Marshall JH-1 Jackhammer

Ease of use:
Takes a bit of getting used to, and it is pretty touchy. However, tweak it a bit and you'll bet what you're looking for.
Manual:
Uh...says thanks for buying and gives a few suggested settings...not much to it, really.

Sound of favorite artists?:
Well, I thought the idea was to sound like yourself...
Setup:
Dean Zs, Dean MLs, Dean V 79 reissue, all stock as a rock. H&K amps, greatest clean tones in the world. By and large, absolutely KILLS any solid-state distortion on the planet. Does it beat a good tube driver? Uh, no. For the money though, it does a great job.
Sound:
Depends on what you're trying to do. If you're looking for a pretty fair approximation of several Marshall tones, GET THIS BOX. However, if Marshall sound is not your thing, or you absolutely must sound JUST LIKE a SuperLead, then don't. Basically, I find a very good copy of most Marshall series in this little box. It is a bit weaker than a Super Lead for gain, a bit too dirty for a "light" Plexi. Good voicing, not too harsh. A bit too touchy on bass response in the distortion mode.
Noise:
There is a bit, depending on what you're doing. I found ZERO noise on the OD setting, regardless of gain. Distortion setting, though, gets a bit noisy after about the 2 o'clock position. My Hush (pedal version) keeps it clean and singing without any buzz or fuzz. Anything less than about 2 o'clock, and you'll get sweet ring and easy feedback (distortion mode)

VERDICT:
Great toy if you like the Marshall sound. BAD IDEA if you want it to do anything else. I love mine.

Built like a bomb shelter. No issues at all.

Gig without backup plan = stupid

Never had to talk to them....

Honestly, I think that this little guy is as well made as a solid state box can be. It's tough and sounds good. Really, what else can you ask of a pedal? Hard to compare this with other distortion boxes...most of what I've played with in the past have been tube-driven, and there really IS no way to compare them. One thing I wish it had is a presence and saturation control. The sound is "tubey," but NOT tube sound. A bit of saturation control may give it a bit more shimmer. In any event, very good overall.
My experience:
About 20 years playing, 15 or so gigging around in bands. I use an expansive pedal box with all sorts of wonderful toys inside. I use this one mostly for Iron Maiden and similar tunes in which Marshall tone is REQUIRED. It gets me through pretty well. My own tunes get the tube treatment.

Well. let's see, it has two modes, jcm 800 and the plexi, but don't take my word for it it all comes down to tweaking. Important:1.you need to tweak 2.do not have a flat EQ after (on your amp) this.
you will need to do some tweakin but with the tweaking you can get all the sounds in the world.
the manual explains good how it works but you got to experiment with it, then you see its' full power. my first effect box was a magicstomp so now I think everything is easy to tweak:D. when I first got it I sucked with tweaking but now I can do anything with it.

well artist sounds can you copy all youll' ever want. from norvegian blackmetal to 60'rock. zakk wylde and arch enemy if you have the right eq or pickup combination (I find the EMG 81 and 85 togheter good for archenemysounds you can prolly get closer with a good EQ before). The OD\Dist; I use both of them, mostly dist with treble at full bass at 12 , contour both ca. middle.on my amp a little bit treble and 1\4 mid, flat bass. Remember to listen to the front of the speaker not the sides because on the sides you get a sound with more bass and more mid-tone. I like it better than boss mt-2, a buddy of mine has it and we compared. the noise is as expected, not too loud but would be fun if it was lower,. but you only hear it after 2/3 full gain. If you buy this and regret it I'll eat my hat. 9 cos a little too much bass on dist ( I tweak it away though)

this is heavy metal, I love it. really good and solid, the only thing you need to be careful about is the double pots, you might kick them crooked but all you nedd to do to fix them is take them up, out some grease on and bend back and put them back together.

I've already gigged with it twice and going to gig with it december the 7th.

This is my little screambaby

metal and hardrock are the most common of my styles, best match ever. you can create your own sounds in a flash and others' in a dash XD
Its been a year since I got it and it still sounds wonderfull, own a modded strat type guitar with EMGs 81,SV,89 (85 split version) onboard booster and 700hz(fat)control. boss pw-10, yamaha magicstomp, roland cube 30, Crate VTX212B, Boss FV500h, zoom g1x, boss ns-2. boss tu-20.
I cant live without this pedal, but I would like to get another one (maybe this or a metalplanet) for having two different sounds with quick switching.
I wish it had cooler graphics:D.(I painted on it so no more problem)
I am the main song & riffwriter in my band and it gives me the tones that I'm after, silky and max distorted at the same time, with a booster in front it gets really cool fuzzy.. always a pleasure to play.

