JAMC Sound

I saw The Jesus and Mary Chain in concert recently and now I really want to recreate their tone from the Automatic, Honey's Dead, and Munki era as closely as possible. I've been chasing the sound since I've been playing guitar but now I want to get serious. From what I could tell, William Reid was using a Gibson ES-330 into two Orange amps which appeared to be a Crush head and a Thunder head. I've been eyeing a Shin-Ei fuzz wah and I'm considering getting it. Right now my rig is a solid state Marshall combo with a Big Muff, Rat, DS-2, and Swollen Pickle along with a Jazzmaster. Any idea how I can get this tone with my current rig like with settings and pedals? If not, what amps would be close to those Oranges or a Marshall JCM-800 (his old amp)? I'm not as worried about the feedback sound at the moment (even though I'd really like to know) just the guitar tone.

I had on original shin-ei... Sounded like a chainsaw... But if you wanna do jamc thats their sound. Any old amp will do. I am sure your cheapo marshall will cover you uf you just score the right fuzz. The big muff is all wrong as us the rat. They'e really distortions electrically speaking...

Thanks for the advice. Any suggestions on what the bass, treble, mid, and gain settings should be?

it won't matter much once you use the companion fuzz, it depends on the speakers and room really as the shin-ei does its thing and your goal is not to be too boomy and abrasive, just nasty enough.... on a solid state I would try diming the mids first with the bass and treb down and then turn them up until you like it in the room you are playing in... if the sound is then too honky or nasal for your liking slowly back off the mids

in general tone control settings are more about the speakers you use and the space you are playing in unless its a dimed plexi or something where you are trying to set some accent on the power amp distortion.... that scenario will not apply to your gear or your goal -- tweak to the speakers and the space

I really like the vox ef86 channel and ac30 normal because there aren't any tone controls and I just let her rip, no fiddling... tone controls are overrated... even on my pro, traynor and selmer amps I really don't worry too much.... dark amps I dime the treble, bright amps I cut it, I usually go really fast and never have any issues with tone.... to much emphasis is placed on settings versus gear with character and your CHOPS

when I had an 800 I used to just put everything around 5, no joke -- gain, treb mid bass, master, presence.... all about halfway worked fine for all purposes--- superleads are pickier they wanna be run loud as fuck to break up and sound best to me low presence, dimed treble and mid, abss to taste... fender, the magic blackface settings are typically bass at 2 treble at 7, mid at 7 if it has a mid and then depending on the room or spekers you can engage the bright switch if you want more zing, from the alrger amps though, small bf's don't have a bright switch and don't really need it.... hell adding tone controls was a waste of time the old tweed and brown little guys sound amazing with almost no controls

don't sweat it, just get the right fuzz and let it happen

Thanks man I appreciate the advice. This is a little off topic but on the amp thing I've been looking at a Boss Katana 100 or a Fender Bassbreaker 45 to upgrade to. Which one do you think would be better for the money considering I play the range from JAMC to punk? Or would you recommend any good used tube amps without breaking the bank?

I have no experience with either but people love the bassbreakers, I mostly own vintage stuf... but 45 watts is loud, address the venues you are playing! 5 tube watts is loud as fuck through efficient speakers in a small room

oh, you asked about good used stuff on the cheap.... traynors are still a great deal. Can't go wrong with a Traynor Bassmaster head. Very much a Canadian plexi. They go for anywhere between $400 and $1000 these days. Generally closer to 1k for the earlier ones that push less wattage than alter ones but are more reliable and sound sweeter to my ear. If the cab ahs a flip top to access the eyelet board then don't buy it.... those are the later, mediocre ones.... you want one made no later than about 72. They are built like tanks and have beastial rock tone when turned up. The other traynor mdoels are cheaper, like the reverbmaster but theya re cleaner and more like 60s fenders with british tubes. They sound good but are not to everyone's liking. Then there's the rare PA head like I have. Older is better. The early circuit sucks as a PA but is a gainy rock machine for guitar whereas the post-69 circuit is cleaner and said to have some hiwatt quality to the sound but its hard to get it to break up. You see the PAs modded a lot, but stock ones are getting thin on the ground and stock 1st circuit versions like mine seem to be non-existent. If you find one, buy it. They have a lot in common with early oranges and have that smokey, never quite clean thing going on and when turned up they give an in your face natural overdrive that is very 70s. All the low wattage bassmate, studiomate and guitarmate amps sound great and are pretty cheap still.

