How good is the JSX?

[UberMetalDood]

After a week with my new JSX I can tell you it's probably one of the best amps on the market, and I'm not saying that without considering Bogner, Komet, etc... The amps I have to compare it to directly are a Mesa Mark V, Engl Powerball II, and Bogner Shiva with EL34's.

The cleans are comparable to the Shiva and I think the Shiva probably has the best cleans I have heard in a British voiced amp. The crunch channel has a kind of the Marshall thing going on. It reminds me a lot of some of the sounds I've heard in Michael Schenker solo albums. The ultra channel I can't really compare except it reminds me of a 5150 but with EL34's. I never played a XXX but that's apparently what it's based on.

They say the clean channel was designed to take pedals, and even to the most critical it couldn't be far from the truth. What I find amazing is how the clean channel stays so clean with the volume cranked, yet even with a very mild OD like a TS9 it seems to somehow get a little gainier than it normally does. Usually an amp would have to be set for a grittier clean before a tube screamer would push it to rock tone but the JSX stays ultra clean and rocks with a tube screamer.

I only have 2 minor complaints. First off there is no reverb. I would love to have reverb on this amp. Fortunately it has a great effects loop. Unfortunately I've tried several reverb pedals like the Holy Grail nano, Boss RV7, Hardwire reverb, and none of them were satisfactory.

Secondly since a reverb tank would add weight to the head it's a great thing they didn't add it. The head is very heavy, even compared to my Engl Powerball II which is a little bigger. At least it's built very sturdy.

The demo model I played over and over again before buying one was sitting in Guitar Center for 2 years and was even dropped at one point. It worked perfectly. When I was deciding between a Fender Supersonic, Fender Blues Deluxe Reissue, and the JSX, I came across 2 faulty Blues Deluxe RI's, and 2 faulty Supersonics. One BD RI had a bad vol pot and the other cut on and off. One Supersonic had a faulty reverb and the other one had a bad channel switch.

I was becoming very skeptical of Fender quality so I decided on the JSX. Otherwise I would have gotten a Blues Deluxe Reissue instead. I'm glad I chose the JSX because now I have an extremely versatile amp which is also easy to retube and bias because of the external bias pots.

The 5150 was a great amp but I have to say this is the best amp Peavey has ever made. It really surprises me that the JSX hasn't become a great sensation. Maybe it could be because it's associated with Joe Satriani or because it's often regarded as a high gain or metal amp. It does have a lot of distortion on the ultra channel but clean and crunch is so good the ultra channel is probably only used by the most gainy players.

Did I mention it's really loud but sounds superb at low volumes. I'm not even kidding when I say this 120w amp sounds excellent at low volumes. Peavey rules!

 

[JammerMatt]

Re: How good is the JSX?

My next purchase! They're going about 7-hundy used on the bay.

 

[FuseG4]

Re: How good is the JSX?

that's weird about the fenders messing up. I've played quite a few fender amps and the only ones that were messed up were at messed up stores.

Good stores test their equipment and send it for a refurb if it stinks. They don't try and sell it. I'm sorry that your store is backwards.

Sorry the 'verb thing isn't working out.

 

[Stef]

Re: How good is the JSX?

jsx (combo) is a great sounding amp. Works imo better for evh than 5150, 6543.... a nice strat can sound really good on the lead channel..the cleans are very nice...

 

[Ascension]

Re: How good is the JSX?

JSX's are cool for straight up slamin stuff. I find they don't clean up with the guitar volume well enough for me but hey playing the Marshalls and Zinky's has me spoiled big time in this. I have heard a few of those on stage and they sound GREAT in the mix. Congrats man those are nice rigs!

 

[FuseG4]

Re: How good is the JSX?

Compared to the Marshall I have now the JSX did feel maybe a lil stiffer, but I think I was just afraid to really try and whale on it because the shop it was doesn't let one crank the gear. They're in a small shopping complex next to a daycare. Terrible location, huh?

