This is a little different from the normal videos. Let me know what you think 🙂 And a huge thanks to Joram and Legacy studio for a great time there 👍👍😎 Content: 0:00 Intro - Going To Legacy Studios 0:28 Say Hi To Joram :) 0:41 And The Amps 1:04 Vox AC30 1:38 The Reverb: Lexicon LXP-1 4:07 Marshal JCM800 6:40 An Epiphany: Marshall Low-input 7:46 Roland Cube 8:15 Closed vs Open-back Speakers 9:53 Fender Princeton - reissue 11:27 Fender Tube Compression and Reverb? 12:30 Vintage Jazz Tones of Wes or Kenny Burrel 12:55 Fender overdrive 13:40 a 10" speaker with a lot of bass. 14:37 Lab Series L5 - BB King, Holdsworth, and no Tubes! 18:12 The Multi-filter 18:38 The Compressor 19:25 Polytone 19:41 Conservatory Polytone Anecdotes
Marshall sounds so good, actually. And yes, Marshalls are brittle, "presence" should be at 0, i guess... Btw, only "jazz amp" you have tested is hm... too muddy, even for my taste. :)
Dear Jens, I am a jazz player. I am though inspired by the raw type tones that "rock" type amps ad pedals can give. With a jazz vocabulary and the more dynamic (for me anyway) amp like the Marshall or Vox, it is a chance to use tone color and texture as art f your expression. I always have felt that players who just use a "jazz" tone are limited greatly in expressiveness. I was intimidated at first to use sounds that I really liked that were not standard jazz type sounds. It required that I develop an approach and vocabulary that is unique, for I was finding "jazz tones" limiting and fusion players tacky and limited in their way. A long way of saying..You sounded great with the Vox and Marshall.
For me, using non-traditional jazz tones does not wreck the jazzyness so long as I am in the clean tone range. What presents a problem is me capturing jazz tone colors when i add bluegrass finger picking, flamingo , vibrato, and so on
I own an second hand orange 60watt cube from the 80s and have next to no information about it so this was a surprise to see it feature, great vid thanks Jens!
Vox just sounds so great for so many things... if I could have just one of these it would be that. And when it comes to half stacks, Pat Martino plays a Mesa Boogie all the time!
Thank you for this video. Started getting interested in jazz, and all I have right now is an Epiphone Les Paul and a Marshall Origin 50c. Turns out, Les Paul was a jazz player and with a few adjustments the Marshall makes a really nice tone.
Good info, Jens! I have used (and still use) a Polytone "mini-brute" for years, also a Fender deluxe reverb. Depending on the gig, room size, etc., I favor the deluxe for versatility and some classic tone, sometimes use a Heritage Kenny Burrell model, or a Henricksen solid state. In my view, few amps beat the Polytone for easy of carry and reliability of sound in different rooms. The older I get, the more I like the convenience of showing up with my guitar in one hand and my amp in another, plug and play, pick up, and go home.
Amazing how well the Lab sounded. I ones had one ( long time ago), but did not no anything about dialing in a good tone at that time. Hearing it back now it realy impressed me, far better then the Polytone in my opinion.
I had an L5 that made me very happy with the wide (very wide) range of tones it could produce. The treble knob could have been pushed up a click or two to balance out that jazz tone.
Marshall's actually have great cleans; A JTM45 would give great jazz tone -- big round and clean; its way warmer than the JCM800 - closer to a Bassman. This was an interesting comparison. I think the Princeton was my fave then the Marshall (though can't see a jazz player dragging around a 412)
Jens, this is something different. We need more of these tips, at least I do. I'm surprised how good the Vox AC30 sounds at low volume. I sold mine years ago because it was just too loud or had a crappy sound when the tubes didn't glow. Right now I mostly use my Fender Deluxe Reverb.
Thank you, Joachim. This was not recorded at bedroom level. The studio is a pretty dead space so you can turn up amps quite a lot and I was turning down the amps in the video 🙂
Fender's are pretty easy to get a jazz tone out of. I have a Henriksen JazzAmp10, but I can get a damn good jazz sound out of my Fender Blues Junior as well.
Golly! Honestly, you make all those amps sounds amazing. I'm not an expert on which one specifically sounds better, I think it's all a preference of choice from the individual player.
That last amp 🤯🤟 It can work as a bass amp too. I myself use a small Ibanez acoustic amp for my Hollow Body guitars live. Bass amps are decent for Jazz tones too and I have used them in school when a guitar amp was not available for Jazz stuff.
The L5 was very articulate - and a ton of settings options! I actually preferred it to the Polytone. Princeton was way too bass heavy, even with bass 1! Try lugging your Marshall stack to the jazz gig all the time - you'll switch back to the cube pretty quick, lmao. :D The Marshall was wayyy too bright and only sounded partially jazzy b/c you're a great player playing jazz. ;-) Probably the worst option, imho.
This was fun! I had a wonderful Roland Blues Cube B310 that I bought new in 1994. 3b10 inch speakers 75 watts with two channels, a bright switch, crunch and other stuff I never used. I loved the tone but never turned it past 5. I still have it but it’s in storage in Anchorage and I’m in Dyersburg, Tennessee. It’s 70lbs so I can’t afford to bring it here. I wish you could play it.
JCM800 - when your jazz lead absolutely, positively has to cut through the mix. But, that AC30 was a wonderful surprise - sometimes less is more. The Cube sounded like I was listening with socks on my ears. The Princeton? Yep, I own one :). The secret to the Princeton is to mic off axis at 2" and to set the treble at 6, bass at 2, and run the neck pickup tone at 4-6.
I think you make a great point about the old recordings of some of the jazz greats like Wes Montgomery or Kenny Burrell in that their lead sound is slightly distorted. I personally like that: I guess they were using valve amps at quite high volume and rolling the volume down on the guitar to play rhythm. I’ve recorded jazz guitar with a Marshall JCM 900, Peavey Classic 30 and a Fender Blues Jnr and they all sounded pretty good. The Fender in this video was my favourite. I’m a huge Joe Pass fan but his sound was not always to my liking. On the ‘Intercontinental’ album, his guitar sound is amazing: I wonder whether he used a valve amp for this rather than the polytone ?
I got myself a LAB L5 for very little money after having seen (and heard) Ulf Wakenius live in a Jazz club. He used a Les Paul copy with a bolt-on neck, made by Aria, that he bought years ago in Sweden for $200, and a LAB L5. And WOW! It was one of the warmest, thickest and most beautiful tones I have ever heard. But I now know that the tone doesn't only come out of the gear, as I got painfully aware...
Marshall sounds the best to my ear. I would prefer it even brighter and with a bit of drive to it, not the typical jazz tone but to me it's more articulate and aggressive than the deep dark clean tone we usually hear, like the trumpet screaming out a solo over the band rather than the guitar player sitting in the corner strumming out seven chords in the back trying his best not to get noticed.
Sure, though your comment does sound a little bit like "why is Jazz not Van Halen?" :D It's a bit like saying all rock guitar is like Green Day, which is certainly selling the genre a bit short, don't you think?
Your playing is really good and I love the intelligence of bebop and jazz but I also love the boldness and brashness of the greats of the past and the guitar to me is such a versatile instrument with so much possibility and I would love to see it shine more sort of like the brashness of Dizzy Gillespie or John Coltrane rather than be constrained to just sounding fairly tame.
@@TheRealChrisLopezIn terms of musical expression that is there as well, but you need to go look for it and not be ruled by what you have decided Jazz is. Who is your reference for jazz guitarists?
@@JensLarsen I'm talking purely in terms of tone, pretty much everyone I've ever heard outside of more fusion oriented stuff still sounds like Wes Montgomery fifty years later and that seems to be the prevailing style in terms of tone. I'm just saying I love the dynamics and articulation that a brighter and dirtier tone offers as far as what's pleasing to my tastes more of a cutting tone like the brass instruments, it's not for everyone and that's fine but I think it's a shame that more musically advanced players don't seem to experiment more with different sounds other than the norm, obviously if you dig deep enough there's plenty of exceptions but there certainly is a prevailing sound when it comes to jazz in general sort of in the way that 80's hair metal was all cranked Marshall stacks and spandex, surely there were exceptions but there certainly was a prevailing sound that became cliche.
