Musician Gear & Tech Discussion

GA,

Wegmans sound in his profile is JCM 800, I think these were made in the 80s. I think his sound is straight with a little reverb sprinkled in. When I think of 80s metal and hair bands this is the sound I think of. These amps are great for that sound but not much else.

I personally like Mesa Rectifiers for playing live. On my profile the song The Day That Jesus Died is Mesa, so is Cotton Mouth. Cyber Outlaw is digital amp sounds in my recorder. I used a Marshall sound for rythym, Matchless for leads, and some Soldano for sparkle on the rythyms. You mentioned you had listened to my tunes in another thread, those songs have anywhere from 5 to 9 guitar tracks on them.

If you are in a volume situation nothing beats a 100 watt halfstack. However if you are playing a big variety of music and want effects the Line 6 POD XT is killer. As I said above I borrowed one and as soon as I can bid for one on e-bay I will have one. They even have a headphone out for silent practice. I havent looked at the Spider amps so I cant comment. In a staight amp I still prefer tube amps.

I see what you are saying. Yeah, I will look into the JCM since I am obsessed with metal, lol. However, I will really need to just keep my eyes wide opened for something to come around that is very good.

100 watt halfstack would be perfect for playing live, that is what my friend has. It is a 100 watt Marshall MG100DFX (Or something like that). It sounded great.

I liked his Line 6 POD XT Live. However, I have been looking into the Boss GT8 and the Korg AX3000g.

Hopefully I will figure this all out without insanity taking over, lol.

Peace out, GuitarAnatomy.

MG100DFX... uggghhh

One of my buddies uses a JCM 800 for metal. He just got done repairing it.

BEWARE: some heads do not take kindly to huge distorted metal compression. This is why they made the JCM 900.

Look up what Metallica uses. That should tell you more about the sound you desire and the head you want to use.

Kirk Hammett currently is endorsing Randall Amplifiers with his new amp. Although, Metallica mainly played through Marshall's back in the 1980's.

Up until this swap over to Randall Amplifiers, Kirk mainly used Mesa Boogie's, which are severely expensive. I have also never played one, which stinks, lol.

So I am not sure what I want.

I guess I play way too many styles of music to say exactly what I would like out of an amplifier. I do a lot of clean stuff, then I do a lot of heavy stuff, then I do a lot of in between, then I play some strange sounding stuff. It is a pickle I tell you!

Peace out, GuitarAnatomy.

Goto a pawn shop and play a JCM 900, if you are lucky they'll have a Randall and/or a Mesa Boogie.

I have played a Mesa Boogie. Don't like it.

Randall is the same effect.

The tone you will get from a JCM 900 will either impress you in 30 seconds or piss you off so badly, you'll know you want something else.

Either way, it will let you know in a hurry.

JCM 800, I think these were made in the 80s. When I think of 80s metal and hair bands this is the sound I think of. These amps are great for that sound but not much else.

LMAO!
I have to say that's funny, yet not completely accurate.
I can use (and have) my JCM800's from clean to Slayer to industrial to today's modern Death Metal. It all depends on what you use to drive the front end of the amp.
If all you can get a JCM800 to do is 80's Hair Metal - then you're limiting yourself.

Personally, I think of Soldano, Dean Markley and the Lee Jackson modified amps when I look back at 80's hair metal - that's what I remember seeing all the hairspray using Bon Jovi rejects using back then.

The JCM800 2203 is like a general utility amp - I've found it usfull for many types of sounds.

Chris,

We all have our opinions. I can frontload any ole amp to get the sound I like. I have never liked a JCM 800s clean sounds, sorry they just dont do it for me.

I worked for a sound company in the 80s and all the heavy metal hair bands used JCM 800. We would see something else occsionally but the 800 seemed to be the amp at that time.

GA if you were interested in a JCM 800, they made some combos 1x12 50 watt units that can be bought for 400-800 dollars on e-bay these days.

If you want something that is versatile, the preamps like the POD might be a good option.

