Polytone Mini-Brute V

Bought new 2006 model. I play mostly straight up jazz. Features:
40 watts RMS active bass, mid, treble controls.
2 separate independent channels:
Ch 1 features the "EDGE"
Master Volume
2 inputs per channel -Hi & Lo gain
Boost/Cut switch per channel
3 spring Hammond Reverb
3 position switch for reverb for Ch 1, Ch 2 or both
Normal / Combine and horn on/off switches
Jacks for Preamp Signal Out and Stereo Footswitch
Remote control of "REVERB" and "EDGE"
Lower rear panel jacks for Ext. Spkr. & Headphones
Heavy Duty 15" speaker plus Horns.
Tough black textured covering & steel mesh grill
Approximate weight 36lbs
20.5"H x 18"W x 12"D

I wish I could give this an eleven rating for sound. It is that good for jazz. I had the luxury of A/B-ing this amp IN MY HOME with my other amps before buying, which include: Evans AE200, Acoustic Image Clarus 2R with Raezer's Edge Twin 8 cab, Ultrasound Pro-100, Fender '57 Twin reissue from the Fender custom shop (hand-wired), Mesa-Boogie Heartbreaker. I spent countless hours with the above-listed amps before I got the Polytone. As soon as I fired it up and plugged in my Ibanez GB-10 jazz archtop, I was BLOWN AWAY. First, let's be clear. For jazz, my Evans AE200 and Clarus 2R/Raezer's Edge are superb sounding amps for jazz. Each has it's unique characteristics. Wtih the Polytone V I didn't know what to expect. I thought that if it sounds good, it won't be any better than any of my other jazz amps but will probably have its own unique sound. Well, I can say without equivocation, the Polytone BLEW THE EVANS and CLARUS 2R w/Raezer's Edge away! Yes, the Poly had it's own sound, which for jazz is incredible. But I am referring to more than just the uniqueness of the sound typical of Polytones. I am primarily referring to the QUALITY of the sound. For jazz, it is far superior to my other jazz amps. If I could "beam you up" and transport to my house, I have no doubt you would be equally blown away. The clarity, the warmth, the sweetness, the fullness, the sheer BEAUTY of the sound was nothing short of breathtaking! This Polytone is the model George Benson uses along for his LIVE shows. For the street price of $699, this full-featured amp is a steal. Again, we can talk about this amp being better than that amp. I decided to purchase the three most sought after jazz amps and A/B them and let me ears be the judge. I had no preconceptions or biases. There was NO competiton. As great as my other amps are, for jazz, the Poly came out so clearly ahead of the others, the sound so beautiful that I was dancing with glee; its sound is that beautiful.

Don't know. I will be keeping my Evans AE200 or my AI Clarus 2R/Raezer's Edge cab as a backup.

Don't know. Hope I never need it. I can say that The Music Zoo, where I purchased the amp, was SUPER to do business with. I bought the amp on a trial basis and could return it if I didn't like it for FULL refund

If you play jazz, take the A/B challenge IN YOUR HOME, where you can spend countless hours comparing the amps to find out which is best for you. It may be something other than a Polytone that works best for you. Just playing the amp in a store is not advised. REMEMBER, I OWN five other great amps, a couple of which many would argue are the best amps for jazz (Evans, AI Clarus/Raezer's Edge). But in my IN HOME test, over countless hours, the Polytone reigned absolutely supreme in every way. THe Ultrasound was disappointing, as was the Fender '57 Twin, believe it or not (sorry tube purists; I also love tube amps, my Mesa Heartbreaker is super for Rock, R&B, Soul, Blues). I hope this review was helpful to those considering purchasing a jazz amp.

1980. made in U.S.A.
140W
I play jazz, fusion, late 60's 70's...
2 chanel (1-volume, treble,bass, distorsion,reverb 2-volume,treble, bass, reverb). Both chanel have brignt, midle dark, and dark options for sound.
It is not much big but it is very heavy, its very good for recordings,club concerts, home practice.

