Marshall JMP-1 Tube Pre-Amp

i paired her up with a marshall valvestate 8008 power amp when i originally set up my rack and they're still together ( if its good enough for billy gibbons then who am i to disagree!!) i also looped her to a yamaha fx500 effects pro which i use for reverb, delay and sometimes a bit of flange (when i feel like a purple rain moment)and a rolls midi pedal. i've used this rig since 1992 for gigging and recording in my younger days and now mainly home use (wife and young kids i'm afraid) just to keep my hand in, and non of it has missed a single beat hell i've never even had to change the valves/tubes. sound wise, well just like the ads said its all your marshalls rolled into one (almost)i mean with the right guitar the right effects and of course in the right hands it can sound like every marshall player of old and new, early angus, gary moore, jimmy, eric (bluesbreakers/cream days) slash the list goes on and on. in real terms the cleans are ok (they're obviously not fender) but i think my valvestate 8008 lets the amp down slightly on the cleans as i think power tubes tend to colour the clean sound more than the dirty sound ans so if it was perhaps paired up to a 50/50 valve power amp it may sound better (don't know never tried it myself)anyway my sound has always strayed towards dirty as all my heros are rockers ( eddie van halen, gary moore, billy gibbons in fact the whole marshall rogues gallery) for the dirty sound i use od 2 channel with vol 18 gain 18 bass 2 mids -3 treb 1 presc 1 and effect on 6 i tend to leave the bass shift off however unlike some users i find it a usefull addition with weaker pups (in fact i tend to use it with my prs custom 22 for a more brutal crunh tone) i've never had to use it with an external distortion pedal as i prefer the amp to sound like the amp not a pedal and when you shove a gibson les paul classic (ceramic pups) through it believe me it has enough distortion for crunch or lead work. the other nice feature about the amp is how well it cleans up with the guitar volume pot i can leave it fully stacked for lead work back off a bit for crunch and back off even more for a nice blues tone (think ride on by ac/dc).although i tend to play rock, blues the amp can suit many styles and if you shove a strat through it it'll do the texas thing and you can get some pretty sweet cleans it is definitely not a one trip pony.i give it a nine and a half for the only 'very good not excellent' clean but obviously i'll have to round it up to a ten

i've had her since she was born in 1992 and in basic terms she's a marshall with the convenience of midi. although things have moved on since '92 (check out the cars in them days compared to now) and all forms of 'boutique' amps now seem to dominate guitar players dreams amps such as the jmp-1 shouldn't be cast aside when you consider not only their pedigree but also their relavance for todays guitar player. she's got 4 channels 2 clean and 2 dirty, effects loop, headphone socket, emulated outputs' 100 patches inc 26 presets etc etc etc

as i've said had it since '92 never failed never used a backup in the early days - recently purchased a mesa f50 as a back up now in the hope that i can get out there again. got to be a ten

never used them if i did have to i have an advantage i live in england and so do they (makes up for the fact that every other great piece of gear comes out of the states although we've also got cornford check their gear out)

i've been playing since i was 15 now 35 as i've already said this was my first serious purchase and i've never looked back. guitar wise i,ve got a gibson les paul classic (v hot pups), prs custom 22 (beautiful guitar), fender strat am deluxe (my new purchase) as well as a takamine elec/acoustic and my original westone (now with a gibson 500t at the bridge)pedal wise i just use a cry baby and a boss tu2 tuner and quality zaolla silverline cables. i've recently added a mesa f50 combo to my set up mainly as a more convenient amp to tranport for rehersals etc but also to compliment my marshall (it has a fantastic clean tone i'll review it soon) and on my travels up and down the uk i demo'd everything i could to see if the bar had been raised since my jmp-1 came out and i have to say all the following vht, soldano, mesa, matamp, badcat, cornford (mk 50 is a fab amp maybe next time) ,engl have great products on the market but if you want to sound like my heros buy a marshall and if you want midi ease of use then you have to buy a jmp-1

This is way easier than you would think. Just look at the manual and figure it out... it's quite simple. Editing patches is a breeze.

I'm playing a Dave Murray signature stratocaster and another custom Fender strat with more vintage voicing with a bazillion stompboxes, a Marshall 9200 power amp, and a BBE 462 Sonic Maximizer. This setup sounds godly, better than any other Marshall to my ears. All rack gear is noisy, but an NS-2 can significantly reduce it. Dave Murray, Adrian Smith, and Janick Gers from Iron Maiden all use this amp, and it sounds divine both when I play it and when they do. I can also do Phish with it... it's incredibly versitile. It can hold 100 different channels, which is sweet. Get the Rolls MIDI Wizard or MIDI Buddy for the channel switching, it can't be beaten.

