The JSX has opened my eyes but I got a few questions

[khabibissell]

Its hard for me to judge because I haven't played through a 6505+ (which is brighter and has less gain than a regular 6505) in a while, save for about 10 minutes as low volumes on Thanksgiving. I just saw the nephew's play about a week ago though, and The 6505+ dominates a mix... it is a huge sounding amp IMO. The JSX has a very similar voicing, but is a bit thinner. This isn't necessarily a bad thing. It is tight, and very aggressive. I have the gain at around 5 on the amber channel and 4 on the red, and it is plenty. I think the clean is great. Like Pete has said numerous times, the effects loop works great and takes stomp delays, choruses etc... very well. Regardless of whether you are using effects or not, turn the send/receive levels high and keep it on.

6L6's reduce the mids, but not too much. I does sound a little "hollower" than it does with EL34's. I don't like EH preamp tubes either. They are too trebly IMO.

As for metal, the JSX can do it easily. I have a Schecter C7 7 string and it sounds crushing through the JSX.

[jgcable]

"I just saw the nephew's play about a week ago though, and The 6505+ dominates a mix... it is a huge sounding amp IMO. The JSX has a very similar voicing, but is a bit thinner. "


I agree with that. The 2 JSX amps that I heard live were both a little thin sounding. Almost SS to my ears.
Anytime I heard or used one of my 5150's live I always thought it dominated the mix.
I know I will get flamed for this but what the hell:
I think the 5150 shits all over a Rectifier if they are both being used in the same band. The Rectifier dissapears in the mix.

[sworn_enemy]

I just picked up a JSX yesterday. After playing through it for probably five or six hours at all volumes and EQ settings, I've noticed a very pronounced "cocked wah" sound on the crunch and ultra channels. It totally reminds me of the times I plug in my pedal board and the wah is on. I'm running straight into the amp for these tests though. I'm not sure if my cabinet is playing a role in this (it is a recto traditional straight 4x12 w/V30's), but I'm kinda bummed. I'm wondering if a JSX cab or a Marshall 4x12 with G12T-75's would be better. For the record, I've tried it w/6L6's. I played the JSX twice before buying it and never noticed this quality. I can't dial it out either... with the mids on 0 you can still hear it, but only in the back ground. I won't be able to try it with a band until Wednesday to see if it works better in an ensemble situation.

I noticed that on the ultra channel no matter what cab I played it with. Not so much on the crunch channel though.

[sworn_enemy]

**UPDATE**


Also, I noticed that the amp is not all that loud unless the effects loop is turned on. I don't know if this was done on purpose or not. I suppose I could use this as a lead boost. I'll have to check it out more Wednesday.

I noticed that too.

[Twisteramps]

It's all in how you dial it in. I could dial in a 5150 to get a thin sound, or a JSX to get a thick tone.

Pete

[jgcable]

It's all in how you dial it in. I could dial in a 5150 to get a thin sound, or a JSX to get a thick tone.

Pete

Hey Pete, I think maybe thin might be the wrong way to put it. The JSX is smoother than the 5150 and it does have a certain midrange frequency that sounds a tad like a wah. I have heard clips online that sound great and I don't doubt for a minute that everything you say about it is true.
I just think that if somebody was looking for a straight up metal amp and had to choose between the JSX and the 5150, the 5150 would be the better choice.
I have 2 of them. A 5150 and a 5150II. They both kick bigtime ass but they don't even compare to my Stiletto. That amp is serious high gain Marshall with a Mesa Rectifier thump.

[khabibissell]

From my first impressions, I think the JSX can do metal no problem (I haven't jammed with the band yet). The 6505/6505+ is tough to beat for metal tones... that amp wants your soul . The big problem IMO is the lack of a true clean channel and it is pretty noisy. I also think the push button switches are kinda cheap (though it seems like everybody claims those amps to be bulletproof).

That midrange thing seems to be most obvious when playing at lower volumes. I haven't quite found it, but lowering the treble and adding mids helps strangely enough. I have a feeling these qualities are going to be just what the doctor ordered when playing with a band. Turned up (master on 6 and channels on 3 - 4 w/loop engaged), the amp fills out and really sounds great. I think the right cab is very important with this amp. Also, you can turn the resonance and bass up quite a bit without things getting flabby.

