Amp Settings from Fellow Jazz Guitarists

From Nate Najar

Clarus (original, no reverb) is the most transparent of all the amplifiers. Easy to dial in a good sound, and doesn't have the midrange of polytone. Problem here is you can't really dial it in if you want it, the mid control on the clarus sounds like it's centered on a higher frequency, more of a "hi mid" control.

Polytone MiniBrain is a very good sounding amplifier (now that I got a decent speaker cable) but the least favorite of all three. Does have headroom, good reverb and a nice mellow tone, but has the least midrange of the three amplifiers and with the absence of a mid range control, it's very difficult to dial it in. Great amplifier for solo guitar playing to get a full sound (this is a big sounding amp) but it's hard to make it "cut." If you work the dials wrong you can get a real twangy sound.

Polytone MegaBrain (pre sonic circuit model) this is my favorite of the bunch. Sounds very similar to the other two, except it has the midrange honk polytone has that we all try to get rid of. The nice thing is that you can get rid of it, or introduce a bit into the sound. That midrange really does help the sound cut through. Reverb sounds good, headroom good, although not as good as that of the clarus.

For those of you keeping track at home, I tested these through a polytone 15" extension cabinet with a guild x-700 and george l's guitar cord. The speaker cable for the polytone was a pro co 14 guage speaker wire and the clarus used the stock (i think it's also 14 guage) wire with the speakon on it from acoustic image.

Nate - www.natenajar.com

From Rich Raezer ...here's my rig with my favorite settings at this time. guitar: 1973 gibson howard roberts custom. amp: acoustic image clarus. speaker cabinet: raezer's edge stealth 12. reverb: boss rv-3. settings: guitar volume all the way up.[standard gibson pickup]. clarus: all controls at 12 o'clock. reverb: balance 9:30 o'clock. tone 12 o'clock. r-time 10 o'clock. mode # 11. i just wanted to share this because i think this new reverb sounds great. or it could be my strong cold medicine kicking in. have fun and happy holidays to all!

Raezer's Edge Stealth 12, Clarus Acoustic Image, Boss RV-3

From Jimmy Bruno - jimmybruno.com ...the new tower (Raexer's Edge Twin 8 Tower ) is with me all the time. It's small, plenty of power and sounds great. I used a clarus with everything set on 12 o'clock. The volume pot on the guitar was a little under wide open.  tone control was wide open. I used a Boss digital reverb pedal, I used setting 11 with the balance just barely on and al other knobs where at 12 o'clock

Raezer's Edge New Twin 8 Tower, Clarus Acoustic Image, Boss RV-3

From Jack A Zucker - NanoVerb Settings with Raezer Edge Cabinets
Input: 2 O'Clock
Mix: between 9 and 10 O'Clock
output: 3 O'Clock
Effect: Plate #3
Adjust: between 12 and 1 O'Clock

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