Silly Redundant JCM800 question for guys who know!

[jgcable]

So.. say you have a 1984 Marshall 2204. Bone stock. No effects loop. You play in a 80's metal tribute band and you are the lead guitar player. The band has 2 guitar players. You have no "sound guy". You do what 99% of all the other 80's metal bands do when they play at clubs. You set up your own PA, you sound check and you play. If its a larger club they may have a soundman but he isn't going to turn your solos up or provide you with a killer delay. So...you need delay and solo boost. These are 2 MANDATORY things when you play lead guitar in an 80's metal tribute band. I don't want to hear anybody trying to argue that point. Delay and solo boost (and chorus for that matter) are mandatory if you are playing 80's metal.
So.. riddle me this Batman... what do you do?

[LouSiffer]

Ummm..... Buy the Digitech Delay, Digitech Distortion and the MXR chorus? -Lou

[markD]

when i had my 1981 JCM800, i worked with the other guitarist (back when i had one - he played an older 2204 JMP) and created a "zipper" EQ. one of us boosted the frequency the other cut. that way when we went into leads (we shared that duty) we stood out. the sound out front was really good because our tones complimented each others, because together we created one sound.

as far as pedals, we both used MXR distortion +, and a phase 90 - basically because dave murray used those in the old days.

he and i also played complimentary guitars. he played an SG or a les paul. i played a strat with a HB in the bridge.

it was very old school metal and worked out great.

eventually though, i stopped using the marshall, fired the other guitarist, got an amp with variable send/returns on the effects loop (which provides a gain boost when engaged) and started playing locking-trem guitars.

[Nightbat]

eventually though, i stopped using the marshall, fired the other guitarist, got an amp with variable send/returns on the effects loop (which provides a gain boost when engaged) and started playing locking-trem guitars.

If you fired the other guitarist at the beginning you didn't need to sell/buy other gear

[markD]

hahaha, true, but the rivera is WAY better than a JCM800 anyway....i couldn't wait to get it!!!!

[zeegler]

Have a tech install an effects loop?

Seriously, I don't know the answer.

[MOSHWITZ]

Sup?

John,,,,,,Try this,,,,,,I don't know what kind of rack gear you might have or have access to, but if you have something with balanced in/out's you can patch in between the cab mic and the board.

Back in the day when I still had my Marshall,,,and for about 9 months I had an Eventide H3000, which was cool but um,,,,no guitar input,,,,so what I used to do was patch my signal through right after the mic on the cab then feed a stereo signal to the board and use my ART X-15 pedal board to turn shit on and off. Worked great. I could have just used it as an insert at the board but it was too much hassle running so much cable back and forth.

Anyway,, I'm sure you can find some modern FX rack on the cheap or maybe already own one that has XLR in/out that you can play around with.

Hope that helps
MOSHON
DAVE

[VitaminG]

How driven is your amp? Would a clean boost in front offer any volume boost for lead, or is it just going to drive the amp harder? How about some kind of TS or clean boost?

As for delay, how about the TC Flashback? Doug notes how frikkin' good in sounds in front of the amp.

[roodyrocker]

My Marshall Randy Rhoads amp is similar to the JCM 800 without a loop. Single channel amp so for cleans I roll the guitar volume knob down and for distortion roll it up. For effects I run pedals through the front end, old school! Thing is, I don't run from one pedal to the next and so on. I use a pedal switcher so my signal is only going through the pedal(s) in use at that moment while all others are bypassed. For solo boosts its one of two methods for me. Depends on the pedalboard I'm using as the ones with the GigRig pedal switcher have a built in adjustable boost knob In fact each channel has its own individual boost knob. Very usefull for mismatched pedals, solo boosts, etc... My other pedalboard uses a Carl Martin Octaswitch pedal switcher so no boost on it. For that pedalboard I put an MXR CAE 401 boost pedal on it. Its adjustable from 0-20 db. One thing to watch for though is if you are running your amp and gain pretty cranked up you won't notice a big difference with the boost on vs. off. If however you are running at much lower settings then the boost works decently.
Another method for boost which I haven't tried yet is to set up your rhythm sound with the volume knob on your guitar rolled back a bit. Then when the time comes for your solo you roll up all the way. The reason I haven't tried this method myself is that I don't like the rhythm tone a partially rolled up knob gives. I want it full on. You can also use a volume pedal to do this I suppose. Its not easy dealing with the no effects loop, single channel old school amps but they do have a cool sound of their own.

[clifffclaven]

jg- try using a multi effects like a boss me25, set up two patches, one rhythm one lead... On the rhythm patch, cut the master volume of the boss- so your lead "boost" is your actual volume, and your rhythm tone is reduced in volume. make sense?

[Hellbat]

Sell the JCM800, get an axe-fx and FRFR monitor.

[roodyrocker]

Sell the JCM800, get an axe-fx and FRFR monitor.

Only problem with that is the funds from a JCM 800 sale won't come close to covering the cash needed for an Axe-Fx and FRFR. I know, it's the thought that counts Anyway, there is a certain charm to gigging a single channel, no frills amp like a JCM 800. I have several amps and an Axe Fx but most of my gigs for the past couple years have been with the Marshall Randy Rhoads 1/2 stack. No master volume, no channel switching, no effects loop. Just straight in your face Marshall with pedals through the front end where needed

[surfreak]

So.. say you have a 1984 Marshall 2204. Bone stock. No effects loop. You play in a 80's metal tribute band and you are the lead guitar player. The band has 2 guitar players. You have no "sound guy". You do what 99% of all the other 80's metal bands do when they play at clubs. You set up your own PA, you sound check and you play. If its a larger club they may have a soundman but he isn't going to turn your solos up or provide you with a killer delay. So...you need delay and solo boost. These are 2 MANDATORY things when you play lead guitar in an 80's metal tribute band. I don't want to hear anybody trying to argue that point. Delay and solo boost (and chorus for that matter) are mandatory if you are playing 80's metal.
So.. riddle me this Batman... what do you do?

Go old school all the way. An MXR Distortion +, a TC Electronic SCF and an Ibanez AD9 analog delay, you can't really go wrong.

OK, for a slightly more sensible semi old school setup replace the MXR + with a MXR Micro Amp and the AD9 with a Boss digital delay, but it's not the same thing.

[hippietim]

This is all terrible advice. Sell the stupid amp and get something that will work better

[jgcable]

I have lots of amps. Thats not the problem. Actually, there is no problem. I was just wondering what others did in a similar situation.