Marshall JMP-1 Tube Pre-Amp

For editting patches, this is one of the easiest pieces of gear I've owned. All peramitors are accessable with dedicated push buttons. No drill down menues, multimode keys. A brief perusal of the manual maybe necesary to familiarise yourself with the level options, jacks. More reading if you're gonna be using a MIDI controller.

Here I can only really talk about the sound through the speaker emulated outs. Alas, not being a pro or regularly gigging musician, I can't justify buying a power amp and cab. I'd never be able to crank it in my small urban flat anyway.

So that said. The speaker emulation outs go straight into my soundcard. I play Ibanez RG321, Ibanez JS-1000 or a Fender strat, into a Carl martin Compressor / Limiter. As others say. This is pure Marshall. If you want Mesa, Engl etc go there. If you want any of the Marshall tones from across the years, there in here. I mainly tend to use the OD2 with gain backed down. Either for a mid rangie Iorn Maiden sort of sound. Or more of a scooped chuggy rythem tone. For clean, I tend to stick with the second clean channel for it's brighter sound. Not as sparkley as a Fender of course. But Fender don't do crunch and distortion like this.

I'm shortly going to change the valves for the first time. Noticing some fizz and microphony now.


7 as it's Marshall tone through and through. May not be versitile enough for some.

Backup not an option really. If I were gigging it, I'm fairly confident it would stand up. Racked in a 4 U flight case at home. It's never glitched, broke or failed after 5 years regular use. It was second hand when i bought it. Minor scratches on the metal casing and a small chip off the headphone jack. Superficial stuff.

9. But bare in mind, not been lugged around in vans.

Emailed Marshall once about changeing valves. They responded pretty quickly. Couldn't really ask more.

Other gear I own / have owned.
A Digitech GFX Twin Tube: Nice sound. Awkward to edit quickly. Didn't do the Marshall sound.

Marshall Valvestate VSR 100r combo: Use if in a band.

Johnson J-Station: A quality piece of gear, stupidly discontinued. Again though, doesn't cut the Marshall sound for me. Use for practise and the Fender Twin model.

Damage Control Demonizer: Bought to have a different sounding tube driven, direct recording solution. More Mesa than Marshall. No preset storing.

Over all the JMP-1 is for me, an essential bit of gear. I play stuff from clean surfy , through to industrial, old school metal, blues, post rock instrumental... Anything I can really.

Were it stolen, I'd be most vexed. I'd certainly get another.

Nothing gets a 10.

Nobody can go wrong with this amp. Just one knob.

I have a rack midi setup. I love this amp. I can hear a sound in my head that I like and with this amp you can dial it in. There is no sound that you cannot make with this amp. The possibilities are insane. The only sound that I cant greate is the sound of a fuzz. You need a pedal for that. All distortion and clean tones are in the box. And you can safe 100 presets.

Not much to say. It is an all-valve preamp. digitally controlled.

I would actually give 11. I play in two bands and solo pop act and a metal band. For each band I have my presets loaded to everysound and every different guitar I use. So each song has 1-2 or maybe 3 presets and they are eq'ed for that guitar I use for that song.

Single rack space twin tube / digital preamp . Lots of basic Marshall goodness along with an effects loop / D.I. outputs . Simple to operate and edit. The manual is clear and easy to read.

Well here we are in 2009 and this piece of gear i still find to be very valuable and effective. I bought mine used and obtained it in very near mint condition in 2004 - it has been serving me well ever since. I have an eight space Grundorf cab loaded with a Mesa Boogie 20/20 power amp - the JMP-1 - TC M300 - BBE 482i - Furman power conditioner. Let me first clarify that the addition of the BBE or EQ relative equivilint is mucho needed to acquire the very best tones you can create using the JMP-1 ... it's simply a must have. As a stand alone unit without the addition of added EQ or Aural enhancing , the resident tones are a bit dull and lifeless. For my own needs the BBE works a great singular magic adding spank and life back to the tone. I use a Lopo 2x12 cab loaded with a pair of WGS ET-65 speakers to run it all in stereo. I love these speakers! Read my review of them here at HC. Okay , now for the details. You really have to twiddle with the various parameter settings to bring this thing to it's best offerings. There's a lot of hidden treasure in these units just waiting to be unearthed. You'll read other reviews knocking the effects loop - don't believe it! The effects loop in particular is probably the most careful parameter settings to make per patch. There's a range of 0 to 12 resident to the effects loop. The key is to get your effect from your unit dialed in first (all its parameters) and then to balance the input / output ratio using the range control on the JMP-1. Each patch according to the effect being used will yield a different range value - that's the deal. You've heard about the cleans not being too clean - forget about it! Again, the BBE brings the clean and the sheen into the mix. The trick is to twiddle the EQ and especially the gain settings resident to the JMP-1. I have dialed up a beautiful assortment of clean tones - my faves include a bit-o-grit when rolled up at the guitar volume and then fades out rolling down the guitar volume. The resident distortion patches on the JMP-1 are generally dark sounding to my ears - but again , the BBE changes all that. I really dig the variance of grit to grind to shred i can dial up with this unit. For my own taste , i don't use a gain setting over 15 even though a total value of 20 is available. I also use a pedalboard equipped with various dirt boxes and phase,chorus, and delay units that i send straight into the front end of the unit to get further tonal options. When using the pedalboard dirt tones i use a clean patch i created within the JMP-1. Don't use dirt boxes into the front end feeding a distortion patch - things can get out of control at that point and you'll find that you just end up wrecking a better dirt tone resident to the unit along with a lot of unwanted noise. I have found that the JMP-1 is a great versatile tone shaping preamp - with just a little added help. Of course , your power amp and speakers are the final stamp on your sound so be mindful of that. I forgot to mention up top that i use the Rolls Midi Buddy to make patch changes to the JMP-1 and TC M300 - there's a bit of latency between the switching but i myself can tolerate it as i don't do a lot of constant real time patch switching during a tune - moving from verse to chorus to solo patches has been just fine even though the lag is present as a very micro blip in time. It's no wonder these units have regained some popularity as more and more players are rediscovering the hidden riches these beauties hold. I can't think of a more fundamental preamp to be without ... the JMP-1 is a must have in my opinion.

Got mine used in 2004 and have had no issues with it whatsoever.

For myself , the JMP-1 is my choice as the go-to rack preamp. It allows me to cover a lot of stylistic tonal soundscape. You must use something like the BBE or equivilint to get the best out of it. I use a McCarty, Strat , Tele , SG , and JEM through it - each with great success. The pups on my Strat and Tele are humcancelling i should point out. I've been playing since my teens and i am ... well, a classic rock age player to say the least. What i like most about the JMP-1 is its one space configuration and flexibility and its famous heritage tones we all cut our teeth upon at some time or another. I tried other preamps and i won't name them out of respect for others who may like that product - but for me , the JMP-1 fits my needs best while yielding a variety of useful tones with careful editing.

The first thing I have to say is that this is the second JMP1 I have owned over the years. I sold my original one when I left rack based setups and went for heads and combos but I have always missed this unit and my decision to get another one after all these years says all I need to say about how good they are. Cost me a lot more to replace than I sold it for so it seems that they are becoming quite rare these days.

Its a pretty simple unit to get into but it would be a lot easier if it was all done with knobs instead of patches but then it wouldnt fit into a 1u would it? The midi functions are a little complicated and getting it to switch channels on your effects when you change channels on the MPM4E footswitch had a fairly wide learning curve. But other than that, its pretty simple.

The sounds available here are nothing short of excellent. Both clean feel as they were lifted right out of the normal and trebble inputs from my jtm45 all at lower volume. At high gain, the drive channels remind me of the harmonic rich slash tone from the use your illusions albums. At low gain, you get everything from nice calm blues tone through to crunchy rhythm.

I use my JMP1 almost exclusevely for live shows and rehearsals where it gets hooked up to a Marshall JTM45 with a TC G-Sharp. The versatility of the patch system allows you to program everything from eq, volume, gain and channel selection to how much of effects loop is incorporated into the mix. Combine this with the fact that you can get the MPM4E footswitch to directly access any of the first 4 patches and automatically change the patch on your effects unit and you are left with an EXTREMELY versatile live setup.

Excellent. Have never had a problem with any marshall units I have owned.

I popped in to their Milton Keynes head office here in the UK to have my 2 JTM45 heads serviced and the service is excellent.

I see a lot of arguements about diodes and valves and to be honest, i dont really care, its the tone that counts. I CAN say that I have removed the br3 and other diode (to do an upgrade) and the clean is 100% unaffected which means that at least the cleans are all valve. The od channels still have the same gain but they lack the harmonic detail and clarity especially at low gain where they sound positively terrible. So yes, it does have diodes in the od channels but they are there to smooth things out and shape the overall sound, they are NOT the main part of the distortion.

Overall, I would recommend thet JMP1 to anyone looking for a live ready preamp with traditional Marshall tone. If you alreay have one and you are thinking of selling,... dont... you WILL miss it!

This actually a very simple unit to use. Utlimately it has 4 channels and the tweaking never really gets confusing. It acts ultimately like the front end of nearly any Marshall amp being that it has Treble, Mid, Bass, Presence. It has a bass "boost" feature which I found very useful to round out solo patches.

I am using a massive rig which includes a Mesa Triaxis, the JMP-1 and lately I have been using the Tech 21 Character series Liverpool as a preamp direclty to my 2:90...I have already raved about the Liverpool but only if you use it like a preamp. I am using a GCX Audio switcher to control the preamps and my pedals which are racked in my rig. I gig pretty regularly so I use 2 1x12 Boogie cabs loaded with the old school Black Shadows for stereo and then mic'd. OK...soo here is the deal on the JMP-1: I really had lowered expectations because I have been using the Triaxis for around 20 years now and have really liked it a lot. The JMP is Marshall to the core..it really gets those tight focused gritty distortion tones. It acts and reacts like a Marshall. I can dial in some great classic tones i.e. Malcolm Young or the blistering metal tones of Rhoades, Priest etc....The harmonic content is massive. This is something that I have admired about the Boogie but the Marshall is actually much more active in this area. If you like to chug and squeel...the Marshall actually makes it much easier to do. The distortions sound natural and not spikey at the top end. On most amps the first thing I end up doing is turn the treble down! This preamp runs at flat or just under flat at the highs and is very smooth. The mid contorl is a little crazy though...I find that I flatten it out or drop it just below center to get that old familiar Marshall tone. The bass control is responsive and focused but can muddy up on the OD channels if not careful. The Presence control is pretty useful. It does exactly what it is supposed to do...move things a little more to the front via high end curve. It's very effective but you have to keep an eye on for fear of spikey tones. The bass boost feature can get crazy too but it really does round things out for solos. I am gonna use the Marshall as my ryth for the harder edged stuff that my band does and stick to the Triaxis for solos. The clean channels on the Marshall are useful but to tell you the truth I will probably stick to the Boogie for clean tones too....but the jury is still out on that one. If you are looking for a good midi preamp..this IS one of them. I am so glad I bought this and wish I would have done it years ago. It is very nice to have the full pallet of Boogie and Marshall sounds at my feet and it really does give you the essence of the Marshall history time and time again. I give it a 9 because an EQ would have been nicer.

Don't know yet...just bought it a few weeks ago.

No idea at all yet

I am in a cover band that plays rock music a little more to the 70's and 80's harder edged stuff. Authentic tones have always been very important to me and this is why a midi preamp has been so useful for me. I have been playing for more than 30 years and own a TON of gear. It this were lost or stolen, I would replace it right away. I do wish it had a 5 band eq so I simply added and MXR through the loop to make that happen. This unit has allowed me to replicate some much wanted tones including Judas Priest, Iron Maiden, Randy Rhoades, EVH and even great medium tones like Rick Nielson, Cult, Journey etc.....You can get a pretty good deal on these now days too so there is really no reason not to get a GCX switcher and start mixing preamps up! Much easier than carrying a half ton of amps with you!!

Takes awhile to get used to. If you can take a day off work, set it aside and monkey with it for a day. The learning curve is probably about 4-6 hours which equals 3-5 days depending on how much you play and how busy you are. I found a very usable tone on all volume levels within a week, and you can usually call it a good friend within 2-3 months.

Not your typical easy-peazy amp head though, so I'll rate it a 7.

Okay. Enough is enough. The Marshall JMP-1 is a stellar unit. If you cannot get a usable tone out of it, you either aren't using it right, you don't have the right gear, or you have tin ears. So, assuming you're thinking about buying this thing, I will proceed to give you a decent user guide :

After you've purchased your Marshall JMP-1, find a good TUBE power amp. Some acceptable ones include VHT, Marshall, and Mesa/Boogie; the last choice being the best mate for this preamp. (I use a Mesa 50/50 but a 2:90 or any other class A or class A/B will work great; in fact 6L6 amps tend to sound thicker and bigger over EL34s)

Replace the old tubes with some new ones that are preferably matched.

Next, find yourself a decently built and assembled 4x12. Peavey makes some good cabinets, Mesa is decent, and so is Marshall. I was blessed and found a Crate 4x12 that sounds very very good. Don't know what it's made out of or what the speakers are, but it's HUGE.

Now, after you've hooked everything up, there's a button on the back of the JMP-1 under the Master that says "Level" with two push options "+4dB" or "-20dB". Select the "-20dB" (this puts less feed on the your preamp and as a result draws more horsepower from your power amp). Now, use the setting on your power amp that draws the most power from your tubes (on my Mesa 50/50 it's a simple Hi-pwr and Lo-pwr flip switch).

Turn your amp on, mess with your settings. If you want a huge, heavy rock/metal type of sound, push the Bass Boost button "ON" and then adjust the bass accordingly. After a few moments, you'll see what I mean and you'll abandon your computer to go play with your newly acquired rig.

If you follow these instructions I'm almost positive you won't be disappointed in this thing. There's a reason I say a 4x12 and there's an even bigger reason I say a quality tube power amp.

All of this should cost you roughly anywhere from $900-$1700 (including the JMP-1).

This thing has a habit of losing screws, washers, and knobs. I've seen many JMP-1's that have cosmetic defects and things missing... these units are not put together very firmly, but I would definitely trust it for gigs and studio use. What's a few missing washers?

If you can follow my instructions above, the JMP-1 more than likely will not disappoint you. I say this because I have played several amps and setups with numerous guitars and the only thing that comes close is Orange and they run at least $2k just for the head. Certain Strats will sound good through this (it really depends on how heavy it is and the phase of the pickups, weird I know) but the real shine is with humbuckers or over-wound single coils. Right now I'm using a Telecaster with a hot single coil bridge pickup and it gives me the crunch of a humbucker but the sparkle of a Tele. Les Pauls and SG's are good matches for this.

This amp has hundreds of possible settings if you look hard enough. The presence knob is a hidden gem that can completely shape the hollowness or the fullness of a tone, and the Bass Shift will get you instantly into metal territory if you are dialed in right. OD1 is a transparent, more JCM800 style distortion; while the OD2 adds another gain stage and gives off a nice furious fuzzy crunch.


All in all a good unit. The minor gripes I have about it are completely superseded by the excellence in tone.


God Bless, Jesus is Lord.

evereything about the JMP-1 is already 100's of times explained so why should Itell more about it,though it's funny to read some posts .

This is my third set since the JMP-1 came out, I started with the JMP-1 and 9100+1960 when it came out.these days I have one simular set but the with eL34 100/100 poweramp,the only thing i dislike is that thare is a little harshness when tones are sustainig (crunch)
it sounds like the solid state circuit is overloading the tube circuit.(it's a hybrid as you know).soundwise it's a good piece to use it for what it is supposed to do MARSHALL SOUND with all the positive and negative issues of Marshall sound.
to me it's one of the nicest preamps NOTE!!!! Not the best ,absolutely not,but it's a preamp great preamp.

with normal use and racked up what could go wrong
seen broken parts on others but never on my gear.

I think it's oke I mailed once and the next day I received an email back

I'm a pro for many years now (30 years of playing)and I'm 36 years old.I play mesa boogie rack sets and used almost all the brands expansive and inexpansive,this Marshall set is a good thing if you use it for what it's made for.a head will sound more organic and these day's they are even are midi (most are) but the JMP-1 +EL34 100/100 +1960A set is a great rack set and it's stereo! with MARSHALL sound not more not less. It gives me a lot of fun!!!!!
and that's afterall what it's all about.......
cheers

The easiest and most versatile midi preamp ever made, that's the JMP-1! If you need the manual for this then you might be a tard and please don't do any reviews. This is a preamp for Marahall users exclusively. This was designed for people who LIKE the Marshall sound. The JMP-1 does not have any Mesa or Fender or whatever sounds in it. It is 100% pure breed Marshall tone.

The JMP-1 sounds like or very very close to just about any Marshall tone out there. Bottom line, if there is a Marshall tone in your head you will find it on the JMP-1. Well, if you know how to tweak those knobs just right. If you use this preamp with only the original 4 button footswitch, you are greatly missing out. This preamp switches via midi. You could for example, set 99 different variations of just OD1 if you were so inclined to do so. Think of it as a 99 channel amp with 4 different voicings. I have owned a Plexi, JCM 800, 900, 6100 LE, Jubilee, valvestate, 9200, DSL 100,etc. If I could only take just one it would be the JMP-1 with a Marshall power amp or head to use as a power amp.

I only have one complaint with the Marshall company. Why don't they stick this JMP-1 in a head box with a tube power amp? It would blow away the new JVM series.

The one thing Marshall should have added to this monster was a contour knob like they have on the old valvestate amps.

The navigation on this piece is well thought out and simple.
Designed for the dedicated Marshall user. Editing is simple, but I can't seem to get away from the old 50 watt non master factory setting. Manual is downloadable and simple.

I use this piece differently that most users in that I use it though the power section of various English Tube Combos. I use PAF, Soapbar, trad Strat and Tele pickups, a Hamer 12 string and an EMG strat through this rig and it sounds great with everything except the 12 string. Can't seem to get a clean enough patch for the 12 string as it smacks the front end pretty hard
The noise level is comperable to the preamp of most amps. If you want trad Marshall tones at any volume...this is the best solution I've found.

I am a little worried about the beating I give it and the cold midwestern nights I've made it withstand in my trunk. But it works.
Luck was on my side, I paid 100 bucks for it because the power switch was broke...never fixed it so it's on all the time when I plug it in. Love to have a backup For a piece that is reasonably complex, I consider it very reliable.

The schematics and manuals for this piece are available on the net.
Marshall is not known for being an accessable company, at least thats been my experience. I think you'd best seek out a good local tech.

More folks should grab one of these and find a nice tube combo amp, access the back end of the amp and find the joyous tones of a nice old Marshall. The front end of the JMP loads and acts like a nice Marshall. When the sound man gripes...and they ALWAYS gripe, you simply turn the preamp output level down. it seems to retain that "guitar plugged straight into a Marshall" relationship at managable volume levels.

Very simple to get a killer sound out of this unit.However there are a few tips I will mention below. Editing patches couldn't be easier.Don't really need the manual unless you are going to do some heavy midi stuff I would guess.

I use the following with the JMP-1 : IBANEZ 7620 and 7621 loaded with DImarzio Tone Zones in the bridge. ROCKTRON INTELLIFEX,DBX 215 EQ or an ALESIS MEQ-230, BBE 482I or 362,midi-mate and a MOSVALVE 500 power amp or Fender 2150 power amp. (I have 2 rigs) Oh yeah I have 2 MARSHALL 1960 4x12 cabs with Celestion gt-75's. The JMP-1 is noisy as most preamps are (exception ROCKTRON)but I use the INTELLIFEX hush for that it's totally quiet. I also use PLANET WAVES CABLES only on them. I don't really try to get other artist sounds but suppose I could if I needed to. OK most units sound better with a SONIC MAXIMIZER on them.This unit in no exception.It enhances the already killer tone but to really nail it in I use the EQ'S mentioned above for that.I have read before that GOOD CABLES ARE VERY IMPORTANT TO GOOD TONE.I have found this to be very true. You will get better clarity with PLANET WAVES,MONSTER CABLES or some other high quality cable. I know most people recommend using a TUBE POWER AMP to get the most out of these units but I get a great sound from my tube wannabe power amps.They are cheaper and don't need re-tubed and weigh less.The 500 WATT MOSVALVE is incredible. Also ditch the tubes in it and get 2 JJ ECC83S tubes for it. It really adds gain,tone and clarity. People who complain about the gain not being enough...you need the other things I've mentioned or something similar.Cleans are ok. The DISTORTION TONE is amazing and I have tried several pre-amps and this one rules them all! 9 out of 10 for just decent clean.

I think it is reliable.No problems yet

Haven't had to deal with them yet.

I play mostly prog-metal with power and thrash tendencies too.This unit along with the other equipment mentioned gives me a very powerful tonefull sound that I absolutely love.I have been playing over 20 years. I would certainly get another if something happened to one.If you are thinking about one...get it. It's a great unit.

As far as ease, you have to be illiterate to not be able to figure it out. It would be nice it the programming was quicker to change, but overall, I have NO complaints.

For starters, I changed out the ECC's that were in it with two Sovtek LPS tubes for a thicker gain.
Still holding on to my crisp highs. I run it through a Rocktron Velocity 150 and use an Alesis MEQ-230 for tonal control. If you really want to have a big sound, that setup does it. My distortion is wicked and the punch is awesome. I do think that the MEQ-230 is the biggest reason for what I get, but I have always loved the tone of a marshall amp. I wanted rack gear, so I purchased this one used and have no desire to replace it. The unit makes no noticeable noise and I play loud as h$#^!! because I have a drummer and bassist that compete to see who can be louder. All in the fun of it...
Primarily I play Hard rock, from Iron Maiden to Shinedown, and Metallica to KillSwitch... , so versatility is not a problem. and to be able to change the tones and levels of distortion by a program switch is the best part, I don't have to remember knob presets and make the changes every time. ...or have to line up 12 different stomp boxes each for a different tone. Been there, done that and it makes a messy stage.

