JVM or JSX head?

[Infernal Death]

noisier than a 5150 ? or different kind of hiss (loud background humming ? )

I am not that familiar with the 5150 but i think it's way noisier. Hell i never heard an amp that hisses this loud. That's why i thought it is broken before my drummer told me otherwise.

@cbope

Yes the JVM needs a noisegate really bad.
Also yes i still think the JVM is a very nice sounding head (especially for the money). But reliability really seems to be a problem with newer Marshall heads. I always think you can get a bad model, even with much higher $$$ amps but there are just too many people out there who experienced build quality problems to be just a coincidence that my other guitar player got a turd.

I told my guitar player to get a second hand rectifier for the same money but he wanted to have a new amp. So it was the powerball against the JVM and he picked the JVM because it's way more versatile.

I hope the crackling noise issue will get repaired. If it's working correct and my other guitar player gets a distortion pedal (to not have to crank the gain on the amp too much and getting "the wall of hiss") then this amp will be very nice.

Flo

[skarhead]

as you're from germany - louder than a powerball mk1 with the noisegate disengaged ?

[cbope]

Almost there... if I can get by the music shop tomorrow I should have my Powerball. Unfortunately they don't have the 2x12 cab in stock... so I may be unable to play through it for a few days until I can locate a cab.

[Infernal Death]

as you're from germany - louder than a powerball mk1 with the noisegate disengaged ?

Sorry, never heard a powerball mk1 without the noise gate. Judging from your question i guess it has plenty of noise ?

Flo

[Robotechnology]

I have 7 friends with JVM's and none have experienced any problems with them whatsoever so I wouldn't rule the Marshall out if I were you. Also, if you're going to look into ENGL then, get the Savage 120 over the Powerball. It is more versatile sounding over the P-Ball.

[cbope]

I have 7 friends with JVM's and none have experienced any problems with them whatsoever so I wouldn't rule the Marshall out if I were you. Also, if you're going to look into ENGL then, get the Savage 120 over the Powerball. It is more versatile sounding over the P-Ball.

The Savage is 400€ more than the Powerball. I can swing it if I go for a bit cheaper cab. I can always get a better cab later. 2 questions though:

1. Is the Savage worth the 400€ premium over a Powerball?

2. Is the Savage decent sounding at bedroom volume?

As I mentioned when I started this thread, I'm looking for a good balance of versatility and good tone even at low volumes. I've not been able to get to the music shop for the past 2 days to make the purchase, but maybe this is a good thing.

[cbope]

I noticed the Savage is lacking a noise gate. Does it need one, or is it a quiet amp? I checked out the clips on rocksolidamps.com, and I'm leaning towards the Savage based on those clips alone. Unfortunately the music shop where I'm buying from doesn't have any Savages in stock, only Powerballs, so I can't go A/B them.

[lerxstcat]

Why don't you simply try the Powerball in the shop and decide whether you like it? You're better off trying what they have in stock and seeing if you like it anyway. If you don't like the Powerball then think of ordering the Savage. If the Powerball can do what you want, why spend the extra 400 Euros?

Also, individual amps vary within the same model. If the Powerball the local shop has gives you the sounds you want. maybe it's better to buy THAT amp - the very one you try - rather than spending 400 more for an amp you're buying ear unheard. If you don't like it, can you return it for a full refund? I would ask that question.

[Robotechnology]

Savage sounds great at bedroom volume and you can coax more traditional sounds out of it compared to the P-Ball more modern metal slant. It still does metal too just fuller sounding if I may say so.

[cbope]

It seems like the Savages are a bit harder to get here. Maybe it's because the model is a bit older and less popular today compared to the newer Powerball/Fireball/Blackmore models or maybe Engl are not making that many of them anymore. So I'm going to get the Powerball now (new) and keep my eyes open for a used Savage.

[cbope]

A new Powerball is now comfortably sitting at home, picked it up about 3 hours ago. Unfortunately I'm cab-less at the moment and they didn't have the matching cab in stock, so I can't even try out my new baby yet...

[Robotechnology]

Congrats on your puchase. Doesn't need to be an ENGL cab you know. Laney's are good inexpensive cabs on your side of the pond. I find ENGL amps love Celestion G12H30's so see if there are any cabs by you by any manufacturer that he these speakers in them.

[cbope]

Congrats on your puchase. Doesn't need to be an ENGL cab you know. Laney's are good inexpensive cabs on your side of the pond. I find ENGL amps love Celestion G12H30's so see if there are any cabs by you by any manufacturer that he these speakers in them.

I ordered a Framus 212 cab last night, based on a few posts here in JCF. It has V30's, which also seem to work well with ENGL's. G12H30's would be nice, but they only handle 30 watts each so it would not work for a 2x12 with this head. I may experiment with different speakers later on, but first I'm going to try out this combo and see how I like it. This is my first all-tube amp, so I have a bit to learn about how to get the best tone out of it.

[cbope]

Here it is:



My Framus 212 cab should be here in about a week. I can't wait to hear how it sounds... so far I've only been able to play it through headphones, using my pocket POD plugged into the FX send.

[pott]

Wait... you've been using a head without anything plugged into its speaker out..? It seems to work so you must have done something with it? Or else it'd have blown the output transformer.