Practice amp to play jazz
Zeissman
I have just bought a Gibson Les Paul and a Roland Cube-30 to practice at
home. Now I am sending back the amp becouse I don't like its sound. One of
the reasons I choosed it was it can be used with headphones, but with my
(superb) senheissers the sound is noisy and dirty. Even using the clean
channel. Using the speaker the sound is better, but it is not the warm sound
I am looking for.
I have read some very good reviews for the Fender Blues Jr. and for the
Gibson GA-5 Les Paul Jr. The last one looks like the best for me as I play
at home, but I don't know if the lack of a reverb is an important point. Is
a reverb a must for you, or can you live without it? I'm listening the
record "Autum Leaves" by Barney Kessel and am not sure if he is using a bit
of reverb or not. So, my question is, is a good amp without reverb good
enaugh?
BTW, what is your amp for home practice?
Thanks in advance,
Gabriel.
I apologize for my poor english.
sraymar
It has a nice '65 blackface twin plus a couple tweeds that
sound nice. Even does spring reverb for the amps that had
it and digital for those that had none. Try one out with headphones.
Steve
"Zeissman" <NOTEL...@able.es> wrote in message
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mark
First off, take what I say with a grain of salt because I am not a very good
jazz player. That said, I've struggled with amps over the past 2 years
(prior to that I never had the money to buy and sell equipment or I'm sure I
would have). For whatever reason, I've never been itching to buy new
guitars...but amps? I've gone through about 8 or so amps or POD-like units
over the past 2 years. I started with a Line6 GuitarPort which I liked a lot
for the money, but at the time I was just getting back into playing after a
few years of not playing at all, so the technology was kind of cool. Quickly
though I wound up starting to play with other musicians so I needed a real
amp. I wound up with a Tech21 Trademark 10 which I think is an awesome
practice amp and is fine for very very low volume situations (for me it was
just myself and a blues harp player, no drums). I liked that amp's
versatility a lot and for the $160 or so they go for used in mint condition
on ebay, I think they are a good value now.
After the Trademark 10 amp I fell in love with the idea of getting a tube
amp. I first toyed around with a TubeWorks 6130 (I think that was the model
number) that wasn't really a tube amp but had a preamp tube in it. It had
all kinds of digital effects. I guess it was okay but after a week I got rid
of it. Only reason I bought it was because I got a great deal and wound up
doubling my money on it.
So then I went all tube and got an old Traynor YGM-3 Guitar Mate Reverb.
Very, very nice amp but I wouldn't get one for at home/practice as it is way
too loud and doesn't sound good at low volumes.
I then had a bunch of others....Peavey Classic 30 (great amp for the money),
a Mesa DC-2 (a piece of garbage that I wouldn't recommend to anyone....I got
it because it was supposedly versatile, and I guess it is - it does
everything....badly).
I also had a POD that was part of a trade I made with someone. I tried it
for a couple of days thinking I'd like it since I liked the GuitarPort, but
I thought it was horrible. Terrible. I sold it right away.
I could go on and on, as I already have : ) The amp I have now I like a lot
and I think it is a very good practice amp and is loud enough for playing
open jams and with others - a Fender Blues Junior. I modded mine, and mine
was an older "green board" and made in the USA model which makes a *huge*
difference to me. The newer ones, which I had one for a couple of days, are
horrible. I suggest getting an older one if you're going to get one.
I did play a newer Roland Cube 30 at someone's house recently and it sounded
pretty good. Kind of processed though but that could have been the settings.
For jazz I think a lot of it depends on your guitar. If you have a nice
hollowbody then that changes things immensely. The guy I take lessons from
is a well-known player in my area and he plays his Dale Unger guitar through
an acoustic amp. Some things to consider:
1. Tube amps can be very very loud. I would steer clear of the ones that
don't sound too hot at low volumes, or the ones that you can't turn the
volume knob past 1 or so before your ears start ringing.
2. Solid state is great for jazz, IMO, even though I'm a tube amp lover. But
again it depends I think on your guitar too.
3. Most tube amps weigh a ton and require maintenance. If you buy a used
tube amp you'll have to buy new tubes and maybe get the amp biased and that
adds a substantial amount to the real price tag (at least $75 or $100 for
tubes and biasing, minimum).
In the end, only you can decide. Lots of fine players like stuff that lots
of weekend warriors and amateurs like myself think are garbage (ie, Peavey,
Crate, solid state Fender, etc). But who's to say which is better? Only you
can decide.
