anybody tried Lazy J amps

Barney

just wondering how good they are ....i have read a lot of good things, and iff the 20 watt would be loud enuff for a loud band or would i need the 40 watt...they seem fairly expensive for a fender style amp...?

jaygtr

I haven't used one, but I've heard nothing but great things about them.
Last time I heard there is a six month wait to get one though

kelv_w

indeed it is 6 months the last time I inquired. 

digitalkettle

Love and gig regularly with my J20... barely any 'headroom' though! I came across a J40 at the same time I got the J20...but it's a bit loud and clean for me...wondering if I should keep it or not. One thing's for sure: they're fantastic amps!

digitalkettle

Both amps are the fully loaded versions, i.e. reverb, trem, and attenuator on the J20.

bandmaster188

i had a j20h a few years back and although it didn't quite work for me  in the band line up i was in, there is no doubt that it is a first class piece of kit. the problem i had was clean headroom and the fact that my old 73 bandmaster head has just become the amp i love to use.

if you like to use an amp that is already driving then the lazy j does it in bucket loads and the driven tones on j20 are absolutely amazing. a les paul into a lazy j cranked to the max is something to behold. had i been financially flush at the time i would love to have kept hold of it. the j20 is certainly loud enough for most applications so long as you're not after loads of clean headroom.

check out nale colt from vintage trouble smashing it with a j20!!

link is working on my ipad but not on the pc. its vintage trouble run like a river live in basel on you tube. if your're having trouble that is.

http://youtu.be/QJwBRNcmr5s

 

Barney

digitalkettle;8695" said:

Love and gig regularly with my J20... barely any 'headroom' though!



I came across a J40 at the same time I got the J20...but it's a bit loud and clean for me...wondering if I should keep it or not.



One thing's for sure: they're fantastic amps!

You mean you have both..?..I think the 40 watt would be what I would be looking at...I like the clean headroom as well as the drive

digitalkettle

Barney said:

You mean you have both..?..I think the 40 watt would be what I would be looking at...I like the clean headroom as well as the drive

I do...I got lucky on the old forum...a chap was quitting playing and had a barely used J20 and J40. I took a three hour car ride to get one of them...came back with both (and broke)!

Barney

digitalkettle said:

Barney said:

You mean you have both..?..I think the 40 watt would be what I would be looking at...I like the clean headroom as well as the drive

I do...I got lucky on the old forum...a chap was quitting playing and had a barely used J20 and J40. I took a three hour car ride to get one of them...came back with both (and broke)!

cool ...thats the type of thing i would do ....lol...does the J40 still give a good drive sound ...? ...been looking at these for a while now..

digitalkettle

You know what...I just haven't had the opportunity to use the J40 properly. Getting two amps at once was a bit daft as it takes me a while to bring anything into my setup. Yep, it will drive incredibly...but you'd be at club volumes. What blew me away was the really rich (bloomy?) cleans. When I demo'd it, I had a 335 in a largish living room...things got interesting but then ornaments started moving around on their own

@Miserneil uses a J40 and kicks it with a Cruiser and a SHO, iirc...has he made it over from MR? There was a great thread about his J20H/J40 setup on the olde forume which could be lost forever!

Barney

digitalkettle said:

You know what...I just haven't had the opportunity to use the J40 properly. Getting two amps at once was a bit daft as it takes me a while to bring anything into my setup. Yep, it will drive incredibly...but you'd be at club volumes. What blew me away was the really rich (bloomy?) cleans. When I demo'd it, I had a 335 in a largish living room...things got interesting but then ornaments started moving around on their own

Miserneil uses a J40 and kicks it with a Cruiser and a SHO, iirc...has he made it over from MR? There was a great thread about his J20H/J40 setup on the olde forume which could be lost forever!

just sent a PM..:)

kelv_w

i was thinking of the J20 but a bit indulgent for home use -_- 

digitalkettle

kelv_w said:

i was thinking of the J20 but a bit indulgent for home use -_- 

But you can play the 'nice piece of furniture' card...they're purdy

breadfan

kelv_w said:

i was thinking of the J20 but a bit indulgent for home use -_- 

kelv_w said:

i was thinking of the J20 but a bit indulgent for home use -_- 

I do it!

