about JTM's

[smauk43]

Did a search and found out a little about the JTM 45, but I was perusing the evilbay and noticed the JTM 60 and 30 combos, and the cheaper price. There's always a reason for a cheaper price I know, but....I've never heard or even seen either of these to play. I've been looking for a smaller tube combo to play at home, these probably won't work, but they peaked my curiousity anyway. What's the scoop on these?

 

[Lake Placid Blues]

Re: about JTM's

The JTM60 and such are from the 90's. Their original market segment, was for those who couldn't afford the regular JCM900's, but wanted to step up to tubes. They are modern amps with high gain preamps, built in reverb, channal switching, and master volume. Moreover, they don't have a reputation for reliability, although they do have a good clean.

They are about as different from a JTM45, as a 90's Ford Tauris is from a 66 Shelby GT350 Mustang.

Hold out for a used re-issue Blues Breaker combo, if you want a more affordable JTM45 that you could use at home, or at a gig.

 

[smauk43]

Re: about JTM's

Thanks for that info.

I don't play a lot of clean, but not a high gain thrash player either. Mostly 80's hair stuff and along the lines of AC/DC. If the JTM 60 is more high gain maybe that wouldn't work, but in my rather noobish knowledge of tube amps (never owned one) wouldn't I need a master volume to get 80's type distortion at home? More than bedroom volume, I have the whole house, not just bedroom to play in. Haven't heard a Bluesbreaker either. Sucks when the nearest "big" retailer is 2 hrs. away and everything is Peavey and Fender. Not that there's anything wrong with those two, but it severly limits your options, new and used.

 

[Brow]

Re: about JTM's

I own a JTM60 1x12. It has a nice clean channel, and the Overdrive isn't anything like what I would refer to as high gain.

It's a very 'Classic Rock' sounding Overdrive sound in my opinion. Even with the gain upto 20, it still isn't anywhere near high gain territory

 

[ErikH]

Re: about JTM's

Look for a used JCM800 50 watt combo or a used JCM900 MkIII 50 combo. Those are perfect for AC/DC and 80's hair metal.

I wouldn't get one the 90's JTM's either. Overheating problems.

For a smaller amp than those, look at the Crate V Series 15 watter and the Fender Blues Jr. Good amps, low power, tube, but still plenty loud. Push 'em with either an overdrive or distortion and have at it.

 

[smauk43]

Re: about JTM's

I have played a Blues Jr., didn't really like it, maybe an overdrive pedal would work with it, but straight out, I liked the Classic 30 better. I know that the JCM 800's are what tone I'm after and what a lot of the 80;s bands used, but having never played one, wasn't sure if they could get there at tolerable volumes.

 

[tone?]

Re: about JTM's

Ok im gonna say this again for the hundreth time.
DO NOT GET ONE OF THESE MARSHALLS!!!!!!
JTM60 AND 30'S ARE A NIGHTMARE.

i owned one and had problems with it all the time.
people who dont have problems with them are a select lucky few.

not lucky cause the amps are amazing just lucky cause so many of these amps are lemons.
they have a serious design flaw.
They are pretty decent sounding amps but take a look inside of one and you will see what super low quality means.
the PCB boards on these amps are that of a transistor radio!

if i could do it all over again for the years that i had that amp i would have much prefered to have a good SS amp.

 

[Rich_S]

Re: about JTM's

Yup. Look at a good close-up of a JTM60 or JTM30 back panel on eBay, and you'll see the problem. Lots of really hot tubes crammed into a tiny little enclosed chassis. No wonder they have problems - they literally bake themselves to death.

If you need tha watts, look into a JCM800 or JTM45 reissue. If 18 Watts is enough, look at 18 Watters. Look at Hoss' Blues Junior thread for info on how they can be converted to 18 Watter specs.

 

[Lake Placid Blues]

Re: about JTM's

Thanks for that info.

..... wouldn't I need a master volume to get 80's type distortion at home? More than bedroom volume, I have the whole house, not just bedroom to play in. Haven't heard a Bluesbreaker either.....

The blues breaker combo isn't a terribly loud amp. It's about 30 watts and it usually has two 25 watt green backs. Green backs are not really loud speakers. It's loud enough to gig with, but not nearly as loud as a 50 watt JCM800 for home use. The thing about JCM800 master volumes is that they sound lazy and buzzy with the master turned down, and the gain turned up. They sound great turned up, but then they can be pretty loud.

For home use, or for gigging for that matter, you can always put a good overdrive pedal in front of Blues Breaker.

For hair metal, you will probably still need a pedal in front of a JCM 800 2204.

 

[smauk43]

Re: about JTM's

Thanks for that advice, not the first time I've heard the 800 would probably be unworkable at moderate volumes. Looks like I'm off on that 2hr trip to find a Bluesbreaker, or back to the Evilbay. Love the sound clips of the Marshall Guvnor pedal, wonder if that would work with a Bluesbreaker?

