Help with my new JSX head

Rammers · #1 05-18-2005, 01:28 AM

Hello, I need some opinions from any JSX owners.
I recently purchased a JSX Satriani amp head. It made it's band rehearsal debut yesterday.
Firstly I'd like to say the tones I am getting out of this amp with minimal tweaking are unbelievable. I am totally blown away by the sound I'm getting. In the 20 years I've been playing guitar this amp is the closest I've ever found to being "me".
But
I have a concern about the volume of the amp.
Comparing it to other makes I've owned it needs to operate on a much higher setting to be loud enough in a band situation.
I owned a Mesa Boogie where I rarely had the master volume any higher than set at between 3 & 4 and the channel volumes at about 4 (lead channels on 5 to 5 1/2)
My Marshall, basically the same.
My Carvin drive channel set at 3 and the clean set at 4
To get a comparable volume out of the JSX I need to have the Crunch & Ultra channel volumes at about 7 with the amp master volume on 6
The clean channel is fine, I only need it to be on about 3.
I would need to increase these setting a bit for a lead/boost volume.
Having never played a Peavey amp before I don't know if this is normal. I am also concerned that I am running the amp too hard with these settings and will probably need to crank it even more when playing gigs.
My band rehearses loud'ish but not over the top.

So, is this normal. Does anybody have the same problem or could there be something wrong with my amp?
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Regards, Ron

ScottB · #2 05-18-2005, 02:09 AM

I've had mine since Xmas, and it's the best sounding tone I've ever heard come out of my fingers.

As far as being too soft, I haven't had a problem. At rehearsals, I have the Ultra volume at 5, Ultra gain at 5, Crunch Volume at 5, Crunch Gain at 7 and Clean volume at 4. I keep the Master Volume at 3 or 4, depending on the mood of our drummer. At gigs' I've had it up to 5 using the same channell levels. If I had 'er turned up to 6, our sound dude would shoot me for drowning out the stage.

I was bold enough to dime the Crunch channel and Master volume at practice a few weeks ago. This sonofabitch is loud. Knocked a few pictures off the walls upstairs loud.

YMMV
Scott

Gex · #3 05-18-2005, 08:21 PM

Did you match the ohms correctly?

acoustic1991 · #4 05-18-2005, 10:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ScreamJem7

I've had mine since Xmas, and it's the best sounding tone I've ever heard come out of my fingers.

As far as being too soft, I haven't had a problem. At rehearsals, I have the Ultra volume at 5, Ultra gain at 5, Crunch Volume at 5, Crunch Gain at 7 and Clean volume at 4. I keep the Master Volume at 3 or 4, depending on the mood of our drummer. At gigs' I've had it up to 5 using the same channell levels. If I had 'er turned up to 6, our sound dude would shoot me for drowning out the stage.

I was bold enough to dime the Crunch channel and Master volume at practice a few weeks ago. This sonofabitch is loud. Knocked a few pictures off the walls upstairs loud.

YMMV
Scott

Exactly the same as above. What kind of cabinet are you running it into?
Josh

Rammers · #5 05-18-2005, 11:12 PM

Hi guys, Thanks for the replies.
I am running a Mesa recto 4 x 12 cab with V30's at 8 ohms mono
Amp impedance matched at 8 ohm.

I don't know a whole lot about the technical side of the amps workings but could it be a tube problem? (All power tubes glow and appear to be fine)

red5 · #6 05-19-2005, 12:53 AM

THD Hotplates are your friend. Remember that!

Gex · #7 05-19-2005, 12:59 AM

I suggested the ohms, because if you accidently had the impedence wrong, it would certainly cut the volume.

I have a JSX myself, and I find it to be plenty loud. I usually leave the Channel Volumes at about 4-5, and 4 on the master volume is enough to shake the floors. I run mine though an old 80's Marshall 1960B JCM 800 series with Celestion G12T-75's

ScottB · #8 05-19-2005, 01:21 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gex

I run mine though an old 80's Marshall 1960B JCM 800 series with Celestion G12T-75's

My rig is almost the the same as Gex's, but my 1960B is a JCM 900.

