Hell Bender + Marshall JVM

[Robert]

 

[Monkus]

that.sounds.awesome...

 

[kidsmoke]

Fantastic Demo, Robert.

 

[Robert]

Thanks.

I am never happy with the demos. It's a two edged sword in some ways.

What I mean is that I always tweak things with my gear. I use great pedals, and try combinations of effects, amps and guitars until I find a good tone. However, for doing demos, that can be off-putting, because it can be hard to judge the guitar or amp when effects are introduced. Very few people would have all the tone-shaping devices I happen to use for a particular scenario/demo.

So I often record straight in, without effects, when doing demos. The reality is, however, that I don't use my gear that way, and I find I'm usually not happy with the final tones, once I listen back to it.

So for my demos, either tweak and fiddle and a GREAT sound, or go straight and get SOME great sounds, some "half-great" sounds? Hope I'm making sense?

 

[deeaa]

Damn, first off, this so starts my GAS for one of them Benders flaming bad...plus the sounds are good. Nice demo indeed!

 

[Robert]

Thanks deeaa!

Haven't gotten that much feedback on the video overall on youtube, so I'm glad to hear you like it.

 

[The Grand Vizier]

I love all of your videos Robert, your playing is awesome but this one I am not so sure of, I did not really take to the tone of that Hell guitar or amp settings, something did not gel. You normally get plenty of positive feedback on youtube so I might not be alone on this one.
Sorry mate just my humble opinion.

 

[Robert]

I love all of your videos Robert, your playing is awesome but this one I am not so sure of, I did not really take to the tone of that Hell guitar or amp settings, something did not gel. You normally get plenty of positive feedback on youtube so I might not be alone on this one.
Sorry mate just my humble opinion.

All feedback is appreciated!

 

[deeaa]

FWIW, I thought it sounds great. Overall the sound is a touch muffled, but the sounds are good, especially in the first half. Around the midway when you go to heavier sounds it starts to feel a bit lacking in depth and too compressed and shallow. Is the D/I output used? Well the unmodded JVM can be kinda tight and compressed sounding an amp. But it does have the roar&clarity too ;-)

The JVM sure is my fave amp, but you would get way more depth in those harder sounds with just a few little mods

 

[The Grand Vizier]

FWIW, I thought it sounds great. Overall the sound is a touch muffled, but the sounds are good, especially in the first half. Around the midway when you go to heavier sounds it starts to feel a bit lacking in depth and too compressed and shallow. Is the D/I output used? Well the unmodded JVM can be kinda tight and compressed sounding an amp. But it does have the roar&clarity too ;-)

The JVM sure is my fave amp, but you would get way more depth in those harder sounds with just a few little mods

The JVM is my favourite amp to deeaa & Robert is one very talented player, I still think it sounds good but his videos normally knock my socks off:master Even going back to the Hagstrom Swede era of demo's.
My money is on another demo of that guitar/amp combo that will blow the roof off:dance

 

[Robert]

Well, keep in mind I used a different recording technique this time. I took the shortcut of going straight from the SM57 into my video camera.

I think I'll do another demo where I use more than one amp throughout the video, using my audio interface to capture the audio. It will sound better/different that way.

 

[deeaa]

BTW Robert, I have come into the conclusion that the MOST important thing for getting the most out of the JVM is not really the mods but making the most of using the loop.

I use a Boss multiFX unit on the loop - serial loop that is - and its importance to the sound is pretty drastic in the end.
Most importantly, it has a compressor that allows me to boost the signal pretty much between the pre and power amp, which gives it a whole new power tube punch and warms it up very nicely.
Secondly, it has a parametric EQ with which I give it a nudge more low end, which the JVM doesn't really have in spades, and boost 2Khz mids by a few dB which also gives it a more traditional marshall JVM800 bite, and also cut the highest EQ a few dB to cut the little bit too shrill top end of it. Having a noise gate there doesn't hurt either!