 

[UberMetalDood]

Re: How good is the JSX?

that's weird about the fenders messing up. I've played quite a few fender amps and the only ones that were messed up were at messed up stores.

Good stores test their equipment and send it for a refurb if it stinks. They don't try and sell it. I'm sorry that your store is backwards.

Sorry the 'verb thing isn't working out.

Actually we have 3 Guitar Centers in our area. We pulled two Blues Deluxe RI's right out of the box and had problems. I bounced around all 3 Guitar Centers for weeks before making my purchase.

JSX's are cool for straight up slamin stuff. I find they don't clean up with the guitar volume well enough for me but hey playing the Marshalls and Zinky's has me spoiled big time in this. I have heard a few of those on stage and they sound GREAT in the mix. Congrats man those are nice rigs!

You must have been using the high input. I use only the low input and it cleans up very well. The high input has too much gain for me since all my guitars have humbuckers.

 

[korovamilkdud]

Re: How good is the JSX?

I love mine too. It can be a tad stiff sometimes, I agree. But it's a good kind of stiff that makes me want to dig in and hit the sucker instead of legato-ing my way through everything.

I love the British flavor of the Crunch channel. If this amp had only had the Clean (warm and clear) and Crunch (Marshally goodness) channels, plus a solid gain boost, that would have been enough.

The Ultra just adds another option complete with it's own feel and response.

Yeah, I love it.

 

[UberMetalDood]

Re: How good is the JSX?

I love mine too. It can be a tad stiff sometimes, I agree. But it's a good kind of stiff that makes me want to dig in and hit the sucker instead of legato-ing my way through everything.

I love the British flavor of the Crunch channel. If this amp had only had the Clean (warm and clear) and Crunch (Marshally goodness) channels, plus a solid gain boost, that would have been enough.

The Ultra just adds another option complete with it's own feel and response.

Yeah, I love it.

What do you think about the ultra channel? The crunch channel seems to cut through better. When I switch to the ultra channel there is of course more gain but it seems to have more low mids and treble and less high mids. I'm getting some microphonics when I switch to that channel so it might be a faulty preamp tube.

I like to play back and forth with my JSX and Engl Powerball II to contrast the two amps. I love the mid boost on my Engl and I wish there was a switch like that on the JSX. I find the fat switch to be of little use. It's supposed to fatten up the cleans. I find myself keeping the bass about 9:30 because the clean channel has a LOT of bass. I turn it down way low and raise the resonance to beef it up. It works a lot better than the fat switch.

The fat control is very muddy and unfocused with any amount of distortion. The problem with setting my res control on the clean channel is I get too much resonance when channel switching.

How are you using your JSX? I'd like some tips from more experienced owners.

 

[Ascension]

Re: How good is the JSX?

Actually we have 3 Guitar Centers in our area. We pulled two Blues Deluxe RI's right out of the box and had problems. I bounced around all 3 Guitar Centers for weeks before making my purchase.



You must have been using the high input. I use only the low input and it cleans up very well. The high input has too much gain for me since all my guitars have humbuckers.

Yep I was and I remember that trick from the 5150's. Still I am so used to an amp really opening up with the Zinky stuff and most other amps won't come close.

 

[UberMetalDood]

Re: How good is the JSX?

Yep I was and I remember that trick from the 5150's. Still I am so used to an amp really opening up with the Zinky stuff and most other amps won't come close.

I never played a Zinky amp but I have heard about them. The Blue Velvet 50 sounds interesting.

 

[BloodRose]

Re: How good is the JSX?

I have an Ultra plus and love it! The JSX is like a refined and tweaked version of the UP and When I played the JSXs in the store, I was quite impressed, but wasnt able to justify the cost of buying one since I have the Ultra. But, Id buy one in a hearbeat if I had the money cuz they are excellent. I just hope PV doesnt kill em off since Joe is using other brands these days.

 

[Van Noord]

Re: How good is the JSX?