 

[Lake Placid Blues]

Re: about JTM's

Listen to Gary Moore's Still Got the Blues. That's supossed to be a guvnor, or BB pedal (set for clean boost) through a JTM45 re-issue.

Good luck on finding a BB. They can be rather hard to find, but I think you will find it worth while.

 

[jdm61]

Re: about JTM's

The trick with the JTM45 is not to use too much speaker....one guy plugged mine into a JCM 300w cab and the amp just couldn't push those lower efficiency speakers, but it use to ROCK with the Bandmaster cab i used. You wouldn't have needed any kind of gain pedal IMHO.....the thing just smoked:fingersx:

 

[fretburner]

Re: about JTM's

Ok im gonna say this again for the hundreth time.
DO NOT GET ONE OF THESE MARSHALLS!!!!!!
JTM60 AND 30'S ARE A NIGHTMARE.

i owned one and had problems with it all the time.
people who dont have problems with them are a select lucky few.

not lucky cause the amps are amazing just lucky cause so many of these amps are lemons.
they have a serious design flaw.
They are pretty decent sounding amps but take a look inside of one and you will see what super low quality means.
the PCB boards on these amps are that of a transistor radio!

if i could do it all over again for the years that i had that amp i would have much prefered to have a good SS amp.

I must be one of the lucky few I guess... I got a JTM60 1x15 and never had problems with it... of course, i rarely use it for more than a couple of hours in a day... but yeah, still a very very nice amp.

I also agree about it being more of a vintage OD than high gain... not sure about the ACDC sound, but I love to play GnR's "Night Train" through it... for all the other stuff that I do, I stomp on my Marshall Shredmaster.

Rock on!

 

[smauk43]

Re: about JTM's

That's interesting, I probably AVERAGE an hour a day. Work gets in the way too much, as well as the kid and golf (which has paid via skins games for a couple guitar related items over one particulary good 4-5 week stretch :butkick: ). But I plan on devoting more time to playing guitar. Went on a long amp shopping trip today. Didn't find much in the way of used stuff at all, and not a lot of new stuff excites me to be honest, well at least stuff that won't shatter the windows in the house. I'm just gonna have to take time and hunt down a Bluesbreaker, or maybe chance a Traynor YCV with a return policy, or just go with something like the Tech 21 TM60 analog modeler.

 

[Simon_F]

Re: about JTM's

I must be one of the lucky few I guess... I got a JTM60 1x15 and never had problems with it... of course, i rarely use it for more than a couple of hours in a day... but yeah, still a very very nice amp.

I also agree about it being more of a vintage OD than high gain... not sure about the ACDC sound, but I love to play GnR's "Night Train" through it... for all the other stuff that I do, I stomp on my Marshall Shredmaster.

Rock on!

I had a JTM60 2x12 combo for a long time, gigged it plenty of times (no backup!) and NEVER had any problems with it. It sounded excellent - very versatile and rockin' amp. When I wanted to sell it to make room and cash for other gear, I advertised it in The Trading Post and sold it to a member of this forum - I wouldn't have risked my reputation here by doing that if I hadn't been confident it was a good amp. Mounting the tubes horizontally probably wasn't Marshall's greatest design decision, but that amp never let me down and it sounded great at gig volumes.

 

[Misterbrit]

Re: about JTM's

Owned a JTM60 2x12 for approx 10 yrs now ,never any problems ,no overheating. These amps seem to get an undeserved bad rap for some reason.Mine has never failed me. This is a pretty versatile amp.

 

[fretburner]

Re: about JTM's

That's interesting, I probably AVERAGE an hour a day. Work gets in the way too much, as well as the kid and golf (which has paid via skins games for a couple guitar related items over one particulary good 4-5 week stretch :butkick: ). But I plan on devoting more time to playing guitar. Went on a long amp shopping trip today. Didn't find much in the way of used stuff at all, and not a lot of new stuff excites me to be honest, well at least stuff that won't shatter the windows in the house. I'm just gonna have to take time and hunt down a Bluesbreaker, or maybe chance a Traynor YCV with a return policy, or just go with something like the Tech 21 TM60 analog modeler.

Well... I didn't mean I play 7 days a week... it's usually just on a saturday... I'd be lucky if I get to plug in 3x a week.

The most "abuse" my amp got was me and my bro making turns with it for like 6 hours... it did get pretty hot, but nothing broke... and man, did it sound much better when it got pretty hot! The beauty of tube amps

 

[Tom M]

Re: about JTM's

I've had a JCM600 combo for 2+ years now, and haven't had a problem with it regarding overheating. It gets used every day, and hasn't broken once.

Cleans are amazing, OD is very versatile, and the reverb is pretty good too.