Never had a problem.......

Never needed them

I would love to have another for backup, but backup has been un-neccessary since this unit has been flawless. I have been complimented Several times on my tones and how "big-time" my sound is. As compared to other amps I have heard, I will stick with this pre-amp for a long time to come.

this product is extremely easy to edit! theres so many different presets i dont even know where to start!

well, for all those who are posting rants on how bad this product is, maybe you should use it before you trash talk about it. this piece has amazing sound quality, but ony if you use it through hums. single coils dont cut it, even on the clean channels. all you gotta do is run this baby through a nice power amp and your set to go!

i believe so. even though there is no warranty, if you treat things well, this preamp will do wonders for you.

haven't had to deal with marshall yet.

i play many different styles of guitar, and this preamp has done an amazing job at keeping each style individual. i have been using it for quite a while now. i run it through a hafler p3000 power amp (which i know isnt the greatest), but it sounds amazing. the only thing i have against it is its lack of compatibility with single coils. other than that i love this more than any other amp i have owned.

The presets are very easy to call up, and out of that, editing is also very easy.

Most of the preset sounds are'nt too convincing if you use headphones.
I used it once on a TL Audio VTC console as a pre, and then you could get some usable sounds out of it. ( Some were very good)
But this unit is made to use it with a Marshall 9100 or 9200 valve power amp, so have to get my hands on one of these to investigate the full potential of it.
I own a Marshall 6100LE full stack, but as a sole pre the JMP1 can't compete with that,but...(see above).
But it is still a Marshall, so i have a strong positive prejudice. (from the early 80's on they have a ultimate cool status for metal suckers like me, sorry.)

Marshall

The only thing you find on their site about it, is the manual. (do they ignore one of their own babies???)
But if you put a question through their site, you will get always get an answer from them, or from one of their dealers.

It has a very distinctive soundcharacter, which isn't always bad.
The only question is; can i use it for the sound i like.
And that's a matter of taste!!! (and using the right equipment with it)
I think it's a succeeded experiment in creating a MIDI programmable pre amp, but at the wrong moment in time; in the 90's no rocker even thought about it using computer-like stuff, except for some alternative dudes.
But nowadays it wouldn't be such a stupid idea to develop something like this for a DAW workstation, and Marshall is known to invest in new technologies.( which don't always are good, but never are bad) if you want to rock, BUY A MARSHALL!!!

Very easy to use and edit. I like the button feature and the speed at which I can make changes.

Here we go. Channels Clean 1 and Clean2 sound good but not great. A little noisy at peak levels and abrupt at around 8. Still needs more than the pre-amp to finish the sound. Even a little color from an effects processor can make a huge difference. I can live with these 2 channels but there's much better for the outrageous price. OD1 and OD2 sound like crap! I hear no convincing valves tones worth mentioning, but rather sounds more like an overpriced fuzz box. Dirty distortion at the high frequency and gutless for a Marshall. Gain and volume from 7 and above are just full of unwanted noise. Bass shift helps and is quite good but the sound is already bad. I think it could be usefull in a studio for certain tones but certainly not onstage. Those giving such good reviews on this amp can buy mine real cheap!

No problems yet although I've heard complaints about it losing buttons.

Never had to deal with customer support. I'd rather buy another amp!

I'm a recording engineer, musician (over 30 yrs), performer and an award winning songwriter. I use Marshall power amps Valvestate 80/80 and the Marshall 9100 Dual Mono, 4x12 1960a cab. Mesa, Marshall, Line 6, and various other amps and heads. The JMP-1 is just not competitive to other amp sounds when it comes to valve gain.

The unit is very easy to use - it has 4 channells - two overdriven and two clean.In my opinion, you can get used to this day from the first day not even saying that you will love it at the same time. The ease of use just depends on the kind of use. SOme palyers want to connect it straight to the soundcard of their computers, others just want to use it in the rack with poweramp and speakers.

You can get your own sound of this little tube preamp very quickly. This preamp earned a reputation of a very great preamp that has a lot of enemies like triaxis or rocktron prophesy. Most guitarists refer to this unit as "an old friend is better than two new ones".I know that guitar virtuoso Michael Angelo Batio, Iron Maiden, Paul Gilbert used to play on this preamp, And I think they made a right choice. Marhsall JMP-1 has jus enough distortion to play anything from blues to shred and heavy metal.I am currently using JAckson DK2M with Dimarzio ToneZone pickups and the result is very great. The sound is clean and has enough distortion. The amp isnt noisy at all. The only drtawback of this amp is that in order to fully enjoy the sound you would need to use the preamp with any effects unit for colouring the sound. I am actually using this amp through my computer speakers and it sounds nice. Later I want to buy VHT poweramp and probably Marshall vintage cab to fully enjoy the versatality of my amp. But now I am very impressed with the sound of just marshall jmp-1 through pc speakers

I am not a live performer, but I think these preamps are generally built very reliably

Never dealt with the company yet

I mostly play shred and I think this unit is so much better than many modern amps out there because it is has a very high quality. I have been playing for 1 year.I love everything about my marshall jmp-1 and I will definitely buy another one at no time after if it is stolen. I think marhsall jmp-1 is just keeping the top line in preamp products. Comparing it to Peavey Valveking 212 which I had, Marshall is just the product that has a unique tone to it but Peavey is the good product just for its price and does not have a unique tone.

It is easy to get great sounds of this unit. Most of the people here giving reviews compare it to an Engl or a Mesa. It is not one of these so you cannot compare it. it is apples and oranges. One guy said because he was a studio musician he had a good bead on this unit. WRONG. He like so many others are roped into one way of thinking and expect to get something that will do what other units do. No unit is made with the manufacturer's idea in mind that they want it to sound like another product. That's ridiculous.

It is tried and true Marshall sound and can shake the rafters and go up against other pre's. but it IS different.

Also, I am older than most giving reviews here, and many REAL guitar legends use this equipment time and time again. When they want an alternative, Triple Rec sound, they get a Mesa - they don;t try to make their Marshal sound like a Mesa.

Also, just because it doesn;t get the sound YOU think it should or was expecting to, does not mean it is not good sound and does not meet the definition of good tube tone. Different does not mean bad.
Many others are saying use a good power amp. No ****! Use a good power amp for anything! Not just this pre.

Editing patches is simple. Dial in your sound and save it. You can also map patches to MIDI numbers for recalling presets with your switching system.

The manual is simple and Marshall probably figured that tyhose who spend the money on such an item are going to have some experience under their belt. Boy were they wrong because most of the reviewers here have to have their hands held. Play with the unit! Experiment. Good tone for you is good tone. Everyone can tell when the sound is just bad. But something with low noise and that's dialed in the way you like it is good tone. Guitar players the world over don;t just setup their amp to play. There are all sorts of other things going on both in the studio and in live situations.

A lot of these so called experienced reviewers are just former beginners who read certain magazines and articles and they just believe that and nothing else. Go to guitargeek.com and look at all the different setups. Some of these reviewers will say some of them are great and about the same number of others would disagree.

I don;t know the revision number. It sounds great and does the job that I bought it for.

I can get the sounds of my favorite guitar players and many others, because they are using 12AX7 preamps in racks or in Marshall combos or heads and cabs. Can I get a sound like Kurt Cobain? Sort of. its not what he used. Can I get a Hendrix sound going through the pre and my Marshall 50/50 all tube EL34 power amp. Absolutely. Can I get the same sound as the Beatles in the early 60's. Hell no! I need a Vox for that. But the Marshall and the Vox both have great tube tone, they're just different.

With this preamp I can get the sounds of some great STUDIO albums from artists like Journey, Rush, Van Halen, Gary Moore, Deep Purple, etc. I need a Mesa or a Dumble to get my favorite Larry Carlton Sounds.

I use many different rack and foot pedal effects units and they all induce some kind of noise into the signal. That is unavoidable. That's why noise gates, compressors, and limiters where created. It nature folks. The physics of analog electricity and sound just works that way when you are talking about gain.

I use this preamp through a Marshall 50/50 EL34 Dual Monobloc Amplifier. It sounds incredible. Tones of lows and highs whenever and wherever I want it. I also use them through my Vox AC30s and it really gives off a different and cool sound as well. Between the two setups I can dial in a lot of different sounds and I can even mix then=m together to varying degrees to get some of those different timbres, much in the way Eric Johnson does with his Marshall/Fender setups along with a mixer and his array of different footpedal effects.

I have used the same two JMP-1 preamps for over 10 years now and they have never had a problem. They get hot even when being cooled properly. No problems whatsoever. I have replaced tubes in them and each time, these units perform up to standard every time, that standard being 100%.

I would never use any gear on a gig without a backup because of the myriad of other problems or accidents that can happen or be caused by others. A preamp is at the heart of your guitar's sound system so a backup is wise for any preamp. Some effects you can live without when they die on a gig.

Marshal is great about any repairs or answers to questions I have had for them. I have not had many since everything works so well.

I did have a power amp of theirs repaired once and the authorized service repair center was great. The technician was thorough in explaining to me what he had to do and how long he thought it would take, etc.

I play all sorts of styles of music and I never consider myself a slave to one brand of amp, guitar, or effect unit. When I need that signature crunch at any level of volume and distortion I can always count on Marshall. They invented the sound (with a tiny bit of help from the modified Fender Bassman circuit).

I have been a musician all my life, and grew up in a musical family. We all play and studied music formally. I have been playing guitar for nearly 30 years. I own several British-made Vox AC30s, Marshal cabs, Line 6 effects, Eventide, Ensoniq, tc Electronic. I use some MXR, Ibanez, BOSS, Roland effetcs and Ernie Ball pedals along with a Bradshaw switching system and a Sound Sculpture Switchblade.

I would replace this unit in a heartbeat. So many of the sounds people hear from guitars are generated by the Marshall preamp. And it just sounds great anyway. There is nothing about the unit I do not like. I like the ability to bring MIDI into the equation. I have owned Marshall heads and its nice to be able to recal a wide range of different sounds from the push of a button, and also because it is a tube unit. You cannot beat tubes for guitar. Tubes add a character and warmth you can't easily find in a tone of solid-state units.

It helps me make music in the way most of the gear i have does, itcan generate a wide enough array of "colors" that I can come up with something I feel fits into a particular piece of music.

It was pretty easy to have this thing running in no time. One of the easiest units i ever seen, but to tell the truth i haven't seen much. editing patches is pretty easy. manual is straightforward. But i wish it had more details in it regarding how the unit works, and maybe some schematics of the insides.

I play stuff like Children of Bodom, Firewind, Racer X, Steve Vai, Joe Satriani, Dream Theater and some 80s metal. This unit has way more than enough distortion in it to play that kind of music, and i don't understand why many reviews complain that the unit doesn't have enough distortion. I am not sure about extreme high-gain nu-metal stuff, since i don't play that stuff and i don't tune my guitars lower than D standard, but i think even if you were playing that kind of stuff it could work. After all,"7" from Slipknot used to use one of this units before. I think the unit has enough distortion in it to sustain the most screaming pinch harmonics, so don't take those reviews about weak distortion too seriously. The tone in OD2 is sounds more overdriven, and i prefer it better to the one in OD1. But OD1 is good in its own way, if you are into some classical stuff. I don't use the clean channels at this point much, but i think they sound ok.
My primary guitar that I use with it is Edwards E-AL-120 with EMG HZ pickup. The tone i get from this guitar and amp is very hot and perfect for metal. I plug this unit through speaker simulation output straight to my computer, but i have pretty powerful speakers which are ideal for practicing. I am planning to buy a power amp and cabinets for this unit one day maybe, but right now i just don't see the point as i am pretty satisfied with the tone.
People who complain about weakness of this unit, should try some hot EMG pickups i guess - that's one of my advices. I tried a guitar with seymour duncan 59 in the bridge through this unit - and the tone that i got wasn't as heavy as with my EMG. So maybe it's not all just about the distortion? I can also recommend distortion pedals, although for me it's enough distortion - i really love the natural tone that i get from it, and i don't feel like messing up with any pedals.

I am not a live performer, how would i know.

didn't have to deal with it.

I've been playing for about 2.5 years. I can classify myself as an intermediate to advanced hobbyist. Music is my hobby and i don't make any living out of it. I play for own pleasure and my friends. As i mentioned, i play some metal and instrumental rock for pleasure. If this unit was stolen, i'd probably get another one at some point if i could find it for cheap.
The reason why i got this unit is because i wanted to have something that sounds awesome, something that is versatile and not expensive - after going through various dsp practice amps and computer programs such as amplitube and guitar rig2, where i could never achieve the desired tone, i finally realized that there is nothing better for me than a real valve-driven preamplifier. So i got this used and i feel very happy ever since. I would certainly recommend this unit to everybody - including people like me - who play at home for pleasure - simply because it's an amazing sounding device. Well, maybe professionals should look around more, but for us mortals - it's simply awesome.
There is absolutely nothing that i hate about this unit. I love everything. I can't really compare it to other units of its kind... because i didn't try any other preamps. But i bet others like Triaxis would be better, but they also cost more as well. I can say with confidence that this unit is certainly better than having a practice amp or using those programs such as guitar rig2.

Takes roughly a half hour to get used to. Not all that hard. Intimidating at first, but it has an easy learning curve.

You've got to be kidding me. I can't believe the grief this unit has recieved in here.

Learn to tweak an amp, much less USE it before you review it.

If you pair this preamp with a shitty power-amp, you're gonna be disappointed. That's a given.

I run mine with a Mesa 50/50 on HI-POWER, with the volume and presence dimed. I adjust the preamp's volume to taste. I've gotten more useable sounds out of this amp than any amp I've ever owned.

For tube amps I've owned a Marshall Valvestate, Marshall JCM2000, Marshall JCM900, Mesa DC-3, Mesa Dual Rectifier, Carvin X-100B, and a Fender Bandmaster. Up until this point the only amp that I was almost completely satisfied with was the Mesa Dual Recto. I was still looking for that certain something however and I figured if I could have a Mesa/Marshall rig, I'd be in tonal heaven. Turns out I was right.

If this piece of equipment was half as bad as some of you say it is, would we have modern legends like Stephen Carpenter, Billy Corgan, or Tom Morello using it in their every day live and recording rigs? Hell, "Around the Fur" and "Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness" were all done with the Marshall JMP-1. You tell me that those tones aren't something special.

I've seen people do anything from mild blues rock to SLIPKNOT, that's right I said Slipknot and pull it off with ease. Just to humor myself I went home to see if I could get a raunchy, blistering nu-metal tone out of it. I rocked my own fucking socks out of my shoes. It's got that bass that makes things shake, those mids that are dark and cut right through, and the treble that sits right between your ears. It sounded like a fucking DIEZEL or an ENGL. I kid you not.


Once a person knows how to effectively tweak the EQ and use each Overdrive channel respectively, this amp is an invalueable asset to one's rig, live or studio. Our band recently cut an EP this summer and I did all of the guitars for the EP. You can check it out at www.myspace.com/descentedsilence.

I've talked to people in person who have owned this unit and are ultimately disappointed with it. My first question is "what kind of power amp are you using", 9 times out of 10 they will say "a solid state" something or other (Peavey, Yamaha, Nady). Well there's your problem. The GUTS and BALLS come from the power amp, and the gravy on top comes from the JMP-1.

Not nearly as rugged as the Mesa/Boogie stuff I've owned in the past, but it's very close. Cosmetically, it's weak. The knobs are fragile and I've lost one of the hexes off the headphone jack already. Otherwise it's a solid unit. Never had a problem with it performing.

There is some hiss and noise problems, especially on OD2 (feedback galore with a humbucker guitar). That's one gripe I have but I'm sure it's an easy fix with a noise gate.

I play anything Alternative Hard Rock and I dive into a bit of Metal territory at times. It has never failed me.

So far I've NAILED (spot on with the record) tones from the following bands :

Paw, Smashing Pumpkins, Pantera, Metallica, A Perfect Circle, Silverchair, Stone Temple Pilots, Everclear, ZZ Top, Hammerbox, Dinosaur Jr, Nirvana, AC/DC, and Van Halen. I'm sure there's more in there that I just haven't discovered yet.

Marshall describes this unit as every JCM and JMP head in one compact unit. They're not lying - it's in there, you just have to know what you're doing.

The presets are nothing special so don't waste your time judging based on the presets.

Hopefully soon I'll get some Pumpkins' clips up on the web. It's immaculate, almost scary how close the tones are on "Where Boys Fear to Tread", "Zero", "Porcelina", and "Jellybelly" are. After all, the album was recorded with a JMP-1.

Don't listen to the naysayers, this is a great preamp.

It's Very EZ to use. I think this is a good preamp for the ppl who're not familiar with "RACK STUFF". Just like simple rack preamps like GOOD-OLD "ADA MP-1", JMP-1 is good for the beginner. Connecting wiht axes, editing patches, everything is pretty simple and easy.

Awright. Since I'm a man who works at studios,I got to tell you about this stuff based on studio sessions,just like my previous review about "H&K's access preamp"

1. Noize

This is not that quiet gear. It's not perfectly clean like Line6's POD stuff, because it has valve inside. Considering it's a valve stuff, it's pretty quiet but you still need some good noise gate for serious studio gigs or recordings.

2. Patches/Sounds

A. Using JMP-1 with Power amp.

I tried this with Mesa/Boogie 2:90, MosValve MV960 poweramps.
And Mese/Boogie 12x4 all Black Shadow cab, Marshall 1936, 1960A cabinets all modified with Vintage 30 speakers.

Sounds pretty good with any power amps, for drive sound valve power amp(mesa) was better, and for clean sound, both TR & valve power amp were good.

But I doubt if I could use jmp-1 with those setting for live gig.
Because its drive sound is too weak. The particles of jmp-1's drive are just too small and fussy. Unlike marshall's MAN-Power overdrive sounds which can be brought from jcm800s or else, it's drive sound is just a bark of Paris's Chihuahua. You can get a heavy distortion sound with it, but still sounds way different the distortion sound of Triple rect's stack. So, even if you got nice power amps, just don't get it for your live gig, cause you'll find you brought the wrong one in 15 mins.

B. Using with Speaker simulator/emulator for Recording

It's pretty good for recording. I tried Marshall's SE-100 which is one of the greatest speaker simulator in history, also palmer speaker simulator that Van Halen used.

Sounds pretty nice, and it has the Marshall charactor. So you'll notice in a few seconds saying "that's a jcm sound" when you here a piece recorded with this.

Simple connetion :
AXE -> JMP-1 -> Speaker Emul -> Gate(optional) -> Recording board

C. Using with other EFXs.

It's really nice to go with extra effects. As you may know, Some preamps (or any other DRIVE Stuff) are not friendly with other effectors so they just don't mixed up enough to get the tone that you want. Some Drive gears just not get "Wet enough" for your Chorus effector, etc.

Most preset patches of JMP-1 are nice to go along your chorus, delay stomps, etc.

When you buy a used Jmp-1,

Don't forget to test the knob.

Turn the knob, test it, if it's OK and tight enough.

This is pretty weak stuff, I saw many used jmp-1 lost their buttons, and I never seen one(used) with knob which is tight and in perfect condition.

It's a marshall stuff, and sounds like marshall.
Don't buy this if you're a jazz musician or whoever what you only need is clean sound. Pretty nice stuff for recording, Great stuff for RACK-Preamp rookie pilots.

I think it's worth the money if buy this for $400 or better price.
And Strongly recommend you to think Again for more than $550.

Very easy to program sounds. The factory presets are very usuable, and need only a little tweaking to suit personal taste. The manual is informative, but the unit itself is easy to figure out.

Sound quality is just what you'd expect from a Marshall amp: lots of crunch and even tones. Noise is not an issue, unless the preamp is on maximum and you're playing at a loud volume level.

I've owned it since the mid 90s and have never had a problem with it (knock on wood...). I've consistently used it for gigs without a backup.

The jmp1 is able to produce excellent rock sounds. It's ok for Fender-type sounds, although other amps are probably better for that. I've been a playing musician for over 20 years, and have had other amps in the past (ADA mp-1, Marshall 50-watt head). I've recently tried the Boss GT-8 and other guitar processors, but the jmp-1 delivers the tube sound I prefer. I'm soon going to be adding a G-major by TC Elec. as an effects unit. Current set-up: Les Paul Custom > Marshall JMP-1 > ART Multiverb > Marshall 8008 power amp > 2 X 2-12s cabinets.

Getting a good sound out of this preamp depends on how it is being used. IT NEEDS A GOOD POWERAMP, something that will crank out all of the bass and thick mids that this rthings puts out. Editing patches could not be easier to be completely honest, all self explanatory. The manual tells you everything that you coulsd have figured out for yourself upon opening the box. I do not know the firmware revision number off of the top of my head and I'm not in the position to take apart my rack and open the unit to find out.

Q: Can you get the sound of your favorite artists?

A: I'm not really about that, because IMHO if you want to get the sound of your favorite artist; you're going to need that exact rig that he/she is using and even then it may not sound the same. However, I am influenced by the tone of other artists, and thus work off of that to find a sound that I can say is tailored to me. I'm a very big Deftones fan and due to the use of the JMP-1 on many of their recordings, I opted to try it out. No, you will not be able to nail the Deftones White Pony tone, or the Smashing Pumokins MCIS tone, or any other amazing sounding recordings employing the use of this preamp. I will say that you can come close to it :-) I purchased this preamp because 90% of my favorite tones are present on records where the artist used this preamp.

Q: Are certain effects (distortion, chorus, ...) very good? Very bad?

