I said I hated the JVM...

[The Rossness]

For years I never liked it. I'd plug into one and play it and thought that Marshall had lost their mind's creating such a crappy product. I'd advise people on the forum to steer clear of them. Their tone was always too boomy for my ears. But last night (Thursday), I bought a Marshall JVM 205H.

Originally, I had bought a Blackstar HT-100. I demo'd one in a store and really liked it. A forum member was selling his here, so I bought it from him. I got it home and plugged into it, and it just sounded too nasally for my ears. It had an ok solo tone, but I wasn't digging the amp. A day later, I had sold it on Egay.


So, I'm at my local GC center last night and I'm playing around with a Krank Rev, JVM410H and 205H, the JDM 1 and an Egnater Renegade. The Egnater was the worst on the distorted channel, but had nice cleans. The Krank had to be cranked to sound good and at low volumes, it was buzzy and bland sounding. The JDM1 surprised the hell out of me. It sounded very good and seemed super versatile, but something was missing (pun). It had a ton of sounds, but they were missing that special something. The effects seemed too pronounced as well.

So I'm playing the 2 JVM's and they're dialed in pretty nicely. I'm thinking to myself that I've always hated these things, but they really are sounding pretty sweet. For some reason the 4 channel version sounded like it had a little too much treble. I had both JVM's going into Identical cabs and set their EQ's the same and the 410H just sounded a little to bright. So, I got the 205H

I got it home an unlike the Blackstar, it still sounded really good. I can get a nice spank out of it, get 80's Ratt and Dokken tones and get into metal territory. If I set up the footswitch, theoretically I could use it as a 6 channel head. It's also different enough from my Orange RV100 so I can cover different ground with each one.

[chrisolson]

The JVM is the best Marshall I've ever owned. Congrats!

I had the 210...and then my buddy blew it up.

[Grandturk]

See you on the classifieds in two weeks

[DonP]

I'd advise people on the forum to steer clear of them.

Oh don't worry, I never listen to what you say

See you on the classifieds in two weeks

No, I think he might keep this one.

Rossness,

Weren't you selling everything to get an EVH III? What happened to that?

[quiksilver]

This is interesting. I just got a JVM 410 myself. It sounded great at the store, then not as great at home, but I barely had any time to tweak it with my guitar and cabs. I think it's gonna rock, but it's very versatile, which means it's probably going to take me some time to tweak it. Overall, I'm still very positive about it.

I have a JMD1, too, which is great, but not as gainy as the JVM - and I love gain.

[The Rossness]

Oh don't worry, I never listen to what you say





No, I think he might keep this one.

Rossness,

Weren't you selling everything to get an EVH III? What happened to that?

Not exactly.

I had a 5153 I was never happy with it. Channel 3 was great, 1 was ok and 2 sucked big, sweaty, hairy balls. I kept is for a long time because it worked, but was never really happy with it. I had it listed for a while and held out for a better price. Once I got the right offer, I shipped it to Virgina. It cost $153 for shipping as the only box I could find for it was a 4x12 cab box.

I was selling it along with some equipment I don't use much: A Carvin Ultra V, a modded LTD Lynch guitar, a Vox Night Train and my So-Cal (I'll miss that one). I had wanted to get an SLO, but decide to split up my money into a few different things instead of getting one $3000 + amp. So far, I've picked up an Orange Rockerverb, a Jackson PC1 and the JVM. I'm friendly with the manager at my local GC and he let me get the Orange and JVM for prices they shouldn't be sold for.

Before I got the Orange and JVM, I bought 2 Splawn QR's. They both had problems. The first one had issues and the second one broke in shipping. I ended up selling them not wanting the headache of repair and additional cost. Then I found the Orange and it had sex with my ears, but didn't get me into that JCM800 range, that's why I got the JVM. I still want the SLO and might pick up an AMT S1 preamp pedal.

That's the story.

As far as the EVH went, my real problem was with channel 2. It sounded too scooped. I could crank the gain and the mids and put an EQ in the loop, but it never sounded right. It sounded like a combo of 75% Bogner XTC, 15% SLO, and 10% Ass. Channel 3 was too much gain most of the time (I play hard rock and classic metal). By the time I sold it, I was using it a a single channel amp, feeding dirt pedals into channel 1, and channel 1 just sounded mediocre at best.

[Grim]

The Orange Rockerverb does = ear sex. I played one with the new SG (When I was buying it) and... woah...

[fordsho90]

Happy new amp day ..........I have the 210 and its a great amp, FYI the 2 and 4 channel are voiced a bit different; thats maybe why you hear a diffence. Its an easy amp to get great tones out of and if you happen to have an MXR 10 band, throw it the loop and you'll be able to cop even more tones out of it.

[horns666]

...I told ya so..

[Mazrim]

Uve had a 410h a few years now and its brilliant. It was also dropped 20 feet on to concrete, whilst on tour and still worked perfectly straight after. I thought I would pick it up and hear all the guts sloshing around but the only damage was a broken volume knob. Unbelievable.

Anyway, I had a Mesa Roadking before and whilst a wondeful amp, wasnt the sound I wanted and the JVM was. Make of that what you will. I had a JCM800 2210 for about 15 years before the Roadking so I suppose I just love the Marshall sound. Nobody else does it.

At home I use it as a power amp and it performs brilliantly there too.
The trick with this amp I think, is to not go mad with the gain (it has excessive amounts) and you can get some great sounds out of it.

[jcm800x]

I've been using the 210h and I like it very much, my only issue is the hiss. I use the orange mode on the od2 channel with the gain around 1 o'clock, even that is almost too much gain. I can't imagine what the red mode would be for, what a mess that one is.

[Big D]

The JVM's totally kick ass. That is all.

[surfreak]

I have a JVM 215 combo and that's a great allround/small gig amp. Lots of different tones with the 2x3 channel layout, small, portable and a very loud 50W! Then if I need more sound spread I just hook it up to a 4x12 and it's a different beast altogether.

A few complaints though: it takes a while to break it it, so you need to play this thing and not just noodle at bedroom volume, channel 2 mode red is noisy and the attenuated line output sounds really bad.

Aside from live use it also sounds great in the studio, specifically I can get great recorded tones for rhythm on channel 1 mode red and for lead on channel 2 mode orange: I usually run the pre gain at around 4 and the master volume at 3, with a SM57 3-4" off axis and a large cap condenser Rode NT a few feet away in the back...

Obviously this setup is less gainy than what I would use live, but in my experience that's the key to a big-sounding recorded tone, especially when you double-track your guitar parts or do a few overdubs.

[metalgarth]

I remember I kept going into Guitar Center and hearing this amazing amp... It always was a JVM. For years I resisted buying one. And I have no idea why once I finally got it home. I never even get curious about other amps now.

[SweetPete]

Another JVM owner/lover here. If you haven't done so, check your bias. I believed they're biased cold from the factory. Like MetalGarth, I don't long for any other amp.