# NAD - Polytone Mega Brute!



## Merlin (Feb 23, 2009)

I could scarcely believe my eyes when I walked into my local L&M yesterday and saw this:










It’s complete with the much reviled Sonic Circuit.









I plugged in an Ibanez AS73 in the store, and it immediately had “that” sound. Went back in today with my Yamaha AE500, and left the store 15 minutes later with my first Polytone amp.

Oddly, it’s is heavier than my Boss Katana 50, despite being quite a bit smaller. 

I had a big band rehearsal tonight, so I immediately put it to practical use. It kept up no problem at all.

My initial attraction to it was as a nice sized amp for doing jazz trio gigs, but I think it’s probably going to become my go to jazz amp. The Katana is still a better all purpose amp, but the Polytone has the quintessential jazz guitar sound in its DNA.


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## GTmaker (Apr 24, 2006)

congrats....its the best amp investment you have ever made.

LOVE the Polytones....I have 2 Polytone amps and I cant get a bad tone out of them even if I try.

Remember that even in the "Sonic circuit" channel....your normal tone controls are still active.
BY the way....I have a cheap Ampex 2 button switch that works great on my Polytone. Switch between Normal and Sonic circuit AND turn reverb on and off.
Once again....congrats on a great amp....you will never regret getting it.

G.


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## greco (Jul 15, 2007)

CONGRATS!

It is amazingly clean (pun is intended).

ENJOY!


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## Budda (May 29, 2007)

Enjoy!


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## GTmaker (Apr 24, 2006)

I have to pitch in on this one cause I find it strange.

Im talking about your settings ( assuming thats the settings you are working with.

First of all, your master volume on 10 seems weird to me. Why this setting?
Obvious with master on ten no wonder you need Vol. Ch1 barely passed 1. Not much wiggle room there.

The most glaring to me is the Contour control MAXED out. To me this is basically a tone control so as you max it, its basically putting a max treble on that channel.
Again to me, the Sonic circuit is the obvious mellow channel. With the "warm" setting on, its the ultimate Jazz tone if you keep contour control at 12noon.

You obviously have a great amp...play it as you see fit on the controls. Im just offering my version of the world.
Here is a pic of where I start and depending on the guitar, I tweak to taste BUT it never that much off my start position.

Keep on rockin
G.


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## greco (Jul 15, 2007)

Merlin said:


> ...the much reviled Sonic Circuit.


I have read this comment on the Jazz Guitar Forum but have never asked about it or read any details about the reason. 
I did a search and found this:
"_...if you stay away from the Sonic Circuit channel._"
and
"_...just bypass the Sonic._"

Why is the Sonic Circuit so criticized?


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## Merlin (Feb 23, 2009)

GTmaker said:


> I have to pitch in on this one cause I find it strange.
> 
> Im talking about your settings ( assuming thats the settings you are working with.
> 
> ...


What you see pictured is not the settings I used. Master maxed, yes. Channel volume 5, Eq flat, sonic circuit not engaged.


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## Merlin (Feb 23, 2009)

greco said:


> I have read this comment on the Jazz Guitar Forum but have never asked about it or read any details about the reason.
> I did a search and found this:
> "_...if you stay away from the Sonic Circuit channel._"
> and
> ...


I guess I’ll mess around with it, and let you know.


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## player99 (Sep 5, 2019)

How many watts?


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## GTmaker (Apr 24, 2006)

greco said:


> I have read this comment on the Jazz Guitar Forum but have never asked about it or read any details about the reason.
> I did a search and found this:
> "_...if you stay away from the Sonic Circuit channel._"
> and
> ...


 because it sounds realy realy nice and some folks cant stand a great tone. Thats why they buy so many overdrive pedals.
G.



Merlin said:


> What you see pictured is not the settings I used. Master maxed, yes. Channel volume 5, Eq flat, sonic circuit not engaged.


master volume MAXED out I'll never understand so I'll leave that alone...
as for the sonic circuit, thats a Polytone "special" feature. Dont really see the point of leaving that behind but on the bottom line, what the hell do I know.


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## Chito (Feb 17, 2006)

Congrats!! I guess I should try out my 1978 Polytone Mini Brute IV. It's been a while since I have even tried it.


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## High/Deaf (Aug 19, 2009)

Cool score. From what I recall, Polytone speaker boxes were very well made and helped explain the weight.




GTmaker said:


> master volume MAXED out I'll never understand so I'll leave that alone...


What's not to get? That's how you get the cleanest sound out of an amp, any amp. Reducing the master and thus increasing the Ch 1 volume only increases the amount of preamp distortion and some people want as little distortion as possible. Not weird at all.


