yield a closer sound to the Minibrute Combo?

[medblues]

1st combo but you have to play with the AI EQ settings and increase the input gain to max

[jorgemg1984]

I would say the preamp and the cab / speaker count the most, and the power amp not as much. There's a forum member (Chris1997) that has changed the power amp on his Polytone with a modern Class D one and found no relevant difference in tone.

You can also try one of the Polytone preamp pedals - that should work great with the Clarus and the Polytone cab.

Polytone Pre Amp Pedal - Brute EQ

If digital is your thing, I have used the Polytone pedal with a Dr Bonkers impulse response trough a PA, and sounds a lot like a real Polytone.

[fixingahole2]

Very interesting, will definitely try to get a hold of that pedal.
I'm not desperate enough to go digital, but it's good to know it's an option.
Going to find a brute pedal now..

[fixingahole2]

Goal of this experiment was to compare the following combinations to the polytone combo, and see which one is closer to it, hence determining what is more dominant in the polytone sound, the head, or the cabinet;

Polytone head & Acoustic image cab.
Acoustic Image Clarus & Polytone 12" cab.

I couldn't replicate the polytone combo sound with any of those combinations.
I also tried those:

Polytone head & Polytone 12" cab.
Polytone head & Polytone 15" cab.
Acoustic image clarus & Acoustic Image Cab

No surprise, the polytone head and polytone cabinet sound almost identical to the polytone combo.

I also try to crank to max the input channel on the acoustic image, like someone offered, didn't hear much different.

[Tal_175]

I am a little skeptical about the methodology here. In my experience cabinet and speakers are a huge part of the sound. A Marshall head through a polytone cabinet will sound closer to polytone than a Marshall if played clean with some EQ tweaking perhaps.

The way to conduct the experiment above is to have someone set up the amp/cabinet pairing without telling you which combination is used. Then maybe do some EQ tweaking. After that you come in the room and start playing without looking at the amp. The goal of the person who does the configuration is to fool you into thinking that Acoustic image is the Polytone and vice-versa. Would you still reach the same conclusion? I highly doubt it.

[Cunamara]

Having a Clarus 2r head and Raezor's Edge 12" cab and a Redstone 8" cab, and having had an MB II and a Baby Taurus, I've never been able to get the Clarus to sound anything near like a Polytone. Nor can I get either the Clarus or Polytones to sound like my tweed Deluxe (which is my favorite amp).

I've never run the Clarus through a Polytone cab. Given that those cabinets are stuffed with fiberglass house insulation, I suspect that reduces cabinet resonance a lot and is a significant part of the sound. Polytone's oddball spec speakers are probably also a contributor.

The preamp sound of a Polytone is also unique. It is not aimed at being an open, colorless amplification system (your guitar but louder) unlike the Acoustic Image amps. I suspect that the Brute EQ pedal into a powered speaker would sound closer to a Polytone than you could ever get from the Clarus.