I using gibson les paul custom, gibson l5 and fender stratocaster american and the sound is amazing with all guitars. Very adaptable amp.Have also fender twin reverb but polytone is much lighter in weight but in the sound great, compare with twin reverb. Very loud amp.
Distorsion is also very adaptable.

With this polytone I dont need backup. My polytone is all original and not a single problem whatsoever.

Never dealt with them.

Been playing over 26years. Also palying on fender twin reverb, fender bassman, vox ac30, peavey classic but polytone minibrute V is very practical and have warm, bright, dark, heavy, ...anything you whant sound. If this got stolen, I'd buy another one off of ebay.

I bought this Mini Brute III/IV used with a JBL D140 in 1978 for $150. It's a simple straight foward amp that I use for practice and small gigs. It has a single channel volume, bass and treble and a brite dark switch. I think its rated at 100 watts. I've switched out the JBL to a EV15B which added weight to the total but the bottom seemed to have extended a bit.

I'm playing a 73 Fender P bass with EMG's, Alembic Elan 5 string and a Martin Alternative X acoustic bass. The Martin bass sounds like an acoustic bass thru the polytone with a little ringing from the round wound strings which can be cut by switching to dark. The "B" string sounds surprisingly okay for a little amp. I play jazz, Hawaiian and pop in small group situations. I've never heard this amp distort.

Knock on wood, I've had this amp for 28 years with lots of use the last 3 years and the only problem I've had was the power cord (70'2 drawer handle)holder fell off.

Never had to call them.

For what I paid for this amp, this has been a "12" in value because the JBL D140 was worth that alone. The size, weight(50lbs)with EV 15B, sound and reliability has made this a great little all around amp. I have a Yamaha BT500 head and EVM 15"4 cu ft. For larger gigs I have an Aguilar DB359 and a custom 8 cu ft reflex cabinet with 2 D140's. If this polytone were to die, I would probably get an Aguilar SC112 combo amp.

Year made - late 90's I think. Here's the specs from the website:Mini-Brute V

Extreme versatility in a small lightweight package. Acoustic Reflections - a stereo-like effect.

This amp is perfect for someone that has a nice acoustic guitar and would like the versatility of a switchable tweeter to reproduce those high frequencies !!

140 watts RMS
2 separate independent channels:
Ch. 1 features the "Edge"
MASTER VOLUME
2 Inputs per channel - Hi & Lo Gain
Boost/Cut Switch per channel
3 spring Hammond Reverb
3 position switch for reverb for Ch. 1, Ch 2 or both
Normal/Combine and Horn on/off switches
Jacks for Preamp Signal Out and Stereo Footswitch
Remote control of Reverb and "EDGE"
Lower rear panel jacks for Ext. Spkr & headphone
Available in either 12" or 15" spkr with a switchable horn !!

As a bass player it had several feature I never used. One channel sounded bad.

As a bassist I used a Pedulla 4 string frettless; a 5 string Tobias and an upright with the Polytone Mini Brute V. The sound was "dry" and lifeless. No warmth for my basses at all. The amp didn't handle much low end, the cab would rattle a lot and was noisy. Only one channel sounded halfway decent at all. When playing my 5 string the amp crapped out and from that point constantly made annoying noises that no repair person could fix. The amp was JUNK! I warn everyone to avoid this amp for bass like the plauge. I paid around $850 for it which isn't cheap. I was told the speaker was about as cheap a 15" speaker as one could find. I now play thru a GK Microbass combo and a Mesa Boogie Walkabout Scout both are superior in everyway to the Polytone.

This amp was a lemon from the first month I owned it. It couldn't stand the low B string at moderate sound levels and made irritating noises from that point on. The problem was, it didn't make those sounds all the time so evertime I tried to have it fixed the repair guy could find the problem. In short, the amp was useless on my jobs. It was the only amp where my band members asked I find something else as the hated the sound of it and the extra noises it made.

I couldn't get much support from the California company. The dealer wasn't much help either. Also, there aren't many places I found to get the amp repaired. I can't remember how long the warranty was - a year I think.