The J20 is every bit as good as the reviews suggest. I mainly use a LP &, as bandmaster188 said above, it sounds incredible. There is very little headroom, especially with humbuckers, but it's hugely responsive to picking & guitar volume controls, so you can get quite clean sounds at high volume (I have used it out of the house too!). 

The J40 is, by all accounts, bloody loud! It could be what you need, though. 

There's a Lazy J Facebook group, you'll find Miserneil on there - I'm sure he'd be willing to help you out. Jesse is also very generous with his time.

IvisonGuitars

digitalkettle said:

You know what...I just haven't had the opportunity to use the J40 properly. Getting two amps at once was a bit daft as it takes me a while to bring anything into my setup. Yep, it will drive incredibly...but you'd be at club volumes. What blew me away was the really rich (bloomy?) cleans. When I demo'd it, I had a 335 in a largish living room...things got interesting but then ornaments started moving around on their own

@Miserneil uses a J40 and kicks it with a Cruiser and a SHO, iirc...has he made it over from MR? There was a great thread about his J20H/J40 setup on the olde forume which could be lost forever!

Hey DigitalKettle! ,

Yes, i'm here! (Great work to all involved in setting this place up by the way!)

I've got a J20H and a J40. They are both STUNNING. I did write a quite lengthy piece on the MR forum, explaining the differences between the two.

I've been gigging both regularly for the last 18 months. I have nothing but great things to say about them and the comments I get from engineers and punters alike is almost worth the price of them alone!

The J20H (is the higher headroom version of the standard J20 (22w instead of 18w I believe) and the J40 is just an ANIMAL!

The only thing I would say that I have to do is choose my gigs carefully for each one - i.e. If i'm doing a smallish pub gig, the J20 is more than enough although there's not a great deal of clean headroom with humbuckers - but then neither was there on the original 5E3 circuit on which these are based. If I'm playing a festival or large stage then the J40 is the way to go.

I'm more than happy to answer any questions you may have or if you are in the area of Worcester, you are more than welcome to come and try mine, I'm a massive fan of these amps and happy to spread the word for Jesse

crunchman

I have the 20.  Stunning amp.  Given how loud the Celestion Blue is, there is more clean headroom than you'd expect from a 5E3 type circuit.

It does make a difference what valve you have in V1.  I have a 12AY7 like the original 5E3 had, but I know Jesse does ship them with 12AX7s sometimes because people like them to break up.  You get more clean headroom with the 12AY7.

digitalkettle

crunchman said:

I have the 20.  Stunning amp.  Given how loud the Celestion Blue is, there is more clean headroom than you'd expect from a 5E3 type circuit.

It does make a difference what valve you have in V1.  I have a 12AY7 like the original 5E3 had, but I know Jesse does ship them with 12AX7s sometimes because people like them to break up.  You get more clean headroom with the 12AY7.

It works great as-is for one of my bands (basic two-geetar blues rock)...I even went to rehearsal without pedals last week...but I may try a 12AY7 at some point. We're a fairly loud pub band and I'm running the volume at 3-4 with the attenuator at 75%.

Barney

miserneil said:

digitalkettle said:

You know what...I just haven't had the opportunity to use the J40 properly. Getting two amps at once was a bit daft as it takes me a while to bring anything into my setup. Yep, it will drive incredibly...but you'd be at club volumes. What blew me away was the really rich (bloomy?) cleans. When I demo'd it, I had a 335 in a largish living room...things got interesting but then ornaments started moving around on their own

@Miserneil uses a J40 and kicks it with a Cruiser and a SHO, iirc...has he made it over from MR? There was a great thread about his J20H/J40 setup on the olde forume which could be lost forever!

Hey DigitalKettle! ,

Yes, i'm here! (Great work to all involved in setting this place up by the way!)

I've got a J20H and a J40. They are both STUNNING. I did write a quite lengthy piece on the MR forum, explaining the differences between the two.

I've been gigging both regularly for the last 18 months. I have nothing but great things to say about them and the comments I get from engineers and punters alike is almost worth the price of them alone!

The J20H (is the higher headroom version of the standard J20 (22w instead of 18w I believe) and the J40 is just an ANIMAL!

