Scott Henderson Discussion

[guitarplayer]

Hi Scott,
You mentioned that you were going to check out the Marshall mini Jubilee. Have you tried it out yet? Curious to hear your initial impressions as a smaller lightweight amp.
Thanks!

[Scott Henderson]

It should be here in a few days so I'll do a review after I try it out. I've never been totally satisfied with my HRD, especially when playing very soft gigs. Putting in a Heritage 65 speaker really improved the tone, but Fender amps aren't my favorite for high gain. I hope this little Marshall is better.

[Scott Henderson]

I didn't like the mini Jubilee. It has nice tone but it sounds like a practice amp - very small and thin sounding. Perfect for the bedroom but not a gig. I don't like the frequencies my HRD makes on the top end, but it sounds big and fat like a real amp.

I just dropped it off at Suhr - John is going to remove the crunch and lead channels, which is basically what Fender did on the Landau model of the DeVille. Hopefully that'll make it sound better.

[tonetone25]

Scott, do you prefer the Landau hot rod deluxe much more than the stock hot rod deluxe? Wondering if it's worth the money to upgrade...

[Scott Henderson]

I didn't know there was a Landau Deluxe - I thought they only made a Landau DeVille. It doesn't matter - both amps have the same exact circuit and tubes. The only difference is the DeVille has a bigger transformer and two speakers.

I haven't heard the Landau version, but I know that the crunch and lead channels on those amps are worthless, and the signal path goes through them, even when they're turned off. I'm sure the amp sounds better if they're removed. I'll know for sure when I get my Deluxe back from John.

[peter_heijnen]

Scott, is the small sound of the Mini Jubilee not due to the physical size of the cabinet? If it's only the volume that matters to you -instead of size- why not take a small head with a 2x12 or larger sized 1x12? Friedmans Dirty Shirley is a killer amp, the Dirty Shirley Mini is 20 watts.

Btw, i don't think either Fender has a Landau deluxe.

[Scott Henderson]

The size of the cab has nothing to do with it in this case. I plugged the amp into the Heritage 65 speaker in the Deluxe, and it sounded very small compared to the Deluxe using the same speaker. I tried a lot of amps back in September, all of them 25 watts and under - I didn't like a single one, not because they didn't have nice tone, but because they sounded like practice amps. I thought it might be about the size of the cabinet too, but after trying them at home with bigger cabs, I found out that's not the reason.

I think it's about bass - it's the hardest thing for an amp to produce, and it's why most bass amps are over 300 watts. I had to turn the bass knob all the way up on the mini Jubilee to get even close to a real sound, and then the notes got woofy. On my 100 watt Marshall, the bass is never on more than 2. My HRD sounds huge and the bass is off. If there's an exception to 20 watt amps sounding like practice amps, I haven't heard it yet, and I've tried a lot of them.

[tonetone25]

Scott, have you ever tried the Tone King Imperial? That might be an amp you might really like that is lighter than the hot rod deluxe.

[Scott Henderson]

After all the low watt amps I've tried, I won't be trying any more unless they're dropped off on my doorstep. The only amp I'm curious about is the Marshall 40 watt DSL combo. It's the same wattage as the Deluxe. I have my doubts though, because it's basically the same amp as the DSL 100H, made in Vietnam. I had to use one on a rental gear gig and it sounded terrible - now my rider says DSL 100, NO 100H!!! But I still want to try the combo just to satisfy my curiosity.

[peter_heijnen]

Sorry for not using my brain and asking a stupid question. Of course you tried the Mini Jubilee plugged into a bigger cab. You are the one person i ever heard of that even AB's different types and brands of batteries.

[Scott Henderson]

ha ha - yes, I'm a bit obsessed with the A/B process. I should cool out on that and practice more.

[peter_heijnen]

So true, you really should practice more!

Please let us know when you AB'd yourself after heavy practice and after even more practice.

[bluesyland]

Hi Scott!
First of all I want to thanks you for your incredible music along the last three decades! You are my fav musician all the way!
About your searching in a great low end combo amp, I want to ask you if you ever play in a Kendrick Black Gold 35 112 amp?
I have one and had a hot rod deville 212 for years and the kendrick has bigger low end than the HRDv because of the simplicy of the circuit. So the less the components between the PT and OT, the more low end you´ll have in your amp, and purer sound.
I´d put a V type in there in replace of the original speaker and now the low end is great!

[Scott Henderson]

I remember that amp - it's not made anymore, and it doesn't have an FX loop, which I use to control my master volume. I agree though, the less circuitry the better - that's why I'm having the crunch and lead channels removed from my HRD.

[Travis]

Hey Scott!

I hope all is well. I wanted to chime in and agree with you about small iron and small glass making an amp sound, well, small. I've done a lot of work trying to make little amps sound bigger and I've found that physics just doesn't allow it; you gotta have big iron and big glass for big tone.

You also mentioned that Professor Suhr is going to remove the channel switching from your Deluxe and I wanted to suggest two mods that might help you with your complaints about the HRD. I figured I'd post it here because it might be useful to other folks who have used that amp (myself included).

1. Mod the tone stack.
The stock HRD has a Middle control that is connected to the wiper like a Tweed Fender Bassman and changing it to a blackface Super Reverb style variable resistor changes the low mid response to be not quite so boomy and muddy. I think we guitar players generally like that more anyway. Changing the bass cap to .047 and the mid cap to .02 also can tame the excessive bass but just changing the middle control helps a lot with the excessive bass response because the Bass control will work more effectively.

2. Resonance control.
You're probably seen "Resonance" controls on a Peavey amp (they own the patent to the circuit) like a 5150. This control adjusts the bass response of the power amp in conjunction with the Presence control and is particularly useful for playing at quiet volumes when you can't rely on volume to get big tone. It also helps a lot with making a little combo cabinet sound much larger (like a 4x10" or 1x15", 1 x 12", etc.). If you turn the control all the way down, it is effectively out of the circuit if you wish to run it with a larger cabinet. Some amps have a resonance circuit that is internally preset, like a Friedman or a Cameron. My ears tell me that Suhr also has used that circuit in his amps too, but I haven't visually verified that-just a hunch from what I've heard. John could probably talk you into/out of this, but I think it would very, very helpful in getting a bigger tone at lower volumes, and it's not invasive to the existing topography of the amp you enjoy.

Godspeed on the Tone Quest! I'm really curious to see where this amp goes for you!

Ok, time to go play.