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I’m trying to determine the best solid-state amp. Money is no hurdle (b/c solid state!) Ideally 35 lbs or less. I am looking at quilter aviator Mach 3, fender tone master deluxe reverb, Roland jazz chorus 40.
I usually play jazz by myself and rock ‘n’ roll with my friends.
OK… go!
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10-26-2024 03:51 PM
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Home - Henriksen Amplifiers
Awesome amps from a company run by a cool guy who really backs the community and you can trial for 30 days no risk.
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Don’t forget the Quilter Tone Block 202. Put it on with a Eminence Beta speaker and You have all that jazz. Put it with a Jensen Tornado (or something similar) and You’ll rock ’til You drop.
TM amps are all digital. Quilters are analog. It does not matter to everybody but some like either one better.
Good luck with the quest!
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I'm inches away from ordering the Mach3, and I'm already very happy with ToneBlock 202. Looks to me like it can do it all. R&R on a Heinrickson? Unusual, but I guess anything's possible with today's pedalboards.
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With the right pedal to do the grit, it shouldn’t be difficult to rock on a Henriksen.
Originally Posted by ccroft
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Evans is hard to beat - used them for years - first for pedal steel and more recently guitar; unusual controls - you pretty much have to learn to operate it (I just turn knobs until it sounds good!). Decent reverb but I usually use an Earthquake Systems Dispatch Master because I want some delay for 'Chet' stuff. My RE200 was designed with input from 7 string master Ron Eschete (hence the 'RE'). 200 watts into a neo Eminence 10" speaker and comes with extra long 15' power cord. Hand build by Scot Buffington and his wife in Burlington, NC. Class 'D' power section with Scot's proprietary preamp design. He used to have a traveling amp floating around for demo purposes - I think you could use it for a week, then pass it on to the next person on the list. The RE200 is now an RE300 IIRC. Oh, and did I say it's only like 27lbs? Scot loves to talk on the phone and there is a website: Home - Evans Custom Amplifiers. Tim Lerch has a nice demo video on You Tube with some kind words to say. I was an Evans dealer back in the late 70s/early 80s when I was playing steel most of the time but have stuck with them and played little else since then except an old (heavy) Fender Super Reverb, and a Polytone for a little while. Check 'em out. I think there are a few dealers around the country and used ones pop up on occasion. Good luck!!
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Evans RE300. I've been a happy Evans fanboy since the 90's. American made, super fine customer service, fantastic flexibly. I gig out with a JE112, it has clean headroom for days. You will have to use pedals for distortion.
One of the very few SS amp that gets into tube territory. Some call it the Mesa Boogie of SS amps. It may take a while to dial in your tone, after that, it's paradise.
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There is no best. Only very many good ones with various capabilities. Originally Posted by tomems
Quilter Mach 3 - most versatile, 200 watts, 1x12, US$1300. Might be too powerful.
Fender TM Deluxe Reverb - models a 22 watt amp, 1x12, US $1050. Might not be powerful enough. Does the Deluxe Reverb thing very well.
Roland Jazz Chorus 40 - 40 watts, 2x10, US$700. I never liked JC distortion.
Others worth considering:
Quilter Aviator Cub - versatile, 50 watts, 1x12, US$750.
Quilter Block Dock series - various amps with various speaker cabs.
Peavey Bandit - 80 watts, 1x12, US$500. A sleeper, but much heavier than you're looking for.
Boss Katana - any of several models.
Because of the "rock and roll" in your OP, I would say that Henriksen amps are not for you. They're clean only. More like mini PAs or FRFR.
Disclaimer. I have a USA Peavey Redstripe Bandit and a Henriksen Bud. Eyeing a Quilter Aviator Cub.
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Fender has been the answer for both rock and jazz for many decades. Seeing several recommendations on this list that would not be very good at rock as they do not offer a pleasing overdriven tone. And yes, you can put pedals in front of anything but why choose that compromise as your starting point? So the Quilter or the Fender. Though for my taste I would choose the Fender Twin TM over the Deluxe.
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I have a Quilter Mach 3 Combo and a couple of Henriksens. While I could put a pedal in front of the Henriksens, the Quilter is a better choice for Rock and Blues. But for jazz, I do prefer the Henriksens.
HTH
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dconeill posted while I was entering this post. He is absolutely correct - there is no such thing as "the best" anything. All that matters is how closely something comes to meeting all of your wants, needs, and expectations. Everything mentioned so far is excellent - Evans makes wonderful, reliable amps and so do Henriksen, Quilter, and many others. Each brand and model has its own combination of traits (positive and negative) that define its personality. Originally Posted by tomems
I've had dozens of amps over many years, including multiple models of SS Evans, Quilter, SWR, Phil Jones, Boogie, Roland etc etc plus a Henriksen Blu 6 and a D V Mark EG250 head. Any of these would be fine for me if I could only have one. A Henriksen Blu or Bud is an amazingly light and powerful little amp with big, sweet jazz tone. It takes pedals well and is fine for almost any gig or genre - but you have to like the way it looks and sounds, along with the scope of its EQ, the quality of its reverb etc. The same is true for Quilters. A Mach 3 is a fantastic amp that'll handle any gig you can throw at it and still be fine at bedroom levels. My OD202 / BlockDock 12HD is what a Boogie Mk 1 wishes it could be - powerful, beautiful tones, well made, reliable, versatile, but light as a feather (OK - a 22 pound feather).
There are devotees of the Fender Tonemaster line, any of which is another great and very portable choice for fine sound and ample power. I don't think we know yet how reliable they are, and they're not as versatile as some of the others mentioned in this thread. A TM Deluxe is built to be a Deluxe you can carry, and so on for the TM Twin, TM Super, TM Bassman etc. But each is pretty much what its original namesake is / was.
