Clean boost for modded dsl 50

Gassage

I must admit I had a hankering for the old JCM800 2 x 12 combo for a bit. I do think there are some good Marshalls but I see them as exactly that- Marshalls. I see Fenders and Hiwatts as a slightly more versatile thing with more colours and shades than the deep blackness of Marshall.

mike_l

The deep blackness of Marshall is awesomes though.

Gassage

Indeed, indecently so. And everyone needs black in their wardrobe

mike_l

@Dave_Mc I think you'll love the Dist+.

I find it great after wah/flange/phase into the front of a dirty amp/pedal. Clear as you like, almost like an extra gain stage for the dirty sound.

Dave_Mc

^ Thanks

Not here yet )

SquireJapan

Just my 2p (and slightly late to the party). I've been playing with my old JCM900 master volume and a few pedals. 

The two top pedals were the DS1 and SD1. The DS1 if you want to sound like Steve Vai, and the SD1 for more old school "Rawwwk!".

I'd actually had the Mesa EQ pedal in the loop, but found I didn't really need it with the SD1 (the DS1 needed a bit of taming in the higher mid). Both pedals had the tone controls turned to about 9 o clock (so down a bit).

Tried a few of the amp in a box pedals, they all sounded like poo. Bear in mind that the JCM900 MV gain starts at "crunchy" and goes from there, there is no clean ... Also, I tried the OS2 I'd recently bought and couldn't make it sound anything other than pure fizzy crap (it's fine in the trusy Laney World Series ...).

For completeness I was playing into a rectifier 2x12 with V30s.

joeyowen

I played an SD1 for a short while, didn't work too well with a vox, but really enjoyed the sound of the gain it had, and how well it cleaned up

And with all Boss pedals, built like a tank! I honestly think you could throw this off a cliff and it would still sound good

Voxman

Danban - Have you tried an EQ in the FX loop yet (- W shape might be best to start with)? You'll be amazed at the difference (both with or without an external distortion).  

siraxeman

exe

Voxman;365537" said:

Danban - Just wondering mate if this discussion might have been better aimed at the fx section rather than the guitar section to get best support from folk? 

I've a Marshall JCM2000 DSL401 so I'll do my best to offer some help if I can.  If memory serves I think the C12/choke mod is to 'tighten up' the red distortion channel as a lot of folk find it gets muddy really quickly. I've heard amps with this mod but I find I get way better results by either 'jacking' the FX loop to give a boost and 'tighten' the amp, or (even better) inserting a simple 7-band stomp EQ in the FX loop - makes the amp sound stonking!

I'm not quite clear as to what you're trying to do - presumably your DSL still has the clean (green) and the 2 (amber and red) OD channels  -  so when you say 'drive the pre-amp stage' what exactly do you mean, and why would you think that an external pedal wouldn't work with your amp?  What I mean is, a boost or tubescreamer will work with any amp (although of course it will sound different depending on the amp).  

Sounds like a tsl more than a dsl to me.....green amber red on a dsl?

Gassage

joeyowen said:

And with all Boss pedals, built like a tank! I honestly think you could throw this off a cliff and it would still sound good

@joeyowen - I tried this.

Experienced a considerable volume drop.

Voxman

"Green amber red on a dsl sounds more like a tsl".

You know you got me going there and i just switched the amp on to double check. But yes there are three channels. Green is clean, amber is od1 and red (or orange) is od2. The amp is a 2003 jcm2000 dsl40.

ThorpyFX

danban said:

Cheers guys for the info, What I like doing is keeping the gains on the amp down and use the pedal as clean boost to drive the preamp side hotter before gain settings.

I used to do it to my old triple rec and it made the amp sound alot richer and full.

Basically giving it a more natural boost, settings wise I use the gain off, volume off and tone know to desired taste and permanently on.

At the risk of spamming you with stuff that I'm selling, id suggest either a SHO (I'm listing a micro clone in the classifieds) or a treble booster ( i have a clone of the Naga viper available).  The Sho type pedals have a lot of clean headroom and add a real sparkle to your guitar signal even when wound all the way down. Wound all the way up it is such a kick in your amps balls that it'll send your preamp into tonal heaven,  great circuit all-round. A treble booster sounds great in front of a marshall, really nails that classic rock thing to a tee. clearly other people sell such items too.

mike_l

siraxeman said:

Sounds like a tsl more than a dsl to me.....green amber red on a dsl?

Yep

Green = clean

amber = dirt

red = dirt with lead boost on.

Personally I prefer to use stompie for a lead boost as the amp's boost is a bit mid/low-end heavy, and seems to miss a bit off the top end.

Voxman

mike_l;368382" said:

siraxeman said:

Sounds like a tsl more than a dsl to me.....green amber red on a dsl?

Yep

Green = clean

amber = dirt

red = dirt with lead boost on.

Personally I prefer to use stompie for a lead boost as the amp's boost is a bit mid/low-end heavy, and seems to miss a bit off the top end.

Exactly right. The od2 can be muddy and get lost in the mix. Jacking the fx loop helps to give a volume boost and add a little more definition. But putting a 7 band stomp eq in the fx loop solves the problem and makes it sound like a different amp. The difference in definition is literally stunning and it makes the amp sound as it should.