Joyo BanTamP Bluejay

Jeg har købt to Joyo Bantamp modeller. En Bluejay og en Tweedy. De får samme skriv med på vejen da der er en bagtanke med købet af netop de to. Sammen.

De er mest købt til skæg og ballade derhjemme, til at indstille min multieffekt uden for øvelokalet eller live, til indspilninger og som et hypertransportabelt alternativ til mine to Peavey Classic 30 eller to Rivera M60 forstærkere. Og endelig med tanke på jobs hvor man ikke spiller højt.

Men før noget andet:
- De ér billige.
- De ér hybride, med kun ét rør i indgangstrinet og med en transistorforstærker i udgangstrinet (hvilket gør de bl.a. mangler den varme overstyring et presset EL34 eller 6L6 udgangstrin giver)
- De ér ikke specielt kraftige, men man får virkelig meget rimelig god og absolut anvendelig lyd for pengene. Ikke mindst som platform for pedaler/multieffekt.

De to modeller har hver deres styrker og begrænsninger. Men har man netop de to og bruger man dem sammen, hvor den ene fungere som slave for den anden, så har man mulighed for et stereo setup, med mange mulige klangmuligheder.

Selv har jeg en GX-100 multieffekt, hvor jeg bruger loopet sammen med loopet i forstærkerne i et 4 cable (eller rettere 5 cable setup (da jeg spiller i stereo). Der kommer fleksibiliteten ind i billedet ved at have to forskellige modeller.

Bluejay er den af de to der kan spille højest og stadig rent. Plus den har en brightness switch der er ret anvendelig for mig da Pick Up'erne på min temmelig ombyggede Stratenstein guitar er lidt kraftige og mindre klare end en klassisk fender alnico PU.
Tweedy har et generelt lidt mere varmt udtryk, men den "breaker" længe før Bluejay'en. Dertil har den to kanaler en "ren" (der hurtigt får lidt kant) og en crunch, der er god til netop dét, crunch.

Begge er glimrende pedal platforme, f.eks. med en GX-100 som jeg har.

Jeg har på den måde fået en mulighed for et stereo setup hvor jeg kan enten dyrke en rimelig approximering af den klassiske rene Blackface Fender klang med Bluejay som primær forstærker og en rimelig approximering af den varme crunchy tone fra en klassisk 57'er Fender Tweed forstærker med Tweedy som den primære forstærker.

Jeg har giver 4 stjerner overall, fordi en Bantamp har indlysende begrænsninger, men var der en pris/ydelse kategori, ville jeg give dem 5 stjerner.

p.s. En sær forskel uden den store betydning (for mig) på de to. Effect Return signalet kommer retur før master volumen på en Bluejay, hvor signalet kommer efter på en Tweedy.

The stock 12AX7 is not sounding the best in this amp! It made it sound too linear and rigid when trying to play dynamicaly. However I did try a few other 12AX7 brands and they too sounded too rigid somehow. Then I put in a EHX 12AY7 which is a tube with less gain than the 12AX7, and all the lovely overtones and dynamics was there! What a glorious F-style tone! Here is me demoing the 12AY7 in this Bluejay amp https://youtu.be/8cLtyTyuQAk?si=Ys47OYaaRzuWzzS4

When writing this, Bluejay has been my go-to home practice amp combined with a Harley Benton 212 vertical cab (original Celestion V30 speakers still inside, yet...) for about a year and a half. This little wonderbox packs a punch.

One channel with Normal or Bright voicing under a switch. Controls: Gain, Tone, Volume - couldn't get much simpler than that. Preamp has one 12AX7 tube, the power section being solid state. FX loop on the back. Includes Bluetooth connection for jamming with your favourite tunes - haven't tested, so can't comment. Robust metal housing, external transformer. (A slight minus for me, but saves the space, so...)

The sound: totally believable blues rock machine on its own and even surprisingly loud. You get the soft tube characteristics from the preamp, so I'd say the hybrid technology works here very well. Although tone stack may seem limited at first because of one control knob only, in action it gives you wide range of tones, all usable IMO. (Ive mainly used normal voicing, though - bright just doesn't do it for me.) To my ears the sound profile sounds a bit scooped in the mids, in the way of Fender style amps.

On its own it's not a gain monster, but hell yeah its an excellent pedal platform! Set this to slight breakup and drive your favourite fuzz or distortion in it, and the world melts appropriately. I have been very surprised to see that this small box has become my go-to Doom head in home practice.

Snobs will scoff, but ignore them. Good gear is good gear. This may look like a lunchbox plastic toy, but looks deceive. With the price of a lower moderate range pedal you can get a 20W head with this sound - it's a no brainer to have as an practice / home studio amp. One star out for small things: working but non-tweakable tone section, futile Bluetooth gimmick (subjective, I know) and no footswitch jack (I'd like to select between Normal and Bright modes by foot, however little I have use of the Bright setting), and somewhat fragile solution of wall wart instead of internal transformer (this being less of a hassle if you're not going to gig with it). 4 stars as an amp head in general, 5 stars with this price tag.

Combined this one with a Harley Benton G212 vintage vertical cab. The package is quite potent.

I use this at home for practice and experimentation with various pedals. It seems quite pedal-friendly, but testing is always a good idea before goind live. The FX loop is a very nice feature, often missing from much costlier amps. It offers only a single channel, compared to other Bantamps, but I like the simplicity compared to modelers.

You can annoy your neighbours if you use all its power, but it's not necessary if you want to enjoy it for home use. The 2*12 cabin pushes lots of air with it, despite the small official wattage.

I haven't used the Bluetooth connectivity yet, so I cannot comment on it.

It's a very light head, and I don't know if it can take much physical abuse in concerts, if you want to play live outdoors it may be a good idea to have a second head as a spare.
It's so cheap and light that you can easily get a pair (or even another Bantamp, for variety).
(note: a speaker cable is included in the package, but I bought a separate one anyway)