Double Bass Polytone

[Chris Fitzgerald]

I've had an old mini Brute 12" for years, and it's a solid little amp. To me, Polytones always sound very colored. Sometimes it's a pleasing color, but whenever I would A/B the Polytone against a serious amp like the Clarus or iamp800 through EA speakers it sounds bloated, undefined, and boxy by comparison.

 

[anonymous0726]

In its day the Polytone was great, but that day passed. I had a 15" and a 12" and the day the GK MB200 came out was the day the Polytone went to a student...

 

[Paul Warburton]

I have a 10" polytone I bought from Johnny Smith in 1976. I used it under every circumstance including Concerts in San Francisco with the 17 piece Full Faith and Credit big band doing those Miles/Gil Evans charts (Porgy and Bess etc) Just amazing!

 

[anonymous0726]

I never played through a 10".

I play with a lot of guitar players that use the Polytone. For the traditional 'big box' (L5, Super 400, etc.) sound they seem to do quite well. It doesn't seem to sound as good for the 335 and solid-body types.

 

[Al Smith]

so... uh... which pickup might be a good match to the Polytone?

 

[anonymous0726]

I'd say that the best results are more a match of the pickup to your sound and your bass.

I'm really excited about the FullCircle. I've heard a lot of good and heard and played them on other people's basses and really liked them.

 

[Paul Warburton]

so... uh... which pickup might be a good match to the Polytone?

I use an Underwood on my five string Bohmann and go through a Mini-Brute 12incher. I chose the Underwood because having the two transducer pick-up helps cover the G side and the low B side.
But, as Ray said, you should be more concerned with matching the pick-up to the bass rather than the pick-up to the amp.

 

[Marcus Johnson]

I'd say that the best results are more a match of the pickup to your sound and your bass.

I'm really excited about the FullCircle. I've heard a lot of good and heard and played them on other people's basses and really liked them.

Ray, you probably know this already, but BLOB-O'BRAINSPLATTER has a Full Circle for sale in the classifieds.

 

[anonymous0726]

I know. It's eating me alive, too, cuz I'm dying to get one. The problem is that I need a whole new bridge to install one properly and can't afford it right now...

 

[gusgroove]

I found this PT amp on a swedish website. It's up for quite a good price, but it would be nice to know what it is!

I've got one exacly like it but with considerably less road rash. The red knob pulls out for distortion (actually a guitar amp). Mine's a '77 Mini Brute II and I replaced the cheesy foam grill cloth with a metal screen just like that one.

They ruled in there day. I still use it when I'm lazy, really middy though, especially with EB. I was using a Barcus Berry PU and a wireless that added some (presumably inadvertant) compression and low eq boost which improved the overal Hz response on UB back in the '70s. (7/15/04) I blew it up the other day! It's in the shop and then up for sale. What are the worth?