Marshall JMD amps - anyone use them?

John_P

A few years old now but at the time I thought the Marshall JMD amps looked interesting, with a modelling preamp and EL34 valve power section, they could be a good practical live amp.  
They appear to sell for peanuts these days though.   DId anyone try one or gig with them?

kennedydream1980

I had one around 10 years ago. I remember a few of the pre amp options on it sounding good. From memory the JCM800 and the JVM were the ones I liked. 

The effects were also okay.

At the time I also had a JVM 210 head and when I compared them side by side through the same cab the JVM sounded superior in every way. 

I moved the JMD on pretty soon after that so I never actually took it in a gig.

John_P

kennedydream1980 said:

I had one around 10 years ago. I remember a few of the pre amp options on it sounding good. From memory the JCM800 and the JVM were the ones I liked. 

The effects were also okay.

At the time I also had a JVM 210 head and when I compared them side by side through the same cab the JVM sounded superior in every way. 

I moved the JMD on pretty soon after that so I never actually took it in a gig.

Thanks for that.     They should redo them with a simple choice of 3 or 4 classic marshalls and updated modelling imo.

I saw a couple for sale under £200 and might be tempted, obviously not going to sound as good as my all valve marshalls but if they are reliable, they look a lot of amp for that price even if it just stays in the van as a backup.   

ICBM

A friend of mine has one - it sounds genuinely excellent, capable of emulating - quite well - just about any classic Marshall sound. The only disadvantage really is that they all go through the same speakers of whatever cabinet you choose, which aren't always ideal for some of the models.

The programming and footswitching is very slightly counterintuitive, from memory - but once you get the hang of it and keep up familiarity, it becomes quite easy.

I have heard some reports of unreliability, mostly to do with the switching, but his one has not done anything like that apart from once (apparently) losing the settings, but I'm not certain it wasn't user error.