# Amp advice for jazz.



## veshly (Feb 5, 2011)

I don't know a damn thing about jazz amps, so I come to you! I'm essentially looking to get this kind of sound out of an amp: 



Coincidentally I have the exact same guitar as him. It's getting set up right now so I can't really go and try any amps out. Just looking to get an idea of what to look for and such.

I have no idea whether a tube amp would be better for this, or whether a combo or stack would be more appropriate. Price also isn't really an issue, as long as financing is an option, haha.


Thanks in advance, amigos!


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## BigPhi84 (Feb 5, 2011)

I know a lot of Jazz cats use Roland JC-120 solid state amps. I've also heard a The JazzAmpTM 110 from Henriksen in person and it sounded amazing!


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## technomancer (Feb 5, 2011)

There's a ton of information in these two threads:

Ultimate Jazz Guitar Amp - Jazz Bulletin Board
The Ultimate Guitar Amp - The Jazz Guitar Forum


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## veshly (Feb 5, 2011)

technomancer said:


> There's a ton of information in these two threads:
> 
> Ultimate Jazz Guitar Amp - Jazz Bulletin Board
> The Ultimate Guitar Amp - The Jazz Guitar Forum




Ahh, that's perfect! Thanks.


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## veshly (Feb 5, 2011)

technomancer said:


> There's a ton of information in these two threads:
> 
> Ultimate Jazz Guitar Amp - Jazz Bulletin Board
> The Ultimate Guitar Amp - The Jazz Guitar Forum




Ahh, that's perfect! Thanks.


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## StratoJazz (Feb 5, 2011)

My teacher has an AER he uses when playing live, I don't know what model. During my lessons at School, he has a Roland cube 60. We used to have a Roland Jc-60?(smaller, one speaker version of the silver coned original) at school, but it got stolen.

As i'm starting to realize, amps with more head room, stay clean at louder volumes while low wattage tube amps, like my Super Champ, tend to distort at higher volumes. You may find if you go tube, you like the sound of your clean channel dimed and your tone rolled all the way down. You may not like it at all, and prefer the ultra pure, ultra cold sound of a solid state amp.


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## Phlegethon (Feb 6, 2011)

with jazz you're not necessarily limited to guitar amps. jazz guitarists seem to value any amp that has clean power, wide frequency response, and the ability to adjust this wide frequency clean tone to fit the situation. this opens the door to bass and keyboard amps, which have gobs of clean power, broad frequency amplification, and (some bass/keyboard amps) have controls that aren't on guitar amps. active eq, graphic eq, and Q controls are more useful than your regular bass/middle/treble setup and are more likely to be found on a bass/keyboard amp, and in the right hands are just as powerful as an axe fx IMO 

if I want to play clean I use my fender frontman 15b for cleans like this as my peavey windsor studio can't do the kind of cleans that jazz prefers/requires (it's too "british" IMO). with that being said I wouldn't push my luck with my frontman, it gets hissy when it gets loud so anything needing relatively substantial volume would be out of the question(i suspect mine needs maintenance). but if I'm playing at home or teaching a lesson, then it's extremely useful for this sort of thing


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## teqnick (Feb 6, 2011)

I've been using a rivera chubster 40 combo for jazz, and it's been amazing. The cleans are outrageous, and it has a very responsive eq. It has reverb which is also really nice, but a tad bit touchy.


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## Shadowspecced (Feb 6, 2011)

A polytone combo would be good, or an acoustic image head+razor's edge 1x12 cab.


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## TMM (Feb 6, 2011)

+1 I was thinking Polytone, too. They have one that's called something like the Mini Brute that's got an incredible tone.


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## ArtDecade (Feb 10, 2011)

I use a Phil Jones Cub for acoustic and archtop stuff. Its killer. Sounds huge and weighs nothing! Give it a look...

Portable Guitar Amplifier ? Concert Quality CUB AG-100 Watt Amp | Phil Jones Pure Sound


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## jeremyb (Feb 10, 2011)

ZT Club!

http://www.ztamplifiers.com/products/club.html


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## MikeMonacoBrah (Feb 10, 2011)

I know my friend's dad uses a twin reverb and it sounds fantastic.


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## Phlegethon (Feb 13, 2011)

MikeMonacoBrah said:


> I know my friend's dad uses a twin reverb and it sounds fantastic.



it also has a great side benefit: it gives you a workout if you're playing out somewhere. although this might turn into a detraction if you encounter a flight of stairs and don't feel like suffering through the workout


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## ivancic1al (Feb 13, 2011)

Flat wound strings will get you very close to that tone as well  in combination with an amp that has a lot of good clean headroom and good reverb.


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## ibanez254 (Feb 19, 2011)

I'd definitely check out a Roland Jazz-Chorus, and if the price is too steep, you can find a JC-55 or 60 for a lot cheaper than the 120, also heavy flatwound strings can get you a nice jazz tone.


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## bahama (Feb 22, 2011)

I like simple so for me my old Polytone Mini Brute works well. I don't like a ton of knobs to worry about and just like to play the instrument.


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