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Advice on dry tone for amp & POD XT (Marshall JCM 2000 vs others)


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Our band is in a position where we expect to have to "plug and play" into existing amplifiers supplied by the club. Because of the bands we are covering (Tool, Soundgarden, STP, SOAD, etc) we need a good deal of flexibility in guitar tones. As we use rent-by-the-hour jam spaces, we have already found that we are wasting a lot of time as our guitarist tried to reproduce tones that he was getting in the previous jam space with a different amp and various analog pedals.

So, I suggested that we pull out his Pod XT and try sculpting sounds using Amp simulators, and then go for the clean channel, get the driest sound with the flattest EQ possible - i.e. start with all EQ at 5 or 0 (depending on the EQing model of the amp) and dial the gain/drive to just the edge of "warmth" then pull it back a notch.

We tried this with three amp models:

  1. Marshall JCM 2000 60W combo
  2. Marshall MG100 DFX
  3. Fender DeVille

We started with the â€‹JCM 2000 and got very satisfactory results. But, using the same Pod XT patch we had sculpted for that amp, when we used the MG100 and the DeVille, we had to set:

  • Bass=2/10
  • Mid=2/10
  • Hi=8/10
  • Presence=8/10

By contrast, were all at 5/10 on the JCM 2000 (I realize that "presence" means different things on different amps).

I expected some minor tweaking for the obvious reasons of course, but nothing this drastic. Does anyone know the 
Marshall JCM 2000 60W combo, and is it the odd man out - i.e. is it known for having a particularly hi-end-focused clean channel?

Since the point is to be able to get into a new room, and set up our tone as quickly as possible (especially in situations where we are sharing equipment with other bands) I would really appreciate any advice on how to approach this problem.

Thanks!

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Still love the XT and the tones it can deliver myself - If I read the above correct (its early so if I am wrong say so) you have 3 amps you can plug the XT into and want to see what the amp's options are not the XTs.

 

IMO I would just go straight into the FX loop to avoid using any of the amp's pre-amps (as good as they are) if only to avoid knob twiddling prior to a set. In theory you want to pop the XT/FBV on stage plug in and go (after adjusting the Master Vol on the XT so you are not deaf after 5 seconds) :)

 

Another option is going direct to the PA: IIRC the XT Bean and Pro have balanced outs and the XT Live doesn't (DI for long runs).

 

Its been too long since I even saw a JCM combo so I can't comment.

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Thanks, BillBee.

We were using these three amps as a test case, we are trying to develop a technique that allows us to set up as quickly as possible with the least amount of messing around with matching the amp to the variety of tones we need. My city (Montreal) doesn't have many live rock venues and we are just starting out so we expect to start out playing open mic, jam nights, battle of the bands and shared-venues hosted by other bands with their gear. We don't expect to get a lot of time to find exactly the right sound on the amp. So, like I said, the three amps was actually a "proof-of-concept" of the technique, not a real-world scenario. In fact, we will have no idea what amps we will be plugging into.

According to other XT commentators out there, the solution is to go for the driest tone possible on whatever amp we are using. Going straight into the FX loop is a great idea, if that option is available on all the amps we encounter. I am not used to this tactic, but I guess this is effectively like plugging directly into the power amp.

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It is going straight into the power amp and bypasses the pre-amps of whatever amp they have on stage.

 

I used a Tech 21 Power Engine 60 like that, for it is a power amp only 1x12 combo that was just mic'd. Not as impressive as a 4x12 but at ~ 30 lbs it allowed for a quick on/quick off solution and sounded great with an XT Live.

 

Its tough being in the middle of a multi-band bill and trying to get your gear off the stage while the next band is piling theirs on. :)

 

Good Luck and Rock On!

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If an FX send/return is available on the "club" amp, then the other challenge will be the fact that the EQ won't work on the amp (to compensate for different power amps/speakers frequency response profiles). Sounds like an EQ pedal would have to be inserted between the Pod and the FX return.

I looked up the Tech 21, nice solution. I see it DOES have 4-band EQ.

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