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## GTmaker (Apr 24, 2006)

High/Deaf said:


> Cool score. From what I recall, Polytone speaker boxes were very well made and helped explain the weight.
> 
> What's not to get? That's how you get the cleanest sound out of an amp, any amp. Reducing the master and thus increasing the Ch 1 volume only increases the amount of preamp distortion and some people want as little distortion as possible. Not weird at all.


good reply ...
....either way its just something that I never do....each to his own I guess.
G.


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## Dorian2 (Jun 9, 2015)

Congrats on the amp Merlin. 

Keep Rockin Jazzin


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## GTmaker (Apr 24, 2006)

player99 said:


> How many watts?


from what I have read, the Polytones are in the 80 to 100 watt solid state amps.
Both mine have a spring reverb unit inside.
G.


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## player99 (Sep 5, 2019)

GTmaker said:


> from what I have read, the Polytones are in the 80 to 100 watt solid state amps.
> Both mine have a spring reverb unit inside.
> G.


When I looked them up quickly I saw references to different wattage ratings. 75 and 100 watts for sure, from memory maybe a 50 watter as well.


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## GTmaker (Apr 24, 2006)

player99 said:


> When I looked them up quickly I saw references to different wattage ratings. 75 and 100 watts for sure, from memory maybe a 50 watter as well.


 to some folks it might seem funny that knowing the power output of an amp might not be that obvious.
Like I said, I have 2 Polytones and spend a good deal of time online looking for documentation... its not that easy to find.
G.


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## Merlin (Feb 23, 2009)

GTmaker said:


> to some folks it might seem funny that knowing the power output of an amp might not be that obvious.
> Like I said, I have 2 Polytones and spend a good deal of time online looking for documentation... its not that easy to find.
> G.


I presume you’ve probably stumbled upon the Polytone page that Murch Music out out before they were bought out by L&M.


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## greco (Jul 15, 2007)

Merlin said:


> Murch Music


WOW ...that brings back a lot of memories! Up until shortly before L&M Cambridge moved to their (new) present location, Glenn Murch was often there on Sundays. 

Both he and his brother, Keith, are very talented jazz guitarists (as I'm sure you know).

I'll be interested in hearing your comments regarding the "Sonic Circuit" once you have had time to try the Polytone a bit more.


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## GTmaker (Apr 24, 2006)

Its time for some Polytone porn ....
I feel very fortunate to have landed this ( I think very rare) Polytone head...

G.


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## Merlin (Feb 23, 2009)

Played a wedding dinner tonight with the Polytone; loved the results!


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## laristotle (Aug 29, 2019)

Flannel shirts at a wedding. How casual are people getting these days? lol


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## greco (Jul 15, 2007)

Merlin said:


> loved the results!


Still curious as to what you think of the vilified sonic circuit.


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## Noah (Aug 7, 2020)

Merlin said:


> I could scarcely believe my eyes when I walked into my local L&M yesterday and saw this:
> 
> View attachment 290044
> 
> ...


Hey,
Thanks for the post! I have a quick question on the sonic circuit. Do some have it and some don’t? If so do you know how to tell? Are the Sonics rare and the others not? Thanks


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## greco (Jul 15, 2007)

greco said:


> Still curious as to what you think of the vilified sonic circuit.


@Merlin Any thoughts yet?


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## GTmaker (Apr 24, 2006)

Noah said:


> Hey,
> Thanks for the post! I have a quick question on the sonic circuit. Do some have it and some don’t? If so do you know how to tell? Are the Sonics rare and the others not? Thanks


I'll take a stab at this question as I have 2 Polytone amps at the moment....

Its true that some Polytone amps have the sonic circuit and some don't.
The sonic circuit is basically another channel on the amp with its own volume and tone controls. Both my amps have a foot-switch for sonic circuit and reverb.
You can always tell a Polytone amp with a sonic circuit because the volume control for that channel is called "sonic circuit"

Some much older Polytone amps have a Volume Treble and bass controls only....thus NO sonic circuit.
Some more modern ( thats a relative term) Polytone amps have a second channel with overdrive . Thus no sonic circuit.

Any Polytone amp is by its nature is a mellow toned amp. Switching to the sonic circuit gives you a different voicing.
AS and example, I own two telecasters and both these guitars offer me the smoothest jazzy tones thru my Polytone amps.

thats about it ....hope this helps.
G.


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## Noah (Aug 7, 2020)

GTmaker said:


> I'll take a stab at this question as I have 2 Polytone amps at the moment....
> 
> Its true that some Polytone amps have the sonic circuit and some don't.
> The sonic circuit is basically another channel on the amp with its own volume and tone controls. Both my amps have a foot-switch for sonic circuit and reverb.
> ...


I see. That helps a lot! Thanks! Mine does not have the sonic circuit, would you know if that makes it less valuable? 
Thanks again.


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## Merlin (Feb 23, 2009)

greco said:


> Still curious as to what you think of the vilified sonic circuit.


i got some decent usable tones out of it. Ended up selling it, as the Boss Katana covers everything I need.


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