A question for Greg (and anyone else who want's to chime in)

I generally avoid amps with a master volume or distortion knob because I prefer to have most of my gain come from just the power tubes. This means it either has to be really loud or a low wattage amp. The highest watt amp I have at my house is my Marshall 18-watt clone.
 
notCardio said:
OK, what about a bluesy SRV kind of tone, or something along those lines? Aside from the strat and 808 (and yes, his fingers), is that more of a pre or power tube sound?

And the AC/DC thing - if that's more power tubes, how much of that is speaker breakup? If you ran it into an attenuator to the point where it would push the speakers hard, I know it would affect the tone, but how close would it be?
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Regarding the SRV kind of tone, that was often no preamp distortion at all because he usually didn't play amps with master volumes. The exception to this may be the Dumble that he used at times, but the Fender amps he used (Twins, Super Reverbs, etc.) didn't have a master volume, so you achieved the dirt by cranking them up ... and of course his Tube Screamer added to it a bit as well.
 
Oh...ok...maybe that's what he meant...cobalts.
I guess that refers to the Ernie Ball Cobalts...?

The Curt Mangan strings already use high cobalt steel wire for their strings...so it's not anything new...they just don't use the name Cobalt on their packaging.
 
famous beagle said:
Regarding the SRV kind of tone, that was often no preamp distortion at all because he usually didn't play amps with master volumes. The exception to this may be the Dumble that he used at times, but the Fender amps he used (Twins, Super Reverbs, etc.) didn't have a master volume, so you achieved the dirt by cranking them up ... and of course his Tube Screamer added to it a bit as well.
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NMV amps can still have preamp distortion. They have preamp circuits, and preamp tubes, drive them hard and they will distort. Marshall Leads/Superleads have no master volume, but they do have "volume" knobs, and they essentially act like gain knobs with the amp permanently on 10. Turn the volumes to 1, and it's a 125 decibel clean that will shred your eardrums. Turn those volumes to 6 or 7 and it's still the same painful loud, but now you're getting into tone you would expect from Marshall because everything is starting to crunch up. The power amp distortion of Marshall non-master amps is somewhat of a myth. Original Plexis in particular have extremely tight power sections. They resist distortion until they just can't handle it anymore. A lot of that legendary Marshall tone comes from the phase inverter. Install a post phase inverter master volume on a non-master amp, and it will still get gnarly as hell, just at lower volumes.
 
Greg_L said:
NMV amps can still have preamp distortion. They have preamp circuits, and preamp tubes, drive them hard and they will distort. Marshall Leads/Superleads have no master volume, but they do have "volume" knobs, and they essentially act like gain knobs with the amp permanently on 10. Turn the volumes to 1, and it's a 125 decibel clean that will shred your eardrums. Turn those volumes to 6 or 7 and it's still the same painful loud, but now you're getting into tone you would expect from Marshall because everything is starting to crunch up. The power amp distortion of Marshall non-master amps is somewhat of a myth. Original Plexis in particular have extremely tight power sections. They resist distortion until they just can't handle it anymore. A lot of that legendary Marshall tone comes from the phase inverter. Install a post phase inverter master volume on a non-master amp, and it will still get gnarly as hell, just at lower volumes.
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Right ... sorry, I should have clarified that I was talking about Fender amps. I know that they technically do have preamp distortion as well. But I meant they don't have a dedicated preamp distortion/gain circuit like a Boogie or a JCM800, for instance.
 
famous beagle said:
Right ... sorry, I should have clarified that I was talking about Fender amps. I know that they technically do have preamp distortion as well. But I meant they don't have a dedicated preamp distortion/gain circuit like a Boogie or a JCM800, for instance.
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Right. The old NMV Marshalls are pretty much Fender Bassmans....with a few tweaks here and there that make them Marshalls.

Avoid a JCM 800 at your own peril though. It has a master and preamp vol, but don't let that deter you. It is pure unstoppable badassedness.
 
Greg_L said:
Avoid a JCM 800 at your own peril though. It has a master and preamp vol, but don't let that deter you. It is pure unstoppable badassedness.
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Back in the '90s I had a non-master volume JCM 800. I didn't know much about them, but the lads in the band at the time were hassling me to get a Marshall. I was using it clean so I never got the best out of it - I didn't even know about the jumper plug mod - one input was too dull, the other one too harsh! I couldn't get on with it and sold it in the end. We live and learn, eh?
 
