Full Jose Marshall Joe Holmes Rabbit Hole

[EddyLenz]

After watching a Joe Holmes warmup video on my Facebook feed, I got completely hooked again and ripped the guts out of this 1987S and put in a full Jose mod. I tweaked it for a while and tried to get as close as possible to the Joe Holmes 90s live sound and his Farmikos sound, which is the same setup, but with very different sounds... I completely stayed within the boundaries of an original Jose Mod and didn't do anything that Jose himself wouldn't have done, such as plate caps or very low voltage zeners etc. I've done many different Jose mods before, but I never tried to stay as close to an original Jose as now.

I'm still looking for a reasonably priced Jackson J-80, but they are very rare, especially here in Europe, and you mostly only find the Ceramic version.
At some point, I'll get myself a 70s Strat and have it modded like Joe's Strats, but for now, my current Fender will do haha.


The Lexicon PCM41 is a very big part of the sound, as the amp itself is fairly low gain, as you can hear in my demo. Joe himself described his Joses as "not all pre-amped out and gainy sounding" which is why he likes them. It does have a nice amount of gain, but not even close to a high gain sound with lots of sustain. The PCM41 is what gets you there and it also tightens the amp up quite a bit and adds that sizzle that you can hear on the Farmikos record.

I'm gonna get a 1959HW next week, which is gonna receive the same mod, so I can compare the 50W to the 100W. I'm really excited to hear the difference.

 

[SBlue]

Sounds freaking amazing!!!

 

[paulyc]

After watching a Joe Holmes warmup video on my Facebook feed, I got completely hooked again and ripped the guts out of this 1987S and put in a full Jose mod. I tweaked it for a while and tried to get as close as possible to the Joe Holmes 90s live sound and his Farmikos sound, which is the same setup, but with very different sounds... I completely stayed within the boundaries of an original Jose Mod and didn't do anything that Jose himself wouldn't have done, such as plate caps or very low voltage zeners etc. I've done many different Jose mods before, but I never tried to stay as close to an original Jose as now.

I'm still looking for a reasonably priced Jackson J-80, but they are very rare, especially here in Europe, and you mostly only find the Ceramic version.
At some point, I'll get myself a 70s Strat and have it modded like Joe's Strats, but for now, my current Fender will do haha.


The Lexicon PCM41 is a very big part of the sound, as the amp itself is fairly low gain, as you can hear in my demo. Joe himself described his Joses as "not all pre-amped out and gainy sounding" which is why he likes them. It does have a nice amount of gain, but not even close to a high gain sound with lots of sustain. The PCM41 is what gets you there and it also tightens the amp up quite a bit and adds that sizzle that you can hear on the Farmikos record.

I'm gonna get a 1959HW next week, which is gonna receive the same mod, so I can compare the 50W to the 100W. I'm really excited to hear the difference.

Go to GJ2 guitars website for Grover’s Habanero pickups, he still makes the J80 !

 

[EddyLenz]

Sounds freaking amazing!!!

Thank you!

 

[EddyLenz]

After watching a Joe Holmes warmup video on my Facebook feed, I got completely hooked again and ripped the guts out of this 1987S and put in a full Jose mod. I tweaked it for a while and tried to get as close as possible to the Joe Holmes 90s live sound and his Farmikos sound, which is the same setup, but with very different sounds... I completely stayed within the boundaries of an original Jose Mod and didn't do anything that Jose himself wouldn't have done, such as plate caps or very low voltage zeners etc. I've done many different Jose mods before, but I never tried to stay as close to an original Jose as now.

I'm still looking for a reasonably priced Jackson J-80, but they are very rare, especially here in Europe, and you mostly only find the Ceramic version.
At some point, I'll get myself a 70s Strat and have it modded like Joe's Strats, but for now, my current Fender will do haha.


The Lexicon PCM41 is a very big part of the sound, as the amp itself is fairly low gain, as you can hear in my demo. Joe himself described his Joses as "not all pre-amped out and gainy sounding" which is why he likes them. It does have a nice amount of gain, but not even close to a high gain sound with lots of sustain. The PCM41 is what gets you there and it also tightens the amp up quite a bit and adds that sizzle that you can hear on the Farmikos record.

I'm gonna get a 1959HW next week, which is gonna receive the same mod, so I can compare the 50W to the 100W. I'm really excited to hear the difference.

Go to GJ2 guitars website for Grover’s Habanero pickups, he still makes the J80 !

Oh nice! I'm gonna check it out, thanks!

 

[Luca79]

I like the playing and tone in general, but something is missing, probably because Holmes use pre-rola greenbacks.

 

[EddyLenz]

I like the playing and tone in general, but something is missing, probably because Holmes use pre-rola greenbacks.

Thanks!
Yeah the old V30 are definitely way different sounding than pulsonic G12m-25

 

[harddriver]

That is probably one of the better sounding original layout Jose mod build amps that I have heard, I liked it it still retains some of that plexi quackiness and clank. NICE JOB!

Ossie Ahsen is another builder(3 Monkeys) who had an true to original layout Jose amp, it had some of the qualities but it was extremely harsh on the high end, not much pleasant about it. I think alot of Jose's amp fell into that catergory, some sounded awesome some ok and and some not so great. I guess is falls back on the mojo of each amp/transformers/MOJO at that point with all things being equal parts wise.

Was this a PCB 50 watter or does it have a turret board?

What coupling and cathode caps is this amp running, just curious.

 

[311boogieman]

Sounds Killer man. Great playing too.