This is a very versitale, really good pedal, but it takes time to get the best out of it. In fact it took me about a year... But now, I can get almost all the sounds I want.
Good advices: use it with good stuff. With a thin sounding guitar or amp it will sound thin and harsh. With a good axe (like a Les Paul or Strat) and a good tube amp it'll sound huge. First get a good, well balanced clean sound on your amp, so you can compensate if you lack middle or treble (you won't feel like having not enough bass). Set the volume about 9 o'clock on the pedal, so it won't be too loud. The overdrive will give you a more open, crunchy sound, whiler the dist mode a heavier, compressed, bassy sound, so compensate it when you switch between the modes. As the manual suggests, turning the contour and frequency full anticlockwise will give you the natural midrange without scooping mids. The contour is basicly a reversed mid knob, but frequency is a bit different. Below 11 o'clock it acts like a reversed presence, from 12 to about 4 o'clock gives you variuos scooped metal sounds, and when turned full clockwise, it acts like the presence knob full down.
So, it's quite difficult, but when you understand how the knobs work, you can get almost any sound you want.

On good stuff, it sounds wonderful. Tried it on numerous tube amps, with my friends Strat and my guitar. Always sounded wonderful.
I use it with an Epiphone Les Paul Standard and a solid state Fender 212M amp. The Fender has a nice clean, but the overdrive sucks. With this pedal I can get really good Marshall-like sounds, from crunchy blues to heavy metal - always sounds thick and has great bite. It doesn't make my amp sound like a tube amp - and never will -, but gives me really good, alive, bity sound. I can get awesome Peter Green, Gary Moore, Dave Gilmour, Santana or at the heavy side Guns or Metallica sounds in minutes.
The problem is, if you count something good on the overdrive, it'll suck on the dist mode. Also, it sounds very different at different places and volume settings, so if you count a great sound at home with low volume, it won't sound the same at your rehearsal room. Ergo you always have to tweak the knobs when you go to new places, but as I sad, after understanding the working of the knobs, it will be easy to get good sound again in 3 minutes.
At high gain settings it can easily feedback, but it's not noisy at all.

It's really dependable and rock solid, I'd gig with it without a backup.

Never dealt with the customer support, and never tried to repaired it.

I've benn playing for years now, but only since a year have quality stuff. I play blues and also have a rock/metal band which plays quite interesting things like mixing traditional metal with moderner sounds and "hippy-style" quiter passages and numbers. It serves me well, as I can get classic blues and rock sounds. It really helps me to evolve musically. If it was stolen or lost I'd buy it again. Wish it had a memory where you could store the different sounds, but oh well it's a pedal, not a multieffect.

i didn't much care for the double knobs. on mine, if you turned the contour knob, the frequency would turn right along with it.

this thing sounds thin, brittle and harsh. all i was looking for was a warm thick overdrive bordering on distortion, kind of a malcom young meets johnny ramone sound. Problem is, the jackhammer doesn't do warm or thick. i tried this thing every which way, and didn't like any of the tones. ran it through a peavey ranger and butcher. those two amps run the gamut from clean to dirty and the jackhammer sounded bad in both of 'em. there are several metric tons of gain on tap here, they just sound bad.

i got it used on ebay, so i blame the seller for the knob twisting problem i had, not marshall. seems rock solid to me.

never dealt with 'em.

i play punk and rock and roll type stuff. this pedal is not suited for that music at all. maybe this is an amazing unit for your nu-metal, i wouldn't know. if you don't do modern metal, avoid this thing.

If you do your settings in bright light and don't have to make any adjustments "on the fly" you will be ok. It would be a fabulous pedal if the OD and Distortion could be selected by a switch and had some ability to set the levels, contour, etc...for each channel. It has small knobs within knobs that can be difficult for large hands like mine.

I have a very large collection of pedals from cheap to very expensive and this pedal is a really great sounding pedal. I have a 1969 plexi 50 watter and the OD channel is right there. Of course, I am running the pedal through a very good sounding, warmed up, EL84 tube head and 1-12" speaker cab with an eminence lady-luck inside. The distortion sounds larger than life kinda like a JCM 800 series with slightly more bass and compressed. You can turn the bass down and treble up to compensate.

This is a very good pedal. If you are using a thin sounding, sterile solid state amp, do not expect it to sound as good as my setup will.

Works well so far...ask me in a couple of years.

I don't use customer support for less expensive items which can be easily replaced. Just not cost effective to bother with an item like this.

I would class this pedal as a future classic that will be an investment grade pedal. It nails the sounds of two of the most historical rock sounds ever...a Plexi and the badass JCM800.

very easy to find the sound you want

the manual is very clear, it explanes wat every butten does so you kan vind your own sound very easy

onley thing is that the markers to show the level of gain(for example),
wil wear off a bit fast.

the best ever, i used it on a kustom. and it could make it sound like a big marshall. now that i have a big marhsall is sounds even better.

i play on a gibson flying v and in my opinion this is the best set up ever, gibson-marhsall.

it has a overdrive and a distortion stetting on it. the distortion i barley use becouse i dont play metal but is sounds dam good, a mercyless pounding marshall. on the overdrive setting you get more led zep, black sabath sound. old school overdrive, i use this the most. and if you turn the gain a bit lower you have a briljant blues sound.
so screw the marshall blues braker or the guv'nor, this thing has them both and more

mine broke one time, i don't know the couse. but sinds it was fixed (like a year ago) i never had problems with it. i dont use a back up.

never delt with them, a lokal shop fixed it for me for free. it was stil in the warenty

the best overdrive/dist. pedal ever. but one thing if you don't dig marshall you'll wont want this pedall. the sound is marhsall over and over again. if you love marhsall like me. than it is the best ever.