Never broken.

I play everything from BLS and Maiden down to Phish and Eric Johnson. I've been playing for 7 years, and this is my favorite amp. I would immediately buy another if it went missing. I love how easy to use and the tube tone it packs, and it looks classic too in the rack. I almost bought a TSL100, but realized this is easier to use, sounds better, is more versitile, and is cheaper. Paired with a JFX-1 effects processor it would sound even better. I give this amp my highest regards.

My setup:

Fernandes Moneterey Elite into
Wah pedal into
Jmp-1 into
Mesa 50/50 into
Mesa Standard 4x12 cab

simple enough. I play hardcore type music, I need gain that can let me do pinch harmonics.....and uh..this is NOT it. I'm no master at eq'ing so..

IF ANYONE HAS A GOOD SETTING WHERE PINCH HARMONICS ARE GOOD EMAIL ME!!!

floden "at" sbcglobal.net

The distortion lacks sustain like mad. it gets all muddy, I really hope I can fix this. :-(

It is also noisy as hell.

I really hope all this is just my settings.

You know the features.

9 cuz' I hate the bass shift thing.

idk Ive had it for like a month

lmao...

Marshall + customer support = the highest, pointless phone bill of your life.

I play Les Pauls, although I have a few other makes among my collection. For a metal guitar player, this thing kicks ass. The gainy sounds are brutal especially through a good power amp like the Mesa Simul 2:90. The cleans are good too. Overall, Just about any sound you want within Marshall's catalogue of tones is available and sounding good, all at your foot pedal.

The fact that you can cover the spectrum of Marshall tones via MIDI program changes gives this unit a high rating in the "features" department.

However, I'd like to see Continuous Controller capability and phantom power via 7 pin MIDI cable. Mesa Triaxis has it beat there.

Here's where I have a problem. I've had this thing for almost 10 years now and it still works=good. HOWEVER, the main volume get's "crackly" as it's susceptible to getting dirty. It'll need to be cleaned out regularly. Another pet peeve of mine with this thing is that they use PLASTIC input jacks... STUPID STUPID STUPID! I'd be interested to know if any touring pros out there like Dave Mustaine actually use these things stock or if they get them fitted with more robust hardware. Those were the first things to go. Shitty jacks. They get sloppy. I actually had to open up the unit and bend the contact back into place so that my input cable would stay snug and in contact. This is a half baked platform hardware-wise. It aint ready to run with the big dogs. As far as I'm concerned, this thing is not "road ready". Your best bet is to make all cable connections, lock 'em down tight in your rack and leave it that way! I'm giving a low reliability score because with such superior sound this thing is not manufactured as well as it should be. Kinda like putting retreads on a Dodge Viper. Built for speed and ready to rock but just as ready to be eliminated from the race due to substandard equipment.

N/A never called 'em

Awesome tone! Brutal gain and bite!

Very easy to use.

Crappy plastic input jacks, easily broken.

Lacking in overall features. Note to Marshall: Use metal input jacks! build in phantom power and continuous controller capability and I'll gladly replace my Triaxis just for the brutal metal tone alone!

I was looking for a Hi-Gain sound with nice crunch on each string without sounding muddy or dull. And this amp can defenetly deliver powerfull distortion, with enough gain without sounding crap. Im no big fan of any clean sounds, but compared to other amps i guess it's quite good.

Dont know how it sounds with "stock" tubes, but im using 12AX7 Electro Harmonix and they seem to do a great job. Seen some people complain about noise, i dont seem to have that problem. Could be cause of the tubes?

Well, i haven't had it for long but it's pretty old and still works great.

The best Pre-Amp money can buy. At least if u get it cheap ;)
Guess i never would buy this unit at list price, but if you can get it cheap, used or new, i strongly recommend it. If u play rock/metal, im sure you will love this unit as much as I do.

BTW, if you dont like marshall tone, you can use an EQ, but i haven't tried that yet, cause i got no problem with the marshall tone. But if i get tiered i'll give it a try.

Now for the part with controverse. Don't complain it doesn't sound like a tube amp when you use it with a solid state power amp made for hi-fi and some crap cab for audio with a 15" for bass and 12" for highs. Of course it will sound like shit. I've tried.

