Marshall JVM Settings\Modes - Am I The Only One Who Does This? (Deep Dive)

[HFloyd]

UPDATE:

Yeah...obviously I'm doing a tonne of tweaking.

For any green mode, the treble control really tightens things up a lot. It's more of a "pick attack" control. Turning up Treble on the Green Channel almost kinda sorta feels like you're adding a high pass filter and rolling off the bottom end a little bit.

It obviously makes things brighter as well, but after like 9 o'clock, it doesn't seem to add THAT much brightness either, it just seems to kinda tighten things up. So if you've been using any of the green modes and been finding it a bit flubby, increase the treble.

And yeah, channel volume is fairly significant. I'm running my volumes at around 1-2 o'clock and it just seems to have made things a bit more solid\authoritative.

I also played with Clean Orange. I really liked the tone I could get from it. It was warm, a bit compressed but that compression sorta added a nice chirp to everything. Unfortunately when I clicked on a fuzz, the compression really came back to bite it and things were pretty muffled sounding. So it looks like I'll be sticking with Clean Green.

I’ve owned my JVM410 since they dropped back in 2007, so had plenty of years playing around with it. I’ve landed on Clean green and got a really nice, chimey clean out of it, Crunch Red, which is where I live mostly, and takes an EQ pedal really well, so suits any type of room or pickup, and as everyone else knows, OD1 Orange, such a fun channel. I have a button on the foot switch setup for Crunch Green as well to put with fuzz or drive pedals, but it’s not used as much.
It’s taken me a long time to find the places i have but im completely stoked with my tone now.

I used Crunch Red for a real long time because it handles pedals really well. I agree switching to Crunch Green for fuzz though. Crunch Green does love a good fuzz face or Octavio.

However since I'm focusing on "punch" more than anything else, I'm using Crunch Orange at the moment. Again, it doesn't quite clean up as nicely as Crunch Red, but I like the midrange on it. It handles things like Fuzz Faces pretty well.

I guess my overall "dream" JVM would be 1 mode which:
- Had the gain structure of Green
- Had the midrange punch of Orange
- Cleaned up like Red\Green modes

And then I would love a Clean, Crunch and OD channel of all of the above

 

[maico996]

This will help shed some light on the Marshall tone stack and why "turning up Treble on the Green Channel almost kinda sorta feels like you're adding a high pass filter and rolling off the bottom end a little bit."

The Tone Stack Explained in English for Humans – Pick Roar

 

[Crikey]

So...the JVM. What a legend eh?

I keep doing deep dives on this amp and finding\re-discovering new things but ultimately it's always sounding pretty killer.

However, one thing I've always done is cranked the hell out of the mids. As in run them as close to full as possible. Doesn't matter what mode\channel, my mids are always at 9 o'clock or higher. I back the treble off to around noon (give or take an hour) and bass is usually around 11 o'clock.

The thing is, I see pretty much everybody running all the settings at noon-ish and...I mean that sounds fine, but the higher I crank the mids, the more...everything comes out for me. The more aggression, tone, definition, and the gain generally gets more controllable too 'cos all this mid-range punches out and almost absorbs some of the gain?

Ultimately if it sounds good to your ears, then that's the settings you should rock, regardless of what anybody else says. but I'm just wondering if there's a reason why I don't see people doing it that often. Is there something I'm missing?

ALSO:

I'd love a rundown on which channel\mode is best equivilant to which Marshall. I keep changing my mind on what is meant to be what.

Clean:
Green - JVM Specialty (SUPER clean)
Orange - JTM45
Red - Modded JTM45?

Crunch:
Green: Plexi
Orange: JCM800?
Red: Hot-Rodded Plexi

OD:
Green: Hot-Rodded JCM800
Orange: JVM Specialty
Red: JVM Specialty ++

'Cos the thing that I've been noticing a lot with all the modes is it's not just a gain change. There's a big dynamics change as well. The green channels all have a genuinely awesome amount of headroom. Which means the green channels take pedals like an absolute champion. Fuzz Face in OD1 Green? Glorious! Lots of dynamics as well and responds great to your picking. The Orange mode I generally find to be the most compressed, but also with super punchy mids. What's interesting to me however is the red mode kinda has the most compressed sound, but it cleans up better than the Orange mode? So the mode with the highest gain...cleans up better than the Orange mode.

Which is why I'm curious about what each mode is meant to be? 'Cos the Crunch Orange and the Green OD play and feel very differently to each other and almost feel like they have a different gain staging?

...Also red mode on the OD channels is basically pointless. Even with the gain at 3 o'clock it's too much. BUT AGAIN, it cleans up surprisingly well?

SO YEAH.

There's a whole bunch of info\impressions. I don't know what you can do with any of that, but let me know what you think?

Great info.
Im new owner of used jvm205
Was playing it for several hours last night
Orange channel is my fav but clran is very nice
The effect loop works really well. Was very surprising sed and the reverb actually sounds good.
I need to buy the pedal for it.

 

[HFloyd]

This will help shed some light on the Marshall tone stack and why "turning up Treble on the Green Channel almost kinda sorta feels like you're adding a high pass filter and rolling off the bottom end a little bit."

