Joey Bonnamacca Tears it Up: 1 Watt JTM145 Plexi Amp

[J M Fahey]

Funny thing is, I commented on what *Marshall* did, I *think* that's what Music Electronics Forum is about.
That SGM took all that as a personal attack and returned in kind, well, should surprise me if coming from someone else, but not from him.
Back to the main point, I would like to see the schematic too, but just as a curiosity, still think JB (or EC, who was also mentioned) are the ones who make it sound killer.
And, also *very* important, the speaker used.

[Alan0354]

It is the person that create the sound. A good guitarist can make any instrument sounds good. A good instrument enhances the player, it doesn't make the player. BUT of cause, we are talking gear here...........music electronics.

There are two school of thoughts, one is having the amp distort and do everything. The other one is have a very good amp and run it at the sweet spot. Then use pedals to get the distortion. I started out as making the amp do everything. But the more I play with cascade amp design, the more I realize I am doing nothing more than designing a distortion pedal using tubes!!! So my view is really changing. To me, when comes to tone, less is more. That's the reason people like the Tweed amps.

Yes, speaker is very important. I had been using my Marshall JCM900 like 12" combo as speaker and designed using a Fender Bassman 100 as the platform literally ripped out the guts and put in my own designs. No matter what I did, it sounded tubby and boomy. I thought it's my ears, that I need a good reference amp to A/B compare. I bought a vintage 73 Pro Reverb and it sounds sweet, just love it. Then because I had the guts on the table and I can't reach with the original speaker, I plugged in the Marshall............IT SOUNDED BOOMY AND TUBBY!!!! It's the speaker and cabinet!!!! It was not my design!!!!

Don't mistaken, I love my Pro Reverb, I would do it again knowing all this. But I never in my wildest dream that the Marshall ruin it for me. The Marshall did not sound boomy and tubby when it was alive, AND for the life of me...........It's a Marshall with 12" Celection speaker that was the problem!!!!

To me, Marshall is a one trick animal but it does that trick very well. But the clean sound is less than good to be polite. I owned a 74 Plexi 100W triple stack and it did not sound good clean. The JCM900 blew up about two years ago and I never even attempt to fix it. My experience is Marshall got to be the most unreliable amp. The Plexi blew the rectifier twice. It used 1N4006 or 8, a 1A little diode. They could use a bigger one instead. This 900 blew a plate resistor as it used a 1/4W!!! The voltage just killed it. Every single pot scratches. Then it blew the fuse!!!! I never even try to open and looked at it. Now, I can't even use it as a cabinet. I was going to gut it and put in my own design. Now maybe a garbage can might be a better home for it!!!

[big_teee]

That is why we have all kind of amps.
If you want a clean amp just buy or build a clean fender.
If you talk rock and roll and overdrive a lot of the whole world thinks Marshall.
There are whole website and forums just dedicated to getting the most out of marshalls.
I like an amp capable of clean and overdrive.
Buy and build what you like.
I hear the player shaping the sound, and they do to a point.
It's the player and the gear the player chooses that make the sound.
T

[Alan0354]

Fender distort very well, just very different. Yes, basically, the majority of people use either Fender or Marshall.

I did undated my last post. I stand by my experience with two Marshalls that I owned. That is not acceptable. That were not accident that it broke down. It's design with no margin. Also, fender short the output if you forget to plug speaker to protect the OT. Marshall don't do that and there are so many complains of blown OT.

[big_teee]

I've built 2 different versions of the Marshall 1987 circuit, with no issues.
One with marshall type iron with EL34s, and one with Fender type iron with 6L6s.
My first one is 3 years old, and been to hell and back.
Built like a tank.
All PTP amps hold up better than the newer trace type PCB amps.
I Like the marshall style turret board amp design, much better IMO than the old Fender eyelet board design.
Still have a BFSR on the bucket list!
T

[soundguruman]

It is the person that create the sound. A good guitarist can make any instrument sounds good. A good instrument enhances the player, it doesn't make the player. BUT of cause, we are talking gear here...........music electronics.

There are two school of thoughts, one is having the amp distort and do everything. The other one is have a very good amp and run it at the sweet spot. Then use pedals to get the distortion. I started out as making the amp do everything. But the more I play with cascade amp design, the more I realize I am doing nothing more than designing a distortion pedal using tubes!!! So my view is really changing. To me, when comes to tone, less is more. That's the reason people like the Tweed amps.

Yes, speaker is very important. I had been using my Marshall JCM900 like 12" combo as speaker and designed using a Fender Bassman 100 as the platform literally ripped out the guts and put in my own designs. No matter what I did, it sounded tubby and boomy. I thought it's my ears, that I need a good reference amp to A/B compare. I bought a vintage 73 Pro Reverb and it sounds sweet, just love it. Then because I had the guts on the table and I can't reach with the original speaker, I plugged in the Marshall............IT SOUNDED BOOMY AND TUBBY!!!! It's the speaker and cabinet!!!! It was not my design!!!!

Don't mistaken, I love my Pro Reverb, I would do it again knowing all this. But I never in my wildest dream that the Marshall ruin it for me. The Marshall did not sound boomy and tubby when it was alive, AND for the life of me...........It's a Marshall with 12" Celection speaker that was the problem!!!!

To me, Marshall is a one trick animal but it does that trick very well. But the clean sound is less than good to be polite. I owned a 74 Plexi 100W triple stack and it did not sound good clean. The JCM900 blew up about two years ago and I never even attempt to fix it. My experience is Marshall got to be the most unreliable amp. The Plexi blew the rectifier twice. It used 1N4006 or 8, a 1A little diode. They could use a bigger one instead. This 900 blew a plate resistor as it used a 1/4W!!! The voltage just killed it. Every single pot scratches. Then it blew the fuse!!!! I never even try to open and looked at it. Now, I can't even use it as a cabinet. I was going to gut it and put in my own design. Now maybe a garbage can might be a better home for it!!!

Yes that's true.
The amp is like the paint brush, used by the artist...
to paint the picture.