You really have to play your own instruments through them to know if they stir your juices. I've bought and returned amps that appealed to me in the store but failed to deliver on gigs. Some of them surprised me because I really thought I'd wrung them out well before buying them. These days, it's hard to find more than one or two of the amps you'e considering in a real store - even in the Boston Area. But if you search and call around, you should be able to find new or used examples of at least a few of your possible choices to try.
You can buy one at a time over the internet and return each if you don't like it, but that's expensive because you pay return shipping. It's also one of the reasons so many shops are closing - it costs them $$ to process a return, and many then sell them as "open box" items at a reduced price. While I understand that many players simply can't find examples in brick and mortar stores to try before buying, I think calling / visiting every music shop you can find in a reasonable radius from your home is far preferable to ordering from the big web stores just to try multiple amps.
Buying instruments from web reviews, recommendations etc is like kissing through a screen door - you just don't get the full feeling. It's like the old blues tune says: you got to get your hands on it!
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The last amp I bought from a music store (when there was such a thing) was a Polytone Mini Brute in 1994. Used it for a few years and a few theater productions. Tried a Boss Katana when they first came out and it was OK but had about a thousand features that I'd never use. Used a little GK MB200 head along with a cheap Behringer reverb/delay for guitar and steel for a few years - worked great. Even stumbled into one of those rare 1964 'no logo' Fender Deluxes and couldn't sell it fast enough (might have been to someone on this forum?) - hated it and it was checked out by the best amp guy around here. Ended up going back to a series of Evans and have been there ever since; I do have a Quilter 101R with a homemade 8" cabinet which is OK and was bought as a backup to the Evans - sounds pretty good but will probably be selling it shortly. It's a never ending search - I'm lusting after a Bud 6 but not enough to give up my Evans to get it - maybe if I sell the Quilter.........
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Those 70s paul rivera designed yamaha amps are really good solid state amp. I had the smaller power 30 112 that could get all kinds of good tones from clean to distorted. They were popular with the jazz fusion crowd back then if I remember right. Also have the rivera designed princeton reverb II too. Both really good amps.
Last edited by Brian859; 10-26-2024 at 07:42 PM.
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A decent, pure solid state amp (like Henriksen, ZT etc) with a decent modelling pedal (like Boss IR-2, Line 6 pod express, Strymon etc.) sounds better and is more versatile than modelling combos like Quilter, Tonemaster etc, IMO. I do have some of these amps and pedals.
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I know you wrote cost no object, but a used Quilter MicroPro Mach 2 will set you back only around half the cost of a Mach 3. And I think lighter than a M3. Leaves plenty of $ for other goodies.
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My vote would be for Quilter. Very versatile.
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Try it at the Tokyo Lucky Hole......Buying instruments from web reviews, recommendations etc is like kissing through a screen door - you just don't get the full feeling...
Araki Nobuyoshi, Tokyo Lucky Hole: Amongst these many destinations was a Tokyo club called Lucky Hole. Here, the premise was ridiculously simple: clients stood on one side of a plywood partition, a hostess on the other; in between them was simply a hole big enough for a certain part of the male anatomy to pass through.
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I have a Milkman amp as well as the other three that I mentioned in my earlier post in this thread. The Milkman does have a tube preamp and only has one channel, but it can do Jazz and Rock exceptionally well. Originally Posted by Jabberwocky
It certainly should be considered.
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If you had to, had to pick between Milkman the amp and Quilter Mach 3 - to play 2/3 jazz and 1/3 rock - which would you pick??? Originally Posted by Stringswinger
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The only thing that comes to my mind is that everybody is different.
I'm not particularly finicky about amps. Yet, I could not get a sound I could stand out of the Zeta Lunchbox - and players on this forum whose playing I admire, liked it a lot.
If you pick 10 players whose sound you love, there's a very good chance no two of them use the same rig.
And, there are a seemingly infinite array of good rock tones and almost as many good jazz tones.
Pick something and buy with a return privilege.
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I like having both along with my Henriksens (Bud 6 and Blu 10). Originally Posted by tomems
The Quilter Mach 3 would probably win because it has two channels, 200 watts and built in overdrive.
The Milkman delivers real tube tone whereas the Quilter comes close, but is not all the way there.
So it becomes a question of whether you need the features of the Mach 3 or the real tube tone of the Milkman.
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Give Fuchs a look in. Head or combo options with Class D output stages Originally Posted by tomems
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I second Henriksen amps. Today I used the Blu Six (12 lbs 120 watts) in a jazz quintet at an outdoor gig and that’s all I needed with my archtop. Originally Posted by ThatRhythmMan
At home, I use it with all manner of pedals, either in the front or loop.
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Only last week i bought a Vox MV50 Clean. Like it a lot so far. Ordered a cabinet with a WGS g12cs. Waiting for that one.The vox weighs about half a kilo. Great tone. Something called Nutube. Seems to like my pedals very well. Maybe that's something to think about. I play it with a Ibanez as120. My Ibanez (70's) ES175 type sounds pretty good too. Need a cabinet though.
My JP20 sounds better on the Polytone minibrute. Nothing beats that combination. But the polytone doesn't like my pedals very much.
Used to have a Roland jc40. Nice but to brittle for me. And that Hiss. Why doesn't Roland fix that ? It's a shame/pitty.
I own a Koch Jupiter 45. Very nice amp. It's hybrid. Can't get a nice sound out of the JP20 with the Koch. Both my as120 and the Ibanez 2616 going very well. Maybe a speaker swapp sometime. It's a bit "trebly". Going to try the WGS speaker in this one too.
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