JCM 900 4500 Dual Reverb

Rog · Post by **Rog** » Thu Aug 05, 2004 8:16 am

> I myself have heard a Mesa (on tv, it was Incubus) and thought "That sounds exactly like my amp" (honestly), only to find out that it was in fact a Mesa.

Too right, mate.
One of the problems with identifying any amp through a recording in the effects used during the recording process. If compression in particular is used solidly - bloody near everything sounds the same!

Most people fall over when you explain about Clapton using a Pignose to record Layla etc..

The Scarecrow · Post by **The Scarecrow** » Thu Aug 05, 2004 8:20 am

gregtarr wrote:I was just thinking, and wondered if the difference you noticed between when you had 5881's and EL34's was perhaps (at least in part) due to the 5881's being old and the EL34's being brand new? I mean, Dr Rog posted a while ago about a whole bunch of guitarists not always even being able to tell the difference between a Marshall stack and a Fender Twin purely on the basis of sound (well, that is kind of what he said, it was more that no one could tell the difference between the guitars.
I myself have heard a Mesa (on tv, it was Incubus) and thought "That sounds exactly like my amp" (honestly), only to find out that it was in fact a Mesa.
I'm just wondering whether the differences (slight differences? they look pretty similar to me, but that's just a guess) are actually significant enough to be audible. I mean, it's still the exact same amp, only different tubes and a different transformer (I think, I'm pretty sure that they run at different voltages).
What does every one reckon?

Good point, but the 5881's I had in my amp were approximately four months old (have reciepts) and the seller had purchased an old Holden head he preferred. I have a couple of recordsings with the two different tubes, playing the same thing, and on headphones, I can tell a distinct difference. This also holds true at high volumes - at practise at home quietly sort of levels, it's not much difference if you're bashing out chords, but on picking notes, it's evident.

gregtarr · Post by **gregtarr** » Thu Aug 05, 2004 10:40 am

Oh ok, cool. Well, actually, I use compression pretty much constantly, so (as Rog says) maybe that accounts a bit for it. But basically, I'm happy with it, (and can't afford to do anything about it if I wasn't!) so until I actually have the means to do some thing about it, I won't stress.
I went and looked on Harmony Central, and it seems that about half of the people are bashing Marshalls, some are bashing 5881/6L6's (I actually have 6L6's) and a few are bashing EL34's. Just out of interest, I went to have a look at what people are saying about Mesa's, and its kind of the opposite! There's people who rated Marshalls complaining that they aren't Mesas, (and that Marshalls aren't as versatile as Mesas) and then there's people rating Mesas complaining that they aren't Marshalls (and that Mesas aren't as versatile as Marshalls!).
All in all, I reckon, it's like Health Science (to use an analogy that no one will get - basically everyone is super paranoid because they imagine that to get entry to the professional courses they need to beat EVERY one, to the extent that they believe the statistics that they themselves make up), you'll be fine if you don't believe what ANYONE says.

Rog · Post by **Rog** » Thu Aug 05, 2004 11:20 am

whoooosh............

That was that last paragraph going over my head, mate!! LOL

Harmony Central is a strange place - everybody hates everything they don't own themselves - there is no respect at all for another's opinion.

angry_young_poet · Post by **angry_young_poet** » Thu Aug 05, 2004 11:24 am

that's pretty dumb aye?

"duhh.. i can't seem to get a mesa tone from my marshall.."

if you want a mesa, buy a mesa.. if you want a marshall get a marshall and don't compare cuz they are totally different amps!

The Scarecrow · Post by **The Scarecrow** » Thu Aug 05, 2004 11:33 am

angry_young_poet wrote:that's pretty dumb aye?

"duhh.. i can't seem to get a mesa tone from my marshall.."

if you want a mesa, buy a mesa.. if you want a marshall get a marshall and don't compare cuz they are totally different amps!

That's pretty much the sum of it mate. Though having said that, I like my current setup because with my Bluesdriver, I CAN get a very Mesa-tone from my cranked amp if I want. I played a Dual Rectifier a few weeks back and with my current setup, I found the Mesa only really bashed me on bass, and only just.

I just find the JCM900 is more versatile for the stuff I play - when I was an industrial fan a few years back, I would of probably bought a Dual Rec without a second thought, but this was when I was heavily influenced by Filter/NIN/Machina-era Pumpkins and Korn. But I shifted to indie, emo and blues rock and the Marshall just sounded better for the stuff I wanted to play - just kinda versatile if you have the right gear. My current band plays a combo of indie-rock-emo and punk and it's just such a wicked amp for that.

What sorta stuff are you playing these days Greg?

Rog · Post by **Rog** » Thu Aug 05, 2004 12:10 pm

> when I was an industrial fan a few years back

Hey, I might have seen you.
Which factory were you installed in?

philipnz · Post by **philipnz** » Thu Aug 05, 2004 12:34 pm

> I myself have heard a Mesa (on tv, it was Incubus) and thought "That sounds exactly like my amp" (honestly), only to find out that it was in fact a mesa

Mind you after passing through 30 effects pedals its going to sound like anything.

Mike Einziger is using a Marshall and Vox set up live when i saw him a few months ago. The Mesa's shown on guitargeek are nowhere to be seen

Tsuken · Post by **Tsuken** » Thu Aug 05, 2004 12:38 pm

angry_young_poet wrote:that's pretty dumb aye?

"duhh.. i can't seem to get a mesa tone from my marshall.."

if you want a mesa, buy a mesa.. if you want a marshall get a marshall and don't compare cuz they are totally different amps!

Maybe I should've done a review of my cheap-as Park practice amp for Harmony Central:

"It sucks cos it doesn't sound like a tube amp through two 4x12s thru its single 8" speaker. It doesn't have built-in effects and modelling. It doesn't drown out the other guitarist (who's playing through 8 Marshall stacks and 10 Mesas) And most important, it's not covered in leopard skin."

Rog · Post by **Rog** » Thu Aug 05, 2004 12:40 pm

That's part of the point I was trying to make the other day - comparing similar instead of making silly comparisons...

gregtarr · Post by **gregtarr** » Fri Aug 06, 2004 10:15 am

What stuff am I playing at the moment? Well, I've just been writing and jamming riffs for my new band, kind of solid grooving rock, which I want a nice crunch sound for, with not very much gain at all, just enough to the awesome sustain!
Phillip, the drummer in my band is a big Incubus fan and has a couple of videos of them, and in the ones that I have seen, Mike Einziger is using Mesa combos (I don't know the model numbers, but they are covered in light brown).
Dr Rog, hehe, that is pretty good.