I personally like lower fidelity, grindy, out of control guitar tones. This unit can produce those quite effectively. I'm not one for scooped mids either. By the way, you can get all the mids in the world with this thing or you can get the most rotten scooped mid sound you've ever heard, or close to it. So, as for distortion/overdrive, this unit does what I want it to do. Effects and such, it handles them very nicely. The clean channel is OKAY with me. Marshall's strong suit was never crystal clear shimmering clean tones. I'd prefer a Fender Twin or something of the like for my clean tones, but for now, this unit will do. One quality I have to say I love about this preamp is the punch that it has, but that also has alot to do with the poweramp being used, which leads me to the next question.

Q: What setup (i.e. what guitars and amps) are you using this with?

A: Fender Mexican Stratocaster with Blue LS, Gold LS, SD Hot Rails from neck to bridge respectively. Fender American Telecaster with SD Hot Rails in the bridge. Signal is ran in series through a pedalboard consisting of a Bozz Hyper Fuzz, SIB Varidrive, Digitech Whammy, Boss DD-6, Boss PH-3. Signal then encounters an Axxess Electronics BS-2 splitter in the back of the rack where the signal is split one way into a Korg DTR-1000 and the other way into the input of the JMP-1. The signal from the JMP-1 is ran through an Alesis 3630 Compressor where it then goes to a VHT Two/Ninety/Two poweramp. Standard Marshall Cabinetry is used after the poweramp. Stock 1960.

Q: Is it noisy? On what settings?

A: VERY VERY NOISY on any setting other than clean or moderate crunch. Can be easily corrected with a noise gate, HUSH unit, or anything of that nature.

Q: Are the effects weak or do they always sound great?

A: I don't use a whole lot of effects outside of delay and chorus but they are both complimented with regards by this preamp.

Q: What amp are you using it with?

A: As stated above, a VHT Two/Ninety/Two poweramp.

I will now add a few notes about the sound quality of this unit. If you're looking for the Rolls Royce or Ferrari of tones, do not purchase this unit, you will be gravely disappointed. If you're looking for a real mean and hellish tone, purchase this unit. The unit could be tighter as far as bass goes. As I said above, less noise would be optimal. Despite it being a "VALVE PRE" it uses a fair deal of solid state electronics followed by the use of two 12AX7s. New tubes WILL clear up the sound of the unit. Use of a poweramp that can deliver what is needed to be delivered is absolutely essential. The VHT is one of the few poweramps that can accomplish this task. This is almost fully responsible for delivering the bass that this preamp puts out and thus being very punchy, unit could also be considered by some as "boomy" at first. Fine EQing IS needed. That's a minus for some folks. It also has a lot of what many may consider "undesired brightness and harshness." It's all about how you want it to sound.

Q: Can you depend on it?

A: Yes, I have never had a single problem with the unit. I've owned it for a litte over a year now.

Q: Would you use it on a gig without a backup?

A: Have done it. Will continue to do so until I have the funds to purchase another preamp.

As far as customer support/repairs goes, I have not dealt with anybody concerning this piece of equipment. I have dealt with Marshall before and had no problems at all.

I have not given the preamp any mods or upgrades yet. I plan on it though. The unit has not needed any repairs since I've owned it.

Q: What style of music do you play? Is this a good match?

A: I play in a metal band and I also play in a rock oriented band I guess you could say. I hate genres. The unit does exactly what I need it to do.

Q: How long have you been playing? What other gear do you own?

A: Been playing for 6-7 years, also own a Marshall TSL 100 head, another Strat that is currently out of commission and awating mass repairs, and a Marshall AVT 20.

Q: If it were stolen or lost, would you buy it again or get something else?

A: At first I'd get a VHT GP-3 then I'd get another JMP-1.

Q: What do you love about it? What do you hate? What is your favorite feature?

A: Love: Heavy tone (very general descrip..) Hate: THE NOISE. Favorite feature: Instant recall from a bank of patches that I will probably never fill up and being the first piece of equipment to settle my tone quest for some time.

Q: Did you compare it to other products? Which ones? Why did you choose this one?

A: I compared this with a Triaxis and Recto Pre. Both of which weren't really my thing. BUT, that can be considered invalid since those units were not used in my rig and put through the weeks of EQing that I've put into the JMP-1. A true comparison would be to have the units being compared placed in the exact same scenario that they would be normally used in while comparing.

Q: Anything you wish it had?

A: LESS NOISE (a small pet peeve of mine is obviously noise) ALL tube circuitry (no solid state components involved with the signal path.)

Q: Does it help you make music, or does it get in the way?

A: The first piece of equipment that has helped me in a long time.

Q: Anything else you'd like to share?

A: Pretty confident I've covered all I can think of covering at this time.

Very simple user interface. Can be operated without a manual

I bought this unit second hand because it was cheap and I believed the hype. I've used it for recording and live through a el84 power amp, both through a 4x12 and two 1x12's. I have read harmony central reviews millions of times but have never felt so strongly as to write one. This unit is a piece of garbage, and before you make assumptions about the credibility of this review I am a guitar teacher/session player and have used every amp under the sun and to good effect. Pound for pound this is the worst piece of kit I've ever used. Firstly,the term valve preamp is very misleading as the JMP sounds transisterized. I suspect that the valves are part of the EQ circuit as with some valvestate gear. How, therefore, do Marshall justify the cost of this festering turd of a preamp.
To be more specific then, the clean channel is thin and lifeless and although I don't expect a Marshall to sound like a Fender, I normally quite like Marshall cleans as they're good for rythym (not being overly intrusive).
The 1st overdrive channel is a waste of time. The second overdrive channel can produce some reasonable harmonics and overtones but still within the confines of a preamp lacking in body and tone.
Furthurmore, what is going on with the FX loop? It does next to nothing from increments 0-6, after which point you're swimming in effects.
Believe me, I don't wish to be one of these people that gives everything a 1 or 10 out of 10, but considering the cost of this unit it deserves a 1. Had the asking price been ??150 brand new I would give it a generous 3....maybe.
I hope this review is of use to someone, as I am writing it as a warning to potential buyers. If you however like the sound of this preamp, then I know a really good ear, nose and throat specialist who can help sort out your ears.

Didn't own it long enough to break it although I did consider it.

Never dealt with them for this unit.

I have to play everything in my profession and this unit does nothing well. In my 18 years of playing I have used Boogies, Laneys, Torres, Fenders and countless Marshalls of which I still own a JCM800 4212 (superb, by the way-how a Marshall should sound), and nothing has offended my ear sufficiently for me to feel the need to warn others. I know why so many people use these things. On paper it's the perfect preamp;-small, light, flexible, MIDI switchable etc etc. I wanted to like it for the same reasons and I think that Marshall have played on this.
I've already sold the JMP1 now, but had someone stolen it I'd have had to hunt them down and shake their hand.
It's a shame you can't add to these reviews later, becaues I feel I've forgotten to rant about something, there is so much wrong with this unit!

Take 10 minutes of your time and sweep all the parameters to get to know the eq, and how the gain/volume responds to your poweramp.
Find the sound you want press store once, then choose the number of preset you want and press store once more. Voila you now have stored a preset. If you are using the loop for an effect you need a bit of basic knowledge. But that goes for any amp with a fxloop.

Here is the reason for why i desided to make a review of this astonishing piece of art.
It sounds so good on the od 1 channel alone, that i would have bought it even if it was a one channel preamp. I use this channel for 90% of my playing. It is so raw and transparent it`s unbelivable. i use it for hendrix style to searing metal sounds. All i can say is that you have to check it out if you havent had a chance yet. It have enough gain, but does not compress your sound and hide sloppy playing (i believe a couple of the people who dislike this unit, actually have to improve their playing skills...) The clean channels is weaker than the od channels. But i dont use the clean channels much any way. With a good guitar you can use the volume knob and adjust the gain you want. Works for me...
The od2 channel is more compressed and not as transparent as the od1 channel. But for shredding and soloing it is great! But for brutal tight rythm guitar it is all about using the gain with moderation. Where you can hear each note, and how hard you strike the strings.

I actually sold mine... Wanted something else. Had a fender twin, a mesa nomad and triaxis, rocktron piranha and voodu valve. I tried a bunch of pedals (tonebones Trimod, plexitube and hot british all sounds good but not great) Boss pedals, fulltone and maxxon.

Guess what. I ended up buing two jmp-1`s in sted. After two years of searching for the sound i wanted. And realised that the sound i want may change a bit. But it is to be found mostly in my playing skills.

i use it with a prs standard 24 and an american double fat strat with duncans.

Not to mention that for direct recording it sounds wonderful. But you have to make separet preset for direct recording. Because it sounds different than thru an amp. But it is the best way to record distorted guitars. Unlike digital modelers it has dynamics and let all notes shine trough. I have a pod xt and a v-amp 2. Both units sounds good for compressed hi gain sounds, but they dont respond the way the all analog jmp-1 does. Also tested the vox tonelab for a couple of days (it has a tube, but all the gain is made digital.)

At the end of the day. Jmp-1 is may not the right unit for every guitar player in the world. But for most it wil give years of addictive sounds that make you wanna play. And with the right setup you wanna make your ears bleed...

I give this one a 9 because of the clean sounds.
It should also have realtime midi control for the volume. If there is one thing marshall should improve on the jmp-2 that is all they need to do.

Works fine. Never had any problems. Put it in a rack and keep it there. That`s it.

Never had to deal with them

Sounds amaxing for most styles from hendrix to metallica and beyond. It is amazing with seven strings and lower tunings. But it sounds best when used with a closed cabinet. And it prefers at least one 4x12 and truly shrines with two 4x12 cabinets. Use a tube poweramp with it. But it sounds great with a valvestate 8008 (i have one for backup.) But it screams with a marshall 9200 poweramp and two 1960 bas one vintage loaded and one g12-75
Been playing for 17 years. Weekly gigs the last 11 years or so.
As mentioned earlyer in my review i miss realtime midi control over the overall volume.
It has improved all aspects of my playing skills and is truly one one of the best ways to make your guitar scream.

If you cant figure out how to use this after reading the manual there may be something wrong with you.

Editing is very easy.

Let me clear something up the people who say you cant get a good metal tone (hardcore,black metal etc...) out of this are freaking high. You can go from 70's prog rock to Death Metal.The cleans are good, you just have to find your sound and tweak it to your specs. If you dont like the Marshall sound than this is not for you and you should of never bought it.

I am using the jmp1 with a 1960 lead cab, rocktron hush, boss gt8 and a EL34 100/100

Guitars that I use with this rig Jackson USA Soloist, Fender USA Fat Strat w SD's, Gibson Classic LP.

I have had it for 2 years and its great!

I would like to have a backup just in case.

I had some questions and I sent Marshall a email and they got back to me within a day.Did they know what they were talking about well thats another issue.

-I play Heavy Metal (Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, Opeth, Death, etc...) and this thing is perfect.
-Been playing for 10 years.
-If it was stolen I would buy another one.
-I love the fact that its so easy to use.

First of all, ya get 26 factory sounds from the guys at Marshall!!!
IF you didn't.. (Then hold OD1&Clean1 down as you power up) They will reinstall. Of course, you will loose the patches you made... I will probably use most of there patches cause they completely cover the board as far as "MARSHALL Tone". If you???re spending the cash to build a great rack system, then you should definitely check this bitch out! DO YOUR HOMEWORK KIDS. What sound are you going for? I Read the manual once and I???ve been good sense:) As far as editing patches, I agree (sometimes) that the EQ could be better but after I have spent adequate time with it at all volumes I realized that most of the time I am just full of shit! This is a great and very natural sounding pre-amp and it does the job and does it really well. I've built a rack system so POST EQing takes care of that problem:)

It sounds really good with a really good power amp. I personally use a Mesa 2:90, and it kicks ass! (Leave the deep switching off on the Mesa)The Marshall has a bass shift button that adds low end and if you use both, it gets strange. If you want to hear what this thing can do then listen to "Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness" by the Pumpkins! Corgan and Iha pretty much covered the tone board with all kinds of guitar tracks to listen to.

I am using the Mesa 2:90
Marshall JMP-1
T.c. Electronics G-system
Two 1x12 Woodring Cubes with Celestion G12T-75's
G&L S-500 w/ Dimarzio HS-3(bridge) HS-2's(Neck, Middle)
Also, I changed the Pre-amp tubes in the Marshall and Mesa to JJ Ecc83S's and I put JJ 6L6 GC's for power tubes. BACK THE FUCK UP!!!

If your looking for a sound that is unique and natural, then you have found it. If you want the sound of a JCM800 and that's it, then buy one of those. Yes, this does sound a bit different but you have to realize that it is a different animal.

Yes, it is a little noisy on the OD channels. Duh!
Hush it out if ya need to.

Never had a problem with it and I have spend every fucking dollar I have on all this gear so I can't afford a back up. I'm not worried. I take care of my shit, and it takes care of me.

I haven't delt with Marshall. If I have a problem, I will consult one of the reliable locals who know what to do.

I desire versatility!!! I need to go from hear to there and back in no time. This is the best match for me and if it were stolen I would kill that mother fucker and put it back into my rack where it belongs:) I have been playing for 16 years. I chose Marshall because I love the beauty (some) of there amps produce. They, like everyone, make some shit, but I truly feel that I struck gold when I bought this pre-amp.

As far as what style of music that I write and play, well, search for "bamboo needle" on myspace and you can hear a little of what I sound like.

Every piece of gear you buy matters!!! If you buy a shitty power amp and try to run this thing, it probably will sound like shit. Who knows, it may be perfect for you. My point is, that most players who buy a quality piece of gear like the Marshall JMP-1 and give bad reviews either don't know what they have bought/ what the hell it does, or they haven't figured out what THEY want yet. So again, DO YOUR HOMEWORK:)

You've read the features. I just wanted to point out one thing. Has parallel effects loop, but when dialed to '12' becomes a serial effects loop, which is what I do. This way, my effects unit controls all the dry/wet signal. Less tweaking.

Very easy to use. Easy to program and get a good sound. Manual is O.K. My unit is brand new.

Gear: Ibanez JS1000, Gibson Les Paul standard, Fender Strat, all with Duncan ???59 pickups > tube screamer(Analog Man) > JMP-1 > DOD 15 band graphic eq > G-Force > VHT two/fifty/two > 4x12 cab w/Greenbacks. I???ve been playing in bands for nearly 30 years and have owned and played many different amps. Currently playing classic rock. Van Halen, Satriani, Deep Purple, etc.

Been using a Triaxis for about 8 years and must say I like the Marshall better. Maybe I just needed a change. The JMP-1 is easy to set up. The Triaxis is a little more sophisticated. To this day I???m still tweaking the Triaxis. I???d rather be playing than tweaking.
I???ve read many reviews on the JMP-1 concerning it???s design with preamp tubes (analog vs digital). I???m critical about my tone. I let my ears decide for me. Tube tone is the way to go, in my opinion. The JMP-1 sounds great. Isn???t that what it???s all about? I???m not an electrician. I don???t know how much of the signal passes through the tubes. All I know is it has a great sound and feel. Having a good tube power amp also helps.

I tried the speaker emulated outputs into my power amp instead of the normal outputs. It had a different sound, but I didn't like it and went back to the normal outputs. Try it.

JMP-1 vs Triaxis? It???s a matter of opinion. Both are versatile. With my rig, the JMP-1 sounds great. I like it better than the Triaxis. It has a more aggressive, metal tone to it. Darker perhaps, depending how you set it. Good classic Marshall tone. Won't do death metal unless you throw an eq in the effects loop. I use OD1 channel with my TS doing a little pushing. OD2 has tons of gain, but sounds too nasaly. This preamp does not need a gain booster in front of it, but I use my TS mainly for the nice midrange boost it produces. Clean tones? The Triaxis has the edge, but not by much. The JMP-1 can get great clean tones. I can definitely work with it. I???m not much a clean player anyways. If you want clean, buy a Fender.

Just got it.

Haven't dealt with support.

Bottom line - the Marshall JMP-1 is worth checking out. Don???t go strictly by what you read. Let your ears help you decide. I???m keeping both preamps in my rack. JMP-1 is my main, Triaxis my backup.

Q - How easy is it to get a good sound out of it?

A - The thing about the JMP-1 is that it takes time to tweak. I've found that most *good* tube amps/units are generally NOT "plug-in-and-play". If you're not patient about tweaking and adjusting, you probably shouldn't be playing through a Mesa or a Marshall. However I guess to sum it up I'd say I've spent about 3 hours worth of tweaking time to get my sound.



Q - How about Editing patches?

A - Editing is fairly easy. Spend 10 minutes with the controls and you get a good idea of what each button does.



Q - How is the manual for it (if there is one)?

A - Mine was used so it did not come with the manual. At first you think you need a manual, but after spending some quality time with the unit you realize that you really don't NEED the manual to get what you want out of it.

Q - Can you get the sound of your favorite artists? / Who are they?

A - The main goal of this preamp was to get the sound of The Smashing Pumpkins' Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness. That's not too far fetched since they used one extensively on the record. I finally did flag down the settings for the JMP-1 used on the record - out loud it sounds nothing like it, but stick a mic in front of it and put it to tape, and it's perfect. However the real gem about this preamp is that it's so easy to find your own sound. It's not a one trick pony by any stretch of the imagination. Change one point on any dial and you have a different sound. If you feel creative about guitar tone, this preamp is for you.


Q - What setup (i.e. what guitars and amps) are you using this with?

A - I run the JMP-1 through a Mesa Classic 50/50 preamp through a Crate Excalibur 4x12 (Celestion V30s). It's very important to dime the volume and presence on the power amp because the Marshall is a solid state/tube hybrid. This way you're getting more tube saturation and less solid state op-amp distortion. For guitars, I have several Fender guitars - I love Fenders and it's all I usually play. But be warned that this amp is completely and totally biased for humbucking guitars. Throw a stock Strat or Tele through there and you're bound to be disappointed. In fact you may even want to sell it right away. Right now my main axe has become a Fender Toronado for such reasons (humbucking pickups). I'm going to try a Seymour Duncan Pickup Booster and see if I can get the same sound out of my Strats and Teles without butchering the electronics. Les Pauls and SG's are a dream for this amp.


Q - Is it noisy? On what settings?

A - Ha. My drummer complains that it sounds like a jet plane taking off when you're not playing. If you roll off the volume on your guitar (so it silences the pickups) and still have the volume high on the preamp, a constant hiss occurs and it's by no means a subtle one. The preamp is noisy and is probably due to the solid state circuitry.


Q - Are the effects weak or do they always sound great?

A - Depends on how you tweak it. This pre can sound like a toy, or it can sound monstrous. My general feeling is that the preamp sounds really toy-like and harsh, but it records amazingly well and cuts through like magic. In fact maybe my description is a bit harsh itself; compared to most other amps it kicks their ass all the way to Mars. It's just not as warm as a Plexi or the older Mesa/Boogie amplifiers.


And just like any other amp (I'm amazed at how long it takes some musicians to figure this out - and some never do) the way it sounds by itself will not sound the same once you bring it into a band setting. In order to cut through and stand out, I have to set it to a very very mid-heavy setting. In fact by itself the "band setting" sounds extremely obnoxious and even annoying. However it works great and records even better. And the harmonics! The harmonics! More pinch harmonics than you can imagine. I sound like a professional through this thing.

Half of it seems built really well (the chassis) but the knobs are plastic and one false step while carrying it will result in some broken command parameters. Take extra special care in transporting and while rocking out. No you cannot jump on this thing with the "people's elbow" and expect it to survive. I've always felt Mesa held the upper hand when it comes to construction and build quality.

Q - What style of music do you play? Is this a good match?

A - I have always been an Alternative Rocker at heart. I love grunge, I love 90s rock, and I love psychedelic rock. That pretty much describes our band right there. And it works excellent. I would recommend it to anyone who plays 90s rock. Maybe not as a main unit (but you can certainly use it that way) but perhaps as a side dish for more interesting tones.


Q - How long have you been playing? What other gear do you own?

A - Four years. Wow that's much longer than it feels. I'm not going to boast about my gear but let's just say I have more Fenders than you can shake a stick at and enough pedals to last me through five gigs of stage infernos.

Q - If it were stolen or lost, would you buy it again or get something else?

A - I'm young. I don't have much experience in tube amps YET. While I feel I have found a great sound in this preamplifier, I still have the excitement and motivation to try many more amps. This preamp doesn't shout my name but it sure sounds good. If it were lost, stolen, or broken I would probably end up with another Mesa/Boogie. Those Mesas are great amps and I love them to bits. Marshalls are great too but Mesas have a certain quality to them that cannot be matched.


Q - Anything you wish it had?
A - Better compatability with single coil guitars.

Q - Does it help you make music, or does it get in the way?
A - It's inspiring. When you have good gear that is responsive to your playing, it just helps you write better.


Q - Anything else you'd like to share?
A - For the used price it goes for, it's about fair. I would never consider purchasing it at the catalog price though. Way too much.

Equipment is being used with a Jackson Dinky 2 (with Duncans configured: neck-sc; middle-sc; bridge-hb; 5-position pickup selector) and a Roland GR-707 Guitar-Synth (2 stock hb's, 3-position pickup selector). On ocasion, I'd put a Rickenbacker 4001 bass with active EMG's through it for effect with varied results.

To me, the preamp is pretty good for the type of music I make, since it's not the extreme rock kind but slightly more towards classic rock. As said before by others, if you're looking for a Soldano, Buddha, Orange, etc. you won't find it here, neither will find those sounds for nu-metal. (or at least I haven't tried as per my musical needs). But the unit screams if properly zoned in.

