Polytone amp ... could be good for steel ?

Ariel Lobos · Post by **Ariel Lobos** » 13 Nov 2012 12:30 pm

Hi, theres a Polytone with 15 speaker ... what you think ?

Jerry Overstreet · Post by **Jerry Overstreet** » 13 Nov 2012 1:04 pm

If you don't mind a suggestion, enter the word Polytone in the forum search function and select electronics for some discussion on these amps.

My own personal view is that they don't have what it takes for me with pedal steel guitar. I can't seem to find a good balance of highs, mids and lows with these amps. This includes a friend's unit which has a replacement JBL 130 speaker....but YMMV.

Jim Cohen · Post by **Jim Cohen** » 13 Nov 2012 2:02 pm

I had one for a few years but never found a tone I liked on it. On the other hand Winnie Winston seemed to like his very much. YMMV.

David Mason · Post by **David Mason** » 13 Nov 2012 2:43 pm

If your signature line is current and you have a PODxt, your best bang-for-the...peso? would probably be some version of a clean power amp and PA (extension) speakers, the POD has all the tone, reverb & effect diddlies you'll need for quite some time. For one stop amping, the newest Roland Cubes are getting a lot of raves. Polytones aren't.... fun, somehow.

P.S.("Electronics" is a better place to post this for more answers)

Daniel McKee · Post by **Daniel McKee** » 13 Nov 2012 3:25 pm

I have one that I use its the polytone minibrute three with 15 inch speaker and its not that bad of a steel amp it actually sounds good.

Bud Angelotti · Post by **Bud Angelotti** » 13 Nov 2012 3:30 pm

I used one for awhile and liked it except it didn't cut through the loud band I got involved with at the time. It had a darker sound which I liked, although I did move on to bigger, better, and brighter things.
You might like it for low volume stuff. Borrow it for awhile if you can.

Ariel Lobos · Post by **Ariel Lobos** » 13 Nov 2012 6:39 pm

Thanks guys, it was a doubt , this amp is excellent for Jazz and Tango style regular guitar , its true that a pod xt or an ampli tube are good and cheaper choice in the studio but im still looking for a vintage Fender twin reverb , and for live performances maybe a steel king or a peavey ....

Jim Bates · Post by **Jim Bates** » 14 Nov 2012 5:20 pm

A good friend of mine who plays steel, guitar and fiddle through his, loves it. He is one the "River Road Boys" Houston area band. His good friend Johnny Gimble uses the Polytone for fiddle and mandolin.

I think they have a good 'mellow' sound and are better for smaller clubs, especially where the amps are miked.

Try one to find out.

Thanx,
Jim

Rich Gibson · Post by **Rich Gibson** » 15 Nov 2012 8:37 am

Ariel bear in mind that polytones are very difficult if not impossible to get serviced even in the US.I'm not sure if they are even still making them.Things may have changed but my experience was that none of the techs i knew could get parts and or where even willing to work on them.Customer service made the cable companies look good.

Jim Cohen · Post by **Jim Cohen** » 15 Nov 2012 8:39 am

That's true. I reached their so-called "tech" one time a few years ago when I needed repair on mine. I think he was in his kitchen at the time. He sounded evasive and told me I should just buy a new one. I told him where he could go.

Jim Bates · Post by **Jim Bates** » 15 Nov 2012 5:10 pm

To add on my above comment - I recently got a schematic for my friend's Polytone from someone in the Forum. I'm sure you could ask, if you need something fixed, and at least find a schematic.

Thanx,
Jim

Ariel Lobos · Post by **Ariel Lobos** » 18 Nov 2012 3:53 pm

Thanks guys, both Jim and Rich , to many reasons to think on other option...but i remenber this sound as one of the best for hollow bodys i ever heard ...

Eric Philippsen · Post by **Eric Philippsen** » 19 Nov 2012 2:52 am

I have 5 Polytones and have bought and sold them throughout my years. In fact, I just used one of the MiniBrute 3's for a six-string jazz gig yesterday. It worked fine.

Polytones are in my opinion kinda' two-trick ponies with jazz guitar being their best application. They are blessedly light in weight.

The MiniBrutes 2 had reverb and a 12" speaker. The 4 had reverb, an obviously bigger cabinet, and a 15" speaker. The 3, being intended for bass, did not have reverb. There was a smaller Baby-Brute with an 8" speaker but, in my opinion, the 8" speaker had it's limitations and certainly didn't work dor gigging.

ALL shared the SAME circuitry except for having a reverb loop or not. You could switch out the power amp modules which sat in the bottom of the cabinet and the same could be done for the preamp modules for the MiniBrute 2 & 4's. Later models had a mid-control but were still basically the same as their older brothers.

Speakers were special design 4-ohm. Nowadays it's not unusual at all to find Mini-Brutes with blown or replaced speakers. The problem is that their replacement speakers are all-too-often 8-ohm ones which do have an impact on the sound of the amp.

Customer Service by Polytone, in a word, sucks. Without exaggeration, easily one of the worst customer service departments of any company i have ever dealt with over,y many decades of having Polytons. Getting an amp serviced is a matter od finding an experienced serviceman who knows them. There's a go-to serviceman here in Indy who has worked on every type of amp there is and has for 30 years. Polytones are no challenge for him.

I'm a steel player, too. I do not use a Polytone for that although many do. It's not that I couldn't or wouldn't. It's just that a NV 400 or a Revelation are my other choices.

Don Drummer · Post by **Don Drummer** » 19 Nov 2012 7:53 am

I used a Mini Brute for several years in a two amp set up. In my case a 2 trick pony as it worked well with my Gibson ES-175. I bought it at the Chelsea guitar shop in NYC for $400.00 in the late '90's.

