Mandolin Cafe
Feb-20-2018, 8:24am
Quick report about a new amp I obtained recently and am sort of over the moon about. But first, for probably 25 years I've been toting a 2 1/2' tall Trace Elliot amp to gigs, hefting it in the back of my car, wheeling it in and out of the house on a little two-wheeler cart. I hate schlepping gear but that thing was a monster and served me well. Not sure what it weights but easily 35 lbs I'd think.
I became intrigued with Schertler products a long time ago and, caveat--they advertise on this site--so take that as you may. You'll notice I rarely make posts like this. So it had become time to scale down in weight but I didn't want to give up the big sound the Trace Eliot provided. All the guys I was playing with had amps 1/5 the size. Settled sight unseen on Schertler's small GIULIA Y amp. There's a reason they're known for their superb quality and I got wind gypsy jazz cats in Europe were using this one for club dates. Good enough for them, good enough for a mandolin player I thought.
My setup for this is I have an ancient (but wonderful sounding) AKG C406 microphone and a custom-made rig that mounts over the tailpiece and extends the mic up towards the treble F-hole on my Nugget. There, I have a real acoustic sound, lots of control and all the volume I could ever need for 99% of the gigs I play, usually small outdoor events, weddings, clubs, etc.
Here's what that custom mount attachment looks like and I've been talking about this (https://www.mandolincafe.com/archives/akg.html) on the Cafe since 1996, one of the oldest single pages on the site.
https://www.mandolincafe.com/images/mic.jpg
Here's the amp, picture taken from the Schertler web site:
165190
What I like about this amp, why I'm posting this:
It's small, compact, and comparably light compared to what I had.
Affordable, in my opinion
Great sound, particularly warm mid tones... I want a mandolin that still sounds like an acoustic mandolin when amplified. This allows my Nugget to sound exactly the way I hear it, only amplified.
Simple to use--I'm not necessarily an electronics/P.A. geek so this really works for me.
And, well, it looks great, also my opinion. A local amp guy at a gig this weekend flipped over it. Said one of the best crafted cabinets he'd ever seen.
So there's also another reason I'm posting this. I was so impressed by it that I asked the rep Drago at the NAMM Show if they'd consider doing one as a giveaway. They were enthusiastic and said yes, and a version of this in black is sitting in the Cafe office this moment, so after we finish this Collings MT2 giveaway this will probably be next.
I know there are a lot of great small amps out there and the technology has really advanced. This post is not to suggest anything other than how pleased I am with my purchase, that's all. Lots of good gear to be had.
Link to all the specs, questions you may have (https://www.schertler.com/en_US/shop/amplifiers/giulia-y).
Taking an eyeball approach, I'd say the face is 1' x 1' and about 9" deep.
I became intrigued with Schertler products a long time ago and, caveat--they advertise on this site--so take that as you may. You'll notice I rarely make posts like this. So it had become time to scale down in weight but I didn't want to give up the big sound the Trace Eliot provided. All the guys I was playing with had amps 1/5 the size. Settled sight unseen on Schertler's small GIULIA Y amp. There's a reason they're known for their superb quality and I got wind gypsy jazz cats in Europe were using this one for club dates. Good enough for them, good enough for a mandolin player I thought.
My setup for this is I have an ancient (but wonderful sounding) AKG C406 microphone and a custom-made rig that mounts over the tailpiece and extends the mic up towards the treble F-hole on my Nugget. There, I have a real acoustic sound, lots of control and all the volume I could ever need for 99% of the gigs I play, usually small outdoor events, weddings, clubs, etc.
Here's what that custom mount attachment looks like and I've been talking about this (https://www.mandolincafe.com/archives/akg.html) on the Cafe since 1996, one of the oldest single pages on the site.
https://www.mandolincafe.com/images/mic.jpg
Here's the amp, picture taken from the Schertler web site:
165190
What I like about this amp, why I'm posting this:
It's small, compact, and comparably light compared to what I had.
Affordable, in my opinion
Great sound, particularly warm mid tones... I want a mandolin that still sounds like an acoustic mandolin when amplified. This allows my Nugget to sound exactly the way I hear it, only amplified.
Simple to use--I'm not necessarily an electronics/P.A. geek so this really works for me.
And, well, it looks great, also my opinion. A local amp guy at a gig this weekend flipped over it. Said one of the best crafted cabinets he'd ever seen.
So there's also another reason I'm posting this. I was so impressed by it that I asked the rep Drago at the NAMM Show if they'd consider doing one as a giveaway. They were enthusiastic and said yes, and a version of this in black is sitting in the Cafe office this moment, so after we finish this Collings MT2 giveaway this will probably be next.
I know there are a lot of great small amps out there and the technology has really advanced. This post is not to suggest anything other than how pleased I am with my purchase, that's all. Lots of good gear to be had.
Link to all the specs, questions you may have (https://www.schertler.com/en_US/shop/amplifiers/giulia-y).
Taking an eyeball approach, I'd say the face is 1' x 1' and about 9" deep.