For the type of music I play and for most of what I hear (Beck, Clapton, Hendrix et al) plus some 80's-90's, It's an excellent preamp. Some people have said there's no good distortion out of it but IMHO it all depends on what you have. In my case more distortion with the Jackson, less with the Roland (probably because the 707 is been aged more and the other is kind of the new kid on the block). Direct to computer is pretty good and sounds real, not a distortion box, not an emulator. Be warned again, if you're after that "Chop Suey!" kind of sound, look somewhere else, or probably use something else along with it. The sound of this unit is quite articulate. Try Beck's rendition to "A Day In The Life" with a middle pickup strat, roll off the highs in the guitar just at the point where the tone knob sets in, with a OD2 with a 16-18 drive and you'll know what I'm talking about. Even if you do through headphones.

Basic features have been discussed already, so now you know what this unit has. One thing to note, units aren't shipped with 12AX7's, but european Marshall ECC83's which, have slightly different gain (the latter has the highest).

Make year: 1995, specially tuned for Mexico AC (noted on power transformer)

Boutht used from 2nd party at Ebay, with severe cosmetic damage. (later on I knew there was extensive repair to/meddle with printed circuits)

I only wish it had real-time midi control over volume, drive and distortion. Another downer is that simulated output can't be programmed (except via volume & drive programming, which I use for "voicing" guitar drives).

Unit is used in my personal studio for my (now difunct) online music page where I used to release my solo efforts.

I'm giving a 9 here because of the lack of midi realtime control I wish it had. (i.e., I can't do the gradual distortion "set-in" through "To Sleep, Perchance To Dream" section of Rush's "La Villa Strangiato" with it along with my ART X-15 midi floorboard, although it would be nice).

For a long time the unit went rock-solid, but being in a country where AC changes a lot, I suppose my unit suffered from a brown-out and the transformer gave in. It used to overheat anyways.

Could use a backup, but they're so overpriced nowadays.

At this point I'm trying to contact Marshall for service, parts or just plain rejection, to no avail. No answer as of this date (have one month insisting via email).

Although I have inspected the rest of the parts via schematic, it seems a well-built unit. Case and frame are solid-built. One complain is that sometimes some components are a pain-in-the-neck to desolder for service, namely diodes, diode bridges and the aforementioned power transformer. I would have used another method to affix that one to the PCB instead of clamping the connecting pins. Maybe mounted on the frame, then use connecting pins.

I've played for as long as 20 years now, in & out because I mainly play bass and keyboards, but guitar to write.

Other stuff I own goes from a Rick 4001 bass to several keyboards, bass pedals, an Ovation Acoustic, and the unevitable DAW.

Oh, yea I would bleed to death if it was stolen. Now I'm so sad since it's broken, my friends think my girlfriend left me or something like that. I'm desperate for fixing it.

Maybe what I like the most of this unit is absolutely brilliant. At least to me. I would not compare to others because other brands and makes are different.

I'm giving here a 9 alghough my unit is broken and Marshall haven't responded and I haven't found a person who can repair it yet (for a reasonable price) or someone who can sell spare parts. I still love this unit, I don't want to let it die.

I'm using a Jackson PS6-T which is just a good guitar, despite the ordinary stock pickups (will get a pair EMGs soon). I'm running this thing through a Marshall EL34 50/50 power amp and a 1960B cabinet, and let me tell you this thing really rocks.
The distortion you get is as brutal as you might want: with those pickups I can get decent long-sustained pinch harmonics at a gain of 16 of a max of 20 in the OD2 channel.
OD1 channel is very vintage -not my style, but it sound awesome though. I haven't tryed the clean channels extensively yet, so read other opinions to get a decent descripction.
Some words on noise: The unit is practically noiseless, but you must keep it away form any power amp because it picks the 50Hz hum (I live in Argentina). 1 or 2 rack spaces away from my power amp is good enough.
Don't rate it 10 because I couldn't compare it with a Triaxis yet -that could leave it this way or make it a 10.

Well, everyone must know this by now, but I'll state them:
2 12AX7 valves that drive this preamp
100 programable MIDI-controllable Patches
4 channels: 2 Clean, 2 Distorted
Parallel FX send and return
Common controls: Bass, mids, treble, presence and a Bass Shift
Emulated speaker outputs

Well, the features are what any reasonable person might expect: nothing else than what a preamp is supposed to do. Anything beyond that would we for an fx processor.
There is a point on some of the features: As the thing is fully programable, every "knob" is digital and takes certain discrete positions. For the volume (not so very important) and Gain "knobs" they run from 0 to 20 values, which is great; but on the EQ section these values run from -6 to +6. At first I thought this was restricting my settings a lot, but after you hear how much you change the sound on every bit you realize it's good enought.

It's been a short time since I got it, so I can't tell well. Even though I bought it used and Nobody ever had any problem with it and it's build like a tank.

Never dealt with them.

I've been playing for 5 years now and I must say I have a nice piece of gear.
If it was lost or stolen I'd be mad because these things are quite hard to find here at this moment, and are quite expensive to us due to our deficient economy. But away from this fact, I'd like to try how good is a Triaxis compared to this thing.
Didn't like the fact that picks hum form a power amp that's close to it, but I can live with it.
Again for the overall rating, I don't give a 10 because I didn't have the chance to compare it with a triaxis. When I do, I'll come back and post it!

I'm using it with a Gibson Les Paul Studio, a Boss SE-50 signal processor, a Boss GE-21 equalizer, a Yamaha A100 mosfet power amp and a Mesa-Boogie 100 watt passive speaker.
I've been fiddling with it for several weeks now, and I can't seem to get good distorted sounds. The clean sounds are rather good, expecially with the bass shift feature turned on. The two clean channels sound not too bad if saturated, even though they don't impress me much compared to other units. The distorted channels, well, unless I miss something important here, they are disappointing at best. They only sound decent with a massive amount of gain, but even then, the tone is not so good (a bit harsh with a lot of midrange no matter how one fiddles with the EQ controls). With low-to-moderate amounts of gain, the distorted channels sound quite bad. Very "glassy" and nasal, with very little sustain. I will keep on trying, but having read others' reviews, I don't think this unit will ever sound quite right. And I don't feel many hints of warm valve sound too; it sounds like solid state to me. I do prefer my Korg A4 for distortion, even though it's not hi-fi sound.

It seems to have what it's needed: MIDI operations, effects loop, enough memory for patches, stereo sound, channel switching, and amp simulator circuitry for direct desk injection.

I have just recently acquired it used, and unless the above mentioned sound quality problems depend on some kind of tube consumption, I must say it seems reliable. AFAIK the internal battery is now about 12 years old, and it still runs (good thing, because I've read that it's a pain to replace); the unit has been carried about quite a lot (if in a sturdy rack) but is in good working order.

No opinion; never dealt with them but the user manual, which I lacked, is online, which is good.

Given the problems with sound quality, I would only recommend it if you were lucky enough to get it for a very good price, like myself (well, I had it for free!).

Purchased used, like any good piece of equipment it takes awhile to get a great sound. I use 3 or 4 knockoff guitars, a schecter C-1 elite, and an Ibanez Rg470 with EMGS. I mainly play heavy stuff so this unit alone doesn't cut it if you're into the scoop NU-metal but I like to experiment. Having serperate preamps and poweramps really allows this sort of experiementing to take fruit. I've gotten some amazing sounds with this unit and some really weird ones as well.

You should know these by now.

USEd and still kicking.

never dealt with them

Overall it's a nice piece to own but I don't think you could develop your entire sound around it, at least I couldn't.

Sounds great, when you get the hang of it, I use it on both Gibsons and Fenders - It feels like an old marshall head with more upgradetd technology regardet to switching of patches etc. It doesnt make more noise than expected - cables , pickups etc also makes noise, but the amp itself is quite to be a tube preamp.
You have to "tune" it in a bit, before getting it right. You should anyway set all tone controls to 0 (tone controls goes from - 6 to 6 = 12 steps) and volume to 10 and gain to 2 -4 before starting your sund development.
The "effects" control from 0 -12 affects your sound a lot when set to over 5 - but I use a Digitech S100 delay and it works fine with me at 5.

I have a Marshall 9200 Dual Monoblock at the end of this rig, wich gives a tremendeous marshall sound through a Behringer BG412S - or my modified marshall 1922 2x12" box.

Dont know when it was made - but its not new anyway, it is a tube preamp with 12ax7 tubes, and imidi controller 4 - channels

I Think so - seems solid, and a lot of people uset - I havent heard about any breakdown due to noremal use. Its in a Rack, and it's protected.

No e-mail adress on their website, but a lot of unoficcal sites

I Played for a lot of years, most rock and Blues - I Just baught it. There is An Swedish "tube doctor" : www.tommy-folkesson.nu that makes incredible modifications of this pre-amp. I will get him to modify it, then it uses more of the tube-sound, and it will sound better. You can allways buy triaxis or other stuff, but this box is easy to find on the used-market.

It has the features I need - nad thats enough. My rack is about 50 kg

Q- Ease of UseHow easy is it to get a good sound out of it?
A- Cake

Q- How about Editing patches?
A- Very easy even though the dial sometimes skips numbers, anybody know of a fix for this?

Q- How is the manual for it (if there is one)?
A- Typical Marshall Manual

Q- Do you know the firmware revision number? Has your unit been upgraded?
A- N/A I don't know

9 total instead of 10 because of dial snumber slippage

Q- What setup (i.e. what guitars and amps) are you using this with?
A- I love this pre-amp, sound quality is awesome, It is going through a Marshall 9100 power amp into two Carvin Vai/Legacy 4X12's. Main guitar is a Ibanez Jem, and a Pawar, A few strats. People complain about the clean channels. One of my strats has a David Gilmore EMG pickup assembly on it, the 1st tone knob on that set-up makes a smily face out of EQ curve, freaken sounds awesome, you can get those shimmering highs & fat bottom in the clean channel then.

This set-up Jmp-1 into Marshall 9100 power amp into to Vai 4X12's in stereo is mind blowing, I control the whole set up with a berhinger MIDI floor board controller.

OD1 is my favorite channel on this amp, People who are saying this pre-amp has no gain must have bad units or something because this thing screams

OD2- I am not to hot on this channel, Not as transparent sounding as OD1

Clean2 is my favorite clean, This channel nails Hendrix clean tones, Play little wing on this channel with a strat in the neck pick up.

I have owned many many Marshalls and known many guys who have had some killer vintage marshalls, this rig out shines them, I really think it is a must to match a JMP-1 up with a Marchall power amp, they just work together perfectly. There is no hiss. I did just order some JJ 12AX7's, I heard so many good things, I figured it is only $20 to replace both tubes. I will leave another review after the Tube swap

Q-Is it noisy? On what settings?
A- Not noisy in my RIG

Q- Are the effects weak or do they always sound great?
A- Care must be taken with effect levels, I have a Lexicon 550 in the effect loop, sounds amazing

Q- What amp are you using it with?
A- Marshall 9100 50X2

Q - Can you get the sound of your favorite artists?
A- Old Van Halen to a Tee

N/A

This knob allways jumping numbers is pissing me off

By the way, wrap your guitar chord through a side rack handle before plugging into the input because if you step on your guitar cable plugged strait into the front and it pulls down hard enough, you can brake the plastic input jack very easily and it's sucks to repair, I found this out the hard way.

N/A

Q - What style of music do you play?

I have two instrumental guitar CD's out, kinda in the style of Satch, or Vai, or think instrumantal VH. Check out full length mp3's at

WWW.Michaelleehill.com

A little back ground...

Guitarist Michael Lee Hill has been hopelessly addicted to the guitar. At a young age he discovered a natural talent for the instrument, easily learning songs by ear from the radio and quickly absorbing any learning material he could find. His appetite for making music increased in leaps and bounds when the guitar became a means to express complex ideas and emotions largely unaddressed in his ?normal? life of school and growing up, etc. -- he was soon spending several hours each day and night concentrating on his craft, often forsaking his friends and social life so he could continue creating music and reaching new heights on the instrument. This would continue through his teens and twenties. Now at age 37, with more than 25 years of playing under his fingers, Michael Lee Hill emerges from obscurity in Ohio with the release of FROZEN THOUGHT, a 13-song concept album showcasing Michael?s guitar mastery and exposing deep-running spiritual & metaphysical interests as well.

FROZEN THOUGHT was written, recorded and realized by Michael himself, who created his own indie label Moment Point Records to release the CD this year. Counting Edward Van Halen, The Police, Steve Vai, and Prince as his most significant musical influences, Michael Lee Hill draws from these and other sources of inspiration while never sacrificing one ounce of his own identity; tracks like ?Feeling September? and ?The Lifting? capture a tenderness and musical sensitivity that runs throughout most of Frozen Thought, while ?Testing 1,2,3? pulls out the stops and keeps punching. Michael also gets to salute his hero Jimi Hendrix in ?Jimi?s Communication,? a recorded improvisation with a groove that feels five feet thick. In an age when too many guitar records sound like everybody else?s, Frozen Thought is a refreshing and satisfying disc of mammoth proportions.

The disc also includes ?Jibboom?, written by Grammy Award-winning guitar legend Steve Vai. In 2001, Tonos.com teamed with Vai and Ibanez Guitars for the TONOS GUITAR CHALLENGE, which was seeking the guitarist who could record the most creative and ?best? re-interpretation of the famous Steve Vai track. Thousands of guitarists from around the globe entered, but Steve Vai personally selected Michael Lee Hill?s entry as the winner of the competition (Hill also received an Ibanez guitar designed by Steve). A mentoring session with Vai would follow, in Detroit at the G3 concert with Joe Satriani, John Petrucci and Billy Sheehan, and Vai granted permission to Michael to release ?Jibboom? (Michael?s version, featuring the original drum and bass tracks by Mike Mangini and Philip Bynoe) on Frozen Thought.

Is this a good match?
Oh Yes

How long have you been playing?
As long as I can remeber, 7 or 8 I guess, I am 37 now

What other gear do you own?
Two much crap to mention

If it were stolen or lost, would you buy it again or get something else?

Yes, I would get another

Very basic. The learning curve is in the listening which makes this fun. For the EQ and Presence(goes from -6 to +6) think of "0" as 12:00 on an amp knob, "-6" as 7:00 and "+6" as 5:00. EASY. I have a downloaded manual from the Marshall website. It is good, easy to understand, short(very good), a bit vague at times, the only suggestions for reaching a particular sound is in the descriptoins given of the factory sounds (which I found off mark according to my ear and gear setup). Only complaint is the manual says I can lock the sound programs, but doesn't say how. Also, the screws to remove to change the tubes are tiny and many.

I play PRS Cust.22 / pedal fx / Monster Cable chords (chords are under-rated for sound quality - get good chords) / Marshall el34 50/50 poweramp / Peavey 4x12 cabs.

First off, it sounds really great. OD channels have some noise in some setting, but then so do the OD and gain channels of tube amps. If the noise seems excessive, and you're sure it's from the JMP-1, ne tubes can do wonders - others in the forum give some good advice on tube selection. The Volumes on this seem to be true volumes and don't change the tonal characteristics of the sound (very cool). As others say,, this is a Marshall and gets a distinctly Marshall sound. It's sounds are very close to other Marshall amps, but I'd say it has a sound distinct of it's own, which is a good thing.

Gets cool thumping Marshall High Gain sounds, Great Classic Rock Sounds, Poor for Blues sounds (although a good OD pedal with mild breakup sounds great over the cleans in this). The cleans have alot of tonal variety, but I wish the gain in the clean modes would add a touch of growl or breakup when set high (when it does, it's not very smooth to my ears). I personally feel if you want a great blues or jazz sound, buy a tube combo amp.

A WORD ON TONE: This is just a preamp. Tonal breakdown:
10% Pre-amp (including tubes in preamp)
10% Power amp/Cabinet (especially the tubes and speakers)
10% Gear (Guitar, pedals, chords, strings, picks, etc.)
70% YOU (Technique, ability, attitude, soul, love for music)
Clapton will still sound like Clapton if he's playing a Silvertone guitar through a Gorilla 10 watt amp - maybe not EXACTLY what we've come to expect, but still Clapton.

Every sound has tone, some good, some not, but that is in the ear of the beholder. Find a sound you love and play it til you find another one you like better then play that one, and the rest of the world be damned. If you're in love with your sound, you'll play more, and the tone that is you will grow. (Sounds like fortune cookie cheese, but it's still true).

So far so good.

It's a keeper for what it does. Idealy, I'd also have a Mesa Triaxis, Vox AC30, and a Fender Twin. Someday. This is a great tool. But bear in mind, it's only as good as everything else that goes into it. I've also owned digital units (POD, Digitech, ART) and this is not digitally generated sound, it lacks the high end chime,ring or whine of digital sounds. Also owned Mesa, Peavey and Fender amps, and this is as good as any I've owned - like the others, it has it's own sound.

This preamp is designed for a more low to medium gain situation, old school marshall sounds. If youre looking to do metal on this preamp you better have something else pushing for distortion beecause its just not there for that. Very punchy and midrangey sounding. Sounds good at all volume levels, never had a problem with it being noisy. Goes from clean to a decent rock sound.

Preamp all the features you'd need really

Reliable, never had a problem with it. Uses cheap push knobs and the headphone jack isnt the best though.

never bothered with them

If you want a good preamp for low to medium gain sounds then take a look at this. If you want metal, probably not the best. Good preamp and will work well with a lot of power amps, thats the best i can say about this preamp.

The jmp is without a doubt the easiest straight forward unit ive ever used. Its so easy a young kid could have it going in 5 minutes. Ive had mine for 6 years and its the real deal!

This part is the winner. The tone out of this unit is TRUE marshall.
I'm an EVH freak and this unit will replicate his tone to the T if u know how to tweak it and have the right external gear. Use this preamp with an all tube poweramp and celestions or u wont hear the true magic of the unit. I use a wolfgang special, marshall el34 50 50 poweramp and 2 2x12 carvin cabs with vintage 30 speakers. I run a rocktron xpression thru the fx loop. And of course I have a bunch of effects pedals. I suggest for that true EVHish' type tone, set the gains alittle lower on the jmp and run a tube screamer or a boss sd1 in front of it. You'll lose your mind!!! This is the finest preamp by far ive ever used! "BUY ONE"

Like I said, ive had this for 6 years and never had a problem with the unit. Ide use it live without a backup. Its built like a tank...

Never had to deal with them...

Overall I have to say that if u love the marshall tone, I cant see why ude ever buy a marshall head. This thing will give u a full library of true marshall tone at the flick of a footswitch. From vintage plexi to the screaming bite of a jcm 2000. The clean channels are ok and useable but not the best so ill give this section a 9.Ide go with a fender or jazz chorus for that and just A/b it. Oh and for the reviewers who say this thing has no gain, either they have no idea how to use this or there simply not marshall fans. Dont listen to them, buy one and if u want buy a good overdrive pedal and you'll be in TOTAL HEAVEN......

I have several guitars, mostly humbucker / locking tremolo incarnations, but this was also used with single coils and P90 (also for testing purposes) over some years.

We can discuss forever about the benefits or drawbacks of hybrid technology (that famous bridge rectifier BR3 diode!) but is a fact that transistors are not tubes (or ?valves?) when it comes to guitar amplifiers, in particular if you want distortion out of them. What many manufacturers do (certainly including Marshall) is to present some amplifier (e.g. the Valvestate line of the brand) in which one of the amplifier?s stages (commonly the power section) is based on tubes and the other link in the chain (the first one, actually, the preamplifier which shapes and define the ?tone? of your amplifier) is based on tubes. Commonly, the preamplifier tubes are rudely more ?fundamental? in producing your amplifier?s tone, are easily replaceable, last longer and dissipate less heath, hence being this approach a logical one. Unfortunately, ?tone? is not exactly a logical concept, and the lack of tubes in the power section certainly affects the overall tone and feel of an amplifier. All the foregoing is particularly true if you want your amplifier to produce some serious, rich and punchy distortion. Transistor amplifiers could be far more sterile, but they are theoretically more apt to produce clean tones than a valve amplifier.

What happened in this case is somewhat different, being a dedicated preamplifier. The fact here is that the unit has two tubes (one for clean tones and the other for overdriven, ?hot? tones) and the amount of distortion that you can get out of one tube is technically limited by physical definition. To cope with this, and to produce the legendary ?raging? Marshall distortion, the JMP1 relies on a diode (the famous BR3) that (in very pedestrian terms) ?excites ? the corresponding ECC83 tube, boosting its ability to produce distortion.

Pros? A lot. This is probably the best preamp to record with IMHO(probable exception made by the Damage Control?s Demonizer), with nothing more than a pair of 1/4 cables, straight to the mixing board. No hiss or noise will bother your playing during the process. The tone is perfect to me, so I guess that Marshall did a good job here. Some people don?t like it, but I don?t know what they?re after.

Another department in where the JMP1 shines is flexibility. You can pull tones out of this baby that would require at least 3 or 4 conventional Marshall amplifiers (and you can switch between them seamless via MIDI!). Let me stress again something I consider very important, no matter how obvious should be to some of you out there. You won?t get Soldano, Mesa Boogie, Matchless, Budda, Demeter, Carr, Fender or Vox tones with this (not even simulations or resemblances), anything coming out of the JMP1 will sound true Marshall, which is good news to me in its own right.

Cons? Very Few. One VERY annoying missing feature is the fact the only volume knob in the front of the unit (hardware potentiometer, that is) controls the output to the power amplifier outputs, rendering the control totally useless for the home studio applications. Of course you can still control the overall volume in your headphones and the direct recording outputs through software, but it would be very nice to be able to do so the traditional way. Continuous Controller capability and phantom power would also be nice to have in a professional piece of equipment like this.

