Posted: Mon Feb 22, 2016 7:37 pm Post subject: JMP 50
Hey Scott,
This is my first time posting and I want to say thanks for all the great information you've posted here and tasteful music you've created over your career. You are a big inspiration for guys like me. WEATHER REPORT!
I saw you live for the fist time at Reggies a few months back and it was awesome man. No one was there and you made fun of us for not bringing our girls friends, but you were very nice to me after the show and I'll always appreciate you answering my questions. I'll never forget when you guys sound checked Black Market, I almost shit myself. Then played it 10x faster in the set.
I play a Suhr Badger 35 with your new RC and the SD-9 when I need some serious grease. I really love this amp. I found a supposed 1972 JMP 50 locally on craigslist at a pawn shop I'm going to go check out soon. But I don't know if it would be a step up from the Badger. I work at a local shop here in KC so I'm exposed to vintage gear and want the Marshall for investment sake alone. But tone is king and I've never played a JMP. Do you have any experience with these amps? Can you give me any insight to what I would be getting/losing in comparison to the Suhr? I need to make sure the inside hasn't been fiddled with too much. If caps have been replaced is it worth it? I know now that I'm a Marshall guy so maybe its time to get the real deal.
Thanks for the kind words - glad you liked the show at Reggies! If it's a real 1972 JMP 50 and it's hand wired, it'll only go up in value so it's a good investment.
The bad news is - Even 50 watt Marshalls' are LOUD and there's no master volume. A pedal won't sound great with it unless you're able to turn it up to at least 7 and get the power tubes working. If you're playing small clubs, that could be an issue. Of course you could always use it with an attenuator.
The good news is - it's a class AB amp, which will sound much fatter in the low mids than your Badger. I'm not knocking it because I have one myself, but in my opinion class A amps (Badger, Matchless, Vox, etc.) are only good for that twangy blues sound. They're seriously missing the low mids which give you the big, fat sound of a Marshall or Fender. Class A amps also have a very high treble frequency which can't be dialed out since there's no presence knob - this results in fizziness with high gain pedals. If you're playing blues, the Badger is a great amp and I use mine a lot for recording, but a 1972 Marshall is the real deal for rock.
Ehi Scott.
Before getting into my question which relates to this JMP 50 topic, I feel the urgence to point out again how much ispiring is to me ANY of your records, from Players' (I remeber well the first time I listened to The Creeping Terror.... It was like listening to someone just landed from Mars!!), to JZ Syndicate's (Immigrants and your round tone there, those subtle bluesy phrases on No mercy, still today make me get the rid of anything else I'm doing, go picking up my axe and play!!), from Dog Party (so surprised about you blues turn by then) to.... Vibe Station, which I love as the latter stage of such a smart, successful solo career and of your always evolving music language.
I have learnt so much from you, and it's kind of a dream having the chance to chat directly, asking questions, sharing ideas and gaining always honest and trusty advices. Nobody could feel luky as I do when posting here!
Yes, listening to you playing has a kind of guitar viagra effect on me... lol!!
All that being said, here is my point: I have a gorgeous amp, wich costed me quite a lot, being a boutique JMP 50 replica hand made in the US. I'm not too much at practicing with amp simulators and earphones, so when possible (I live in an appartment crowded with working humans) I play my MV plexi, at a very low volume though. The amp builder, being a purist, told me in advance how he was on the fence with supplying a JMP with the MV mod, although a lot of customers (including myself) were asking for it.
Result is that all my costy gear, from guitar to carefully chosen pedals, sound thin and fizzy, through an amp which is driven with MV set at a just udible volume. Such a pity.... Therefore I am thinking about buying me a power attenuator, though I know it will never sound like the real thing.
Any good advice from your side? Have you any experience with that? Think that before having a better idea about the gorgeus crunchy tone I could get through my RC Booster I had to watch the YT video where you compare the old one with the recently issued RC booster w 2 channels.
Thanks in advance for everything!
Fabio _________________ Germino Club 40 plexi replica + EJ Strat w Suhr ML st. pups. I'm not asking for more so far (but... who knows...?)
Thanks Fabio - I appreciate your support over the years! To be honest, an attenuator will work, but they only sound good when you turn them down a few clicks, and that might not be enough for the low volume you want to play.
Another option is speaker IR's. You can buy a reactive load box which takes the place of the speaker cabinet. The load box puts out a line level signal which you feed into your computer, and then use virtual speakers and hear your guitar through your monitors. They sound great, and the software and virtual speakers are only about 20 dollars. This way you can turn your amp up loud, but listen as soft as you want.
Thanks Scott.
Well, we do know that those tone babies need to be pushed a bit to work properly, as well as we know that cab speakers they do need enough air feed to sing as expected.
Therefore I see that using a speaker simulator to drive monitor (with their smaller speakers) should work, even though I do have not idea of what a speaker simulator you mention is. I will surf the wab in search of more info.
But there's another point: my amp is too loud also on the stage! I recently was in a gig w a hard rock band, and having set MV half the way, band mates (rhythm guitar, bass, drums + the singer!), not mentioning the PA guy, were complaining about my guitar volume. Not having any fx loop (as said is a vintage JMP 50 period.correct replica), wich could have been useful for hoocking up a volume ped to balance between lead and rhythm parts, my amp is forever meant not to work at its best. Think what happens when i'm playing fusion / electric jazz...a real mess!
Buying me an attenuator would work either as a dummy load, using the line output (which I see is almost a market standard) to drive signal over the mac to monitors, and live onstage to achieve an acceptable volume. Greg Germino (the amp builder) tells me he is sure the MV does not affect the tone quality when set from 1 o'clock onward. According to what you say, a few click of reduction would help me to reach the right compromise between volume and tone.
There's a third option suggested by Greg himself: I could set power supply switch to 240 volts (220 is the wall value almost everywhere in Europe), "browning" the amp. It should result in a lower volume, with the amp "browned up' for a more gritty tone. But I'm on the fence with that, as I expect to work more with guitar volume to clean up the sound when needed, loosing highs and overall brightness (...Scott Henderson says .
And so: would you suggest any power attenuators models on the market you have had any experience with?
Thanks again
Fabio _________________ Germino Club 40 plexi replica + EJ Strat w Suhr ML st. pups. I'm not asking for more so far (but... who knows...?)
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