Ampli Polytone baby brute USA hp 8’’
Vintage collector rare Beauty pour connaisseurs
basse & guitare jazz & plus really nice - small space
75 watts en sortie pour connaisseurs
a seriously good sound for archtop guitar
polytone amps are the best amplifiers for jazz guitar ever made. And this amp, is very loud.
même la strat & tele sonne jazz &
même
le canal saturé est super crunch.
- 2 entrées hi et
low
- 3 modes de brite à dark
- gain + et -
-
distortion
- réglages bass, médiums et aigus
- 1 sortie
main
- 1 sortie casque
- 1 sortie ht parleur
externe
-
reverb hors service !!
En bon état pour son age avec un
peu de poussière
des
années 1980 environ reverb button & cable pas original
le vrai son jazz Georges Benson & Joe
Pass John
Scofield, Attila Zoller
Jim
Hall etc. un régal !
Gibson
ES-175 , ibanez, d’angelico, gretsch,
Benedetto,
Jazz, archtop, super 400
les avis :
Polytones sound so different and so good for jazz ! There are such a large amount of solid state amps but none of them sound quite like a Polytone.
polytone amps are the best amplifiers
for archtop jazz guitar ever made.
It matches perfectly with es 175 and well with an L5.
The Baby Brute is a real find. Those that have them hang onto them. I have one and it is probably the best archtop guitar amp--in particular, the best ES-175 amp--of all of my Polytones.
Well damn does it sound good. I think it gives it character
this
is the black, 8" speaker minibrute so it is very different than
the henriksen, which is super clean and just beautiful sounding. It
is like a pretty girl or something who is well put together and the
Polytone is the girl you party with who doesn't wear makeup and is a
blast to be with.
So i am wondering, what is it that makes
Polytones sound so different and so good for jazz?
There are such a large amount of solid state amps but none of
them sound quite like a Polytone. I know they have an
unconventional setup, things I don't know - I would like to learn
.
And now I am in a quandary...I might have to use the
Polytone for this gig coming up. It is a Jim Hall/Bill Evans tribute
recital and it is in a really nice small space with great
acoustics.
Polytones do have a unique sound, especially older ones (pre sonic-circuit). As other things in life, they seem to be a "happy accident", since they were not designed for guitar (and sound very good with archtops and semis, to my ears). I've seen it attributed to the power amp chips, but I know people who changed the power amps in their Polys and the sound didn't change. The cab/speaker do play a role, and the speaker is an Eminence OEM (not sure if the impedance matters or not). And, of course, the preamp. I have a Polytone preamp pedal that I use with my digital rig - it gets a lot of the Poly vibe but not all of it. I don't have any impulse responses of Polytone cabs, but I hope to have soon and solve the mistery, I bet just the preamp and the cabs get 99% of the sound.
Rio, Your Polytone is Baby Brute and it is from late 70s/early 80s. I have similar amp and I love it too. I bet the secret lies in preamp. I once had a Polytone 102 in which I changed the speaker to Eminence Beta 12A. It still sounded Polytone – or maybe even more Polytone!I have understood that the 'warmth' comes from mosfets, not usual transistors. Mosfets are more tube-like. They just have the relation of bass/mids/highs where it should. They are made to sound like Ampeg Geminis, which where accordion amps originally too. (So I have heard.) Maybe we guitarists just have to thank the accordionists for Polytone!
There are lots of things that go into a
Polytone MiniBrute amp. Cheesy OpAmp chips that aren't too
clean/pristine in the preamp section. A comparatively high power
solid-state power amp (for a class A/B design that is operating in a
small-volume, sealed cabinet . High-compliance CTS speakers (early
MiniBrutes) or Eminence high-compliance speakers (MiniBrutes after
about 1984). Baxandall tone circuitry. Early models had just
treble/bass. Later models had treble/mid/bass.
I
like all of them, but my very favorites are the MiniBrutes with
simple preamp ICs, and CTS speakers. These are mostly the felt
covered ones and the early diamond Tolex ones. Then, again, my blue
Tolex MiniBrute from the 90s also sounds great.
polytone
amps are the best amplifiers for archtop jazz guitar ever made.
It
matches perfectly with es 175 and well with an L5.
there
are some modern replacement that I try such as:
henriksen,
jazzkat, mambo, Aer, Evans, fender jazz king, Schertler, mark jazz
12, roland cube etc
All
sounds great but “cold” compared to the old polytones.
Diamond
cover 80’s CTS are the best, non sonic circuit. I got mine mbII
1981 3 knobs plus reverb and red concentric distortion knob.
Is
JAZZ!!
"better"
in general is not something I can comment on. But there are two
Polytone Minibrutes in my office, and several fine tube amps
downstairs. Where the polytones really prove their worth to me
is with P90s, and variations thereof. A low-cost, yet
impressive Epi Casino sounds best through the MB II, at the lower
volumes I typically practice. Same goes with the old Guild X-50, with
it's P-90 like Franz p/u, and the Silvertone 1427 archtop with
P-13s.
Polytones are fat, warm, slightly compressed, and you play it side by side with an amazing tube amp, are pretty impressive sounding.
The
Baby Brute is a real find. Those that have them hang onto
them. I have one and it is probably the best archtop guitar
amp--in particular, the best ES-175 amp--of all of my
Polytones.
