I'm new here and before I start asking questions about the JTM45, I'll introduce myself:
My level:
I'm a guy who likes blues and rock music especially. I got my first guitar 2002. however, the fact that I haven't practiced intensively means that today I'm still not much mopre than at a beginners level (perhaps lightly intermediate as I know the straight open chords, bar / power chords and the major / minor scale and practicing string bends).
My Gear:
I don't have a band so I just play alone in my apartment (albeit I sometimes go to my friends house to talk gear and play a little- he's bellow my level). Regardless of not having a band, I like to have good quality gear. Hence, these last two and a half years, I have purchased the follow gear: Fender American Vintage '57 Reissue black strat (Think Clapton's "Blackie"), Moon RD3 Dreadnought Acoustic, Gibson Les Paul Traditional, Vox AC15 Heritage Combo, a PT Junior, DT-10, TS9 and the TC Nova Delay.
Dare I say that my gear is not what is limiting my playing
My heroes:
Bryan Adams and Keith Scott are my two major guitar gurus although I also quite like Ritchie Sambora from Bon Jovi.
My strat and Moon RD3 are the same guitars that BA has used (still uses several RD3s) and my Vox and TS9 were purchased because I wanted to get close to Bryan's "Reckless"-sound.
So, finally we're getting to the Marshall-bit of this thread:
To be honest, I never had big interest in Marshalls (despite the fact that BA uses mainly Marshall live these days along with a Vox AC30) but my friend (who runs his guitar through a pot really likes the sound of Marshalls. Moreover, my Vox is having a master volume installed by an amp tech, whom I went to visit last Monday. He is a nice guy and we talked about Marshall and Vox and he said: "Vox is like a basket chair: it squeaks when you sit down in it wheres Marshall is like a big soft leather couch that sort of lets you sink in to it very gently and then it surrounds and covers you".
This guy likes Vox as well, so his description wasn't meant as a critique.
Hearing his amp, I wasn't convinced to go the Marshal route but then I heard George's sound clips of the JTM45 kit and Mamma fuc.... Mia!! It's awesome. If that's "just" the JTM45 amp kit and not his 2K vers., I might very well be getting that amp!
What I am looking for in a "Marshal"-ish amp:
Four words: quality!!! components and quality tone!!!
The above mentioned amp tech lives and breathes for the tone of a strat plugged into a Marshall, HOWEVER, component and quality wise, he doesn't have anything good to say about Marshall's own RIs. So, As I think the good old Marshalls are out of my price range, I think I might get a kit.
The sound I'm looking for:
As stated above: blues and rock! The reason I'm keen on the JTM45 kit is that it is such a legendary amp AND the "low" 45 wattage (given you put some decent tubes under the hood). A smooth, warm and bluesy rock sound, which can roar when you start to dig in!
The amp tech recommend to get the Mercury transformers and PEC pots. Then again, he said he would perhaps select all parts himself although the Metrokit had almost the same as he would choose.
So, can one get a better quality amp then the metro kit by selecting the parts oneself and still be in the same price range?
I'm from Denmark, so buying from Metro adds toll and tax.
I will use an attenuator with the amp for sure. What do you think of this kit and can somebody record some Strat--->JTM45 rock and blues?
Thank you so much for your help!
You´d have to attenuate it down so far it would´nt make any difference what OT was in it.
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