Reg Schwager new video

[HP]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kf_04mljWfo

[charlieguitar]

On Sunday, January 13, 2013 10:27:25 AM UTC-5, HP wrote:
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kf_04mljWfo

I've seen him on quite a few things with that lunch box amp including ones with a drummer. Does anyone know if that is al that he uses now?
Charlie

[Joey Goldstein]

The Lunch Box amp does seem to be Reg's go-to amp these days, if that's
what you're asking.
I wonder if he'd still use that amp if he owned a car. lol

--
Joey Goldstein
<http://www.joeygoldstein.com>
<http://home.primus.ca/~joegold/AudioClips/audio.htm>

[Gerry]

On 2013-01-13 17:52:42 +0000, Joey Goldstein said:

> On 1/13/13 11:16 AM, charlieguitar wrote:
>> On Sunday, January 13, 2013 10:27:25 AM UTC-5, HP wrote:
>>> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kf_04mljWfo
>>
>> I've seen him on quite a few things with that lunch box amp including
>> ones with a drummer. Does anyone know if that is al that he uses now?
>

> The Lunch Box amp does seem to be Reg's go-to amp these days, if that's
> what you're asking.
> I wonder if he'd still use that amp if he owned a car. lol

My Crate TX30 battery pooped out and it seems impossible to get the old
one out to replace it. I'm going to look at the Lunchbox today. It
would cut my carriage weight down by 50% (from 20 lbs to 10!). Makes
it a lot easier for international and/or mass-transit shleppage.
--
Music is the best means we have of digesting time. -- W. H. Auden

[charlieguitar]

Thanks for the info......Charlie

[charlieguitar]

I've gotten a whole lot of use out of mine but most of it has been for rehearsals. Charlie

[Gerry]

On 2013-01-14 20:18:45 +0000, Gerry said:

>> The Lunch Box amp does seem to be Reg's go-to amp these days, if that's
>> what you're asking. I wonder if he'd still use that amp if he owned a
>> car. lol
>
> My Crate TX30 battery pooped out and it seems impossible to get the old
> one out to replace it. I'm going to look at the Lunchbox today. It
> would cut my carriage weight down by 50% (from 20 lbs to 10!). Makes
> it a lot easier for international and/or mass-transit shleppage.

So I got one. It's not hardly as loud as I imagined before it begins
to break-up. But at 10 pounds and $250, it still solves more problems
than it presents.

Who out there is using one of these, and what sorta settings do you like?

[Gerry]

Ain't nobody getting the Joe Pass/Kenny Burrell warmth out of this
nordic block of ice without a stomp boxes or such. I've been
evangelical about playing without any sigproc, including reverb, but
this thing is really testing my aesthetic.

After reading a review of the Lunchbox2 I called ZT to find out why I
couldn't find the "2". A tech guy there told me there never was a "2",
it was just the next generation (of a few) over the past few years. I
mentioned that the "2" was supposed to have reverb, but now it had
"ambiance". He explained that the reverb totally sucked (pretty much
in those words) but it was a freebie of their architecture--sort of a
slapback sound. So they left it in but renamed it so no one would
expect reverb.

So far it's not warming up to me, so I'll have to acclimate to an
unqualified accuracy of sound. A bit intimidating.

[charlieguitar]

Turn the ambience all of the way off, it's worthless, the tone to full bass, the volume halfway and the gain to three quarters for starters. The trick is to find the right balance between the volume and the gain. Keep messing with it,you will like it. Some guys prefer the sound that I get with it over my more powerful amps.
Charlie

[TD]

No pain, no gain.

[Gerry]

In article <1f6e2ada-313a-40aa...@googlegroups.com>,

charlieguitar <robins...@comcast.net> wrote:

> Turn the ambience all of the way off, it's worthless, the tone to full
> bass, the volume halfway and the gain to three quarters for starters.
> The trick is to find the right balance between the volume and the gain.
> Keep messing with it,you will like it. Some guys prefer the sound that
> I get with it over my more powerful amps.

That's almost exactly where I wound up, though I can't get the gain
past half without the notes on the low-E breaking up. I'm playing a
solid-body with Duncan pickups. I've yet to put an archtop or
nylon-string through it.

I'm (intentionally) playing brighter than I ever have before, using
both pickups, and this, in conjunction with the Lunchbox (and no
reverb) has an absolute clarity that is a little intimidating but I'm
acclimating.

[rpjazzguitar]

Reg is a great player who would sound good no matter what he plays through.

This video may prove it.

I have an LB. Mine has "ambience". Meaning, they changed the decal after they failed to have enough room on the chip to program a real reverb (at least that's the way I heard the story). The first run, with "reverb" apparently was designed before the programmer failed.

The amp seems well built and it weighs about 10lbs. The carrying case (extra) works great.

I can't get a sound I like. It has to be on the floor to get any bass response. Off the floor, it becomes screechy. But, being on floor reduces the perceived volume of the amp. I tried it onstage and found that the sound was sort of lost in everybody's legs. I tried in rehearsal and found the sound was lost, maybe in the carpet. I didn't try it in the exact way Reg is using it (trio, nothing blocking it) - maybe that would make a difference.

By comparison, my old 12 watt Crate practice amp sounds just fine off the floor, and, at head height, when possible, it will keep up with a pretty loud group. Overall, the LB, for all those watts, isn't really effectively much louder than that 12watts. Also, it weighs in the same range and has built in reverb.

I tried the LB with a Korg PX5D (which I believe is the way Joe Giglio uses it) and I still couldn't get a sound I liked. Joe always sounds good, so presumably being a great player helps.

Now I use it as a backup. It stays in the car unless something breaks, which hasn't happened yet.

I suspect that if I was still in New York, taking the subway to gigs, the LB would sound fabulous.

My advice: don't buy it without a return privilege.

[David J. Littleboy]

"rpjazzguitar" wrote:

> I have an LB. Mine has "ambience".

...

> I can't get a sound I like.

That's certainly what I'd guess my reaction would be, from the various vids
on youtube.

In general, an archtop jazzer's lot is not a happy one. The world consists
almost entirely of rockers who like rude noise, and lots of it. So the clean
channel is an afterthought.

>>>>>>>>>
By comparison, my old 12 watt Crate practice amp sounds just fine off the
floor, and, at head height, when possible, it will keep up with a pretty
loud group. Overall, the LB, for all those watts, isn't really effectively
much louder than that 12watts. Also, it weighs in the same range and has
built in reverb.
<<<<<<<<<

In terms of basic physics, the LB has a problem: smaller speakers are _less_
efficient than larger ones. Air is soft, squishy stuff, and to move it, you
need to push on it with a large surface area. So it's quite reasonable that
an 8" speaker 12 watt amp would be almost as loud as a 6" 120 watt amp. Once
you get to 10", IMHO, you are home free. (More basic physics: a factor of
two in power (i.e. moving from 60 watts to 120 watts) is pretty much the
smallest difference you can hear. So speaker efficiency and cabinet design
can be way more important than the power rating of the amplifier.)

> I suspect that if I was still in New York, taking the subway to gigs, the
> LB would sound fabulous.

ROFL.

> My advice: don't buy it without a return privilege.

My advice is to look at 10" speaker 20 pound amps, and put up with the
weight. The Roland Cubes don't get much love around here, but my Cube 30
sounds real nice at big band volumes. I don't know about the latest
versions, though.

-- David J. Littleboy
Tokyo, Japan

[Gerry]

On 2013-01-19 00:56:03 +0000, rpjazzguitar said:

> Reg is a great player who would sound good no matter what he plays through.
> This video may prove it.
> I have an LB. Mine has "ambience". Meaning, they changed the decal
> after they failed to have enough room on the chip to program a real
> reverb (at least that's the way I heard the story). The first run, with
> "reverb" apparently was designed before the programmer failed.