Two mono channels, two modes each (or four channels, depending on how you view it) with distinct voicing each: OD1 (Classic Overdrive Channel); OD2 (Modern Hi-Gain Channel); Clean 1 (Warm, Clean Channel) and Clean 2 (Bright, Clean Channel) / Bass Shift key / Hybrid (two ECC83 Tubes inside) / EQ Network (Three-Band EQ plus Presence control) / Stereo FX Loop (with software level and mix controls) / Full MIDI implementation (n, Out, Thru)/ 100 Patches / ? Straight and Speaker emulated stereo outputs with Level Control (-20db or +4db) for each / 1.5W headphones output / 1 Rack Space / 4.5 Kg / Made in England.

Just one rack space, merely 260 mm deep packing true Marshall Tone, as strange as this may sound. I?m not really sure if the JMP is capable of offering exact replicas of popular Marshall tones (in these days everything is judged under the ?emulator? ?simulator? or ?modeler? category, which in this case is kind of stupid as an approach) but what is positively true is that the tone this little golden thing pumps has definitively under the Marshall?s trademark. Most guitar tones rock sounds from early 70's to the present day are covered here. Tailor-made for me.

Never broke in several years. Tubes replacement was certainly required after some 2 years or so, being replaced by Groove Tubes, Svetlana and Electro Harmonix Russians. Cleaner with the former and much muscular with the latter, the unit delivered the goods every time.

Never dealt with the company.

I own lots of gear and I'm involved in a home studio project. In consider this piece of equipment a valuable tool, mainly for recording applications, even while I feel shall perform equally well in live envornments. For testing purposes, I grabbed what I got (namely a Mesa TriAxis, a Damage Control Demonizer, Mesa V-Twin, Mesa Boogie DC3, Marshall JCM900, ADA MP1 and my lovely ADA MP2) and started some serious shredding sessions, comparing tonal outcome. For testing purposes, I hooked the machines to both my Marshall 4x12 cabinet and straight to my Behringer EURODESK FX PRO 2442. The results are my opinons above. I did not favoured this one, I kept them all.

The only thing I hate about this, as I said, is the fact the only volume knob in the front of the unit (hardware potentiometer, that is) controls the output to the power amplifier outputs ONLY, rendering the control totally useless for the home studio applications.

This is not a review as such but a comment about the tube/diode debate when using the overdive channels.

As I am an Electronic Engineer I opened the case and spotted the Bridge rectifier BR3 as others have mentioned.
As an experiment I removed this and the difference to the tone was
to my ears very little other than increasing the top end.

I also removed the overdrive Tube and contrary to comments here the unit fell quiet, no tube - no sound.

The unit was a little screechy in terms of its distortion so I have replaced the tubes with JJ ECC84S and reduced the input signal to the overdrive valve. This has toned the unit down to my preferred rock growl distortion and the unit is less noisy when using Overdrive 1+2.

I am now totally happy with JMP-1.

JMP-1 Purchased off Ebay Aug 05.
Articulate Clean channel
Rock Growl distortion
Godsend to have the settings recorded.

No Problems so far - well built

Now out of warranty but have bought from Marshall and they have been
on the ball with introduction and warranty letters.

Still learning about the ideal tone but at the moment I am very happy with the tones from my modded JMP-1.

In my ideal JMP-1 I would prefer if the effects send did not reduce the main channel signal but there are ways to add effects later.

One thing I have learnt is that a great tone depends on your ears and your own tastes so if your happy with the sound you make the more time you will put in.

Made in 1995. By now, we all know the specs.
Absolutely versatile, but you have to combine it with a tube power section or forget it! I'm running through a Marshall 9000 series
EL-34 50/50 tube power amp. It's a sturdy live rig.
Speaker config is also a crucial in the quest for good Marshall tone. I view the extra features(midi,speaker emulator,direct out)as bonuses or opt to not use them at all with the exception of the effects loop To me less is more.

American '92 strat with custom Tom Anderson single/single/humbucker config and phase switch capability.
A vintage'78 Ibanez ES-335 Artist w/ factory PAF style humbuckers, and a chimey '72 Tele with a PAF in the neck and phase-switchable custom humbucker in the bridge for single-coil twang or Pete Townsend like grit.

It doesn't do everything, but, what it can do it does very well.
For those who can't get good tone, or are concerned that it doesn't sound similar to a Mesa or Vox(EL-84)or clean as a Fender, be conscientious of what kind of tonality you are looking for and expect the Marshall palette of sounds, then sculpt your tone accordingly.

I play Brit-Pop to Alt-Rock. You can also get some great bluesy Keith Richards like grind as well as some chimey U2/Edge-like tones.
I would use this for any gigging cover/original band situation where 60's thru 90's rock is played and I can also play serious funk and R&B with this rig, the cleans are THAT good. If you prefer the compressed spank of Nile Rodgers or some old school Prince/Sly & The family tone you can get it with the right guitar, pickup, effect selection. But, you have to use your instrument volume/tone in tandem with the parameters on the amp. Match up the right cab(s).

I've had luck with two Mesa/Boogie 1x12 cabs in stereo; one thiele closed back custom Boogie/Celestion, and the other half-open back
EV 200-watt 1x12 for the funky cleans. But, I have since found a Marshall birch 2x12 with Vintage 30's which sounded a little more robust and earthier.

I've become a minimalist and run the effect mix on the pre-amp at a low level(3-5)any more and you start to lose the round warm tonal quality. I use two TC Electronic pedals and a racked reverb/delay unit. I don't like to string too many boxes or rack units within the effects chain, I feel I lose precious direct tone whether it's through the effects loop or in front of this particular preamp.

I approach the unit like a channel-switching head but, rack mounted mand with 2 extra channels. My power amp is switchable in wattage from 50 to 25 watts a side.

I will rate it a 9 for two reasons; There is a noisy hiss in the high-gain CH2 area which can be annoying at high volume. Also, tweaking mid/bass/treble levels on the fly during a gig gets tricky which can sometimes result in accidently saving over a favorite parameter or changing a characteristic you otherwise shouldn't have, by pushing the wrong button on a dark stage. Aside of that this preamp looks classy, is an outstanding value and overall rocks!!

110% dependable. I feel the early JMP-1's were made very well.
It has stood the test of 10 years. I've changed the 12AX7's once with Groove Tubes. Volume pot is a little scratchy but has seen 100's of gigs and everytime without a backup. Mine has paid for itself in spades on it's reliability alone.

Hasn't required service. Out of warranty. Here in L.A everybody can handle repair needs.

I've been playing/singing seriously for 18 years.
I'm a singer-songwriter with my own project studio in L.A.
If it were stolen, I'd probably look into a different tonal palette. I'm into sheer simplicity at the moment, boutique tone without the cost for a one-trick pony. Possibly a Deluxe reverb w/blackface upgrades or a Vox 60/120 watt modeling head w/matching 2x12 Celestion Blue cab.

I love that the Marshall JMP-1 has the Plexi grind and cleans up very round and warm..it's different than a Boogie, not like a Vox or Fender, but, like a real Marshall.

This unit has to be the most easy rack unit I have used. If you cannot
operate this unit quite while your ahead. I found even the midi setup,
interfacing to my effects unit was easy.

I have tried this unit through a 59 Bassman, a 73 superlead modified
jack insert to power amp, A 2X12 all tube custom made combo,
and in the studio. All of the above gave me a selection of great
sounds from clean to wild. I love the overdrive sounds, as they are not to dull, they don't sound digital, and they rock. Most current day
effects units and pre-amps use digital AD DA convertors in which the
overdrive goes through. I can always tell in the sound and response.
I have seen the circuit for the JMP1 and even though they use digital to adjust parameters the signal stays analog (amen)The overdrive sound so good I don't need a mix with my Jack Daniels, shaken not stirred. I found there was some noise with earth loops in my rack, and found it to be the midi lead, earths conecting the units earths together. I cut the earth in the midi plug lead and the noise was gone. (dont cut earths in power leads unless you want to die)
There is typical noise on high gain settings, but not enough to
piss me off. I know a lot of noise can be from earth loops, and I know
a lot of people get caught. Their was a mention of someone having
problems getting pinch harmonics. I don't have this problem.
If I had this problem I would first off check I have good quality
guitar leads. I know by experience that old leads that have perished
or got wet will kill of top end, and make your sound sound dull.
I will rate this unit highly because I get the sounds I want.

Have not had it long enough to tell. But I do know that most Marshall
products used in Australia suffer from power supply problems due to our mains voltage being on avg 240 to 250 volts, and most Marshall
products are rated to 230 volts. (not counting 110 volts used in other countrys) This means the high voltage DC
rails in tube products go to high and cook the filter caps, and sometimes, cook the power transformer. Older 70's marshall gear seem to have no problems

I have always found dealing with Marshall directly great. Some of there distributors are not so great

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!

My setup is: Epiphone Explorer Korina with Gibson 500T on bridge, Mesa Boogie 50/50 Power Amp, Korg DTR-1 Tuner and Marshall 1960A cabinet (which sucks. I'm waiting for some custom cabinet based on Eminence V12 speakers which is 100 times better than that Marshall shit. Check http://blackdog.4web.pl if you want some custom stuff in stock prices).
I'm playing hardcore/metalcore and jazz/blues. If you're fan of high-gain this amp is the best choice for 300$. It also has good clean and crunch channel so you use it for any other kind of music. Distortion is brutal, but I think you shouldn't cross 12, cause it losses it's sound a bit.

I think that my JMP-1 is a model built on the end of 90s. This preamp is based on 2 tubes (12AX7) and some Marshall's microprocessor to generate
all Marshall's tones. It's stereo preamp with 2 channels and a 1.5W power amp, so you can use it with headphones.

I'm using it on every gig. It never gave up.

Don't know. Never tried.

I'm playing for more than 8 years now and it's one of the best tube preamp's I've every heard. If somebody will stole it, I'll buy it second time because it's perfect. I think I should change Mesa Boogie 50/50 to 2:90 so the sound will be much brutal and better (but right now it kills most heads - 5150 and mesa dual rectifier).

I use, strats, les paul standards/customs, tele's, PRS, Ibanez, gretch, did I miss any good ones? Sound is solid with limited producers head for the tweek. The JMP-1 is what it is and is definately extremely good at producing a very large array/variety of musical and usable tones, especially when compared to other more current "plastic/aircraft aluminum" preamp gear. With the right components around (which admittedly I have some next to it that cost three times as much)...you can get many new and cool or classic recognized sonic landscapes straight to the mix. But first, you must know that any peice of gear is dependant on the user to find the optimal sound for thier tastes, if you know this you will not be dissapointed with this or many other unique gear as a stand alone. I agree with what many have submitted in this post regarding negative reveiws of gear such as this. To all those eager to say a certain pedal, amp, guitar, or friggen coffee cup, sounds or works like crap based on what is obviously an extremely poor understanding of what it takes to find "your sound". Say one of these simpering impatient limited vision dudes is really into a particular guitar hero, plug them into his stage rig and turn them loose, most likely, they will have it sounding "like crap" in minutes with a wrong turn of this dial or that. Might be fun (if not slightly sad and sadistic) to watch them sweat. Great sound is all about balance. It more often than not begins with compromise (no matter how expensive, basic, cheap, flexible the gear is). You can take any set up and make it sound bad, often it's actually about tuning out what sounds bad to your ears until you have tuned in what sounds badass. This seems fundamental to me and obviously this sentiment is shared by those who are talking sense in these reveiws. In summary, I'll quote the immortal Jerky Boys: "Open your f*&kin ears jackass!" Or go on complaining when you turn to the preset that is named after Steve Via on that little unit you just took out of the box and cry like a school girl when it does not sound "just like that guy".

Flexible outputs/inputs and switching helps for direct recording/various environments. Signal path is kind of a pointless thing to debate at length as a downside in my humble opinion...at the end of the day, what comes out of the speakers/monitors? Good? Bad? Is it you? Is it truly crap? Is it defective? Did you plug it in wrong? Are your cables bad? What's your EQ? Are you an idiot? Check three times and then RTFM (Read The Fricken Manual) again before you rip it up in a reveiw.

Owned mine for over 10 years, purchased when it came first came out, when it was new and risky. Never had a single issue and it was partially submerged in water once.

I know reaching and dealing with Marshall can be a bit...uh...English? But, as point of how they can be once you get in touch: Called Marshall early on when I lost the manual, asked if they could "fax" me one, just so I had it anyway (It's a geek thing). Remember, slightly old school here, before the common use of PDF downloads. They sent me a brand new manual in the same day free...not a big support thing, but just cool.

Been playing for more than 25 years. I am a producer with an independant label, performer, and studio musician. Would replace in a heartbeat, as part of overall guitar preamp collection...just sounds good and have to have it. Grab one on e-bay for $300.00 if you have any doubts.

I play a US Fender strat with Bill Lawrence hum cancelling pickups. In the effects loop I have a Lexicon Delay and BBE Sonic Maximizer. I find this unit works well for what I need it to do. I don't want to distroy the sound of my guitar, I still want the Strat sound at the other end. I like gain, and sustain, but I also like clarity and this unit provides that. The EQ works great on the unit and it is possible to create a wide range of sounds. Its does create a Marshall tone though. If Marshall isn't your taste this unit probably isn't for you. Some of the reviews on this site criticize the unit for having solid state circuits. Most amps and preamps these days have some solid state circuits and that includes the holy grail of preamps, the Mesa Boogie Tri-Axis, so that shouldn't be considered too unusual. In fact the original Plexi's had a solid state recitifier, which together with the EL34 power tubes produced the classic British sound that all the boutique amp manufacturers are trying to replicate. I looked at a lot of preamps before I bought this unit and I think it represents good value compared to equivalent products. I am not sure why some reviewers can't get enough distortion / overdrive with this unit. Even with single coil pickups I can get bags of distortion / sustain. Maybe they need to look at the quality of the pickups on their guitars? A poor quality guitar will still sound poor quality though any amp. Don't listen to these bozos. Try this preamp with a decent guitar and let your ears decide whether this is a good amp or not.

I have a new 2004 model. The design hasn't changed since Marshall started making this unit in the 80's. Preamp has 4 very useable channels. OD1 is crunch, OD2 is metal overdrive and Clean1/Clean2 are clean. Very easy to use, you hardly need the manual. Presets are switchable via midi foot switch or a Marshall foot switch. Has a nice stereo, parrallel effects loop which is programable and allows you to adjust the level of your effects, which is very useful. I play metal and some blues. The JMP-1 does have some solid state circuits, but its sound is predominantly that of a warm tube amp. Does everything I want. I really like the midi control, why would you be without it these days?

I have't had it long enough to rate it. Although it looks a bit old fashioned it is a sturdy unit and I don't expect to have too may problems.

I haven't had to deal with Marshall.

Great unit. Does everything I need it to. Love the midi control and the versatility that provides. Great value for money. This unit will replicate all the classic Marshall sounds.

I use a 2004 Deluxe Fender Strat and a mid 80's Kramer Baretta. The Strat has stock SCN single coils and the Barreta has a JB humbucker. I have a Lexicon MPX 550 and a Behringer Ultrafex Pro running through the effects loop of the JMP-1 to add a touch of chorus, delay and presence. The unit produces very typical Marshall sounds. It is very responsive and punchy and "big" sounding on all channels and really picks up the dynamics of your playing. The OD1 channel is a typical mid 80's type of tone and is great for crunchy Rhythm, OD2 gives a smoother more modern sound with bags of sustain and is good for solos. The clean channels (CL1 and CL2)have plenty of headroom and sound great when you add in a touch of reverb and chorus (with external FX); don't expect the clean channels to sound like a lovelly warm sounding high end Fender tube amp. If you want to cover all the classic Marshall rock sounds from early 70's to the present day then you won't be too dissapointed I think. I generally like 80's and early 90's (pre grunge) hard rock tones and you will be able to cover all the bases with this unit if thats your thing. If you want to make horrendous "nu metal" tones I suggest you get a very cheap transistor amp leave it in a tank of water overnight and then when its dried off buy a nasty japanese guitar with cheap humbuckers, drop tune it and route it to the amp through various distortion and phaser pedals.

Overall this is a great stereo midi pre-amp with four seperate channels each sounding distinctly different. It is extremely easy to use and the EQ section is very effective and capable of making drastic differences to tone and presence. It has great emulated outputs for going direct to my hard disk recorder. The effects loop is very useful and hooking up a good quality FX rack allows you to create some great tones. Pretty much does most things I need. There may be more modern and complex units on the market but I doubt if my patience would hold out while I read the manuals.

Can't say only had it 2 weeks.

No need to contact them yet

I think this is a good quality Pre-Amp that is particulalrly good for direct recording. It produces the full range of classic Marshall tones. I would buy a replacement if it was stolen. I looked at products from Rocktron before buying this but decided that it met my needs better. Although I am sure the Boogie Triaxis is a fine piece of kit and might potentially cover more sounds and offer greater flexibility I just can't see why its more than four times the price (UK street pricing); I do read a lot of reviews where guys appear to be convincing themselves that the thousands of dollars that they spent on their Triaxis was well worth it?

this is the easiest thing you will ever operate nothing else needs to be said.

everyone here must consider that this unit was made 20yrs ago. now for those who've been playing for 2-5 yrs probably couldn't tell you what the deffinition of tone really is. so here's the 28 yr veteran's. my set up consists of marshall '98 JTM45RI 2245 30w with mercury mags output tranny JJ 6l6 and pre's, top hat 2x12 cab w/g12h30 and g12m25 les paul studio,m custom shop strat, 72 thinline, shecter c1-h. i will tell you jwithout the preamp the tone is awsome, with the preamp the tone is enhance tremendously. the only reason the product was purchased was so i could go from sparkle clean to over the top gain and sustain in the flick of a switch. keep in mind that the tonal quality of this piece is very vintage. you can get the modern sound out of it with a little tweeking to the preamp in the head. i would not suggest the use of any effects loop, the reason is, you can fine tune the eq settings with the head unit. you can turn the knob just an 1/8 of an inch and say "wow, i heard that!"

couldn't tell ya, never needed it

same as above

i play everything from blues to metal to classic rock r&b whatever (28yrs), i have other gear jcm800, risson, matchless, yadda yadda yadda. i've tried it with everything and it all sounds good. take the time to play with it, it takes time. use a midi pedal and tune the thing to each one of your guitars so you can have a clean 1&2 OD 1&2 and lead tone if you feel the need. i am putting it in conjunction with a rocktron chameleon for the clean efx and using the jmp for the distorted sounds. if it were stolen or lost, i would replace it.

I am not quite an genie with technical stuff and so on ... but even for me the handling of this unit seems damn easy ...

Just select your Patch, change the Settings to the ones u want save the Patch and thats it ... really damn easy

My Setup is:

Guitars:
Warlock BC Rich (with Gibson LP Standard Pickups)
Richwood LP Pro Series
Amp:
Stinger (a 150w tube amp of Proel)
Effects:
Marshall JFX 1
Tuning:
Korg DTR 2
Noisegate:
Rocktron Hush II CX

The JMP1 fits in perfectly in my collection and makes a damn good sound. I use it that way, that i put my guitar into the DTR, he goes to the Hush, this one again goes into JFX, JFX to JMP and after JMP my Stinger.

The only problem is that the JMP is damn noisy, but seems only with my amp, with an JCM 900 there isnt any problem.

Distorsions and Clean sounds of the Unit are amazing, because of the Tube, thats generating true Marshall Sounds (in my opinion one of the best in world)

The sound Im able to get is damn similair to "Godfather of Hardrock" Slash (GNR), Motorhead, Iron Maiden and if I turn the JMP really up, and combine it with my Warlock, it even sounds a bit like Kerry Kings (Slayer) sound.

The good thing about this unit is also that it has no other Effects except of Distorsion and Clean, thats exactly what I need, because the Effects, the JFX is doing.


9 Points -> because of the Noise, but as I said its probably only with my Amp.

Reliability is TOP ... I even played a lot of Gigs without my Amp only with the JMP directly into the PA, and it sounds damn great too.

Never using any backup, cause there is no need for.

I had never the needing to repair it, even after these 5 years I have it, so i really dont know hows the customer service.

I play true old Hard Rock as Guns N' Roses with my band, with a little portion of Metal, and this unit exactly fits my needs.

I also compared this unit until now with some Zoom's or Digitechs, but the true sound only JMP brings out.

So if I where a new potential customer of a Preamp, I would either by the JMP1 again, or the Mesa Boogie Triaxis.

Hope I helepd

It's quite versatile with it's sounds which can range from sparkling clean to a heavy, sustain filled Overdrive. The cleans break up nicely with high gain (and powerful pickups). It's not noisy but it does physically give off a 'hum' (probably the power supply) but it can't be heard through any of the outputs so I don't mind.
For live use I hook it up through a Compressor/Gate > 31-band EQ > Stereo Digital Effects (for reverb etc) and then into a Marshall 20/20 with a 1922 Cab. For band practice it goes through a Marshall MG30 combo and at home I use the JMP on it's own with headphones.
The speaker emulated outputs are great for recording. The 'Bass Shift' vibrates through your chest when combined with the 'Deep' switch on the 20/20 :-)

1999 model. Lots of options and Easy to use. Plenty of connection options. I never used to like headphones for practice but the JMP seems to have changed my mind. I use the effects loop input to mix in drums and bass etc.

Haven't had any problems with it but the volume settings (not master volume) need to be lowered to eliminate some annoying clipping (even with just the headphones!). I'm not sure if it's just on high output pickups but even the factory defaults needed to be lowered. It also looses volume sometimes within the first few minutes of being powered on but the 20/20 takes a few minutes to warm up too so I don't mind.

The site doesn't have any support contact details and I had some questions about the 20/20 (purchased new) so I submitted it to the 'feedback' page and got a response the next day so I'm quite happy with them.

I got this one second hand with some spare Marshall Valves thrown in. I don't care if it's All-Valve or not, It sounds great! I'm planning to get another one sometime to keep permanently in the rack as removing it after live shows will probably start annoying me.

