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tjalla · November 4th, 2007, 11:07 AM

Ok, so I've had the Juke for a good month now.

So far sounding pretty good, tho outta the box the stock speakers were pretty stiff. Ran pink noise + 60hz through them (generated from a garageband plugin) for a good 8 hours over 2 days, smoothed things up some, but I decided the smooth cone 10" wasn't my taste once the amp was cooking. It did have nice character, however, at medium volumes (clean).

I did a few low volume gigs on the stock configuration, then changed the speakers to ones I had lying around - 2x Weber 10A125 and 1x Weber 12A150. These speakers have seen more gigging use, and are have bigger magnets/voice coils that the stocks, which was a Juke's customised Weber P12Q/P10SS/P10R

Sooo... my webers gave the amp smoother breakup when pushed, perhaps sacrificing a bit of liveliness/complexity in the mids/treble at lower, cleaner volumes, but overall a better breakup when pushed. I've yet to *really* crank it on a gig, but will get to this coming Tues night.

Last week I brought it round to a friend's place to test next to my trusty Tone King Comet and his Cornell Tweed Twin clone. My consensus? The Juke is a good sounding amp, but not good enough to 100% replace the
Tone King

- they both do very different things. The juke definitely has more attack and snap, less compression - which is what i wanted in the first place - but the Tone King's overdrive when pushed is still sooooo damn sweet and "together". The Juke's breakup right now seems coarser by comparison and needed a clean boost to get hairy even when turned up full (Fred Stuart Blackguard pickup, so that's kinda low output). The TK seemed to cut through more too, despite the added compression from its 6V6s. That said, the Tone King's had 4 + years of solid gigging, so it nicely broken in, plus its running ceramic speakers, as opposed to the all-alnico setup in the Juke.

On the flip side, the Juke definitely likes pedals better - especially with the extensive eq options (essestially a 5band eq onboard) there's a wider range of sounds to be had, and to tweak according to different pedals (and guitars).

The fabled pitch-shifting Magnatone vibrato is actually quite subtle as is the bias-vary trem, even when combined. Only at its max settings does it get a little wacky but overall this section is voice very tastefully - its not out to knock you off your feet, its quite a mature, classy effect. The 3knob "hall" reverb is interesting too. Again, taste and class in spades. Not in-your-face like a Fender "boing" tank will do. Like the vib/trem, i can actually use it on higher settings and its still musical.

That said, the Juke doesn't do what the TK does, so even tho I can't really afford to, i've decided to hang onto both, and that's one heckuva expensive lesson learnt. Sadly, my 52RI is up on the chopping block to finance the Juke's credit card bill. I definitely didn't plan on keeping both, but they are equally excellent amps fulfulling very different roles. Can't wait to do a gig that'll justify a stereo setup

I'm flat out between now and Tues, but I'll try to arrange to get the upcoming gig on video, and put it up on youtube or something.

November 4th, 2007, 11:07 AM	#4 (permalink)
tjalla Friend of Leo's Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: Perth, Western Australia Posts: 2,466 7 Photos	Amp review... Ok, so I've had the Juke for a good month now. So far sounding pretty good, tho outta the box the stock speakers were pretty stiff. Ran pink noise + 60hz through them (generated from a garageband plugin) for a good 8 hours over 2 days, smoothed things up some, but I decided the smooth cone 10" wasn't my taste once the amp was cooking. It did have nice character, however, at medium volumes (clean). I did a few low volume gigs on the stock configuration, then changed the speakers to ones I had lying around - 2x Weber 10A125 and 1x Weber 12A150. These speakers have seen more gigging use, and are have bigger magnets/voice coils that the stocks, which was a Juke's customised Weber P12Q/P10SS/P10R Sooo... my webers gave the amp smoother breakup when pushed, perhaps sacrificing a bit of liveliness/complexity in the mids/treble at lower, cleaner volumes, but overall a better breakup when pushed. I've yet to really crank it on a gig, but will get to this coming Tues night. Last week I brought it round to a friend's place to test next to my trusty Tone King Comet and his Cornell Tweed Twin clone. My consensus? The Juke is a good sounding amp, but not good enough to 100% replace the Tone King - they both do very different things. The juke definitely has more attack and snap, less compression - which is what i wanted in the first place - but the Tone King's overdrive when pushed is still sooooo damn sweet and "together". The Juke's breakup right now seems coarser by comparison and needed a clean boost to get hairy even when turned up full (Fred Stuart Blackguard pickup, so that's kinda low output). The TK seemed to cut through more too, despite the added compression from its 6V6s. That said, the Tone King's had 4 + years of solid gigging, so it nicely broken in, plus its running ceramic speakers, as opposed to the all-alnico setup in the Juke. On the flip side, the Juke definitely likes pedals better - especially with the extensive eq options (essestially a 5band eq onboard) there's a wider range of sounds to be had, and to tweak according to different pedals (and guitars). The fabled pitch-shifting Magnatone vibrato is actually quite subtle as is the bias-vary trem, even when combined. Only at its max settings does it get a little wacky but overall this section is voice very tastefully - its not out to knock you off your feet, its quite a mature, classy effect. The 3knob "hall" reverb is interesting too. Again, taste and class in spades. Not in-your-face like a Fender "boing" tank will do. Like the vib/trem, i can actually use it on higher settings and its still musical. That said, the Juke doesn't do what the TK does, so even tho I can't really afford to, i've decided to hang onto both, and that's one heckuva expensive lesson learnt. Sadly, my 52RI is up on the chopping block to finance the Juke's credit card bill. I definitely didn't plan on keeping both, but they are equally excellent amps fulfulling very different roles. Can't wait to do a gig that'll justify a stereo setup I'm flat out between now and Tues, but I'll try to arrange to get the upcoming gig on video, and put it up on youtube or something.