there aren't a ton of vintage gems that are still affordable. I see some real junk going for big money just because its old. If you want something 800ish on the cheap look at a Laney AOR head. THey are like hot rodded 800s. The build quality is not great, but tis better than a lot of modern amps. They trade for 500 bucks or less. The best sounding ones are the earlier single channel models and I think the 50 waters sound better than the 100 waters. There's also a 30 watt AOR combo that people dig but I have never tried one. Laeny's 90s GH100L and GH50L are very good sounding 800 clones. There are some added features thata re implemented poorly but if you ignore the fx loop and you're judicious with useabe of the elad boost then its a solid amp that sounds very close to an 80s JCM.

old Univox bass heads are in the bassman/plexi camp too and can stll be ahd for very little money. I ahd one, ine was kinda like a high power tweed twin mixed with a superlead. Really good sounding amp that commands maybe 500 bucks in this market.

Silvertone made a bass head that looks like a smaller twin 12. Sucks for bass, righteous marshall-meets-supro type grind turned up and it maybe pushes 30 watts so great for gigging. Clean sounds don't suck either. Defintiely the most affordable sears amp these days and a real sleeper that sounds great and doesn't suffer from the problems the other guitar amps do because the circuitry is simple and less can go wrong on them. I wouldn't pay more than 500 for one. There was a time you could buy any silvertone head for under 100 LOL

Selmer treble n bass heads are still pretty cheap. I just bought one with a replaced power transformer for about 600 USD. Generally for that money you can get an early one like mine that's a little hacked up inside or you can get a later one that's minty. I think the older ones sound better, but they're all decent amps with a good post-marshall voice. A little plexi, a little hiwatty a little ac50ish and even a little fendery. Decent alla roudners, though they are not the cleanest build quality compared to other handwired british amps of the day. Definitely can develop hum and hiss issues due to lead dress thatw asn't good enough to survive half a century. If you are willing to service them though they are good vintage sleepers.

Its getting harder to find them, but tweed Gibsons (and the 2 tone ones when you see them at good prices) from the 50s and very early 60s can be a good deal and they are very much in the small fender camp. Some sound better than their fender counterparts but the louder ones kinda suck for rock n roll. Also the model names don't denote wattage. a GA40 les paul amp is not 40 watts, maybe 20 watts soaking wet. But there are good deals if you keep your eyes peeled. Ebay is full of dealers asking speculative buy it now prices, but really most old gibbies should be udner a grand. The best models are the GA6 lancer, GA8 and GA9 gibsonettes, GA14 titan, and GA20 ranger. They are all similar being champ/deluxe variants. They're gainier and midrangier than the fender models they are like and I think they just rock way harder.

The Sovtek Migs are okay and still relatively cheap. The build quality never looked great to me but you never see them broken... must be functional if ugly inside. They are in the bassman/plexi/JCM camp. All the models sound pretty okay. The one with extra gain and a master volume, the 60 I think? is the sleeper usually costing very little and it has a real sound of its own.

80s peaveys are well made. The Windsor is the most notorious 800 clone, but Peavey also released the VT series amps all of which build on the 800 platform, some with additional features. Some use 6L6 tubes instead of EL24s. They are ugly as sin, but cheap and good sounding. Pay no more than 400 for one.

Silverface Fender is still a relative deal mostly because a lot of the flagship models were ruined by CBS's engineers... but the small amps are still great and the series has some real sleepers in it like the mighty Bandmaster Reverb head. You can guess what that amp is! Very good sounding amps in a fender way.

Mesa's unloved caliber amps are still relative deal. Earlier ones are kinda like the mark series and later ones have a fender channel paired with a triple rectifier style lead channel. I like the older ones myself. They usually trade for 600 to 800 USD.

Plush amps are 70s plexi copes that look like the tuck n roll Kustom amps we all love to hate.... you can generally get a 100 watt plush for under a grand. They sound really good and the looks are hysterical and fun.

The 80s Hiwatt lead amps are sleepers too. They aren't exactly hiwatts being built on PCB with inferior transformers, but they add a 'lead channel' feature that's 800ish in a hiwatt way. They sound shockingly good. Usually less than a grand. Good resale. Also, the 80s 30 watter Hiwatt made is GREAT and well under a grand. you can usually find one online for about 700 bucks. Its very Marshally.