Lazy J 20 owners - using one at home?

IvisonGuitars

VAC down as low as it'll go AND into a load box? Attenuators? You're choking the life right out of the amp chaps!

Get a Pignose and be done with it ;-)

FreddieVanHalen

Well @miserneil you may be right, although I'd probably keep the VAC off with the attenuator.

That said, the pig nose may be the best option!

Wazmeister

Just the amp and the VAC mate... Nowt else needed.

What valves are in it ?

FreddieVanHalen

This ones got 6L6s...reckon the 6V6s would make a difference?

martinw

FreddieVanHalen said:

thomasross20 said:

5W defo LOUD and that's why I never went for the Brunetti Pleximan but power scaling can take you down to 0.1W and lower...?

I know other amps have power scaling like that but don't know if the J is built that way - maybe it's too much of a compromise for the circuit in this one, dunno...I am not an expert in these things.

With all of these systems (Power Scaling, VAC, VVR, Blackstar's DPR....), you've got 2 choices:

1. Use a 1 knob system, and restrict the power reduction to around 10% of the maximum.

2. Use a 2 knob system and allow the power reduction to go down much further.

The reason for 1. above, is that you can either apply scaling to the whole amp (power amp and preamp), in which case the preamp will start to sound bad if you turn the scaling down beyond a certain point, or you can scale just the power amp, in which case the input signal to the power amp will start to get too big beyond a certain point and cause an unpleasant fizzy distortion.

If you scale the power amp only, the preamp tone is maintained and then you can use the second control (drive compensation) to reduce the size of the signal into the power amp to keep it in 'scale' all the way down to virtually off.

I normally use 2., but 1. works well for a player who only wants to adjust volumes between say loud-gig and quiet-gig.

thomasross20

Well that just leaves 999 other questions for Martin to answer that I've mailed him  
(And he's answering - great chap - I'm excited!)

ruoma

For a long time I used a swart night light with my j20 for even quieter volumes. Works a treat and is reasonably cheap if you get the night light Jr., but lately I just run the amp on the lowest vac and roll my guitar volume down (treble bleeded of course) and use a pedal for late night playing. Does give you a better clean sound than with the swart, although with the swart you can drive the preamp instead of use the pedal but I agree that it definitely sucks quite a bit of tone out of the amp, even going 5w to 20w. 

Teetonetal

Forget the vac and get a reactive load like the two notes torpedo. I run my pleximan at 50w into it and then the speaker out from the load box. You can attenuate to zero if you wish. You can also still have it setup direct into cab Sim as well. Great bit of kit.

Gassage

Pointless asking me. I decided the J40 was 'house volumes'.....

Although when I had my 20 my settings were pretty much as Waz's.

FreddieVanHalen

Thanks everyone, this has all been useful info. 

So basically, they are still loud even at 5W and you just have to either accept that or work around it in the usual ways.

@Gassage, I think the easiest thing to do here then is just move somewhere where you can crank the amps!

Jalapeno

thomasross20 said:

Well that just leaves 999 other questions for Martin to answer that I've mailed him  
(And he's answering - great chap - I'm excited!)

I feel sorry for Martin

hotpickups

FreddieVanHalen said:

Thanks everyone, this has all been useful info. 

So basically, they are still loud even at 5W and you just have to either accept that or work around it in the usual ways.

@Gassage, I think the easiest thing to do here then is just move somewhere where you can crank the amps!

This is the exact reason why I've just bought another amp with attenuation on it, albeit an expensive option . I love the j20 but I really can't use it at home even on that 5w setting.

Gassage

I live in an old converted schoolhouse. It's converted to 4 massive flats (ours is 2500 sq ft!)

My Neighbours are;

Number 2: A Pastor from a modern day church who plays keys in a P+W band.

Number 3: An employee from GuitarGuitar

Number 4: A thespian couple who perform in musical theatre.

So,

No 2: will tolerate my music, is non judgmental due to his faith, and has nagged me to play in church

No 3: Comes and stares wistfully at my rig and then goes upstairs to masturbate furiously

No 4: Have told me they'd forgotten how good Pink Floyd are and have asked if I'll give their son a guitar lesson.

I think my gaffe therefore qualifies as 'somewhere where you can crank the amps!'

FreddieVanHalen

@hotpickups @Teetonetal yeah, this is the best route for me, attenuation does have its compromises but the alternative in my environment is not to have amp drive at all (go the modelling or pedals route), and while those are also good it's nice to have the choice.

@gassage fantastic, I need to find a similar community, my neighbours are all poor schmucks with young kids and/or working long hours. There would be zero love for my renditions of anything other than Cage's 4' 33" :-)

Gassage

@freddievanhalen

They did think my time-accurate rendition of 2 'Minutes to Midnight' was beyond the mark, in fairness.

I nailed the lick though so I thought they were a tad harsh....

pj310

@Gassage you play Iron Maiden?!?!?!

pmg

Moe_Zambeek said:

Neil Young meltdown at low volume, you say? Buy yourself an Audio Kitchen The Big Trees and use it in amp mode with the speaker in the J20. 2.5 watts of fat fuzzy overdrive if you want it...

Have you used the big trees as a preamp for recordings?

Moe_Zambeek

pmg said:

Moe_Zambeek said:

Neil Young meltdown at low volume, you say? Buy yourself an Audio Kitchen The Big Trees and use it in amp mode with the speaker in the J20. 2.5 watts of fat fuzzy overdrive if you want it...

Have you used the big trees as a preamp for recordings?

@pmg no, I'm not doing much recording at the moment. I have used it as an amp at home and at rehearsals (surprisingly coped OK at restrained band levels in the practice room, through a Marshall / V30 cab) and as a pedal, again at home and at rehearsal. Even using it as a clean line driver adds a certain something. I really like it, it's versatility is quite surprising at times. It does definitely sound better 'in a mix' than on it's own, the EQ just sits nicely with the band. 

pmg

@Moe_Zambeek thanks.  Can you let me know what its like if/when you use it for recordings as a preamp?  I've heard great things.  Cheers.

breezytele

FreddieVanHalen said:

Wonder if @Wazmeister or @Gassage may be able to help.

I've been using my Lazy J into a loadbox + impulses but I've been thinking about unplugging it from all that stuff and just playing through it's own speaker.

Problem is, mine's pretty f. loud when the volume's cranked, even with the VAC turned fully down.

How do you use yours? Clean + pedals?

A good solution, if the j20 is still too loud on maximum vac, is a Cali76 or Sliderig compressor...

With  the output dialled low, it acts as an attenuator. Plus, it will enhance the tone and you can dial in as subtle a level of compression as you could ever want