The Jazz Guitar Chord Dictionary
  1. #1
    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?
    Last edited by fixingahole2; 05-27-2023 at 09:13 AM.

  2.  

    The Jazz Guitar Chord Dictionary
     
  3. #2

    User Info Menu

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

  4. #3

    User Info Menu

    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.

  5. #4
    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..

  6. #5
    Head vs Cabinet - Which is more dominant?-amp-mixing-heads-cabinets-jpg



    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.