I'm a professional bass player for over 20 years. Other players can do better but I do expect the gear I use to be reliable. Being consistent and having good tone is important in the music business which is why I would NEVER recommend Polytone products to anyone. They sound decent for guitar players but there's so much on the market now for bass players. I suggest they look at Gallien-Kreger; Mesa Boogie or Nemesis for great bass amps at reasonable prices.

100watt Solid State amp with closed back and one 10" speaker. Includes: two channels, 3 band EQ on one channel, Bass, Treble and Edge on the second, reverb, tweeter horn for acoustic instruments, headphone out, speaker cab out, effects loop, treble boost and cut switches on each channel, the ability to use both channels at the same time to add more options, Separate volumes for each channel and a master volume. Whew!

This amp is heavier and louder than I expected when I bought it. I've been playing it out in large band situations, in big acoustically unfriendly rooms and I've never had a problem being heard. I will plug into a board to get the sound to the back of the room, but that is simply to improve the sound. I'm sure I could get away with out it if I had to.

One knock on the amp though. The speaker cab out and headphone out are labeled by little stickers that tend to fall of. If you aren't careful and plug a speaker cab into the headphone jack you could damage the amp. It seems that you would take enough care to better label such an important thing.

This amp has everything that I need for about %90 of what I play. I will rate it a 8 however as it can't cover every style, and because of the annoying sticker issue. But what it does it does well.

I play a DeArmond Starfire with original pickups. The thing I love about this amp is its clarity. I can hear all the notes in even the most complex chords, despite playing through the neck pick up with the tone knob rolled down halfway.

I've heard a number of descriptions of "The Polytone Sound," none of those quite fit the sound I get out of my amp. The first one that I hear is that its sound is sterile. I've never understood that. It can sound a bit dry without any reverb at all, but thats why you have reverb...The tone I get is sweet and singing, but clear and pristine. The other comment that I hear is that the polytone sound is dark and moody. This I agree with, but its important to note that this isn't the only sound that you can get. I can get a bright and spanky tone just as easily as a dark tone.

When I first started experimenting with the amp I thought that the "Edge" knob was pretty much useless. However over time I've come to see what it does. It sounds to me like it boosts the high mids (or cuts the low mids) and add a small degree of gain. I've found that if I crank it up and crank up the volume on the second channel then use the master volume to adjust the overall level I can coax a sound out of that channel that is somewhat compressed and just on the edge of breaking up. This is a sound that I like and I can even use it at coffeehouse levels. This is not however distortion or really even what most people would consider overdrive...Its just enough for me though.

I keep thinking that I want to find a smaller amp since this thing is so heavy for coffeehouse gigs, but every amp I've tried lately just doesn't sound good to me. I've been spoiled buy the polytone.

Some people aren't going to like the lack of a biting overdrive but if thats what they are after then they shouldn't have bought a polytone.

I've heard negative stories about Polytone having problems, such as pots going bad, reverb crapping out, blowing preamps, etc. But mine has been solid and faithful through a lot of use. I've only had it for about two years but I've used it constantly and carted it around everywhere I go.

I'll abstain from putting a rating as I haven't had it for a long time. But If I was going to give it a rating It would probably be a 9 or 10.

This is where you might run into trouble. No website. Very little documentation. If mine did break down I'm not sure how I would get it fixed.

But I've never called the number that comes with the amp, so I don't know how the customer support is. I'll leave this one alone.

I've been playing seriously for about 8 years. While I've never own any other professional amps I've played through or borrowed alot of amps. Fenders, Marshalls, Gallien Kruegers, Peaveys, Prime, Vox, Roland, Ampeg...and so on.... Some of those other I liked, but they didn't fit me like the Polytone does. I can't wait to try a Telecaster through the Polytone!

The only thing about this amp thats a pain is the pain that I get in my back form carrying it around. But I'm spoiled. I can't get the sound that I've come to love out of anything else. Also, if you want to play more blues or rock influenced music you will need pedals, or simply a different amp to fit your style. I play clean so it doesn't matter to me.

