Heavy distortion pedal into clean or cleanish jtm derived amp?

ThePrettyDamned · August 2014

I heard *the* clean and overdrive tone in my head yesterday in a bar.

It was a marshall jtm45 reissue, and the player had both a strat and a 2 humbuggy tele. Both sounded great, clean single coil chime and the buckers had a nice raunchyness.

So... With that in mind, knowing I could save for a UK made one with power scaling/attenuation, or a used reissue... (@martinw, Stoneham and jpf, I'm looking at you!)

How would they take to, say, a digitech hardwire metal distortion? I like to djent out, something I know the pedal can do with a ts in front, but I love love love that pretty strat tone, hendrix esque ideas... Basically, my want for that is outweighing the want for a high power metal monster.

So, opinions?

monquixote · August 2014

I think that the power section on the JTM is going to prevent you getting the real hard edged metal sound regardless of what you put in the front pedal wise.

JTM45s are super awesome though.

ThePrettyDamned · August 2014

monquixote;317604" said:
I think that the power section on the JTM is going to prevent you getting the real hard edged metal sound regardless of what you put in the front pedal wise.

JTM45s are super awesome though.

Yeah, I'm kinda worried that'll happen. I could get a great metal tone from a mooer 5 watter based on the ac30! But at higher volume, it excelled at looser sounds, regardless of the gain level, and the mids were best dialled back a bit.

You are right - it sounded amazing. Just a brilliant sound that covers every genre well, bar metal.

mike_l · August 2014

The Digitech Metalmaster is brilliant for the high-gain scooped "metal" sound. And they can be ad ew for around £30.........

Failing that, ping me, and try any of my gear, there's a slight pissabolity I have a couple of loud pedals.

ThePrettyDamned · August 2014

mike_l;317612" said:
The Digitech Metalmaster is brilliant for the high-gain scooped "metal" sound. And they can be ad ew for around £30.........

Failing that, ping me, and try any of my gear, there's a slight pissabolity I have a couple of dozen of loud pedals.

Corrected for you.

Yeah, I wouldn't mind trying a couple out at some point. I don't have much to let you try, but I do have a grainy high gainer and a porn pedal. I mean, Qtron.

mike_l · August 2014

Gis a shout, we'll get something sorted.

kelvinburn · August 2014

@ThePrettyDamned ; What about an amp that gets the distorted sound you want when cranked then use a Detox EQ to clean it up?

ThePrettyDamned · August 2014

mike_l;317615" said:
Gis a shout, we'll get something sorted.

I'll message you when I'm back from the red light district mate.

kelvinburn;317842" said:
@ThePrettyDamned What about an amp that gets the distorted sound you want when cranked then use a Detox EQ to clean it up?

It's a thought, but the tight sound I like is from preamp gain - and an eq or signal cut somewhere won't give a wonderful tone really... I've tried with a few, and once you're in that gain territory, the clean up goes to a pretty dirty clean, rather than 'edge of breakup strat tone'. If that makes sense!

kelvinburn · August 2014

Gotcha. Twin amp set up then

Dave_Mc · August 2014

Had you been drinking?

Also I prefer to use suitable kit, but that's just me. There's more than one way to skin a cat, of course, but I normally try the tried and tested approach first.

ICBM · August 2014

As long as you don't push the volume and make it sag a JTM45 should be tight enough for metal with the right pedal…. I think. Although I know more about JTM45s than I do about metal. If it's not tight enough, replace the GZ34 with a (non-valve-emulating) solid-state rectifier. At that point it will be more or less as tight as a JMP50.

timmysoft · August 2014

People told me I'd never get a modern metal tone from a laney vc30 loaded with greenback. Mesa throttle box will turn any amp into a metallic warhorse, even with my old tele it sounded proper metal!

Gassage · August 2014

If you have the readies, Charlie Chandler has a Cornell Plexi 18/20 for sale for £900. It's a 2 x 10- would deffo do the trick....I was gonna get it until I went all Hiwatty.

martinw · August 2014

ICBM said:

As long as you don't push the volume and make it sag a JTM45 should be tight enough for metal with the right pedal….