I'm only to the Marshall but I really like that one! It is a little brighter but that nice "crust" you were getting from the pick attack/scrape paired with the compression and punchy-ness of that amp (and of course, the woodiness lol) made it sound awesome. Maybe it wouldn't be great by yourself but I could see that sound kicking some butt in the mix.
I actually think the Boss Katana(clean channel) is the most underrated jazz amp for the money... maybe period. It’s got this unique combination of have perfect highs and lows and full and bright yet very soft as well. Very piano like if that makes sense. My predictions is these will eventually be a loved budget jazz amp option long after kids stop playing rock and metal on them.
Well, while it's hard to really tell from this recording, I am surprised to say I R E A L L Y like the Marshall!! Bright, yes, but in a very pleasant way IMHO
Tone is in your ears. If you can hear the tone you want to achieve, you can adjust nearly any amp to get there. So many jazz guitar players just roll the tone off on the guitar and end up with a mushy sound, as if there is a wet blanket over the amp. They forget that Kenny and Wes and Green used P90s, and their tone had a little bite to it.
Just some info on the 65 reissue of the Princeton: They modified this reissue to be more like a Bassman. It is way darker and meatier than a regular Princeton. Fender also played with the negative feedback in the circuit which makes the amp more touch sensitive. I would say that the amp is more suitable for Jazz than a regular Princeton and also fun to explore some Santana tones (a Zen drive is a good companion pedal). If you are after chimney / sparkle this is not the model for you, which listeners of this video might not be after. Well one remark: when they talk about Jazz tone here they most likely have classic Jazz in mind. If you open up the selection of tones to players like Wayne Krantz, John Scofield, Bill Friesell then Marschall, Vox and much more types are on the table….
Great video Jens, i wish you'd talk a bit more about what you're looking for in your jazz tone. What's your approach to setting the controls? Fantastic playing btw!
I recommend the Roland Jazz Chorus series, especially for chord work. One of my main amps is an old Peavey Classic from 1974 which has been through numerous revisions. It sounds a bit like a Fender Twin, but doesn't weigh a ton ;-)
Thank you Hubert. I absolutely hate jazz chorus amps. To me they have the least tube like compression and feel I have ever encountered, so I probably won't do a series on them. I know people who love them and that is fine, but I am not one of them.
@@JensLarsen Fair enough. I find they blend in well with whatever other instruments make up a band, plus each note of even a complex chord remains clearly audible; chords don't end up sounding like porridge. And these amps are incredibly sturdy!
I’ve come to the conclusion that “jazz tone” is the sound that you get when playing jazz on any guitar through any amp or interface. When I was young, we all wanted to sound like Kenny Burrell on his 175-but was that with P90's or PAF's? Wes, Scofield, Gabor Szabo, Benson, Leo Amuedo-all jazz tones … Which raises the question, "How do you define jazz?" And so the rabbit hole opens up 🤪
Which reminds me, back in the early to middle '60's in London, the closest of our circle to get to the Holy Grail of Burrellian rich creaminess was John McLaughlin, playing a Gretsch archtop (light green top with dark green back and sides). Can't think of the model # right now, but definitely nothing like a 175!! Funny that a large number of guitarists want that sound instead of looking for their own voice-other instrumentalists don't seem to have this mindset, think Getz/Rollins, Hawkins/Young, Hodges/Ornette, Cannonball/Desmond, Miles/ Diz. Maybe we just have start somewhere ...
Way late to the party here but this goes to show that if you listen with your ears instead of your eyes you can get a usable sound out of just about anything decent. John McLaughlin played a Gibson double neck through a Marshall. The Les Paul was the brainchild of the Jazz guitarist it is named after. And Ted Nugent played some of the loudest, brashest hard rock on a hollow body guitar through Fender amps.
