Marshall pedal day

mike_l

Today is a NPD, a Marshall JH-1 (C/O @Monquixote) and (slightly deferred from Christmas day) a GV-2 (From @ThePrettyDamned).

 

Should be an interesting afternoon.

 

Proper reviews when I've had a good play. :-)

monquixote

Have fun Mike 

They are both great pedals!

ICBM

Yes, great pedals!

Persist with the distortion mode on the Jackhammer if you don't like it initially - it needs totally different settings from the overdrive, and most people try the overdrive first, dial it in for that and and then find the distortion sounds dreadful. It's the one flaw with it, that you can't easily switch between both modes on the fly.

The Guv'nor is one of the best Marshall-in-a-box pedals there is irrespective of price. Seriously, it sounds better than several posh ones costing three or four times as much that I've tried. It's a bit more of a 'preamp' than an 'overdrive' though - best into a clean(ish at least) amp. The 'deep' control is something like a 4x12" resonance simulator, so be careful .

mike_l

@ICBM ; that's almost exactly word-for-word what Monquixote said.

I'm going in with my usual set everything half-way to start and see what happens.

I shall be starting with a clean amp, and see what happens...........

57Deluxe

It is only the first generation of Marshall Guv'nors that have that vibe... And now you will have to pay handsomely for them...

ICBM

57Deluxe said:

It is only the first generation of Marshall Guv'nors that have that vibe...

Disagree! I prefer the second one.

The first one is more of an overdrive pedal, even though it has full EQ, and is now ridiculously overpriced for such a simple and quite poorly-built (despite its size and weight) pedal.

martinw

Just for balance, I hate the Guv'nor II!

mike_l

57Deluxe said:

It is only the first generation of Marshall Guv'nors that have that vibe... And now you will have to pay handsomely for them...

I had one. Like a moron I sold it.
(

Flanging_Fred

Are Mk1 guvnors over priced? The ones on eBay seem to go for about £50 or so. They were that much new back in 1990. It's the Mk1 blues breakers and shredmasters that seem to sell for a lot more.

I considered selling my Mk1 Guvnor but didn't bother in the end because they didn't seem to sell for much. I'm glad I kept it though, they're a bit picky about amps but sound amazing with a JCM800. It's like JVM800squared!

mike_l

Results.... (JH = JH-1 Jackhammer, GV = GV-2 Guv'nor2) Tested with a Charvel So-Cal pro-mod, AKA Sammie.

Both need their EQ sections setting fairly carefully

Both have bass levels available that can be measured in tonnes (metric or otherwise)

Both have gain levels available as above

When cranked

The JH is more 80's metal (Van Halen etc) without being "Wasp in a jar"

The GV is more heavy-rock/punk (Motorhead)

Both have good EQ sections.

Both do the "Marshall-in-a-box" to a greater or lesser extent. (Depends on your own interpretation)

The GV would do a better "classic-rock" (For my ear) than the JH.

Both are great pedals. I'll be keeping both. 

mike_l

ICBM said:

 

Persist with the distortion mode on the Jackhammer if you don't like it initially - it needs totally different settings from the overdrive, and most people try the overdrive first, dial it in for that and and then find the distortion sounds dreadful. It's the one flaw with it, that you can't easily switch between both modes on the fly.

 

:> Actually, and unusually for me, I preferred the distortion mode to the overdrive, but that's not to say the OD is bad....

I do agree that the EQ needs adjusting between drive and distortion

kelvinburn

Mk2s are excellent for qotsa style alt rock too.

ThePrettyDamned

Glad you like the guvnor!

It's a great pedal, it sounds good across the gain range, but it does need time for eq and the amount of bass and resonance available is stonking. I had both set low, and it still sounded massive...

gearaddict

I really like those compact Marshall pedals generally. I’ve had the Jackhammer and the Guv’nor and liked them both but they didn’t stay on my board all that long as I don’t really need a distortion pedal. The Echohead delay has been on my board for years though and has seen off quite a few other delay pedals. It’s a great-sounding thing and not silly money.

stonevibe

I did 'the mod' on my GV-2 the one where you snip one connection. Made the EQ section a bit more useable.

Also own an old Guv'nor and its pretty good, only thing that isn't is the switches normally go (I have owned a lot of them over the years) but apart from that they are great.

The KOTv4 sounded just like my Guv'nor, so I sold it and kept the Marshall.

Lixarto

ICBM said:

57Deluxe said:

It is only the first generation of Marshall Guv'nors that have that vibe...

Disagree! I prefer the second one.

The first one is more of an overdrive pedal, even though it has full EQ, and is now ridiculously overpriced for such a simple and quite poorly-built (despite its size and weight) pedal.

Yes, I prefer the current one too.

mike_l

With my current settings (into a clean amp) the GV-2 is more Deep Purple, the JH (distortion side) is more Judas priest.

 

I like both. Having these, and a drive channel on the DSL effectively gives me 3 drive channels, with different voicings yet all Marshall.

ICBM

A friend of mine used that exact set-up - the pedals are so good he preferred them to the amp's distortion channel, so he used the pedals for the actual sound and the amp channel as a solo boost, with the gain set low enough that it basically sounded like the clean channel.

mike_l

@ICBM I shall do something similar, but I'll try a Bad Monkey in front of them first.

Also I like a Microamp in the loop for a volume boost, so I'll have an experiment with that too.

ThePrettyDamned

I'm glad you like the gv2. For some reason, it gets quite a bit of negative press and people immediately mod it. I really liked it, and really thought it had a few good sounds in it, it just took a bit of dialling. Especially the resonance thing, which is awesomely powerful and can easily piss off a bass player

Good luck with the both of them! Let us know how you get on with mix and match. It took the vs route 66 tubescreamer really well for an increase in gain and sustain.

mike_l

I found sounds I like with both really easily. Not too much treble, or mids, a little bass, and enough gain.

I'm going to try them with a Strat tonight and compare SC and 'bucker sounds.

Somehow I get the feeling into a dirty amp they'll sound shite, into a clean amp they're fantastic.