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Hey all,

I've been using a JCM 2000 for my main amp for quite awhile now. I'm really tired of the tone of the amp. It sounds good when cranked, but I'm not able to do that often. When not cranked, it sounds kind of muffled. Anyway, I need advice on the amps replacement.

Does anyone have any suggestions? I'm going to be playing mostly at home now, but will probably gig in 6 months or so. Think 50 watts. I play hard rock/metal and I'd like to stay in the price range of the JCM 2000. You can see the basics of my gear in my sig. I've been out of the market for a while and thought some here may be more up to date on whats out there. I was considering a modeling amp, but I've never used one besides the POD kidney bean. So everyone chime in. Thanks in advance!

Mark

Depending what you consider to be reasonable volume, an attenuator might help. Your cab might also be part of the problem, with the speakers having to be pushed to sound good. Perhaps a different cab would help. Of course, an attenuator a new cab would be a goodly chunk of the cost of a new amp.
I think I'd suggest keeping the JCM and getting a practice amp that you can be happy with.

Check out a Mesa rectoverb. You can score one on Ebay for around $800 or so. It will eat the JCM for breakfast. It's still pretty loud, but you can run it at alot more respectable levels than the JCM. The clean channel sounds great too. Way better than the marshall and alot better than anyone would expect from a recto.


Originally Posted by alecleeDepending what you consider to be reasonable volume, an attenuator might help. Your cab might also be part of the problem, with the speakers having to be pushed to sound good. Perhaps a different cab would help. Of course, an attenuator a new cab would be a goodly chunk of the cost of a new amp.
I think I'd suggest keeping the JCM and getting a practice amp that you can be happy with.

1
I find a similar problem with my TSL 601. I compensate a little by keeping the master volume up high, and dropping the channel vols. If I need that drive I'll just use my Jekyll amp; Hyde as a booster. It's not a perfect solution but I get by.

1 for the atenuator. If you are ussing a cabinet you probably be able to wire it in a different way to use less speakers and still mach the impedance of the amp. You'll save a lot of money!!!

If you are thinking in a modelling amp only for home use or recording check the Trademark 10 from Tech21. That amp has amazing features and a great tone.

Good Luck!!!

Get an attenuator, and replace two of your speakers in your cab with greenbacks and wire it in so you can use the greenbacks by themselves like a 2x12...you will have much more options then.

Or just go out and buy an ENGL Screamer 50 combo!

or just get a half power switch amp; a stereo cab

well...hell i guess you could just pull a couple tubes, assuming its the 100 watt jcm

Either get an attenuator or an Engl Screamer 50 combo. At least those are the best choices in my opinion. And I'm kind of in the same boat, but I still love the sound of my JCM2000. I'd just wish that I could turn it up more often.

Yeah, I considered getting an avatar cab to use with the 2000, but it's a 100 watt head. Can it be run a 50w by taking out two of the tubes SAFELY? An attenuator and the 2x12 solution might just do it.

The Mesa sounds like a good option, too.

Mark

I would suggest taking your amp to a place like Ultrasound, where you can directly compare it against other amps.

If volume is the problem, try the Fallen Angel series of Ashdown. There is a 60 watt Head model which rocks really hard even if the volume is under 12 oclock. It is an all tube amp. Try their web www.ashdownmusic.com

Out of curiosity, what are your settings? I'm having a hard time finding a good tone from my JCM2000 cranked or not.

To run the amp at half power, remove either the two outer tubes, or the two inner tubes, as they work in tandem. By doing this, your impedance is doubled, so with an 8 ohm cab, you'd set the head to 4 ohms. 16 ohm cab, 8 ohms on the head.

lowering the power by half will lose you about only 3db but will make the amps valves easier to push, your best bet by far is an attenuator/power break which will let you run the amp with the valves cooking at much better volumes, as many have said the most important factor for volume are the speakers. my 10w valve amp running through my 4x12 is loud even at low settings and to push the amp the volumes are way too loud for convencional use, but with my 1x12 the volumes are way more reasonable and i can run the amp at night as a practice amp and it can be really quiet, which is why i dont think pulling the valves/tubes is really worth it since even a 10w amp with a big speaker cab is still loud enough even for gigging.

for a new amp thats useable at any levels id check marshalls avt range, and vox's modeling amps, or maybe a pod xt, hope this helps

Ryan


Originally Posted by Brian110687Out of curiosity, what are your settings? I'm having a hard time finding a good tone from my JCM2000 cranked or not.

that's cuz it's a marshall

heh, sorry, just had to


Originally Posted by Brian110687Out of curiosity, what are your settings? I'm having a hard time finding a good tone from my JCM2000 cranked or not.

Well, I use a variety of settings, depending on what I'm doing. I usually hover around 1 o'clock bass, 11 o'clock mids, 3 o'clock treble with the presence about the same as the treble in an attempt to cut out some of the muffling of the sound.

I tell ya, at decent volume, the clean channel (with the extra gain switch in) with the gain at 1-2 o'clock is killer for older AC/DC type stuff. But I'm more of a hard rock-metal (think more Ozzy than AC/DC) player these days. The higher gain settings sound like a tinny little voice no matter how I set the eq. I'm considering getting an OD pedal to put in front of the clean channel and check that out.

In terms of the speakers, I have to agree with most of what's been said with the caveat that I used this cab with a 5150 and it sounded like a dream, MUCH better than it did with the 5150 cab. That 5150 head literally smoked, honked, and then proceeded to die, or I'd still be using it. I think maybe the 2000 just isn't voiced to suit my taste.

Thanks for the input everyone. And Drew, BTW, I've played on plenty of Fenders and they are my favorite 'clean' amp hands down. If you look at my sig you'll see the HRDlx IS my clean channel. Great amps, but just not 'hard rocking' amp for MY taste. They'll always be my clean channel, however.

I'm considering selling the head (or keeping it for a 'rhythm channel'-heheh) and getting a Mesa Single Rec (no mods needed) or maybe one of Trace's Voodoo Plexi amps with an attenuator for my main sound. Anyone know about either of these?

Mark

What? Nobody? BTW, I really appreciate all of the responses that have been given. Based on some of those...

I'm heading to Guitar Center today to check out some of the amps that they have in stock. THIS TIME I'm taking my trusty strat with a PGn and C5b to do some serious testing. I checked out the MF website. I'm leaning toward a Cyber Twin, a line6 Vetta II, or a Fender reissue (I'm tired of effects loops and distortion pedals, though).

Wish me luck!

Farkus

Good luck!!!

Get a weber mini mass attenuator. I use the 50 watt version and with it set at around 3-5 i can crank my amp to 3-4 (it cranks at 3) and the sound is perfect, not too loud, and i cant tell any loss from the highs or lows. My amp is bright anyway, and it rumbles pretty good on the low side.. so maybe it is cutting highs and lows but it sounds fine. You cant get it new unless you use the standard mass, which is $225 for the 100 watt, but it has a **** load of features to combat any tone loss and other stuff. If you look around, especially ebay, you can find a 100 watt mini mass probably around $110 /- $25.