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Marshall JVM410H Review
My two main amps are the Koch Supernova and Diezel VH4. Both are rich and hi-fi sounding boutiques that are amazing at what they do. About 18 months ago I acquired a limited edition jubilee silver JCM2000 DSL half stack that I was enjoying. Shortly after the fires hit my town (Pacific Palisades) a collector made me an outrageously high offer for that set-up and I accepted. I loved the looks and rarity of that half stack, but I think I only "liked" how it sounded....Really good, but not great. Having the Koch and Diezel, I doubted that I would miss it much, but I was wrong. I never really had a thing for Marshalls but it turns out I liked having a bit rawer, more open and less filtered / produced sounding amp around. Also, while I was too young to really get into it at the time (and thanks in part to some of you guys here), I started to become attracted to those traditional mod marshall sounds of guys like Jake E. Lee, Lynch, Accept, Thin Lizzy...You get the picture. So I started to keep an eye out for an amp that I owned very briefly about 10 years ago: The Marshall JVM410H. When I had one previously, I was in my "brutal" and "crushing" phase of down-tuned metal rhythm playing and I tried to dial every amp in like a scooped 5150 or Rectifier....So the JVM didn't work for me and I moved on. Based on some recent YouTube demos, and missing the DSL, I decided to grab a JVM410H half stack that showed up locally. I have learned not to write reviews until after the "honeymoon phase" has concluded, so after that long-winded intro (sorry), here are my findings after a month or so of knob turning and playing:
CLEAN - Channel One: In the green mode you have a solid, usable clean sound, In fact, for a high-gainer it's a very good clean sound particularly with a touch of the onboard reverb. I strongly prefer the green mode here over the orange or red as I tend to want a dedicated true crystal clean sound readily available, but I can understand how some guys would like a little more edge and bite. That is available in red mode here with the gain between 9 o'clock and noon. Is it a Diezel Herbert clean? no...Roland JC? nope...Fender Twin? not at all. But it's surprisingly good for a high gain Marshall head. Taking this into consideration, I would score the cleans at 7.5 out of 10.
CRUNCH - Channel Two: In my opinion, this is the weakest of the four JVM channels. It's totally serviceable for classic rock style tones and maybe even blues, but it's just missing some clarity and attitude. The response is kind of soft and grainy in the lows and and it can be a bit "splatty" and blurry sounding in the mids. Also it's a bit dark sounding, particularly for a Marshall. At living room volumes. I have to push the treble and mids very hard to get any brightness and attack in the top end happening. Just a pretty average and tame Marshall vibe here. The good news is that the versatility of this amp makes up for this as really exciting classic rock and lower gain Marshall tones can be found on channel three in orange mode (gain at 9 o'clock) or even on channel 4 green mode (gain at noon). All in all, I would rank this channel at a 6.5 out of a possible 10.
ODI - Channel Three: While all three modes have some charm here, orange is where it's at for me (and apparently many others). The orange channel is just so open and clear with lots of that classic Marshall attitude, bark and bite. With the gain set between 10 o'clock and noon, treble, bass and middle all at noon to 1 o'clock...It just rips with that white hot upper-mid grind that many of us adore. Set up this way, I was finally catching up to those Accept "balls to the wall" and Ozzy "ultimate sin" tones that I had tried to capture with other amps. I don't think I'm exaggerating, those tones are actually in there. The Marshall purists will detest this statement, but channel three orange suits me out of the box (no boosts or mods) better than the JCM800s I have played. I am comfortable assigning a 9.0 out of 10 here with ease if your looking for that "mod Marshall" sound.
