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The Hughes & Kettner User Forum

The Unofficial guitar amp and cabinets forum for users of Hughes and Kettner products. We are not affiliated with Hughes and Kettner!!


2 posters

    Grandmeister36 and JVM410h

    ShatteredVitreous
    ShatteredVitreous


    Posts : 6
    Join date : 2016-05-05

    Grandmeister36 and JVM410h Empty Grandmeister36 and JVM410h

    Post by ShatteredVitreous Mon Jan 02, 2017 1:11 pm

    Happy new year all

    I have a probably quick question.

    I own the Grandmeister36 and the JVM410h. Now I bought the JVM on a whim and fell in love with the amp, side by side the JVM just has more bite and aggression to it which I love.

    Now I also love the sound of the Grandmeister36 and use both but I was wondering if it's possible to get a more Marshall sound out of the JVM. I read through the tube swapping thread and didn't find what I was looking for; except for some amazing info on tubes and there impact, very informative.

    I want to ditch the JVM and use the smaller and lighter Grandmeister36 but I keep missing that Marshall tone. Would any tubes provide me with a more open and more Marshall style sound as from reading the forum the tone stack is based on a Marshall.

    I am just looking for some advice before it ends up on eBay or I compromise on my sound.

    One thing I am yet to try as I have just moved house is my MXR 10 band eq in the loop of the Grandmeister36 to try and eq the sound in.

    Thank you in advance.

    Mike
    bordonbert
    bordonbert


    Posts : 1772
    Join date : 2015-01-28
    Age : 72
    Location : Southern England

    Grandmeister36 and JVM410h Empty Re: Grandmeister36 and JVM410h

    Post by bordonbert Mon Jan 02, 2017 10:43 pm

    The straight answer is "No!"  I've tried the self same thing for a while now, to somehow get more Marshally or at least classic rock tones out of the GM36.  You can get usable sounds but if you are a true classic rock player it just can't be done.  Look in the thread on "Spice simulation and analysis of the amp's audio performance" to see how far I went with this.  The GM36 is a great amp but it is voiced for modern sounds and the configuration of the circuitry is such that it is virtually impossible to unravel the channels to keep the best of it and give it additional more 60s/70s sound.

    If you have read the most recent stuff in the valve rolling thread you will know that I'm not a huge advocate of doing that to make big tonal changes in the amp.  I have found it never makes a massive difference no matter what hype gets spread about.  Sure there are subtleties but they are just that, subtleties.  Go to Page 5 on The Tube Swapping Thread and read down the page from Post No 122.  Voodoo Jeff is a member who is a professional guitarist and has access to $100+ per valve Wathens in his GM36.  What he has to say is very interesting.

    Like you I have finally gone down the JVM route.  I have a 205H (as well as a late 60s JTM100) and have modded that with a couple of things.  I've added the supply choke, (not sure of too much difference there), and I'm revoicing my second channel which is stock to the same spec as your own third more modern channel to your own second channel which has an earlier more classic rock sound.  Now that I've accepted the fact that the Marshall does my sort of music better there is no going back for me.  The GM36 is still a great amp and I like it a lot, it's just aimed at something I can't really use, (and H&K won't 'fess up to that).  I have it as a backup now and I really miss the convenience of the midi side of things.  Total control is a great thing and spoils you once you have learned how to apply it, but there is no substitute for that Marshall growl!  And for my money the GM can't do it.

    I'm currently looking into a better foot pedal setup for the JVM where every switch on the amp is copied on the foot pedal.  With an Arduino base it's pretty straightforward.  If you haven't already found it this is an interesting place:  JVM Forum

    I'm sure there will be a lot of people saying that the new Deluxe 40 can do those classic sounds (as well as change the baby, do an oil change on the car and peel the spuds Wink ) but I haven't heard anything yet which suggests that, nor that it is significantly better than the GM36 tonally.  That doesn't mean it doesn't sound a tad different in some ways or that some people shouldn't prefer it where it suits their needs, but it hasn't stretched the envelope to include what I want out of it.  It's still too light and toppy sounding with way too much hard distortion and no throaty creaminess.  All of the online reviews quoted by new owners just sound very similar to the old H&K stock sound to me.


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