If this amp fell out of the back of my truck or was abducted by space aliens I would cry and then beg my wife for the money to buy a new one.

2000 model that was $424 shipped used.

This is an update after having the amp for over a year. Seems harmonycentral has added the Bass amp option since last listing. My old review (and many others) are listed under guitar amps. I play bass and seems very few of the reviews for these amps were from bass players. Odd since it's an URB standard. Maybe on some of the other models?

Much has changed in my approach to bass over the last year. I now run pup(s) direct out through the jack(s) into the amp channel(s) with no onboard controls, using the amp controls (used to be all onboard preamps).

The reverb is handy when needed, I've used the headphone jack a little (have a Korg PX4B), tweeter stays off, haven't used the "edge" at all really, speaker out, or preamp out. So in all, I'd say the features are more than what I need. I did remove the grille cause the vibration was distracting and it still vibrated when weather stripped.

The only additional features that come to mind that would be nice would be a useable tweeter and a real manual.

I have 4 basses routed to accept any pup configuration - and I've run a bunch: Rics, MM's, HB's, Singles, actives and passives, whatever. I've also rigged 2 and 3 band onboard preamps as outboards and ran them (Barts, Aguilar, EMGs). But I don't use preamps unless they really enhance the pups.

I also built a test lab cab to hold 6 15" speakers - and bought a bunch of 'em: Altecs, JBLs, Celestions, Klipsch, and others - as well as an Aguilar GS-112 and QSC 1450 to run them.

Bottom line is, nothing that came out of those speakers was a match for the Poly. I got to where I never played the stuff cause I liked the Poly so much better. Jazz, blues, rock, reggae, country, latin, R&B, whatever. Always ended up pulling the plug and firing up the Poly.

There are probably better sounding amps out there - and when I find one, I'll buy it.

Master volume had some scratch in it when I got it and still does. I've played this amp for at least a couple hours every day I've had it. Switched it on and off a million times. No problem yet.

Haven't needed them, and apparently from what I've read - it wouldn't do me much good if I did. I think they have a regional repair in Ashville but most amp guys are familiar with Poly's. 5 here cause I can't really say either way from experience.

The Poly is dependable, small, easily transported, loud, with veratile quality sounds. And that's a hard combo to beat.

I own a 2003 Polytone Mini Brute V which I bought new. Configuration: 15 speaker with tweeter, two channels, headphone jack, effects loop, etc. Many of the reviews found in this space are for older Polytones. One big difference with a newer Polytone is the Edge feature. This replaces the farcical, and much maligned, distortion found on earlier models. Edge gives you bright biting tone designed to cut through a band for leads. Some other features I find useful are as follows:

Blend Channels: You can blend channel one and two, thus augmenting your tonal options exponentially. I put 1 on a bright setting and 2 on dark. The mixture gives a unique signature tone.

Tweeter horn: It can be turned on or off. It works well with my piezo equipped Parker for finger-picked folk or country rhythms.

The amp is rated 100 Watts and has enormous headroom. In fact, I would say that the amp is downright loud, deceptively so in fact. I've played with other guitarist using everything from a Fender Twin to a Laney and this amp more than keeps up. Shocking for a solid state amp this size and weight.

Tones: Vox has shimmer, Marshall has crunch, Fender has bite, Polytone?s signature is a warm, ?dark?, jazzy tone. Instead of using the typical guitar player verbiage, I?ll try a bit of word association to further describe it.

Port wine, sunset through dark stain glass, a smoky East Side cafe, a black tuxedo?

You won?t get that wonderful ?sounds like bacon smells? color most tone-freaks spend a lifetime, and a small fortune, trying to find. (PS: Tone King is your best bet there.) But, the ?amber? tones are dead on. It sounds both hi-fi (think a good Danish stereo system) and lo fi (think of Wes Montgomery bumping on a six.) I am amazed always at how close I cop the sound of those incomparable jazz-guitar albums of the late 50?s early 60?s.

