Marshall Amplification JVM205C User's Manual
Contents
1. Back in 2006 we attended m a special preview event at Milton Keynes HQ to witness the unveiling of two important new amps the Vintage Modern and the JVM4 While both are all about cl Marshall tone the approz c ic h id not be more different While the Vintage Modern is a single channel rock machine aimed at old school players the JVM4 is a multi channel multi mode monster offering four independent channels each with three different operating nd a host of switching and programming options These are two great amps and they have rightfully received a good deal of praise but they do offer a rather polarised view of the guitar playing public you re either Mr Vintage Modern who likes to just plug in and play controlling his tone from his guitar s volume control or you re Mr JVM with his multiple presets stack of MIDI controlled rack effects and Dream Theatre t shirt Not all of us are so easily classified This year Marshall has brought out the JVM2 a guitar amp that distils the JVM concept into a much simpler two channel package Could this be the amp to cater for the needs of the many players who sit somewhere in between these two extremes PRE amp POWER AMP While the JVM2 presents the player with two channels instead of JVM4 s four each channel still has three modes offering three increasing levels of gain Marshall s designers have ellent job of2. protecters are undoubtedly practical and hard wearing but the over all feel is basic and functional rather than attractive or luxurious And though the plastic buttons work perfectly they do feel a little wobbly under the finger and don t do much to improve the overall visual impression SOUNDS As soon as we fired up the JVM2 all of these admittedly subjective criticisms were no so much forgotten as mown down smashed to pieces and blown out of the window The sound is instantly gratifying and compelling and the JVM2 seems to have that rare knack of delivering a range of great tones with the minimum effort You re unlikely to find yourself working the dials like a safe cracker in search of a sound you can use all of the controls work in a sensible and intuitive way and it s actually difficult not to get a good sound out of this combo Having used the channel gain volume and EQ controls to shape your sound you can then set the overall level using the master volume controls Like most valve amps the Marshall JVM sounds best when FLEXIBLE FEATURES AND FANTASTIC MARSHALL SOUNDS GBOPINION MARSHALL JVM205C GOLD STARS l BLACK MARKS No IDEAL FOR E Independent controls for the clean crunch and averdrive channels give you total control you really open it up but this combo can provide a good solid sound at lower volume levels too The EL34 powered JVM2 delivers the tradem
3. to either change up through the green orange and red modes for more gain or to move between master volume settings soon becomes second nature We d feel really confident going into a gig of any size with this amp to back us up it s flexible enough to handle just about any situation you could think of yet he not so complex that we d be worried about getting presets and settings muddled up at the crucial moment GBRATINGS MARSHALL JVM205C GBVERDICT SERIAL PARALLEL FX LOOP M The serial effects loop has a recessed mix control and 4dBu 10dBv level switch GBCONCLUSION E With the JVM2 Marshall has done an excellent job striking the right balance between flexible features and user friendliness and the result is a powerful and truly versatile amp that s practically idiot proof If you are a serious gigging player who is after the full palette of Marshall sounds from fat and crystal clean through crunchy overdrive to savage high gain distortion this amp has to be at the top of your must try list Thanks to tried and trusted circuit design high quality speakers and sturdy build quality all of these sounds are reproduced brilliantly Our only niggles concerning the look of the amp are greatly mitigated by the fact that the JVM2 offers multi channel versatility approaching the likes of Mesa Boogie for less than a grand A serious contender GB
4. JVM2 Marshall also produces a 100 watt head the JVM210H 889 a 100 watt 2x12 combo the JVM210C 1049 a 50 watt head the JVM20SH 765 and a 50 watt 1x12 combo the JVM215C 859 so pretty much all the bases have been covered This cabinet is built from thick ply and is extremely solid not to mention punishingly heavy at close to 30kg However a solid cabinet is a p necessity if you want a big solid sound and thankfully the JVM20SC has a large carrying handle recessed into either side in traditional Marshall fashion This combo is equipped with a pair of Marshall Celestion speakers one Vintage and one Heritage which are equivalent to MARSHALL JVM205C Celestion s Vintage 30 and G12M Greenback drivers These are high quality units that should provide an excellent mix of clear bass punchy mid range and crunchy treble As ever beauty is in the eye of the beholder but we must confess to being far from enamoured with the JVM205C s looks A lot of this stems from the control panel Granted an extra high panel is needed to mount all of those controls in a way that makes sense to the user and it does but we think that the expanse of brushed gold effect aluminium looks a bit naff an impression that s compounded by the blocky JVM logo that occupies a slightly odd and empty space out on the right hand side Other features like the textured cabinet covering and plastic corner
