Just picked up a used Peavey JSX head

[Frantic_Rock]

Hi Guys,

Just brought home a used Peavey JSX head with EL34 tubes.

My first impressions are quite good.

It has so many features compared to my plexi. The plexi only has 2 gains (1 for each channel. the channels are cabled together), an EQ and a presence knob.

The JSX has 3 channels: clean, crunch and ultra. It has a fat switch for each channel. A drive and volume for each channel. A master volume. An EQ for each channel, and 2 global controls: Resonance and Presence. Plus FX loop with input / output gains and line out.

my first impression is - it is a very saturation heavy amp. It loves to get very crunchy and actually sounds quite buzzy after my marshall. I had to roll off the treble to about 4 and the presence to about 5, to keep the buzzy highs under control. But the sound is very crunchy and thick. If I turn the gain up past 6 on the Ultra channel - it just gets more saturated and thicker. I can't wait to see what it will sound like cranked on stage. It's a 120W all tube amp after all. It sounds decent at low volume, but I bet i haven't heard the real sound of the amp yet, until I crank both the channel volume up and the master volume.

After my plexi, which sounds very Open, natural, organic... this is kind of a shock - it's very compressed, even, buzzy, and very saturated. But if you dial in just the right amount of drive - then the crunch is just heavenly.

Also - the marshall takes the delay right in beautifully (no fx loop). But the Peavey - the delay straight in sounds completely different. Much louder, and kind of fake sounding. Very digital sounding. The delay just repeats exactly the same sound of the distortion again, and much louder. But the delay in the marshall blends it all together and washes it. Probably this is because I am getting natural distortion with the marshall by cranking up the 2 channels, whilst with the peavey - my master is on like 1 and my channel volume is on like 2, so that's why the delay sounds fake.

I can't wait to try delays through the loop, and to crank it up.

Actually right after I took it home, i got quite a scare. I couldn't get a sound out of the amp for half an hour. And I tried everything. Then it suddenly started working and then cut off again. So I thought it was cooked. And the footswitch wasn't working. Then I kept tweaking stuff - and I didnt' really change much, but then it started whistling like crazy and then clicked in and everything worked just fine with no problems. I tried turning it off and on after again - and it works perfectly. I wonder if the tubes were just cold, or maybe they need to be replaced. I hope not. I'm using a Marshall 1960 350w cab with it. 16ohm into 16ohm.

Just sharing.

 

[Petrovsk Mizinski]

Re: Just picked up a used Peavey JSX head

Congrats man!
Definitely a modern sounding amp indeed.

 

[Kosh Naranek]

Re: Just picked up a used Peavey JSX head

There really is a difference between older (60's/70's) Marshall amps like your plexi, and newer (since the 80's) high gain tube heads.
The older amps were about putting your guitar's tone on steroids. More grunt, more roar. Roll back your guitar volume, and your guitar's tone is all there.
In the 80's, guitar tone went to the next level. More buzz, more gain, a larger than life crunch. I loved that sound back then. Still do, for that kind of music.
Some time later, many guitarists were after even more gain yet, and a scooped sound with zero midrange roar and all sizzly high end and chugging low end. A lot of today's popular amps like the 5150 (or 6505), Krank, and Mesa Rectifier are engineered for this sound (not that that's ALL they do).

So yes, comparing a vintage Plexi to a JSX is comparing two very different amps. Satriani's tones even on his first albums were very unlike any classic 70's tones by bands who would have played through Plexi's. It's fascinating to kind of follow this evolution of guitar tone.

Personally, though I found the tight, sustaining, compressed 80's rock tone very satisfying for a long time, I've come to appreciate the organic and dynamic tones I hear on classic rock recordings by the likes of Joe Walsh or AC/DC. Depending on what the music you play calls for, Frantic Rock, it sounds like a great thing to have two great amps and be able to get the best of clean, classic rock overdrive, and modern rock/metal distortion tones.

 

[Gamera]

Re: Just picked up a used Peavey JSX head

There really is a difference between older (60's/70's) Marshall amps like your plexi, and newer (since the 80's) high gain tube heads.
The older amps were about putting your guitar's tone on steroids. More grunt, more roar. Roll back your guitar volume, and your guitar's tone is all there.
In the 80's, guitar tone went to the next level. More buzz, more gain, a larger than life crunch. I loved that sound back then. Still do, for that kind of music.
Some time later, many guitarists were after even more gain yet, and a scooped sound with zero midrange roar and all sizzly high end and chugging low end. A lot of today's popular amps like the 5150 (or 6505), Krank, and Mesa Rectifier are engineered for this sound (not that that's ALL they do).

So yes, comparing a vintage Plexi to a JSX is comparing two very different amps. Satriani's tones even on his first albums were very unlike any classic 70's tones by bands who would have played through Plexi's. It's fascinating to kind of follow this evolution of guitar tone.

Personally, though I found the tight, sustaining, compressed 80's rock tone very satisfying for a long time, I've come to appreciate the organic and dynamic tones I hear on classic rock recordings by the likes of Joe Walsh or AC/DC. Depending on what the music you play calls for, Frantic Rock, it sounds like a great thing to have two great amps and be able to get the best of clean, classic rock overdrive, and modern rock/metal distortion tones.

Great post and a great mini history of amp tone.

 

[DLT]

Re: Just picked up a used Peavey JSX head

Congrats on the new amp!!!

 

[firebirdV]

Re: Just picked up a used Peavey JSX head

If you do clips, be sure to post them. I always like listening to your stuff.

 

[LesPaulRules]

Re: Just picked up a used Peavey JSX head

Just brought home a used Peavey JSX head with EL34 tubes.

I don't like EL34's in the JSX, as it makes the amp sound to compressed.

A set of JJ 6L6's or SED 6L6's will tighten the amp up nicely (it's what I did to mine).