Thinking of purchasing a JMD1

[Dorian83]

Hey guys! I'm not an owner of the JMD-1 yet, but I am thinking of making the plunge!

Right now I'm playing through a peavey JSX. I have a pedalboard full of mostly Boss FX pedals and a Gmajor 2 that I can't wait to get back into action, and a TC Nova drive that is just ordered and on it's way.

I have a hard time giving up the JSX's distortion but It's a nightmare tap dancing on pedals when I could be using midi to control everything at once. I played the JMD 100 watt head in store for about 20 minutes and there were some impressive sounds, especially the crunch settings!

I didn't get much of a chance to really dial in any good clean sounds, how do you guys find the clean channel on this thing?

[surfnorthwest]

Welcome to the forum. The JMD/100 is a great amp. The more time you spend with it the more you discover. There are many great presets listed already in the JMD area on this forum. The cleans are great, I love preamp 2 but can nail a sweet blues clean off preamp 4.

The FX on the JMD are also really good which should allow you to sell some pedals. After a year the JMD is becoming more popular and in my opinion makes for a great gigging amp if you are doing covers. I use mine primarily for recording as the emulated XLR out sounds really good. Very versitle amp that goes easily from clean to metal and everything in between.

I run mine with a 4x12 of celestion G12H-30 speakers.

[guitarest]

I use mine for gigging and except for the past issue with channel switching (which appears to be resolved) I have no issues with the amp. I have a first generation 5150 and many other amps collecting dust since getting my JMD almost 8 months ago. IMO the effects are OK, and somewhat usuable but where the amp really shines is its ability to clone or become many different Marshalls. IMO the best effect this amp has is its noise gate which turns the amp to a very quiet amp until you strum the guitar. I am very happy with my amp and I also run it into a older 1960A cab with greenbacks loaded. The amp sounds very sweet connected to a Gibson LP...

[Dorian83]

What i'm impressed about it is that you guys own some great amps and still like the JMD1, I hear people on this forum using DSL, JVM, 5150's, and still like this amp. It's almost like it needs to be justified because it's a digital preamp.

I've switched hats recently and have gone from a hard rock band to a country-pop band with a female singer. When I play a lead I am hitting an OD pedal, an EQ for a volume boost, and a delay for that little bit of extra body. I'm definitely sick of tap dancing and using 60 FT of cables to run my FX loop & front end pedals!!

What do you guys think about the 50 watt vs 100 watt? I've heard people also saying the 100 watt sounds better than the 50 watt. I was thinking the 50 would be somewhat easier to crank and would be the better sounding amp overall. I was just thinking about having to spend $100 on power tubes when they go vs $50 for a 50 watt, but if it sounds better than I'll need to consider that too!

[surfnorthwest]

We all need to get past to crap of if its not the most expensive amp in the range then it must be shit. What we have in the JMD1 is the next generation of the JMP1 with much more flexibility. Yes the preamp is all digital but can we agree that digital modeling is not what is was even four years ago. SoftTube who did the digital part of the preamp on the JMD1 did a super job modeling these old Marshall tones. People need to remember that the sweet tone, dynamics and sustain are created in the power section of the amp which the JMD has a EL34 power section. This is without a question the most versitile Marshall made.

It is hard for people to grasp on to the technology, to me its like saying a carbureted engine offers better performance then fuel injected engines. The only thing I can say is try one. I have been playing Marshall's since 1975 and owned many of their models, I own what I consider their best amps (2466, TSL/100, JMD1 and a YJM coming) if I thought their other amps were better for me I would buy it.

I honestly believe that these hybrid amps are going to become the standard soon. I have yet to hear of a single big name player who is a Marshall fan say anything bad about the amp. Most everything bad you will hear are from forums like this or other music review sites. For whatever reason some people reject it out of the gate, however the amp does have some glowing reviews as well as winning amp of the year for 2010, that is a big deal.

Get the 100 watt, always better to have more then not enough.

