Quickrod or JVM?

[flimz]

Having a hard time deciding between these two. Anyone own both, or compared them side by side? Which did you prefer? Thanks!

 

[headlessdeadguy]

Those are the two amps my other guitar player and I use live. Can't go wrong with either IMO. The JVM is a bit brighter sounding to me but both cut through the mix just fine.

 

[maiden_fan]

I've just finished recording my bands EP with a JVM and Quickrod.

I prefered my JVM to be honest, but I was loving how clean and responsive the Quickrod was. I would be happy with either as my main amp. The JVM is more forgiving and saturated than the Splawn but both can be dialled in similar. I would recommend if you can trying them both out to see which feel you prefer.

Here is a draft mix of one of our tracks u can check out:

https://soundcloud.com/dendera/bridges-burned-3

 

[flimz]

Thanks guys. I guess they are similar beasts, with the edge in flexibility going to the JVM. Would you say the splawn is a tighter amp?

 

[RockNRun]

I've owned both, still have the QR. That's not a knock on the JVM, I wish I woulda kept it but used its sale to fund something else. They're not actually all that similar when it come to tracking IMO. The QR is more open and raw sounding, the JVM has more sag or juice for soloing - the IDEAL thing would be to use BOTH, lol, the QR for rhythm work and some crunchy parts and then lay leads down over that with the JVM as it is warmer, less teeth if you will. The Splawn is definitely the tighter of the two. I have a short little 1 min. jam thing I recorded while owning both, tracked them exactly as I mentioned, lemme know if you're at all curious to hear it.

EDIT: Also, of these two, the JVM is easily more noisy.

 

[The Hoff]

JVM FTW

 

[Hard&Heavy]

Jvm for me.

 

[headlessdeadguy]

The JVM is more forgiving.

 

[Lord Toneking]

I swear, my buddy's JVM must be the biggest piece of crap I've ever heard because it sound like a fizzy fuzzy flubby mess compared to my QR

I'd like to get your guy's settings. I've played with his amp alot and I for the life of me can't get it to sound good at all. He has Marshall 4x12's with Marshall 'Vintage' speakers. I believe he sets his FX loop at 100% wet and uses a TimeFactor and a few other pedals

I swear, when I hear all the love for the JVM I go because I'm just not hearing it

My thoughts arent because Im a Splawn fanboy either. I appreciate all good sounding amps so don't throw that at me

 

[Ancient Alien]

JVM by far. My QR was nice, but was kind of a one hit wonder.
The JVM simply needs good tubes, good bias and good speakers and it slays.

 

[headlessdeadguy]

I swear, my buddy's JVM must be the biggest piece of crap I've ever heard because it sound like a fizzy fuzzy flubby mess compared to my QR

I'd like to get your guy's settings. I've played with his amp alot and I for the life of me can't get it to sound good at all. He has Marshall 4x12's with Marshall 'Vintage' speakers. I believe he sets his FX loop at 100% wet and uses a TimeFactor and a few other pedals

I swear, when I hear all the love for the JVM I go because I'm just not hearing it

My thoughts arent because Im a Splawn fanboy either. I appreciate all good sounding amps so don't throw that at me

My dudes JVM kicks all kinds of ass. I'll see if I can get his settings tomorrow at rehearsal.

 

[Lord Toneking]

I swear, my buddy's JVM must be the biggest piece of crap I've ever heard because it sound like a fizzy fuzzy flubby mess compared to my QR

I'd like to get your guy's settings. I've played with his amp alot and I for the life of me can't get it to sound good at all. He has Marshall 4x12's with Marshall 'Vintage' speakers. I believe he sets his FX loop at 100% wet and uses a TimeFactor and a few other pedals

I swear, when I hear all the love for the JVM I go because I'm just not hearing it

My thoughts arent because Im a Splawn fanboy either. I appreciate all good sounding amps so don't throw that at me

My dudes JVM kicks all kinds of ass. I'll see if I can get his settings tomorrow at rehearsal.

Yes, please do! Channel and master volume as well

Thanks

 

[racerevlon]

QR... no question. I've owned both at the same time and the QR kills the JVM at every turn. No contest--go with the Splawn.

 

[Phil M]

I was in this same boat 4 or 5 years ago. I went up to the House of Guitars in Rochester with my guitar and spent some time with the JVM and it sounded really good. The 4-channel flexibility was nice. Something in my gut told me to go with the Quickrod (even though I didn't play it first) and I'm glad I did. The QR sounded fantastic and I'm guessing it's built more solid. The guy who works on my amps doesn't like my Splawns' tone but he said they're well built.

Also the Splawns aren't too crazy expensive new ($1850) but they're a steal used.

 

[Axe-Man]

When I test drove a JVM 410H through a 1960A w greenbacks I loved the super compressed high gain sounds as it was super easy to play but none of the other tones sounded 'authentically' Marshall. The clean wasn't like an old Marshall, the crunch was kinda thin and not really ACDC like and the JCM800 tone was IMHO not very realistic.

I then tested a SLP 1959 reissue with some mods (Marstran, extra gain stage etc) through a 1960A and it sounded pretty darn solid and much better than the JVM for the tones I'd expect to come out of a Marshall.

Neither made me buy so I took a chance on my Ceriatone Yeti and honestly I'm glad I did.

It nailed both amps to be honest.

I'd love a JVM for the channel switching and high gain ch but as for aggression, tone, warmth and dynamics, it's the Yeti by a big margin IMHO.

