80's Polytone Mini-Brute III...
GregD/OASYSCO
liking it --- a lot!
Last night as I readied my music room for band practice tonight, I unhooked
from the MB and moved it across the room for the keys player to use. I then
plugged back into my Fender tube amp and immediately missed the clarity of
the MBIII (especially with my guitar synth, which I am using for the solo
on Chicago's Color My World).
I started thinking of how to fanagle my MBIII from the keys player during
band practice, but then remembered that it was me who suggested he try it
out to allow him to travel as light as possible. Eh, maybe he won't like it
:)-
In any case, I am a PT believer, having used my '74 102 in band practice
and gotten good comments on my tone from our super-eared bass player.
As it turns out, our lead singer likes my fender best as oppsoed to the
rattier looking PT's. She's going strictly by looks as the Super Amp is
virtually a cosmetic clone of the the old 60's BF Super Reverb and it's in
like new shape. Still, I like those PT's evne if they look like they've
beeb around for 30 years... hey, they have!
Greg
Jack Zucker
Have you tried a new PT? I'd be curious how they compare. I had a mini-brain
a few years ago and really loved it though it didn't have enough headroom...
"GregD/OASYSCO" <no...@nowhere.com> wrote in message
news:Xns958A8D2B...@68.1.17.6...
GregD/OASYSCO
news:qOKdnSEPjZT...@adelphia.com:
> Greg,
>
> Have you tried a new PT? I'd be curious how they compare. I had a
> mini-brain a few years ago and really loved it though it didn't have
> enough headroom...
No Jack, I've not tried the new ones. I'd love to and actually have
enough money saved to do so, but I don't need to. My '74 102 provides
extreme warmth for those times when I want my 175 to really sound like a
jazz guitar. And the MBIII provides enough clarity to double as a synth
amp.
I would think that both my PT's have enough muscle to play at stage
volume for unmic'd, smaller venues as they are hardly breathing against
drums, bass, keys. and vocals during practice, but that remains to be
seen. I should know more in 6 months or so when we get out.
Anybody else out there had the opportunity to comapre new PT's with old
ones?
Greg
Jack Zucker
stuff. It had a little bit of grainyness to it but that kind of enhanced the
jazz tone. Through an RE T8-T cab it just a touch of the early Benson vibe
to make it cool. Bollenback used that combo for one or two of his CDs as
well. Unfortunately, when gigging the mini-brain didn't have enough headroom
to play block chord solos and it broke up very badly in that context. That's
where the Clarus is far superior.
bob r
j...@jackzucker.com wrote on 10/22/04 3:14 PM:
What volume levels were you playing at when you found the MiniBrain's
headroom insufficient, Jack? (I'm asking because I'm thinking about a
MiniBrain/NY8 combo as a possible future rig.)
--
Bob Russell
http://www.bobrussellguitar.com
CD available: http://www.cdbaby.com/bobrussell
Jack Zucker
> What volume levels were you playing at when you found the MiniBrain's
> headroom insufficient, Jack? (I'm asking because I'm thinking about a
> MiniBrain/NY8 combo as a possible future rig.)
Hi Bob,
Just to clarify it was the megabrain I owned, not the minibrain. Apparently
the megabrain was discontinued though I think they are similar in power. The
group I was playing with was a trio but the drummer was not playing brushes.
The polytone worked well in dinner clubs when playing with a drummer who was
keeping the levels down but when playing in louder venues, particularly on
hard driving swing tempos or any kind of pop stuff, the poly was struggling
for both single notes and chords though the chords were particularly harsh
sounding in that context.
IMO, the "120 watt" megabrain had about as much power as a 40 watt tube amp
but with less musical distortion on hard peaks...
I looked briefly at the minibrain but I would miss not having tone
controls...
bob r
j...@jackzucker.com wrote on 10/22/04 3:41 PM:
Thanks, Jack.