Compact Amp for Jazz-gigs

[xroads]

What kind of amp would you use for Jazz in small venues?
I mostly play either 335 type guitars or a TCM Taurus (=HB type
semi-hollow). I need a lightweight, robust amp.

I recently saw George Benson live, and he had 2 small combo
amps (looked like 10" speakers) on stage, where he got a huge sound
out of. It made me think of scaling down....

Thanks!!

 

[TaronKeim]

www.jimsoloway.com Check out the Soloway Classic amp, 10" speaker, beautiful reverb, custom made by Fargen Amplification, Jim is an amazing 7-String fingerstyle Jazz player, listen to the clips, they will astound you, HUGE BOLD SHIMMERING SOUND!!!

-TJK

 

[Tag]

Originally posted by xroads
What kind of amp would you use for Jazz in small venues?
I mostly play either 335 type guitars or a TCM Taurus (=HB type
semi-hollow). I need a lightweight, robust amp.

I recently saw George Benson live, and he had 2 small combo
amps (looked like 10" speakers) on stage, where he got a huge sound
out of. It made me think of scaling down....

Thanks!!

Benson used a Fender HR DeVille when I saw him. 4\10" speakers, and it is one of the best sounding amps I have heard. The Polytones also have a pretty nice clean tone, but I prefer the HR Deluxe. (1\12). Fairly lightweight, BEAUTIFUL clean tones, and nice reverb. Several jazz players I know of use them all the time. Another which is a lot more money, would be the Bruno Cowtipper 22. Tell Tony what you are using it for, and he will tune the amp specifically for that. You can get it with a 1\10, 2\10, 1\12 or 2\12 combo. I have one of these coming shortly.

 

[Strung Up]

Pearce G2R is my choice here: 2 rack spaces in a case is a decent backup for blues/r&b gigs, and an easy haul and setup with a 1x12 for jazz.

 

[563]

Kind of depends on your price range. I think the Crate V-Series (V1512 and V3112 specifically) are some of the best bang:buck amps out there. I compared the 15 to Fenders, Boogies, Matchless, Bad Cat, and a number of others and I found no reason at all to spend more.

Another way to go if you can wait is to cruise eBay for an old master volume model Garnet.

 

[brocktoon]

Like many folks, I use a little polytone mini-brute II. Sometimes I love it, sometimes not. My friend's HR deluxe sounds noticeably better to my ears. I've heard good things about Acoustic Image amps, but have no personal experience with them.

 

[rwe333]

Good suggestions so far...
Also Evans, some Ampeg combos and the old orange Roland Cube 60 - all reasonably priced...

 

[T-bone]

Evans!

 

[rawkguitarist]

One of the coolest Jazz guitarists ever, Bill Frisell uses Fender Black Face Deluxes. A small, real cool amp.

If it were me, I'd buy a 1x12 TopHat Club Royale (20 watt cathode biased). I play Jazz gigs all the time with my 2x12...

 

[GreenTea]

Excellent suggestions here. I'll suggest the Tech 21 Trademark 60.

 

[larrylover]

Comins amps. As you probably know, Comins is a maker of fine jazz boxes. The amp under his name is actually made by George Alessandro of Alessandro amps. Compact, light and very nice sounding. Alessandro makes a jazz amp -- I think it is the Redbone voiced for jazz (as opposed to the redbone voiced for high gain playing), but it may be too unwieldy for your purposes. The Redbone a head that would require a separate speaker cabinet. (Alessandro is a custom builder, so I am sure he could build a Redbone combo if you like. By why do that when the Comins is available?)

 

[peachead1071]

Boogie Lonestar compact combo. Tons of headroom in a tiny little package.

 

[charley]

I JUST PICKED UP A POLYTONE MINIBRUTE II FOR THE GIGS I DON'T WANT TO HAUL MY HEAD AND CAB DOWN TO. HAVEN'T GIGGED IT YET.........SATURDAY WILLBE THE FIRST, BUT SO FAR I LOVE IT.

WHY IS MY KEYBOARD LOCKED INTO ALL CAPS?

 

[aquadog]

Those polytones sound much nicer through a 2x10 or 2x12. I was surprised how much it opened up the tone.

I know you were looking for a simple grab and go combo, but its nice just to hear it for a change through another cab.

 

[Reissueplayer]

Interesting topic. Last week I heard a Schertler combo amplifying an acoustic and I was quite impressed. A big PA-like sound from a very compact and solid amp.
http://www.schertler.com/prodotti_ing/loudspeakers/unico.htm

I've also heard AER amps and they seem to bee really good for getting acoustic tone amplified.

Any others with experience of these?

 

[charley]

I like the little 1X12 minibrute's sound. It is huge and WARM for a little solid stater.

I agree with you about the polytones with extension cabs sounding better. The speakers are the key to their sound. Have you ever plugged headphones into the jack on back?
Sounds absolutely terrible.

Nevertheless, they are great amps, and not very expensive relatively. It is something you could replace if it was damaged. I love mine, and it can fit the bill in almost any genre of music, although it excels in it's "jazz" tone. To tell you the truth, I don't miss the tubes when I play it. And it is soooo portable.

 

[carltonh]

I'd recommend checking out several models at www.pritchardamps.com. Excellent for jazz, but not Roland JC120 tone. It can get many many tube amp jazz tones, but not really any solid state jazz tones. As loud as a 100 watt amp, but at 35 lbs. Check out the sound samples there.

 

[59burst]

There was a new amp maker at NAMM last week who had an amp that he said was voiced specifically for archtop guitars. They have a John Pizzarelli signature model, too.

http://www.jazzkatamps.com/index.htm

They sounded nice, but it's hard to really tell in all the chaos and noise at NAMM.

 

[Mike]

Whoa, check out the Birdland clip from that site, and the runs at 3:00.

http://www.jazzkatamps.com/artists.htm

Atta boy, John!

Mike

 

[ButchR]

Originally posted by charley
I JUST PICKED UP A POLYTONE MINIBRUTE II FOR THE GIGS I DON'T WANT TO HAUL MY HEAD AND CAB DOWN TO. HAVEN'T GIGGED IT YET.........SATURDAY WILLBE THE FIRST, BUT SO FAR I LOVE IT.

WHY IS MY KEYBOARD LOCKED INTO ALL CAPS?

Charley............stop hollering at us!