Thought I was watching an episode of norsemen on Netflix for a second 🤣 love these videos tho, I’ve just been getting into jazz lately but I’ve been producing other styles of music for a while , usually your videos stretch my brain but these ones I can more fully understand 😂
Mycket intressant Jens, Tack! Wonderful playing. I m guessing you play an Ibanez guitar? I remember an Epi… to me I preferred the vox and the polytone. Exactly the 65 Princeton is a bit darker than the 68 silverfaces models and brake up at lower volume. But I must point out that there is Princeton and Princeton. I have a 73 silverface , not a reissue and it sounds different from the one in the video, as you said there’s a huge difference in the bass depending if it stands on the floor or n a stand/flight case-cover. Then an other important things, the character of a tube amp seems to change a lot with the tubes. When I purchased my Princeton back in the days it has ruby tubes that made it sound brighter and flat and thinner , I ve tried tungsol that made it sound horrible and then the JJ that makes it sound warmer and darker while still keeping the clean of a fender. I totally felt in love with the JJ in it. What you said about one amp sounding different than other while being the same brand and model seems to apply to most vintage electronic (I clearly hear differences in my 2 similar 30 years old hifi amps of mine already ). Could be that components age differently depending of how they were used or even of the conditions in the places they ve been kept in, moisture, temperature, etc . That s even more true with tube-amps. Well at least you don t have to been an electronic engineer to replace tubes. I prefer vintage warmer darker tones. Therefore tubes. But I was really surprised and pleased by the polytone. I guess the 15” is for something in that. I ve tried polytones in shops in Sweden and In Italy and they did sound horrible, nothing alike the one in this video. Then even if a good amp with the right character is necessary people shouldn’t forget that the essential part of your sound comes from your fingers and then your pickups and guitar… I mean I m quite sure a crappy amp would still sound quite good if YOU play it 😁. The Marshall and lab probably suits fusion best. I sure would have liked to hear you playing a peavey classic 30, which I m considering to get too. A final question, are any of your recordings available on lp-vinyl? Thanks for a great video. I like what you show on RU-vid which is mostly the plain and honest true. Tack igen! Michel
Thanks! Yes it is an Ibanez. I actually prefer modelling especially live because it is much more flexible and takes away some of the frequency issues open back tube amps have. My music is not available on vinyl, I doubt if we will make that, but I am flattered that you are interested :)
The problem with the JCM800, for a jazz tone, is that like many of the master vol Marshalls, the preamp is like the #1/high treble channel on non-MV amps, which is thin and bright. The normal channel on non-MV amps is thick and warm. I have an old Plexi, which is great for jazz.
By watching video's about guitar tone I realise that I have a LONG way to go. I honestly can't really distinguish subtle differences in tone. Maybe it's my ears, maybe it's because I focus on the harmony rather than the tone in itself. Could also be that my reference point has been cheap amps for a long time. The positive side of this is that I can really plug and play without being annoyed by the tone an amp or guitar makes! I do have a preference for the Vox amps, but that's mainly because I got into jazz by listening to John Scofield!
What would have been interesting is to raise the amps(especially the small ones) off the floor. This decouples and defuses certain lower frequencies making for a tighter bass and better control. Another change I find for great (tone, warmth and clarity) is to change the speaker to a hemp cone design like the Eminence Cannabis Rex of the the Tone Tubby Ceramic speaker. These speakers I think give their best with clean tones.
For my concerns, It's more important to get 'your' tone from amp as much as possible. I personally like Fender type amps, but for what I need, I can get from almost every amp, except maybe modern high-gain. Jens here showed that has it's own tone and phrases that sounds good on any amp to me. So for me this amp thing is more mythical and retro elite issue than the utilization.
This is interesting. I am waiting for a more or less desk top amp.. a DV Mark Little Jazz and my new first semi-hollow Larry Carlton H7 ... two hum bucking I think. ... totally first try ... I know I need it worked on and need to find a good set up luthier "locally" who has experience with the 335. I sorta wish I knew the settings for such. I have my acoustics playing well and set up a couple of them myself. ... ohhh so much to learn.
hey Jens! what strings and pick are you using here? i keep trying new picks trying to find one that fits me well and I noticed how yours isn't really giving off much clicky percussive sounds. always up to try new ones.