I placed a submission on 10/23/04 and want to add a significant note. I just exchanged the two original ECC 83 tubes which seems to be of chinese make. These tubes have high gain but no tone! The fuzziness some revieuwers talk about could be caused by the tubes who seem to get worse in time. I now have JJ ECC 83S tubes in the JMP-1 and the sound is much better!! Better means more TONE! The clean sounds to me are warmer but also more brighter and more in balance. The distortion sounds are "cleaner" and have more clarity. At first you think there is a bit less gain but it has just more definition and as I said: TONE! Maybe you have to play more precisely than before but this is what a good (pre)amplifier is about. It let you work a little harder but rewards you with a purer and more versatile sound (still very Marshall thoug). The tubes can be changed easily. Just remove the top cover and the 2 side supports. The tubes can be pulled out and the new ones can be pushed in. If you're not sure about the "do it yourself" you could ask a technician. The JJ tubes are inexpensive but very durable. Of course you can also use tubes from other brands like Svetlana or even the expensive "NOS" Tesla tubes. But it sure can be worthwile to try a pair of new ones!
By the way: the discussion about the JMP-1 not being a pure tube pre-amplifier considering all the ic's and other electronic parts is IMO partly true. I think it IS a compromise of midi, versatility and sound. For the typical purist this unit will never satisfy, even with the better tubes. Therefor you have pre-ampifiers with "all tube design" but not the flexibility (except of course the really expensive once like Soldano). Still, I think the JMP-1 is a good deal considering the price. But you have to decide for yourself as always and just choose what suits you best.

I play classic rock from the 80's in a coverband and use a Marshall 8008 VS poweramp that drives a 1960AV in stereo. First I used the Peavey transistor amps that were standard in the rehearselroom and I didn'like the shrill distortionsound ...sorry Peavey.....however, yesterday I bought a used Peavey classic 50/50 for replacing the valvestate and this will be (much?) better. No Marshall 50/50?? you ask. No.... cause I like a more neutral, heavy sound with lots of warmth, not to agressive. Because that can happen with the JMP-1 easily if the rest of the chaine is also Marshall (but maybe you want this!). And here is a note: ofcourse this is a talk about the JMP-1 but obvious the whole chaine is important! In my set up with the budget 8008 the JMP is sounding very good already which is also due to the 1960AV (very nice cabinet!) I play on superstrats with SD custom 5 pick-ups and recently bought a Boss PW-10 V-wah (replaced my cry-baby). The other guys of the band are enjoying the sound I get and dont't run away, so thats a point for Marshall. As said, things will improve with the Peavey 50/50 (more warmth and dynamics). The JMP is controlled by a Digitech midi floorboard and switching is accurate and flawless. In the beginning I had to tweak the eq much, but now it is set right and it will do fine. I'm very happy with the unit. At home I record instrumentals in my studio and I must say that the direct recording with the compensated outputs is amazing! The trick here is to use the proper effects so the dry sound is given a good live ambiance. Blend in the mix the sound is convincing and pure. It isn't the same as miking your cabinet, that will always be better (more lively). Clean sounds are good enough for me but I can understand the critics.

Well..... it sounds good, plenty of gain, is relatively noisefree (not the OD2), very versatile and affordable.

Bought it 3 years ago in Holland. The features are incredibel and very well designed. The ease of switching your channels together with matched effects is the bonus and the device is very easy to operate too. Important is to have patience! Figure out what it can do and have an open mind to the possibilities. The comments I read are not always fair I think, because you just have to know how to use it. As we all know, good (pre)amplifiers let you work on your guitarplaying a bit more but the result is much better for your tone. The control of your guitar is the issue here and try to play your axe right first instead of blaming equipment for a crappy sound! Another thing is personal taste. A device suits you or not. But most of the equipment nowadays is build well and will have a good sound for the right purpose AND player. But for the JMP-1, it suits me and I manage to get the Marshall sounds that I always liked. I think the eq could have been more versitale, but all the sounds are there! On higher volume this baby does sounds better but what doesn't......

I have not used this unit intens yet but have no problems. Only thing is that the dataknob skipps presets now and than. That can get on my nerves sometimes. Seems build ok and I don't expect serieus problems.

I,ve been playing for 26 years and recently started a new rockband with my brother on drums so we try to be Van Halen!! ;-) The gear I use is already mentioned but I also use an Alesis Quadraverb but will replace it. Further more Fender Stratocaster usa, Maverick X-1 (I won this sucker in a contest!) and I have a small home studio for recording rock instrumentals. When stolen, I would look around for the new developments that have come up but knowing this JMP, I will set it on top of the list for now.

Finally, as said earlier.....work on your tone and talent and be sure to judge equipment fiarly, and don't blame it when you have a bad playing day or have not been practising enough! Cause there is a chance that the equipment has a higher quality level than yourself. But it won't judge you!!
Have fun.....

All Rock styles played.
I use a Schecter Hollywood custom with Seth Lover pickups, a G-Major effects rack and a Behringer footpedal to control both. I put the whole thing through a 2020 El84 Marshall valve amp and a Marshall 2 x 12. IT ROCKS. When I get the orignal greenbacks (sitting in my attic) into the Cab I am sure it will be awesome.
I also have an 80-80 valve state as a live back up but it really sucks through that and I hope I never have to use it.
Have recently revalved the whole rack (after chatting to Derek at Watford Valves) and fitted a clean valve to the clean channels and a Groove tube mullard reissue to the distorted channels.
Clean is so good now, clean, lively full bodied and excellent clarity.
Distorted is excellent with more sustain than Lesley West and a good crunch sound for Rythmn.
I am still in the process of setting it all up and getting the clean/distorted/rythm/lead balances right. However, even at 40 Watts total output (I would say that is in reality "nominal") and I can still cut it in a really loud band without any effort with power amp on 50%.
Not massively noisy, but you need a noise gate in high gain.
Gives loads of Marshall sounds a lower volumes. OK it will never match the full marshall stack at "number 11" on the vol. but what do you want!!!!!!
It gets a 9 cos I don't give 10s

ALready mentioned so many times not worth repeating. Read the other reviews.
Always use a good valve power amp.
And ignore those "experts" who say that they know about valves and op amps. The valves add more than "colour" they are part of the amplification circuit.
I use different valves for clean and distorted and get an excellent sound.
Versatility with the variety of songs we play and the fact that I am not only the sole guitarist but also do PA and backing vocals means I love the ease of use the MIDI offers.

Never gone wrong on me
But to get the best, you need to look after it a little. Make sure you got room in the rack for cooling.
Use a valve power amp and again leaver it space to get rid of the heat. Will improve lifetme and reliability.

Never dealt with them. Never gone wrong

Been playing longer than I care to think about, more than 1/4 century, mainly as bass. Always played guitar but last two years solely guitar.
Technically competent, electronics and hardware. Service my own gear.
Input on the back only thing missing.
Noted the problem mentioned with the data input where it skips a couple of digits. Turn it slow and it's OK. Suspect some switch debouncing needed.

I'm using a les paul custom from 1979, and a new sg special. It sounds great, I might get a seperate eq though so I can have a little more control over it. I play in a hard rock band that does some jazz break downs here and there and this amp treats me good, I'm very happy with it.

Its a four channel, but the two cleans and two overdrives sound pretty close, other than that this piece of gear I know will stay in my rack for a long time. It has everything I need, I'm very happy with it.

The buttons and jacks are cheap, I've already broken alot of the plastic, and I really never did like the way marshall electronics are made, but I'm really just hoping this one was made better than most of the other amps by marshall. No problems yet, and mines about 5 years old.

I've been playing for about 8 years, im 18 years old. This is actually one piece of gear I'd actually replace if I had to. I dont rate everything I own with high scores either, in my opoinion the jmp-1 really does deserve an 8.

This unit is capable of good tones, if correctly operated. It sure takes some experience in guitar tone shaping to get the best from it, particularly when it comes to the gain and eq section, very effective, you have to know what you are doing. The presets, with loads of treble , are clearly dialed to make the unit sound good at music store low output levels. You need a different starting point to make the unit sound good at usable levels.
This unit, from clean to drive, delivers marshall tones and only marshall tones, and it does the job , so if marshall tones are what you are looking for this can be the answer at a very resonable price.
It is respectful of your playing dynamics , picking , guitar volume pot tweaking, and it is suitable for most musical styles , again , if correctly operated , I write this again because I think this is the issue with the jmp1.
OD2 channel is noisy ..tip : try taking EQ to the extreme and NOT the gain as the description "modern gain" would suggest..you will find killer aggressive blues tones that will make your strat scream...
OD1 has enough gain for modern gain stuff.
Like EVERY preamp the jmp1 needs a good tube power amp and cab to shine.
Output should be set at 50% ,as a starting point ,to feed the power amp with a good signal. and the power amp's volume should be set way up to achieve good sound ...obvious ? not for everyone in this forum people ....
Speaker Emulator feature can't really keep up with todays amp/cab modelling units for hard disk recording. I own a V-amp pro and it blows the jmp1 away on a recorded track , even for marshall tones.
Keep in mind that this unit appeared on the market more than 15 years ago.

4 channels valve "heated" preamp . Midi capable , once you dial a sound you can store it and recall it . stereo master out (-10/+4 db) ,
speaker emulator out (-10/+4 db) , adjustable loop effects (0-100% mix). Really complete.
Valve "Heated" ... inside the unit there are 2 ECC83 valves , one working with clean channels, one with drive /distortion channels..the signal coming from the input socket goes thru several transistor gain stages and then is heated and colored by the valve .
So valves are actually not in charge for gain staging as in a so called "all valve" device, but they actually do affect the tone.
Is the definition Valve midi Preamp on the front panel correct or .. fair ? the answer is YES and NO on my opinion ... but this goes for many things in life right ?

The unit, as for 90% of marshall stuff , is relatively poorly assembled, in the inside where you can't see without open it up of course ... mine suffers with a buzz and occasional volume drops when I roll the output pot, but ,only at the beginning after startup , then , as you roll it on and of for a while everything is ok ..too cheap !!

Customer support ?? do you mean Marshall Customer Support ?? hahahahahahahahahahahahahaaaaaaaaa !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I'm 34 . I've been playing guitar since I was 11 . I've gigged ..man I have gigged..
Units offering same technical features :
Mesa Triaxis -- very different price , very different value , actually uncomparable...
Soldano X99 -- I would trade my mom for this .. I know you too..-)
unnnnnnncomparable...hey kiddin'.. I love you mom..
Tech 21 Sans Amp --- comparable !!! good but personally not my stuff ...

The jmp1 is a good value for money nowdays (300 $ on ebay)...don't ask what it cannot give you and you'll be ok.

I use mostly guitars with humbuckers in them, but i think any guitar will sound good on this preamp. i play a wide variety of styles from jazz to rock. i rated it an 8 because the cleans could have been a little better, but the distortion is so versatile!! you can have two presests, both with the same overdrive channel on, and one could sound like a fusion like lead tone, and the other can be like that thrash pantera sound. so its actually really cool how you can get a lot of different distortions out of this preamp.

This preamp has many features, which can satisfy any type of guitar player. you get to custimize actual preamp presets, so for every preset, there is seperate bass, mids, treble, presence, drive, volume, and bass shift option. THATS A LOT OF AMP MODELS IN ONE, CONSIDERING THERE ARE 100 PRESETS!!! unlike regular heads, or combos, which alows you to have only one sound per channel at a time, the jmp-1 alows you to store severel amp sounds. i rated it a 9 only because i dont like the fact the the eq's range from -6 to +6, instead of 1-10, but its cool cause the drive and volume controls go from 0 to 20 .
it also has an effects loop, and is midi capable.

i never had a problem with it, but i've heard people say that the tubes burn out pretty quickly. also some people said that the tubes barley do anything for this preamp. i dont know if this is true, but either way it still sounds fantastic.

I realize i did not rate any of the catagories with a 10, but i still think this is a great unit. if it were stolen, yes i would get another one, because the overdrive is so versatile, and sounds great. as far as the clean goes, i've used the clean just from this amp for a while now, and its usuable, but there are still a lot other cleans out there that are a lot better. that's why i am planning on getting a combo with a good clean channel, so that i can run this preamp through the effects loop of the combo, strictly for overdrive only.

OK, here's the deal - before buying this I had read reviews and they are very confusing because you have people giving it a raving 10 and others giving it a shitty 5. I saw one on Ebay locally and thought I'd try it out - after all this was the device that the band Filter had said 'this is where our sound starts'. Supposedly Smashing Pumpkins had used these preamps to good effect.

Also, I had owned a Valvestate 100 amp and liked the clean the channel, but couldn't stand the distortion channels (way to fizzy and lacking sustain). So I bought it, hoping to get both a good clean and distortion channel. Heres the REAL info you need:

Clean channel 1 is almost identical to the Valvestate 100 clean channel - I could not tell the difference, except that it was now in stereo. It works well with humbuckers and a good compressor/reverb combination. The bass shift button was a nice feature in clean channel. I still use the preamp for this channel - it meshes nicely with the rest of my setup.


Clean channel 2 - a more glass like clean channel - not bad but I don't find myself using it very often.

Distortion Channel 1 - sounds like a $30 stomp box

Distortion Channel 2 - sounds like a $2 stomp box

The distortions are terrible. Frizzy, lacking sustain, life, or any semblence of that original Marshall sound. - just brutal. I was even skeptical and thought maybe it was just my guitar or compressor etc, but no, after trying many guitars and several good compressors, the thing stills sounds like a solid state piece of garbage in distortion channels. What a ripoff. Yes, its slightly better than the Valvestate, but I will never buy a new piece of Marshall equipment again. Did they really think that they could get away with this and charge through the nose for it?

And yet I'm still confused - its obviously won some hearts out there -even in the professional world - is there something I'm missing? Or are people just overcome by the 'Marshall' name?

Do yourself a favour and buy the new Mesa-Boogie V-Twin preamp. It may not be stereo, but the clean channel is great and the distortion channels are awesome.

Two clean channels, two distortion channels, fx loop, bass level switch, MIDI (yeah right, what a joke). You know the rest.

Pretty good - solid construction - mine still has the original Marshall tubes, which makes me think that the tubes are just 'warming up' the tone and not 'working' like an amplifier circuit.

LED numbers sometimes blank out on their own.

Don't know - never tried

I still use it for the one clean channel and stereo effects loop capability (nice for effect units with stereo out), but the other channels are almost never used.

The final word - I recently tried a JCM800 all tube amp - an it is astonishingly different - saturated tube sustain, REAL marshall sound - is it really so hard to put this in a preamp Mr. Marshall?!

I've reviewed this unit before and this is just an update. I now use a PRS Standard 24,PRS Singlecut (Duncan JB in bridge) and a Fernandes Decade Elite (PRS #7 in bridge). This unit suits many different styles. I can get just about any tone i want. Anyone that can't get a good sound out of the JMP-1 must not be spending much time with it. I run it into a Mesa Strategy 500 (6 power tubes per side) and i get one of the fattest/most cutting tones i've ever heard. I'm selling my Single Recto to a friend to buy another power amp for backup. The cleans aren't the best but the distortions are perfect for me. Using this unit for 2-3 years has been great. I'll never sell it or my power amp. The JMP-1/Strategy are perfect together. When i stop getting compliments on my tone after shows i'll post another update.

2 different cleans and 2 different OD modes = enough versatility for me.

Never had any issues.

Never had to deal with Marshall.

I love it. Like i said, I'll never sell it.
Here's a song straight from the board. No mastering/mixing.
This is why i won't sell it. It sounds amazing on stage.
http://www.pillforkids.com/Vysion%20-%20Come%20And%20Rise.mp3

If you have any problems with finding settings just e-mail me.

Insofar as this unit sounds, well if you keep it at bed room levels it's not bad, this unit has an inherent 2k honk that you can't scoop out, very abrasive. I use a couple of 94 Strats with Duncans ,an Ibanez Pro-line with Dimarzios and a PRS Custom and could not get a sound that would useable live, unfortunately the noise floor for this unit is ridiculously high, if you are not using a gate (hush, Drawmer) forget it, the clean channel is just passable not much tone to speak of.

I bought this in 2000 on e-bay, it supposedly has every Marshall made in one box,hmm.......yes it does have four channels but one would be hard pressed to find much of a change as you step through the channels.It has an assignable fx loop which is a plus (I guess)and a direct out (totally unuseable)

would I depend on this thing ya maybe, but then again it just takes up space in my rack now as I use an Egnater ie4, this unit is so damned limited that to get it going you are going to have to put a lot of pedals in front of the preamp(distortion, compression) as by itself it's just too weak

never dealt with them

Overall if it where lost or stolen I would not buy this unit, if anyone is looking for this kind of preamp go to e-bay and get an older Rocktron Progap much more useable sounds,as you've guessed I don't have much good to say about it, if you're 16 and starting out probably a good starter unit to learn on but other than that it's not for me,I have been playing for 35 years and I have a rack that takes two of my ugliest friends to carry, Egnater IE4,Furman pl-8, DTR-1000, Rocktron Intellifex Ltd, Rocktron Super C, BBE 362, Mesa Boogie 50/50 as a backup pre I use an older Progap and Marshall 80/80 for a backup amp, so believe me when I say get something else other than the JMP-1, just a nasty preamp

Here is where this pre-amp fall short, in my opinion. I have tried it with a variety of power amps, and it still just sounds......DIGITAL. Despite the fact that there are tubes inside, it really does not compare to just pure, warm tube beauty. I bought this preamp when I was 16 and obsessed with getting a Smashing Pumpkins sound. I read in some interview that Billy Corgan used this preamp a lot. Well, I also bought a JCM 800 2203 (original), and no matter how many times I compare the two, the amp head wins by leaps and bounds. You can get heavy distortion through the JMP-1 (though maybe not as saturated as some might like), but the result that you hear is always lame by comparison. Just my opinion though. I really, really want to love it, but it's just not going to happen. I'm gonna have to say goodbye to this preamp....

This amp is extremely versatile, though don't expect any sense of power or warmth unless you have a decent power amp...one that your ears like. It has the normal EQ adjustments, though it's all done digitally, of course...no knobs to turn. (boo)

I have had it 5 years and the internal memory battery is still goin'. Never had ANY problems whatsoever....um, aside from the sound, that is.

N/A

I'm 23 now...been playing since age 12. I've been sidetracked for many years...buying gear just because my heros used the same things. Now I'm trusting my ears, and I want a warm, dynamic, true sound. The JMP-1 is great for MIDI versatility and programability, but the sounds is not up to par for me. Just my opinion of course....I used to love the thing to death....I was just naiive and didn't know what an amp could really sound like.

ibanez rg style guitars are what i use. i play mainly post harcore with alot of grind,death,black,and speed metal. and this thing has more than enough options for me to get exactly what i want out of it.
any authentic marshall sound you want.

i cant get worlds of sounds out of this thing. very easy to understand and use even with out the manual, the only thing i needed to read the manual for was some midi info, but this preamp can give a million marshall sounds. from death metal to blues and jazz. and being midi controllable just adds to what you can do with it.
i'd give it a 10 but there is no back input(booo!!)and the knobs often skip presets when messing with them.

i was able to replace the tubes myself and i havent had any other problems with it

i havent had to deal with them yet.

i've been playing guitar for about 5 years now, i'm fairly young, but i've owned several other preamps in the past including a mesa vtwin rack preamp, and a bogner/hafler triple giant. and i'd take this preamp over them for versitality alone, but i do prefer the sound.
i wish more mods were available just for fun i guess. and i really wish it had an input on the back.
not many preamps i'd take over this one(h&k access), especially for the cost.

I can describe the sound pretty well - at max over-drive, its like a slightly weaker, less toneful version of Lynard-Skynard but it won't give you that much color so I wouldn't even use it for that. It is not a post-evh modern amp - and don't even try to do GNR or ZZ sounds with it - it won't push that hard. It's better than a foot pedal but that's not saying much.

I think it's an early 90s version. It has no effects, no EQ! It has more channels than it needs, cuz it only needs one for the one sound it makes. I forget the rest, see other's reviews for a complete list of features.

who cares

dunno

I sent resold this stupid thing soon after I tried every option. Don't be fooled by the hype. Get an mp-2 and be happy with much better sound, features, and tonal options. I was able to match the sounds generally with the mp-2 - not exactly but it always sounded better on the mp-2. Obviously Marshall can do much better than this, their little combo tube amps sound awesome but this preamp must have been held back to make it seem like their expensive stuff was worth the money. I've tried many pre-amps (I'm on a quest) but still have not tried the triaxis (everyone claims it's the best) because I stopped wanting more when I found the mp-2. I've also tried and bought/sold marshall amps, Mesa boogie combos, peavey amps and preamps, the carvin quad-x, mp-1 and misc solid state crap. Been playing for 25 years. Any suggestions please email me.

My main guitar is a 2003 Parker Fly Classic with the stock Dimarzio custom pickups. I mostly play hard rock and some metal. It gets are really really kickass rock and roll overdrive. It definatly doesn't get that Mesa/Boogie or Soldano sound (only 4 gain stages). But when I scoop the mids and turn the gain all the way, I can get really thick and heavy tones.

Concerning clean...
After the JMP I got right into a Mesa/Boogie 20/20 power amp. When I used to play with my Gibson V (gothic series, stock pickups) I could never get a good clean tone. It was always kind of overdriven unless I rolled the volume knob down. With the Parker, it cleans up a lot. I'm not too picky when it comes to clean, though. I just like it to not be distorted too much, so I like it with the Parker. It definatly not a Fender clean. Definatly a Marshall sound. I don't really know how to describe it. Maybe a few more mids and bit of a punch?

And remember, it's got that MIDI stuff going for it! A hundred sounds with just a footswitch.

