I'm more of a punk rocker but I totally agree with the message at the end... TBH I just bought a pedal compressor that I intend to be on because my Fender amp is so freaking harsh... But I agree that not enough people especially younger people plug straight in ..,**another example of this would be like p-town said from the late 60s early 70s live used very few pedals if any... And Ginn from Black flag
Pedalboards are great. That said, there’s definitely magic to embracing the guitar and amp alone. Great reference in Pete Townsend’s early work with the Who. He’s a great example of that. Thanks for the insightful comment!
Funny story, I had the chance to buy this amp and a JMI similar to it, though I can’t remember the exact model. I chose a Sound City Studio 20 instead, which I recently reviewed on my channel. Still thinking about this one and won’t hesitate when the moment comes. UK amps are incredible!
@@marclouis-boyard there’s another video about JMI on my channel if you want to learn the story behind the 2000s owners of the brand and how this the amp was made.
They do sound nice but I like the original pickups more. They have some sparkle shaved off. Did You try to set up EQ on the amp to get the most "stratlike" sound out of them?
AFL is great but I don’t think Clapton was trying to replicate his sound. Hence why he hired AFL at this time. No need to emulate the guy when he’s on stage with you. Clapton was trying to replicate his heroes like Buddy Guy, Lowell Fulson, Muddy Waters, Freddie King, etc…
@@tonecast1 Clapton did indeed admire those greats and he clearly took his inspiration from them throughout his career but if you look at how he went about recreating their sounds and styles, AFL (who was already a far more accomplished guitarist IMO) was his guide and tutor. I recall having a few chats with some very well informed people within the industry at the time, who knew both Clapton and AFL and they had already identified the effect of AFL had had on Clapton for some time. I must confess some bias here, as Clapton, despite his commitment to the British Blues scene, has never been high in my estimation and I always find the other guy of more interest eg. Danny Kirwan vs Peter Green.
Be cool is someone did a breakdown of Clapton’s amps in the mid 70s. I know he used Music Man live at some point, and Leslie’s, and I’ve heard he used Twin Reverbs. That’s my favourite Clapton period.
I’m glad I’m not alone in this opinion. I just wanted to share breakdown of what it was. It was essentially the man’s hands, a great vintage guitar, and a killer 50s low powered Fender Tweed Twin. A very pure signal path.
I haven’t had the chance to play one in person but I thought the clips of it online sounded great. It’s around the same price as the R Weaver FX offerings IIRC.
While the Matchless has more layers of character ... I still prefer what ever cycle of sound the VOX sings out with ... 337cps or something ... I don't know. It's just an amp character I just don't hear out of any other amp except maybe those early '60s cheapos. But really ... you were not playing through the second channel on that Matchless with the EF86 and the tone switch ... to me, THAT'S THE BIG DOG! Thanks for this video and for using these great guitars!
The Matchless recorded much better than I expected. It sounds great here but I’m with you in preferring the other amp. I was never really happy with how the JMI sounded in this video, so much that I made a video exclusively about that amp. That video sounded more like that amp in the room than it did in this video. The EF86 channel on the Matchless is pretty magical with single coil bridge pickups but I found it a bit muddy and with other pickup positions and humbuckers. Thanks for watching.
I sold this amp to a friend to explore other Marshall circuits. The Bass circuit offers a lot of shades between clean and mean but always left me wanting a little more in the aggressive end of the spectrum. Didn’t know Page used a Hiwatt for III. Thanks for sharing!
Thanks for the kind words. This video got a copyright claim for use of the Clapton footage but I don’t know how else to reference a specific guitar tone without letting viewers hear it. Apparently it’s blocked from playing in certain countries. All that said, I’m glad you found the video a worthwhile watch. Thanks for letting me know.
Nah, it’s not a big deal. Just be sure to remove and reinstall the next screws by hand. A lot of older and reissue Fenders require taking the neck off to adjust the truss rod. It’s a pretty common procedure. Just look up a Stew Mac video about taking the neck off a Fender if you want to see what that looks like and tips on how to do it correctly.
I just dropped in my son's old Zexcoil into my USA Strat....huge improvement. Huge and far more versatile in all 5 + positions. The stocks you have sounds really good...if they came from a band...then I doubt they were stock pups but also an upgrade. No?
The old pickups were stock. A band was supposed to autograph the guitar as the prize for the contest my sister won - so we told em just send the guitar bc we didn’t care about the autographs.
I have the JMI and a Matchless (Nighthawk which is basically the EF86 side of the HC30). Both sound incredible, but the JMI is the only amp between them that let me down at a gig, blowing the main fuse.
That’s unfortunate but that can happen on a lot of amps. How old were the tubes in it at the time? One could also argue that the cabinet design of the JMI is to blame. It doesn’t vent the heat very well.
PSA: I also have a pair of UK made Celestion Alnico Blues if you’re interested. I bought them when I got the amp thinking I’d swap out the Fanes but the Fanes kind of won me over. I did try running the amp into an external Vox cab with Celestion Blues and it was definitely more of the traditional Vox thing.
The Pedal Pawn is on my hit list. It just happened to be the odd vibe out for me through no fault of its own. I simply lacked the funds to try every high end vibe on the market. These were all purchased by me (no loaners or gifts). In hindsight, I wish I could’ve tried the Gypsy Vibe in place of the Kingtone vibe but hindsight is 20/20.