[mantis]

From my first impressions, I think the JSX can do metal no problem (I haven't jammed with the band yet). The 6505/6505+ is tough to beat for metal tones... that amp wants your soul . The big problem IMO is the lack of a true clean channel and it is pretty noisy. I also think the push button switches are kinda cheap (though it seems like everybody claims those amps to be bulletproof).

That midrange thing seems to be most obvious when playing at lower volumes. I haven't quite found it, but lowering the treble and adding mids helps strangely enough. I have a feeling these qualities are going to be just what the doctor ordered when playing with a band. Turned up (master on 6 and channels on 3 - 4 w/loop engaged), the amp fills out and really sounds great. I think the right cab is very important with this amp. Also, you can turn the resonance and bass up quite a bit without things getting flabby.

Thats what I don't like about the 6505 + If it had a better clean channel , I probably would pick one up. In my opnion, I believe an amp needs a good clean channel. You can dirty it up all you want your own way. But if you write something that requires the cleanest tone and it's missing, it ruins the song. Versitility is something thats Important to me. The JSX claims this 10 fold. So far in my findings, You can set up the Crunch channel and Solo channel differently and get what your looking for or better put what I'm looking for. The clean channel isn't bad, actually it's different then what I'm used to and once I can get over that, it maybe a good tool. The combo sucks straight up for me. Such a different feel and sound. But I wish the head had that built in reverb as I love using reverb.O well.
I Play mostly metal but not all the time. I'm putting together a cover band for fun and just the first 6 songs we aare going to play require different tone.It's been a very long time since I played in a cover band and honestly I can't remember how I delt with it then meaning the differnt tunings and different tones. My gear was simple and some how I pulled it off. I guess trying to recreate the song exaclty how it was written maybe my downfall.
I'mm looking to go to the GC sometime this week as they just got in another 1/2 JSX stack. I'll never buy another combo for playing with a band again. It seems to be a waste. For home practice yeah nice and small, easier to move around and such but for live volumes, it's not as good.

Dan

[kmanick]

I also found the JSX combo sounded terrible. I think they should have made it closed back and over sized like the 5150 combos.
I played around with a JSX head this weekend and I found that with the
master dimed (like I usually do with my amps) the lead channel didn't
sound as thin. Like Pete said you could probably dial in a lot of different
tones with this thing.
As for the midrange 'quack" or "honk" what ever you want to call it, diming the master took care of some of that too. I noticed on my 5150 combo that I used to get that "honk" at low volumes when I had all JJ's in the there. After the big Tung Sol appreciation thread a while back I popped a couple in and the midrange honk is now gone completely, so the JSX may
be sensitive to Preamp tube changes as well. I also noticed (with my 5150)
that the amp sounds completely different at 1-2 post gain than at 3 or 4 and up, post gain. I noticed the same thing with the JSX head.
Hotplates help alot there.
I need to check out a VHT UL, I'm hearing lots of good things about these amp, I've recently seen people ditch the JSX and an Engle fireball for VHTs.

[mantis]

I alos found the JSX combo sounded terrible. I think they should have made it closed back and over sized like the 5150 combos.
I played around with a JSX head this weekend and I found that with the
master dimed (like I usually do with my amps) the lead channel didn't
sound as thin. Like Pete said you could probably dial in a lot of different
tones with this thing.
As for the midrange 'quack" or "honk" what ever you want to call it, diming the master took care of some of that too. I noticed on my 5150 combo that I used to get that "honk" at low volumes when I had all JJ's in the there. After the big Tung Sol appreciation thread a while back I popped a couple in and the midrange honk is now gone completely, so the JSX may
be sensitive to Preamp tube changes as well. I also noticed (with my 5150)
that the amp sounds completely different at 1-2 post gain than at 3 or 4 and up, post gain. I noticed the same thing with the JSX head.
Hotplates help alot there.
I need to check out a VHT UL, I'm hearing lots of good things about these amp, I've recently seen people ditch the JSX and an Engle fireball for VHTs.