As a rock, country or blues amp the Polytone stands up surprising well. With a Rat I can coax some rather convincing ?hair of the dog? bark from it. With the tweeter engaged I get fairly authentic county twang. We?re not talking ?balls to the wall? HiWatt or a black faced Fender here, but for an amp known primarily for Jazz, the Polytone demonstrates tremendous versatility.

Regrettably, I need to take Polytone to task here. First, there is no web-site for this company in existence. Part of me admires them for staying utterly aloof of modern convention and technology. But from a service standpoint, leaving the customer without web-support borders on archaic. When your Polytone breaks, and it will (more on that later), your only recourse is to call them. They have one office in the Pacific time-zone and one person to answer the phone. She will do her best to deflect your questions and thwart any hope you have of consulting their technical staff. I feel obligated to state that she remains friendly and polite throughout the process, clearly her instructions on how to handle customer request come from management.

I?ve had two things break within a year, static emulating from the tweeter and a malfunctioning pot. I was given an ?auto-mechanic? style run around in both cases. In summation, Polytone did everything they could to try to get out of their contractual obligation, per the warranty. Ultimately, the retail store I bought it from took ownership issue and repaired everything for free. I was without the amp for about a month as a result.

See above.

This amp is one of the great buys on this planet, reliability issues notwithstanding. It is right up there with the Umass Amherst, Honda Civics and hot dogs for value. Six hundred gets a brand new, professional quality amp that possesses one of the great tones in music. If lost or stolen I would purchase a replacement immediately, on credit if need be.

I've used harmony centrals data base extensively so I guess it's time to contribute so here goes. This amp is a couple years old (140 watt 1x15 w/switchable horn). Mint condition. Features as mentioned by others. The headphone jack in located on the lower back panel (so get some extension chord)and be prepared to hear some amp noise through them. For bass and guitar, the horn is pretty useless and increases the hiss of the amp (which is already excessive). Higher frequency tone quality improves without it. Also pretty useless is "the manual." It's one page so don't feel you're missing anything. I will add that the power switch is a toggle for polarity - seems that's stumped a number of people. And don't put active pickups thru the hi-gain input (not expressly stated but implied in "the manual"). The sidemount strap makes the top of the amp a better table but is inconvenient when you just want to plop the amp over a few feet. This amp has a grill face which vibrates at times. The newest amps (as will this one soon) have a speaker grill. I was surprised the amp felt a little heavier than what I'd expected, the bi-amping I suppose. Haven't used it with a band yet but I suspect it would handle an unmic'd drummer and the amp actually sounds louder on seperate channels as opposed to bridged. The Hammond reverb is decent. I give it a 10 here not so much for the features it has but doesn't have, after 20 years, they finally axed the "Polytone distortion."

Use an Ibanez bass with passive pj's and a stock Martin EB-18. Plugged in a cheap Raven ES-335 copy out of curiosity and the amp put out professional sounds clear and simple: warm, fat, and brite. Polytones sound like Polytones. With this model, you have more options being able to combine the EQ's off seperate channels which is further enhanced by the "Edge" but you get the basic sounds from any of their amps. In my opinion, they're not as restrictive in style as is generally percieved as long as we're talking clean. Pre-amps and effects will have to do the rest. The noise I've addressed - have an old Polytone Mini-SB15 and it's not dead silent but it doesn't hiss. Regardless, a 10, I like Polytone sound.

Aside from a Walter Woods, I don't think you could buy a more reliable amp.

No personal experience but any company that keeps "the red knob" for 20 years ain't listening to nobody. Good luck!

Been playing off and on over 30 years. Had a second hand music store selling mostly used guitars, amps, drums. Literally hundreds of guitars and amps of all makes. No two guitars are alike. Amps are pretty consistent given the same components in the same person's hands. I chose this particular Polytone because I wanted to see if a later model Brute was much different. So I got a few bells and whistles. If you don't have access to a polytone to check out, get one off ebay for a couple hundred bucks and go from there. And they're not a hard amp to resale. They're a good sounding, reliable amp. The maim problem I see with them is one of the main reasons people buy them, they're compact, so they don't have the power for bigger gigs. Aside from speaker size, I don't think it would make much difference which Brute you picked up. As for would I buy another Polytone, I already have.