Great demo, very useful indeed. Thank you. I think the el cap can give some of that light TC2290 kind of vibe. You seem a top chap too, all the best mate.
To my ears, the Zexcoils sound better in general, more neutral, with a nicer quack than the stock pups. Okay, with a little less bite in some positions, this is the price you need to pay for getting rid of the noise issue. In the studio this is not so much a problem, but every gigging musician will appreciate the greatly reduced noise level. Combined with a good noise gate, you are in for a very good life.
To my ear, this particular Zexcoil set has a bright sound. Now that some time has passed I’ve found that they are hard for me to get along with tonally bc I also have a bright touch. I may try a different set from them to see if I can find a better match for my touch. In my experience I’ve found that that noiseless single coils are just as valued in the studio as they are among players performing live. Players everywhere appreciate quieter pickups as long as they still sound great. Some viewers like the sound of these. Others have preferred the stock pickups. It’s interesting to see how everyone’s preferences are truly different. Thanks for the comment.
I came for confirmation to buy the phase 90 (or 95)…I ended up getting swayed with the versatility of the JHS. The even volume when engaged and the slight warmth were nice. And yea, Josh’s knowledge and enthusiasm are unparalleled. I loved the back to back shootout with tone controls shown. Thank you so much
One of the best skills in life is being able to assess new information and change your mind based off that new info. I’m glad the video helped you determine that the JHS series 3 phaser was a better fit for you. Thanks for letting me know.
I am well familiar with the JMI brand amp. They are excellent. I owned an original AC-30 treble model {like what Brian May plays} and it was awesome. It had a factory made TB added to it's circuit at sometime in it's past. However, I sold it because I had the chance to buy a 2014 Vox handwired model that to my ears sounded pretty damn good. It has Greenbacks, which I feel are more versatile than the one trick pony alnico Celestions {mine were silver and not blue btw}. The 1965 I had did the British Invasion bands better than any other amp I have ever played, but I wanted something that sounded close to that, but could cover a little more ground when asked too. The JMIs are great though, and for the money, they are a good buy when compared to an original. I bought mine back in 1983 when nobody wanted them for $600. When I sold it I added another zero to the asking price. I took a little less. I miss the bragging rights, but am very happy with my handwired AC-30.
What a great tone report from someone who has owned an original ‘63 Vox, a JMI30, and more recently Korg made AC30 handwired. Thanks for taking the time to share your findings and thanks for watching!
That nobody wants ! but you say he only made 350 of them..that’s nothin. I heard about these amps and wanted one, but new were with individual import too expensive and none to actually try in person (USA)..then..they disappeared and under the same name some low quality cost stuff appeared under that name. Anyway I got the Vox AC30BM new and later had it tuned up and a year and a half ago got a Vox AC30HW60 from original owner for a little under what he paid. Very nice guy I appreciate him a lot for it. And that’s a good accurate one.
Players stopped wanting these amps bc of the Music Ground controversy. I just wanted to share the story bc it hadn’t been clearly documented on the internet. Also I want to film and record a proper demo of the amp bc it’s also hard to find a great demo of these on RU-vid. Technically there are more than 350 JMI30s but only 350 were built by Steve Giles before he parted ways with Music Ground. You’re right that that these amps were pricey for non UK buyer when they first came out - I remember this being the case. They’re only kind an under the radar deal if you happen to run across one used. Thanks for watching!
Apparently they offer a variety of different sounding pickups too. These definitely don’t sound like the dull stacked coil noiseless designs I’ve tried in the past.
Musicians Friend was the first popular mail order gear catalog I encountered. I was definitely a bobo musician at the time. 😂 We’ve all got to start somewhere.
If you have a bit more to spend, the greatest phasers I have ever found (that additionally offer ramping from slow to fast, fast to slow) are the two following pedals: Castilleja Phaser (new) Maestro Stage Phaser (vintage)
Thanks for the tip. These were all borrowed from a friend who was on a phaser hunt. I’ll keep the ones you’ve suggested in mind in the future. Thanks for watching.
Yeah all the brands from 2000-2012: JMI, British Pedal Company, Hiwatt UK, Hanks, all suffer from association with the Music Ground counterfeiting operation.
Fender mexican standard pickups have come a long way. Not bad at all. With a little tone knob that bridge pickup is usable. The zex pickups sounded pretty nice too. They look really interesting. I'm assuming the little coil...pole-pieces(?) are each wired in series with their neighbor to get the hum canceling effect.
As I understand it, each coil / magnet pair of the Z Vex is wired in series like a micro humbucker. It’s a pretty clever solution. Thanks for watching and commenting.
Played a barn find beatup 64 Vox AC-30-GLORIOUS!! Sold before I could grab it. Checked Reverb and a 90’s UK era barely used sitting in a studio was up for sale for half of what other amp was going for. It was used 3 times in almost 30 hrs in studio! Weird period. 93 UK made AC-30. Marshall/ Korg era builds start in 94. Think they were builds still using Rose Morris parts left in factory at Marshall plant but officially start in 94! Cool amp! Great video!
Yeah those early 90s Marshall built AC30s are legit. Their design differs from the 60s Jennings era in some ways (some for the better). Great amps not to be overlooked. Thanks for watching.
