Marshall JCM800 Tweak Guide with Version 9.x Firmware

Scott Peterson

Scott Peterson

Global Moderator
Moderator
Vendor
Ok, let's get into this.

I am a JCM800 guy. No matter what I am doing, it's always my base tone in 99.999% of what I do it ends up. :D I came of age in the 80's, it's where I come from. You either had a JCM800, or you played an amp that sounded like one. It was the base tone machine of the day in the music I grew up on.

The JCM800 in the Axe-FX has always been go-to; from V3.xx firmware onward for me. Folks seem to like my take on it, so in the spirit of sharing and community I'll detail out my preset that I've completely built back up from scratch with V9.x firmware.

Amp Block:

JCM800 Model
Drive: 7.56
Bass: 3.03
Mid: 6.14
Treble: 5.00
Presence: 0.00
Depth: 0.00
Damp: 4.02
Sag: 7.20
Master Volume: 5.00
Warmth: 0.00
Thump: 0.00
Low Cut: 79.0
Bright: On
Trans Match: 5.00
Boost: Off
Power Tube Bias: 0.350
Bright Cap: 0.218

Those are the settings that deviate from stock (or are stock); anything not detailed out are default values.

The Cab block:

Mic: None
Drive: 0.00
Air Freq: 3623
Air Mix: 5.1%

I use a mix of Red Wire IR's. The 'tone recipe' is as follows:

BIGBox\48 KHz-24bit\Marshall1960A-G12Ms\Ambient Mics\Marshall1960A-G12Ms-KM84-Room-R.wav,0.20
BIGBox\48 KHz-24bit\Marshall1960A-G12Ms\Ambient Mics\Marshall1960A-G12Ms-KM84-Room-L.wav,0.20
BIGBox\48 KHz-24bit\Marshall1960A-G12Ms\Royer R121\Marshall1960A-G12Ms-R121-Cone-6in.wav,0.40
BIGBox\48 KHz-24bit\Marshall1960A-G12Ms\Ambient Mics\Marshall1960A-G12Ms-D6-BackCab-0in.wav,0.10
Speakerbox\48 KHz-24bit\Celestion-Blue12\Ambient Mics\CelestionBlue12-KM84-Room-L.wav,0.05
Speakerbox\48 KHz-24bit\Celestion-Blue12\Ambient Mics\CelestionBlue12-KM84-Room-R.wav,0.05

Broken down so you can figure that out:
Marshall1960A-G12Ms-KM84-Room-R.wav, 20% of mix
Marshall1960A-G12Ms-KM84-Room-L.wav, 20% of mix
Marshall1960A-G12Ms-R121-Cone-6in.wav, 40% of mix
Marshall1960A-G12Ms-D6-BackCab-0in.wav, 10% of mix
CelestionBlue12-KM84-Room-L.wav, 5% of mix
CelestionBlue12-KM84-Room-R.wav, 5% of mix

So in essence, what I am trying to capture is a mix of close and far mic'd cabs/speakers.

I'll stress again, that the IR is as important to your tone running FRFR in the Axe-FX as your cab/speaker is for your amp in the analog world. It's a MASSIVE component of your end tone/sound and cannot be overlooked.

Here's a soundclip showing the dynamic nature of this preset. Just amp/cab/verb in the signal chain inside the Axe-FX. Recorded direct out via digital to Reaper and ripped straight down to mp3. No post.

Guitar is my Melancon Custom Artist with S/S/H (WCR SR/SR/Goodwood).

http://soundclick.com/share?songid=8391519
 
I think you should either post these to the Wiki or build a new sub forum so these awesome guides won't get lost as the weeks pass by and the thread falls down the list.

Thanks for all the insight!!
 
Interesting. Maybe this will knock over my budda for the low gain stuff.

If this doesn't get put in the wiki later, remind me and I'll do it.
 
Hmmm, sounds great Scott.

The last time I used an Axe it was v7.x, and one thing that bothered me back then when comparing it to tube amps was the "bloom" on sustaining single notes. Assuming it's way better now, any chance you could throw up some long sustaining single notes such as some blues licks done with a reasonable amount of gain (such as your new 800 demo etc)?

Thanks...
 
I too grew up with JCM800's through the 80's. Both 50 and 100 watters. I used to use nothing but an MXR Micro Amp in front.
You did a great job setting this one up. Just finished with your settings and really liking them. :cool:
 
Not to be bugging y'all, loving the tone hugely as I did the Matchless, very versatile and in-the-room as far as I'm concerned.