This amp has two channels, each with a 'brite' and 'dark' input; each has a volume control, as well as treble and bass knobs. Channel 1 has a dubious dirty option, while channel 2 has reverb. The amp features two 10" speakers. The dirty channel is more or less pointless, but the other features are fine. I did make the classic rookie mistake of buying it before considering how it would be to cart around - it's heavier and a little more ungainly than other Polytones.

I bought this amp to complete the classic jazz set-up, since I'm playing a Gibson 175. Needless to say, it fits the style just fine. I love the sound I get, since it's the sound I grew up listening to record. However, as I mentioned above, I have no use for the overdrive, so cannot comment on it as I don't use it.

So far, so good - very dependable. No complaints.

N/A

I've been playing for over twenty years; however, for the past five years or so I took a hiatus, and didn't play anything but a Guild acoustic. If anything were to happen to this amp, I'd defintely check into another Polytone amp, although this time one with one 10" speaker instead of two. I've been very pleased with this amplifier.

The Polytone Mini-Brute V is a solid-state combo rated at 140 watts RMS. It comes equipped with two preamps, each with its own volume and e.q. Each preamp is about 70 watts but you can bridge ?em to get the aforementioned 140. It?s also loaded with a 15? speaker and a tweeter horn that can be turned on or off.

Each preamp has high and low inputs as well as cut and boost switches for high frequencies. Like its siblings, it?s covered in black tolex and has a black metal grill on the front. On the back, it?s got jacks for an extension speaker and headphones.

Happily, Polytone made this model without that um, interesting feature they liked to call distortion. It was just a bad scene. It?s been replaced by a feature called ?edge? on the first preamp, which changes the voicing by cutting the mids, boosting the highs and adding a bit of gain. It can be used to pull off a convincing blues tone for the truly earnest.

I bought this amp to use mainly for my jazz boxes and as an occasional backup for the blues gigs I do around town. It?s light and loud enough for small clubs, depending on how loud your bandmates are (Whattaya mean it won?t go to 11??).

Feature-wise, this amp does it for me ?cause I wasn?t looking for much, just that Polytone sound. So, all the other stuff is icing on the cake. I should note that this is a reincarnation of an older Mini-Brute V with considerably different features. I got the amp new in October 2001.

I?m currently in a band that plays blues, funk and rock and the occasional trippy stuff. But every now and then, I like to strap on a jazz box and act like I know what I?m doing. That?s where the Polytone comes in.

This amp is mostly about jazz, no two ways about it. I use it with humbucker-equipped hollow and semi-hollow body guitars. With the hollow bodies, you get that classic warm and articulate sound that Polytone?s known for. Doesn?t matter if the pickups are routed into the top or floating, this amp makes ?em sound good while allowing the instrument?s voice to come through. There are some who think Polytones ?color? the tone of your guitar too much and there might be some merit to that. However, if it?s a cool color, who cares? Besides, show me an amp that doesn?t have its own voice and I?ll show you a pretty boring amp.


As previously mentioned, it can do clean blues but it?ll need pedals to do anything else. I?ve got a fairly simple rig (Dunlop Cry Baby, Boss OD-3 overdrive, Tube Works Real Tube overdrive and a DOD chorus pedal) which works very well with this amp. However, overdrive/distortion pedals lose some low-end through this amp, which is surprising because this amp has a ton of great-sounding bottom when played clean. But with a good pedal, you can achieve decent crunchiness quite easily.

The manual said the Edge feature adds a ?contemporary? voicing and I agree. I?ve owned a couple of other Polytones Mini-Brutes that had only passable tones outside the jazz box realm. But the Mini-Brute?s Edge brings a very cool clean, clear roundness to single-coil pickups. Humbuckers will make it compress slightly (and pleasantly) at settings ?5? and above, but it?ll still be 95 percent clean.

