Hd 400 - Jcm800 - Simulation Question

[redlight7777]

What's everybody's thoughts on the JCM800 amp in POD HD (I have the HD 400)
I have been messing around with it in the POD edit screen but have mixed feelings about it.
In all honesty I would love to find something that sounds similar to Billy Duffy's JCM800 sound off the Cult's Electric Album but I find the gain over saturated even when turned down on the 800. using a v30 cabinet setting.

Any thoughts, any ideas?
Thanks

[stumblinman]

an advice I can give is to not get too much influenced in the choice of a model by what should represent ..

be guided rather by the first impression of the models basic timbre, and choose the model that is closest to the sound you have in mind, and then work on it ..

 

personally I found the above approach to be a much more productive way to achieve what I like..

+1

My best brown sound came from SLO100 Overdrive channel. Experiment and don't lock yourself into a specific model for a specific tone.

[still_fiddlin]

What the others said.  While on your quest, you might give the Park a go.  I tried the Marshall, but it didn't stick for me like the Park has.

[bjnette]

You could try lowering the master volume in the edit pages a bit from its default.

[alex_dehoyosjr]

Echoing the above post, absolutely lower the master to 50 or below.  I think I set it around 25, with the drive between 40 and 55 and put the Tube Screamer in front of it.  Now it sounds good!  I don't know if it will get that specific tone you're looking for, but it's definitely a usable tone!  I've had this unit for about two weeks.  It's my first Line 6 product and I'm loving it so far.  I was disappointed in the 800 sound at first and preferred the Park, but now I think I can get good sounds out of both.  (For me, usually turning down the master to 50 or below is one of the first things I do if the amp master volume happens to be cranked by default).

 

Alex

[jstock]

Yes the JCM 800 have tried so hard to love it but never have. I have guitarist friend who has been gigging with the real thing for years and I am sorry to say the POD does not come close - I gave up in the end.

 

+1 Hurghanico - despite the sales pitch about you can have access to this and that amp - the oft used words 'use your ears' come to mind. For instance I never thought I would like the more vintage sounds from the Park or Plexi but I have found that these have become a main stay - with a tube scream or tube driver thrown in front for good measure. ;)

 

 

 

[joel_brown]

Hmmm, I have a JCM900 and thought the POD's JCM800 sounded extremely close.  But I had to do a lot of EQ to get it there.  I turned down the treble in the POD and I also use a dual band external EQ to finish it off.  It wasn't easy but so far nothing in the POD came easy.  At first I was very frustrated with the amount of effort it took to get the PODHD sounding like I wanted.  In the end I got the tone I was looking for an learned a bunch of stuff about routing, effects, and EQ.

 

With the PODHD, Plug and Play is more like Plug and Play and Tweak...a lot.

[bjnette]

Yeah, call us the tweakers, yeah the tweakers yeah!

 

The JCM 800 default menu master is 50%. I personally find it better at 100% and the gain down a tad. It cleans up nice rolling off the guitar volume. I also like the gain up sound  too!

[redlight7777]

Thanks guys for all the input and thought into what I am hearing. I have found the 800 amp sounds wildly different when used in Preamp mode through my DT-50 2x12. I dial my gain down a lot to about 30-35 - less gain seems to record and track better than gain above 50 percent. I am definitely going to upgrade to the new POD HD 500x. I am sure a firmware update is in the near future sometime in 2014 with these new X model units being released.
Again, thanks!

[hmoller]

Try increasing E.R. (early reflections) to 50%. I've found that in default it got saturated in the bass side but if you put more E.R. it disapears.