Only, I found myself dialing with the editor and wondering what the added value of this is over just loading a preset from the axechange. I would love some of the thoughts behind the tweaks. Of course having the IR-mixer recipe in the same spot is a plus...
And dialling in the editor is a bit cumbersome, at least on my laptop. I have a WSXGA 15.4" screen, (1680x1024) which makes the knobs a bit smallish and tiny mouse movements make big jumps on the dials.

Again: great tone!!!
 
Hi Scott,
You use a total of 50% room sound on your IRs.
But i thought that you can’t get the room sound (early and late reflections,) with 20ms of windowed 1024 taps IR.
I’ve been never found the room IRs works properly to my ears on AxeFx becouse of truncation.
I only found a good room sound working with realtime VST convolution (kefir, SIR, etc) on my PC
For AxeFx the only way to recreate the room sound i think is with Reverb Block. :)
Don’t know the way Room IRs contribuye to you sound on 1024 IR. :shock:
 
Scott,

I usually like a lot more Cameron/Suhr/Jose/Caswell in my Marshall's :twisted:

But I gotta give you props on this one for sure :!: It's totally unmistakable what amp that is no matter what system you're listening to the clip on :!:

WOW :!:

HAPPY THANKSGIVING ..., enjoy a well deserved "turkey leg" and a day off from tweaking, you've outdone yourself with this one :!:
 
Dutch said:
Not to be bugging y'all, loving the tone hugely as I did the Matchless, very versatile and in-the-room as far as I'm concerned.

Only, I found myself dialing with the editor and wondering what the added value of this is over just loading a preset from the axechange. I would love some of the thoughts behind the tweaks. Of course having the IR-mixer recipe in the same spot is a plus...
And dialling in the editor is a bit cumbersome, at least on my laptop. I have a WSXGA 15.4" screen, (1680x1024) which makes the knobs a bit smallish and tiny mouse movements make big jumps on the dials.

Again: great tone!!!
Click to expand...

You can dial this from the front of the Axe-FX too if the editor is troublesome for you.

The key here is to teach you what I did to the parameters so you can gain that experience and then use those tools to a) further tweak it for your own tone goals; and b) (most important) show you what I tweaked to get the sound so you can apply that to learning to tweak your own sounds.

Every amp block is a different animal; just like in real life. What works on one, does not automatically work on another. It is key, IMHO, if you want to use these sounds on something like the Axe-FX, to LEARN to dial it yourself.

It's sort of 'tone dialing' survival training if you will. "If you are ever caught in the wilderness without an Internet connection, can you dial your tone on your own from scratch?" :D
 
edding said:
Hi Scott,
You use a total of 50% room sound on your IRs.
But i thought that you can’t get the room sound (early and late reflections,) with 20ms of windowed 1024 taps IR.
I’ve been never found the room IRs works properly to my ears on AxeFx becouse of truncation.
I only found a good room sound working with realtime VST convolution (kefir, SIR, etc) on my PC
For AxeFx the only way to recreate the room sound i think is with Reverb Block. :)
Don’t know the way Room IRs contribuye to you sound on 1024 IR. :shock:
Click to expand...

Because I am a believer and practicer of a simple premise - use your ears, not your head to dial tones.

I've never claimed that the 'room' part of the IR's contributes any room to the sound. I know it sounds different than if you used the full resolution IR's in a DAW. I didn't audition the IR's in a DAW, I auditioned the IR's in the Axe-FX. It just sounds right to my ear; the rest doesn't matter to me. I chase something that I need to hear and feel in my head; and I'm obsessive enough to simply find it via educated guessing and trial-and-error. That mix of IR's in the Axe-FX works for me. YMMV.
 
Scott Peterson said:
Dutch said:
Not to be bugging y'all, loving the tone hugely as I did the Matchless, very versatile and in-the-room as far as I'm concerned.

Only, I found myself dialing with the editor and wondering what the added value of this is over just loading a preset from the axechange. I would love some of the thoughts behind the tweaks. Of course having the IR-mixer recipe in the same spot is a plus...
And dialling in the editor is a bit cumbersome, at least on my laptop. I have a WSXGA 15.4" screen, (1680x1024) which makes the knobs a bit smallish and tiny mouse movements make big jumps on the dials.

Again: great tone!!!
Click to expand...

You can dial this from the front of the Axe-FX too if the editor is troublesome for you.
Click to expand...
Nah. It's just a bit of a hassle. I do both, BTW, with both editors too.
The key here is to teach you what I did to the parameters so you can gain that experience and then use those tools to a) further tweak it for your own tone goals; and b) (most important) show you what I tweaked to get the sound so you can apply that to learning to tweak your own sounds.