I already owned a Boss Metal Zone before buying this pedal, so I will compare the two pedals in this review. The Jackhammer has the same controls as the Metal Zone, with one difference - the Jackhammer has two modes, Overdrive and Distortion.

On the Distortion mode, the sound is very dark and bassy. I had to turn the treble all the way up and the bass all the way down. Even still, the Distortion mode is too bassy/flubby, and doesn't do well on any fast guitar playing. The Metal Zone is way better than the Jackhammer's Distortion mode.

On the Overdrive mode, the sound is much more trebly and less bassy compared with the Distortion mode. I use the pedal only on the Overdrive mode, for playing classic rock type stuff (like Led Zeppelin, Hendrix). I'd give the Overdrive mode 10/10.

Overall, a 9/10 because the Distortion mode isn't that great.

Solidly built, I don't forsee any problems.

I've never contacted Marshall about anything before.

A very good pedal for the price, if you want to use it for the Overdrive mode. Again, if you are after heavier metallic sounds, get the Boss Metal Zone, instead.

It's quite tricky to get a good sound out of this unit... Mine is the original version without any upgrades... It comes with a multi-lingual manual...

First of all, I'd like to point out my set up: Peavey Envoy 110, Marshall Jackhammer, Crybaby535 Q, Schecter C-1 FR (Mahogany body, OFR, Duncan custom (b), and Duncan Jazz (n)).

This pedal has 2 modes Overdrive(OD) and Distortion. The overdrive mode is really more for overdriving(boosting) a dirty channel of an amp. It can sound good too on its own, but you won't get "In Your Face" distortion. It's more suitable for classic rock and blues tone. The distortion mode, on the other hand, is meant to be as a stand alone distortion. You can get great hard rock and heavy metal tone on this mode.

This pedal is not noisy, unless if you use a very high gain pickups (X2N, Invader, Active Pickups, etc) and dial the volume and gain knobs to the max...

My fave metal settings:
Mode: Distortion.
Gain: MAX.
Volume: 3 O'Clock.
Bass & Treble: Bypassed
Contour Frequency: 1 - 2 O'Clock.
Contour: 12 O'Clock.

Yes!! I've had this for 5 years... Never had a problem with it... I've used it on a gig, no problem at all... It made of solid steel construction, and a heavy pedal too... It is very dependable...

N/A

I've been playing for 7 years. I play stuffs from hard rock to neo-classical, stuffs like ACDC, Van Hallen, Stratovarius, Dream Theater, Yngwie, Symphony X, etc...

I love the versatility this pedal gives. I've had this for 5 years, and i dont think its going anywhere until its broken. Yes I would not mind buying it again if it happens. I use this pedal as my main distortion tone. It gives punchiness for riffing, and for soloing, my notes are very clear and not blur together. Love this pedal!!

It's not easy to use. There are too many knobs for a newbie to get a good sound from it. I've had it for a year and luckily quickly got a "hot spot". So I stick to it and try not to move any knobs in order not to lose the good sound, which I describe further.
There is a manual with some presets, which aren't very good. There should be more.

Riffs - very good, especially on Dropped D tuning. Although palm mute and harmonics could sound better. But still a nice pedal for a rythm player. 9/10
Lead guitar - crappy. Especially on neck humbucker. The good sound is very hard to find. Blues tones, however, could be easily found by simply turning down volume in your guitar. And, as long as you're playing blues, it sounds very good.
But I play metal mainly, so overally I give 6 out of 10, because it's a pity it doesn't provide me with a good metal lead sound.

I surely can rely on it. Hard as a tank. However, I scratched it here and there but they only gives him better looks. I'd be suprised if it broke inside due to damages from outside.

I'm playing mainly metal and rock, some blues and jazz. See Sound Quality section above.
I've been playing for nearly 3 years.
If it were stolen I wouldn't get a new one.

Very good pedal. I like it knobs. you can play with them and get to many sounds.it will be good to take paper and draw on it in which position knobs are placed. to remember after it.there is 1-1,5 mm difference between to knobs. so you can change the position of knobs easily. it has good metallic cover.great pedal.

For getting good sound you must have good amp. but its really good if you dont want to take your amp. quality is really good. from small overdrived sound to good distortioned sound. the range is too big.

yeas, i am using it without backup. its great. you can jump on it and it wont damged

I dont know. ))

I play from blues to trash. so it suits my music. i use a processor too. its great . i am playing on this pedal for a 6 monthi played on my friends Jackhammer. now i have my own JH1 . i would buy again it if it would be stolen.you can kill someone with this pedal))
ITS GREAT