aens
Experienced
I recently bought a JCM 800 2203 (vertical input) because I love Marshall amps and I've actually never owned a good tube amp head. I was really curious to hear the differences between a 50 watt and 100 watt models and how one could match them. I think it turned out pretty good.
Both amps going through valhall.ir JCM1981 G12-65 MD421 impulse. Real 2203 is recorded through Fractal Audio LB-2.
Guitar is a Les Paul 2011 Traditional 1960 with Lollar Raw Power (neck, splittable) and Gibson Dirty Fingers (bridge, not splittable) pickups. I run the bridge pickup with half volume to match the pickup output since Dirty Fingers has way more output than Raw Power (a 1960 Gibson T-top replica). With bridge pickup volume wide open it gives a really nice lead boost. I think it's a cool setup. It's the same pickup setup that Petri Walli from a Finnish band called Kingston Wall used to have. That's one of my favourite bands and I highly recommend to check them out.
Here's what I had to do to match the two amps:
– Crank up the master volume trim quite a bit to match the compression of the real amp (I settled with 2.224). Matching the levels between the amps is really crucial here so you won't get tricked by volume.
– Lower input gain to about 0.65 (real amp has less drive).
– Turn on Fat switch. It makes the middle frequencies sound closer to the real amp. Not sure if my amp is modded...
– Lower amp low res resonance to about 2-5 to match the low end better (real amp has less low end). I set it to 2.56.
– Lower high treble to -5–10 (amp model is somewhat brighter). I set it to -9.75.
– Raise negative feedback by 41% (I read that value from somewhere).
– Adjust the amp graphic eq with fairly small tweaks (less low end, minor differences in middle frequencies, cut 4k and 8k to tame the highs).
I sometimes hear something I can't quite catch in the higher middle frequencies, like a pick attack thing (squeal maybe?) when I dig in the strings. Most of the time I can't hear a difference. With tone matching you could get the two sounds indistinguishable, but I want to match them by ear because it's good practice.
I'm fairly new with matching real amps, so let me know if you hear any major differences and have ideas how to improve the tone. Thanks!
I'll grab the preset today if someone wants to try it out. I'll post it here later.
Here's a clip from the matching session. I switch the amps back and forth quite often and tweak on the fly.
Both amps going through valhall.ir JCM1981 G12-65 MD421 impulse. Real 2203 is recorded through Fractal Audio LB-2.
Guitar is a Les Paul 2011 Traditional 1960 with Lollar Raw Power (neck, splittable) and Gibson Dirty Fingers (bridge, not splittable) pickups. I run the bridge pickup with half volume to match the pickup output since Dirty Fingers has way more output than Raw Power (a 1960 Gibson T-top replica). With bridge pickup volume wide open it gives a really nice lead boost. I think it's a cool setup. It's the same pickup setup that Petri Walli from a Finnish band called Kingston Wall used to have. That's one of my favourite bands and I highly recommend to check them out.
Here's what I had to do to match the two amps:
– Crank up the master volume trim quite a bit to match the compression of the real amp (I settled with 2.224). Matching the levels between the amps is really crucial here so you won't get tricked by volume.
– Lower input gain to about 0.65 (real amp has less drive).
– Turn on Fat switch. It makes the middle frequencies sound closer to the real amp. Not sure if my amp is modded...
– Lower amp low res resonance to about 2-5 to match the low end better (real amp has less low end). I set it to 2.56.
– Lower high treble to -5–10 (amp model is somewhat brighter). I set it to -9.75.
– Raise negative feedback by 41% (I read that value from somewhere).
– Adjust the amp graphic eq with fairly small tweaks (less low end, minor differences in middle frequencies, cut 4k and 8k to tame the highs).
I sometimes hear something I can't quite catch in the higher middle frequencies, like a pick attack thing (squeal maybe?) when I dig in the strings. Most of the time I can't hear a difference. With tone matching you could get the two sounds indistinguishable, but I want to match them by ear because it's good practice.
I'm fairly new with matching real amps, so let me know if you hear any major differences and have ideas how to improve the tone. Thanks!
I'll grab the preset today if someone wants to try it out. I'll post it here later.
Here's a clip from the matching session. I switch the amps back and forth quite often and tweak on the fly.
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