Jimmy Herring [Marshall JMP content]

[Kinkirsi]

For years I have loved Herrings stellar fretwork.From his work with A.R.U to present Phil Lesh gigs.His sound is the closest to the tone that I am trying to achieve. Aftet buying the full gamut of boutique offerings trying to get close to that sound I realized that I need an older Marshall with a basket weave 4-12 with old 25 watt greenbacks.Herrings main sound for leads on Jazz is Dead was a 76 JMP.I realize he also used a Guytron and a Holland amp on those recordings,but I think the tones I prefer are the Marshall.Anyway I was thinking about getting a Marshall JMP. Do you think that his Marshall has been modded to get that much gain,or will a stock JMP get me in the same ballpark.Ive never owned a Marshall,ive allways leaned towards dumble style amps which are great for what they do but they dont have the girth and low end that are part part of Herrings fat lead sound. I was going to with a 76 JMP for sure but is there any alternative other than the JMP I am not aware of? Thanks.

 

[Ed DeGenaro]

Originally posted by Kinkirsi
For years I have loved Herrings stellar fretwork.From his work with A.R.U to present Phil Lesh gigs.His sound is the closest to the tone that I am trying to achieve. Aftet buying the full gamut of boutique offerings trying to get close to that sound I realized that I need an older Marshall with a basket weave 4-12 with old 25 watt greenbacks.Herrings main sound for leads on Jazz is Dead was a 76 JMP.I realize he also used a Guytron and a Holland amp on those recordings,but I think the tones I prefer are the Marshall.Anyway I was thinking about getting a Marshall JMP. Do you think that his Marshall has been modded to get that much gain,or will a stock JMP get me in the same ballpark.Ive never owned a Marshall,ive allways leaned towards dumble style amps which are great for what they do but they dont have the girth and low end that are part part of Herrings fat lead sound. I was going to with a 76 JMP for sure but is there any alternative other than the JMP I am not aware of? Thanks.

Nope not modded. But he uses a Tube Screamer and attenuator with it.

 

[fullerplast]

Lately Jimmy has been using a BFSR (dry) with a line out into an effects box for reverb and delay, and then into a power amp and a Marshall cab (wet). He uses a vol pedal and OD pedal and that's about it. He has experimented with various Fenders and Marshalls, but that's his latest. The BFSR has a pair of Tone Tubby ceramics and a pair of Tone Tubby alnicos (all four alnicos will not fit in the SR).

I've seen him with his JID setup, Phil & Friends, sititng in with Little Feat on an AC30, and this latest setup, and he seems to sound about the same either way......excellent!

 

[Kinkirsi]

Thanks,any there any boutique amps that can get me in the ballpark of the the JMP or should I go for the Marshall? Ed, clips of a 50 watt JMP thru some green backs in the vein of Herring or yourself would be nice

 

[Ed Alvarado]

How about the THD Flexi 50?

 

[Kinkirsi]

Never heard one in person,just some of Eds' awesome clips. Can the Flexi get as gnarly as a JMP?

 

[Ed DeGenaro]

Gimme 5 minutes and I'll give you an A/B clip...

 

[Ed DeGenaro]

Here ya go first half one amp, second half the other. I'll tell you later which one is which. BTW, I didn' mess around with the settings this was merely tossing a tube screamer in front and pressing record.
http://www.eddegenaro.com/audio/jmpflexed.mp3

 

[mlynn02]

i read somewhere that JH's jmp from the jazz is dead/frogwings era was basically stock except that he pulled 2 of the power tubes in it.

 

[Unburst]

A friend of miine had a '76 JMP and it was one of the better amps I've ever played through.

 

[clunk]

Another alternative is the JCM 800 series of Marshall. From my understanding it is generally the same design as the JMP's master volume versions. Some have mentioned that they have the same sound signature as the JMP's only a little brighter. If you try an 800 make sure it is the 6 cap version 81'-84' for the 100w. In 85 they started releasing the 3 cap version 100w which i found were very thin and brittle sounding. The 50w always were 3 caps form early 80's right through to 91 I beleive, when the 800's were discontinued. Also in 85 the started mounting the tone and voume pots directly to the circuit boards in both the 50w and 100w versions. Poor design.
The one i have is an 82' Canadian version 100w head. I've had it modded to accept EL34's, 6550's or KT88's all of which sound great with this amp. The early 800's and the JMP's i find are very diverse amplifiers. While commonly used for hard rock/Metal players in the early 80's, they can be used for other styles of music as well. With the right effects you can get a variety of music styles with this amp, especially in recording situations.
I know one of the studios where i used to work, 3 of the producers there all swore by these amps, mainly because of their diversity. Aside from rock and metal they may not be the best choice for blues jazz or country but like i say with the right gear they hold their own.
If you try the 800's i would advise avoiding the 2210 100w and 2205 50w channel switching 800's as these have been known to be prone to "channel bleed". Try the 6 cap single channel 800's, 2203 100w and 2204 50w models from the early 80's. Which BTW are the same model #'s used in the late 70's JMP's.
On the 100w models you can pull 2 of the output tubes (the 2 outside or 2 middle ones) to make it a 50w. Only thing with doing this is your speaker output is now doubled in ohms. So if your selector is set on 4 ohms, and 2 tubes are pulled, you now have 8 ohms coming out of the speaker output, so my understanding of this is.
Anyway just wanted to post this as another recommendation for an alternative to the JMP. Hope this helps.

Happy Tone Hunting

 

[Kinkirsi]

Ed,awesome clip.Thanks for taking the time to record.I think the first halve is Flexi,second part JMP,sounds a bit more complex,the wound strings have a bit more "growl".Was that your Suhr or the Vigier?Anyway,common gripe with the Flexi is not enough gain I think any more gain than that would be overkill for most of my playing situations.Was that a greenback cab?Anyway thanks for posting,both amps sound awesome.

 

[Ed DeGenaro]

Originally posted by Kinkirsi
Ed,awesome clip.Thanks for taking the time to record.I think the first halve is Flexi,second part JMP,sounds a bit more complex,the wound strings have a bit more "growl".Was that your Suhr or the Vigier?Anyway,common gripe with the Flexi is not enough gain I think any more gain than that would be overkill for most of my playing situations.Was that a greenback cab?Anyway thanks for posting,both amps sound awesome.

Was the Vigier SL model. Speaker was a V30. All my Greenback stuff isn't at my home studio.
The Flexi was about at 2 o'clock, the JMP was wide open.

 

[gkelm]

Originally posted by Kinkirsi
Ed,awesome clip.Thanks for taking the time to record.I think the first halve is Flexi,second part JMP,sounds a bit more complex,the wound strings have a bit more "growl".Was that your Suhr or the Vigier?Anyway,common gripe with the Flexi is not enough gain I think any more gain than that would be overkill for most of my playing situations.Was that a greenback cab?Anyway thanks for posting,both amps sound awesome.

Ed- Is that correct?...Flexi first & JMP last? Both sound great...the first is indeed a bit more smooth. Cool of you to record & post.

I have a 75 JMP and love it.

Greg

 

[Ed DeGenaro]

Originally posted by gkelm
Ed- Is that correct?...Flexi first & JMP last? Both sound great...the first is indeed a bit more smooth. Cool of you to record & post.

I have a 75 JMP and love it.

Greg

Yes it is. Flexi until the 1 minute mark. Volume at 2 o'clock, JMP 5 o'clock.