I talked to the guy at ZT and he said, it was a kind of rever but it
really sucked (or some such), so we re-labeled it so no one would be
confused.

> The amp seems well built and it weighs about 10lbs. The carrying case
> (extra) works great.

> I can't get a sound I like. It has to be on the floor to get any bass
> response. Off the floor, it becomes screechy. But, being on floor
> reduces the perceived volume of the amp. I tried it onstage and found
> that the sound was sort of lost in everybody's legs. I tried in
> rehearsal and found the sound was lost, maybe in the carpet. I didn't
> try it in the exact way Reg is using it (trio, nothing blocking it) -
> maybe that would make a difference.
> By comparison, my old 12 watt Crate practice amp sounds just fine off
> the floor, and, at head height, when possible, it will keep up with a
> pretty loud group. Overall, the LB, for all those watts, isn't really
> effectively much louder than that 12watts. Also, it weighs in the same
> range and has built in reverb.

The crate is under 10 pounds? I have a Crate TX30, at it weighs about
22, if memory serves, and that is without reverb.

> I tried the LB with a Korg PX5D (which I believe is the way Joe Giglio
> uses it) and I still couldn't get a sound I liked. Joe always sounds
> good, so presumably being a great player helps.
> Now I use it as a backup. It stays in the car unless something breaks,
> which hasn't happened yet.

When it's in the trunk, waiting, is it waiting for the Crate to break?

> I suspect that if I was still in New York, taking the subway to gigs,
> the LB would sound fabulous.
> My advice: don't buy it without a return privilege.

I've still got another 3 weeks to consider it. Did you every use it for
solo guitar performance. That's all I use it for now.

[Gerry]

Part of my rationale has been that it would be nice to have a light
guitar in amp to shlep across Japan or Europe. The difference between
10 and 20 pounds suddenly is the difference between taking an amp and
NOT taking an amp.

[charlieguitar]

I play a 175 through mine and stay on the neck pickup using the settings mentioned which produces a fairly warm,full sound with just a hint of distortion (think Charlie Christian). For a drumless group, solo guitar gigs and rehearsals,this is enough. With drums the comping chords break up quite a bit at the level at which I would normally play so I have to drop down lower which can be inhibiting. The single note soloing though usually isn't too bad as long as the drummer isn't extremely loud. I normally don't use it though when there is a drummer.
Charlie

[rpjazzguitar]

>
> The crate is under 10 pounds? I have a Crate TX30, at it weighs about
>
> 22, if memory serves, and that is without reverb.
>

I had to check. The GFX15 is the model I have. The owner's manual states 12 watts and 15 lbs (my earlier post was wrong about the weight).

It does not seem much heavier than the LB. The LB is listed as 9.5 lbs, but I carry it with the detachable power cord (was that included in the 9.5?), the carrying case, the Korg PX5D, the power supply for the Korg and the wire to connect the Korg to the LB. That's what's required to duplicate the features of the Crate.

BTW, I'm not recommmending the Crate. I only mentioned it to put my LB review in context. I used to gig with the Crate. If I could get it high enough off the floor, I could get enough volume to cope with keys, drums, bass and vocals. But it developed an intermittent problem of some kind, so I know use it only as a practice amp.

I gig, mostly, with a Roland JC55 (26 lbs) and leave the LB in the car as a spare. I've never had to use it.

If the Crate was reliable, I'd sell the LB.

[van]

Someone has to check out the new Polytone Mighty Brute amp that Howard Alden endorses. It's as light as the LB, but gets a more convincing jazz sound. ZT makes a larger version called the ZT Club 12, but that weighs 20lbs.
I stilluse my old,orange Cube60 for rehearsals, and it still cuts it, but it may not last too much longer.
I tried the LB with a store solid body and just said "WTF?" the guy said huh? and I said WTF? and he said what does that mean?
And I said Wipe the Floor. He said The amp wipes the floor? I said No, there's some vomit on the floor where someone puked when they heard the LB, so wipe the floor.
He said, oh.
Time for this boy to go to sleep...................................................................................................................

