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#1
10-23-2013, 05:12 PM
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Schertler JAM 400 is it a PA in a box???
Well I finally got one of these things, and let me explain why...
I normally use a ZED10FX mixer, and a Mackie HD System (Mackie HD1221 cabs, Mackie HD1501 Subwoofer). In small gigs I use one HD1221 speaker, if the gig gets bigger, I add another HD1221, and for the biggest gigs I add the sub. Anything bigger, I have my sound provided by a pro company. My typical instrumentation is... 1) Vocal mic (Shure Beta 87) on boom mic stand 2) Guitar mic (Shure Beta 87) mounted on small boom attach to voc stand 2) Dread Acoustic with a Fishman Matrix Infinity (either a Martin HD28, or a Gibson Gospel), or National Resonator with a Thomas Gassel Flatbucker (either a Artist Triolian, or Artist M2). I usually plug the guitar into a floor pedalboard and then into the PA. 3) Home-made Porch Board (Dynamic driver with output in the 40Hz to 60Hz range) 4) iPad for break music In my busy season, I gig almost daily, and sometimes 3 times a day. I typically play from 50 to 200 people (sometimes more, sometimes less). Well alot of times I have two/three gigs in the same resort, and I may have to go from one gig right to the next with no time to fully break down my gear which I will leave in place for the next day's gig. So... I wanted a small self-contained rig that I could set up in under 10 minutes, plug my guitar straight into (must have good preamps), carry the low-end of my floorboard without distortion or compromised tone, have at 3 least channels for instrumentation, and inputs for ipad, and be able to fill up a room with at least 100 people. It would also have to sound good with a vocal mic, provide proper 48 Volts for phantom, and have a decent Hall reverb. Now neither the Fishman Soloamp SA220 or the Bose Compact could meet these requirements, channel wise or tone wise they could not handle it! And I just don't like the tone of the Bose L1 systems in general. For fingerpicking they are fine, but I just can't dial a good strumming tone that I like (I do not mean to insult Bose L1 owners as tone is subjective), and the Bose bass modules do not sound good with my floorboard period. So what I want to do for my down and dirty gigs is to... Pre-setup one of these self contained units in the room that I will be playing my second gig in with a mic and stand setup and plugged in. Then after my first gig, just unplug my guitar and floorboard, carry them to the room I'm playing in and just plug into the rig that's there. Enough of what I want... ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I tried Acoustic amps made by AER, Genz-Benz, and Fishman, and truthfully none of them could handle the lowend, or dispersion that I needed/wanted. Other than the AER, they all sounded bad with vocal mics compared to PA setup. And even the AER had a certain boxiness that I couldn't dial out. And so you know I was trying the flagship models of all these brands!!! I was just about to give up, until I saw a video of Bob Brozman playing and singing through a SR RESO-400. Well anybody that has ever seen him live knows that he used to slap the resos for lowend rhythmic effect, and play very aggressively and hit his PA hard with brash reso tones! I figured if it worked for him, it would work for me. It was that impressive. I also saw a video of a guy playing a lower wattage SR Jam 150 with rhythms programmed on his iPhone and that was also quite impressive. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iA3QOJYQCm4 So, I took a chance, and ordered a SR Jam 400 which is what they based the SR Reso 400 on. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Well, it got here today, and I ran it through it's paces... My review, which is based on what I wanted/needed.... Loudness - It's an earbleeder and holds it's tone right up to the highest volumes. Coverage - I was amazed here, even on the floor this thing fills the room. Lowend - Also surprised here, the two 8" drivers couple perfectly and smoke anything I've ever heard from a compact system, including the Fishman SA220 and the Bose Compact. FX - Good Hall Reverb, but I wouldn't use anything else. The Delay is set to a repeat time that is totally unuseable for me, I don't like chorus at all, and the springs aren't convincing either Guitar Tone - These preamps are very musical sounding and mate up perfectly with my Fishman Matrix and Gassel Flatbucker pickups. I also tried them with my K&K WMP and they worked as good as the K&K XLR pre that I have (To be fair though, I am not a fan of this pickup as I find it boxy). I think it's easier to dial a good guitar tone with this rig than it is with my PA!!! EQ - although not semi-parametric, the lowend, mid and treble controls seem to be centered where I need them to be. I personally like clear low-end and well defined mids without the mud, I tend to roll the highs back a bit to soften the piezo character of my USTs and brashness of the resos! Vocal Tone - better than all of the other acoustic rigs tried, but still not as good as my Mackie tone with the ZED10FX. I could live with this compromise. I don't feel like I'm singing through a guitar amp like I did with all the others. Weight - well it's heavy, 46 pounds to be exact, and it's hard to carry with one hand. The handles are good though and they are centered for good two hand carrying. Fortunately for me I have a cart that I can carry it on, but I wouldn't call it grab and go! Don't thing you can carry this in one hand and your guitar in another, that ain't going to happen unless you're a bruiser! Size - see the pictures for a reference. Well that's it for now I will report back after a few big gigs that I will try this on, but yes, you could call this a MINI PA!!! Here's some pics!      