I got to play the 1/2 stack today and I used the master volume to determine the overall volume. I set all 3 channels around 10 o clock to 11 oclock to volume match each channel and then bring in the master volume to get the overall volume I wanted. I achieved some good heavy metal tones out of both channels but the clean channel I just could not get to sparkling. It's kinda clear with no break up but sounded muddy or cloudy at times. I was using a Les Paul and it sounded killer on a Twin. The Peavy amp left me today wondering if I should get it or not. The price isn't an issue as the dude at GC was willing to give a me a good deal on the head and 4 12 JSX cab.
By the way , did you pick up one of ther JSX cabs??? It has some wired things on the back like a level adjustment, Clear clean and dark or something settings wierd. It has a Balanced out. does the head power something in there for straight connection to a mixer or recorder?? what is that.

Dan

[jgcable]

There are very few high gain amps that will give you a Fender Twin clean.

This will sound completely wacky but the old JCM900's do metal great and also have fantastic clean channels. Many of the great cleans from the 80's were coming from a JCM900 clean channel.

I also heard the Engl Powerball has a really good clean channel although I have never heard one in person.

[mantis]

There are very few high gain amps that will give you a Fender Twin clean.

This will sound completely wacky but the old JCM900's do metal great and also have fantastic clean channels. Many of the great cleans from the 80's were coming from a JCM900 clean channel.

I also heard the Engl Powerball has a really good clean channel although I have never heard one in person.

I
m slowly learning this. the more amps I try , the more I find this out. I assume I expect to much out of an amp and I 'm not going to find what I want unless I have someone custom modify one for me. It's fun to shop and fustrating at the same time. Modeling seems to be the best way to go but I just don't like the sound of most of it. I haven't dug deep into Marshall yet and for the hell of it, I'll go and play a bunch. I saw a few JCM800's in my travels with there matching cab's. Maybe Marshall is right for me.

What I really should do is buy a Fender Twin amp again, buy a 6505 and A-A them with a switch. Then I can have exactly what I'm looking for. Running multible amps maybe the only way to achieve what your looing for. Most amps seem to be great at what they do but don't have a broad flexibility in tone. The JSX seems to have that the most out of most of the amps I played.

Thanks for the advise

Dan

[Spivonious]

If you do go and try some modelers, I think the Vetta is the only way to go if you want quality-sounding models. It runs about $1700 for the combo, so I'd expect $1400-$1500 for the head. Everything else Line 6 makes sounds fake to me. Vox also has some good modeling amps in the Valvetronix line.

Otherwise, welcome to the great tone quest

If you're set on sticking with tubes, try out every amp you can, regardless of what name is on the front. I really like the Genz Benz El Diablo 60/30 running through a Genz Benz "Tribal Series" 4x12. It comes stock with Eminence speakers. The amp also lets you switch tubes between EL34 and 6L6 and puts a bias pot right on the back panel for easy biasing. The 60/30 switch also switches the amp from pentode to triode, so there's lots of tones in there. Triode warms up the tone considerably and drives the tubes harder earlier so you end up with a smoother sound. It's neat

[lerxstcat]

Dan, are the JSXs you've tried equipped with EL34s or 6L6s? I ask because most metal players like them better with 6L6s, and because 6L6s are what a Fender Twin uses, so it makes sense that they would give you a cleaner clean channel tone than EL34s.

[mantis]

Dan, are the JSXs you've tried equipped with EL34s or 6L6s? I ask because most metal players like them better with 6L6s, and because 6L6s are what a Fender Twin uses, so it makes sense that they would give you a cleaner clean channel tone than EL34s.

I very much want to know the answer to this question. How does it sound with the 6L6's vs the EL34's. If it sounds cleaner , I think the amp is for me. It just seems alittle cloudy on the clean channel. I didn't seem to beak up in nay way just not as clean as I would like it. I cursed with being a purest I guess.

I have played JSX amps now 5 times. 1 combo and 4 1/2 stacks. I have tried them with my 2005 Jackson Sl3, Fender American Strat, High way 1 series, Les Paul Studio, a Schector with EMG"s( which sucked badly) a Jackson Dinky model with a maple frett board and 2 humbucker pickups. All was straight in with a guitar cord. No effects nothing. I want to hear the amp as it may.
All of them had the EL34's , all amps where new at various guitar stores around me in NJ and PA.

Dan