Peavey JSX has landed! (short review)

LSD-Studio

LSD-Studio

HCAF crusher
Jul 2, 2006
3,446
1
38
Germany
www.lsd-tonstudio.de
first of all I wanna thank peavey HEAPS!
I've done endoresement-deals with two other amp-companies before, both of them were quite nice but REALLY SLOW.
I've talked to Peavey last friday and the amp arrived today, the emailcontact is really nice and fast as well, I wish more companies had an artist-/customer-service like that.


so, now the important stuff....
THE AMP

I fucking LOVE it!
it is hands down the most versatile amp I've used, usually I'm not really into "versatile" amps though, cause too often the sound is compromised...not on this one.

I haven't really spent that much time with it so far, just played around with it in the room a bit, here are my first impressions:


the Cleanchannel sounds really nice and sparkling it can't really be compared to my twin reverb or JC-120 though, it's got its own sound which is equally awesome IMO...if I had to compare it to those two grails of clean I'd say it sounds somewhat like a blend between them...
it's more on the modern-clean side than the twin, but sounds warmer and more dynamic than the JC-120.
I'd say it's modern spakling clean but not sounding harsh, I definitely will be using this channel for recording.



the crunch channel is soooo sweet..
it's got sort of an 2203 vibe going on but it sounds more controlled and is way more versatile than the 2203, the mid-knob is extremely effective and all the settings are really usable (even the extremes). the gain reaches from slightly crunchy to kinda high-gain...the channel has enough gain for pretty much any kind of metal but the sound it's got makes it perfect for thrash-stuff and more oldschool oriented styles.


the Ultra channel....WOW!
it is (like the crunch ch) EXTREMELY tight but it can (whilst remaining tight) be heavily saturated and really modern sounding.
like on the crunch channel the mid-pot really does something and provides a broad range of tones...from "ridiculously scooped" to "mids only"...for modern stuff I have the mids around 10:00-11:00 and the gain around 10:00-11:00....you see, the ultra channel has TONs of gain if you want ;).
the mids are really smooth, thick and liquidy

it's amazing how smooth, tight and clean the ultra channel sounds.



I'll play a bit more with it now and will put up some samples (not today though)
 
Hi,

I've been a JSX owner for about a year and I'd like to say that it can be tricky to tune when recoding. The best I'd done is found on www.myspace.com/wintersdawnmetal , which is actually my JSX through a 2x12 Framus Cab (V30s).

However, after 1 month and without the pressure of recording the album I found out the following : (using a Les Paul Studio with Alnicos on the ULTRA channel)
a) The JSX resonance knob does not work like on the 6505, as it makes the
sound bigger, but rounder, taking away all the "growl" of the amp
(which it lacks anyway), so turning it all the way down is actually
helpful.
b) The JSX presence knob is less fizzier than on the 6505 and helps open
up the sound, and you've got to turn it all the way to 10 to hear the
upper part of the "growl".
c) The JSX gain knob has to be turned to around 8 to get a tight distortion
sound, the type you'd get on the 6505 on 4.
d) If you use the above settings, you won't come across that 'boomy,
flabby yet thin tone' that the JSX is infamous for. You can use the
Bass and Mid knob to your heart's content but don't overuse the high
knob - less than 5 is a safe place to be.
e) One more thing... if you want to get an even tighter sound,
turn the gain to 4 and use the TS9 with the following settings :
Drive : 9 o'clock
Tone : Off
Level : Full
I know these are not the settings suggested by Andy, but please give
it a shot before shooting me.

Having said all of the above, the best metal tone you'll be able to get is
an 80's or better traditional metal type of sound.

I'm sorry for the long post, but I hope other JSX users will appreciate it.

LSD-Studio, I know you just got the amp, but you might find this info useful in time, so please give it a little time.

Best regards,
akarawd
 
akarawd said:
Hi,

I've been a JSX owner for about a year and I'd like to say that it can be tricky to tune when recoding. The best I'd done is found on www.myspace.com/wintersdawnmetal , which is actually my JSX through a 2x12 Framus Cab (V30s).

However, after 1 month and without the pressure of recording the album I found out the following : (using a Les Paul Studio with Alnicos on the ULTRA channel)
a) The JSX resonance knob does not work like on the 6505, as it makes the
sound bigger, but rounder, taking away all the "growl" of the amp
(which it lacks anyway), so turning it all the way down is actually
helpful.
b) The JSX presence knob is less fizzier than on the 6505 and helps open
up the sound, and you've got to turn it all the way to 10 to hear the
upper part of the "growl".
c) The JSX gain knob has to be turned to around 8 to get a tight distortion
sound, the type you'd get on the 6505 on 4.
d) If you use the above settings, you won't come across that 'boomy,
flabby yet thin tone' that the JSX is infamous for. You can use the
Bass and Mid knob to your heart's content but don't overuse the high
knob - less than 5 is a safe place to be.
e) One more thing... if you want to get an even tighter sound,
turn the gain to 4 and use the TS9 with the following settings :
Drive : 9 o'clock
Tone : Off
Level : Full
I know these are not the settings suggested by Andy, but please give
it a shot before shooting me.

