Cant stand my marshall

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Chris Jahn

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Ive been playing heavy high gain guitar for who knows how long, and about a year ago i switched from a line 6 rack mount modeler that ran through a power amp, to a plain old marshall jcm 900, and i hate it.


I wanted tubes, i wanted straight forward, but it's just not the sound i wanted with any guitar, or any cab.

I want the versitlillity to go from heavy heavy hardcore metal sounds, to more AC/DC rock and roll sounds, to nice clean tone.

Ive been looking at the Orange rockaverb 50, and i love it, but its really expensive, almost 2 grand. anyone out there have a recomondation for somthing that does what i need for a lot cheaper!!!!
 
If you really liked your modeling pre-amp, what about coupling that with a Marshall power amp, like a 50/50? Have you looked for one of the older JMP-1s? You could put one of those in front of a poweramp as well. I think MF still has them, and they are about $1400, but they seem like a good compromise...more straightforward, but still MIDI controlled, etc. I don't know what they run used.
 
Chris Jahn said:
I want the versitlillity to go from heavy heavy hardcore metal sounds, to more AC/DC rock and roll sounds, to nice clean tone.
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Randall MTS is about the only amp I know of that can do all that..........And more.......

Want a killer hard rock/metal tone - Put a Keeley 808 in front of a RM20B with the tweed module. :D
 
Chris Jahn said:
Ive been playing heavy high gain guitar for who knows how long, and about a year ago i switched from a line 6 rack mount modeler that ran through a power amp, to a plain old marshall jcm 900, and i hate it.


I wanted tubes, i wanted straight forward, but it's just not the sound i wanted with any guitar, or any cab.

I want the versitlillity to go from heavy heavy hardcore metal sounds, to more AC/DC rock and roll sounds, to nice clean tone.

Ive been looking at the Orange rockaverb 50, and i love it, but its really expensive, almost 2 grand. anyone out there have a recomondation for somthing that does what i need for a lot cheaper!!!!
Click to expand...


Well....I've gotten all of those sounds out of a JCM900. :p

;)
 
Have you tried using an overdrive pedal in front of the amp? What cab are you using? Guitar? Pickups? There are a ton of factors that contribute to the sound of a tube amp. The Line 6 you had produced basically one sound, no matter what guitar you used. Switching from a modeler to an SS or tube amp will give you a more pronounced mid range. Before chucking the Marshall, I'd experiment with settings and trying out different pickups. The Marshall should produce the sounds you're looking for. The sound is light years away from a modeler, and takes a while to adjust, especially if you've used the modeler for so long.
 
Hmmmm,

In my experience, the 900 never had too great of a clean sound. But I guess thats a matter of opinion. I've always been partial to a "Fendery" kind of clean. The 900 is a decent amp though, which should do an OK job of doing an Angus Young sound, and do an OK metal sound - however, I don't think it does either well, and certainly has nowhere near the versatility of a MTS amp- especially if you get the 4 channel preamp and mate it with the dual power amp - one side is 6L6's and the other is EL34's - pretty much covers 95% of the bases.......
 
NL5 said:
Hmmmm,

In my experience, the 900 never had too great of a clean sound. But I guess thats a matter of opinion. I've always been partial to a "Fendery" kind of clean. The 900 is a decent amp though, which should do an OK job of doing an Angus Young sound, and do an OK metal sound - however, I don't think it does either well, and certainly has nowhere near the versatility of a MTS amp- especially if you get the 4 channel preamp and mate it with the dual power amp - one side is 6L6's and the other is EL34's - pretty much covers 95% of the bases.......
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I agree, it's not the pinnacle for any of those sounds. I just figured it was worth mentioning since he already has the amp. :D

However, I think they smoke for lead guitar tone. That's why I have one. ;)
 
Its kinda to thin, i guess, i play a less paul through it, and i use a 1960 lead 4x12 cab.

The guitar is a deluxe that somone messed with at some point, i forget what the bridge pick up is, but its been changed.

its funny, i went to the local guitar shop (the one that actullay knows what its talking about as apposed to guitar center) and told them my problem so they suggested a new pick up, so i bought the one they suggested and had them install it, they call me a day later and say that when they opened it up it already had THAT pick up in there. so im kinda lost with what to do with that one.