There is something about the one
cubic-foot enclosure and the 4-ohm 8" speaker that just
translates to an incredible sound for an ES-175. (or ES-165, of
course)
I was at a big vintage show once and offered
to buy several Baby Brutes from different guitar sellers. Each guy
said "no way."
the 8” speaker helps to bring out naturally
the midrange 175 sound.
Amen to the Babies. I like the open back a lot, sealed cabs often sound kind of boxy to me. It seems to suit me better than my old MB II did and loves my archtop with floating CC, but my 'bucker semi-hollow Tele also sounds great through it as did my GB10 and even nylon string. And bonus- my wife said "another amp?" followed by "it's so cute!"
New Baby Brute owner here as well. They really
nailed the frequency response of this amp. Other amps I have always
go up on a stand to eliminate boominess, but this little box is just
about perfect for my ES-125.
The Mini Brute has coaxial
knobs. Reverb is one knob. Volume/Distortion is another knob (coax).
Treble/Mid is another knob (coax). Finally, Bass is a knob. Also,
there is a distortion boost switch and the ubiquitous Brite/Dark
switch.
The reverb on Polytone amps is kind of dorky
anyway. Small cabinets/short springs equals boinky reverb, IMO. Brite
I keep in the middle position. Next, I generally use Bass/Treble/Mid
at almost middle/almost middle/middle of range values. Amp volume I
run about at mid-range. With a ES-175, I put the guitar volume at
about nine-o'clock and the tone just below 12 o'clock. (humbucker)
This works well. No feedback with flat wound strings, but I don't sit
particularly close to the amp.
amen Greentone!
I can pay
1000/1200$ for one of them.
Here in europe, it doesn’t
exist.
In Usa, Australia is very very rare.
Lots of them
had been shipped in Japan during the 80’s. (custom orders? who
know..)
Polytone
were homemade non commercial machines. The concept is
unique.
Basically a simple HIFI amp, the secret are the wood
cabin, speaker and preamp.
All the components are solid but
prone to crossover and chips overheat.
Opening and repair one is
pretty easy, just be careful to not touch and breath the sticky
fiberglass insulation... and of course.
They smells bad,
fascinating bad!
I've
been enjoying mine for over a decade...
The weak link in the
early ones is the obsolete LM391 chip.
George Benson is
still using the latest V (15 speaker), johnathan kreisberg is using
IV, Kurt rosenwinkel the II.
Lots of them combine a tube amp
like fender twin or deluxe rev with polytone and blend the stereo
sound.
Do you ever had the V?
In
1974, I saw Joe Pass play at an upstairs nightclub in NYC. He
left with his guitar in one hand and his Polytone in the other. The
next day, I put my Twin Reverb (loaded with JBL's) up for sale. The
day it sold, I went up to 48th Street and bought a Polytone
Mini-Brute (Felt cover). I used that guitar until 1980 without a
single problem. I sold it to finance a bigger amp (I joined a rock
band and needed something "bigger").
My current
Polytone (the 7th Polytone that I have owned and probably the last)
is a 2008 Mini-Brain reissue. I have had it since it was new. Never a
problem.
Polytone's were a great jazz amp
I
bet there are a bunch of us around 60 years of age who went Polytone
after seeing Jim Hall, Herb Ellis, and Joe Pass in the 70s.Gibson ES
175/Mini Brute.
Joe Pass' playing is inspiring, but
the plywood ES-175 doesn't come across best as an acoustic
instrument. Pass' tone is _really_ uninspiring on the Virtuoso albums
from that session. (3 of the 4 albums, I think)
If you heard
him live--i.e., like Jazz Baltica, or listen to the Herb Ellis/Joe
Pass Duo group on the album 7 Com 11--he sounds great (IMO) with the
Polytone/ES-175 rig.
Few people understand it's potential.
As an acoustic guitar player who made the transition to electric and
rock bands after many years of pure acoustic tone, I found the
Polytone to be a cut above most of the other guitar amps out
there.
Actually, I like it so much, that I'm one of
those rare people who thinks tube amps are crap. Tubes burn out,
tubes distort easily, tubes are expensive, tubes make my guitar sound
broken and cheap. The Polytone 103 lets me control my sound. I can
start with a perfect clear sound, use that as my base, and bring in
different effects as needed. I think it would be next to impossible
to find a brand new solid state amp in a guitar store of today that
can compare to this Vintage Beauty.
And this amp, is
very loud. Actually I've been looking for a second Polytone amp
to take advantage of the 360 stereo output. Very hard to find.
So
if you are someone who wants to hear the complexity and friction
between your notes, then this is the amp for you.
My
son and I played a gig last night to a packed room that Springsteen
played years back. It's a big, university gym. We played a Strat (me)
and a Tele (son). We used a straight up Polytone setup: Polytone
MiniBrute II (me), Polytone MiniBrute III with reverb pedal (son),
and a Polytone MiniBrute PA. Reports from musicians in the room were
uniformly praiseworthy.
I often use much more modern equipment.
However, the old Polytone gear will get the job done...every time.
Ampli Polytone mini brute II,
100 watts
en sortie pour connaisseurs
- 2 entrées hi et low
-
3 modes de brite à dark
- gain + et -
- distortion
-
réglages bass, médiums et aigus
- 1 sortie main
-
1 sortie casque
- 1 sortie ht parleur externe
En
super état années 1980 environ
le vrai son jazz
Georges Benson, un régal !