Fender Jazz King Amp...

[guildman63]

In an effort to find a nice solid state amp for jazz that is reliable I recently purchased a Fender Jazz King amp without ever having played one, and basically without ever having even heard a demo. There is virtually no information online about them, and in checking Ebay there is only mention of one in the last three months that sold for $625 with $60 for shipping. I just received the amp, and aside from a slight rattle with a couple of notes on the low E string as I turn the volume up it sounds really good. A thorough inspection in the next week should clarify that.

My questions are the following:

1. Through what years was this amp model manufactured? It says Corona, CA inside the cab, but I don't know what years Fender amps were manufactured in Corona.
2. How many of these amps were every made? I have yet to find any real information online about them, and every site that lists them for sale in search results states they are no longer available inside the web site.
3. What kind of speaker is in this amp? In looking at the speaker in the amp I got it says absolutely nothing that I can see, although I haven't put a flashlight in it for closer inspection.
4. How much did these sell for new? The only mention I could find was $700 to $1000, but I don't know how accurate that is.

The amp appears to be in mint condition, and the pedal is even still in its original shrink wrap! It does not, however, have the original cover that was supposed to have come with the amp.

Any other information anyone has will be greatly appreciated. I will post some photo's later once I get home.

 

[capnjuan]

According Musician's Friend, it's a 15" Eminence speaker ... and the model is no longer in production.

 

[guildman63]

Here are some pictures of the amp...







This amp was actually made in Mexico, not in Corona as I initially thought, but I still have no idea how old the amp is or for how many years it was produced. I rarely come across one which leads me to believe that they enjoyed a fairly short run with limited production.

Since the speaker has no label on it I contacted the store from which I purchased the amp. The person that sold them the amp is very well known to the store, and I was assured that the speaker was never changed by the prior owner, and that he was in fact the original owner of this amp. Other than that and that the speaker is supposed to be a 15" Eminence Legend speaker I know nothing about this amp. It does sound pretty tasty with my X-500 plugged into it!

 

[capnjuan]

You can confirm whether it's an Eminence by reading the speaker code on the lip of the frame: if it reads '67XXXX' it's an Eminence - See EIA codes. The reason the larger on-line discounters don't offer the amp is because it's no longer in production. See FMIC's list of solid state amplifiers, the Jazz King isn't there.

It got pretty good reviews over on Harmony Central and there's some chit-chat about the amp on a Jazz guitar forum including this pretty gloomy post:

"On two seperate gigs the amp just quit producing any sound.I was a lot frustrated- my repair guy who is a fender approved technician told me the problem with the amp is that the used a very light weight solder that would allow the components in the amp to drift from their correct location.

The problem was made worse in his estimation by rolling the amp on it's casters after a gig while the amp was still warm. The second minus to this amp is that it is very big and very heavy so if you gig alot or even enough to hate schlepping gear there are definitely better alternatives. fender wouldnt replace my Jazz King and since I really can't rely on it and since I can't sell it in good faith, I use it as my at home practice amp ($700) practice amp"

Since the 'made in Mexico' remark appears there and in your post here, chances are you found the same forum. Good luck with your amp.

 

[guildman63]

Thanks capn. I did see that post, and while it does sound gloomy it also should be realized that this is but one negative comment among many positives in that same thread alone. It is also mentioned in that same thread that as compared with a USA made Princeton Chorus from the early 90's the build quality is equally as good. I have played it pretty hard since getting it and have had no issues at all. Also, with any gear, even Guild guitars (dare I say :shock: ) there are bad experiences. I am not too concerned about it since I have no way of knowing what else that persons amp had been subjected to prior to those incidents where the amp quit, and I have yet to read any other reviews or posts that mention the same problem. As for the weight, it is not a light amp given the fact that it is solid state. It isn't, however, nearly as heavy as something like a Twin, and at 5'10" 170lbs I have no trouble at all picking it up and carrying it up and down my stairs, or getting it in and out of my car. It would be nice if it were a little lighter and more compact, but the tone is unbelievable for a solid state amp!

As for the amp not being offered by the larger retailers, I am aware that the amp is no longer being made, but my question is during what years was it made, and how large was the production volume? As a used amp it is not easy to come by which can mean one of two things: either very few were made, or people like them so much that they aren't willing to part with them. Of course both could be true.

Thanks for the info on the speaker. I will check it out and report back.

Edit: I just checked the speaker. Under the rubber ring around the magnet is a label with three codes.

On the left of the tag it reads 059660
On the right of the tag it reads 151823 on top, and 67-0324B0019 below.

 

[capnjuan]

Well I hope you get a lot of pleasure out of the amp and I agree with you that there'll always be some models in a production run that don't turn out right and the other poster's comments aren't any more than a reflection of that. I think there's also some truth in the proposition that you can't (economically) get there from here.

I saw your remarks about your other tubes amps; if you took a $600-$800 FMIC new/re-issue tube amp, $300-$400 in high-quality outboard tube preamp, and another $200-$300 in reasonable quality effects pedals, you might come close to the warm, dry, cleanish thing that jazzers and other like ... or ... you can do what you and many others have done and go solid state with the apparent savings and all the negative amp-o-nomics that go with it; cheaped out circuit boards populated with low cost/grade/reliability passive parts and cheesy ICs to generate the effects.

While the people at Fender (and Marshall and, back in the day, Guild/Roland) all high-five each other about their marketing-driven QA/QC BS toasting themselves with milk and cookies, their purchasing departments are knocking the bejabbers out of vendor's prices and invoices ... offering to buy circuit boards from anyone who will meet what they have already decided they are willing to pay.

I've been following beinhard and jazzdj's effort to get that Guild amp running. Honestly I'm surprised that the relay - if it's original - considering the current running through it lasted as long as it did. I'm pretty sure it's purpose is to quench thump at turn-on which is a nice feature but, at the same time if it doesn't work, it renders the amp useless. Twenty years ago, that relay cost about a dollar or so; not sure what its equivalent would go for today.

Okay; I'm just griping - I hope you enjoy your amp which is pretty much code for keeps on working. J

 

[capnjuan]

Speaker codes; well ... it's an Eminence but the rest of it might as well be ???? ????? ????????.

Not that I can decipher it but that stuff usually includes: location where it was made, when it was made, Purchase Order #, lot #, speaker cone details ... that kind of thing.