Marshall amp questions vintage and jvm

[Dude22mi]

Hello all I'm buying an amp and want a Marshall tone. I play in a cover band lotsa classic rock but some newer modern stuff as well. Iam thinking a jvm410 for its 4 channels and was wondering if it has any vintage Marshall tones in it as well? I also was thinking splawn quickrod because it has all kinds of vintage Marshall tones but not sure if it would have a modern enough sound to it. Also see alot if guys Modding there jvms to sound like plexis and 800s. Are those hard to do? Lotsa questions any advice would be very cool thanks in advance Dave.

 

[GCDEF]

I had the two channel JVM. Sounded like classic Marshall to me. I've had a Superlead in the past, and could get the JVM to sound pretty close to it.

That said, I'm playing an Egnater Renegade now, and like it better. Honestly though, if I were looking for a four channel amp in that price range, I'd look hard at the Egnater Armageddon.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5z3b3oI6RQc

 

[keto]

I know generally there isn't a lot of love for the JVM, but I've owned one since the first ones landed in North America, and it has been a solid amp. My kids have used it more than I have, in their hard rock covers + originals band. Still has its original tubes and still sounds great, to me. Personally, I never loved channels 3 & 4, they have sooooo much gain on tap - even my oldest who plays lead uses them with the gain way down. We've had no reliability issues, never a failure, the footswitch still works, etc etc etc.

Never did any of the mods, so can't comment on any potential tonal changes.

Do I think it's the be all/end all? heck no, I have owned better sounding amps but by no means is the JVM a tone turd, definitely brings the rock and does multiple things really well. The clean is great and high headroom, the crunch on ch2 is very good. Like most amps, it's probably speaker dependant....it didn't sound that great thru a Mesa Stiletto cab with V30's, but really pairs well with the handwired Marshall cab with the Heritage G12H30's (which, incidentally, sounds great with a bunch of other amps I've owned).

I have no experience with Quickrod, but I can't imagine it being nearly as diverse as a 410. That's not a slam on QR, I've listened to a lot of their clips and love most of their tones.

 

[Dude22mi]

Hey thanks for the input guys. The egnater stuff I've had a renegade that I think there was something wrong with because I was hugely disappointed with that one. I played a few at guitar center and thought they were awesome ended up getting a "good deal" on a used one and it just didn't have it. Now the Armageddon and vengeance have had my interest peaked since a few months before there release and I was set to buy the vengeance but after the bad renegade incident I've shied away from them maybe to revisit later. I pretty much need to buy 2 amps for what I want one with the vintage tone to play with at home and one with more modern gain and features to gig with just thought I'd ask maybe somebody had some ideas for me. I'm still swaying heavily towards a jvm but not dead set yet.

 

[Dude22mi]

I will say the video link with that josh dude playing the Armageddon was very cool! That dude rocks! I've watched alot of his videos.

 

[Guitarfool]

I think the JVM is a very cool and nice sounding amp, it does alot of things 'good' and is really kickass for hard rocking type tones (CH 2 OD is sweeet) and the cleans are some of the better cleans for a Marshall, i know u dont buy Marshalls for cleans but its nicer


My 1 little complaint would be the amp has some built in compression (its not a ton, but there is a slight compression feel to the amp) thats my one lil/minor complaint (you could probably later that if wanted), but again its a *minor* thing - other than that its a great amp imo. The effects loops are very good, reverb is fine and the master volume is the best master volume for a marshall tube amp imo, it sounds fantastic at lower volumes


Best Marshall ever? no but it is a very usable amp with lots of options and versatility if needed

 

[Dude22mi]

Cool! Thanks man!

 

[demea26]

I owned a JVM410h over the summer and traded it for a Mesa Roadster. I tried VERY hard to love this amp and wanted to be done with the GAS.

I couldn't live with several things about the JVM and it forced me to unload it. I also play in a rock coverband and thought it would be the perfect amp for what I do.

First is the compression. I even modded the amp to reduce it and didn't really fix it.
It was the most compressed Marshall I've ever played. Some may like that though?

Second (and biggest complaint) is the amount of feedback the amp produces. I had to run both OD channels with the gain at no more than 10 o'clock or the amp would squeal terribly. With pretty much any guitar, too. I ran an ISP decimator G String using the 4 cable method just to keep it under control.
There's a reason the Joe Satriani version comes with built in noise gates on every channel

Third was the crunch channel. I used the red mode and gain maxed out and still had to run my OCD out front to get it crunchy enough to play some ZZ Top.

I used several different varieties of preamp tubes (JJ, Tung Sol, EH) and experimented with biasing it hot and cold as well as modding it like some members on the JVM forum were suggesting.

Too much hassle for an amp that costs 2G's new.

The Roadster, which coincidentally I unloaded yesterday, was superior in both build quality and overall usability. It just wasn't for my ears.

Hope this helps!

 

[Birddog]

I had the JVM 210H that I had to sell after two years for financial reasons.

It was a perfect compliment for my coverband playing. Plenty of gain for Van Halen type distortion, and lots of good crunch for bluesy stuff, and easily dialed in for older classic rock.

I agree that there's a fair amount of compression, but that it dissipates as the gain knob(s) are rolled back. Rarely did I find 'my' sound with the gain all the way up. There's plenty of gain at the 2,3 and 4:00 positions.

I also agree that the cleans are amazing. Stopped lugging my Marshall Acoustic amp to gigs, and just played my acoustic through the JVM. I have a Fender Twin, and the cleans on the JVM are not THAT clean (few things are), but it was definitely passable for a few songs in our mini-acoustic set-in-a-set.

I have nothing at all bad to say about the JVM.

 

[demea26]

Thats true about dialing the gain back to reduce the compression, but I forgot to add that as I dialed the gain back on the OD channels, the bottom end was lost. As gain was increased it sounded thicker and more full but the noise and feedback also was unmanageable.

 

[Dude22mi]

I'm coming from mesa amps I had a 3 channel dual rec, a lonestar, and a mini rec 25 all very cool amps just lacked something. Not sure what just something! So I want to try another Marshall. I like my dads jcm 900 but it needed a little more gain and hate the shared eq. And the bad thing is no matter what I buy ill be back asking advice for me new amp again in 3 to 6 months!!!

 

[Guitarfool]

From your recent post, it sounds like the JVM might be up your alley (wanting more gain, shared EQ) The JVM will do that in spades imo. Ive owned a couple 900s amps and they are fine amp that you can play (i have no issue with them) but a JVM might be what you need


Try the 50 watt version first, it doesnt seem to have the hissing/noise issues of the 4 channel 100 watts. I do hear occasional complaints of hissing/sqwealing with the 4 channel models but the 50 watt models dont seem to have that issue


You can get a used 50 in the $800-$950 or so range as well, slightly cheaper than the 100 4 channels, good luck

 

[Dude22mi]

Thanks man!!

 

[Dude22mi]

Well ended up taking the plunge and ordered a brand spinner new Marshall jvm 410! Also noticed while placing my order that Gibson lowered prices on some guitars sooooooo I also have a shiny new flying v in white coming with it!!!! I can't handle the wait its killing me!! Thanks for the advice guys I think the jvm is the way to go for me hope it lives up to my excitement and anticipation!

 

[Lriagan]

If you aren't in America, I'd suggest a JVM410hJS. The satch edition is basically JVM v2.0. And isn't much more than a regular one (again, if your not in america.)