ODII - Channel Four: Many will disagree, but I really like this channel in the red mode with the gain set at noon to 1 o'clock. And yes, I know that's a ton of gain...But I like what I like. It has been said that this channel is almost unusable by way of too much gain. For me this is simply not the case. When compared to channel three a few things are obvious: there is more gain, saturation amd compression. This channel presents as both thicker and darker as the mid frequencies have been shifted to a lower register. Overall it comes across as bit less "Mashally" if that makes any sense. As I am primarily a rhythm player this is my "metal" channel and my EMG equipped guitars do shine here. While you may be forfeiting some of the openness and clarity of channel three, there is a certain flavor here that just feels really good under the fingers the way compressed and saturated amps often do. I can see how this channel may have been intended and designed as a dedicated lead channel as single notes have a thickness and "give" to them that channel three lacks. I will assign a score of 8.5 out of 10 for channel four.
Final average score: 7.75...Which I will round up to a solid 8.0 overall for the following reasons:
Versatility: extremely versatile overall, amazingly versatile for a Marshall
Master Volume: you can achieve fantastic sounds at any volume
Reverb: Actually useful and authentic sounding (but never turn it past 11 o'clock)
Resonance and Presence: use them liberally, they really add something with this amp
Additional observations / notes:
- I love my active pickups but this amp but most of the channels respond more favorably to moderate to hot passives. This amp seems to really shine with my Duncan Custom loaded guitars.
- Don't be afraid of that resonance dial. At lower volumes I am running it at 3 o'clock The presence seems best at 1 - 2 o'clock. As I increase the volume I can back both off a bit as the frequencies come to life.
- As you move the gain on OD1 and ODII past 1 o'clock the overall tone begins to darken and compression takes over...don't do it.
- This amp sounds terrible (in my opinion) with scooped out mids. It's Marshall, and mids are your friend...Noon or higher.
- While there is plenty of gain, this is not a "modern metal" amp, it still has a traditional Marshall flavor to it (even when boosted). If that's what your going for, pass on the JVM.
-If your a JCM800 or Plexi purist then invest in one of those. That said, this amp can get you 80% there for all those sought after classic Marshall sounds.
-If you dislike that Marshall "thing" generally, you probably will not like this amp. You cannot dial out the Marshall in this Marshall.
My two main amps are the Koch Supernova and Diezel VH4. Both are rich and hi-fi sounding boutiques that are amazing at what they do. About 18 months ago I acquired a limited edition jubilee silver JCM2000 DSL half stack that I was enjoying. Shortly after the fires hit my town (Pacific Palisades) a collector made me an outrageously high offer for that set-up and I accepted. I loved the looks and rarity of that half stack, but I think I only "liked" how it sounded....Really good, but not great. Having the Koch and Diezel, I doubted that I would miss it much, but I was wrong. I never really had a thing for Marshalls but it turns out I liked having a bit rawer, more open and less filtered / produced sounding amp around. Also, while I was too young to really get into it at the time (and thanks in part to some of you guys here), I started to become attracted to those traditional mod marshall sounds of guys like Jake E. Lee, Lynch, Accept, Thin Lizzy...You get the picture. So I started to keep an eye out for an amp that I owned very briefly about 10 years ago: The Marshall JVM410H. When I had one previously, I was in my "brutal" and "crushing" phase of down-tuned metal rhythm playing and I tried to dial every amp in like a scooped 5150 or Rectifier....So the JVM didn't work for me and I moved on. Based on some recent YouTube demos, and missing the DSL, I decided to grab a JVM410H half stack that showed up locally. I have learned not to write reviews until after the "honeymoon phase" has concluded, so after that long-winded intro (sorry), here are my findings after a month or so of knob turning and playing:
CLEAN - Channel One: In the green mode you have a solid, usable clean sound, In fact, for a high-gainer it's a very good clean sound particularly with a touch of the onboard reverb. I strongly prefer the green mode here over the orange or red as I tend to want a dedicated true crystal clean sound readily available, but I can understand how some guys would like a little more edge and bite. That is available in red mode here with the gain between 9 o'clock and noon. Is it a Diezel Herbert clean? no...Roland JC? nope...Fender Twin? not at all. But it's surprisingly good for a high gain Marshall head. Taking this into consideration, I would score the cleans at 7.5 out of 10.
