Sunday, March 2, 2014

The Jazz Guitar Amp And Guitar

By Leticia Jensen


Jazz guitars first appeared in the 1930s because musicians felt the need to amplify the guitar's sound so it can be heard more clearly during a live performance. These guitars has influenced music in the 20th century more than any other instrument. Early guitars were acoustic but lacked the volume necessary to compete with other instrumentation, but by the 40s guitarists began to play semi-acoustic, hollowbody electric guitars and solid body electric guitars combined with a jazz guitar amp.

Probably the most recognisable type of guitars used for this type of music is the archtop. It has a large hollow sound box, magnetic pickups, floating bridge and violin style f shaped sound holes. These guitars are also known as hollow body guitars and have been available to purchase since the 1950s from famous manufacturers.

Jazz guitar involved several playing styles, the most common being blowing, comping and soloing. Blowing refers to improvising over the top of a chord progression with phrases and ornaments. Comping is the playing of extended chords while another musician solos or plays a melody. Walking basslines often have walking basslines and improvisation will make use of modes, scales and arpeggios.

In reality, this type of music can be played successfully on any type of guitar whether acoustic, hollow body or solid body. However, the guitar of choice is often the hollow body archtop. The most popular archtop guitars are made by Epiphone, Gretch, D'Angelico and Stromberg. These guitars enjoyed a resurgence of interest in the 1990s among the jazz guitarists of the day, as well with popular musicians. The archtop is usually made from a solid piece of wood that has been carved into an arch, Spruce is usually the wood of choice for the top and maple for the back.

The beautifully jazzy tone is best produced with a hollowbody archtop, due to its magnetic pickups and hollow body. Although, the desired "warm tone" from these guitars is best combined with a good amplifier that has been designed specifically for this kind of music.

Tube amps are the most popular type of amps but have some limitations. They are very heavy and require more maintenance than solid state amps. They also suffer from noise and cost more. One great alternative are digital modelling modules that can produce any classic tone and can be used on any amplifier. However, purists still prefer the tone of a tube amp.

One of the most popular amps that produce jazzy tones is the superb Roland JC120 Chorus. It was introduced in 1975 and has been used by legendary musicians, such as George Benson, Larry Coryell, Pat Matino and many others. This beautiful amp is the first to have special effects built into it, including delay, reverb and overdrive.

There are also several excellent amps that are manufactured by Fender. These are the Fender Jazzmaster Ultralight Speaker Cabinet combined with Amp Head, Fender Hot Rod Deluxe, Fender King and Fender Blues JR. All of these are a popular jazz guitar amp of choice for those looking for that classic jazzy tone. There are several other excellent amps on the market and it is possible to get the jazzy tone with digital modelling software or hardware and a standard amp, although purists tend to prefer the classic tube amps.




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