Official original Marshall JVM appreciation thread

[laxu]

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
View attachment 49739
- 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

If you were to design the JVM today, what would you do different?

 

[KingsXJJ]

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
View attachment 49739
- 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

That is a beautiful Charvel!

It is fascinating to hear the details from your perspective. I suppose I would have been frustrated by the “realities” faced by production on such a scale. The gate would have been nice for sure but it’s kind of understandable.

The unreleased firmware stings a bit as the midi would have been nice and “secret mode” sounds like such a great idea. Plus you had already done the work! Too bad there isn’t that file lurking somewhere that could be put to use.

Thank you so very, very much for sharing these killer details with us! You are a legend Sir!

 

[santiall]

If you were to design the JVM today, what would you do different?

I've been working on my own in a couple of amp designs and there is interest from some companies to put them in the market. I can't disclose too many details for obvious reasons but giving ideas for a JVM could be a bit of a conflict here so I'll kind of pretend that I haven't seen this question.

But hey, now that you ask, the weather is quite stormy here today with torrential rain

 

[santiall]

That is a beautiful Charvel!

It is fascinating to hear the details from your perspective. I suppose I would have been frustrated by the “realities” faced by production on such a scale. The gate would have been nice for sure but it’s kind of understandable.

The unreleased firmware stings a bit as the midi would have been nice and “secret mode” sounds like such a great idea. Plus you had already done the work! Too bad there isn’t that file lurking somewhere that could be put to use.

Thank you so very, very much for sharing these killer details with us! You are a legend Sir!

I don't think the most frustrating bit was to produce it but to reach the point of saying "ok, done, amp finished, let's produce it". The company knew the amp would be successful and the Managing Directors were very excited about it. Everybody liked the amp, was 'modern' and was actually cheaper to make than a DSL but with many more features.

Some of the people in there were a bit anxious as the amp was somehow different from a DSL... I mean, if they could manufacture DSLs and TSL with 72pcbs and 180 wire harnesses inside I'm sure they could make a JVM, there is always a bit of fear of the unkown. Now thinking about this, I also made the microcontroller programmers for the production line so they could program the chips in batches and test them. Everything went quite smooth, just the usual teething issues on learning how to test the amp and become familiar with them rather than actual manufacturing problems.

The 'secret mode', midi and all that never saw the light simply because some particular people were just not interested at all on any product improvement and only wanted to have an easy life. They rather kept the amp as it was. Of course there would be some customers that had the amp without those features and could be initially frustrated but the thing is that upgrading the amp would have costed like a dollar, just replace a chip in a socket.

PS, the Charvel looks much better in real life with the curly maple top, koa back, etc. You can see some pictures of similar ones here: https://reverb.com/item/39933477-du...5-colori-purple-e-green-perfette-con-custodie
It was made in 1995 and I bought it super cheap here in Hong Kong for about 800$ in 2002 or 2003. Nobody wanted a guitar with Floyd back then and they offered huge discounts to get rid of those. They had 2, no original hard case case or anything, just the guitar. I still have it but I don't play it much because the volume knob position really bugs me!