CRUNCH - Channel Two: In my opinion, this is the weakest of the four JVM channels. It's totally serviceable for classic rock style tones and maybe even blues, but it's just missing some clarity and attitude. The response is kind of soft and grainy in the lows and and it can be a bit "splatty" and blurry sounding in the mids. Also it's a bit dark sounding, particularly for a Marshall. At living room volumes. I have to push the treble and mids very hard to get any brightness and attack in the top end happening. Just a pretty average and tame Marshall vibe here. The good news is that the versatility of this amp makes up for this as really exciting classic rock and lower gain Marshall tones can be found on channel three in orange mode (gain at 9 o'clock) or even on channel 4 green mode (gain at noon). All in all, I would rank this channel at a 6.5 out of a possible 10.
ODI - Channel Three: While all three modes have some charm here, orange is where it's at for me (and apparently many others). The orange channel is just so open and clear with lots of that classic Marshall attitude, bark and bite. With the gain set between 10 o'clock and noon, treble, bass and middle all at noon to 1 o'clock...It just rips with that white hot upper-mid grind that many of us adore. Set up this way, I was finally catching up to those Accept "balls to the wall" and Ozzy "ultimate sin" tones that I had tried to capture with other amps. I don't think I'm exaggerating, those tones are actually in there. The Marshall purists will detest this statement, but channel three orange suits me out of the box (no boosts or mods) better than the JCM800s I have played. I am comfortable assigning a 9.0 out of 10 here with ease if your looking for that "mod Marshall" sound.
ODII - Channel Four: Many will disagree, but I really like this channel in the red mode with the gain set at noon to 1 o'clock. And yes, I know that's a ton of gain...But I like what I like. It has been said that this channel is almost unusable by way of too much gain. For me this is simply not the case. When compared to channel three a few things are obvious: there is more gain, saturation amd compression. This channel presents as both thicker and darker as the mid frequencies have been shifted to a lower register. Overall it comes across as bit less "Mashally" if that makes any sense. As I am primarily a rhythm player this is my "metal" channel and my EMG equipped guitars do shine here. While you may be forfeiting some of the openness and clarity of channel three, there is a certain flavor here that just feels really good under the fingers the way compressed and saturated amps often do. I can see how this channel may have been intended and designed as a dedicated lead channel as single notes have a thickness and "give" to them that channel three lacks. I will assign a score of 8.5 out of 10 for channel four.
Final average score: 7.75...Which I will round up to a solid 8.0 overall for the following reasons:
Versatility: extremely versatile overall, amazingly versatile for a Marshall
Master Volume: you can achieve fantastic sounds at any volume
Reverb: Actually useful and authentic sounding (but never turn it past 11 o'clock)
Resonance and Presence: use them liberally, they really add something with this amp
Additional observations / notes:
- I love my active pickups but this amp but most of the channels respond more favorably to moderate to hot passives. This amp seems to really shine with my Duncan Custom loaded guitars.
- Don't be afraid of that resonance dial. At lower volumes I am running it at 3 o'clock The presence seems best at 1 - 2 o'clock. As I increase the volume I can back both off a bit as the frequencies come to life.
- As you move the gain on OD1 and ODII past 1 o'clock the overall tone begins to darken and compression takes over...don't do it.
- This amp sounds terrible (in my opinion) with scooped out mids. It's Marshall, and mids are your friend...Noon or higher.
- While there is plenty of gain, this is not a "modern metal" amp, it still has a traditional Marshall flavor to it (even when boosted). If that's what your going for, pass on the JVM.
-If your a JCM800 or Plexi purist then invest in one of those. That said, this amp can get you 80% there for all those sought after classic Marshall sounds.
-If you dislike that Marshall "thing" generally, you probably will not like this amp. You cannot dial out the Marshall in this Marshall.
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