Polytone Mini-Brute Speaker

L

levous

Senior Member
Messages
795
Here's one out of left field.

I have a Polytone Mini-Brute from the 70's that was attacked by house cats. No, they didn't pee on it. They ate the foam cover on the front and then used the speaker as a scratching post. I was a dumb teenager and replaced the speaker with a pioneer I had laying around and threw the original away.

Fast-forward 20 years and that same amp still works flawlessly. It sounds muddy, however, and I am considering replacing the speaker with something more appropriate. I believe its 90watts of clean solid state power (though there is a pull volume for a gain "channel").

I contacted Eminence and they recommended a hifi speaker and said a lot of jazz players prefer that. It is considered a fabulous jazz amp.

Does anyone here have a vintage Polytone and/or have any idea what speaker might restore this amps original flavor? Or even take it up a notch?

thanks in advance
 
ianb

ianb

Member
Messages
2,082
I used a number of replacement speakers in mine. It's a pretty honky amp, I felt the original speaker sounded like cardboard, so I was looking for a speaker with a more neutral midrange character, and settled on a Jensen Neo Tornado.
 
cratz2

cratz2

Member
Messages
11,366
If you don't mind the weight, I'd probably go for an Eminence Delta Pro or for a bit less weight, a ceramic Weber Michigan. Both sound great clean and with pretty much any range of gain including the smooth, sustainy Dumble/Early Mesa type tones. They both do have quite a bit of bottom end.
 
L

levous

Senior Member
Messages
795
cratz2 said:
If you don't mind the weight, I'd probably go for an Eminence Delta Pro or for a bit less weight, a ceramic Weber Michigan. Both sound great clean and with pretty much any range of gain including the smooth, sustainy Dumble/Early Mesa type tones. They both do have quite a bit of bottom end.
Click to expand...

I don't believe this amp would ever be confused with a Dumble or early Mesa. Its a great, clean, solid-state jazz amp and not anything else. It has no usable gain. I think the Delta is exactly the speaker Eminence recommended. I love Weber and have a couple of Californias in my twin. Perhaps I'll wire one in just to see.

thanks
 
G

guitarjazz

Gold Supporting Member
Messages
26,206
With Polytones( or any amp for that matter) you need to make sure the speaker is the correct impedance. I think it's 4 ohms. Some Polytones extension cabs are 2 ohm.
My Baby-Brute kills with the extension cab.
 
T

[email protected]

Senior Member
Messages
580
guitarjazz said:
With Polytones( or any amp for that matter) you need to make sure the speaker is the correct impedance. I think it's 4 ohms. Some Polytones extension cabs are 2 ohm.
My Baby-Brute kills with the extension cab.
Click to expand...

Yeah, it's probably a 4 ohm speaker that will not be easy to replace for a reasonable cost. The good news is, you can use a 8 ohm speaker without hurting anything but it will drop you down to 45 watts. Thats still plenty loud unless you're, well, playing really loud. Some folks do feel that the original speaker has a lot to do with the "Polytone sound" it maybe it does, but I've replaced mine with an 8 ohm Eminence and I'm pleased with it just fine. Of course I've not A/B'd it against an OEM. The other thing to keep in mind when shopping for speakers is the fairly small cabinet; a tal/deep speaker won't fit the Polytone cainet.
 
cratz2

cratz2

Member
Messages
11,366
levous said:
I don't believe this amp would ever be confused with a Dumble or early Mesa. Its a great, clean, solid-state jazz amp and not anything else. It has no usable gain. I think the Delta is exactly the speaker Eminence recommended. I love Weber and have a couple of Californias in my twin. Perhaps I'll wire one in just to see.

thanks
Click to expand...

I know the MiniBrute doesn't sound like a Dumble silly... :p

I meant, if one were so inclined, the 12L/Delta Pro/Michigan series of speakers sound great both clean and with those sort of tones. More than one jazz guy might stick a Zendrive or a Wampler Ecstasy in front of their amp and if you were to get a Michigan, you can spec it in 4 OHMs.

The Californias are great but I feel it will absolutely impart a distinctly Fender vibe to the Polytone. They have a very distinctive sonic signature, esp with the aluminum dustcaps.
 
jzgtrguy

jzgtrguy

Gold Supporting Member
Messages
6,811
That's better than "the dog ate my home work"

I used to own one of those amps as my daily go to for 10 years. Great little amp. Sweet sounds jazz amp.

How about an Eminence speaker. If you are using the amp for jazz you might consider something out of their pro audio line the the Neodymium series like a Kapalite
 
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