Early jp tones?

Any one try to get mid 90s petrucci styled tones from the jp2c? I'm thinking live at the marquee and the awake album/ tour. Specially the rhythm crunch sound, it used to be more open sounding. Just wondering if the amp can get the catalog of tones or is more suited to the last few albums.

Thanks

I am interested in a reply to this post too since I am on the fence with getting the JP2C.

Any "Images and Words" or "Awake" or "Systematic Chaos" sounds out of this bad boy that are dead on or has JP moved on with his sound (which, is good too)?

With the JP2C, a better question is, "what tone can't you get with this amp?" Your guitar will make a huge difference but this amp is so versatile I imagine you can get the tone of any amp out there, let alone early Petrucci tones!!! Ted Nugent got to play Eddie Van Halen's rig one time and he remarked, "after I got through turning the knobs and fiddling with the amplifier and Guitar I sounded exactly like Ted Nugent."

At the end of the day, I know I'll sound like me.. My 51503 and mark 5 are, I'd say, two very different amps, but when I play a high gain sound I get a very similar sound. Now I do believe that there is a magic piece that the hands play, but it's not going be as big an effect as amps and guitars, despite the Nug's wisdom. Listen to DLR by and you know that sound is Marshall, but the guitar/ mic and studio magic also play part. You won't get old child from a 5150. Metallica with a Marshall is noticeably different than with Mesa. And DT with a recto is different than a mark.

I get that it's an awesome amp, unfortunately guitar center doesn't carry them any more so testing is tough, plus I just like to talk gear,. So I ask those unanswerable questions

To rephrase, does it do an awesome hard rock aggressive crunch? Most demos on you tube like to do metal... I'm more of an 80s rock guy, that dabbles in metal.

Probably the best explanation for Ted Nugent sounding like Ted Nugent on Eddie's rig is because it WAS Ted Nugent. I suspect Eddie would sound like Eddie on Ted Nugent rig. I'm not familiar with Dream Theaters music in general and certainly not any older stuff . I think JP is a gifted guitarist and became exposed to his playing as a result of the JP2C and his demo. I haven't heard anything in is his demos that I would label true crunch tones by my definition nor was I able to dial up any true crunch tones on my JP2C . I've also read other JP2C owners comment on missing the crunch tone that could be found on this or that other amp . Markedman my intention isn't to call you out on this and I'm certain you have more hours of experimentation on your JP2C than I put on mine but even thought I agree this amp has some very strong points I don't find it to be without some limitations. So for a anyone that's on the fence I would recommend researching it more before pulling the trigger. The TC50 looks Interesting, cost less, has midi and cab clone and just may put a few more JP2C 's on the used market.

In my opinion, the amp does early dream theater tones very well. I just listened to some songs off Awake and it sounds spot on to a JP2C. It does 80's hard rock/hair metal effortlessly, those tones are right in the JP2C's wheelhouse. Anything your mark V's third channel can do the JP2C can do, it just sounds a whole lot better through the JP2C.

Lighter crunch tones can take some tweaking to find on the JP2C, but they're there. Volume helps in this department. I was getting some great power tube overdrive crunch in channel 2 yesterday, with just a touch of preamp gain. In fact, I can get a solid clean tone in channel 2 or 3. And I f I want a bit of gain, then I bump the gain. For lighter gain tones on the lead channels I find it helps to keep the tone controls set below 10 or 11 o'clock, they can add too much hair if they're are set above noon. Flipping the shred switch with these setting can give you a cool tweed type sound like the mode in the V. If those lighter crunch tones don't satisfy try channel 1. Crank the gain and the mids, and I like to use the GEQ to smooth it out a bit. The more I experiment, the more great tones I find. The amps core tone is so pleasing that it makes it easy to coax almost anything you want from it. I find the amp almost as versatile as my V. For me, anyway. I don't really miss the options for different modes. The only thing I think the V has that I wish the JP2C had is the 10 watt class A setting, the variac, and the tube rectifier. Besides that, if the JP2C had the volume 1 control like the originals, it would be perfect, as it would make those lower gain tones much more easily accessible.

Thanks Mark III, excellent insight! Many of the features and ideas that are talked about here on this forum and others will most likely be incorporated into the new JH2C+ that is in the development stage at this point. One thing I know that they will incorporate is the duel graphic equalizers because Hetfield had a double five band equalizer made especially for him. 10 W is still fairly loud so I would expect to see a variac allowing all the way down to 1 W or less.

I can side track my own thread right?

Personally, the idea of a JH2C sounds good, but I'd rather see a Mark V update (call is Vb, V+, 6, doesn't matter) and add all of the coolness / simplicity from the JP model, and 25/35 watters.

