Jazzpunk Posted January 27, 2010 Share Posted January 27, 2010 Headstrong Lil' King Junior. Jim Soloway sells them on his website. I think that particular model might be exclusive. The Lil' King Junior has lower clean headroom than the Lil' King and is designed to provide some tube coloration/distortion at lower volumes. Geared towards the home user who wants the sound of an amp being pushed but at lower volumes. Unless you're only playing at home I think one of the higher wattage Headstrong amps would be a better choice for jazz. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wingnut1 Posted January 27, 2010 Share Posted January 27, 2010 Twin Reverb or Vibrolux Reverb. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Foggy Posted January 28, 2010 Share Posted January 28, 2010 In the tube realm, I've been enjoying my Fargen Blackbird. Very nice cleans and built like a tank by Ben Fargen. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rjsanders Posted January 28, 2010 Share Posted January 28, 2010 fun thought: what would Charlie use, if he were around today? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ray Posted January 28, 2010 Author Share Posted January 28, 2010 fun thought: what would Charlie use, if he were around today? Excellent question. Don't know...well, probably Twin Reverb What do you knowledgeable folks think? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jazzpunk Posted January 28, 2010 Share Posted January 28, 2010 fun thought: what would Charlie use, if he were around today? Hmmm, who knows? I saw Mr. Kenny Burrell last weekend and he was playing through a twin reverb. Sounded like jazz should sound imo! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rjsanders Posted January 28, 2010 Share Posted January 28, 2010 Hmmm, who knows? I saw Mr. Kenny Burrell last weekend and he was playing through a twin reverb. Sounded like jazz should sound imo! i'd think a Sweet 16 w/HRW, non-cutaway, Heritage Patriot amp. hmm, there being no Pats readily available, maybe he'd be happy miking a Swart AST i wouldn't think (before some wiseguys here suggest) Steve Vai's or any Slipknot rig Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rjsanders Posted January 28, 2010 Share Posted January 28, 2010 i just posed the OP topic to my buddy, Tim Volpicella. he plays his '70's Howard Roberts through an old Polytone...a mini-Brute, IIRC. usually when i hear him, though, he's playing his Chapin signature guitar (Fatline TV) through a Mesa Lonestar Classic head w/1x12 cab. can sound like an organ when he's compin', a horn when he solos. mercy! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iim7v7im7 Posted January 28, 2010 Share Posted January 28, 2010 Forgetting what Charlie Chrstian would have played, what do current jazz artists play? - Pat Martino and Acoustic Image amp - Ron Eschete play Evans amp - Vince Lewis Plays a Fender Ultralight Jazzmaster and a Redstone Audio Cabinet - Jimmy Bruno plays a Henriksen amp - Bucky Pizzarelli plays a Jazzkat amp - Howard Alden plays a Polytone amp All of these guys own and love some tube amps that they leave at home. They gig and record with these amps because they are small, light weight, reliable and sound good. The Henriksen, Polytone and Evans have the more traditional, darker Jazz tones and the Acoustic Image, Fender (kind of does both) and Jazzkat amps are a bit more neutral and acoustic sounding. It really depends what you are looking for in terms of tone. For example, I own two fine tube amps but the solid state amp has an immediacy responding to a pick attack that the tube amps don't have. When playing walking bass lines they kill my tube amps as well. I would never think of using them to play the blues, but for straightahead jazz or chord melody they kill. My $.02, Bob Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ingeneri Posted January 29, 2010 Share Posted January 29, 2010 Forgetting what Charlie Chrstian would have played, what do current jazz artists play? - Pat Martino and Acoustic Image amp - Ron Eschete play Evans amp - Vince Lewis Plays a Fender Ultralight Jazzmaster and a Redstone Audio Cabinet - Jimmy Bruno plays a Henriksen amp - Bucky Pizzarelli plays a Jazzkat amp - Howard Alden plays a Polytone amp All of these guys own and love some tube amps that they leave at home. They gig and record with these amps because they are small, light weight, reliable and sound good. The Henriksen, Polytone and Evans have the more traditional, darker Jazz tones and the Acoustic Image, Fender (kind of does both) and Jazzkat amps are a bit more neutral and acoustic sounding. It really depends what you are looking for in terms of tone. For example, I own two fine tube amps but the solid state amp has an immediacy responding to a pick attack that the tube amps don't have. When playing walking bass lines they kill my tube amps as well. I would never think of using them to play the blues, but for straightahead jazz or chord melody they kill. My $.02, Bob Just to add to the list above, Bobby Broom uses a Henriksen head with two matching cabs. In contrast, Peter Bernstein seems to be sticking with the Fender tubes. Anyone know what Russell Malone uses these days? Of course, alot of these guys often end up playing what the club/venue supplies. It's not like jazz guitarists travel around the world with an army of roadies. Worse, their groupies are all middle aged guitar geeks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FredZepp Posted January 29, 2010 Share Posted January 29, 2010 Here is a vid for the new CARR Artemus amp at NAMM... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EdPero Posted January 30, 2010 Share Posted January 30, 2010 Now, Ray have to dedicate his entire life (and budget) to jazz amps purchasing. THAT'S information we have on this topic ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martin59 Posted February 1, 2010 Share Posted February 1, 2010 I am using my 555 with a Mesa Boogie Caliber 50+. Am I the only one? I owned a twin reverb many years ago and prefer the mesa for "natural" sound Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rjsanders Posted February 1, 2010 Share Posted February 1, 2010 I am using my 555 with a Mesa Boogie Caliber 50+.Am I the only one? I owned a twin reverb many years ago and prefer the mesa for "natural" sound i still have my '64 Showman head (essentially a BFTR w/o reverb) for reference. prefer the Mesa Cals to it, myself. mostly use the Showman for bass. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
barrymclark Posted February 1, 2010 Share Posted February 1, 2010 I think one of the things one can take from this thread is that there are many amps out there that can please the ear of jazz inspired player. You just gotta go into the store with the amps mentioned on here in mind and give them a swing. See if any of them work for you. If not, go through other amps. I think you might be surprised at what just talks JAZZ to you. Me, it was a Vox AC50CP2 (which is a bit surprising if you are familiar with this specific model; not the classic AC50.). The clean on it was just butter. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VJonathan Posted February 2, 2010 Share Posted February 2, 2010 ......I would consider looking at a Standel amp. They're one of the best amps for jazz. There really is no comparison. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Patrick Posted March 17, 2010 Share Posted March 17, 2010 +1 for polytones. I have a 1981 mini brute iv: closed back with 15" speaker and spring reverb. Really nails the jazz tone. Haven't had it long enough to comment on reliability, but some of the 30 year old op amps used are pretty hard to find, if you ever need one. Somewhere on the site there's the story of a polytone that was purchased but damaged in a fall down some stairs before it could be shipped. Think if mine fell down some stairs I'd be repairing the stairs. This thing is much more solidly built than my 1965 Princeton Reverb. Almost forgot, have a 2nd polytone to be delivered tomorrow...report to follow! Oh...and Evans amps are supposed to be good but I've not actually played one yet. I have been using an Evans 850. Great jazz sound, duribility and portability. Great head room and reverb. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peteraltongreen Posted March 20, 2010 Share Posted March 20, 2010 Hi Ray, To start with,I'll tell you two of the best clean guitar sounds I've heard. 1) Jim Hall,he was playing through a Gibson GA50 amp at the Berlin Jazz festival in 1967.It had 2 speakers, 1-12" & 1-8".If you listen to the album Undercurrent,with Jim & Bill Evans,the guitar sound is wonderful.I realize there will probably be a mic on the acoustic sound of the guitar,as well as the amp. Great sound number 2 was Wes Montgomery at Ronnie Scott's in London in March 1965.He was using a Standell amp.Stunning ! Wes,supposedly used a choco brown Fender Deluxe that lived in Creed Taylor's studio to record most of his albums.These are great for low volume work.With Wes,you can sometimes hear the speaker distort slightly as Wes hits the octaves on the lower strings. New amp wise,and not restricted to jazz are the Fender Deluxe Reverbs,all tube,with 1-12" speaker.Great for all styles. Another lovely amp is the Vox AC10 twin,from the 1960's,again all tube & with 2 x 10" speakers. It puts out about 18 watts on a good day.The beauty of this amp is when pushed,it sings beautifully.Difficult to find & expensive too. My own 'Best sound' was a 2 x 15" Fender Showman cab,driven by a Fender Bandmaster top that I owned in 1968.I used a Gibson L5 with it.Wonderful,but very unpractical.The cabinet ended up being used for bass,briefly by Rick Kemp of British folk band 'Steeleye Span',who happened to sell it to me in the first place.