One thing that I really like about this amp is that it sounds great at just about any volume due to a surprisingly well-designed volume/master volume relationship. Also, the e.q.?s for both preamps remain active when they?re bridged which gives you a little extra to work with when you?re trying to coax usable tones outta this thing. Keep in mind, though, that the e.q. of the louder preamp will have the most effect. However, both e.q.?s actually affect the sound (!!!) which helps the amp achieve some versatility and usability quite easily.

As you?d expect, activating the tweeter accentuates the highs out of the amp and can actually add a little bit of Fender shine to your single coils. But it?s most effective when amplifying acoustic guitars, which the Polytone can make sound a little boxy. It sweetens up piezo transducer tones quite nicely without piercing the old eardrums.

Although I use a couple of other amps for my gigs (more about that later), I?ve done blues gigs with this amp a couple of times to see what it could do ? I wasn?t disappointed. It had sufficient volume and coverage. The only downside was as I mentioned: you will need pedals to get some sounds that you?re used to getting from more conventionally voiced amps.

As for sufficiency in volume, this thing works great in smaller clubs. In fact, my band was told to turn down by a club owner once and she was looking straight at me. Can ya think of a better way to validate how obnoxious this thing can get?? If I needed a little more coverage, I could hook up an extension cabinet through the back. I haven?t needed to yet.

I?m not really worried about the Polytone breaking down anytime soon. Of course, shtuff happens but I?ve owned three Polytones over the years and only had a problem with one of them, which was easily (and permanently) fixed. I do have a couple other amps but they?re around more for versatility than for back up.

One caveat I?d add concerns using this thing with extremely hot pickups, like say, EMG 81s. Make sure you use the low-gain input or you?ll fry a preamp connection like I did with a Mini-Brute IV I had a few years ago. Of course, the manual states this plainly, but I?m a guitarist and reading manuals is for normal, intelligent people.

Also, the amp occasionally made some funny burping/farting sounds when first turned on after a couple of weeks of downtime. This will sometimes be accompanied by a weird volume drop. But since I keep it in my basement, I figure that Michigan?s wildly fluctuating humidity is the culprit. Also, Polytone puts their controls on top, which I?ve heard can make your amp more vulnerable to problems with dust and moisture collecting in the pots and jacks. However, the problem hasn?t reoccurred since I pretty much started using it more regularly

I sold my first Polytone to a keyboard player nearly 10 years ago who?s still using it and he wouldn?t sell it back to me. Son of a pup?..!

I called the factory with a few questions a week or so after I got the amp and they were courteous, helpful and friendly. As for warranties, I think it?s a limited lifetime deal.

I bought the Polytone from a small store in Ferndale, Mich. called Professional Gguitar, which describes them pretty well. I?ve been doing business with them for years and they?re extremely conscientious about dealing with their customers. If they ain?t got it and can get it, they will.

I?ve been playing for about 25 years and have blown through a ton of amps. Suffice it to say that out of the 15 or so brands of amps I?ve played through, Polytone is one of the few I come back to.

It?s kinda hard to compare Polytone because there are only a couple of other companies who make comparable products, most of which cost almost twice as much. I?ve heard some pretty good things about Evans amp but their closest distributor is about 200 miles away from me. Besides, I?m completely happy with the Polytone and you know what they say about if it ain?t broke?

My other amps are a Sunn T 50 C 50-watt 1x12 combo and a Reverend Hellhound 40/60 head and 4x10 Reverend cabinet and these are the ones I generally take to gigs. Both of ?em are all tube and very cool in their own way but the Polytone definitely occupies a spot that they cannot and does it quite well.

Would I buy it again?? Yup. But I think the more accurate question here is: ?Would you sell it,? and that?s a definite nope. The only reason I got rid of my other Polytones was to subsidize other amps I bought on my relentless (and occasionally foolish) quest for tone. However, now that I?m a bit older and wiser (I hope!) I realize that I had a good thing with my first Polytone. Again, I couldn?t see it being my only amp but it would certainly do in a pinch. What else can you ask for??