As I said earlier I can take a distortion pedal or a preamp and make any amp get the sound I hear in my head. Currently I have 5 different amp combinations that I use, but if you heard a recording of each I dont think you could tell them apart.

JW,
No doubt. I will admit my bias for the 2203. LOL!

The Line 6 Vetta, POD-XT and POD-X3 are nice. I don't own the Vetta but I do have a fully loaded XT and the new X3. I don't use them with my Marshall backline, but I do use them for writing at home/traveling. I can't say enough good things about them.

Not to be stupid, but this has plagued me for a while... What is a preamp? What does that term mean? Also, what is this COSM modeling stuff I hear about with these effect pedals like the Boss GT-8?

Thanks for the advice on the JCM's, JW. I will look at them on Ebay.

Peace out, GuitarAnatomy.

The preamp is the stage before the power section of the amp. Your tone stack and gain stages are there.

I use a Boss GT-8 to drive my front end, but I disable all of the Boss/Roland COSM modeling. COSM sucks IMO, but the unit itself and effects are great. The best modeling I have heard is from Line 6 and Vox. I've been using Boss pedals forever, even the multieffects from their original ME-5, to the GX-700 and the GT-3.
I like Boss effects, but COSM stinks. T.C. Electronics G System and Nova stuff is not bad sounding but big $$$$.

For modeling, I would stick with Line 6 or Vox ToneLab LE, but really you should go try them all out at the store, get what sounds good to you. You may like COSM modeling, but I found it lacking the same feel/tone as Line 6 and Vox. Tho - COSM has improved over the years, but not enough for me.

I hear you guys about the JCM 800's.

(Chris) He does have a point about the JCM 800 2203. I know a few that use any ole distortion stomp box in conjunction with the gain channel on a 2203 and it comes alive. (As in Godzilla smashing Tokyo once again, looking for running food.)

I don't use that though. I have a 1979 JCM 800 100 watt head, single channel. It's a blues head first and foremost. I run a slew of effects through it and it's sounds like you really have left the planet for destinations unknown. If you listen to what we play, you'll notice that though it has some distortion, the level of it and compression is no where near METAL level. In short, it's different to say the least.

But I know another guy that has a new version of the same thing and he keeps blowing it up, as he desires a heavily distorted, compressed metal sound. And that head is putting up a fight.

If you try this with some of the older fender amps, you'll eventually need to repair them as well.

2203 is the guns and roses head or that's our understanding.

The JCM 900 is the quick fix and it sounds good to me if that's the sound you are looking for.

The preamp is the stage before the power section of the amp. Your tone stack and gain stages are there.

I use a Boss GT-8 to drive my front end, but I disable all of the Boss/Roland COSM modeling. COSM sucks IMO, but the unit itself and effects are great. The best modeling I have heard is from Line 6 and Vox. I've been using Boss pedals forever, even the multieffects from their original ME-5, to the GX-700 and the GT-3.
I like Boss effects, but COSM stinks. T.C. Electronics G System and Nova stuff is not bad sounding but big $$$$.

For modeling, I would stick with Line 6 or Vox ToneLab LE, but really you should go try them all out at the store, get what sounds good to you. You may like COSM modeling, but I found it lacking the same feel/tone as Line 6 and Vox. Tho - COSM has improved over the years, but not enough for me.

Hmm... I am lost, lol. It is the stage before the power section? So what would that specifically be... Are we talking in terms of a schematic of the structure of an amplifier... Like the placement of everything within the internal structure? I know nothing about that if that is the case.

Yeah, I like Boss pedals, at least what I know about them. I own a DS-1, it only cost $40, it was well worth it. It gives my cheap little amplifier some good distortion, it helps when playing rock or metal (Better for rock).

I can't answer in any more detail, that would be beyond my knowledge of amp construction. Yeah, basically, preamp is the section before the power section.

Think of a preamp as the colors to the artists' canvas. It colors the sounds before it is spit out of the speaker.

LOL - gotta love wiki!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Preamplifier