Gear Review: JSX Head

[kmanick]

OK I've had this for a week now.
I've swapped the EL34's out for 6L6's.................and I swapped them right back.
The V30's in my cab are nice and broken in so I get no Mid range spike or "honk"
that you can get from "new" V30's. I hada buddy come over yesterday who can really wail and it let me listen to the amp without playing.
I love this freaking thing. With the El34's it's got a nice "growl" to it and just unreal note articulation. I lost some of that clarity with the 6L6's.
oh BTW I bought a bias probe from Eurotubes ....get one, it made biasing my amp a 5 minute piece of cake job.
Clean channel.
With a touch of reverb and a touch of chorus it sounds very nice.
Crunch Channel.
this channel will take you anywhere from 70's clasic rock almost up to a good VH sound. I run a clean boost in front of it
and I can get there (we were playing losts of Satch and VH yesterday just on this channel, sounded great.)
the other thing I like about this channel (this amp really) is that with the El34's you can get a real "glassy" sound from
your neck pickups. That makes this amp great for playing fusiony stuff like Greg Howe/Richie Kotzen/Guthrie Govan/Prashant Aswani etc.
I'm big into all that stuff so that is just an added plus for me.
Ultra Channel
this channel is the balls!
I usually use this for my 7 string stuff. With the gain at around 12:00 noon-1:00
and my clean boost on if I turn the mids down to say ........3 I can get a real good
Dream theater sound. Turn them back up to 4-5, I can get a good Nevermore
sound. turn them up to 7 and the treble up a bit (say 6) cut the bass down to 3
and it sounds very close to a 5150 , just smoother.
The other thing I really like about this amp is that the EQ's are not shared , so I
can set up a great rhythm sound on the Crunch , and a great lead sound on the Ultra (If I want to use it that way) and go back and forth.
the gain on the Ultra channel is actually usable all the way up, but I find it starts to get compressed after 7-8, so I'd rather use the clean
boost in front to keep it more open sounding, but for death metal it would work great.
peavey did a good job on this amp , I'd suggest checking one out if you can.
I loved my B-52, but this amp is in a different league

[Spivonious]

Nice review. I seem to be the only one on this board that doesn't like the JSX. Maybe the one I played had bad tubes or something.

[khabibissell]

Nice review. I seem to be the only one on this board that doesn't like the JSX. Maybe the one I played had bad tubes or something.

You're not alone. I have tried everything (tubes, eq, bias, cabs, guitars, cables, you name it), and I don't like it at all. I could see how some may like it, but it sounds too thin and trebly (or high middish) for my tastes, especially when playing with a band.

[kmanick]

well I haven't used it in a band situation yet, but "thin" is not something I would use to describe mine. My buddy (who plays thru a Marshal rack set up that sounds awesome) was pretty impressed.
I can see how you can get a shitty tone out of it though.

[khabibissell]

well I haven't used it in a band situation yet, but "thin" is not something I would use to describe mine. My buddy (who plays thru a Marshal rack set up that sounds awesome) was pretty impressed.
I can see how you can get a shitty tone out of it though.

Yeah I've heard some great clips, Which is the reason I've gave it as much of a chance as I have. I'm about to list it on the 'bay...

Help a brother out lol... I have the matching JSX cab which is slightly different from my V30 loaded Mesa traditional 4x12 (not as bright). What are your settings on the crunch channel? I keep my gain on about 6 at most, resonance at about 6, presence 3-4, mids and treble at about 4 ish and bass about 5 (any higher and it gets too loose IMO). Those settings have been the best so far. I have it loaded with EH6L6's at the moment, and JJ 12AX7's in the pre (darker than the stock EH's or Tung Sols that I've tried... which helps)

I've gotten better sounds with low EQ settings (starting all controls on 0 and working up, but I loose too much volume). Also, do you notice that the amp isn't all that loud without the effects loop engaged and the levels up high? Even with the loop on and turned up, I have to have the amp on at least 5 (channel and master) to keep up with a drummer. Similarly, I set my Recto on 4 - 6 on the channel volumes and maybe 3 on the master and it totally kills it volume wise.

[shreddermon]

Like almost any amp, it's all in the settings. I'm not sure I've ever had what I would call a "thin" or "trebly" tone on my JSX, unless that was how the EQ was dialed in. Or perhaps it was the cab being used. ..But it's all in personal preferences, too. So to each his own.

To me - and as Nick described - it sounds like a lot of things, depending on what you've done with the settings on each channel. Right now, I've got mine dialed in with a Fender-y bell chime (Clean), vintage 70s classic rock (Crunch), and modern medium high-gain ballsy (Ultra).

And, lately, I've been playing around with running a GT-8 through the effects loop to add some nice chorus-rich tones through the Clean, and cocked wahs and/or touch of phaser on the Crunch & Ultras. I'm still learning on both, but the effects loop on the JSX kicks major @ss, too.

[khabibissell]

I want the amp to work out, which is why I haven't sold it. It would make a nice compliement to my Mesa as it does have a hot rodded Marshall thing going on. There is just something to the tone that I can't dial out... that "wah" thing. Some people probably dig that.

