First recording with Peavey JSX Mini Collosal

[sgulley]

Well I gave it a shot with ZZ Top's Tush song.

I was a little disappointed with my first results. I was expecting that when I cranked up to max volume that I'd get some serious breakup but that didn't happen. I still had to use the POD through the return FX on the front to get a halfway decent lead sound. The regular guitar parts were from completely overdriving the amp (max volume) with different guitar volume levels.

Here's the URL:
http://www.soundclick.com/bands/page_songInfo.cfm?bandID=221925&songID=8663017

[dolor44]

I will let the experts help you with the mix...sounds like a lot of fun though Squll

[sgulley]

Well not much time was put into the mix
It was just a recording test for guitar tone on the first day I got the amp. I threw in the Tush midi drum track I found off the internet.
Haven't had time to turn it on since.

Thanks for listening.

[latmat]

Hey, I dig the rhythm tone, could definitely be useful for some tunes... It always seemed to me that amps are like guitars, everyone has its own sound...

This seems to dictate that every studio needs to have a room full of amps in order to have the right tone at any given time. Effect Processors are getting better all the time, but the right amp in the right room is the way to do it. This is the advantage of a going to a big studio, they have this, a ton of amps and the good studios always have a great room.

We homestudio recording enthusiasts have our work cut out, specially when trying to recreate these classic tones we love and imagine being on our own records...

[Stephen]

Ya forgot to sing!!!!!
 
We play this as an encore sometimes, and it's a fun song for sure, great for jammin' on the guitar, sounds like you had fun too.
 

[sgulley]

Thanks Cam and Stephen for listening.
It really was fun just to record the amp with something, (and not sing )

I'm thinking about getting a Vox Satchurator, and keeping it toned down a bit to my liking. I like the Squeals that break out from time to time doing lead.

The Windsor Studio would have been a little better for me, to get different configurations out of one amp, but I'm happy with the mini colossal.

I've already ordered a JJ 12AT7 to replace the 12AX7 stock preamp tube so I can tone it down just a bit for cleaner output.

[sgulley]

Replacing the stock 12AX7 with the 12AT7 preamp tube really helped. It sounds much better... and actually have some low-gain clean tones with my Fender.

[michaelmatney]

Nothing like a 3 chord jam to find out what tones you got in a new amp!  Sounds really good and I heard 3 distinct tones and they were all great!  I think you got a keeper for the studio.

I just ordered the Bugera V5 a 5 watt amp geared toward recording.  It has a switch taht gies you 5, 1, 0.1 watts so you can get the same sounds at three different volume levels.  It also has a gain and a volume, which is a must for me, to get the bone clean to heavey crunch just by reversing these two knobs and everything inbetween.  I listened to about 8 different amps on Youtube with multiple people demoing them before I made my choice.  The top three:

Marshall Class 5 (10 inch speaker)  $400.00
Blackheart BH5H head with the BH112 cab  $350.00
Bugera V5 (8 inch speaker)  $150.00

The Bugera won hands down because of the tone and all the features as far as the reasearch I could do without trying them out, which I can't.  The biggest problem with the Marshall was the size.  it's huge.  I want a small amp.  The Blackheart just didn't sound as good as the bugera and didn't have the controls I was looking for amd was a half stack.

It shipped yesterday and I think I'll do Just Got Paid by ZZ Top for my demo to let you guys deide!!!

Mikey

[sgulley]

A ZZ-Top demo sounds like a good one to me.

The first demo was recorded through the XLR mic simulated output in the back.

The following demo was a jam I made up this weekend:
http://www.soundclick.com/bands/page_songInfo.cfm?bandID=221925&songID=8736962

This demo is a lot different (4:00 might be too long) because I mic'd the JSX's 8" speaker and used the POD as a preamp on 2 of the guitar tracks. The lead was performed using a Crybaby directly into the amp.

After listening to the result a few times, the mic'd tracks sound smaller than the simulated XLR from the previous demo. If this is always the case, then I see no reason why to mic the tiny speaker.

I'm definitely curious to hear your amp Mikey.
P.S. -- I mic'd the cabnit off-axis about 6" from the speaker for all of the recordings.

[soundchaser59]

To my ears, the Tush rhythm guitar sound is absolutely awesome! I would get a bit more sustain out of it and then use that same sound for my leads. That's the sound I hear in my head quite often.

Nice Stan, I wasn't expecting such a great tone to come out of a small amp like that.