Hell, it was even cheaper brand new sitting on my doorstep than the JVM was second hand...and that JVM was going dirt cheap too!

 

[flimz]

Wow, lots of different opinions on these 2 amps! I dont have access to try out any splawn amps, but from everything Ive researched, people swear by them. I admit I have been leaning towards the quickrod, based on the clips and videos Ive seen.
Im mostly a heavy rhythm player. I dont do very many leads, so Im looking for that super tight ballsy chunk, with great note separation. Ive also considered the splawn pro mod.
And of course build quality is paramount. Havent seen many complaints on these amps. Keep those opinions coming! Thanks.

 

[flimz]

Neither made me buy so I took a chance on my Ceriatone Yeti and honestly I'm glad I did.

Axe-Man...Ive been following your Yeti posts, and Im intrigued by the Ceriatone amps too. I sure wish you would post some clips of that amp! There arent any clips anywhere. Having said that, I really do prefer an amp with a dedicated clean channel. I know ceriatone has a new model coming out that combines a plexi clean channel with the AFD slash type lead channel. That sounds interesting too. However it seems that a lot of people who bought the marshall afd say that the amp isnt very versatile. It does the slash thing, but thats about it. Have you tried any of the Splawn amps?

 

[atrox]

I was in this same boat 4 or 5 years ago. I went up to the House of Guitars in Rochester with my guitar and spent some time with the JVM and it sounded really good. The 4-channel flexibility was nice. Something in my gut told me to go with the Quickrod (even though I didn't play it first) and I'm glad I did. The QR sounded fantastic and I'm guessing it's built more solid. The guy who works on my amps doesn't like my Splawns' tone but he said they're well built.

Also the Splawns aren't too crazy expensive new ($1850) but they're a steal used.

John Nau working on your amps?

I had a JVM for years. I prefer the Quickrod by quite a bit by the two or so that I have played. I prefer my old 2203 over both

 

[Axe-Man]

Neither made me buy so I took a chance on my Ceriatone Yeti and honestly I'm glad I did.

Axe-Man...Ive been following your Yeti posts, and Im intrigued by the Ceriatone amps too. I sure wish you would post some clips of that amp! There arent any clips anywhere. Having said that, I really do prefer an amp with a dedicated clean channel. I know ceriatone has a new model coming out that combines a plexi clean channel with the AFD slash type lead channel. That sounds interesting too. However it seems that a lot of people who bought the marshall afd say that the amp isnt very versatile. It does the slash thing, but thats about it. Have you tried any of the Splawn amps?

Hey Flimz,

Yeah the new Ceriatone AFD sounds pretty cool with a Plexi ch and the AFD ch.

I think you could always email Nik and ask him if it was possible to combine the Yeti/Chupa gain ch with the clean ch of the AFD. Not sure if it would be possible but Nik said he could even make a Chupa 212 combo so he's quite flexible with his builds.

I really like the Slash tone but I wasn't sure how far you could take it.

I absolutely love my Yeti as it does alot of stuff really well.

I'm hesitant to suggest an amp that you cannot try etc as I took a big gamble myself getting a Ceriatone...not because I wasn't confident about Nik (as he is great to deal with) but because it was a big step for me and quite an unknown.

I was really nervous for those 6 weeks but I love it every single time I play through it.

It has a great clean (love the clean) and spans to hard rock and even metal (though it depends on your idea of metal). With my guitar (a JB Jnr equipped strat in drop D) it seems (to me personally) pretty much as brutal as my 5150 combo...but warmer, more dynamic...but still really tight and angry. The clarity is pretty good at this level of gain too but I don't have any active pickups or drop B guitars to test it out so it maynot go to the uber brootz territory like the 5150 for example.

The disadvantages are the single ch and the tweaking. It can be tricky with the era, bright 1/2 and two gain knobs and master...espec as the bright switches add high end and sometimes low end and also gain.

I can get 3 VERY different sounds out of it with ease. Beautiful, glassy cleans, VH type gain and full tilt metal. These are simple to dial in. To nail say a GnR sound or ACDC is a bit tricker as a boost can really help to fatten up the front end. I look for a more early ACDC sound which is kinda clean and any Marshall needs volume to pull this off IMHO...the Yeti is no different and can handle it once the master moves up.

I haven't quite settled on a 'perfect' Maiden or GnR tone yet (with just the amp) as I sometimes get a little too little or a little too much gain. With a preamp boost or a light ODit pretty much nails all the tones I want but I want to get them just with the amp. Iknow they are in there anyway.

TBH, I've owned an AC30 and some nice rack gear and the Yeti with a warm clean boost pedal and some verb just takes the cake for me personally. I love Fender cleans but I'm prob more a Marshall guy at heart and it just gels with me personally.

I assumed the amp should be able do the hard rock stuff but it was the cleans that made me go wow...the brutal higher gain tone was great too!

Sorry for the loong response!

I've only got a crappy camera and I get very little time at home to unleash it...I'll see what I can do as I'd want to do it some justice and not make it sound like crap! If I have some time Friday I'll record something and if it sounds ok, I'll post it.

 

[SFW]

I've played both of those amps in the studio, and felt that the Quickrod sounded and felt much better. As far as forgiving amps... my last two amps were very unforgiving. I view this as a way to keep me honest, and make me work on my playing. TO my ears, the QR just sounded bigger.