Peavey XXX vs. JSX

[Mister CCJ]

I just saw a contour knob which didn't seem to do much probably cause it was at low volume. I wonder if the GEQ would make as big as difference as the XXX because it totally turned it from a metal amp to a lead guitar amp and anywhere in between.

[Darin]

I played a Mesa Nomad head a while back. Probably among the smoothest Petrucci gain of any amp I've played.

[Mister CCJ]

Thats exactly what I'm looking for. I love the texture of Mesas its the EQ or something thats seems wrong. They need some punch IMO. Boosting the 125 and 2k on my GEQ made the XXX growl. I would just like to find a company that has a lot of different amps to offer so I can stick with that company and find different sounds but similar sounds as well, if that makes any sense. Just like Ibanez. Maybe I'll get an S or SV or RGA one day because they're different but have the same feel to an extent. Mesa seems to be a great amp company in that aspect, I'm just not convinced they build good 'lead' guitar amps just yet.

[Mister CCJ]

I just hooked up my MXR 10-band to my computer speakers to eq soundclips off youtube haha.

[Mister CCJ]

Ok so I figured it out. As much as I tried to like Mesas they're just not the tone I'm after. I always liked Marshall-based amps but was skeptical of Marshalls because of negative things people say about them. I liked the Legacy because it was a smooth Marshall sound. So I went to the music store and made one last attempt to find the sound in my head. I decided to try Marshall out and first played the TSL100 combo. Wasn't expecting to be impressed and wasn't much but it was closer than I've been. It didn't clean up well which is one thing I always check with the volume control on the guitar. So the salesman was like try the new JVM. Plugged into a stack with a JEM7VWH and OMG. That was it. I played it for about 30 mins and could not find anything I didn't like. Funny thing is I didn't even realize there was 3 modes for each channel til I looked it up when I went home. Was going to try the Vintage Modern last but never did. All I was thinking of was the JVM. Haven't heard much about this amp though. Wondering what other people think of it. Close to a plexi and JCM800 is what I hear but not exactly. That's fine. I play a hybrid type guitar anyway so what does that matter. Does it sound as good? I don't know from experience but I think the JVM is pretty much there as far as what I want.

[rufes]

Originally Posted by Mister CCJ

I liked the Legacy because it was a smooth Marshall sound.

???? I own a Legacy and many Marshalls (JCM800, Jubilee, '71 Superbass.....) and they sound very different to me.

[Tank]

If you like Mesas, but think something is missing you should look into a Brunetti Revo'XL.

[HeavyMetal4Ever]

Sorry to derail the thread for a moment, but I tried an Ashdown Fallen Angel yesterday, and it definately wasn't all it was cracked up to be.

Their spiel goes on about "demonic" levels of gain, but I found it quite a dissapointment. It definately needed a pedal to boost the distortion for decent metal tones.

On a better note, I also tried a JSX combo and it blew me away!

It has the best distorted tones I have ever heard hands down, and the cleans are spectacular.

I used to think that Mesa was the holy grail of metal tones, but my eyes have been opened to the awesomeness that is the JSX.

Hartley Peavey, Joe Satriani, my hat is off to you. This amp is easily the best I have ever heard.

Now all I've gotta do is save up the $$$ to buy one.

Rock on!

[Tank]

I totally agree. I find Ashdown amps to sound pretty tasteless and dull.

[rastachild]

Originally Posted by Mister CCJ

Was going to try the Vintage Modern last but never did. All I was thinking of was the JVM. Haven't heard much about this amp though. Wondering what other people think of it. Close to a plexi and JCM800 is what I hear but not exactly. That's fine. I play a hybrid type guitar anyway so what does that matter. Does it sound as good? I don't know from experience but I think the JVM is pretty much there as far as what I want.

i own a vintage modern and i love it. but it may not be what you are looking for as it's not nearly as versatile as the jvm series. i went with the vintage modern because the inherent sound of the gain is different than their other amps, probably due to the tubes (it has kt66s instead of el34s). it just sounds a little 'mellower' and smoother imo. this amp is advertised as a one channel amp, but it's actually 2 channels ('dynamic range' high and low'). low range is like clean and high would be crunch/od. there are 2 knobs that control the amount of gain called 'detail' and 'body'. detail is a more trebly gain knob, while body is more of a low mid/bassy gain. in essence, you have a couple more eq knobs on top of the standard bass/mid/treble with gain attached. the mid boost on this amp is quite tremendous and seemingly also makes the tone gainier and beefier. my only gripe is that the midboost is not footswitchable, but i'm having mine modded so that it will be so.

the jvm is way more versatile, but the tone of the amp itself is quite a bit different, more typical marshall. marshall gets slagged alot around here, but i think they've really turned it around as of late and the current amps sound pretty badass. i will probably get a jvm (the 50w 2 channel version) but right now i'm digging the vintage modern.

[Mister CCJ]

Well I find what I hear of the Legacy to be more similar to a Marshall sound than a lot of other amps like obviously Mesas and even most Peaveys including mine. I liked the sound of the JVM; if theres another Marshall that would be considered better for say 80's metal to Satriani/Vai etc. then I'd like to check it out as well. The JVM has way more gain than I would ever need. The TSL was decent but I've heard the DSL is better and I'd like to know how exactly. Again I'm new to these amps so I need to see what the differences are.

[rastachild]

i a/b'd the tsl series vs the dsl series several times and my conclusion is that the dsl is just a warmer sounding amp. the gain on the tsl seemed a little thinner (it was still pretty good). this was comparing the tsl 60w head vs the dsl 50w head, so wattage was comparable. of course the tsl has one extra footswitchable channel (dsl is a 2 channel amp where crunch and clean are shared on channel 1), but i would sacrifice that for the warmer sounding amp.

both have been discontinued though. i believe the jvm 4 channel is the replacement for the tsl and the 2 channel jvm replaces the dsl.

[Darin]

I forgot about these couple vids I made of the JSX.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bn8bImfJGiY

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kzwlSvwaXyU

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ftbsI0YuzIw

[Darin]

One more.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9dM_9VSXbNI#GU5U2spHI_4

[Drow Swordsman]

Also: for any that are in a death metal band or something similar and are thinking the XXX will be better for you in terms of thump, the MXR 10 band EQ makes a HUGE difference in the JSX, an already fantastic amp.

It is PERFECT for very high gain styles such as death metal, deathcore, etc.

Just makes a fantastic amp even better in my opinion.