Schertler Jam 400 (Natural)

Pros: Most natural sound without modifying my acoustic guitars

Cons: none

The Schertler Jam 400 is the most natural sounding acoustic amp and look's so good my wife allows it to be in the living room. One of the biggest perk's is the Dyn-G P48 pickup. I have 3 high-end guitars that would have each needed pickup's installed, a very costly undertaking not to mention I didn't want to alter my fine acoustic guitars by drilling into them. The Dyn pickup assure's that each guitar will sound natural without the coloration of adding on-board pickups. Michael at Djangobooks was awesome to deal with and is very knowledgeable concerning acoustic amplification. The Dyn pickup has saved me huge bucks!!!.

Submitted by: Shy Boy William Son on 08/30/2015 07:21:28 AM

Pros: Excellent tone, plenty of power, built-in mixer

Cons: Would be nice if it came with the gig bag

I've been playing small venues seriously for over 5 years. I had been using a Bose Compact L1 system and had become dissatisfied with it. It could fill a room nicely but sounded sterile. There is no reverb so it required a separate mixer to really be usable. Recently, I saw one of my friends performing with a Schertler Jam 150. I was amazed at the sound and decided to look into getting one. I was able to play a gig with a 150 and was very impressed. For 90% of the venues I play (wineries, brew pubs, farmers markets) the 150 would do the job nicely, but there are a few larger rooms where a little more power is needed. The Jam 400 is amazing. The quality of the tone and the "warmth" of the sound are better than any small PA or amplifier I've ever heard used by any of my peers that play similar venues to where I perform. I would be very surprised that I would ever play a room where I would need more power. For most of the rooms I play less than half of master volume will be more than enough. Having a high quality mixer integrated in the box is great. It makes set up easy and reduces the amount of stuff I have to haul. That alone is worth the purchase but the true joy is in the sound the Jam 400 delivers. I highly recommend you purchase the gig bag accessory. When you see how nicely the cabinet is finished you are going to want to protect it in transit. It would be nice if a bag was included. Also it would be nice if Schertler offered some kind of stand to lift the 400 off the floor and allow you to tilt it back at an angle. The leg stand attachment they offer to allow you to use the 400 as a monitor has a couple drawbacks in my mind. First there's no protection on the side of the cabinet so if you put it on the floor on its side you will scuff it. Second once you put it on it's side you can't really access the mixer controls very well. I was able to get a generic amplifier stand that does the job, but a custom stand would be better. Stand and bag aside, there's no way to imagine how incredible this system sounds until you hear it. My shows are much better now!

Submitted by: Jeff Zuber on 05/20/2015 02:24:28 PM

Pros: Good power, great sound, great mixer

Cons: compression would be nice, more gain/control on sub out, should come with a gig bag

I have used the Jam 400 for about 18 months (@100 shows), and can't be more happy with it. It has plenty of power, even outdoors, and is very versatile. I do solo shows with just the J400 and a powered sub and everyone says it sounds better than a small PA. Yes, you can sing through this and it sounds great! For bigger venues, it works great as a stage monitor. I plug into the Jam and give a single board feed and control my own sound with the mixer. It sounds great on any acoustic instrument or voice. It does not do as well with electrics, so if you do both, either expect to tweak your input side quite a bit. I use a digital pedal board and it does well. Highly distorted sounds are not it's forte. However, If you are a gigging musician and need a compact rig that sounds better than you can imagine, try one out. One last point is that it really shows the differences between good acoustics. All the subtleness is apparent. You can tell rosewood from mahogany, and a Martin, Taylor or Gibson all have their signature sound rather than one quacky piezo mush for everything. That was my issue playing through club PA's-any guitar sounded about the same-bad. Get a Jam 400. I doubt you will regret it.

Submitted by: Mike Boehmer on 03/19/2015 10:49:16 AM