Bubba po said:
Back in the '90s I had a non-master volume JCM 800. I didn't know much about them, but the lads in the band at the time were hassling me to get a Marshall. I was using it clean so I never got the best out of it - I didn't even know about the jumper plug mod - one input was too dull, the other one too harsh! I couldn't get on with it and sold it in the end. We live and learn, eh?
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Those are still Lead/Super Lead amps. They are the usual 1987/1959 "Plexi style" models made in the 80s so they wear JCM 800 clothes. They're fucking awesome, but they're not quite the same as the 2203/2204 master volume 800s.
 
Greg_L said:
Those are still Lead/Super Lead amps. They are the usual 1987/1959 "Plexi style" models made in the 80s so they wear JCM 800 clothes. They're fucking awesome, but they're not quite the same as the 2203/2204 master volume 800s.
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I hate Marshall's number/naming scheme. It's so damned confusing.
 
famous beagle said:
I hate Marshall's number/naming scheme. It's so damned confusing.
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It makes no sense at all. None. Most of the stuff lines up with Marshall eras, but you need to know the lingo to know what's what. Like a JCM 800 generally means 80s. Not intentionally, but that's what it means. The name JCM 800 itself doesn't actually mean anything. From there, the code numbers tell you what kind of JCM 800 it is. It can be a 2205, 2210, 2203, 2204, 1987, or 1959! They're all in JCM 800 clothes, but different amps. Same with JMPs. JMP will generally mean late 60s-through the 70s. If someone told me they have a JMP 2203, I'd know that means they have a late 70s 100w master vol amp...only because I know the lingo.
 
At the risk of sort of returning to the original topic, we played a gig last night where the PA and some of the equipment was provided. I was told a Marshall 4X12 cab would be provided, so I just took my TSL 100 head. Of course, it turned out to be an MG cab not a 1960A. If you're not familiar with these, they're about 10% smaller than a proper cab and sound a bit pants. On top of this the cab was miked with an AKG C1000 up against the grille! Now, I've never seen this before in over 30 years of gigging, but the sound guy was adamant that it was a good choice.

Anybody else seen or heard of this use for a C1000?
 
I had a c1000, but I never thought to put it on a cabinet. The mic is really bright, bordering on brittle. That cabinet is thin sounding when compared with a standard cab. I would vote against all of it.
 
Farview said:
I had a c1000, but I never thought to put it on a cabinet. The mic is really bright, bordering on brittle. That cabinet is thin sounding when compared with a standard cab. I would vote against all of it.
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Ditto. Those cabs are junk and that mic on a junk cab is a recipe for a poo sammich.
 
Greg_L said:
Ditto. Those cabs are junk and that mic on a junk cab is a recipe for a poo sammich.
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It's a good job my awesome tone transcended all of that, then. :facepalm:

I could've got into it with him about it, I suppose, seeing as I had my 57 in my gig bag, but I worked on the premise of "don't piss off the waiter who is going to be bringing you your food". I'm glad it wasn't just me who thought this was weird.
 
Haha. I stick a 57 and cab clamp in my bag of stuff. We've played 5 decent gigs since Bestival. On the whole, the sound guys were good. I think one of them might have been retarded. I used my own mic.

I couldn't even hear our drummer. I was watching her arms to keep time.
 
JDOD said:
Haha. I stick a 57 and cab clamp in my bag of stuff. We've played 5 decent gigs since Bestival. On the whole, the sound guys were good. I think one of them might have been retarded. I used my own mic.

I couldn't even hear our drummer. I was watching her arms to keep time.
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LOL. Even the good ones have an attitude problem sometimes. Our singer uses a retro "Elvis" style mic. Now, I know there are some utter crap ones about, but he spent a lot of dosh on a Shure super 55 from a reputable shop - it has the Beta 58 capsule inside, so it sounds and looks great live.

A few gigs ago we used a house PA and Kel plugged the centre mic cable into his mic. The sound twat came running over going "Don't go plugging that thing in, I've got a much better one in the mic box".

Of course, we turned around and said "this is about the best you can buy in this style - top of the range - it's a Super 55".

He came back with "oh, it must be a fake then - it doesn't have the bright blue grille foam".

"Yes it does" we replied, "you're looking at it under a yellow light".

"Where did you get it, off fleabay?" he continued with a sneer on his face. "No, from the biggest music shop in South Yorkshire, where our drummer works".

Twat, twats everywhere..... most of them running sound systems.
 
Holy shit, that's an extreme case. Piss funny though. Here's the contents of my bag o shite that I carry around with me. Packing now, rehersal tomorrow, important gig in London on Tuesday 20151101_185058.webp
 
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