With the guys I normally jam with, I use my Dual Rec. I brought both heads to the family band jam thing (my nephew uses my old 6505+) a few weeks ago to try them out after being pretty satisfied with my weekly JSX tweaking session. Once the band kicked in, the amp cut, but the "thickness" was gone... After a few tunes, I asked my brother (he's done the band thing on and off since the 80's so I regard his opinon on good tone pretty highly) what he thought of the JSX. His response was "I thought you had your wah turned on a few times there"... I was plugged straight in! Go figure...

I'm not trying to put you guys down or anything... I know tone is a VERY subjective thing. Hell, I like Rectos, and I know most people hate 'em lol.

[shreddermon]

Nah, I like Rectos a lot, too. Thought about a Dual Rec instead, actually. But after trying them both, I preferred the JSX.

[kmanick]

OK!!!
Crunch
Treble =4
Mid=5 1/2
Bass=5 1/2
volume = 4
gain = 6 1/2
Fat = Off
ULTRA
Treble = 4
Mid=4
bass=6
volume = 5
gain = 5 1/2
fat = on
Presence=4
Reasonanace = 6
Bias with El34's = 39mA which equates to almost 11:00 on the bias dial.
remember counter clockwise = hotter on this dial.
I'm using a clean boost in front on both gain channels and I have the loop levels pinned.
this is the boost I'm using (custom made by a friend of mine) the one on the left


with this head I actually run the gain a little lower thatn what it's set to in the pic.
I'll try and record something ASAP (6 string and 7 ).
I actually like this head better with my Legacy cab than with the JSX cab.
I pm'ed you as well this head sounds completely different with El34's and 6L6's (to my ears anyway) and is very cab sensitive.
do you have a dual REcto Cab with V30's? have you tried it with that cab?

Oh , I love dual rectos too, that head has been calling my name for a while, I just don't know if I can get the sound out of it I want at lower volumes.

[Twisteramps]

I want the amp to work out, which is why I haven't sold it. It would make a nice compliement to my Mesa as it does have a hot rodded Marshall thing going on. There is just something to the tone that I can't dial out... that "wah" thing. Some people probably dig that.

With the guys I normally jam with, I use my Dual Rec. I brought both heads to the family band jam thing (my nephew uses my old 6505+) a few weeks ago to try them out after being pretty satisfied with my weekly JSX tweaking session. Once the band kicked in, the amp cut, but the "thickness" was gone... After a few tunes, I asked my brother (he's done the band thing on and off since the 80's so I regard his opinon on good tone pretty highly) what he thought of the JSX. His response was "I thought you had your wah turned on a few times there"... I was plugged straight in! Go figure...

I'm not trying to put you guys down or anything... I know tone is a VERY subjective thing. Hell, I like Rectos, and I know most people hate 'em lol.

Have you tried 6L6s in it? I know, that's what I say to everyone with JSX issues...

Pete

[bibz]

The JSX is so fucking versatile, you've just gotta rethink everything in your chain. From strings/bridges/pickups to cabs/speakers everythings gonna sound different. I'm constantly tweaking still and when I hit the right tone its fucking heaven! I'm using a nice thick chimey clean, a sweet rock tone on crunch, with a ts10 boosting it to awesome lead sound, and ultra is setup to deliver a swift, quick death
Tho a tiny bit of a tweak here and there really makes a diff with all the pickups/tunings I go through (6 completely different!) running different gain, different treble/bass/mid, and of course the volume I'm playing at through this 5150 cab requires retuning most of the time I change it. I've gotten many, many killer sounds though, and I'm always trying for more! I hadn't played a tube amp that could go from sparkle to midscooped oversaturated deathmetal, but this thing is fucking perfect for it all! and it gets MY sound(s) aswell!

and now I'm nearly out of debt from buying it, tones good, lifes good

[horns666]

Nick, you fucker!

Everytime I try the JSX at my GC..we get along VERY well..

I'd love to play it over a drummer tho..my son will do just fine!

[Spivonious]

You're not alone. I have tried everything (tubes, eq, bias, cabs, guitars, cables, you name it), and I don't like it at all. I could see how some may like it, but it sounds too thin and trebly (or high middish) for my tastes, especially when playing with a band.

Totally! It sounded that way in the store. Great if you love Satch's tone but not my cup of tea. I think his tone is way too trebly.

[horns666]

The JSX is based on the XXX..Joe went to Peavey and told them what he liked and didn't like about the XXX..which gave birth to the JSX..

Joe used Chandler preamps, digital echo and various rack shit..then Marshall anniversary half stacks..then 5150's for a short time..then he tried the XXX..and fa la la la..la la la la..

I played the JSX and I didn't sound nothing like the Satch..It sounded just like.."Bed Of Nails"...

[kmanick]

Crunch channel can get very "Satch -ish" I actually use the crunch channel to play Satch, the ultra channel can get you a bunch of good heavy tones. Mines not that bright , some of these ship with EH preamp tubes ( and those are bright as shit) mine came with JJ's all around, but I popped in a tung sol in V1.
sounds fucking killer.