Silver Jubilee Vs. 50 Watt Plexi

[Krank]

I was wondering if yanyone could give me some good examples of the tonal differences between a 50 Watt Silver Jubilee and a 50 Watt Plexi. I have Just built a Metro JTM 45 and dig it. Now I want to build another amp, I just really don't want to build the 50 Watt if it will be nearly identical tonally to my Jubilee that I currently have. I am only a bedroom player so any amp is overkill for me but I can't find anything that I like as much as that Marshall tube distortion. Also I saw the 50 watt kit instructions and they are awesome, but being new to this game could you also give me an example of the tonal differences between the 69 and 70 board layouts. Any inputs are appreciated thanks for all the information.
Krank

[OdgeUK]

I've owned several Jubilee's and, although they are a gainy, smooth amp with a rich overdrive, they aren't even fit to clean the shoes of a 50W Non-Master-Volume Marshall.

The tonal differences are huge. The 50Watter will have more bite and old school crunch and, turned up just a little way, the ability to literally knock the air out of your chest. When played less aggressively, the old 50watters have this wonderful chimey clean sound that's very dynamic and 'alive'. Just think of the sound Jimi Hendrix gets on "Castle's made of Sand" or "Little Wing".

By comparison, the Jubilee almost play's itself. It does have a wonderful smooth, thick overdrive, but if you bang out some power chords on a Jubilee, next to a cranked 50W Non-Master Volume, the Jubilee will sound mid-rangy, flat and 'wooly' by comparison. The 50Watter NMV will cut through in a band a lot better, and possibly kill the first row of the audience in the process.

The downsides to the NMV are that it won't overdrive until you get the volume to neighbour-bothering levels. So unless you use a Hotplate or install a Master-Volume modification, you'll never really be able to play it at home unless you want to practice with a clean sound or an overdrive pedal all the time. By comparison, the Jubilee still sounds fab at bedroom levels.

The Jubilee has a lot more gain as well, it's almost 'wet' with the stuff. The 'gain' from an old marshall comes from cranking it, but it's a much more dry and brittle crunch, but it packs so much more punch than just setting your Jubilee input gain to 8 and having that saturated, distortion. I mean the old Marshall's, when Cranked, are ACDC, Van Halen etc right there. A Cranked Jubilee with a lot of gain sounds more like Skid Row and 'Use Your Illusion' era Guns and Roses. Depends what you like really.

My ideal setup would be an old Marshall for Rhythm-riffing and that Appetite for Destruction crunch, and then an amp switcher to a Jubilee for smooth, gainy soloing. You really can't beat the Jubilee if you are playng solo's 90% of the time. One of my favourite things about the Jubilee is the sound it gets for solo's.

Sorry for the rant.

[OdgeUK]

Compare these clips.

50W JMP
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DL2LEzAieuc

Jubilee
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=43AxLiGKjqs
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K-G69MNrALI&NR=1


I think these clips demonstrate the typical sounds of these amps very well.

Notice how much more 'thunk' the old Marshall circuit produces and how mid-rangy and wooly the Jubilee sounds in comparison.

[Krank]

Thanks for the input. I thought that no one was going to reply. You made me understand the differences, I was able to listed to my Jub and understand what you were saying. My 50 watt kit is in the mail so I will have a JTM 45, JMP 50, and my 50 watt jub. Thanks again for the input.

[OdgeUK]

so I will have a JTM 45, JMP 50, and my 50 watt jub

So er....that's every decent Marshall sound, you could ever wish for, covered then....

Good luck. I know nothing about pre-'70 50 Watters. It's my understanding that they are less gainy than the 'Metalface' era JMP's. So being a Hard Rock nut, it's Metalface all the way for me.....