This unit is my main guitar pre in my guitar rack. It's got just about everything I could ask for in a preamp. Stereo outs, 4 channels, active eq (bass, mid, trebble, presense), bass shift option. It's got some other features that I don't use very often like an effects loop (mono send, stereo retnurn) and direct recording outs (sound like crap, btw).

It hasn't stopped working yet. Whenever something has gone wrong it's been user error (like plugging the guitar into the headphone jack).

Sometimes some of the buttons get a little stuck, though. They always seem to work themselves out.

I've been playing guitar for about five years now. I've got through some really crappy amps (Danelectro and Crate). I love my tubes now! IMO, this thing gets a terrific sound. It seems to have some sweet spots with the right guitar and the right riff. If it was lost or stolen, I'd have to get one off ebay. Seems as if the price went up in the past few months (date today is 5/11/04) by about three hundred dollars. That's insane. If you're thinking about getting one, definatly try it out and listen to all the patches. It comes with a bunch of fun preset ones.

the tone on this amp is great. what i love is that this unit is so simple and pure, and what you get is just straight amp sounds. i play everything from rock, to fusion, to jazz, out of this machine, and it sounds great for everything. what i also think is great is that since i play lots of different music, i need a lot of tones, and instead of having to keep changing the controls on a head, i can store all my tones into patches, and use midi to make patch changes. also it would sound good with almost any power amp, i'm sure, because i've heard it being run through at least 3 of them. and one more thing, trust me when i say that thse things kick so much more ass than any marshall head i have ever heard. you can get any of those sounds plus much much more.

This unit is very versatile as far as preamps go. remember, this unit is specifically made for achieving pure sounds, and it has plenty of features to do that. includes bass, mid, treb, precence, volume, gain, effect loop, bass shift, and your choice of four amps ( od1, od2, clean 1, and clean 2) for each patch. and it is midi compatible. the only drawback, which isn't even bad is that the unit has no reverbs or effects built in, but i like those things from outside units anyway.

i bought mine used, and i never had a problem with it.

if you are looking for a box that will just give you tons of pure guitar sounds that can be stored into up to 100 patches, the jmp-1 is just right for you. the first time i heard it, i said that's awesome, and about a year and a half later, i got one. within a year and a half, i usually change my mind about what equipment i like, but i have always desired the great tones of this box,and then i finally got it, and i am happy to say that i am very pleased.

I'm after Rush tones, along with some of the 80's metal, and a bit of the grunge stuff. This nails Rush - not just in high gain scenarios but also clean stuff (on clean1). I have a JCM2000, and a Fender HRD - what I was really looking for was a midi controlled JCM2000, and this is pretty close. It allows you to scoop the mids such that you could actually play accoustic and it'd give a hi-fi reproduction if required.. The fender, and to some extent, the Marshall JCM simply cannot do this. The Fender tone dials might as well read "Bass", "Midrange", "Other Midrange", and "More Midrange" -- which is all well and good for the classic overdrive channel, but simply sucks for playing clean (makes your fillings hurt). the JMP-1 let's you scoop the EQ, or push the mids, so you get the best of both worlds. Presense is a nice touch - increase presense as you increase volume, it adds some midrange back. There's a lot of compression, I suspect because of the opamps they've used - if you like a lot of tube punch, be sure to use a tube power amp, since this thing will not provide that punch.

The data knob can miss a patch now and then (skips two sometimes), but since this is all midi controled, it's really no big deal. The tone controls are similar to my JCM2000 DSL/401, I'm using primarily OD1, and Clean1... OD2 is searing-sustain, and Clean2 is a bit two bright (ice pick in the ear). I do wish it had midi CC's for gain and volume.. it responds to program changes only.

I bought it used - built in 1994 - assuming same tubes - they still sound fine (i swapped 'em with some new ecc83's - no diff). There was a problem with the OD channels such that you'd here a constant crackle and fizz just above the noise floor, even with nothing plugged in. After a few hours of probing around, and freezing components, I came across an opamp that must of had some gunk build-up between the pins.. freezing/cleaning the opamp got rid of the noise. (rating a 6 since i had to fix this myself).

bought it used - no need to call Korg.. I've had mixed experiences with them in the past (really good, and really bad - it depends on who you talk to).

It's certainly worth the 375-400 they're selling for on ebay. I run it stereo thru a Fender HRD and Fender Stage (with a tcelectronic g-major in between).. tinker with the tone dials a bit, you can find your tone in there, it takes a bit of tweaking to uncover it. Heh it's not really stolen, i just thought I'd be funny to see "stolen" as a "purchase price" on harmony central.. I picked it up (legitamently) for 310US$ - really.

ive tried alot of different amps/preamps. i always come back to the JMP-1. it sounds amazing. i cant understand these guys that say different. if you need more gain and tone than this thing offers somethings wrong with your ears.it smokes my ADA. the ADA sounds like a transitorized piece of shit,when A/B against the Marshall.ive even put it against full stacks, my buddys JTM,combos etc the list goes on. it sounds like a modded plexi or an old mid 70's JMP. an JCM 800 etc... it doesnt have the clean tones of a fender combo . but they are still very good and useable.that would be its only short coming.

i got it in 1992,its never been in the shop and works perfect. has everything i want in a preamp. its like have 100 marshalls at the touch of a button.

12 years and it still works perfect....

never used them ....yet.

this is the best preamp on the market especially for the money. i would like to try the x-99 soldano. but i need a house to live in. the ADA's,peaveys rocktron stuf,doesnt come close to the JMP-1.....

This is where i was not happy with this preamp. It all started out great but this it one of those amps that you hear about that gets worse and worse as you use it over time. I tried everything to get it sounding good agian, replacing tubes, cleaning contact points, resoldering joints, ect. But no luck. also this amp had its days; some days it would sound ok, then other it would sound like shit. When your doing as much gigging as i am, you can't have an amp thats tone always changes. Also, as a whole this amp is built for a one guitarist rock band. On the best sounds that it can get, it fills up a very wide range of frequency range. If i wanted a good tone, it ment almost pushing my rythm guitarist out of the mix because he just couldn't be heard. And its not the i was louder than him by any means, its the fact that the "bass shift" really does what it says and wayyyy too much. It gets your tone very bassy and very punchy, which is cool if you by yourself but not if your playing with other people that like hearing them selves. Also this amp cuts like none other. U can completly cut the mids and it will still cut through the mix like a knife. It would be perfect for leads but dont even think of playing rythms on it. Also, as a general rule with rack gear, if you want to sound good, do not spare any money with cables or any components. A shitty cable or component in the path with the best preamp in the world will make your tone go to shit. And with your jmp 1 already sounding like shit, u better get some better gear to put in the path....if you havn't got this thing yet, i wouldn't, theres better things out there.

Lots of features, if your checking out this preamp you know what they are. A very versital preamp.

Read the sound quality description. The tone changes where unbearable. But on the plus side, this thing never actually completly failed me so thats something to be said i guess.

for the price, you can get something off of ebay that could rape the hell out of this things sound. I think marshall needs to update their rack gear a litte because there are lots of improvements that can be made on this and many of their other rack units. And for all you kids that think this stuff is good cuz the pros use it, check out all the other stuff they use along with it. And dont get the idea that this is anyones primary amp. This amp has maybe 3 acceptable tones that could make any kindof professional recording. Other than that, you better hope you have moeny left over to get something else that will fill the tonal void this thing will give you.

I use this with a 79 Strat, a Japanese Tele and a P90 loaded LP Jr. style guitar. It goes into a Marshall EL84 20/20 Power Amp with a Lexicon MPX-1 in the FX loop and ending up in a CLS stereo 2x10" guitar wedge cab. Excellent range of Marshall sounds with excellent crunch on the OD-1 setting, although OD-2 is a bit too "metal" for me for most things. Clean sounds are great Clean 1 is nice and round and warm while clean 2 is nice and bright with a good brittle edge.
With the gain up high the clean channels just start to distort nicely while OD-1 gives me great 60's overdrive sounds. Sometimes a little too distorted even with the gain low on high output pickups but backing off the guitar volume sorts this out.
I don't understand the lack of knowledge shown by some of the reviewers - they do not have the slightest idea of what they are talking about - this is a valve pre-amp with solid state control circuits (ie. not in the signal path) with op amp buffers. I can see no distortion circuitry in the op amp buffers.
An original Marshall amp uses TWO pre amp tubes plus a phase splitter. Their loss!
A great sounding Pre Amp.

Select a function and dial in the value with the rotary pot. 4 Modes - 2 Clean and 2 Overdrive, FX send, Bass Shift (Bass boost) and the usual Marshall controls Gain, Volume (Master), Bass, Middle, Treble and Presence, plus manual output level control. Good Cabinet Simulator stereo outputs and Headphone out along with mono send, stereo return FX loop and level switchable stereo output. All front panel controls (except output level) programable and can be stored in any of the 100 programs available.
Gives me a great variety of possibilities for my sounds.

Has been very reliable - no problems in 9 years.

Broke the black input jack nut, could only find silver replacements, phoned Marshall - very helpful, 2 replacement black nuts and washers arrived next day free of charge.

Superb for Marshall sounds - all of them in one programmable rack unit.

It's very easy to use and programable .Just one knob can put every data in.4 channel ,it's versatile.The

parameters are enough , gain , vol , bass , mid , treble , presence and fx loop adjustment.

but you have to do mapping the number of preset because preset no.1 of other instrument ( I have intellifex online

, G-major ) is sent to preset no.1 of JMP-1.So you have to mapping every preset.It waste time at the first using but

afterthat it's very easy
You can't use midi control any parameter such as volume , etc like digital pre amp

My gear start at gibson lespaul custom or Fender strat plus deluxe '91 , JMP-1 , rocktron intellifex online for

chorus and pitch , TC.electronic G-major , mesa 20/20 , 2 mesa 1x12 rectifier cabs , monster cable

If you like hard core sound or deep heavy metal sound,you'd not use JMP-1. JMP-1 give you vintage

cruchy sound ( it's Marshall sound , of course ) .It's OK if I use LP custom , long sustain and fat in LP style.But If I

use other guitars such as Strat Plus'91.Sound is short , no long sustain like LP custom ( maybe depend on guitar)

No drop out when you change preset.

I prefer it than sansamp psa-1

Anyway I like it.

I'd send my jmp-1 to service center last month.They change 1 IC inside. The cause of that I believe because I change lines behind pre-amp ( such as effect loop for testing the new sound ) while it turn on.Afterthat Left master channel it's quiet.

I never have other problem.

It has 1 year guarantee in my country.But they have most of parts for changing in future such as tube.

I play pop rock , fusion , pop .JMP-1 it's my style sound.

If you want sound of Marshall , crunhchy , vintage , JMP-1 don't make you disappoint. But If you like heavy , hard core sound. You'd use Mesa pre amp.

This has got to be the easiest thing to play through you select the patch with the dial and BAM!! you got sound. its wonderful the only thing that i had problems with was learning that you have to unlock it to store sometimes but the manual that i downloaded off marshall's site fixed that

I just bought a Ibanez s series guitar and it sounds great with this preamp right now i'm using my crate head as a slave to drive my speakers and it still rocks its amazing that you can program up to 100 different settings and i like that they give you 4 channels to start off with. Plus with my head unit if i move it the settings get changed on my puny 3 channels but with this the setting don't change unless i turn it on unlock it and change it myself it rocks!

I've dropped it and suprising enough the tubes and everything still work fine, it had a scratch on it when i borrowed it from the person so it really holds up for me

this has got to be the best preamp on the market

This unit is about as easy as it gets. I literally just plugged in, took about 3 minutes to set the eq, gain, and volume and i was good to go. I had no manual, but luckily im not retarded so i didn't have any problems figuring this thing out.

I'm running a tc electronic m*one processor through the effects loop of the jmp1. Then from the jmp1 through a BBE Sonic Maximizer, then into a Peavey PV900 power amp, which is all controlled via midi by a behringer fcb1010. Lemme tell ya... this thing is mean at all volumes. The other guitar player in my band uses a mesa boogie dual caliber combo into a cabinet and his shit is amazing sounding. Now, I'm not one of those people who says "My shit blows boogie out of the water..." I think Boogies are some of the best amps out there. But the Marshall JMP-1 definitely stands up to my other guitar player's boogie. Both amps have pros and cons, but if i had to pick... i'd take the jmp-1 over the boogie just because of it's versatility!

It has yet to let me down. I would gig without a backup because i don't have a choice either way... i'm poor!! :-) haha but all kidding aside, this preamp seems tough, and luckily i have a pretty strong skb case just in case. One thing is that I bought it used off of ebay, and the data knob seems a little funny. Thats the only thing. Other than that, it's straight!

never dealt with them.

I'm in a numetal band (ala 40 below, twisted method). This amp is perfect. i owned a peavey 5150 before this one and i took a gamble on selling it to buy this jmp1. I'm glad i did because i can come close to the muddy 5150 tone by messing with my maximizer, but i love the smooth, clean distortion tones. I like to hear the notes i play with the distortion. THe only other preamp i considered playing with was the mesa boogie Triaxis. I played that one next to the jmp1 at the music store and there wasn't too much difference between either one. The jmp1 was meaner sounding, and the Triaxis was just too polished of a tone. I like the "messy"er distortion. It seems less fabricated.

This preamp does everything i want it to do, and more. I'm really pleased by it. I wasn't sure at first but definitely a good investment and I'm sure i'll be using it for many many years to come.

Great sounding piece of gear. I cannot understand those who craps on the sound that this unit is capable of putting out. I've played the guitar for 17 years and know what good tone sounds like, and this thing can definitely make some serious tone. Covers everything from crisp clean clear bluesy tones to the full hard core shredding metal sound that you need.

I have a feeling that lots of the reviewers that crap on this unit knows little or nothing about setting up their gear for good sound. I pity the bunch of you... If you can't make good sound with the JMP-1, you might as well give up playing the guitar and sell all your equipment to folks that know how to use it right.

And by the way. The JMP-1 is a TUBE AMP as opposed to what some of you claim. Just check with Marshall folks and if you know a little bit about circutry and electronics, you will see it from the wiring diagram.

I assume you all know the deal here. If not check out Marshall's web site.

Had mine for 3 years now and had no problems with it. It is built like at tank.

Talked to Marshall rep. about the whole tube or not tube issue. Easy to get in touch with. Have not needed customer support because of problems with the gear though...

Built like a tank and sound excellent.

I have a variety of Fender guitars with lots of Seymour Duncan replacement pickups (Little 59s and APS) as well as several vintage pickups. This preamp magically brings out hidden tones in every pickup I've plugged into it. From Tele to Strat to Les Paul, this preamp makes everything sound good provided you like that special sound character Marshall puts into every product.

I restored the 25 factory presets and that really brought this beast to life. You can printout the presets from the PDF at the Marshall web site.

At first the controls did not look like they would have enough resolution but after experimenting a little I discovered they are more than adequate.

I've been able to get everything from crystal clear Fender amp tone all the way to full shred (requires a humbucking for max metal tone).

Why did I wait so long to get one of these? I don't know but I'm glad I have it now!

I've wanted a JMP-1 for years but it was too expensive (I was too cheap) to buy one new. I scored one on ebay a couple of months ago and have been loving it ever since.

No problems so far. Seems well built.

Have not needed any yet.

I'm 50 and I've been playing since I was 10. I've owned over 20 Marshall heads, several Hiwatts and a Boogie or two. I play rock and blues. This preamp is very good sounding, easy to use and lots of fun. Now that they're cheap on ebay, I'm gonna get a second one for my road rack.

after reading some other posts regarding this unit. and the fact that it supposably uses diodes to get its distorted tones. i contacted marshall and asked them about wether the jmp-1 is a tube preamp or a solid state preamp that uses tubes to just warm up the sound a bit. here is the respones i got from them.


The JMP-1 preamp is built around 2 ECC83 tubes (4 tube gain stages) and the sound is largely based on the tubes themselves. There are a lot of programmable parameters built into the JMP-1 which require control circuits comprised of IC's as well as some IC's used as buffers or as a part of those controlled stages. There is one solid-state clipping circuit comprised of BR3 which is a diode bridge, but that only kicks in if the signal level is over 1.2 Volts and it's found just before the first tube which is quite early in the signal path. You can have it removed by a qualified tech but you'll see that it contributes to a somewhat overall "roundness" of the tone for lack of a better term. It levels off some harmonic spikes and generally doesn't affect the fundamentals unless the input is extremely hot or has been insanely boosted by another pedal or preamp. As far as the so-called 'experts' are concerned, yes, if you bypass the tubes and max out all the gain you will still get some clipping. However, the overall QUALITY of the tone in the JMP-1 does come from the tubes alone. I hope this answers your question.

Unfortunately for the JFX-1, sadly the numbers requested for production were no longer there and it was discontinued. I can't say now if there will be a re-issue but if there is enough demand then yes, it's always possible.

Thanks for contacting Marshall on the web and if you have any other technical questions, please don't hesitate to contact me directly.

well there ya go the damn thing is a tube preamp.dont listen to these BOZO's who say different. it sounds KILLER. and it has to use some diodes in order to replicate all the various marshall tones. I even went out and started lookin at the Triaxis because of these bozos rantings . the Triaxis didnt sound anywhere near as good as the JMP-1. and it cost waaay more $$$$. the marshall is alot more versatile. lending itself to clean and moderate stones type distortions and all the way to mettalica type metal. the triaxis couldnt cut it for the real metal type of tones. it did have a nice blusey tone to it. but seemed to fall flat when asked to really juice it up as far as saturated tones were concerned. the Triaxis clean channels were also very nice. this is the one area of the JMP-1, i think could use recalibrating. marshall should actually use diodes and convert to a solid state for clean tones. this is what the ADA MP-1 does. It sounds killer also. i wish i could have the clean from the ADA and the distorted from the JMP-1 in one unit.oh well, maybe one day. so i give the JMP-1 a rating of 10 for an all around great preamp that doesnt cost huge $$$$!!!!!

Pretty straigtforward, but take your time to get it just right.

I had one of these back in '93', combined w/ Marshall's Valvestate 80 watt power amp and 4x12 stereo cab this rig was fantastic. I used it midi'd together with an Art stereo fx unit and the sounds were phenominal for the modern country style I was playing at the time. The speaker cab emulator is worth it's weight in gold. It keeps the soundman from screwing up your tone. I've heard other guitarists using the same rig and the front of house sound is very impressive. The only thing I didn't love about it was it can't do a great clean Fender sound. If that doesn't matter to you, you should try one out.

Was very road worthy, used 4-6 nights per week.

N/A

I use a Hot Rod Deville now. It's easier to move and it does what I want it to do extremely well. I'll always have a soft spot for the JMP-1 though. I like the Plexi overdrives, but imo all the tones are useful. The only thing they could do better is improve the clean tones so you can dial in a little of that Kieth Richards grit. You can dial back the overdrive for something close though, but I guess if you want that tone you probably ought to buy a Fender. Also a little pricey imho.

Is`s very easy to use. Before i got it i wasn`t sure about this midi tehnology but now i think it`s great, you can store 100 sounds that you prefer with no problems at all.

sound of this preamp is very good but you must have a good power amp to create that perfect sound. I use my JMP-1 with mesa 90/90 and i must say that this is my perfect rack combo.

i play in a hardcore/punk-rock band and i must say that JMP-1 is great for that kind of music and has never let me down in a studio or on a stage so i think it`s a great buy. If you`re thinking about getting one try it first you may not like it, it depends on what sound you like.

THE PREAMP SOUNDS KILLER IN BOTH DISTORTION MODES. THE CLEAN SOUND HOWEVER IS NOT THE GREATEST .FOR ME ANYWAY. MY ADA KILLS IT EASY IN THIS DEPARTMENT.

I GOT THIS UNIT WAY BACK IN THE EARLY 90'S WHEN IT FIRST CAME OUT.I WAS AND STILL DO ALSO USE AN ADA MP1. WHICH I BELIEVE THIS PREAMP WAS BASED ON . AFTER ALL ADA WAS THE VERY FIRST MIDI TUBE PREAMP. THE MARSHALL IS VERY EASY TO USE . YOU DONT EVEN REALLY NEED A MANUAL.

ITS BEEN REALLY RELIABLE FOR OVER TEN YEARS OF STAGE AND STUDIO USE.

MARSHALL HAS TREATED ME VERY WELL. IT WAS IN THE SHOP ONCE TO HAVE THE CABLE PLUG FIXED .THE STORE SENT IT TO MARSHALL AND WHEN IT CAME BACK . THEY HAD REPLACED THE TRANSFORMER, THE MEMORY BATTERY, AND FIXED THE PLUG.THEY ALSO CHANGED SOME SMALL DIODES. I SWEAR AFTER THAT THE THING WAS BETTER THAN EVER AND SEEMED TO HAVE MORE USABLE GAIN AS WELL.IT CAME BACK WITH ALL THE REPLACED PARTS IN A LITTLE BOX WITH IT.AND THEN THE STORE TOLD ME MARSAHLL WASNT CHARGING ME.... SO I SAID MARSHALL RULES AND I WILL ALWAYS USE THERE AMPS .I WASNT EVEN AWARE THAT ANYTHING NEEDED FIXING OTHER THAN THE CABLE JACK. BUT MARSHALL SAID THIS UNIT HAD A VERY LOW TRANSFORMER HUM AS DID MANY OF THERE EARLY UNITS SO IT WAS UPGRADED TO NEWER SPECS . THIS WAS WHEN THE UNIT WAS OVER SIX YEARS OLD ASWELL ,WAY AFTER ANY WARRANTY WAS LEFT ON IT.YA GOTTA THINK THAT WAS PRETTY COOL OF THEM.

