Marshall 1W JMP and JCM

[Pat_rocks_and_rolls]

Hello, i'm going to buy a marshall for practicing at home.

i've been looking many clips on the internet and they sound both amazing. The jcm 800 seem to be more polyvalent.
But i really enjoy the 70's plexi tone. Do you think the jcm1c 800 is able to have the crunch and grain that the jmp1c delivers ?

If some of you have a JMP1c or JCM1c and could make a soudclip of some van halen licks without effects it really help me to choose. (unchained etc...)

By experience what will you recommend me between those 2 amps ?

I know that there are other good amps that will perform better for that price, but i want that little feature that lets you play without disturbing neighbours and family.

 

[Pat_rocks_and_rolls]

Re: Marshall 1W JMP and JCM

The problem is that i can't try those mini amps because the people that sell them live too far away from where i'm living.

 

[Gearjoneser]

Re: Marshall 1W JMP and JCM

With Marshalls, it's a good idea to buy the one that has as much gain as you'll ever use. You can always bring the gain down and emulate cleaner amps, but not visa versa.

Also, if low volume is a concern, there's a lot of good sounding lunchbox heads out there. Listen to youtube clips of all of them, and modelers as well.

 

[Lake Placid Blues]

Re: Marshall 1W JMP and JCM

I can't comment on the 1 watters and if they can provide JMP era tone at bedroom levels because I have never tried any of them. However, a big part of the Marshall tone of that era is the EL34 tube along with pushed Celestion Greenback speakers. Can the 1 watt heads emulate that? Maybe, but I can't say.

Most lunch box heads use EL84 tubes or 6V6 tubes which don't really sound like EL34s or KT66s. The Marshall DSL15 uses 6V6s and I won't recommend it for your needs. It sounds nothing like what you seek. It also needs a Vintage 30 or G12H speaker to not sound thin and that will probably defeat the purpose of low volume Marshall tone. BTW, most lunch box heads are actually very loud when played through efficient speakers.

There are some additional alternatives to also consider:

) Wait on the Silver Jubilee mini head out in the summer. It uses EL34s at 20 watts or 5 watts. (two EL34s in Class A put out 20 watts or 5 watts triode). Play it through an inefficient speaker. These have a lot more gain than 70s era JMPs but like GJ said you can turn down the gain. SJs are very good at classic rock and blues based rock.

)Consider a modeling amp. Any volume emulation of cranked tube amps is what good modeling amps do. While reasonably priced modelers have been good at emulating classic Fender amps, good models of Marshall amps not so much. The new Marshall Code might be the one that can, but it won't be available until the summer.

) If it doesn't need to be a Marshall consider the Fender Bassbreaker 45. It is a Marshall Plexi circuit using EL34s, but has power scaling. It can be set to only 1 watt. https://forum.seymourduncan.com/showthread.php?310982-Fender-Bassbreaker-15-combo.

)The EVH 5150 III 1x12 combo also has power scaling. The crunch channel should be able to get you those tones, and you would have the additional high gain and clean channel options too.

 

[dystrust]

Re: Marshall 1W JMP and JCM

)Consider a modeling amp. Any volume emulation of cranked tube amps is what good modeling amps do. While reasonably priced modelers have been good at emulating classic Fender amps, good models of Marshall amps not so much. The new Marshall Code might be the one that can, but it won't be available until the summer.

The Avid Eleven Rack has really good Plexi and JCM800 models and does a good job of modeling a few other amps. From what I understand it's Jolly's current rig of choice, and I've played one a few times. They're no longer in production, but I see them going for around $300 on craigslist pretty frequently.