+1.

It's also easy to do a couple of slight tweaks to tighten up the (huge) bottom end on the JTM, which after all, was based on a bass amp.

You could increase the stiffness of the power supply a tad too.

meltedbuzzbox · August 2014

timmysoft said:

People told me I'd never get a modern metal tone from a laney vc30 loaded with greenback. Mesa throttle box will turn any amp into a metallic warhorse, even with my old tele it sounded proper metal!

I think you can sound metal through pretty much anything. A combination of working your amp EQ and the odd pedal

I reckon my Jazzmaster, Jackhammer and Twin amp would give most things a run for their money

Listen to most records and you will realise most players dont have the gain up to ten, it compresses the sound too much and it gets lost in a mix really easily. It just goes to mush.

Ultimately the genre is all about what you are playing, not what you are playing it on

ThePrettyDamned · August 2014

Dave_Mc;317871" said:
Had you been drinking?

Also I prefer to use suitable kit, but that's just me. There's more than one way to skin a cat, of course, but I normally try the tried and tested approach first.

Only the one. End of the trip, so money is tight

It really sounded amazing - it would do for most of my playing, and I wonder whether it would be okay.

Edit: the correct tool for the job would probably be a mesa or diezel - which are way out of my price range. Used jtm45s are actually not terribly priced... And UK built alternatives are around.

martinw;317942" said:
ICBM said:

As long as you don't push the volume and make it sag a JTM45 should be tight enough for metal with the right pedal….

+1.It's also easy to do a couple of slight tweaks to tighten up the (huge) bottom end on the JTM, which after all, was based on a bass amp.You could increase the stiffness of the power supply a tad too.

Not entirely sure what the stiffness is - but yes, this is good news.

I really enjoyed the sounds I heard - he stepped on a pedal, and it just boosted the volume and gave a great od tone for crunchy rhythm. But when just using unboosted single coils, it was a lovely, rich clean sound with no breakup at all.

It is the first sound that really wowed me since I heard a peavey 6505 at volume. Just incredible, but opposite end of the spectrum!

Dave_Mc · August 2014

ThePrettyDamned said:

Only the one. End of the trip, so money is tight

It really sounded amazing - it would do for most of my playing, and I wonder whether it would be okay.

Edit: the correct tool for the job would probably be a mesa or diezel - which are way out of my price range. Used jtm45s are actually not terribly priced... And UK built alternatives are around.

Oh yeah I mean absolutely- if that's the sound you want then get it. And as others have been saying, you can get tones with "unsuitable" kit for a variety of styles of music.

Just my big concern is you might not be happy down the line. I mean that JTM copy is liable to be no cheaper (or not much cheaper) than a 6505, for example. It's one thing paying a lot less money for something unsuitable. It's another thing paying the same amount of money as would have bought you the suitable thing.

ThePrettyDamned · August 2014

Yeah, I know what you mean.

I don't think I can set a 6505 up like that... I'll have another go when in store. But this was really great sounding - I'll have to compromise whichever way I go.

Still wondering if I can hold out for a dual rec. Hmm...

Richardj · August 2014

The Catalinbread DLS was pretty awesome for what I consider to be classic high gain Marshall type noise.

Will PM you with another idea.

fastboy · August 2014

Obviously not a JTM but another oldie you could try is the Laney Klipp. They can be had very cheaply and the clean channel is lush with lots of defined bottom end.

Don't expect much from the klipp channel unless you like harsh take your head off treble

p90fool · August 2014

The JTM 45 RI is a fantastic pedal platform, but doesn't have a vast amount of headroom, so it can get a little mushy when pushed hard.

As above though, you can mod them, or you could get a 1987x, which may be closer to your ideal compromise.

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Heavy distortion pedal into clean or cleanish jtm derived amp?

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