( You can just see this pile on my blog 'Wes,Me & Albert Lee ) Today,I use a Fender Concert top,designed by Paul Rivera,which is about 25 years old,through a 2 x 10" Fender Cab.This,too has a great clean sound. ( You can see this one on my photo gallery entitled 'Withstock' ) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jazzbo Posted March 22, 2010 Share Posted March 22, 2010 Folks I have been playing my Sweet 16 and the 550 through the Phil Jones AAD CUB for a couple of years. dont overlook this little amp. I recently picked up a used Phil Jones Briefcase 100 watt amp as well.. If I need more ppower, just I chain the two together.. there's plenty of juice in those babies,with one close to me as a monitor+ and the other one for dispersion Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rjsanders Posted March 22, 2010 Share Posted March 22, 2010 Hi Ray,... 'Steeleye Span',... Today,I use a Fender Concert top,designed by Paul Rivera,which is about 25 years old,through a 2 x 10" Fender Cab.This,too has a great clean sound. ( You can see this one on my photo gallery entitled 'Withstock' ) great idea. i've had several of the "Rivera-era" (1982-85+) Concerts (head, 1x12, 4x10) and loved the cleans. add'l benefit: they've long been undervalued in the usedgear market. (Peter, i'm also a long-time fan of the Span, since "Below the Salt") Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bluzman54 Posted March 24, 2010 Share Posted March 24, 2010 I have many amps (mostly Fender), but for Jazz my two choices are my Polytone MB II and Roland JC-90. On occasion I may play through my Fender Vibrolux Reverb for fun, but those two are hard to beat for the classic jazz tone. JMHO Jim C Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim Posted March 24, 2010 Share Posted March 24, 2010 Just say YES the JC 77!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ingeneri Posted March 25, 2010 Share Posted March 25, 2010 Hi Ray,To start with,I'll tell you two of the best clean guitar sounds I've heard. 1) Jim Hall,he was playing through a Gibson GA50 amp at the Berlin Jazz festival in 1967.It had 2 speakers, 1-12" & 1-8".If you listen to the album Undercurrent,with Jim & Bill Evans,the guitar sound is wonderful.I realize there will probably be a mic on the acoustic sound of the guitar,as well as the amp. Great sound number 2 was Wes Montgomery at Ronnie Scott's in London in March 1965.He was using a Standell amp.Stunning ! Wes,supposedly used a choco brown Fender Deluxe that lived in Creed Taylor's studio to record most of his albums.These are great for low volume work.With Wes,you can sometimes hear the speaker distort slightly as Wes hits the octaves on the lower strings. New amp wise,and not restricted to jazz are the Fender Deluxe Reverbs,all tube,with 1-12" speaker.Great for all styles. Another lovely amp is the Vox AC10 twin,from the 1960's,again all tube & with 2 x 10" speakers. It puts out about 18 watts on a good day.The beauty of this amp is when pushed,it sings beautifully.Difficult to find & expensive too. My own 'Best sound' was a 2 x 15" Fender Showman cab,driven by a Fender Bandmaster top that I owned in 1968.I used a Gibson L5 with it.Wonderful,but very unpractical.The cabinet ended up being used for bass,briefly by Rick Kemp of British folk band 'Steeleye Span',who happened to sell it to me in the first place.( You can just see this pile on my blog 'Wes,Me & Albert Lee ) Today,I use a Fender Concert top,designed by Paul Rivera,which is about 25 years old,through a 2 x 10" Fender Cab.This,too has a great clean sound. ( You can see this one on my photo gallery entitled 'Withstock' ) Sorry to digress, but why do you think there are so many boutique amps based on old Fender designs, but you hardly ever hear about anything resembling the classic Gibson amps? The GA50 should be famous and sought after enough to support a boutique manufacturer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pressure Posted March 26, 2010 Share Posted March 26, 2010 Victoria makes an old Gibson type amp, the Electro King. From their website: The Electro King is an idealized recreation of the classic McCarty era GA-40. Its circa 1957 circuit features two cathode biased 6V6s for 15watts of recording and small club power. The heart and soul of the Electro King is its 5879 preamp circuit; a single NOS 5879 input pentode for each of the normal and tremolo channels provides rich distortion and natural tube compression at any volume setting. Notes seem to be 'blown' out of the amp with overdriven tones that are saturated, dynamic and musical. Price: $2,995 15 Watts of Power 1957 GA-40 type circuit Tubes: 1 X 5Y3, 2 X 6V6, 1 12AX7, 1 6SQ7, 2 X 5879 14 watt cathode biased class A push pull output Speaker: 1 Jensen P12Q speaker (12 inch) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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