Below is a great site that has sound samples from each of the JMD1 16 preamps along with the settings, I think you should give the site a visit.

http://www.marshallamps.jp/html_site/jm ... ta_en.html

[guitarest]

I agree with everything Surf says except one thing, the 50watt is more than powerful enough for the band and music I play so I would say get the 50... And since your playing country and pop I wold be willing to say that amp (even the 50 watt) would not even get close to pushing 30 watts at a show or practice. My 50 watt head gets to maybe 3 at a show or practice, and its still got loads more to go. Also if your like me with a bad back the 50 watt head is 50 watts lighter.......... lol

[malmsteen_SVK]

i own JMD1 50W combo and its really LOUD....enough for gigs, and still usable to play at home... not so heavy, not so big ... i can recommend 50W :)

[noise5150]

I'm gonna pretty much agree with these guys. Been playing since 1993ish. I own the 50 watt head and I love it. I use it for direct recording and for playing at home as I am not a gigging musician. I own a DSL and a MG combo and this amp is 100% tube in feel and tone. The amp models sound great but we all have our favorites. I stick to 4 different ones which allow me to cover a wide array of sounds from super clean to metal. I use clean setting 2 which is amazing. The delay is great so is the reverb IMO. The effects are ok but I only use a little chorus on the clean setting anyway. In all fairness, I dont like most of the effects from most effects processors anyway. The noise gate is my favorite surprise feature on this amp - doesn't affect tone or sustain and just kills noise. I've pretty much abandoned my Line6 POD and use this for recording exclusively. This amp takes to pedals well. I use a few on the clean setting and sometimes to boost the gain channels. I agree that this type of technology is going to be the future of amps including things like built in noise gates and power scaling on other Marshalls. Not sure what the combos are like but I am going through an Avatar 2x12 cab with V30s and its just awesome.

[SteveD]

Welcome to the forum Dorian83.

[bam_79]

+1 for the 50W combo.

It's loud enough to gig with even a heavy hitting drummer while still being portable enough to lug around in the back of a small car.

[sunking420]

Surf, thanks for that link to the Japanese fellow. That was a really professional presentation. I'm thinking Marshall might want to do that in the future along with their great "Theatre" presentations...

[Dorian83]

Surf, thanks for that link to the Japanese fellow. That was a really professional presentation. I'm thinking Marshall might want to do that in the future along with their great "Theatre" presentations...

+1

[surfnorthwest]

Don’t forget to also take a look at the four videos our friend Chris George did in the Marshall Theater. It is important for any new user of the JMD1 to view these to get acquainted with the vast options of the amp. As you watch the video with Chris playing the song using the footswitch to call up different sounds, you can find those settings he used as a sticky post in the forum here.

[guitarest]

I don't know about that, the demo Chris did was very good and Marshall did 3 videos for the JMD. The only difference is that the link here showed the exact settings, although since those videos were made they have released exact settings for the JMD.

Bottom line all the videos in the world will not show even 15% of what this amp is able to do. For that you have to get off your computer and go to a music store. Grab your guitar and leave the PC behind sit in front of the amp and play. Its really wild how responsive this amp is and I have had mine for 8 months already and I find new stuff abut the amp every day.

I can verify that the amp is a good acoustic amp also; just like others posted here. This is a great jack of all trades amp, so much that its a great way to spend your hard earned cash especially for someone who needs a amp to cover all styles of music. I for one love my amp, and the effects are OK and a great fit for someone who does not have individual effects. I personally use no effects except the wah with this amp, since the talk box is vocally driven I do not include that one. I will say again the noise gate is the best effect on this amp and the second best feature. The best feature is the preamp; and the tone is frigging great.

-- Thu Mar 17, 2011 7:14 pm --

Don’t forget to also take a look at the four videos our friend Chris George did in the Marshall Theater. It is important for any new user of the JMD1 to view these to get acquainted with the vast options of the amp. As you watch the video with Chris playing the song using the footswitch to call up different sounds, you can find those settings he used as a sticky post in the forum here.

Damn are we brothers with a different mother; we said the same thing at the same time...... lol

Well almost at least we covered Chris and the Marshall Theater.

[Beck-Ola]

I keep my guitar and amp as far away from the pc as possible at all times.

The 50 watts is plenty unless you're playing big arenas without a PA hook-up.