 

[EddyLenz]

That is probably one of the better sounding original layout Jose mod build amps that I have heard, I liked it it still retains some of that plexi quackiness and clank. NICE JOB!

Ossie Ahsen is another builder(3 Monkeys) who had an true to original layout Jose amp, it had some of the qualities but it was extremely harsh on the high end, not much pleasant about it. I think alot of Jose's amp fell into that catergory, some sounded awesome some ok and and some not so great. I guess is falls back on the mojo of each amp/transformers/MOJO at that point with all things being equal parts wise.

Was this a PCB 50 watter or does it have a turret board?

What coupling and cathode caps is this amp running, just curious.

Thank you!

Yeah, his Jose also seemed kinda mushy to me...
It has the PCB. Channel 1, which is the one I'm using, has 2x 2k7/.68 and the 3rd stage is just 820. Coupling is .0022

 

[harddriver]

Yeah, his Jose also seemed kinda mushy to me...
It has the PCB. Channel 1, which is the one I'm using, has 2x 2k7/.68 and the 3rd stage is just 820. Coupling is .0022

Hey Eddy I was mostly curious what brand caps are in there, Mallory, Synergy?

 

[Dave L]

That is probably one of the better sounding original layout Jose mod build amps that I have heard, I liked it it still retains some of that plexi quackiness and clank. NICE JOB!

Ossie Ahsen is another builder(3 Monkeys) who had an true to original layout Jose amp, it had some of the qualities but it was extremely harsh on the high end, not much pleasant about it. I think alot of Jose's amp fell into that catergory, some sounded awesome some ok and and some not so great. I guess is falls back on the mojo of each amp/transformers/MOJO at that point with all things being equal parts wise.

Yeah, I have the Zé he built around that circuit, and while it sounds better than his original José judging from his clips (I guess the amp he built from scratch is better than the specific old Marshall the mod was in, as you say) it does have a pretty lean and bright sound. It fills out nicely if you roll up the bass and watch the mids and treble, but dialing it in like a normal plexi with bass rolled way off and dimed mids and treble is screech city for sure.

 

[EddyLenz]

Sounds Killer man. Great playing too.

Thank you!

 

[EddyLenz]

Yeah, his Jose also seemed kinda mushy to me...
It has the PCB. Channel 1, which is the one I'm using, has 2x 2k7/.68 and the 3rd stage is just 820. Coupling is .0022

Hey Eddy I was mostly curious what brand caps are in there, Mallory, Synergy?

Mostly Roederstein MKT1813 with some old Mustard Caps here and there but coupling and cathodes on Channel I is all Roederstein MKT1813. TS has the Mustards.

 

[EddyLenz]

That is probably one of the better sounding original layout Jose mod build amps that I have heard, I liked it it still retains some of that plexi quackiness and clank. NICE JOB!

Ossie Ahsen is another builder(3 Monkeys) who had an true to original layout Jose amp, it had some of the qualities but it was extremely harsh on the high end, not much pleasant about it. I think alot of Jose's amp fell into that catergory, some sounded awesome some ok and and some not so great. I guess is falls back on the mojo of each amp/transformers/MOJO at that point with all things being equal parts wise.

Yeah, I have the Zé he built around that circuit, and while it sounds better than his original José judging from his clips (I guess the amp he built from scratch is better than the specific old Marshall the mod was in, as you say) it does have a pretty lean and bright sound. It fills out nicely if you roll up the bass and watch the mids and treble, but dialing it in like a normal plexi with bass rolled way off and dimed mids and treble is screech city for sure.

That's cool. I don't think I've heard a proper clip of one of those.

 

[Dave L]

That is probably one of the better sounding original layout Jose mod build amps that I have heard, I liked it it still retains some of that plexi quackiness and clank. NICE JOB!

Ossie Ahsen is another builder(3 Monkeys) who had an true to original layout Jose amp, it had some of the qualities but it was extremely harsh on the high end, not much pleasant about it. I think alot of Jose's amp fell into that catergory, some sounded awesome some ok and and some not so great. I guess is falls back on the mojo of each amp/transformers/MOJO at that point with all things being equal parts wise.

Yeah, I have the Zé he built around that circuit, and while it sounds better than his original José judging from his clips (I guess the amp he built from scratch is better than the specific old Marshall the mod was in, as you say) it does have a pretty lean and bright sound. It fills out nicely if you roll up the bass and watch the mids and treble, but dialing it in like a normal plexi with bass rolled way off and dimed mids and treble is screech city for sure.

That's cool. I don't think I've heard a proper clip of one of those.

I think he only made ten of them plus a couple of prototypes, so they´re pretty rare all considered. I really should put up some clips, but as always I seldom get around to it for whatever reason. One of these days, I guess...

 

[SFW]

Killer clip! You definitely have the Farmikos tone down. I love that tone.

 

[EddyLenz]

Killer clip! You definitely have the Farmikos tone down. I love that tone.

Thank you!

 

[harddriver]

Yeah, his Jose also seemed kinda mushy to me...
It has the PCB. Channel 1, which is the one I'm using, has 2x 2k7/.68 and the 3rd stage is just 820. Coupling is .0022

Hey Eddy I was mostly curious what brand caps are in there, Mallory, Synergy?

Mostly Roederstein MKT1813 with some old Mustard Caps here and there but coupling and cathodes on Channel I is all Roederstein MKT1813. TS has the Mustards.

Thanks Eddy I will be watching for your 100 watt build of this Jose.

 

[RockyStar]

Nice sounds!