5. ark Marshall tone with gusto It s a sound that s sometimes described as square not in the sense of being unmusical dull or harsh but just that the full and powerful mid range means that you re hit by a thick solid wall of sound The good quality speakers and the solid cabinet play a big part in delivering this and there s no shortage of volume and bass with lots of crisp bite and definition even at high volumes The clean crunch channel s clean green mode provides an excellent loud clean guitar tone that has tons of presence and oomph The digital reverb is a real asset here too and it sounds impressively lush and atmospheric with more of a polished studio reverb sound than you would get from a spring tank The orange mode on this channel offers up a nice vintage style overdrive There s plenty of preamp gain on tap here only slightly eclipsed by the red mode which is duplicated by the overdrive channel s green mode This E The Marshall JVM205C has a large plastic carrying handle sunk into either side makes a lot of sense as for many players this provides more than enough drive and distortion and can be used alongside a clean sound on the clean crunch channel 7 overdrive channel s orange and green modes ramp things up considerably and these impressive high gain sounds are no less solid or convincing Using the footswitch whether it s to flip between sounds
6. em The same goes for the B bypass switch MIDI ar ve e 4 control up to 128 dual master volume controls and the presets MIDI in amp thru effects loop on off switch The serial effects loop has a recessed mix control on the rear panel along with a e 4 8 amp 16 ohms 4dBu 10dBv level switch 1 x 12 inch Marshall Celestion The presence and resonance i ge 1 x 12 inch controls which adjust the high and fia ee low frequencies in the power amp are paa the only controls that can t be set programmable footswitch differently for the two channels In all ae other respects you can set up two mieten completely different sounds with 29 5kg 65lbs their own gain volume EQ reverb master volume and effects loop settings Thiis a tremendously i flexible approach especially when you plug in the four button footswitch H CONTACT Amplification plc 1908 375411 This excellent accessory is fully programmable and you can either use it to recall four distinct control configurations or set each of the four switches to replic ate any of the front panel buttons In the former mode which Ma mode you simply set theamp shall calls preset store gt a MODERN VERSATILITY MEETS OLD FASHIONED VALVE DESIGN COULD THIS BE THE BEST OF WORLDS ASKS DAVID GREEVES MAY 2008 11 THOSE MULTIPLE MODES IN FULL Both channels have three modes offeri
7. making the amp as intuitive as possible to use On done an ex the left hand side of the control panel the two channels which are labelled clean crunch and overdrive have each been given an identical row of controls comprising gain treble middle bass and volume 10 BUYER vay 2008 Each channel also has a mode i switch and pressing either of these GBINFO selects the relevant channel Press the same button again and you can cycle through the three modes causing the mode switch s indicator LED to change from green to orange to red green MARSHALL JVM205C representing the least gainand red the most What s more when you switch from one channef to the other the JVM2 remembers which mode you were in last so you don t have t cycle through to the mode you want every time you switch back and forth gi Xt up there areseparate reverb Aer bema enari level coritrols foreach channel th presence amp resonance VM2 uses a built igital reverb f controls 2 switchable JVM2 uses a built in digital reverb HERENAREN effect as opposed to a traditional i ligital reverb series parallel effects loop spring reverb tank and a reverb on off with ntrol by 2 switch Again the amp will remember switch amp 4dBu 10dBv Ye oy level switch power am whether the reverb was set to on or off insert serial loop on each channel when you switch H ee eer between th
8. ng the cleanest mode pr plenty of jean headroom The gain cont the channel volume control ORANGE This mc Marshall JTM45 1959 Plexi rock but with a bit more RED The inspiration here is the JCM8O that has in many aken out n than the s defin hot rodded JCM800 sound crunch channel s crunch sounds if you want ORANGE This channel s green mode adds another gain sound with th for lead work and heavier rock and me RED Adds yet more gain for a seriou how you want it then hold down any of the footswitches to store the current channel master volume reverb and effects loop settings which can then be recalled at will In a gig context having four distinct sounds just a footswitch away is more than adequate for most players needs Switching is both slick and silent and once you get the hang of this facility going back to a regular one or even two channel amp feels positively limiting Meanwhile in switch store mode holding down one of the footswitches and then pressing any one of the front panel buttons will map that button s function to the footswitch The default setting in switch store mode and the one that we found ourselves using the most has footswitches one and two mirroring the mode switches of channels 1 and 2 with the remaining footswitches used to turn the reverb on and off and to toggle between master volumes If you re so inclined the JVM2 combo can als
9. o be controlled via MIDI and its possible to store up to 128 presets comprising REVIEW AMPLIFIER viding a full cle of the circ le copies the preamp topolog amps think cl 10 2 he sound of hard roc sound ani J3 the Marshall amp since the that s similar to the clean red mode allowing you to si stage al sounds y high gain M o the overdrive extra distortion making it sound channel reverb master volume and effects loop settings It s perhaps worth pointing out that whether using MIDI or the footswitch in preset store mode you can on settings and not the position of the individual control knobs these are regular pots that you adjust manually For all its clever switching capabilities the JVM2 is a traditional Marshall valve amp at heart with a 50 watt power amp powered by a pair of EL34 valves that s based on the power amp found in the JCM800 2203 and 1959 Superlead amps Similarly the increased gain of the orange and red channel modes is for the most part y recall the switch achieved by adding further valve gain stages to the signal path in the preamp This is great news for those who are firm believers in traditional valve amp design but have long envied the programmability and presets of digital modelling amps CABINETS amp SPEAKERS The combo we re reviewing here the JVM20SC is the 50 watt 2x12 combo version of the
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