MODELED AMPS: WHICH AMPS ARE MODELED?
4 • 5
into all this stuff.) 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 “Mark III Super Amp” to max – just
the thing to help you really make friends with the neighbors. Hendrix used
Marshalls of this era; 20 years later Van Halen’s first two records owed their
“brown sound” to a 100-watt Plexi. In order to get a crunch sound out of a Plexi
you would likely crank up the input volume and the 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 your POD
when using this Plexi-inspired Amp Model and you can treat those nice neighbors
to a tasty slice of fat rock tone.
Brit Hi Gain - Turn to this Amp Model to conjure up tones of the coveted
JCM 800, one of Marshall’s most universally-acclaimed modern amps. This
updated version of the Plexi continued Marshall’s heritage with added gain and
edge for a new generation of rock guitarists. One of the biggest differences here is
that the tone controls are located after the preamp tubes. We worked with a 1990
JCM 800 with Master Volume to develop this model. Incidentally, some versions
of JCM800’s get their distortion from clipping a diode. The amp we modeled uses a
tube for distortion. This is the metal sound Marshall made famous. Although not
many people play Marshalls clean, it’s a great tone, so you should also be sure to
check out this model with a low drive setting, too. Of course, you can always pump
up the drive and rage....
Rectified - This model is modeled after a 1994 Mesa Boogie Dual Rectifier
Tremoverb. You can use this Amp Model to get that tight, high gain sound used by
bands like Dream Theater or Metallica. Boogie made their mark in the late 70’s
and early 80’s by adding master volumes and more gain stages to amps with
Fender-style circuitry. You can hear the Fender heritage but with more “punch” in
the mids. The Boogie Dual Rectifier’s tone controls are post-distortion, and as
with the tone sections of most of the amps we based our models on, the individual
controls interact with each other and with the drive. With high drive settings, you
can scoop the mids and crank the bottom end for some great Seattle grunge
sounds.
To Next Page
Loading...