Modeled Amps: WHICH AMPS ARE MODELED?
3•5
famous by many British invasion bands. On this Amp Model, the Mid Control acts
like the Cut knob on the AC-30. Although usually played fairly clean, a cranked
AC-30 has a great saturated lead tone, a’la Brian May on the early Queen albums.
7. Brit Blues – This Amp Model is based on a JTM-45 head with block logo
(predates the “scrolled” Marshall logo), complete with a gold Plexiglas (Plexi) front
panel, although the sound normally associated with Plexi amps comes from the late
60’s, 50-watt version that was the inspiration for the next in the AX2’s line up of
TubeTone Amp Models. The JTM-45 marked the beginning of Marshall’s transition
from a mellower Fender-like tone to the distinctive bright “crunchy” sound of the later
Marshalls. We’ve actually got both the Normal and Brilliant channels of the JTM-45
in here, since the Brilliant channel differs from the Normal channel only in having a
hard-wired bright circuit. All you have to do is turn on the AX2’s bright switch to get
sounds of the Brilliant Channel.
8. Brit Classic – Modeled after the infamous Marshall Plexi – coveted by tone
connoisseurs the world over. By this time (ca. 1968) Marshall had completely changed
the circuitry away from the Fender 6L6 power tube heritage and moved to an EL34
tube; another major tone and feel difference was due to the necessary output & power
supply transformer changes. All this mucking about added up to create a tone forever
linked with Rock Guitar. Amps of this era didn’t have any sort of master volume
control, so to get this sound you’d have to crank your Plexi to max – just the thing to
help you really make friends with the neighbors. Hendrix used Marshalls of this era;
twenty years later Van Halen’s first two records owed their “brown sound” to a
hundred watt Plexi. In order to get a crunch sound out of a Plexi you would likely
crank up the input volume and the mid and treble tone controls (to 10!). You’ll find
that the Brit Classic, in keeping with our basic “make-it-sound-a-whole-lot-like-the-
original” concept, is set up to do pretty darned near the same thing. Max out the Mid
and Treble knobs and turn Bass to about 9 or 10 o’clock on the AX2 when using this
Plexi-inspired Amp Model and you can treat those nice neighbors to a tasty slice of fat
rock tone.
9. Brit Hi Gain – Turn to this Amp Model to conjure up tones of the mighty
Marshall JCM 800, one of Marshall’s most universally-acclaimed modern amps. This
updated version of the Plexi built on Marshall’s heritage, with added gain and edge for
a new generation of rock guitarists. We worked with a 1990 JCM 800 with Master
Volume to develop this model. This is the metal sound Marshall made famous.
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