The Tone Stack Explained in English for Humans – Pick Roar

This is actually really good and helpful.

 

[HFloyd]

So here's what I have so far...

2 riffs, one on bridge pickup, one on neck pickup with my Les Paul. Re-amped with nothing in the signal chain so effectively Guitar -> Amp. Running through a Mesa 4x12 with V30s and mic'd with an SM57

(All settings are in reference to a clock face)

Clean Green:

Volume: N\A
Bass: 12
Mids: Full
Treble: 11
"Gain": 10

I'm pretty happy with that. It can be a bit spiky on the bridge pickup, but...I mean it is a Marshall. It should be a LITTLE rough around the edges!


Crunch Orange:

Volume: 1
Bass: 2
Mids: Full
Treble: 11
Gain: 12

This one I'm very happy with. Punchy in the mids, not too high gain so it takes pedals well. When playing it, it doesn't clean up AS nice as the others, but I get that chirpy punchy mids.


OD1 Green:

Volume: 2
Bass: 9
Mids: Full
Treble: 3
Gain: 2

OD1 Green is the one I'm not thrilled with. I'm trying to hit that sweet spot between just-broken-up chirpy crunch and high gain roar. It doesn't seem to matter what I do, I don't seem to be able to get things tight, or saturated in a way that doesn't make it sound completely blown out and a bit flubby? It takes pedals really well though and cleans up amazing so I really want to use Green as my OD1 channel. (Edit: In hindsight...a Tubescreamer might do the trick. Back off the gain, add some mids, roll off bass, add a bit of pedal gain...)


OD2 Orange:


Volume: 2
Bass: 11
Mids: Full
Treble: 1
Gain: 10

I find the slight 500hz-ish mid-scoop in OD2 is really best suited for anything high-gain ish. While it was more fun "in the room" with OD1 being on Orange 'cos of that extra bit of "whoof" to all the chugs, it did sorta kill a fraction of the punchyness. That mid-scoop on OD2 (and slight bass boost) really helped bring out chugs in a great way. I'm pretty damn happy with this sound.

HOWEVER:
Even if I'm very happy with any of the sounds I've mentioned here, I'm open to suggestions! That's kinda the point of this thread. Fine-tuning and figuring out what modes are best for what.

 

[Willsy182]

So here's what I have so far...

2 riffs, one on bridge pickup, one on neck pickup with my Les Paul. Re-amped with nothing in the signal chain so effectively Guitar -> Amp. Running through a Mesa 4x12 with V30s and mic'd with an SM57

(All settings are in reference to a clock face)

Clean Green:

Volume: N\A
Bass: 12
Mids: Full
Treble: 11
"Gain": 10

I'm pretty happy with that. It can be a bit spiky on the bridge pickup, but...I mean it is a Marshall. It should be a LITTLE rough around the edges!


Crunch Orange:

Volume: 1
Bass: 2
Mids: Full
Treble: 11
Gain: 12

This one I'm very happy with. Punchy in the mids, not too high gain so it takes pedals well. When playing it, it doesn't clean up AS nice as the others, but I get that chirpy punchy mids.


OD1 Green:

Volume: 2
Bass: 9
Mids: Full
Treble: 3
Gain: 2

OD1 Green is the one I'm not thrilled with. I'm trying to hit that sweet spot between just-broken-up chirpy crunch and high gain roar. It doesn't seem to matter what I do, I don't seem to be able to get things tight, or saturated in a way that doesn't make it sound completely blown out and a bit flubby? It takes pedals really well though and cleans up amazing so I really want to use Green as my OD1 channel. (Edit: In hindsight...a Tubescreamer might do the trick. Back off the gain, add some mids, roll off bass, add a bit of pedal gain...)


OD2 Orange:


Volume: 2
Bass: 11
Mids: Full
Treble: 1
Gain: 10

I find the slight 500hz-ish mid-scoop in OD2 is really best suited for anything high-gain ish. While it was more fun "in the room" with OD1 being on Orange 'cos of that extra bit of "whoof" to all the chugs, it did sorta kill a fraction of the punchyness. That mid-scoop on OD2 (and slight bass boost) really helped bring out chugs in a great way. I'm pretty damn happy with this sound.

HOWEVER:
Even if I'm very happy with any of the sounds I've mentioned here, I'm open to suggestions! That's kinda the point of this thread. Fine-tuning and figuring out what modes are best for what.

Crunch Orange and OD1 Green sound awesome, and you’re bang on with the tube screamer idea too, I use a mini tube screamer as a drive boost, so it’s not taking over the amp tone too much. OD2 no matter what mode never sounds good too me, I’m not a fan of the scooped tone, but I’m also not a metal player either so it doesn’t suit me.

 

[MonstersOfTheMidway]

Sup. I usually just set bass, mid, and treble at mid-point/12 o'clock position/straight up/5, and then let my ears determine the best setting; it's the fastest, easiest, and most reliable way to dial in my stock 410H, especially given various elements in the signal chain (i.e. different speaker types, tube brands, pickups, tone woods, etc.) I use this same approach with other amps, and it still works well for me.