Last edited by rockabilly69; 10-24-2013 at 02:33 AM. 
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#2
10-23-2013, 08:46 PM
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Bob called it his "Bose Killer"...he was trying to sell me one a few years back
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YUP.... Emerald: X-20, Center hole X-10 (Maple) and X-7 (redwood), Spalted Chen Chen X 10 level 3, CA: Early OX and Cargo McPherson: Early Kevin Michael Proto Some wood things by Epi, Harmony, Takamine, Good Time, PRS, Slick, Gypsy Music, keyboards, wind controllers.. etc
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#3
10-23-2013, 10:36 PM
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Quote:
I have the old RA 400 and I couldn't agree with you more! I am a gigging musician as well (though not nearly as busy as you!) and need a simple plug and play system and the 400 suits my needs. I'm almost 59, so I use a small portable hand truck to transport the 46 lb. bad boy. But it's just one trip, as opposed to lugging an amp/mixer and two speakers on a stick. There are a few outdoor gigs I play that require a bit more dispersion, and for those I bring a Schertler Side Powered Speaker, but the RA is all I need for about 90% of my gigs. I'm bringing it to a gig tomorrow!
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1974 Martin D-28 (A gift for my 20th birthday from Mom and Dad) "Frankenstein" 1948 Gibson J-50 Body/1938 L-00 Neck 2008 Martin 000-18 Norman Blake 2006 Jubal Jumbo 2016 New Era Crooked Star Prairie State Jumbo 2016 New Era Crooked Star Senorita 2020 Iris Smeck 1972 Guild Killdeer F112-6 Part Deux
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#4
10-23-2013, 10:46 PM
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Is there anyway to get this thing up in the air? Does it come with a pole mount?
Steve
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Still crazy after all these years.
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#5
10-23-2013, 11:38 PM
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No, there is no speaker mount on it, but it disperses well from the floor because of the two eights. You could probably easily enough mount a pole mount on it if need be.
Last edited by rockabilly69; 10-24-2013 at 02:35 AM.
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#6
10-23-2013, 11:57 PM
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Quote:
I am 55 years old, and only 5'8", so I need a cart too. I bought the Schertler bag for it, which frankly is nothing more than a padded cover, so I think I'm going to have a specialized bag made for it that will hold all my accessories too! It will hold a floorboard, microphone, a few XLR cables, a few 1/4" cables, capos, picks, and slides! The bag will have a tube on it to slide a compact mic stand into. The mic stand folds down to a very small length. Then I can just have this and a guitar to roll in on my cart. An my HD28 is in a lightweight thermoplastic Martin case. my stand... http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/produc...ble_Stand.html my cart... http://www.parts-express.com/pe/show...umber=242-7654 Good luck on your gig tomorrow night 
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#7
10-24-2013, 09:11 AM
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I have a funny relationship with these amps. As you know, they are quite expensive. Through some weird stroke of luck, I have found three Jam 150 Plus's for great prices. Two of the three where brand new out of the plastic cover and shipping both. One for $600 and one I bought yesterday for $400!!!!!