If I had to recommend a practice amp....again, I think the tech21 Trademark
10, used, is an awesome value.
mark
One more thing I forgot to mention. You're asking whether reverb is
important in an amp. I don't mean to be insulting, but if you're asking that
question then you must not be experienced playing through many amps. If that
is the case, then I'd stay clear of that Gibson amp. They are expensive for
what you get (they go for close to $500 right?). Personally, I can't stand
to play at low volumes without a little reverb. Cranked tubes on stage I can
do without reverb. But for practice and lower volume I can't live without
it. That said, lots of guys go crazy over those Fender Pro Jr's...I had one
for a couple of years. Didn't like it. It's completely different amp than a
Blues Jr.
Joe Finn
Gabriel: I practice through a Behringer GX 212 these days. There is also a
Polytone MBII here at home that I practice through just as frequently.
Sometimes I play through the jbl monitor set up I have too. Much of the time
I practice acoustically without the amp as well.
Back in my road warrior phase I traveled with a Panasonic boom box that had
line in and line out jacks. I practiced in my hotel room with that thing for
years. It also had a headphone jack.
I don't think it matters what amp you practice through. As long as you can
hear what you're doing you'll be fine.
Your English is very good by the way. .......joe
--
Visit me on the web www.joefinn.net
>
>
Peter Grey
of a good "practice amp" (cheap and sound good) are the Blues Jr. with a
Black Shadow speaker in it and the Yamaha G100. Both are gig worthy and
sound good for jazz, with the Fender limited by its headroom. The Fender
sounds pretty good for blues stuff as well as having a very nice clean tone,
and the Yamaha has a great clean sound and is loud enough to make one's ears
bleed. And I do like reverb and wouldn't own as amp without it.
I have to confess I don't get the concept of the practice amp. Why wouldn't
you play through the same amp you'd gig with?
Peter
"Zeissman" <NOTEL...@able.es> wrote in message
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mark
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>I own a number of amps that I like, but two that I think fit the
>description of a good "practice amp" (cheap and sound good) are the Blues
>Jr. with a Black Shadow speaker in it and the Yamaha G100. Both are gig
>worthy and sound good for jazz, with the Fender limited by its headroom.
>The Fender sounds pretty good for blues stuff as well as having a very nice
>clean tone, and the Yamaha has a great clean sound and is loud enough to
>make one's ears bleed. And I do like reverb and wouldn't own as amp
>without it.
>
> I have to confess I don't get the concept of the practice amp. Why
> wouldn't you play through the same amp you'd gig with?
I've found that a lot of tube amps just don't sound very good at very low
volumes. It's easier for jazz because you want clean and not usually an
overdriven sound, but the clean is often sterile at very low volumes, unless
you have a lower wattage tube amp (though this too is relative - I had a 25
watt Traynor that was way too loud even on one, and a Mesa DC-2 at 20 or 25
watts that was way too loud as well.....but the Peavey Classic 30 and the
Blues junior especially are fine at lower volumes).
YMMV
Peter Grey
"mark" <mark2741@NOSPAMMIN_me_verizon.net> wrote in message
> watts that was way too loud as well.....but the Peavey Classic 30 and the
> Blues junior especially are fine at lower volumes).
>
volume and kicks ass at a louder noise levels. I brought it to a blues jam
where I was playing with a electric bass player, a drummer with a double
bass setup, two other guitarists (Ampeg and Mesa Boogie equiped), and a B3
player. I had that little BJ cranked up to about 9 and it held its own. I
was amazed. The Black Shadow speaker helped but still....
BTW, I think the Peavey Classics are very nice jazz amps. They get a great
smoky sound.
Peter
Zeissman
news:CdmEd.6270$4b.4883@trndny09...
>
> One more thing I forgot to mention. You're asking whether reverb is
> important in an amp. I don't mean to be insulting, but if you're asking
> that question then you must not be experienced playing through many amps.
No, that is not the case. I have a very old amp at home, solid state 50 watt
without reverb, and cannot play it low. The sound is horrible. Using a BOSS
DD-3 delay it's not so bad, but I don't like delays. As you say, I don't
like to play low without reverb, but having read so many good comments about
some little practice amps without reverb that can be used at bedroom volumes
I was wondering if the secret is a fine sounding amp.
Gabriel.
Larry Lewicki
channel is really nice. I find with headphones (old Sennheisers) that
I use the rhythm pickup, I'm using D'Addario Chromes (.011s cause I'm
mainly
a piano player and don't have callouses for .012s). Guitar volume at
about 7, tone about 5. On the Cube-30 I roll off the treble to about
the
10 o'clock postion, increase midrange to about 2 o'clock.) JC-120
channel
volume is about 8 o'clock, just a touch of reverb.
