I had tried one of these out about a year ago and loved the sound, and finally picked one up for the guest artist concert with the University of Virginia Jazz Ensemble this past week.

It's pretty "no frills" but what it does it does very, very well, plus it has two input channels so it makes a convenient little practice amp.

The sound is perfect, with the Stickup, the EMG and the PASV-4. 22 watts is plenty, the tremolo and reverb are gorgeous. There's no effects loop, but that's okay, I can step down the gain from my rack effects with the Eventide Time Factor before going into it.

I'll be using is at my melody side amp from now on, I think, so the next time you are at a Greg Howard gig you can check it out. Just thought I'd pass it on:

Is there a line out on it? If not would you just mic it?

22 watts seems a bit short for playing with a full band. But I suppose if you don't have a distorted guitar it might be fine.

I think I'll check it out.

Brett

Hi Brett,

The whole point of going with an amp like this is the sound that the amp produces, so a line out wouldn't make much sense. Finding the right mic and place to put it is one question, and something I'll be exploring for future videos.

It seems to have plenty of headroom, and sounds great cranked up. Lots of warm low end. It does have an extension speaker jack, so I might have a guy I know make a matching 1x12" cabinet with a matching driver for situations where a bigger sound is required.

That is a good looking amp, Greg. And what do you like for your bass side these days?

I have one and it's fine. We use it at as a guitar house amp at our local Jazz Fest as well. Dean Brown, Oz Noy etc. have played through it on our stage with plenty of volume. I've also used it at for both sides at jam sessions in a plug in and play situation

Excellent choice . Fine amp. I like these for the tube rectifier that compresses your sound when you play heavier ,very good for reproducing your dynamics. Nothing like tube driven reverb and tremolo .

Snicker (old guitar player nods approvingly)

The only thing to make it sweeter would be to stick in a JBL D120. Oh yeah.

I have to take your word for it about the JBL. I really like the Jensen's. They are just very "clear" somehow. Don't think I'll be changing that anytime soon.

I'm assuming a guitarist's role a lot more in my right hand, so this is a great step for me to take I think. Playing more comping chords behind the soloists in the UpTet for example. And for leads, it's just spectacular. The Pigtronix OFO is my pedal of choice these days for that.

I remember, back in the mid-80s, at a Tucson street fair, a black Stick player playing through a Fender Twin Reverb equipped with JBLs. Lord have mercy! That guy just filled up the street with music. Sadly, I never caught his name.

On another note, I toured for a while in a bar band (late 70s) playing through a Deluxe Reverb that I'd installed a JBL speaker. I played a Tele and a Les Paul Custom through it and man! Was that a sweet setup. No pedals, just straight into the little guy and a rainbow of tones available through changing up attack and touch.

So there you have the source of my JBL/Fender bias. I can't help but think that as players evolve, they tend toward more skill with the hands and less reliance on effects. Less is more IMHO.

Bump to hear more from your experiences. I'm on the market to change my SR Technology amp which is on repair , and I'm considering going into a whole Fender rig, for the bass side (I tried a Rumble 300 which sounds fantastic on the bass side) and a Blues Junior on the melody side.