@@JensLarsen ah thank you! I absolutely hate that sound.. especially when I am going for that thick gauge flat wound sound/set up. I will check em out!
@@JensLarsen Agreed .. the bass amps that I have liked have a mid boost button or mid pull switch. With that activated and some dialing in they seem to work nice on getting a warm jazz tone with some punchy mids. Have you ever tried plugging your Ibanez into one of the amps designed for acoustic Guitar? Would be interesting to know those amps bring out some of the natural hollow body sound? I recently bought a used red re-issued Epipone Century w/ P 90, love the way it plays and sounds unplugged, but can't seem to re-create it's beautiful tone unplugged when plugged into any amp .... bummer.
Thanks for the clip Jens and Joram. Why are thick mids such a popular tone for jazz guitar? I would like to hear your views on a mesa boogie guitar jazz settings too and was surprised it wasn't included. Jazz guitar can be played on a nylon. Covering some acoustic jazz guitar amp setting could be interesting. Have you ever played through an AER?
Glad you like it! We didn't have a Mesa, and I actually use my AER for gigs all the time, but I don't consider it a fantastic tone plus that it has trouble keeping up with drums that are anything but very soft 🙂
Amazing video Jens!! Thank you for all the effort you've put in your videos and the the knowledge you've shared over the years. Ps . I have your book and the joe pass one on the way 😁😁
SONNY SHERROCK AKA WARREN SHARROCK GUITARIST FOR MILES DAVIES ( FREE JAZZ). PLAYED 100 WATT MARSHALL HEAD 4*12" CAB. GIBSON LES PAUL CUSTOM. BUT YOU KNEW THAT. RIGHT😟🙂🎸
I have a Marshall AS50R 50 watt Acoustic Amo that gets a nice jazz sound. It has received, and chorus effect. Two channels, a xlr input, and exactly stero inputs for a one man duo.: )
amigo you should check jens channel, there are literally a lot of videos with that content and really well explained:) all you need is an open mind and your guitar at hand:) , cheers mate:)
What sort of changes are you thinking of when your just noodling when testing the tone of the amp? Just curious of the sort of patterns and phrases/changes you naturally go to , great vid again man
I think I was playing Dorian actually, I tried to play sort of the same thing to hear how the Amp sounded, but I am not sure it really made a difference 🙂
I go against the grain in amps. I use a Vintage Sound 22. Which is a custom, hand wired 6V6 based amp using the Fender AB-763 circuit from 1965. The Blackface Deluxe Reverb is based on that design. I have a midrange control as well as a reverb dwell control that allows you many more choices in tone. The speaker (which is very important) is a Weber Ferromax 12F150 vintage style 12" speaker. The combo of the Weber speaker and the Fender AB-763 circuit yields a classic clean tube vintage tone. You then use the EQ to tailor to your taste. I can get just about anything I want from this amp in a medium sized, easy to carry package. Can't beat that.
Hi Jens. Interesting! Have you checked out the Positive grid 'Spark' amp? Again around $250, 40w, really very small, lots of amp models, FX etc all bluetooth controlled from iPad, phone or computer. I use it for practice but reckon it would hold up on a small jazz gig too. I'd be interested in your opinion. Cheers!
I want a set it and forget it amp(doesn't ever one)? When I have more choices I tend to fiddle around with Knobs when I could better spend my time playing. Anyone else experience this? I have a Polytone Minibrute 4, A Princeton Chorus, a Fender Champion 40 modeling amp and a Carvin 50 watt vt.(broken) I usually play the little inexpensive Champion,(moded with an added ext spker jack) I like the video and find it educational as a frame of reference.
Fender Twin guy here. The difference in the Blackface and the later Silverface models is slight tone and gain modifications, mainly in the phase inverter circuit.
I always think Hiwatt and Mesa Boogies make great Jazz amps. The Hiwatt are great in terms of clarity and clean head room, and the Mesa have great low end that never sounds muddy. Ive never been impressed by the mudiness and lack of clarity of polytone amps. I do think Henriksen Jazz amps are the holy grail of jazz tone.