Every amp block is a different animal; just like in real life. What works on one, does not automatically work on another. It is key, IMHO, if you want to use these sounds on something like the Axe-FX, to LEARN to dial it yourself.

It's sort of 'tone dialing' survival training if you will. "If you are ever caught in the wilderness without an Internet connection, can you dial your tone on your own from scratch?" :D
Click to expand...
That's exactly the point! How am I learning if I'm just dialing up your settings from page one! I'm not playing while I'm turning the dials so not really hearing what they do. What are the reasons for those settings as you chose them! That would teach me! Maybe I should do some playing while dialing.

Don't get me wrong Scott, I love you and what you're doing and wish I could do that too. Not razzin' ya in any way. Learned heaps from you already and just eager for more! We good?
 
Great sounds Scott

I got the big box bundle and was thinking about mixing an IR like yours to start me going in this direction, I don't have the speaker box so i'd substitue the Vox aC30 instead of your alnicos.

Trouble is I run a Mac and can't get the IR mixing app to run. Is there another version for OSX or do I have to do something different to run it. Sorry if I'm being a bit dim here.

thanks
 
Dutch said:
Scott Peterson said:
Dutch said:
Not to be bugging y'all, loving the tone hugely as I did the Matchless, very versatile and in-the-room as far as I'm concerned.

Only, I found myself dialing with the editor and wondering what the added value of this is over just loading a preset from the axechange. I would love some of the thoughts behind the tweaks. Of course having the IR-mixer recipe in the same spot is a plus...
And dialling in the editor is a bit cumbersome, at least on my laptop. I have a WSXGA 15.4" screen, (1680x1024) which makes the knobs a bit smallish and tiny mouse movements make big jumps on the dials.

Again: great tone!!!
Click to expand...

You can dial this from the front of the Axe-FX too if the editor is troublesome for you.
Click to expand...
Nah. It's just a bit of a hassle. I do both, BTW, with both editors too.
The key here is to teach you what I did to the parameters so you can gain that experience and then use those tools to a) further tweak it for your own tone goals; and b) (most important) show you what I tweaked to get the sound so you can apply that to learning to tweak your own sounds.

Every amp block is a different animal; just like in real life. What works on one, does not automatically work on another. It is key, IMHO, if you want to use these sounds on something like the Axe-FX, to LEARN to dial it yourself.

It's sort of 'tone dialing' survival training if you will. "If you are ever caught in the wilderness without an Internet connection, can you dial your tone on your own from scratch?" :D
Click to expand...
That's exactly the point! How am I learning if I'm just dialing up your settings from page one! I'm not playing while I'm turning the dials so not really hearing what they do. What are the reasons for those settings as you chose them! That would teach me! Maybe I should do some playing while dialing.

Don't get me wrong Scott, I love you and what you're doing and wish I could do that too. Not razzin' ya in any way. Learned heaps from you already and just eager for more! We good?
Click to expand...

We good.

One tip is all that is needed. Use your ears. Trial and error. That's really all I do. There is no magic to it.
 
SparkyG said:
Great sounds Scott

I got the big box bundle and was thinking about mixing an IR like yours to start me going in this direction, I don't have the speaker box so i'd substitue the Vox aC30 instead of your alnicos.

Trouble is I run a Mac and can't get the IR mixing app to run. Is there another version for OSX or do I have to do something different to run it. Sorry if I'm being a bit dim here.

thanks
Click to expand...

Check the IR Mixer thread. There is some sort of workaround for the Mac guys; I don't do Mac so don't pay much attention to those posts.
 
Sounds great to me! I dialed it in but notice that your clip seems hotter than what I am achieving. Playing a Jem with Breeds over here at the moment.

Then again I only have BigBox and had to tweak the recipe to include the missing 10% as a result. The possibilities with the IRMixer are a tad overwhelming to be honest. I certainly appreciate the work you are doing and sharing on that aspect.

I have only had the Axe for about a month so I am still in the OMG stage in more ways than one. Ex POD user here.

Thanks!
 
Dutch said:
Maybe I should do some playing while dialing
Click to expand...
THAT's the point. Start with the original settings, and listen to what each knob turn does to the sound. It's pedagogic ;)
 
I've come across a nice tip a while back.
Put a looper before the amp, play something, let it loop while turning the knobs.
 
I just listened to the clip through my tiny macbook speakers and it sounds so ballsy. I just got the speakerbox but am new to the axe fx and haven't quite yet figured out the best way to port IR cabs in. The mixer seems like a great idea.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom