Feb 23, 2009 03:02 am You won't lose the advantage of a "tube" amp... But, you will lose the "air" of a mic and speaker setup. Having said that, I've gotten good tones from my JVM's line out with an emulator built on it.
Recording with JSX
Posted on Feb 22, 2009 04:51 pm
stratwizard
Member Since: Nov 19, 2008
I found out that peavey JSX cab has a Microphone-simulated XLR direct output. Has anyone used it in any recordings? what was your experience?? Is it any good or will I lose the advantage of using a tube amp if I were to go with something like this...
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Feb 23, 2009 03:02 am You won't lose the advantage of a "tube" amp... But, you will lose the "air" of a mic and speaker setup. Having said that, I've gotten good tones from my JVM's line out with an emulator built on it.
Feb 23, 2009 11:53 am I've always been disappointed by the direct outs on amps, whether or not it has a built-in speaker/cabinet emulator. It always sounds gritty and clipped compared to the sound that actually comes out of the speaker. Maybe if you use a hig-gain tone, it won't make as much of a difference (emulators seem to be much better at cleans and heavy distortion and not so good at medium crunchy tones).
But I'm sure that its not altogether useless. I wouldn't depend on it for your primary guitar tone when recording but it can definitely be used as another flavor or texture here and there.
Which model in the JSX line are you looking at? The little combo amp seems like a cool deal even though the speaker probably isn't big enough to give a good, chunky, beefy tone. But the fact that it has a built-in power soak should mean that you can get a good saturation from the power section at moderate volumes. So that makes the emulated direct output less important. But if you're talking about that big-*** 100-watt or 120-watt head, I'm not sure that thing can be tamed enough to sound good at moderate listening levels. You could play to your friends in the next zip code with that kind of power!
Feb 23, 2009 03:57 pm I've not heard one used directly yet. I would maybe download the manual they have on the JSX page and have a gander at it. If it has an AIR type adjustment it might not be a bad deal. The bigger JSX amps are very good live.
Feb 24, 2009 06:47 pm I was looking at the 120W stack :) so you are saying that it would be too loud before you get a decent tone worth recording???
Feb 25, 2009 06:32 pm OH my yes! 120 watt head will be extra loud before you can get the power section to saturate properly. But you can always use something like a PowerSoak which will allow it to be cranked up and the Soak will lower the volume going to the cabinet.
Feb 25, 2009 10:09 pm Hahah yeah 120 tube watts is unbelievably loud. I mean indescribably loud. If you're recording in your home, even a 5-watt tube amp through a 4x12" can be very loud.
I record through an 80-watt 2x12" tube combo and without a power attenuator, its so loud that the 1/2 the neighborhood can hear me play in my basement when I crank it to record.
But even attenuators are a bittersweet deal. Their static load on the amp's output section doesn't quite mimic the way a speaker's ever-changing resistance tugs on the power section. The more you attenuate, the more noticable the attenuation is. And with a 120 watt monster like that JSX, you'd really have to attenuate the hell out of it to get it to be tolerable at high master volume settings.
I wonder if the JSX Mini Colossal has the ability to drive a cabinet? Its really an ideal recording amp but the single 8" speaker worries me that it wouldn't do the amp justice. I bet it'd sound great through at least a 1x12".
Feb 26, 2009 04:41 pm The loudness is a big problem :(
When recording which would give a better result; a miced amp like JSX without cranking up the sound or some kind of multi fx processor like pod x3??? The problem I have with processors is that they are never as dynamic and warm as a tube amp...
Feb 26, 2009 05:10 pm A POD won't sound bad, but it also can't match the dynamic distortion characteristics of a cranked tube amp.
If you're doing clean guitars or high-gain distortion, then a POD will likely do a good job for you. Its those in-between tones like a low-headroom clean setting or a crunchy rock or blues setting that the POD and other modellers fall short.
The silent recording capabilities of modellers are ideal for people who need to keep quiet. If you can make a moderate amount of noise, then maybe look into using a power attenuator or an isolation cabinet.
You might want to demo a JSX Mini and see if it does what you want. It sounds pretty much right up your alley.
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