I bought the cab last year at a pawnshop for a steal. It sat in the showroom for 2 months with a $500 price tag. The grille cloth was mint as was the vinyl, except for a 2 inch tear on the bottom. One day at lunch, I went into the shop and walked right up to the manager. I asked him if he would take $300 cash for that old Marshall that's been sitting around for months. Deal! There were quite a few surprised co-workers when I returned from lunch and unloaded a Marshall from my truck.

red5 · #9 05-19-2005, 09:09 AM

^^ Not bad

I bought 2 JCM 800 era cabs, one straight and one angled for $700 in 1999 (or around then!). At that time, cabs sold for around $300 commonly though, so it wasnt that great of a deal at the time, but looking back the price of musical equipment has risen a little faster (I think!) than the value of the US dollar, so that was a good deal.

The straight cab had I believe 2 bad speakers in it. I never use it anyway. Last week I put 4 Classic Lead speakers into my angled cabinet, and does it ever sound so much better than those ****ty 75 watt celestions!!!!!!!! Put the 75s in the angled one into the straight one, so now I have one good cabinet and one working cabinet.

Gex · #10 05-19-2005, 06:57 PM

My 1960B isn't in mint condition. LOL.

Gex · #11 05-19-2005, 08:52 PM

I found this off the Peavey Forums:
~~~~
My JSX sounds kind of weak compared to other 120 watt amps. Why is this?

This is a common complaint. The most common reason for it is because the effects loop level controls are turned down. This will drastically reduce the power amp input sensitivity and volume output of the JSX or Triple XXX amps. Setting both controls to halfway, or any other diametrically opposed position (ie; opposite clock settings) will achieve “unity gain” through the system. This is optimal for signal levels, but may not be optimal for noise immunity from outboard effects. In this case you should experiment with different settings based on the particular effects device(s) you are using.
Setting either or both controls low or off will reduce the power amp input sensitivity and thus, volume.
Setting them at higher settings will actually boost output when the loop is engaged. This actually makes for a handy lead boost if you don’t use the effects loop for anything else.

Another common reason for this complaint is “scooping” the midrange. The Crunch and Ultra channels on this amp are active eq, not passive like most of us are used to. You can turn the midrange down most of the way on your typical passive eq, and it sounds pretty good for high gain metal-type tones.
The active eq on the JSX is capable of a huge amount of boost or cut, much more than any passive eq. Your guitar is mostly a midrange instrument, and your ears are tuned to mids as well. Cutting the mids completely will reduce clarity, and result in a weak and muddy sound, so don’t just automatically zero out the midrange. Make small adjustments at first.

Properly set up, the JSX is every bit as loud as any other 120 watt amplifier.
We have recently begun shipping all EL34 models with matched sets of JJ EL34 power tubes, which actually result in 5-10 Watts of extra power, in most cases…all tubes vary to some degree.

~~~~

anuj · #12 05-19-2005, 09:42 PM

those JJ EL34s are awesome, and yeah, if you have fx loop level controls, definitely dick around with those.

~A

sanchez · #13 05-19-2005, 11:13 PM

Here is the latest from Bob regarding the XXX and JSX and JJ tubes that I thought you might all be intersted in.

http://www.eurotubes.com/euro-ka.htm

Gex · #14 05-20-2005, 01:41 AM

Well **** thats discouraging.

Rowashburn · #15 05-21-2005, 12:17 PM

...turned the topic in another subject...:P

Does anyone have the schematic for Keeley's DS-1 SED mod????

I have this article, but I'm not sure of the accuracy of the schematic:

"C1, C5, C12change to 0.1uF metal film (104) C2, C8, C9, C14 change to 1uF metal film (105) C7 220pf silver mica or monolithic

In the DS-Ultra mod we change C11 to a 0.047uF metal film or better and lower R13 to 2.4Kohm. As well as changing C3 and C13 to 0.1Uf metal film or better.

D5 change to 3mm red led (the power LED that we take out!) In the D-Ultra mod we switch in another LED in series with D4.

R39 20K R14 1.5K R35 2.4K if you change the power LED to a 5mm Yellow LED

Add 47pf cap across clipping diodes, see second picture little green dot in the center. 7/64 drill bit needed to drill out 3mm LED for the SEEING EYE PART!"

Is that correct?!?!

If not, can somebody help with this?!?!?!