Get a real setup, all tube with good cabs before dissing the JMP-1.
My setup:
Ibanez RG1570L (Dimarzio X2N and The Breed Neck and EMG AB)
Epiphone Sheraton II---->JMP-1--->Loop--MXR 10-Band EQ-- Peavey Valverb-->Output to Mesa 50/50 moded with bias and KT88 on one side--> through Two Mesa 1X12 Recto Cabs (two is essential since one sounds too small and a 2X12 sounds thin compared to those).

I'm a Jazz player, and ex-Metal player.
The EQ is flexible, but there is some mid-mid peak that makes it sound vintage a little too much, that needs to be removed with an outboard EQ. Tube swapping helps a bit. JJ's ECC83S make the amp too dark. EH are taming a bit the mids and give better note definition.

Clean 1- One word: Dark. Even for Jazz it's way too dark.
Clean 2- Great clean channel. People who say it's too bright have something stuck in the ears or don't know how to set a clean channel.
If you put presence on 6, well of course it sound overly bright.
The trick is to adjust it in the right way, and not to over EQ as you'll loose balance and tone. My settings are: Vol:20 Gain:12
Bass:0 Mid:-2 Treb:4 Pres:-6 With proper guitar it will give a great vintage sound with articulation and complex mids if combined with proper units (tube reverb, etc). Gain is tricky on this channel.
Over 14-16 you loose balance in sound, too much bass and less highs.
8 was giving good sound but lacked definition/articulation. 12 was the best compromise. On those settings the clean has a strong bass,
you can make the air swirl when playing complex chords. I was surprised to get such a great jazz clean on a JMP-1. Was hard to set, but I now have a WEs Montgomery or Grant Green tone.

OD-1: This is a hardcore channel. It gets the Marshall Name.
Raw, roaring brutal sound you hear from old Marshall heads. Very trebly, middy, with tight shy bass. With an EQ adding a bit of bass you can make hte sound thicker. Great getting that half-distortion sound, harder than overdrive, but that tone where you still hear the string's tone. Great rock tone or metal rythm. Now for the lack of gain people complain about, well I'll tell you the JMP-1 has enough.
One day you'll understand that having a shitload of gain is only compressing the sound to a point where you loose tone and dynamics, which are essential to get a heavy tone, because if you play heavy, you'll sound heavy. Not a matter of gain, but of a big sound and technique.

OD-2: Ass-kickin channel. Smoother treble (can be restored to crisp through an EQ), strong mids and huge bass (without the Bass booster which boosts way too much bass). This channel has a more compressed tone with gain over 16-17, which is good for lead. For thich chords, run gain at 16-17 and you'll see that you have great definition on this amp. I have tried many EQ settings with this channel, and found the only way to make it sound goor is to scoop the mids. It restores balance. Thick sound, great for heavy rythm, but less grinding. Kind of a compromise to have more gain.

The MIX button SUCKS TONE!! Beware.
Output must be set high, with lower volume, to drive the tubes.
Very tubish feeling, great dynamics on clean2 and OD-1.
Not very versatile since once you'll find your sound you'll find no other one on the unit. It is possible to get dark jazz clean, sparkling pop clean, raw distortion, thick distortion, screaming lead or soft lead. Besides that, hard to get. The on-the-edge of breaking up clean is hard to get, bad for blues. But OD-1 is great for blues. For distortion, the amp sounds extremly brutal in tone, and leaves gain low enough to play heavy. A good example of heavy playing with lower gain is the song Blackwater Park from OPETH.
You can get that tone easily.

The JMP-1 is a rackmount preamp, featuring 4 channels, 2 for clean and 2 for distortion. People say it's two channels with two modes, since it has some continuity in gain (chan 1 has less than 2, then goes to breackup, etc.) but no. The channels are voiced differently and interact in a different way with picking. Features two tubes, one for clean and one for distortion channels. Of course you can't achieve high gain through one tube, there is one chip that helps.

Three-Band EQ plus Presence control, mix, fully midi programable.
Output, Volume and Gain controls to get the best control of power amp and/or preamp saturation.

The back of the unit features two sets of stereo outputs, each having a level control (-20db or +4db), one for live and the other for recording (speaker sim). But the speaker sim sucks.

The effect loop is great the way it's done, but sucks tone a lot.
The mix control boosts your volume on 6, that's weird.

It's old, but in mint shape. Only the power button is partly broken.
Stupid idea to use a push-pull thing instead of the traditionnal switch that doesn't break.

Marshall stuff usualy is easily breaking, the knobs especally. But this unit doesn't have those damn knobs whose solder always break and makes the sound cut when turning the knob. Only two knobs. The output is a traditionnal knob, and was dusty, but I didn't even need contact cleaner (I bought because I had a Marshall head before and I needed A LOT of contact cleaner to keep it usable). The one knob you always use feels strong, and isn't giving me trouble.

