Lazy j 20 owners

dean111music

Hey guys

I should be able to try one out myself on Monday at Chandlers but wanted to get some feedback from owners or people have owned them.

Are they a versitile amp? I'm using humbuckers which are low output pickup. Use volume on guitar to clean up and get gain.

The guy from the shop said it would really suit me.

Does it sound bigger than it looks? The cab project well?

I worry about when turning it up the mids might be too overpowering with humbuckers?

Work well in home with vac, studio and bigger gigs... keep up with drummer using guitar volume clean to dirty then throw in a pedal for more saturation?

JonHosker

Yes to all these. lazy J Cruiser Deuce pedal is amazing with it. I use low output Paul guitar too. Enjoy! Warren aka Wazmeister knows a thing or three about the LJ. Love mine...

dean111music

Nice one. Can it cover a lot of ground? Forward to trying one out. Be nice to hear some more thoughts

richardhomer

Good to see a thread about Lazy J at last!

dean111music

Haha I have read most of the threads before but always nice to start a new one?

IvisonGuitars

Total shite. Don't bother. Don't waste your money. Get a Pignose.

Wazmeister

Mate, Im a HUGE fan as you all knwo, but I dont think they are that versatile. For me, they offer two great settings;

1. Warm (they tend to be darker) cleans with a lovely hint of compression.

2. Those great clipped clean tweed break up sounds.

Not sure if these descriptive words make sense !

dean111music

so they don't cut through the mix that well?

I'm trying 4 amps..

lazy j 20

fender brown deluxe (61)

Hampstead artist 20 combo

and they recommend me trying the mad pro old school 21

then i'll be going to coda at some point to try carr sportsman

sounds like i should cross the lazy j off but i need to try first i guess.

The other amp i'm not sure people are aware of is the Victoria Silver Sonic or the Victoria Regal

IvisonGuitars

dean111music;1116300" said:

so they don't cut through the mix that well?

They cut through a mix like nothing else, they are voiced perfectly. I've used mine in record countless times and every engineer I've worked with has commented on how little EQ the amp needs to sit in the mix. They cut through superbly.

If you are trying those 4 amps, leave the J20 till last as it will make them sound like toys in comparison.

fretfinder

Personally, for gigging purposes I don't think it's the amp for loud cleans as it starts to break up pretty early on in my opinion. They may cut through well in a recording environment, as said above, but it's not the same experience using a J20 unmiced in a loud band playing live.

StuartMac290

Wonderful at what it does, but not particularly versatile - it's a tweed deluxe, albeit an exceptionally good one.

If you're going to Coda try a couple of Louis Electric amps whilst you're there, particularly the Columbia. I've had a J20 and a Sportsman in the past

crunchman

@StuartMac290 - it's very different from Tweed Deluxe.  For one thing it's a lot louder and lot tighter in the low end.

A stock Tweed deluxe has a Jensen P12R which has a sensitivity of 95.0dB whereas the Celestion Blue in a Lazy J is a 100dB (and Celestion are renowned for being conservative).  Just the speaker change will more than treble the volume.  Add in the fact that it has 6L6s to give 20W compared with 12W from a standard Tweed Deluxe then it will be 4 x as loud as a regular Tweed Deluxe.  That does make it a giggable amp.

The Blue does not fart out in the low end like a P12R either.  Add in the fact that 6L6s generally sound a bit tighter than 6V6s you have a much tighter low end that makes the amp far more versatile.  Also, with the GZ34 rectifier there is less sag from the rectifier than you will get with the 5Y3 in a Tweed Deluxe.  I think the Lazy J probably has beefier transformers than a stock Tweed Deluxe as well, which will also contribute to a tighter sound.

It won't give you pristine blackface style cleans un-miced with a loud drummer but at volumes most pubs would let you get away with (if you ever want to get invited back) it will give you glorious warm cleans with a hint of hair when you dig in.  Set like that you get great drive sounds when you boost it with a good overdrive pedal.