Having said all of the above, the best metal tone you'll be able to get is
an 80's or better traditional metal type of sound.

I'm sorry for the long post, but I hope other JSX users will appreciate it.

LSD-Studio, I know you just got the amp, but you might find this info useful in time, so please give it a little time.

Best regards,
akarawd
Click to expand...

thanks for the tips...

I find it hard to believe that gain on 8 in the ultra-channel could be of any use though...I have it on 4 w/o a TS and it's plenty of gain for everything.
 
I'm glad that your experiences have been positive. I've personally found the JSX to sound quite good in the room, but start to get very different once a mic is stuck in front of it. The real trick is to capture good recorded tones from it.
 
I'm really curious what kind of mic'd sounds you can get out of it Lasse. I've heard other peopel around here complain about that aspect of the amp. Also waiting for Marcus (metaltastic) to jump in here.
 
Hi,
I know the gain at 8 seems insane (never have i gone past 5 with any other amp) but give it a shot when recording the amp.

If you find the amp quiet :

a) I've found that this head gives out its full volume when the freq knobs are
close to or better past 12 o'clock
b) If your settings are different to that then try (at your own risk - please
consult a professional) this : Hot rod it by connecting your loop in and out
using a cable (in into out). I did that for a couple of secs and it works but
I wouldn't recommend it.

One more thing. Some of the tubes are common for the Ultra and Crunch channel which means that their volume knob interact with both channels, not by raising the volume but by "opening up" the sound, a bit like the presence knob. This is common for most high gain amps.

Hope this will help answer questions that may arise.

Good luck and please post some clips when you get the time.


Regards,
akarawd

PS. JSX recordings : www.myspace.com/wintersdawnmetal
 
Yep, most amps with LDRs have that bleed-issue...

I'm actually liking it with the volume of the other amp all the way down...sounds smoother (doing the same thing with my 6505).

you're right about the volume, compared to my other amps the JSX is not as loud with the knobs lower than 12:00


I've just recorded some clips, but these definitely don't do the amp justice, so I'll delete them quite soon from my server and put up better ones when I find the time...

these clips are just after 20mins of trying the amp and without much knob-tweaking, believe me, this amp can do better than this:

crunch

ultra
 
Hi,
LSD-Studio, I like what I hear...a lot ! Please post your settings/recording volume/mic and distance from the amp.
I'd love to hear it in a mix when possible.

Best Regards,
akarawd
 
thanks.
can't post a full mix cause this is just some improvised riff I quickly played.

settings were something like:
crunch
fat: in
bass:12:00
mid:11:00
treb:11:00
gain:3:00
reso:12:00
pres:1:00
ch vol: 1:00

master: max (if an amp has a mastervolume I'll always max it and use the channelvol for the desired loudness. usually it'll be around 10:00, on the JSX it's around 12:00-2:00)



1x sm57 straight, about 2cm off center + one m160(ribbon) off axis center blended in like 10dB lower than the 57

ultra link fixed (not really happy with this one so far...but as I said, WAY better clips will follow ;)
...damn, ultra has way too much gain ;)
 
Hi,
I was using similar settings in the beginning as I thought the sound was "too much" otherwise.
I'll be keeping an eye on this post 'cause I want to learn how to get the best out of this amp.
Is the crunch clip double tracked ?

Regards
akarawd
 
Hmm, I must admit that sounds quite good Lasse, certainly the best clips I've heard, and the ONLY clips of the JSX I've heard that genuinely impressed me (though I'll reserve judgement fully until I hear it in a mix). It has none of the typical issues I think of when I think of that amp (metallic, overly processed-sounding tone), maybe it's the low treble and presence (compared to what I was using) that helps that. Oh well, mine is gone and I regret nothing, it was time to move on anyway! But I look forward to hearing what else you can coax out of it!
 
The ultra sounds pretty sweet. Is that the ENGL? From the impression I have of the JSX the engl cab should be a very nice match since it's slightly dark and very thick.
 
Also, I assume that since this is a new amp, it's the single-input JSX - this is probably wishful thinking on my part (to preserve my fragile confidence in my amp tweaking abilities :D), but perhaps there were some changes in the design when they updated the model (I know the noise gate was actually made useful, for example) that make it sound less, well, shitty, which was my experience with my two-input :)
 
Nice clips there, mate. I echo what Metaltastic said, in those being the best JSX clips I've ever heard. Could be because of the relatively high mids (I don't recall, but 11 is fairly high for the JSX innit?). I'm sure your mic positioning ability is way beyond my own also.
 
LSD-Studio said:
master: max (if an amp has a mastervolume I'll always max it and use the channelvol for the desired loudness. usually it'll be around 10:00, on the JSX it's around 12:00-2:00)
Click to expand...

Is this for pushing the poweramp tubes?
 
yeah sounds good man. Im still having alot of trouble getting a real good tone out of mine alone, but when you blend it with a Mesa it sounds sick.
 
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