would really appreciate any who would give opinions and listen to my story

[hithere]

hey guys I just want to give a quick history of my past gear and issues.

My first real amp was a marshall mg100 1x12 combo.

After I got into tube amps I went through (all fender reissues)

Twin Reverb
Deluxe Reverb
Prince Reverb
Hot Rod
marshall jvm 205 h (recently sold)

I loved the twin and still have one, but it's ready to go out the door, basically because I have spent years trying to get it right with drive pedals, and above all the fender is harsh on my ears.

The jvm went because I recently played a dsl recently and favored it's simplicity.

To keep the story short life was much simpler when I played my old solid state marshall, could get huge reverbs out of it and delay built in, I focused on my playing so much more, and never had harshness. Even the cleans now after having tons of fenders, was great for being darker (what my ears need now) and obviously I love clean from having all those fenders.

Also to keep it short, I have been losing pleasure in playing for the last 2 years tone chasing. I am thinking maybe it's time to go back to marshall.

Maybe what I loved was the closed back cab

My questions are this, I remember being able to jack the gain up pretty high on roll back well.

This is really important, I think I am finding all this low gain stuff I am trying for the music I really like

such as

Petty
Ryan Adams
Death Cab for Cutie

to not have enough sustain and feel for me when I try it on other amps, but if I could roll back that and then up to say a Fall of Troy/Sigur Ros level.

Does the effects loop make things weird like the jvm's?

 

[steelhorse]

The DSL is a great amp and personal favorite of many in these parts.

 

[MonstersOfTheMidway]

Hello. Interesting dilema. I think that there are more things to consider here. First, let's talk about the JVM. I own the JVM410H and can say that I was never impressed with the tone of floor pedals that are run through the effects loop circuit. I always lost some volume even when I place some very good quality time-based effects such as delay, flange, chorus, phaser, tremolo, etc. I think that the effects loop on the JVM was designed for rack effects units, as there seems to be some technical information in the owner's manual that seems to apply to rack effects units. I have placing floor pedals in front of the amp versus in the effects unit and can say for certain that to my ear, floor effects/stomp boxes sound best in front of the amp.

As far as your other issues go, I think that you may be thinking about amps in the wrong way. There no rule that one amp should do it all for you. Some amps will give you something different that others won't. It's not a crime to have marshall, fender, line 6, vox, etc. in your stable if you can get some great sounds out of various amps. I searched for an amp that always let's me start with a good basic sound and then have room to tweak. There is no sense in trying to coax a good sound from an amp that has nothing to offer from the beginning. I spent months demoing many tube amps in search of an amp with good basic clean and dirty sounds. I found that in the JVM410H. I always demo an amp with all tone controls at 12 o'clock since that would be a very close sonic match to a basic flat response on a graphic equalizer. From there, I adjust channel volume, master volume, and gain, if applicable. You will know right away if this amp has anything special to offer or whether you should look elsewhere. "Tone chasing" is perhaps a negative way to look at the situation. You can be happy with a few amps, if you know what you are looking for. But you have to decide what you are looking for.

 

[janarn]

I was also testing new Marshalls, and ended up with the JVM410H.
I had a TC Electronic G-Force in the loop, and used a Midi pedal connected
to both the amp and the G-Force. Still lost some of the sound with the G-Force.
I could dial in every sound there is, and have it in the Midi bank.
And I thought my amp had a good sound from clean to high-gain,
although I only used the green modes, and one orange, on the amps channels.

Then I tried a '68 Super Bass. Just one basic sound, but that was the sound I was looking for.
I use the amp with a good crunch, pull back the volume on the guitar for clean,
and use a clean-boost for lead sound.
That's my basic sound today, and I sold the JVM.

So if you want a Marshall and don't need 99 different sounds,
go for an amp with a straight signal, and get the basic Marshall sound.

 

[MKB]

One of the problems with guitar gear is that you may have to go through lots of amps to figure out what works for you. What you might think would work actually may not work at all. In the end the tone has to inspire you and sound good to your ear, that's really all that matters regardless of if it is solid state or tube. There are lots of guitarists that can afford anything out there but ended up with strange gear (such as Ty Tabor of King's X with the solid state Lab Series amps, and Duke Robillard with an old Peavey PA as an amp). Even Tom Petty is known for using solid state Vox's in concert. So don't lose the forest in the midst of the trees; if the Marshall MG works for you, maybe that's your amp. If it rocks your world, nothing else matters.

 

[MG100]

....In the end the tone has to inspire you and sound good to your ear, that's really all that matters regardless of if it is solid state or tube.......

+1
Says it all...

 

[hithere]

thanks guys, my choice now for a somewhat darker amp is between a

vox custom classic or a dsl 50.

Either way I do need clean sound, but with the vox I guess I would be using an od/boost pedal,

there any bands who use dsl's that I can check out?

 

[crossroadsnyc]

So if you want a Marshall and don't need 99 different sounds,
go for an amp with a straight signal, and get the basic Marshall sound.

+1

 

[RiverRatt]

Here's a shameless plug for a local Nashville band. I know that one of the guitar players, Keith White, used a DSL100. Check out the tune "Super Trucker."

STACK on MySpace Music - Free Streaming MP3s, Pictures & Music Downloads

 

[Kendall124]

"To keep the story short life was much simpler when I played my old solid state marshall, could get huge reverbs out of it and delay built in, I focused on my playing so much more"

I think I know what you're talking about. Many say that, with a tube amp, you play your amp just like you play your guitar. I find that a tube amp is more... how shall I say... it's more organic, it's almost a living breathing entity that is controlled by your fingers and emotions. Make sense?

I know, that was a little deep. I play some rooms that I always struggle in. Humidity, temperature, room size etc. play havoc with my abillity to "just shut up and play". Make sense?

I know... shut up and play.

 

[janarn]

A good description of how it is to play with a vintage amp.

 

[solarburn]

thanks guys, my choice now for a somewhat darker amp is between a

vox custom classic or a dsl 50.

Either way I do need clean sound, but with the vox I guess I would be using an od/boost pedal,

there any bands who use dsl's that I can check out?

The DSL50 has beautiful cleans IMO. Great roll off to cleaner sounds from overdriven tones too. The crunch channel with certain overdrive pedals can be 2 channels in itself using guitar volume roll off to clean. The red channel will roll off nicely as well. I luvs this amp.