Those small buttons to edit parameters are great instead of usual knobs. And unless you're poking them real hard with a pen or something sharp they don't break. Under smart use the amp lasts. I say that because there's really dumb players out there. They manage to drop bear inside a Mesa Quad preamp, to break all the knobs because they are stupid metal heads.

Under normal use: Very dependable. More than Marshall stuff. 9.
Under dumb brute use: might break, but slower than amps with tons of knobs to bang when you're too drunk to turn them slowly. 8

I would gig anytime with the JMP-1, in any gigs. I would just put my rackmount somewhere out of reach of stupid people. Jazz gigs no problem, but metal gigs I would be careful.

Ordered the footswitch from marshall: 2 months delay.
They NEVER answered any e-mail for information.

I had a well-beaten Marshall head to get repaired, and I had to order pieces from the Marshall Dealer. Took 2 months to repair since the pieces were LATE. Supposed to be two to three weeks. Took double.
My main amp spent the whole summer in the repair shop. Man was I pissed.

I would never want to have to deal with Marshall since I know they would not really help me.

It is a great piece of gear. I won't go for a small tube combo for Jazz since I have a great vintage clean. Very toneful amp.

Don't let the controverse fool you. It sounds very organic and real.
On it's own, it is a little weak, but when in a real setup it's great. Get some decent reverb, power amp and cabs.

I don't fear somebody stealing it since my rack is damn too heavy. The thief wouldn't be able to lift it up the stairs.

It is so simple to use. Dial in a parameter, if you like it, save it.
Editing is a breeze. Even on the fly once your familiar with it. Manual is very straight forward and completely understandable. I've had mine since Spring 1995 and only had to change the preamp tubes once. Have never had to change the internal memory battery, ever.

This preamp is the shit! Nothing nails a Plexi like this unit or, a Plexi. I have mine setup Ch1 Clean Gain 8 Cln1, Ch2 blues-like Gain 8 OD1, Ch3 Gain 13 OD1, Ch 4 Gain 12 OD2. It goes from clean to scream. You can blend in effects whether they be stomp box or rack effects through the effects loop. I use it with a Guyatone WR3 auto wah, Maxon CP101 compressor, MXR Micro Amp (for solos) Boss NS-2, MXR EVH Phaser, Visual Sound H20 (chorus/delay) and, DigiTech DigiVerb. My guitars (7) vary but, all of them are humbuckers. You can go direct to board or mixer (as I do) with phenominal results. My sound guy is very happy. I gave it a 9, only because the clean is not absolutely sparkly Roland JC-120 clean. With humbuckers you have to use the Clean 1 setting or you will get unwanted distortion. My PRS CE22 with dragon 1 pickups does that. It works out well on Clean 1 with the gain around 8.

This unit consistantly sounds great. I can do everything I need to get done with it. The OD/Dist stompbox thing never held a candle to the JMP-1 for me anyway. This unit has a very good "chime" on some settings and a wonderful Marshall "Kerranggggg" too. It also sustains very well. I like the fact that as far as volume goes, it is again, consistant from gig to gig. Once it's dialed in, minor adjustment are always few and far between. I set the output dial on mine at 3 o'clock. It's a keeper. I've been through some serious crap over the years. This is the unit I always come back to. By the way, it marries up extremely well with the Marshall EL84 rackmount 20/20 amp. A great combination ! Even a Tech 21 Power Engine 60 or, a Fender 1270P powered monitor for us "direct" players.

Not one serious problem with it ever since 1995. My output pot is currently a little scratchy. Some of that liquid gold contact cleaner should quiet that down.

I don't know. I never needed it. I hear (It is alledged) that Korg /
Marshall support here in the U.S. sucks. That is only from what I've read here at Harmony Central pertaining to other Korg / Marshall
equipment and horror stories for service and/or warranty.

Out of courtesy and because I've never needed it, I'll leave this one
alone. No Opinion. That seems fair.

I play Rock. 60's, 70's, 80's, and a little 90's. It is perfect for what I'm doing. 100 midi channels total available if I need more presets. Been playing since October 1964. I would buy it again if the CURRENT build quality was the same as my 1995 unit. [I mean,...look what Roland did to the JC-120. That was a very well put together amp at one time. I think it is cheaply made now. Metal parts and switches became plastic. I'd hope Marshall wouldn't bastardize the JMP-1 by currently making it cheap and unreliable.

