| Since I've been playing jazz,
I have tried a LOT of different amplifiers trying to get a warm tone while
maintaining some kind of clarity and transparency of tone.
I've tried the boutique heads with designer speaker cabinets that cost
more than my guitar! I have used tubes, transistors and computer
modelers. I've tried EVERYTHING and I still come back to the
Polytone series of jazz amps. This small California company
has been designing and building small, powerful amps for the professional
jazz community for decades. In my opinion, there is nothing
out there that breathes life into a jazz guitar like a Polytone!
The first model I would like to feature
is the Mini-Brute IV. The Mini-Brute III & IV are the same amp,
with the later having a studio 3 spring Hammond reverb built in,
so we opted to bring in the reverb version only (just to take a bit of
the 'dry' edge off your sound). The Mini Brute IV is 110 watts through
a heavy duty 15" speaker for a super full tone that will fill the largest
of jazz venues!
At first I found the knob layout a bit bewildering
on these amps, but after reading the brief manual, it became
clear that this was laid out quite logically. Essentially,
the bottom row of knobs control the first channel, with the prerequisite
bass/mid/treble controls as well as a very useful Tone Colour switch (boosts
or cuts trebles). The top three knobs control the second channel
'Sonic Circuit' which consists of Gain and Contour (tone) knobs as
well as a 3-way 'Program' switch that allows 'warm', 'edge' and 'drive'
options. Even with all of these sonic options, it really is
difficult to get a bad sound out of this amp! I found it intuitively
easy to dial in the super presence of Grant Green's tone or the darker
lushness of the signature Jim Hall sound!
For those of us who play full sized arched
top guitars, a Polytone makes all the difference in the world with
regards to achieving a legit sounding jazz tone. They were designed
specifically to amplify this style of instrument and EQ'ed for the
idiom of jazz. Having a jazz guitar without a Polytone is sort of
like Stan without Laurel, cake without ice cream...... a Corona without
the slice of lime........(OK, OK, you get the picture!). |
![[Decorative rule]](drw.gif)
