1-watt 50th into YJM fx return (as preamp) level solution!

[PurplePlexiEater]

As I'm sure many are aware, the 1w 50th Anniversary amps (such as the JTM1C, JMP1C, etc.) can be run - and this is important - in low power mode, connecting an instrument(!) cable into the fx return jack of your larger tube amps with an effects loop; or into your power amp; or for direct into board, a Radial JDX box. Thus, your small (but large sounding) Marshalls can be wound up to crunch out - at ANY volume

My "large amp with fx loop" happens to be a Marshall YJM 100. This amp does not have loop level controls, and even if it did, the output is still so high that it "blows up" my effects (not to mention noisy). The JMP's volume knob couldn't get any higher than 9:00, and that was pushing it! <sigh> So what's a po' boy with a bunch of nice guitars and great sounding Marshalls to do...?

SteveD, who apparently designed these magnificent beasties (mucho thanx for hanging with us, the great unwashed - or perhaps I speak for myself - and sharing extremely helpful advice), suggested soldering a 0.5k resistor across the terminals(?) of an instrument cable. Great idea if you have a 0.5k resistor lying around, and some skill with a soldering iron. I have neither.

And then, I saw the solution hanging on the wall at Guitar Center - that Taylor cable with the Tele-style volume knob on it! It's not a bargain - $60 (U.S.) for an 18 footer. But it's a pittance compared with not only the price of the other gear, but in getting it to work as well as it does with all of that. It makes it possible to use my delay and Eventide Harmonizer, and simultaneously achieve a sound that I maintain actually could have been inspired by the Iliad, the Odyssey, Dante's heavenly wars, Don Quixote, The Song Remains The Same, and both Kill Bill Vols. -- all wrapped up in one massive crunching Wall O' Bacon, Cheese, and Crunch!

Or really, any cable with a volume control will do, but this is the only one I know of...

Jimmy

[surfnorthwest]

Would love to hear a video and see how it works.

http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/VCable500-18/

[PurplePlexiEater]

Yep! That's it! This little invention really helps. Actually, this and the EPA attenuator. If it wasn't for that, the only control which works past the Return is the Presence knob. And truthfully, I'd love it if there were any way to put a Mesa MkIV style control that you could keep track of, say, where you had it set last. But all told, I'm just glad there's a way to accomplish it to begin with.

Sorry to keep waxing poetic, but this is like the Incredible Hulk of plexi sounds. With the JTM, the word "crunch" has a new meaning - Australian for "ain't that a great rock guitar sound?!". With the JMP, it trades a teensy, tiny bit of "lead pipe across the head" physical smack for a good dose more gain. And by gain, I mean that classic rip snorting, "tearing a new hole in the fabric of the universe" kind of gain sound. The classic VH sound Eddie never quite got to achieving (okay, the EVH III amps rule too, but I still prefer my own rig, thank you...). The Peavey amps actually sounded good, but more "modern metal" than "classic Eddie" - but, that's another topic...

I was looking for "classic Eddie, Jimi, Beck", or whatever, but "beyond" those sounds somehow. I have that now that I'm thirty-freekin-seven! <do I have to say the obligatory?>... Where was this rig when I was in high school?!?

Jimmy