Check what the first pre-amp valve is when you try it.  I much prefer it with a 12AY7 and my comments about the glorious cleans are based on that.  I did see one in Chandlers with a 12AX7 which will give a lot more drive, but means that it will have very little clean headroom.

StuartMac290

Yes, I know the differences - I gigged with one for a while - but at the end of the day it's a modded tweed deluxe. A really excellent one, but not the most versatile amp on the planet. It doesn't do sparkly cleans, especially not with hum buckers. It won't give you blackface cleans at all, at any volume. It does very nice rich, warm ones, but that's not perhaps what the op is looking for, given the other amps on his list.

When I ordered mine initially I was told by Phil Harris that I would end up selling every other amp I own because the J20 was all I'd ever need, which was a ludicrous claim. It's a great amp, albeit not my favourite of the modern 5e3 amps, but it is what it is and really not particularly versatile at all.

I think there's a bit of a danger here with claims like that - I've now spoken to two separate dealers who told me about people almost buying used ones in their shop without even trying them and when asked what they thought it would sound like they said they expected sparkly cleans right through to grind and dirt. 

crunchman

There are a lot of different types of "clean" sounds - not just "Blackface".  The Lazy J is different but I love the cleans on it even if they are not the Blackface style that a lot of people think of.  Hiwatt cleans are amazing as well, but they are different again.

It depends what you want, but I find the Lazy J with some good pedals to be incredibly versatile. 

SimpleSimon

Im about to order a J20 but was wondering should i go for the H for the extra headroom? Any 'H' users out there?

Ossyrocks

dean111music said:

so they don't cut through the mix that well?

I'm trying 4 amps..

lazy j 20

fender brown deluxe (61)

Hampstead artist 20 combo

and they recommend me trying the mad pro old school 21

then i'll be going to coda at some point to try carr sportsman

sounds like i should cross the lazy j off but i need to try first i guess.

The other amp i'm not sure people are aware of is the Victoria Silver Sonic or the Victoria Regal

Does Chandlers have a '61 Deluxe? It's not on their website.

Rob.

dean111music

Ossyrocks;1122643" said:

dean111music said:

so they don't cut through the mix that well?

I'm trying 4 amps..

lazy j 20fender brown deluxe (61)Hampstead artist 20 combo

and they recommend me trying the mad pro old school 21

then i'll be going to coda at some point to try carr sportsman

sounds like i should cross the lazy j off but i need to try first i guess.

The other amp i'm not sure people are aware of is the Victoria Silver Sonic or the Victoria Regal





Does Chandlers have a '61 Deluxe? It's not on their website.

Rob.

http://www.chandlerguitars.co.uk/product_Detail.php?ItemID=5377

I've just got Chris @ rift amps to build me one with a spin on the original! Exciting stuff

TheMarlin

Sounded like a regular 5E3 to  me.....

ruoma

I agree that it won't do blackface cleans. I have low output humbuckers aswell and find I have to roll the volume down to about 6 to get nice (a bit more scooped) cleans. But still far from blackface. Another big reason that it won't do blackface cleans is because although really snappy, the attack is still a lot spongier and a bit slower. But what it does give is superbly wonderful dynamics / touch sensitivity, and thàt, combine with more mids, makes it sortof a one trick pony. And the main trick to lessen those mids is to lower your guitar volume. I do find that my tele sounds better through it that my les paul. 

In the end, you sortof have to work the J20 to get the cleans and headroom you want, and for my tastes I would have possibly preferred a bit less mids for my cleans, but if those mids are the reason for the oh so sweet sweet 3D dynamics of those cleans, then that's a trick I'm willing to have a pony for!

JonHosker

Adding an EQ pedal to trim back the mids is an idea which I have tried and like with my J20.
I use an EQD Tone Job pedal...cheap and we'll made. My conclusion after 12 years of searching....the amp is a more important choice of purchase than the guitar!