I guess i just used to a more recitfied sound ( the sound i used on my line 6) and im not used to the marshall. Ill check out some of the suggestions people posted.
 
yeah for leads, its fine, anything that needs to cut through like that, but for chords and power chords it loses toneality, it jsut kinda blurs toghether, and no matter how i set the eq, there is an ever present anoying high end.

And the clean SUCKS. i want clean like a twin verb, and heavy like a mesa boogie, with in between like a really cranked 800
 
metalhead28 said:
I agree, it's not the pinnacle for any of those sounds. I just figured it was worth mentioning since he already has the amp. :D

However, I think they smoke for lead guitar tone. That's why I have one. ;)
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They are a good amp no doubt - the 900 is why I'm half deaf - Our guitar player back in the early nineties had a full stack and insisted on playing it on 11. We had a 10x30 concrete walled storage shed to practice in. I had a 1200W bass rig, and we mic'd the drums with a 3k watt PA. It was badass, but left me half deaf...:D
 
Chris Jahn said:
And the clean SUCKS. i want clean like a twin verb, and heavy like a mesa boogie, with in between like a really cranked 800
Click to expand...

Sounds like you need an MTS amp........
 
Chris Jahn said:
Its kinda to thin, i guess, i play a less paul through it, and i use a 1960 lead 4x12 cab.

The guitar is a deluxe that somone messed with at some point, i forget what the bridge pick up is, but its been changed.

its funny, i went to the local guitar shop (the one that actullay knows what its talking about as apposed to guitar center) and told them my problem so they suggested a new pick up, so i bought the one they suggested and had them install it, they call me a day later and say that when they opened it up it already had THAT pick up in there. so im kinda lost with what to do with that one.

I guess i just used to a more recitfied sound ( the sound i used on my line 6) and im not used to the marshall. Ill check out some of the suggestions people posted.
Click to expand...

Call Bill Lawrence, he'll listen to what you need and make you a custom pickup. Do it, you won't be sorry, and it won't cost you much more than a massed produced pickup. I built a warmoth guitar about 3 years ago and Wanted a pickup that went from clean to good disortion and he made it happen, for like $80 bucks plus shipping I got a custom made bill lawrence pickup.
 
Ill check it out for shure, but have you heard the orange, they came out with a line of super high gain amps about three years ago, and they ROCK, its jsut the price.

Its the "rockaverb" series, check it out!!!!! Basically i know what i want, but was looking for a cheaper alternitive that mabye wasnt priced by name brand, mbye your randall is the answer!!
 
Ill chck out he pick up guy also, that last one was for NL5
 
Chris Jahn said:
Ill check it out for shure, but have you heard the orange, they came out with a line of super high gain amps about three years ago, and they ROCK, its jsut the price.

Its the "rockaverb" series, check it out!!!!! Basically i know what i want, but was looking for a cheaper alternitive that mabye wasnt priced by name brand, mbye your randall is the answer!!
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Have you tried any Peavey 6505's or 5150's? I finally got the money together for a 6505 a few weeks ago (my first all-tube amp after 15 years of playing... embarrassingly :o ), and I fucking love it.
 
Yeah actually, the other guitar player in my old band back in seattle had one (the 5150) with a gibson, and it was quite nice now that i think about it. ive never heard the ohter one you mentioned, is that a new series?? What the claim to fame on those?
 
The 6505 is the same amp. They don't make 5150's anymore since EVH broke his contract with Peavey. So they started calling them 6505's basically.
 
Chris Jahn said:
i want clean like a twin verb, and heavy like a mesa boogie, with in between like a really cranked 800
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Yet you bought none of those amps. Tube amps tend to be one trick ponies. Even amps that will let you dial in a couple different sounds normally won't let you switch between them. If you really want a diverse set of sounds, the Pod is the way to go. I would send the pod through either a Marshall or Mesa power amp. It makes a BIG difference.
 
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