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Evans RE200
This amp has the rare combination of small size/weight with massive 200
watt power and a 10" speaker (all the other amps above have smaller 8"
speakers). If you need tons of volume with a huge sound all in a small
package, this is probably your best bet.
The Evans amps were originally designed for, and by, pedal steel
players. Jazz musicians adopted them because they have a warm, clean
tone and are very well built. They are all hand made by one guy in
North Carolina.
Tonally, the main thing this amp does is add a certain amount of
"color" to the sound. AER, Schertler, and the GypsyKat are a little
purer in the way the reproduce your sound. The Evans is nice because it
can tame just about any type of input...even the rattiest, quacky
sounding piezo pickup will sound fat, thick, and buttery through the
Evans. This tonal warmth does come at a cost though....you loose some
definition. Especially when playing chords. Other acoustic amps are
crisper, but also harsher. The Evans is very warm but a bit "foggy."
However, it really shines at higher volumes. The crisp definition you
get with an AER, Schertler, etc sounds harsher and harsher the louder
you turn up. Those amps sound their best at lower volumes. The Evans is
the opposite...the louder you play the better it sounds. It's thick,
warm tone sounds amazing when you really crank it. It's very hard to
play loud without getting a harsh grating tone....the Evans will keep
it's warmth even at very high volumes!
The Evans would be my top choice for use with a Stimer or any other
magnetic pickup. The color it adds does wonders for the Stimer tone
(which can be overly bright and thin through other amps.) There's a
second input which adds 6db...this input is best for bigtones and other
similar pickups. Bigtones sound fantastic with this amp....again, you
get less definition but A LOT more warmth.
The 10" speaker produces a huge, complex sound that makes the other 8"
equipped amps sound small and overly directional by comparison. Your
sound will propagate much better with this larger speaker, and the low
end response is the best of any amp reviewed here. Also, there's a
collapsible stand that will tilt the amp up at 45 degrees. That really
helps get the sound out as well.
It should be mentioned this amp has only one channel. If you're running
multiple pickups then this amp is not for you. The one channel does
have two inputs and you can use them in tandem. But it's not really
ideal.
One other outstanding feature of this amp is the sheer amount of tonal
control you have. In addition to treble and bass, you have expansion,
buff, depth, and body controls. You can get an amazing amount of tonal
variety from these. I especially like the body control which thickens
the mids in a nice way. The expansion is also nice...it adds very high
frequencies that will give your sound a more "acoustic" vibe. It even
makes a humbucker sound acoustic like. Very cool...
There are two versions of this amp. One is the regular solid state
model. The other is the Hybrid which has a tube preamp. Even though the
solid state doesn't have a tube, it still sounds very, very warm and
tube like. It has more definition, especially when playing chords. the
Hybrid adds the super fat tube sound. It makes your lead lines sound so
nice, but does cloud chords somewhat.
The Evans is a bit heavier then the AER but lighter then a Unico. It's
25 pounds, so it's
easy to carry. Unfortunately it doesn't have the super cool, pocket
laden type gig bags that the AER and Schertler amps have.
I've
definitely gotten
the biggest reaction from gigging with this amp then any other. People
I've played
with for years constantly remarked on how good these amps sound and
begged me to keep using them.
In conclusion, I'd say the Evans is the "tonal insurance" amp. No
matter what, it's always going to sound good and be loud enough. Other
amps may be lighter, smaller, more "acoustic" sounding, or have more
flexibility (more channels, etc). But the Evans will always sound good
in it's own buttery sort of way. But if you tend to play at lower
volumes, then the size and power of this amp may be overkill.
Phil Jones CUB AG-100
AAD
Phil Jones CUB AG-100 with Gig Bag
This is the ultimate micro amp....it's hard to
beat with 100 watts, only 11lbs, and a price under $500. If all you
need is a portable, inexpensive, no frills amp and don't want to
sacrifice tone then this is it. The CUB is really warm, even, with a
full spectrum of
response from deep lows to sparkly highs. It sounded fantastic with the
Stimer....much, much better then an AER compact 60 which is a bit harsh
and mid rangey by comparison. Often with the AER I'm constantly
tweaking the controls to just get a tone that I can live with. However,
with the CUB it sounded great no matter what I did with the tone
controls. You could really use the tone controls to taylor the sound
rather then just find something that's passable.
I've also used an archtop with a humbucker and a bigtone with the
CUB and got better results then with an AER.
