girardm's Reviews

A mighty beast

This amp prove that not only bass amp can produce enough energy to make you shake from the inside. This amp was made in the mid to late 1970 and was part of the handfull of amp that defined the 70 and the 80. This model is part of the second generation of marshall amp. The first generation being the classic ''plexi'' amp (JTM,1959 and 1987X). The JMP where the firsts models to have a Master Volume and a Pre-amp volume (gain). They sound really similar to the previous line but with more gain on tap. The JMP line became the JCM line in the 80 with the first flagship being the JCM800. Some say that the only difference between the JMP and the JCM where the changes made to the face of the amp. While the Master volume give you the ability to play quieter, the amp really is at his best while cranked to get that stressed el34 grind that we all have learn to love. To be in a room with this beast of an amp cranked into a 4x12 is an experience that everyone should feel at least once in his lifetime (with earplug of course). This is addictive and you'll always want to play a little more. A good complement for this amp is an attenuator.

a must have for real power tube distortion

I have a Marshall JMP 50 from 1978 and even though it has a master volume you got the best tone by cranking it, so an attenuator is required. Anyway I got a non master volume amp based on a plexi so I have no choice. I only owned one attenuator in the past and it didn't connect well with me so I never really used it. I didn't try a lot of model myself so my experience is mostly based on my research on the web and it pointed me to this one. I bought it without ever tried it before and I'm super happy with my purchase. I'm never gonna split with it. It is expensive but you got the cream of the attenuator world. There's multiple uses to the power station. It is a 200W attenuator, a 100W power amp, a post distortion fx loop, a 2 volume channels with presence and depth for each channel and many more other uses without the need to do any mods on your amp.

For those skeptical about a tube attenuator that use 6550 power tubes, the next lines are for you. The tubes inside it are running cold so they do not color your tone. By running cold, the tubes have a much longer life span (some people online say up to 5 years) than those running on your actual amplifier power amp stage. The fact that the tube run cold mean also that you don't need to bias them when switching them so you don't need a tech expert to do it for you. Fryette also put a video online that show you how to do it yourself.

A true rock machine

I first want to say that I own the amp unit shown on the picture above. This picture was taken by the store where I bought it used.

This is a really great amp with an excellent overdrie tone and excellents harmonics. It is said and I agree that this amp is voiced to sound like a plexi but with more gain. To give you an idea, with the volume to about the 2/3 of the range it give you the same gain as the original but I didn't A/B them so take it with a grain of salt. I use it with a marshall 1960AV (4x12 cab with celestion vintage (v30)) and this thing is crazy loud (no surprise for a 50 watts). This is why I paired it with a fryette power station ps100 to keep my sanity to an acceptable level. The preamp accept really well to be boosted with pedal. Curently, I use an MIAB (marshall in a box, clever i know) with gain to 0 and volume at max and it give me a sound that can cover with a bit much of agression AC DC, Billy talent, Green day, Mothley Crue and The offspring with the volume of the amp at the 1/3 of it's range. I use both channels with a patch cable.

A faithfull P90 sound recreation

I want to say first that this pickup replaced a original modern gibson P90 of 2016. I also have another electric guitar equiped with a recreation of a 1960 P90 with all the hum. To me, the seymour duncan hot silencer P90 is hitting the right spot has to what a P90 should sound. It bridge the sound of a humbucker and a single coil. It is more articulate, bright and responsive than a humbucker and more powerful and less brittle and clanky than a single coil.

You alway have some purist saying a real P90 is a single coil with hum and these people have a single vision of what is a real P90. The truth is that Gibson often changed their P90 recipe over the course of its existence, so a P90 is more a group or a family of pickup than a single entity.

In term of hum cancelling this pickup is really silent. It is more silent than my other guitar with a humbucker in it, so yeah this product deliver what it sell.

For those who care about what a reviewer play when testing a product, i play punk, rock and other style in that ballpark. So a good amount of gain without being overkill.