In the beginning I used to experiment with different methods to dial in, which was fun for a while.

Do what works best for you and have fun.

 

[HFloyd]

Crunch Orange and OD1 Green sound awesome, and you’re bang on with the tube screamer idea too, I use a mini tube screamer as a drive boost, so it’s not taking over the amp tone too much. OD2 no matter what mode never sounds good too me, I’m not a fan of the scooped tone, but I’m also not a metal player either so it doesn’t suit me.

Yeah I'm using a Tumnus Deluxe (Klon with an EQ) with Green OD1 and it's helped a lot. I rolled off some gain on the channel itself, then with the pedal I cut some bass, boost the mids and roll off a bit of top end. I run the level pretty high to hit the front end of the amp and induce some compression (generally around the mid-spike I mentioned) and add a bit of gain. At that point it does the "punchy" thing I'm looking for with some well-controlled gain.

I think the Green channel across the entire JVM is sorta designed to be a bit of a platform for pedals and stuff. It sounds fine by itself, but when you start boosting, adding fuzzes or EQs or other things, the extra headroom in that channel means it handles it all really well and often you can bring out the best qualities of said boost\fuzz\EQ in that channel. As a very dedicated pedal nerd, this does give me joy, but I do think it needs some "help" to be the best it could be.

 

[Willsy182]

Yeah I'm using a Tumnus Deluxe (Klon with an EQ) with Green OD1 and it's helped a lot. I rolled off some gain on the channel itself, then with the pedal I cut some bass, boost the mids and roll off a bit of top end. I run the level pretty high to hit the front end of the amp and induce some compression (generally around the mid-spike I mentioned) and add a bit of gain. At that point it does the "punchy" thing I'm looking for with some well-controlled gain.

I think the Green channel across the entire JVM is sorta designed to be a bit of a platform for pedals and stuff. It sounds fine by itself, but when you start boosting, adding fuzzes or EQs or other things, the extra headroom in that channel means it handles it all really well and often you can bring out the best qualities of said boost\fuzz\EQ in that channel. As a very dedicated pedal nerd, this does give me joy, but I do think it needs some "help" to be the best it could be.

Think you’ve nailed it here mate

 

[Starbuck]

Resident lurker here...

I know I am posting to this thread months late, but I wanted to tell Mr HFloyd how much I really appreciated his post months ago. I have been playing around with my 410 and learning new things mostly because of the following line (but all of the post was good):

What's interesting to me however is the red mode kinda has the most compressed sound, but it cleans up better than the Orange mode? So the mode with the highest gain...cleans up better than the Orange mode.

I have been playing around with this one aspect on the Clean and Crunch channels and really enjoying the results.

So I am mostly posting to say that although I have not the time to read all the posts nor am I a the best player or a real amp tech, but I really like this forum. And especially this thread (with all the responses too) was great.

Thank you people!

 

[Karl Brake]

So...the JVM. What a legend eh?

I keep doing deep dives on this amp and finding\re-discovering new things but ultimately it's always sounding pretty killer.

However, one thing I've always done is cranked the hell out of the mids. As in run them as close to full as possible. Doesn't matter what mode\channel, my mids are always at 9 o'clock or higher. I back the treble off to around noon (give or take an hour) and bass is usually around 11 o'clock.

The thing is, I see pretty much everybody running all the settings at noon-ish and...I mean that sounds fine, but the higher I crank the mids, the more...everything comes out for me. The more aggression, tone, definition, and the gain generally gets more controllable too 'cos all this mid-range punches out and almost absorbs some of the gain?

Ultimately if it sounds good to your ears, then that's the settings you should rock, regardless of what anybody else says. but I'm just wondering if there's a reason why I don't see people doing it that often. Is there something I'm missing?

ALSO:

I'd love a rundown on which channel\mode is best equivilant to which Marshall. I keep changing my mind on what is meant to be what.

Clean:
Green - JVM Specialty (SUPER clean)
Orange - JTM45
Red - Modded JTM45?

Crunch:
Green: Plexi
Orange: JCM800?
Red: Hot-Rodded Plexi

OD:
Green: Hot-Rodded JCM800
Orange: JVM Specialty
Red: JVM Specialty ++

'Cos the thing that I've been noticing a lot with all the modes is it's not just a gain change. There's a big dynamics change as well. The green channels all have a genuinely awesome amount of headroom. Which means the green channels take pedals like an absolute champion. Fuzz Face in OD1 Green? Glorious! Lots of dynamics as well and responds great to your picking. The Orange mode I generally find to be the most compressed, but also with super punchy mids. What's interesting to me however is the red mode kinda has the most compressed sound, but it cleans up better than the Orange mode? So the mode with the highest gain...cleans up better than the Orange mode.

Which is why I'm curious about what each mode is meant to be? 'Cos the Crunch Orange and the Green OD play and feel very differently to each other and almost feel like they have a different gain staging?

...Also red mode on the OD channels is basically pointless. Even with the gain at 3 o'clock it's too much. BUT AGAIN, it cleans up surprisingly well?

SO YEAH.

There's a whole bunch of info\impressions. I don't know what you can do with any of that, but let me know what you think?

I do pretty much what you do.