I compared the CUB with an Acoustic Image Clarus amp with a Raezers
edge speaker which, IMO, is the benchmark "holy grail" of transistor
jazz amps. The CUB performed very well tonally, a bit more diffuse and
cloudy with less detail. The low end was especially lacking with the
CUB. But overall, the CUB's tone was not too far from Acoustic Image
and at a fraction of the price (the Acoustic Image rig will cost you
around $2000!) and a third the weight (the Acoustic Image w/Raezer's
edge 8" speaker is 32 lbs.) the CUB is a great deal!!
The CUB was somewhat more prone to bass feedback....not too bad though.
The Acoustic Image/RE has the best feedback resistance of any amp.
The biggest issue with the amp is volume. If you're not using a high
output pickup then you probably won't get enough volume. The Stimer
through the CUB produced more then enough output for a pretty loud
restaurant gig. I just had to be conservative with the tone
controls....if you cut too much mids or bass you'll loose a lot of
volume. But since the amp sounds great with a totally flat setting it
wasn't a problem.
This is one area were the AER compact 60 really performs....it's easily
twice as loud as the CUB. But the CUB has a better tone.
One good thing is that the CUB sounds great with the volume on 10. No
distortion or harshness. I've found that if I use some external device
to boost my input gain (like a preamp or volume pedal) then I can
squeeze even more volume out of the amp. The Cub can actually get
pretty
earsplitting if you do this...but you start to run the risk of
distortion.
The CUB only has one channel with a 1/4" input and only has basic tone
controls. There are no effects, but it does have an effects loop if you
want to add them. If you need multichannel functionality, xlr inputs,
or effects then this amp is not for you. It's bare bones, but sounds
great if all you need to do is just plug and play.
The amp comes with a great little gig bag w/shoulder strap and is just
joy to transport. So light, you'd hardly notice it. It's like carrying
a purse!
The Acoustic Image Corus is easily over 2 times as loud as the Unico. I'm afraid to even turn it up halfway!
'm
--Matt
-Stefan
I'm just coming back from a gig at a local jazz club...
I used the Shertler Basik with an AER compact 60, the sound engineer put a good mic in front of my guitar (a Dupont MDC 60) so the amp was just used as a monitor.
What happened was that I was really pleased with the sound for the soundcheck... but for the actual performance it was just too tiny and didn't cut through for leads, people's chatter at bars is really loud man!
It worked great for rhythm and comping but all the dynamics and articulation got lost for solos, it made me feel uncomfortable and I screwed up a good percentage of my playing.
I found the bigtone (which is what i normally use) to be better and much more reliable for lead playing, but... sucks for rhythm in my opinion. Every time I used it I've been forced to do anything but the pompe when accompanying my brother's solos on sax or I would be too loud and too "clacky".
I think it's essential to have two different sounds and/or volume levels for lead and rhythm playing.
So, for the next time we play at that bar (or anywhere else for that matter) I think what's gonna work the best is using the BT (maybe with a little Basik mixed in) for all the solos and then turning it off with a circuit breaker cable and using the Basik by itself for rhythm.
Maybe using an EQ pedal set for less volume and a more suitable rhythm sound with the BT might also work. A volume pedal could be an option as well.
By the way the AER is amazing! I can carry it easily with one hand and I have never needed to crank it to the max even on really, really loud situations (drums, big theather, etc) the sound quality it's pretty good too!
GERONIMO MATEOS GYPSY BRIDGE
WWW.GERONIMOMATEOS.COM
http://www.djambossa.com
New CD out now, "Moonflower"
After 400+ gigs here is what we do in Caravan Gypsy Swing Ensemble with no problems. We each run AKG C1000S mic into the vocal line of a Trace Elliot TA100 acoustic amp. This functions as a glorified stage monitor. We then take the pre-eq line out of the amp to the PA head. The TA100 is the perfect amp for that because it has a notch filter and a 5 band eq for the vocal line so you have a lot of control. It is an expensive rig but I just do not have feedback problems and PURE acoustic tone. I have been able to play in some pubs with thunderous crowd dins with no trouble.
Our other guitarist also did this for a while with a Fender Acoustisonic amp. It proved problematic due to the fact the fender had only 2 tone knobs for the vocal channel and no notch.
I hope this helps!
Chris
Caravan Gypsy Swing Ensemble
www.gypsyswing.com