If You Had To Choose....

[chabby]

Your application needs notwithstanding....
This is if they were free and you also can't sell them and have to choose only between these two

Would you rather have a 20 watt Marshall Vintage RI Head and cab 4x12 1960

Or a brand new Marshall JVM 100 watt head (billed as being like 5 Marshalls in one) and cab 4x12 1960

Also, have you played either one?

The 20 Watt is 1240 bucks, the JVM 2000 bucks.

[Rumble]

20-watt Marshall, hands down. 20 watts through 4x12's will be as loud as you'll ever need, and you'll be able to crank it enough to get the tubes really straining, which of course equals good tone. You'll have less need for distortion pedals with the 20-watter. If you get the 100-watter, you'll spend your life trying to figure out how to get the best tone out of it while taming the volume to a reasonable level. There's a reason everyone is going for low wattage amps now; the higher wattage ones are unnecessary and can be difficult to manage volume-wise unless you're gigging at big clubs nightly. And you'll still be able to play big clubs with the 20-watt halfstack; it'll just give you better tone at jamming levels. And you'll save yourself $800.

[Wally]

Pass.

[emu!]

Which one weighs less???

[Wally]

Originally Posted by emu!

Which one weighs less???

The cab is heavier than either of the heads, so the weight doesn't really matter. I packed a '79 1960 cab today.....81lbs, 97 packed. The Marshall shipping box reads..."two man lift".

[JohnnyCrash]

Doesn't Conan O'Brien's Jimmy Vivino use a 20w Marshall? He gets all kinds of sounds from that amp!

I HAVE AMPS SIMILAR... so, here goes my lame $0.02:

Don't get me wrong, for some gigs/bands I actually use channel switching amps, BUT I really dislike amps with too many bells and whistles... those JVMs are RIDICULOUS.

Definitely the 20w. Why?

I have built a 20w (of sorts - I pretty much just added a cascaded gainstage switch and fine tuned the preamp), and other "more simple" amps. I also own a DSL100 and used to own a TSL60.

The more simple, low watt amps SOUND much, much better for what I play. More mojo and "vibe." The DSL/TSL and other amps like that are good for metal, hard rock, and industrial... but little else. Not plain, but not "extraordinary" like my 5-20w amps.

I use my DSL mostly for live stuff because of the convenience, BUT I may be using my 20w from now on - given it's LOUD (probably even for unmic'ed gigs), it sounds so damn good, and from the versatility it has - even for just a Volume and Tone control. I worry about "proper" stage volumes since it doesn't have a MV/Gain control, but not that worried - it just sounds too good.

[chabby]

I kind of figured that would be the deal Johnny. My gut told me the 220 watt would be better as a club amp and in the studio. The Suhr Badger is also a very nice amp in the 20 watt range with ability to go as low as 7 watts with the flick of a switch in a rather ingenius and soon to be patented way.

The versatility spiel is high on the JVM, but just looking at the cotrol panel gives me a headache. That said, I would bet there are some cool tones to be discovered there too. And while its 100 watts, its also playable at low volumes because of that control panel.

If the JVM does what it's billed to do, it would be a swiss army amp. If it's like most things in this life I've tried that are trying to be too many things, it won't do anything particularly well.

[JohnnyCrash]

Originally Posted by chabby

If the JVM does what it's billed to do, it would be a swiss army amp. If it's like most things in this life I've tried that are trying to be too many things, it won't do anything particularly well.

A 20w would probably be loud enough to gig with, if you play Dirty.

As far as swiss army amps, Jimmy Vivino seems to get a lot of different sounds out of that hting (if that is a 20w Marshall I see everynight).

[chabby]

No doubt - guess a guy would just have to have something else for cleans.
And I do. I'm just wandering what would marry up well with my TVA30 which is pretty much a british voiced amp with it's 4 EL84's. Love it's tones and it's got substantial clean headroom - maybe I don't need another amp.

But it would be pretty neat to footswitch one amp for clean and one amp for filth. To me that would be the ultimate pedal board, or overdrive pedal.
It never works that easy though since there's always degrees and tonal palettes of both. But the tonal ranges I could have would be huge especially with an LP and a Strat and Tele.

I love the 5E3 too but not so much for cleans of course. Maybe I should think more on the lines of 6V6 or 6L6 amps since I have EL84's huh? Is there really much diference in tonal charchteristics between EL 84's and EL34's???
Cuz the 20 watt Marshalls I believe are EL34's and I know circuits have a lot to say about it too - but still

[Jakedog]

20 watter. Hands down. Never a question in my mind, no matter WHAT the application.

Except the 4x12 would collect dust, and my current 2x12 would get even MORE wear on it.

I love lots of amps, and own lots of amps, but even for my country and roots applications, I kinda gravitate toward the Marshall stuff. I have given the JVM's a fair shake, and spent lots of quality time with them. I wouldn't own one. Even if it was free. I'd play a "Marshall" model on a digital beast before I'd play a JVM. NOT a Marshall, at least not to my ears. YMMV.


Jake