I have one and the others being to guitarists I work with. The one I bought yesterday is for a friend who plays keyboards, mainly acoustic guitar and bass. I use men on Monday nights for bass and vocals. Any guitarist sitting plugs into mine. As a full range amp, it sounds more home stereo quality than a PA system. Schertler just makes really good gear. The flexibility, quality of sound, power, dispersion. I can't say enough good things about them.
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#8
10-24-2013, 09:43 AM
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Quote:
__________________
1974 Martin D-28 (A gift for my 20th birthday from Mom and Dad) "Frankenstein" 1948 Gibson J-50 Body/1938 L-00 Neck 2008 Martin 000-18 Norman Blake 2006 Jubal Jumbo 2016 New Era Crooked Star Prairie State Jumbo 2016 New Era Crooked Star Senorita 2020 Iris Smeck 1972 Guild Killdeer F112-6 Part Deux
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#9
10-24-2013, 11:53 AM
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Quote:
Bob
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#11
10-24-2013, 02:58 PM
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I'm not sure but most of the Schertler amps have a pole mount fixture on the bottom. I gig my Unico on a Jamstand and I find it works even better to get it up in the air even though it works on the floor.
I notice you mentioned coverage. A friend who gigs and does sound was in town recently and came to one of our shows. One of the things he noted was how well the amp got sound into the room with really great dispersion. Now these amps don't defy the laws of physics but the design is clearly optimized for dispersion while still projecting very well. They make a nice amp fer sure. Even at 200 watts, I would take my Unico into the right size room as a PA and not worry. hunter
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#12
10-24-2013, 03:42 PM
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Quote:
Funny, I actually looked at the Unico because it used a real spring reverb instead of digital FX, which I imagine sounds pretty good. Though I noticed the preamps seemed to be geared towards Schertler pickups which I don't use. I did like that there was 4 band EQ on the mic channel which could improve the vocal mic tone! But the Unico is only 200 watts versus the 400 watt Jam 400 (I think both amps are made or designed Bang and Olfsun), and having the bigger cab and the extra 8" driver appealled to me, for what I wanted to cover, and for the extra lowend reserve power for my porchboard. I truly believe the bigger cab and the double driver setup will give this even better coverage than the Unico. Tonight I am going to have a few friends stand in the back of the club to let me know how well this amp gets the sound out!
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#13
10-24-2013, 03:59 PM
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I'm not a fan of reverb and don't use it on my electric stuff but the Unico reverb is addictive in small doses. Still, I think digital FX would be more than fine and probably preferable from a flexibility perspective. At 400 watts and 2X8 speakers, the 400 can't help but put more sound into the room.
I was thinking maybe it came with a pole mount. Maybe that second speaker is in the way. I thought the whole Shertler pickup label was a little strange but in practice, it doesn't affect my ability to use the amp with a series of preamps, pickups and microphones. BTW, the di to the board works well. I have used it for live sound and recording with good results. hunter
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#14
10-24-2013, 04:58 PM
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I have the Jam SR 150 unit, pretty much same features, but lower output (150 watts). Yes, you can dime the volume and still get crystal clear tone, best acoustic amp I have ever owned, same for vocals. I also have a powered SR 150 watt extension cab when I need the extra juice. Very compact, quick setup / take down, and after almost three years of use, very reliable.
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#15
10-24-2013, 05:39 PM
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Schertler amps are actually made by SR Technology, an Italian company. Schertler itself has helped with some design aspects for some of the Schertler line (e.g., Unico, David). Recently (in the last year or so), Scherlter and SR Tech have agreed to market even more of the SR Tech amps using the Schertler name. The SR Tech Jam Series from recent years is now the Schertler Jam Series. Same exact product, except the nameplate.
Last edited by sdelsolray; 10-24-2013 at 05:46 PM.
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