Mine is just shy of 10 years old and it just keeps going. It's a Marshall and in MY book, that is, the sound of Rock. :-)

I am using an '89 American Strat with Seymour Duncan Pickups (Hot rails in the neck/bridge, JB Jr. in the middle). I play mainly Iron Maiden (Dave/Adrian/Janick ALL use this preamp). It is pretty noisy, but can be greatly helped by a noise gate (all rack gear is noisy though). It can make almost any sound you want it to. It doesn't get distorted at high volumes. The distortion can be mild and warm all the way up to high-octane crunch, i.e. Metallica/Pantera.

This is a recent Marshall JMP-1 I am reviewing. The amp is SO versitile, it can do SO much. I play metal and classic rock, mainly Iron Maiden with this preamp. It has 4 channels (OD1&2, Clean1&2) and 100 programable save patches. It has a footswitch but I recommend a Rolls Midiwizard/Midibuddy for that, MUCH better than the provided footswitch, and cheaper. I use all of the features minus the MIDI out and thru jacks. Power is not an option, that is an issue of power amps, obviously. This is a stereo preamp, and I run it in stereo. It has stereo effects loop as well, which is AWESOME. The tubes in this thing really sing.

Never broken down. Very durable.

I've been playing for 8 of my 15 years, and I own that strat and a rack containing a Rocktron Intellifex, Furman RP-L8 power conditioner, a BBE Sonic Maximizer 462, and a Marshall 9200 power amp. I highly recommend this preamp. If you don't havea Rolls MIDIbuddy/MIDIwizard for this, GET ONE. It is a pain in the butt to change the channels manually. I chose this one because it is ubiquitous on pro racks everywhere, and on all three Maiden guys' racks.

Well, as I told before, now even more sure of that: THIS UNIT IS AMAZING!! You just have to be patience on tweaking sounds, combining them with your stompboxes and cabinets... You will find the whole Marshall tone history at JMP-1, from clean-jazzy, thru mid-overdrive bluesy moods, to high gain modern metal agressive distortion!! And you can built your own tone signature and finally be different from this Mesa-Boogie fever that every kid is being drowned. ARG!!! Mesa sounds ok, but everyone has the same sound!! 99% of this Nu-Metal crap that MUST HAVE a Boogie sounds equal each other!!! This is the end of the world!!! AAARRRGGG!!!! JMP-1 have much more tone amplitude comparing to those pasteurized Boogies!! And if you use JMP-1 with a Tube Power Amp... WOW... You will see the gates of heaven!!

This is a refresh on my last review, since 1 more year I spent playing with this amazing piece of tone. Very versatile unit, with no regrets on features. I am controlling this thing with a Tech21 Midi Mouse without any problem.

Built like a tank!!!

No need so far...

Set up your equipment correctly, including JMP-1 Pre Amp and you will have an unit for lifetime, with awesome sound and timbre flexibility.

I play a Gibson Flying V, Ibanez Jem7VWH, B.C. Rich Mockingbird Supreme and a PRS Custom 24. I pretty much always use humbuckers. My new rig contains a Furman PL-8II, Marshall JMP-1, T.C. Electronic G-Force, BBE 482i Sonic Maximizer and a Marshall EL34 100/100 (I first ran my JMP-1 through a Marshall 30th Anniverary head for power), then through two Marshall 1960B cabs. On the floor I use a Ground Control Pro for MIDI switching, an Ernie Ball volume pedal and a Crybaby 535Q. It's a deadly setup!!! There is a little noise when using alot of overdrive but the gate in the G-Force keeps that under control. This preamp is very versatile although the clean sounds aren't the greatest, remember it's not a Fender or a Mesa/Boogie, but with a little help once again from the G-Force it makes the clean tones sound alot better. The overdrives sound are amazing, especially when using a sonic maximizer. I'd give it a 9 if the clean channels were warmer...

My model was built at the end of 2003. I play in a cover band in Adelaide, Australia and also in an original rock band so I need alot of different sounds. It has four channels (two clean, two OD) uses two 12AX7 valves and im sure you know the rest!

Haven't had any problems yet.

Haven't dealt with Marshall before.

Ive been playing guitar for 11 years now. I also own a Mesa/Boogie Studio .22+ combo, a Marshall 30th Anniversary head and a Sansamp PSA-1 preamp(for recording). I was considering buying a Triaxis and am now glad I didn't due to the fact that there is a huge price difference(especially here in Australia) and the JMP-1 can do nearly everything the Triaxis can. If it were stolen I would buy it again unless Marshall brought out a JMP-2!