Hmm what would have better tone from Overdriving?

[britishgeetah]

Trying out a Fender Bassman, Fender Super/Deluxe Reverb or a Marshall JCM 900...

okay, I may have worded the thread title wrong but I mean what would either of them sound like distorted? I know that the 6l6's would obviously sound different from the el34's but I'm needing a description...

 

[jeremy]

Re: Hmm what would have better tone from Overdriving?

the big difference is that the fender amps are old school, no gain controls. you want overdrive you turn the volume up LOUD.
the jcm 900 has much more gain on tap and some of that gain comes from clipping solid state diodes which leads to lots of buzzy preamp gain where the fenders have a much throatier thicker touch sensitive tone.

ive owned all those amps at some point and the fender dlx/super reverb amps are great for clean tones and overdrive but to get the overdrive you need to crank those suckers up which means at low volumes you need pedals to get any fur around the notes. the bassman option depends on if its tweed or bf/sf. the tweed amps are my favorites and have some of the best overdriven tones but again they need to be turned up to get the goods.

all are cool amps but depending on your situation one will probably work best

 

[greendy123]

Re: Hmm what would have better tone from Overdriving?

Which models of the jcm 900 are you talking about? If you talking about the master volume versions think of them as modded jcm 800s with more gain. As for the channel switching jcm 900s they have a completely different tone. Someone else the forum with experience with them can probably fill you in.

 

[Gearjoneser]

Re: Hmm what would have better tone from Overdriving?

Tweed - Clapton, Buddy Guy
Super - SRV/Mayer/KWS
JCM 900 - KISS, Judas Priest, Motley Crue.

 

[ErikH]

Re: Hmm what would have better tone from Overdriving?

Yup, the JCM900 Master Volumes are different beasts. This means the MkIII and SL-X models. The MkIII has a diode rectifier bridge towards the end of the preamp for the extra gain and it's anything but buzzy. The SL-X uses another 12AX7 in place of that rectifier bridge.

The Dual Reverbs have a lot more going on, several opamps and diodes here and there. Still good amps, but sound better when loaded with EL34's vs. 5881's, which they came with for a majority of their production life.

The Fenders just need to be turned up load to get the saturation really going. They have lots of headroom but when they give up the goods, it's nice. The Marshalls mentioned are either dirty or more dirty...lol. There is no clean with the Master Volumes. The Dual Reverbs have a channel that can get clean, but not a Fendery clean. Acceptible, but could be better.

 

[greendy123]

Re: Hmm what would have better tone from Overdriving?

The Fenders just need to be turned up load to get the saturation really going. They have lots of headroom but when they give up the goods, it's nice. The Marshalls mentioned are either dirty or more dirty...lol. There is no clean with the Master Volumes. The Dual Reverbs have a channel that can get clean, but not a Fendery clean. Acceptible, but could be better.

Even though there is no clean channel on the master volumes you can keep the pre amp and gain controls low for a clean sound or you can just roll the volume down on your guitar. The clean settings sound okay but not great compared to a fender type of clean tone. With the lower preamp and gain settings I can get a some of the vintage marshall tone if I crank the volume up.