Brian Adams · Post by **Brian Adams** » 19 Nov 2012 9:28 am

My Polytone experience:

I had a MiniBrute II that I bought from Clint Strong for guitar work. It got stolen out of my house and the insurance company insisted in buying me a new Polytone. About the only dealer I could find was The Music Zoo in NYC. They took my order, then never could get me the amp. Apparently, they are built "to order" in their current location in LA, but they seem to be a fly-by-night operation now.

I called Polytone and some guy there offered to sell me one direct, which I thought was kind of odd, but again he couldn't promise when I would get it. So there were too many red flags waving for my comfort. The insurance company finally just cut me a check for cash. Then a year later my stolen amp (or one identical to it, as I didn't have the serial number) turned up in a local pawn shop, so I bought it!

Brian

Brian Adams · Post by **Brian Adams** » 19 Nov 2012 1:20 pm

Addendum:

There was a second dealer in NYC that purported to to handle Polytone - True Tone Music. True Tone contacted me and said they had received a single MiniBrute II but would not have taken my order for something not in stock.

For the record, I believe The Music Zoo is a good and reputable dealer for guitars and amps in general. I feel they were simply a victim of Polytone's business practices, and in fact they may no longer deal the Polytone line for all I know.

Brian

Len Amaral · Post by **Len Amaral** » 19 Nov 2012 9:42 pm

I had the Model 102 and that had a stero switch with 1-12" speaker and 2-8 inch speakers. Never had a problem with it and I thought it sounded very nice with a 335 type guitar. That was 30 years ago but I used that amp for 15 years or so and it had a nice jazz sound.

The reverb in the amp was terrible and it had some type of wierd tremelo or phase effect that was terrible. I wish the mini brute one was still available as I have some arch top guitars that would a have nice sound through that amp.

Dave Sky · Post by **Dave Sky** » 19 Nov 2012 9:59 pm

I use the Ibanez Wholetone Wt80 which I am told is like the Polytone.
It has a 15 inch speaker and 80 watts. It does not distort with the gain all the way up. It is voiced for jazz guitar. It has clean headroom.

Just saying for those looking for an amp for their arch tops. My jazz box sounds great through it. My lap steel, not so much.

Dave Sky · Post by **Dave Sky** » 19 Nov 2012 9:59 pm

I use the Ibanez Wholetone Wt80 which I am told is like the Polytone.
It has a 15 inch speaker and 80 watts. It does not distort with the gain all the way up. It is voiced for jazz guitar. It has clean headroom.

Just saying for those looking for an amp for their arch tops. My jazz box sounds great through it. My lap steel, not so much.

Jim Cohen · Post by **Jim Cohen** » 19 Nov 2012 10:32 pm

For archtop, I'm using a GK MB200 amp into a single GD Walker cabinet loaded with 1x15" Black Widow speaker. I think it sounds great. I do use an RV-3 stomp box too, to add a touch of reverb.

Post by **Dave Mudgett** » 20 Nov 2012 6:01 am

I've played a few of these over the years and when I ran a guitar shop, there were a few of these that guys I knew always seemed to be schlepping in to get our tech to fix. Suffice to say, they broke down a lot and IMO, these amps are not worth the cost of the replacement parts and labor to fix them. Most of the guys that owned them agreed after they were quoted a reasonable repair cost, and thus they sat back there on the bench until we finally forced them to come get 'em.

I know some jazz guitar heavies have used these, and they no doubt work fine in that specific context. But I always thought they sounded very boxy for anything else. I think there are much, much better alternatives in a true high-headroom, ultra-light amp with plenty of controls and flexibility. For example, I played an Acoustic Image Clarus that a jazz guitar player friend had several years back. It was just a few pounds in a padded case and was clear and loud as a bell. The current version is 600 watts and has digital effects built in. It blows away any Polytone I've ever heard, to my ears.

Eric Philippsen · Post by **Eric Philippsen** » 20 Nov 2012 7:55 am

As a tag to Dave's post.....

For most of my 6-string jazz work I use an Acoustic Image with a Raezer's Edge cabinet. As Dave mentions, it pretty much blows away anything else and I've owned all the other rigs at one time or another. Once you try that setup, well, that's pretty much it.

However, sometimes I'm lazy and I just grab the 175 in one hand and a Polytone in the other and off I go to the job. Tune up, plug the amp in, turn it on and I'm playing. Like 2 minutes, tops. The sound of the 175 through that amp is pretty good and I always take the Polytone to rehearsals. Hey, I'm certainly not making any claim to being like them, but if Herb Ellis and Joe Pass gigged for years with a Polytone then.......

But taking a Polytone to a gig is a laziness thing on my part. 9 our of 10 gigs I'll take the AI+RE setup. No comparison.

Just as background, my gigging is pretty much equally divided between 6-string jazz gigs and steel guitar playing.

Michael Pierce · Post by **Michael Pierce** » 20 Nov 2012 8:10 am

Realize we're off topic a bit, but another vote for the Acoustic Image. I use a Clarus with a Rick Johnson 10" cabinet; sounds great with archtops, although it adds very little color of its own (people who don't like it say it's like playing through a PA). I also bought a Polytone Mini-brute IV a few weeks ago off of this forum, and am really enjoying it. The 15" speaker really brings out a mellow jazz sound. Heard good things about the Ibanez Wholetone as well.

George Rout · Post by **George Rout** » 20 Nov 2012 1:19 pm

Re Polytone amps, note that Murch Music in Cambridge, Ontario is a rep for them. Here is a link to their catalogue:

http://www.murchmusic.com/polytone.htm

Geo

Michael Lee Allen · Post by **Michael Lee Allen** » 20 Nov 2012 3:52 pm

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