The only thing I would say that I have to do is choose my gigs carefully for each one - i.e. If i'm doing a smallish pub gig, the J20 is more than enough although there's not a great deal of clean headroom with humbuckers - but then neither was there on the original 5E3 circuit on which these are based. If I'm playing a festival or large stage then the J40 is the way to go.

I'm more than happy to answer any questions you may have or if you are in the area of Worcester, you are more than welcome to come and try mine, I'm a massive fan of these amps and happy to spread the word for Jesse

 

 

man....all you guys seem to have 2...one would do me..:) do they do the blues /rock thing good as well...i can imagine they do ...and what are they like without pedals do they break up ...im thinking the J40

IvisonGuitars

Barney said:

miserneil said:

digitalkettle said:

You know what...I just haven't had the opportunity to use the J40 properly. Getting two amps at once was a bit daft as it takes me a while to bring anything into my setup. Yep, it will drive incredibly...but you'd be at club volumes. What blew me away was the really rich (bloomy?) cleans. When I demo'd it, I had a 335 in a largish living room...things got interesting but then ornaments started moving around on their own

@Miserneil uses a J40 and kicks it with a Cruiser and a SHO, iirc...has he made it over from MR? There was a great thread about his J20H/J40 setup on the olde forume which could be lost forever!

Hey DigitalKettle! ,

Yes, i'm here! (Great work to all involved in setting this place up by the way!)

I've got a J20H and a J40. They are both STUNNING. I did write a quite lengthy piece on the MR forum, explaining the differences between the two.

I've been gigging both regularly for the last 18 months. I have nothing but great things to say about them and the comments I get from engineers and punters alike is almost worth the price of them alone!

The J20H (is the higher headroom version of the standard J20 (22w instead of 18w I believe) and the J40 is just an ANIMAL!

The only thing I would say that I have to do is choose my gigs carefully for each one - i.e. If i'm doing a smallish pub gig, the J20 is more than enough although there's not a great deal of clean headroom with humbuckers - but then neither was there on the original 5E3 circuit on which these are based. If I'm playing a festival or large stage then the J40 is the way to go.

I'm more than happy to answer any questions you may have or if you are in the area of Worcester, you are more than welcome to come and try mine, I'm a massive fan of these amps and happy to spread the word for Jesse

 

 

man....all you guys seem to have 2...one would do me..:) do they do the blues /rock thing good as well...i can imagine they do ...and what are they like without pedals do they break up ...im thinking the J40

Barney, they are THE amp for blues/rock in my opinion, no question.

The J20 will breakup at home volumes to full gig volume due to the VAC control so is far more versatile that the J40.

If you want the J40 to really start breaking up without pedals, you're going to need some high output pickups and be playing some big rooms with a very sympathetic sound engineer! I'm lucky enough to have been in that situation a lot over the summer and the sound of the cranked J40 with a '57 Junior is something otherworldly! 

If I'm overpowering the rest of the band with it or using a Tele, I goose mine with a Cruiser pedal and a SHO clone. And (whisper this...) I've just put a Dr Z Air break in the back on the lowest attenuation setting and it really helps me to drive it a little more in these situations....but I try not to use it if at all possible. If Jesse was to build a J30 I think it'd be the ultimate amp for me.

downbytheriver

I've been gigging a J20H for two and a half years and I still can't get over how good it is. The Tayden Ace is a tremendous speaker. The 20H with attenuator is the perfect compromise for me - plenty of clean headroom but I can dial the crunch in easily. I do find that I have the tone control set high but that's true when I use my Victoria 20112 as well. Don't hesitate, get on the list.

I almost hesitate to mention what a great guy Jesse is - he is so generous with his time and advice that I am amazed he ever gets anything built.

hotpickups

I can also say that I totally recommend Lazy J amps. I have the J20 and about to install the reverb module you can get (speaking to Jesse about it as we speak). Plenty loud enough and I clean up nicely enough by my guitars volume pot – the old fashioned way All depends on what music you play but it suits my function type covers band covering all genres. 

Don't hold back from calling Jesse he is a great guy to talk to and wants to give you that sound in your head if you know it what it is etc. Just go for it you won't be disappointed I wasn't and I am very wary at spending that kind of money on kit etc.