Some first hand experience with the JAzzKat amps this weekend
Jim Soloway
the JazzKat amp booth. They were nice enough to provide me with an amp
for the weekend. I probably logged a total of 10 hours playing time,
so even with all the noise, it was a pretty fair evaluation.
I played three different versions of their amps: two of the smaller
model with 8" speakers and a larger model with a 10.
The only difference between the two versions of the smaller model was
the speaker, otherwise they were identical. I don't know the actual
make or model of the speakers, but they refer to them as the Jazzman
and the Bluesman. The difference is substantial. I found the Jazzman
to be a little pinched and nasal while the Bluesman was warmer with a
much fuller bass. They both had a very traditional solid state jazz
tone: very clear and realtively uncolored, somewhat in the Polytone
tradition. Of the two speaker options, I much preferred the bluesman
and it was the amp I ended up playing for most of the weekend.
The larger model with the 10" speaker is much warmer wirh a bigger
fuller bass. The highs were not as clear as the smaller model and
while I was drwn to the warmer bass, it did feel like a bit of a
compromise designed for people who balked at the very small size of the
original amp. At 31 lbs, it is also 10 lbs heavier than the original.
One feature that I really liked in all their amps was a second chanel
with both XLR and standard guitar inputs. I sing as well as play and I
believe that for small restaurant gigs this amp would probably be able
to handle both tasks more than adequately.
I'm getting ready to go back to gigging after taking most of the last
year off to focus on guitars and I think the JazzKat would do the job
pretty well. It is not the most compelling amp I've ever heard, but
considering the size and weight, it sounds really impressive. I'm
almost certainly going to buy one in the next few weeks and after my
experiences over the weekend, it will probably be the small ersion with
the Bluesman speaker. For anyone looking for an exceptoinally small
and lightweight amp, I would stongly recommend taking a look. If you
do some vocals as part of your gig, it may be the best small all-in-one
solution I've ever seen.
oasysco
:)- I hope your products did well at those shows.
Greg
paul
like the clarus/RE ny8 combination?
--paul
Jeff Lange
have XLR and 1/4" on each channel. 20 pounds. I should have brought one
over to you at the Long Island show. Very impressive but more money than
the JazzKat
Jeff Lange
www.JazzSelect.com
"paul" <pcsa...@gmail.com> wrote in message
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Dallas Selman
"Jeff Lange" <Je...@JazzSelect.net> wrote in message
news:PBjcg.3$5U...@fe11.lga...
Paul C
Starcaster
...which does NOT have an XLR input... a real omission in my opinion.
They opted for a drive channel instead. There is a sibling called the
Acoustasonic Ultralight that does have the XLR instead, and is designed
for vocals... but I can't find any info on whether it's otherwise the
same innards. They are making two cabinets, one for the Jazzmaster and
one for the Acoustasonic. I imagine the latter is full range while the
former is voiced for electric guitar. But if you could mix and match,
you could get the combination that worked best for you...
Roger
Jim Soloway
Clarus with a Reazors twin 8 cab. The Coda sounded good from close
range, but with the down firing speaker, it projected very poorly. In
a decent sized restaurant, I couldn't reach the back tables and at an
outdoor gig it was pretty much useless. It was MUCH better with the
Reazors Edge cab (which I consider to be nothing short of brilliant),
but with a head/cab combo I'm stuck with another piece of gear and
that's what I'm trying to avoid. I really want to try to get my whole
gigging rig down to one trip from the car to the gig. And Jeff I'd
love to try the new AI combo and see if they've improved the
projection. If so, it would probably also be a good solution.
As for the Jazzmaster, the fact that they split it into two pieces kind
of negates its weight benefit and the distortion channel is both a
waste and sounds horrible. For that kind of rig, I'd much rather an
Acoustic Image with a Raezors Edge cab.
Jim Soloway
Philly was not so good. We sold some guitars. I met some wonderful
players, especially at Long Island and hearing our guitars in a lot of
different hands really gave me a better perspective on how the
different tops and pickups really impact the instrument.
Having now been back home just long enough to have had a decent night's
sleep, I'm just glad this stretch is over. I'm home with my wife and
cats and that feels REALLY good. Three trips in four weeks was way
harder than I want to work at this age. :)
danny...@cox.net
I have an AI Coda 2R II as well as several Clarus heads and a bunch of
Raezer's Edge cabinets. I find that I use the Coda for 90% of my gigs.
Everyplace I use it, people compliment me on my sound and nobody has
ever complained that they couldn't hear me. I often use it for big band
gigs in a 10,000 square foot room--everyone on stage and in the
audience seems to hear it fine. I just completed several weeks doing a
cabaret show in a local theater with the Coda. I ran a send to the
sound system, but the sound guy said he could easily hear me in the
booth at the top rear of the theater and was just adding some highs to
the mix, since the amp was actually behind the stage.
The down-firing speaker handles the low end and the floor spreads it
out when the tilt-leg is used. The forward-firing midrange does the
projecting. I agree that some of my RE cabinets sound better and play
much louder--I use them when I'm going to be out front a lot in a big
hall--but within the volume levels that the Coda can handle, I've never
found projection a problem.
Danny W.
j...@isu.edu
> I have an AI Coda 2R II as well as several Clarus heads and a bunch of
> Raezer's Edge cabinets. I find that I use the Coda for 90% of my gigs.
I gigged with a Clarus amp and an RE T8-T for about 3 years before
buying an AI Contra EX SE cabinet. Since then I've used the AI cab
almost exclusively. I played a small but acoustically difficult room a
couple of weeks ago. I stuck the unobtrusive little AI cab under an
empty table and got the best sound I've ever gotten on a gig. It was
like the amp disappeared. All I heard was fat archtop and it seemed
like all the sound was coming right out of my guitar. That gig went by
so fast I could have played two more sets. But I didn't.
tomsalvojazz
Jim was a great host at the LI show, very accommodating, and had a lot
of great guitars. Anyone who has the opportunity to check out a Swan
should definitely do so. I love mine.
Jim Soloway
hear some killer players on that Rosewood Swan this weekend and it sure
sounded convincing playing straight ahead jazz, probably more sop than
any guitar we've built yet . Vinnie Carrao spent some time with it and
it was amazing. He's definitely VERY old school and exclusively an
archtop player. He went from his archtop to his Swan and sounded
almost exactly the same. He just shook his head like that sound wasn't
supposed to be coming from this guitar. It was pretty funny.
And for those of you with Acoustic Image amps...I really wasn't tying
to start anything. I know a lot of people love them. I've owned two
of them and they just weren't the right amp for me.