This works well for chord melodies (I was working on "My Heart Stood
Still"
yesterday. Very warm sound with clarity.
So far I haven't found much use for the lead channel sounds.
I got a good deal on the Cube from a music store that is closing here
in Palo Alto, CA.
Larry
markr
slightly better sound. 60 watts is generally enough power for
small-medium sized gigs too. I play a hollow body gibson through an old
cube 60 and it works well for practice and small gigs.
-Mark R
mark
IMO, if you like reverb while practicing, no amp without it is going to
satisfy you. I've played some fine-sounding amps that didn't have reverb,
but I would never buy one for practicing at home. I thought about building
one of those Fender 5E3 Deluxe kits that are so prevalent (and fairly
inexpensive too) but I have not read the greatest of compliments about
reverb pedals (even the Holy Grail) as compared to a real tank, so I decided
to pass.
mark
>
> "mark" <mark2741@NOSPAMMIN_me_verizon.net> wrote in message
>> watts that was way too loud as well.....but the Peavey Classic 30 and the
>> Blues junior especially are fine at lower volumes).
>>
> I'm really impressed by the Blues Junior. It sounds great for jazz at low
> volume and kicks ass at a louder noise levels. I brought it to a blues
> jam where I was playing with a electric bass player, a drummer with a
> double bass setup, two other guitarists (Ampeg and Mesa Boogie equiped),
> and a B3 player. I had that little BJ cranked up to about 9 and it held
> its own. I was amazed. The Black Shadow speaker helped but still....
Yeah I'm going to try to bring my Blues Junior (I modded mine via the famous
Billm mods) to a blues jam this week and see if it will hold up against the
sometimes overbearing players that show up to a 50 seat room with a Fender
Super....: ) The BJ is an awesome amp IMO.
>
> BTW, I think the Peavey Classics are very nice jazz amps. They get a
> great smoky sound.
Yeah the Peavey Classic is a very versatile and great amp too. I've gone
through every <$500 amp out there, and some a little more, and these two
were the best other than an old Music Man RDFifty that I had for a while. It
had the greatest clean tone in the world. I attribute that to it having a
Mesa Vintage Black Shadow speaker in it, which for whatever reason sounded
phenomenal in that amp. I sold the amp but the guy who bought it wanted a
different speaker I had so I kept the Mesa speaker and later sold it because
the amp I had at the time didn't need a replacement. I do regret selling
that speaker now as I'd like to have tried it in the BJ, though I think the
stock speaker is excellent with the Billm mods.
Peter Grey
"mark" <mark2741@NOSPAMMIN_me_verizon.net> wrote in message
> the amp I had at the time didn't need a replacement. I do regret selling
> that speaker now as I'd like to have tried it in the BJ, though I think
> the stock speaker is excellent with the Billm mods.
>
What are the Billm mods?
Peter
Peter Grey
Peter
"Peter Grey" <pg...@earthlink.net> wrote in message
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mark
to begin with, though a little noisy. After doing that mod the reverb is
excellent now and it produces no noise/hiss at all.
The tone stack mod makes the amp much less boxy. I took it to a friend's
house to jam yesterday. It was the first time I was able to crank it up
after doing the tone stack mod, and I was really impressed as I was sitting
directly to the side of the amp and I noticed after standing in front of it
and then moving back to the side of it a few times throughout the afternoon
that the tone/volume was nearly identical no matter where in the room I
stood. Before the mod, it was pretty boxy and you got blasted with volume if
you stood in front of it but it was muffled if you stood to the side.
I also ordered the adjustable bias parts from Billm but after realizing (I
should have looked at the directions for that one first) that it requires
drilling some small holes in the PC board I am waiting a few weeks to work
up the nerve before giving it a go. He lives about 90 minutes from me, so
maybe I'll stop by and ask him to do it. He offered (great customer
service).
"Peter Grey" <pg...@earthlink.net> wrote in message
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Pt
playing softly at home through any amp.
At home I use anything that will amplify the guitar without
distortion.
I bought the cheapest practice amp I could find and I am very happy
with it.
Behringer V-Tone GM-108.
15 watts SS with amp and cab emulation.
The emulations are a waste of time but it sounds great at low volumes.
For gigging I use a Marshall tube (EL-34) half stack and a Kendrick
Black Gold 15 Class A stereo.
Pt
Claus Rogge
> BTW, what is your amp for home practice?
Gallien Krueger 250 ML. It愀 hissy and there愀 no way one could use it
for recording. But it愀 very very small and the best sounding one of its
size that I found. And, I can use it for my Chapman Stick as well.
> I apologize for my poor english.
Don愒!
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