3 channels, 2 assignable 5 bands, midi, cab clone, 3 reverbs, simulclass (10/45/90) EL34/6l6, variac switch

ch 1. clean (JP or mk V modes)
ch 2. II c+ (from the JP mode) and IV modes (with the pull gain to allow for a "flexible" volume 1)
ch 3. as above, more volume 1 gain

having a 10 band eq, i think, would make the amp harder to dial in and less flexible than 2 - 5 bands. Did Het use a parametric eq or a 30 band set in the shape of an M.

Completely derailing.. anyone watch the making of vids from Metallica's new album, footage seems to show alot of marshall (maybe modded) being used.

Markedman said:

With the JP2C, a better question is, "what tone can't you get with this amp?" Your guitar will make a huge difference but this amp is so versatile I imagine you can get the tone of any amp out there, let alone early Petrucci tones!!! Ted Nugent got to play Eddie Van Halen's rig one time and he remarked, "after I got through turning the knobs and fiddling with the amplifier and Guitar I sounded exactly like Ted Nugent."

Click to expand...

Interview with Van Halen's recollection of the experience http://www.guitarworld.com/eddie-van-halen-remembers-meeting-ted-nugent

I have a JP-2C and a Mark V. I don't really put them head to head: I bought the JP-2C as an upgrade to my Mark V:25.

IMO, I prefer the Mark V tones across the board to the JP-2C, if I have the fx loop disabled. IIC+ and IV mode sound fantastic on the V. The V also has a great crunch channel.

I've never really been able to dial in anything on the JP-2C that comes close to tweed, edge, or mark i modes on my V. The Mark V's crunch sounds and it's epic lead sounds with the fx loop have made it my preferred amp.

Regardless, I've looked at other options. Here's the option space that I'm seeing right now:

- Great cleans
- Midi control
- Cab clone integration
- Mark lead sound
- Great crunch tones
- FX loop capability

If you need all of those, you could either go for:

- A JP-2C
- Add a really solid Marshall-in-a-box pedal and you'll probably good to go. That'll work just fine on the clean channel and likely sound great.
This would be a very reasonable option, except I ain't reasonable: I like the V's crunch channels and lead tones (again, with the fx loop disabled) better.

- A Mark V
This will nail the major tones. And it will absolutely bring the thunder when the fx loop is disabled. Unfortunately, to get all the capabilities of the JP-2C you will also need:
- An external cab clone
- a mini amp gizmo
- a second amp slave to the Mark V in a wet/dry configuration
That's a lot of additional gear to buy and haul, but it sounds killer.
Obviously you can just enable the fx loop for live shows and run mono, but the tone sounds fantastic with the loop off and even more expansive if you run wet/dry.
Pretty neat, not everyone's cup of tea.

- Triple Crown 50
- Apparently optimized more for the crunch/atlantic and electradyne enthusiasts. Great lead tone (apparently - haven't sat down with one yet) and the same bells and whistles as the JP-2C.

I'm pretty tempted to get a TC 50 and see how the tones grow on me.

Personally, I take my Mark V and my external cab clone and run it with the fx loop on for rehearsals. Though I prefer midi, I use the switching inputs on the back of the amp for channel selection instead.

At home I plug it into a much nicer wet/dry/wet setup with the fx loop disabled. That's what I practice and record with.

And what I REALLY want is a Mark V with cab clone, midi, and an fx loop that doesn't such the mojo out of the amp. PLEASE.

I'd just like to point out that I&W was done mostly with a Triaxis and Awake was quadruple-tracked with a IIC+ and Rectifier; if that changes your mindset for achieving those sounds at all. I've got some awesome Mirror-eqsue tones out of my JP-2C.

Thanks dlpasco.

I find as of late, i dont use much of ch 1, i usually just roll the volume down for a clean sound (actually prefer it most of the time)
Ch 2 of the V, i have never been able to fully enjoy. I wanted edge to be a jangly / voxy / light breakup crunch, but there is some odd fuzzy noise i cant get rid of. Crunch is to boxy to me, and I never got Mark 1 to sound right for me either.

that being said, i love ch 3, and would like to have 2 of those, with different hard wired volume one settings (and the bigger bass cap for iic+ mode) Which is what I think the JP is, without the mulitple modes, and wattages (but with shred mode).

Dotonfire, I have read about the use of the triaxis, and was wondering if the JP head gets some of those sounds (which was trying to get the iic+ sounds.... so an approximation of an approximations? lol) A triaxis / 2:90 is way overkill at this point, probably too much to tweak as well.