Official original Marshall JVM appreciation thread

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When I had my JVM, I played it through a 212 with Creamback 65’s for the most part. The only 412 I tried with it was a 1960 with T75’s which I did not like. What is your favorite speaker in a 412 slant with the JVM?
 
I primarily run my 410H through a T75 loaded 6960B cabinet (30th anniversary version of 1960B) and I love it.

My second favorite is when I combine my 2x12 Creamback loaded Park cab with my Mojotone 4x10 with Greenbacks & Golds in an X pattern.

I've never really jelled with it when playing through my Mesa horizontal 2x12 with V30s, but I do use this configuration sometimes just for variety and experimentation.
 
SUPER late to the party, but I have joined the club of JVM appreciators!



I think this amp does not necessarily need a boost, and with clean boosts I get a super weird "whompy" effect, but it loves the Fortin Tempest it seems, which is a rare sight, as that pedal sometimes is hard to pair with some amps. The JS version, which I have as a long time loaner here at my place (and which I will shoot out against the regular on the channel sometime in the context of thrash stuff and a bit left and right) takes pedals WAY better, but on itself to me lacks the punch and "metal-ness" on the OD1 channel of the regular. OD2 does not jive for me on the JS as well, while it's gnarly and mean on the regular.
BUT - the Crunch channel on the JS makes me kneel before the hard rock crunch god tone that it is, while on the regular one I don't like it at all, unless boosted with an SD1.
To me, and that might be controversial, the clean of the regular one is better. Less sparkle (I call it spikey), fuller for arpeggiated chordy stuff like I tend to play. Clean Red on the JS however is a really nice rock tone.

I am super eager to get top learn more about this thing, I am starting to dig into reading tube amp schematics, and using the JCM 2204 and JVM as references to kind of get a grasp on what's going on under the hood. I want to soon bias the amp way hotter, to around 70%, since in my experience I tend to like hotter biased amps. I'll try to document the process and make "cold vs. hot bias" clips and smack out a video on the subject.
 
I liked the JVM 410H when I played it. OD1 on Orange was heaven for me. My only issue with the JVMs were they felt a little more compressed than the DSLs. And then I got a Metro and that pretty much put the kaibosh on me needing a JVM. Although I’d still probably grab one to have for the right price.
 
Picked one up today, they're a good amp.

Not sure they're my personal favourite Marshall tonally though. A lot more compressed and darker than I typically associate with Marshall's. Great for modern stuff and particularly for players who maybe aren't the best at controlling their dynamics. I get a similar feeling when I play Diezels where there's a slight disconnect because the dynamics get smoothed out. I also find I have to crank the treble and presence a fair bit, which Im sure is down to the amps using more NFB. Also something I find I have to do with Diezel's.

But yeah, OD1 is the money channel for sure. Crunch and OD2 were better than I remembered. It's cool how many tones you can get out of them, and the design is genius.
greatmutah said:
My only issue with the JVMs were they felt a little more compressed than the DSLs
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Definitely agree with this. On pure tones (rather than features) I like the DSL more I think
 
MirrorProfiles said:
Picked one up today, they're a good amp.

Not sure they're my personal favourite Marshall tonally though. A lot more compressed and darker than I typically associate with Marshall's. Great for modern stuff and particularly for players who maybe aren't the best at controlling their dynamics. I get a similar feeling when I play Diezels where there's a slight disconnect because the dynamics get smoothed out. I also find I have to crank the treble and presence a fair bit, which Im sure is down to the amps using more NFB. Also something I find I have to do with Diezel's.

But yeah, OD1 is the money channel for sure. Crunch and OD2 were better than I remembered. It's cool how many tones you can get out of them, and the design is genius.

Definitely agree with this. On pure tones (rather than features) I like the DSL more I think
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Lay back on the gain and the compression is not really that different.
 
Eagle said:
Lay back on the gain and the compression is not really that different.
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Kind of defeats the point of a high gain amp. I don't really play with a ton of gain either, I like to use my playing dynamics to push it over the edge rather than the amp not giving you a choice. It's more of a feel thing than a gain thing really.

IMO it's just aiming for a different kind of sound, the amp is supposed to be more compressed and modern by design. Other Marshall's do the less compressed tones.
 
MirrorProfiles said:
Kind of defeats the point of a high gain amp. I don't really play with a ton of gain either, I like to use my playing dynamics to push it over the edge rather than the amp not giving you a choice. It's more of a feel thing than a gain thing really.

IMO it's just aiming for a different kind of sound, the amp is supposed to be more compressed and modern by design. Other Marshall's do the less compressed tones.
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If you want DSL it does that too.
 
That was one of the tweaks done to the Satch model - less gain on the OD channels. Personally I think the Satch model has plenty, and the OG JVM, just keep the gain lower than 10 o'clock and you'll be alreet. Orange mode more useful than red for rhythms.
 
Eagle said:
If you want DSL it does that too.
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I’ve got a DSL as well, apples and oranges really. I don’t think either amp is intended to be like the other one. DSL is more raw/caveman, JVM is more processed.
Orvillain said:
That was one of the tweaks done to the Satch model - less gain on the OD channels. Personally I think the Satch model has plenty, and the OG JVM, just keep the gain lower than 10 o'clock and you'll be alreet. Orange mode more useful than red for rhythms.
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I think the Satriani one has lower NFB as well? Orange mode is definitely the sweet spot over all but i’m surprised how much I like red and then keeping the gain really low. Sometimes you get a nice character that way.
 
KingsXJJ said:
I love hearing details about the history of my favorite amp from you Sir!
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hmmm, I am thinking if any other noteworthy anecdotes...
- the amp indeed started with a 2203 upside down. First I added an extra tube, then some extra controls on the front, etc. I scrapped the whole thing once the amp got launched.
- the first artists to try the prototype (the butchered 2203) were Trivium although they never ended using it as they had some other endorsing deals by then. Matt Heafy loved the Charvel guitar though, asked if I was selling it haha
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- the first band that put the amp on tour were most likely The Cranberries, at least I remember talking with their guitar tech about the MIDI programming and stuff like that.
- I had a newer firmware with full MIDI implementation, like in the Satriani amp, but it never got released. It also had an 'secret' mode where you could insert the Clean channel tone controls ahead of the distortion channels.
- right before it was lanched I had finished the Kerry King amp and everybody was impressed with the gate. We wanted to put it in the JVM but couldn't have it done in time as all the launch, etc. was already planned. In hindsight, that's probably the biggest 'regret' if that's the right word, more than regret I'd say it would have been worth the extra 3 months.

hmmm, that's all I can remember now, if anything else I'll keep posting it
 
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