Interesting! I like Mesa's as well, but I actually always found the Henriksen amps completely without character and really boring. In my experience Polytones are very different from amp to amp, they are as inconsistent as Gibson guitars :D some are great others suck.
Very interesting! I don't suppose you have a 20 Watt amp setting around that you could show us newbies how to get the best jazz sound out of? This was a great vid but I can't afford all those goodies! LOL
has anyone been trying an orange crush amp for a jazz sound? the clean sound of it speaks to me naturally and i tend to get one but i have no idea if it is a good amp to use for jazzy tones. any experiences ?
I have a little question, have you used or known people using treble boosters pedals (like the rangemaster) in jazz (and in comping) for opening a bit the muddish guitar sound when rolling down the tone knob?
No, I would also not do it like that. I prefer to eq after the guitar mainly using an actual EQ, the Amp or sometimes an OD pedal with no drive. The problem with using the tone is that you loose definition and no pedal can bring that back. I talk about this in my video on getting a jazz tone on a strat
I also play through a Quilter 101Reverb, in my case into a 1980s 12 inch Fane speaker housed in a Session Amp combo with the amp removed. Excellent jazz guitarists Tim Lerch and Rich Severson (videos on RU-vid) also use Quilter amps. I love the clean sound of the Quilter, and especially the fact that it’s so light. Who wants to carry around an expensive, heavy, Fender combo that starts to break up (distort) past 4 on the volume knob, unless you are a rock/blues guitarist? For clean tones class D amps are a good choice in my view. And if you require overdrive or distortion, the Quilter amps respond well to pedals. Furthermore the Quilter has effects send and return, can be used with headphones without a speaker attached (don’t try this with a tube amp!), and the headphone out socket can be used for recording into a DAW (in my case Logic Pro 10). I get no hum, even when playing my Telecaster up close to the amp, and I prefer the sound of my Eastman jazz guitar through this set up to previously owned Vox AC30, Fender Twin Reverb, Peavey Deuce (a beast to carry) and the aforementioned Sessionette 75. So, I’ll add my praise for these amps and a recommendation to jazz guitarists - somehow I’m not anticipating an endorsement, such as that offered to the excellent guitarist in this video, but hope springs eternal!
@@ajpegg2932 I'll second that! I had (almost) every amp under the moon (RV, VOXs, Fenders, LAB L5, Marshalls, Roland, Boss, Lacey, Yamaha, Peavey, MESA Boogie, Music Industry and more), but the Quilter has been my go-to amp for several years now. I had a 101r too, but lost it in a massive bushfire two years ago, along with 19 guitars and all my other equipment and more (it still hurts...). I acquired a Quilter Aviator Cub that does everything I want, I has a great Jazz tone (what ever that means), but also takes pedals extremely well, for other musical genres. And it's light as..! IMHO the best combo amp on the market atm... Worth checking out!
I like tube amps because you can get that buttery liquid smoothness out of them (I have a Fender BJ III Tweed). But SS amps have that immediate attack which sounds so great too (DV Mark Little Jazz). Solid state for bebop lines and tube for more chord-melody? My two cents. However I find that how hot you run your pickups makes a HUGE difference. Sometimes I turn them down to 30% and raise the input. Can generate a bit of hiss but sounds awesome.
Interesting. I used to have a Vox with an effects module built to it and a valve preamp. I had to pawn it off shortly before I moved to London. Right now I have a Marshall MG10CF, which I assume is a practise amp???
What about how to get a jazz tone out of any guitar? Maybe you've done a vid on that and forgive me if you have. I'm a "Strat guy" but enjoy trying to learn jazz as well and would like some tips on that if you have any.
hi Jens really enjoying your content, i was wondering if the Roland super Cube 100 is the same as the Roland cube 100 because it says the super cube is for bass? but does that really matter for jazz sounds? thanks in advance
@@JensLarsen O and the person is selling it for about 50 euros, is it worth it? I also found a polytone Mini Brute III for 250 euros, is that a good price too? Sorry if I ask too many questions thanks again though