I never really completely realized how huge a difference it makes, but the other day I played for a while and wondered how come the amp sounds so much less punchy and weak than normally, and then realized I had the 'booster' multiFX in the loop in bypass position. Turning it back on it REALLY smacked the tone to a whole new level, bringing the power amp sound into play way better.

Since then I now bought a MIDI pedal to replace the Marshall footswitch...a Digitech Control 7...and boy it was the best $40 I have spent in a while. Not only is it FASTER changing channels than the amp's own switch (something I never would have expected) BUT it now also allows me to change the multiFX unit's settings according to the amp channel selected, meaning I can now have individual delay and compression etc. settings for each sound.

Just marvellous. I'm so enamored with this amp and setup it's unbelievable. I'll have to try to make some sort of demo one day, hopefully I can make it sound at least a fraction as good as it sounds live...

So if you haven't yet, absolutely try sticking a multifx in the loop, boost the poweramp input a little etc...you won't regret it!

 

[Robert]

Thanks dee, that's cool info. I have tried using some delay and reverb in the loop, but nothing else so far. I do think my JVM has tons of bass though... and I find I need to play it quite loud to get rid of that brittle sounding distortion. When it's turned up good, it has a very warm distortion, but that's not the case at low volumes - especially with single coils.

 

[deeaa]

Yeah, plenty of low end, but my settings are such that when I have the proper AC/DC bite dialed in, there isn't enough bass...rather low bass on the amp setting but a slight boost in the loop works well though. Apparently the EQ in the Boss just boosts a narrower low end band or something. Anyway it's a slight change - the compression and overall boost are what work the best in the loop, and the narrow mid boost allows for pinpointing just the right type of bite frequency.

 

[deeaa]

Here's a little clip as a video response - wasn't intended as a demo, just going thru the sounds I use before practice, but I guess it shows pretty well what the JVM sounds like with EMG81's. I think those 81's are a bit too cold; I'd prefer 85's like on all my other axes...I may have to put an 85 on the bridge of this as well. The neck 81TW is just fine for cleans though.

Sorry about the stiff-fingered playing, we were just playing random stuff while waiting for the other guitarist.

 

[Robert]

Sounds pretty fat, dee.

What channel and what mode?

 

[deeaa]

Thanks!

I'm not 100% sure if I remember right but I think they are all amber. Start with 1 and 3rd channel is what I mostly use, much like, say back in black acdc era or number of the beast maiden, with good full chord clarity. The leads I play on ch 4 amber but hain is pretty low. I think all gains are about at or under halfway marker. I can ost a pic of knobs later if you like!

 

[Robert]

What's your Master volume set at?

Sure, post a pic!

 

[deeaa]

Master is about halfway marker, a bit over for the leads I think. But I'll snap a pic today as I go past the facility anyway!

 

[deeaa]

Here:

And yeah, all channels are in Amber mode. Five sounds, one on each channel except the 3rd channel is used for two sounds, one is my main rhythm drive sound and the other just a louder, more reverby version for playing single-string melodies etc. which need to be heard better.

Ch one is rather clean and seldom used really, for a few song intros etc.
Ch two is kinda old-acdc crunch which I use mostly when the other guy is soloing and for more mellow verses etc.
Ch three is the basic drive channel I use for most things, it's on like 80% of the time.
+ a lead version of the same for melodic licks
Ch four is strictly for leads/solos, and has delay as well as reverb.

On the vid I just go thru each mode, some by using also the neck pup with the bridge. But normally I stay on the bridge pup almost like 90% of the time, and almost never use the neck pup alone.

And, as you see, I much prefer to have my dirt channels with very little gain basically, and the most of the gain comes from poweramp punch...masters are rather high and I also boost the signal after the poweramp with the compressor/boost in the loop. If I play gently and especially with passive pickups, it can sound pretty clean even...but active pickups really bring out the gain without making it saturated, messy or buzzy at all. I just love active pickups with tube amps, it's the only way to go for me as everything else just sounds fizzy and distorted.