What do you think about the ultra channel? The crunch channel seems to cut through better. When I switch to the ultra channel there is of course more gain but it seems to have more low mids and treble and less high mids. I'm getting some microphonics when I switch to that channel so it might be a faulty preamp tube.

I like to play back and forth with my JSX and Engl Powerball II to contrast the two amps. I love the mid boost on my Engl and I wish there was a switch like that on the JSX. I find the fat switch to be of little use. It's supposed to fatten up the cleans. I find myself keeping the bass about 9:30 because the clean channel has a LOT of bass. I turn it down way low and raise the resonance to beef it up. It works a lot better than the fat switch.

The fat control is very muddy and unfocused with any amount of distortion. The problem with setting my res control on the clean channel is I get too much resonance when channel switching.

How are you using your JSX? I'd like some tips from more experienced owners.

Hey there.
With my JSX use the ultra channel for metal riffing. Fat switch off, which helps the channel sound a bit less compressed and increases the attack IMO.
The crunch channel can sound just has heavy as the ultra with the gain on 10 and the treble st high. I typically keep the eq all at 5 and put the fat switch on for some added warmth and sag.
I also plug into the low gain input for a more dynamic, and smooth response. With the abundance of gain the amp has, I don't need to add more output to the front end.
Experimenting with preamp tubes really opened up the amps capabilities for me. In the end I removed all the EH 12AX7's because they were just so bland. Dull and shrill sounding at the same time. I also run the power section a little cold, so that when I crank the amp it stays together better and remains clear but still punchy.

 

[Boogie Bill]

Re: How good is the JSX?

Thought it was interesting a few years ago, at a JS clinic, he didn't use the gain channels of the JSX AT ALL. He only used the prototype of his then new VOX Saturator for his gainey tones.

Bill

 

[UberMetalDood]

Re: How good is the JSX?

Hey there.
With my JSX use the ultra channel for metal riffing. Fat switch off, which helps the channel sound a bit less compressed and increases the attack IMO.
The crunch channel can sound just has heavy as the ultra with the gain on 10 and the treble st high. I typically keep the eq all at 5 and put the fat switch on for some added warmth and sag.
I also plug into the low gain input for a more dynamic, and smooth response. With the abundance of gain the amp has, I don't need to add more output to the front end.
Experimenting with preamp tubes really opened up the amps capabilities for me. In the end I removed all the EH 12AX7's because they were just so bland. Dull and shrill sounding at the same time. I also run the power section a little cold, so that when I crank the amp it stays together better and remains clear but still punchy.

Indeed I only use the low input because I think it sounds much better. There is still more than enough distortion available and it sounds better. In the high input it's very hard to control the gain and there is an added presence that I can't dial out. I haven't tried changing the preamp tubes, but mine came stock with JJ's so I can't see those being a problem. I find JJ's to be fairly smooth, clear and bright.

I would like to experiment with EH premium 12ax7's though. I have heard some good things about them. Are they noisier than JJ's you think?

Thought it was interesting a few years ago, at a JS clinic, he didn't use the gain channels of the JSX AT ALL. He only used the prototype of his then new VOX Saturator for his gainey tones.

Bill

I didn't really get that for a long time either but recently I started to really appreciate using a pedal in front of a high gain amp. A distortion on the clean channel or a mild boost on the gain channel produces some really great harmonic distortion.

Even though I leave the gain on my OD820 at zero, it adds dimension and harmonics to the amp without changing the sound. Sometimes a boost can clean up easier with the guitar vol than it can straight into the amp.

I think those are probably the main reasons Satch does it. He does tend to use the guitar vol quite a lot. I also think the JSX also comes with loads of distortion to appeal to more consumers. Some signature amps sound like the artist but the JSX is quite versatile.

 

[Van Noord]

Re: How good is the JSX?

I actually have a Gold plated EH 12AX7 in the phase inverter spot of my JSX. It is very smooth and low noise. Not quite as hot at regular EH's, but I like that aspect for the PI spot.