Peavey JSX

[lespaul3013]

Hey guys...got a chance to buy a Peavey JSX halfstack for a pretty decent deal.

Have you guys ever owned/played one of these? If so, school me on them...I haven't ever played one.

 

[roadifier]

Hey guys...got a chance to buy a Peavey JSX halfstack for a pretty decent deal.

Have you guys ever owned/played one of these? If so, school me on them...I haven't ever played one.

The other guitarist in my band plays one, I really like it with 6L6's, sounds heavy and chunky. I think it sounds great through a mesa recto cab, not so much with a Marshall cab (G12-75's) probably would be good with a Marshall cab that has V30's. i think you should just buy the head, and save the money for a good cab loaded with V30's.

 

[chumbucket]

In my experience, they can take some tweaking. There seems to be a midrange frequency peak which can be hard to dial out. Could have been the speakers in the cabs I played it with. All in all, pretty versatile and a very good bang for the buck. I've seen the heads go for less than $600.

 

[grooveHT]

Our Guitar Center here is blowing one out at like $499...if I could stomache having another amp, I would probably be all over it for that price! For that price you could probably have JerryP do his Peavey mod magic on it.

 

[Bronco]

In my experience, they can take some tweaking. There seems to be a midrange frequency peak which can be hard to dial out. Could have been the speakers in the cabs I played it with. All in all, pretty versatile and a very good bang for the buck. I've seen the heads go for less than $600.

This ^^^

They have this subtle mid 'honk' that is really hard to ignore once you hear it. Until you do, the amp is a bargain...loved mine at first, but once I started noticing the honky mids, i just couldnt make it work for me. I had one for three years and I tried it with numerous cabs and speakers; end up moving it.

Heck for the price though, it's probably worth a shot...

 

[lespaul3013]

I'm going to try it out hopefully this week...so I'll let you guys know what I think when I do.

I'm only gonna buy it if I can practically steal it from the dude

 

[MYLILSS]

a few simple circuit changes to these amps gets rid of the honky mids they have. 6550's are the ultimate tube for the powersection of the jsx, if you do the couple of changes needed to run them. they sound killer and add a lot of thickness to the tone .

 

[th3m1ke]

I love the JSX. Super smooth sounding and honestly very customizable, especially if your into modding amps.

Chekc out this mod! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F-rB5ROHBKo

 

[irondeth21]

They are sort of like a refined XXX/ultra on the red channel and a hot rodded classic 50 on the orange. I find the mids thing is only on the red channel, but ymmv. The cleans are sort of sterile bit are very clean and take pedals well. Good effects loop on these as well. Solid amps especially atthe price point they are at now, I would take one over a XXX.

 

[srinivassa]

I was into the idea of picking up one of these for a while. It seemed like a good idea for a long time. In the end, I couldn't pull the trigger because of two things. One, all of the sound clips I found of this amp all sound like jazz fusion/artsy metal lead/Satch tone. Discouraging. Two, somebody said, "All the tones out of this amp sound like Satch. It's all lead tone, no chunky rythym, all Satch lead tones."

Between those two things, I had to pass on this head. Also, another key factor you'll notice. There has been a huge 1/2 price used market for this head for at least a few years now. There has got to be some reason for this. I'd guess that if you want an amp that makes you sound like Satch, there is none better. Otherwise, you'll be giving up a lot of tone and flexibility.

Still could be a fun purchase though, since they are relatively cheap. If you like fast metal riffs without all the raucous/raw metal tone, this is your amp. It's an extremely good metal/fusion lead amp. Based on earlier research only. I never owned the thing.

 

[bigangryguitar]

I had a JSX for four years and used it for probably 100 gigs or more. With 6l6gc's on the crunch channel with a tube screamer out front I got killer tones out of it. I got compliments on my tone just about every night too. I would agree with who ever said the ultra channel has a mids thing going on but I still dug it. Really nice clean channel but no breakup at all in it. I ran mine with my g-flex cabs and loved every second of it. Built like a tank too.

 

[bigangryguitar]

I have some clips in my sig as well.

 

[MrHotMod]

I've had one for a about 3 years now. Used it in a cover band and also in an original metal band. Good sounding amp, especially for the price.

As others have mentioned, it does have some things going on with the mids. I've found that speaker selection can make a huge difference in the sound. The amp doesn't sound good with Greenbacks... too much compression and saturation going on. It does seem to love the mix of V30's and Classic Lead 80's I have in a 4-12.

 

[squank]

Forget clips as a way to choose an amp. They just aren't reliable.

I owned a JSX for a few years. I only sold it because a friend begged me for it, and I have plenty of other amps. It is a great amp, especially for the money. I got some great heavy tones out of it. No problem dialing out the mids, either. Also, I don't think I ever sounded like Satch (though I do like Joe's playing) through my JSX.

The only drawback to the amp is its weight. It's pretty dang heavy.

 

[lespaul3013]

Thanks everyone!

I'm gonna try to get it if I can buy it for a good price...then possibly mod it.
Did anybody use the JSX 4X12 cab? How was it?

I don't need a 4X12 so I'll probably just sell it and buy a Port City 2X12.

With maybe a V30 and M75???

 

[mboogman]

Thanks everyone!

I'm gonna try to get it if I can buy it for a good price...then possibly mod it.
Did anybody use the JSX 4X12 cab? How was it?

I don't need a 4X12 so I'll probably just sell it and buy a Port City 2X12.

With maybe a V30 and M75???

I just picked up one of the cabs in a local trade. I like it, but I'm not sure I've found it sweet spot yet. It sounds great in the room, big and ballsy, for both my Mesa voiced tones and the more marshally tones. It is a fairly deep sounding cab. Don't use the line out on the back of the cab, as it's voiced for satch and only satch.

 

[srinivassa]

Damn you for making me want a Peavey JSX again!


I'm gonna try one out Thursday when our town opens its 1st Guitar Center. Straight Dope!

 

[mrkmas]

I played the JSX before and thought it was a pretty nice amp for what it is. Very clean, clean channel ( might be too clean for some). Nice OD/Dist and had no problem pumping out mids. I only played it with stock tubes (el34).

 

[lespaul3013]

Just bought a JSX halfstack!

Pretty impressed so far...great cleans, awesome crunch on channel 2. I'm just trying to figure out what to do with channel 3, its got soo much gain its ridiculous. I find it a little fizzy, any tips??

Also, thinking about changing tubes to 6550's.

 

[roadifier]

You should Update your sig!