[Gerry]

On 2013-01-19 09:17:13 +0000, van said:

> I tried the LB with a store solid body and just said "WTF?"

So you liked it, didn't like it; what?

[charlieguitar]

I'm not sure if this guy liked it but I just remembered something: Joe Giglio,who was mentioned earlier in this thread as one who had modifiued his LB, let met sit in using his. This was at the Capitol Grille in NY which is a huge place (two floors the top one being a mezzanine that opened over the first).Joe had all kinds of stuff hooked up to his,I'm still not sure about what he was doing but the end result was that you could hear it everywhere in the club including the restroom.This was with a four piece group that included drums. Maybe you can run him down and find out what he was doing with his to get such a great sound .
Charlie

[Bill Williams]

Good chance to see Reg Schwager play close up:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H4g2n34OjYY

Seems to be playing his Eastman unplugged.

[charlieguitar]

Seems that way to me. he really plays nice....Charlie

[Gerry]

On 2013-01-19 16:59:51 +0000, charlieguitar said:

>> So you liked it, didn't like it; what?
>

> I'm not sure if this guy liked it but I just remembered something: Joe
> Giglio,who was mentioned earlier in this thread as one who had
> modifiued his LB, let met sit in using his. This was at the Capitol
> Grille in NY which is a huge place (two floors the top one being a
> mezzanine that opened over the first).Joe had all kinds of stuff hooked
> up to his,I'm still not sure about what he was doing but the end result
> was that you could hear it everywhere in the club including the
> restroom.This was with a four piece group that included drums. Maybe
> you can run him down and find out what he was doing with his to get
> such a great sound .

Again, my base rationale was portability. I also thought (mistaken)
that there was a battery pack add-on one could by. Unfortunately it is
only for the Lunchbox Jr. The absolute clarity of tone was a bonus for
me. But as for volume, and I'm guessing projection that doesn't meet
everyone's needs, having not played with a drummer in about 10 years
that's not much of a concern.

I am curious to know what gizmos Joe uses with his, so I'll ask him. A
guy at Sam Ash, where I bought mine said he had a friend with the
Lunchbox cabinet added on and that it sounded much better. Sounds like
what you might hear from a salesman.

[rpjazzguitar]

I also recall people saying that it was much better with the added cabinet. But, at that point, you're lugging two boxes and an extra cable, along with something to add reverb and EQ (if you need them). It then begins to suffer in comparison with some other amps even in portability.

I asked Joe Giglio about it before I bought mine. He said that he was using it with a Korg PX5D, if memory serves.

Of course, Joe would sound good with anything.

I would also assume that portability was a major factor in the decision to use the LB rather than, say, two Twins.

[van]

On Saturday, January 19, 2013 10:57:24 AM UTC-5, Gerry wrote:

Hated it.
I'm hopin' the "Polytone Mighty Brute is our Lord", to paraphrase Martin Luther's hymn.

[TD]

Well, as long as it doesn't take on Luther's hum.

[Mark Kleinhaut]

All those tiny amps sound like so much junk. The only small rig I like is a Claris with a NY-8

[Gerry]

On 2013-01-20 22:05:29 +0000, Mark Kleinhaut said:

> All those tiny amps sound like so much junk. The only small rig I like
> is a Claris with a NY-8

I got my Crate TX30 back online and am playing it back-to-back with the
Lunchbox. I don't think the LB is junk but it does have it's failings.

How "small" is the Claris/NY8 rig in weight?

[Mark Kleinhaut]

22 all in.

[Gerry]

That's pretty light.

[charlieguitar]

I mainly use my LB for rehearsals and in that capacity it has become one of my most used pieces of equipment. In fact I dropped it once and now the front screen is held on with scotch tape but it performs just as well as when it was new.For modest uses it is great as long as you don't expect miracles.On the other hand I wouldn't want to depend on it as my main amp. There is a ten inch speaker in my attic that I've never gotten around to putting in an enclosure.If I ever get it hooked up I'll report on it's performance.
Charlie