IVE BEEN PLAYING OVER 25 YEARS. I USE THIS THING ALL THE TIME. AT LEAST THREE GIGS A MONTH FOR THE PAST 12 YEARS.I USE IT IN A RACK WITH AN ALESIS QUADREVERB FOR FX AND A MOSVALVE POWER AMP. INTO A MARSHALL JCM 800 STEREO 4X12 CAB. IT SOUNDS AMAZING. MARSHALL NEEDS TO REPLACE THE PLASTIC CABLE JACKS WITH SOME METAL ONES HOWEVER. OTHER THAN THAT ITS VERY SOLID.I HAVE JUST BOUGHT ANOTHER ONE USED FOR A BACK UP. IVE BEEN USING AND ADA MP1 FOR BACK UP UNTIL NOW. BUT YA CAN GET A JMP FOR A LOT CHEAPER THAN I PAID FOR IT NOW.IF IT WAS LOST OR STOLEN ...I WOULD GET ANOTHER ONE FOR SURE.HOW DO PEOPLE USE AMPS WITH ONLY ONE OR TWO SETTINGS ? MIDI PREAMPS ARE SO VERSATILE. YOU CAN HAVE EVERY AMP SOUND AND EFFECTS PRE PROGRAMMED AT THE TOUCH OF A BUTTON.

Oh my god... It seems that the cheaper the equipment is, the dumber the people that get attracted to it... No offence. If I look at reviews on a Soldano, Diesel, Engl, and the better Mesa's (even some better Marshalls) I see honest, thought-out reviews that reflect knowledge and experience. Here, aside from a few exceptions, I see kids blurting out opinions that make me wonder why they all mention "i've been playing for 15 years" in their reviews... I see somebody calling Mesa Boogie "high gain fuzz amps"... Ever heard Dream Theater? I see people saying "only Mesa and Marshall make any worthy pre-amps"... Ever heard of Rivera, Bogner, Engl, Soldano, VHT, Diesel, and god knows what I forgot? I see people saying that the combination of lesser tubes and a heap more circuitry is the future of valve sound. The fact that he can't resist writing in caps all the time and the fact that this unreliable "futuristic circuitry" seems to be the only big downside of the jmp (other than taste in sound) don't really help him strengthen his point of view either....

I wonder... Why do some people come online and post reviews? Just to rant "my gear is the best"? Fine, if you think so. But it has occurred to me that especially on cheaper gear, kids have to come online and yell out to the world that their cheap new toy is indeed better than anything Rivera, Bogner and Soldano have ever produced.

But somebody that purchases THIS unit, and then claims that Mesa's are fuzz amps, I'm sorry, but I pity you.

Intuitive layout, but a quick read at the manual is suggested.

I mainly use a '74 strat with Floyd Rose original modified by me and a Seymour Duncan JB at the bridge going into the JMP-1 with send/ return to/from a Lexicon MPX200 and going to a Marshall EL84 20-20 power amp to a 2x12 Celestion G12H (30 watts) no brand cabinet.
I spent some time mastering the tone nuances one could obtain playing around with the parameters and I have to say that you can easily shape almost any kind of good sound (from a valve/digital rack unit point of wiev).
Of course a good help comes from the MPX200 which is a wonderfully sounding 24 bit reverb unit even though I usually never set the effect send level over 6 to have a perfect balance with the real sound in front and the effect as a sort of aura spreading from it unless I want to recreate those 80's cold and sharp guitar tones. Another parameter I'm careful to use to the max is the gain which, specially in the od2 channel, from 16 up tends to add background fuzziness to the tone. Furthermore, in search for that special vibrant yet armonious and sweet crunch tone a lot of people is after, I'm sure, I think to have reached the limit of the digital eq section feeling a lack of definition and swetness in the high mid range. I compared this tone to the one I'm able to obtain on my Marshall Valvestate S80 2x12 combo which uses an analog eq section and a very useful mid band shifting control (contour) and I really miss this one on the JMP-1. The presence parameter also is not very useful with distorted sounds since it causes harshness, it's much more usable on clean sounds but I tend to add some valve generated presence from the EL84 20-20 power amp since it reacts better with the speakers.
I like a lot the solo sounds this thing is capable to deliver with both clean and distorted channels, very clear penetrating focused and singing tone, still bearing in mind the function the other components of my rig have on tone.

This unit seems well built and robust enough so I don't mind giggin' around without backup ...maybe just some spare tubes.

Never had the pleasure.

Im 33 and have been playing since I was 16. I used to play a bit of everything, both originals and covers, heavy metal, rock, blues, progressive, R&B, funky and some jazz and fusion.
My first guitar was a 70's Hofner with Bigsby style tremolo which I found in the garbage(?!)
Then I had a Charvel Jackson model 3, swapped in a London shop with the 74'strat I've got now and I owned also a Les Paul DC studio and an Epiphone Sheraton 2 semi acoustic.
As amp I use the 3 rack unities and cabinet I've talked about plus a Fender Twin and marshall valvestate S80 combo (mod. 8240).
I use a Jim Dunlop Crybaby wah pedal, a Mesa Boogie V-twin valve od pedal and a Roland GR 33 guitar synth.

Im very happy about the midi features of the JMP-1 and satisfied with the sound in general considering also its convenience in studio type uses. As I said before, I only wish it had an analog sounding eq with parametric mid control to better tailor the sound.

just turn the wheel and push the buttons. simple!

Well... it sounds like marshall. all from JCM800 and 900 to plexi and from the first marshall amp. There is 2 kinds of distortion. OD 1 and OD 2. i often use OD 2 when i play death and proggressive metal.
Thick and tight sounding distortion. now the negative side, the eq isn't that good. like the mid section. first it doesn't happen anything. then all comes at the same time.
I use an Ibanez USA custom with Seymour Duncan and Dimarzio PAF pro.
JMP-1, Valvestate 2x80w amp and an Alesis MIcroverb 4.

it's build lika i tank this one.

don't know.

sound great. buy one!! you get allot for the money. thats it.

ibanez rg 350 with dimarzio fred and paf pro,i play blues rock clasical and all in between and this baby does em all,it s niosy only if you get close to it with your guitar at full volume,the cleans are very warm and the tube saturation can go from bluesy overdrive to full shred saturation if you want crunch this thing as plenty to spare,,think of a train going throug your house now thats crunch im abel to get any marshal sound with a little tweak and yes the tubes in there do make a difference i change them fromm time to time to experiment and it makes a big difference in tone sustaine and feel..

mine is a 1991 model,you want versitile think all amps marshall in one rack,it as 4 chanels for you to tweak,stereo effects loop speaker emulated output,normal output,phone jacks100 user patches,

never broke yet and it s 13 years old..

never had to call but think of it as the best customer service..

ive been playing for 22 years i would definetly by this again,i love the sound of this machine it s a powerfull tone builder,i tried lots of gear in my days so far this is the best tube preamp for me,

I use my JMP-1 with a Boogie 2:50 Power Amp (6L6s tubes) and the incredible state of the art Marshall sound from the 12AX7 Pre Tubes can go from vintage pure clean, to modern Hi Gain distortion, passing thru shades of overdrive that only a Marshall can deliver. Combining
this unit with the colours of a Boogie Power Amp was a perfect set up for a high quality sound. AWESOME! But, friends, you must have A GOOD GUITAR, with HIGH QUALITY PICK UPS, a GOOD CABINET with EXCELENT SPEAKERS, and some also GOOD CABLES and GREAT EFFECTS. All the
reviews I've saw, all the points that JMP-1 lost, FOR THE LOVE
OF GOD!!, all this "sounds problems" are not from JMP-1 skills!!
GIVE ME A BREAK!!! Please Friends, SPEND SOME TIME ON RESEARCH,
learning how to set up your guitar sound!! JMP-1 is perfect!! Our
ignorance is the problem!! And blame the Marshall Technology for
shipping a Pre-Amp that have 2 amazing valves working together with a solid state innovative circuitry is, AGAIN, IGNORANCE!! Less valves, less problems!! The JMP-1 have the right quantity of valves for a better performance and a minimum maintenance. This is the future on Amps technology...only the blind can not see that!! Take a look at the new MODE FOUR Marshall Head, the wonderfull tones that this beast can offer, and you will understand that a valve-only AMP is not a synonym of better sound anymore!! The mix between valves and circuits is the new strategy to optimize the performance. FOR SURE!!

Easy to use, great features for MIDI, excelent Speaker simulator for direct recording and this thing "Bass Shift" that can explode everything on a Metal Gig or can give more soul to a Blues/Rock performance! OUTSTANDING!

Strong, Heavy Duty project, this unit was made for lifetime. And you have only 2 valves to care about. Less is more...to o save our money, keep our focus on play, play, play, play...

I have my unit since 2000...no maintenance...no sign of problems...a great product is made like this: no customer support needed...but If I need, I do have as authiorized service around...Marshall is more like a PC then a MAC...on every corner ytou can find parts and a professional to help you fast and with very low costs.

U$700 for the entire Marshall Tone History!! IT'S A BARGAIN!! HOW CAN A MARSHALL SHIP JMP-1 AT THIS PRICE? Using the ENOUGH quantity of valves!! PERFECT!! GENIUS PROJECT!! HAIL TO JIM MARSHALL!!! And the other companies?...back to school!!!...to learn how to built a true, state of the art guitar amp speaking of Features, Sounds, reliability, Custom Support and, THE MOST IMPORTANT, with a FAIR PRICE!!

very easy

JMP-1 preamp is Solid State!

I removed the overdrive tube and made i bypass between pin 1 and 8,
and all of the distortion was there! I dont even bother to remove the diodes!

still is a nice sounding preamp, special after the mods i made:

1-bypassed C84 with a 22K resistor - adds some low end before distortion - rounder and cryspyer distortion
2-removed C78 - reduces the high frequencies cut off - more brightness
3-removed C107 and swaped C106 with a 10nf - wides thepresence control frequencies - less nasal soundind, more opened sound!

it is very easy to mod this pre!!!

the schematic is available out there!

Extreemly basic design. If you buy one off ebay and dont have a manual dont worry...you'll figure it out - I hope. The one thing that I really liked about this was the midi channel send. I use it to send a patch change to my eventide. Works well.

Set up: Gibson LP -> Alesis 3630 -> JMP-1 -> Eventide Harmonizer (FX Loop) ->Alesis 3630 -> EQ -> Marshall 9200 -> Marshall Cab.

I am not sure if it is my particular model, but the level of dead noise is extreemly to high. When the Overdrive is on and nothing is being played it just hums and the other thing Im not to impressed with is the volume difference between the clean and overdriven. If you can get a model (Im sure any new one) that doesnt produce a dead noise then this is great, but I wouldnt use it alone. Not enough variety of distortion. Granted it is supposed to model the marshall sound, but it still isnt "that" close to it. I would use it in an FX loop of another preamp or serial for more gain, but overall it is a wonderful preamp for someone that just needs alittle push, but I have to admit - if you are going to spend money on this, dont. Get (sad to say) a Tech21 PSA1 preamp or a Mesa Boogie Triaxis.

Sent it in to the repair guy to many times. Always something wrong with it. Sold the dumb thing on ebay.

Never delt with them, I see no reason why they wouldnt be helpful.

As I said, its nice if you use as a preamp to another preamp, but not alone. If you stack two of these on top of each other, then I might like it better, but not one. I was actually quite let down by the quality of this item. All the hipe of over it..."The basic sound of MCIS sound"...um...no. It might be in their set up, but it isnt the sound you hear. Dont bother if you are a Pumpkins fan looking for the pumpkins sound. If you can find one on ebay for 300 or so, go for it - its worth that much. But for heavens sake, dont spend 700 on musiciansfriend for it.

I Have been playing hardcore/ metal for years, as well as blues and jazz, and even though the channel switching came in handy, i thought that it lacked any real defining tone. The distorted channels just needed more. It is a decent base sound, thats all. After i added and Aphex aural exciter and a rocktron intellifex my sound came together (The Jmp-1 was running into a 20/20 mesa power amp). the Jmp-1 is the weak link. I am a metal freak, but i want defintion, clairty, and tone in my sound; not just over distorted mush. Adding more digital components almost hurt more than helped, and i never found a sound that lept out at me. I play a PRS custom 22 that sounds great, fat warm tone on the lows, sustain and articulation with the highs; the jmp-1 stifilled its beauty. There is not enough versitility in the four channels. Clean 1 and 2 sound very similar. You can dial up clean 2 on the clean 1 channel if you want, same thing for the distortion. What is the point? what a waste of space! I know marshall is know for its signature "sound" but if all they have is one sound, give it up. If you are going to offer a four channel pre amp, the channels should be distinct.

Lots of pretty buttons. I didn't use most of the features other than the effects loop. Four channels (in my opinion there are only really two, since the two clean and distorted channels are so similar). The midi switching is good, I can see that as a draw, but if that is the only real draw, get a triaxis. The 5 12ax7s deliver a much richer sound (in my opinion). There seems to be some dispute over the influence of the two 12ax7's in the Jmp-1. compairing it to my mesa mark III, the clairty and definition of the mesa stomps the marshall into peices. The Jmp-1 has some real solid state qualities...

I used this for many years without a backup (just poor, not stupid)and it never failed at a gig. One day though it decided to blow a fuse and keep on blowing them. I took it to a tech(he knows little about the JMP-1) he replaced the tubes and the fuse. It worked for about three chords and then it blew the fuse again. It may be the battery inside, i have yet to check that. I have had other problems with marshall solid state stuff, as well. I had a 80/80 solid state power amp (garbage) that would blow about every three months. It was under warranty so i got a new one every time this happened. Marshall ended up giving me four amps. The guys at the store i got it from thought it was the way i had things wired... but it turns out that marshall likes to put bad power converters in that amp. Marshall was not going to replace may amp under waranty (they stand by there products HA HA) so with a little pressure i got the store to give me a used Mesa 20/20 power amp. My love afair with tubes begins...
I did have a drunk friend knock my rack off my cab and the only thing that broke on the jmp-1 was the input jack. My guitar was plugged in and the Jmp-1 fell right onto the jack. eight buck in repairs. Atleast you can hit someone with it...

Marshall is impossible to reach from the US. Apparently Korg does their distribution in the US. I Emailed them about the fuse problem earler today... we will see if Korg will stand up where Marshall runs and hides...

I now play through a Mesa Mark III and i am much happier. It suits my demands much more than any marshall i have played. They have pissed me off. Like someone else said, Marshall rides on its reputation and has given up on producing anything quality. they have become a brand for amatuers. The Jmp-1 is reminicient of that. With a little more work they could have made a great pre amp. Instead they cut corners and tried to sucker people by selling it as a Valve pre. Shame on Marshall. It works, and sounds better than a floor pedal, but if you want something that will push your sound to the next level, this is not it.

Big up to Marshall! this product sings like an Angel and roars like a devil. What else do ya need?
But ya have to be very carefull what kind of tubes you are using.
I tried mesa 12ax7 and those tubes sucked big time.
Then i changed one cheap china made tube for a clean cahannel and sovtek for distortion channel and those are the real babes i love them
they saved my life!

I bought my jmp-1 as soon as it was released.
It is very easy to use and it ingludes all the features i need.
I'M playing very large scale type of music from reggae to metal.

I have had no problems ever since.
I have been touring in Russia in very bad conditions and without any broblems what so ever.
I don`t give full ten cause of the rumors about the battery and what happen if it ruins out.

I'm usin roctron intellifex and vht 2150 and vht 2*12 louded with vintage celestions.
And last but not least im using rocktron midi mate floorboard.

I play metal (emperor, dimmu borgir, morbid angel, etc, etc) and I?m using an esp-307 with an emg 707 in the bridge. Initially I wasn?t too impressed with the sounds of jmp-1, too brittle and harsh for me. I preferred the distortion of my digitech 2112. But after using the unit for a longer time I would have to agree with a past reviewer that said it is not for bedroom levels. When you crank up the jmp-1 everything changes, it has a rawness and cut that is amazing. Most pre-amps I?ve used in the past have a muddy quality to them almost as if they?re running a speaker emulator on all the time (which they weren?t) and even the 2112 which I thought was pretty good at louder volumes pales in comparison to the rawness and cut of the jmp-1. It does exactly what I want, the sound of a cranked head with the versatility of a rack setup. String definition is what I?m after, at bedroom levels this isn?t really an issue but when you start to get louder that?s when most problems arise. With the jmp-1 that?s when things get better! I?m not sure how it compares to emulating the sounds of other marshall heads but it is perfect for me.

I tried using it with the eq of 2112 but I actually prefer using the jmp-1 by itself with the 2112 just for effects.

The clean channels seem fine to me. I don?t use them much though but when I have played on them they seem very warm. For the people saying the cleans suck and are lifeless, maybe this is where the power-amp issue comes into play.

As for the tube and solid state comments that are being made, all I can say is that if it is solid state then it still sounds damn good. All these people talk about how marshall are mis-leading people, how the tubes just warm up the signal and it?s really solid state. Man, if I found out they put a couple of potatoes in there instead of tubes I?d still buy it, the bottom line is how is sounds not what?s in it.

You can read the past reviews if you want to know about the features.

I don?t understand people?s love/hate relationship with this unit. To start off with I would have to say that you need a good TUBE power-amp to see the jmp-1 shine. It is a pre-amp after all so your power stage is a huge element in the final sound.

The unit is easy to program and the limited control you have over the settings still gives you the option to create a wide range of sounds. The easiest way is to start off with everything set on the middle and then go from there. Also to tweak and the volume you?re going to be playing the preset at cause it makes a difference (see below).

If people hate the unit so much then why do they buy it?!? Give it a good try in the store first before you bring out the cash.

I have bought this second hand and after a week the clean channels just died, I'm not sure what the problem is although I was playing around with some elaborate cabling and I might have plugged something in wrong. For the price that I paid for it which was a steal ($250 NZD = $125 USD) I?m not too annoyed, I?ll just get it fixed.

I've emailed marshall before with questions about my power-amp they have always got back to me within a couple of days and have been helpful

I?ve been playing for around seven years. I?m looking for that elusive final rack rig and I?m starting to get there.

Here is my equipment in the order that I use them jmp-1>digitech 2112 pre-amp/effects (in the effects loop of the jmp-1)> marshall 9100 tube power amp> marshall 1936 2x12 cab

Only I few things I would change if I had the option. I wish it had CC over the parameters so that you could control the gain with an expression pedal. Also a big LCD would have been nice so you could name your presets rather than just giving them a number.

I use the jmp-1 for metal and it does the job with minimal fuss, if you?re thinking of getting a jmp-1 then make sure you?ve got a decent tube power amp to do it justice. For the price I got the jmp-1 for it was a steal.

on the tube vs solid state debate, I did some research on google because my jmp1's tone was bugging me.
here's what I found
Subject: Re: JMP-1 Distortion
Newsgroups: alt.guitar.amps
Date: 1997/01/10
Mark Garvin wrote:
>
> >Does the Marshall JMP-1 preamp use diodes for it's distortion
> >as does the 900 series amps?
>
> Does it sound like diodes? Anyone? <g>
>
> Mgarvin

As a former owner of one of these who abandoned it for a genuine
Marshall amplifier, in a word: yes.
However, I'm in a talkative mood tonight, so I'll elaborate (you didn't
think I'd let this go _that_ easily did you, Mark? Heh...heh :)
I bought this preamp because, at the time, I was using a rack system on
stage (we all make mistakes!) with an ADA MP-1 preamp which had about
the worst, thinnest, buzzy distortion I've ever heard (except when I
listened to it in the music store before I plunked down my hard-earned
cash...go figure).
The JMP-1, when compared side-by-side with the ADA MP-1, had a _much_
more convincing Marshall sound. I won't go into the usual GP adjectives
to describe it, but it seemed to be better, so I bought it. The strange
thing is, it sounded okay at low music store and bedroom levels, but
when played loud on stage and miked through the PA, it sounded thin.
Not too buzzy, but just thin.
It had a strange phenomenon where the sound is obviously very distorted,
but doesn't sound distorted enough, if that makes any sense. Crank up
the gain and it just loses headroom and gets thinner. Add gain and
reduce treble or presence and it just cleans up a bit, it doesn't get
"warmer". No touch sensitivity at all. No smooth transition into
distortion. No "feel" (okay, so I lied about not using the standard
adjectives...sue me!).
I have a friend out of state who also bought one for stage use with his
band and he called me up asking if I could add more gain to it. Seems
he couldn't get "enough distortion"...same effect I was having. I
agreed to modify his for more gain (why risk MY warranty? heh..heh.
Besides, if it sounded good, I'd do the same). After tearing into it I
found that if you increased the drive by increasing the feedback
resistors on the opamps driving the (1) tube in the distortion circuit,
it STILL didn't sound "properly" distorted, and, in addition, the whole
thing would start oscillating nicely. Seems this thing is already on
the edge of max gain. I was able to coax a bit more gain out of it, but
it didn't help much. He sold his JMP-1 shortly thereafter, got rid of
the rack crap and bought a real amp.
To make a long story even longer, the bottom line is that this is the
exact same solid-state, diode distortion followed by a tube scam that
seems to be convincing enough at low volumes to separate an individual
from his money until compared with a real tube amp.
The schematic tells the story. The gain stages are all opamps; the gain
control is a digital pot (Dallas Semiconductor if I remember correctly,
if not, probably a Xicor E2POT device); the distortion is generated by
an opamp section with a build-out resistor ac-coupled into a diode
bridge with a discrete diode wired across it to get a symmetrical
bidirectional, three-junction-drop clip point. This is then followed by
a single 12AX7 configured as a common-cathode stage driving a DC-coupled
cathode follower into a fixed-value tone stack. This cathode follower
circuit is apparently the source of the Marshall tone simulation. The
output of this circuit then goes to the four-band active opamp equalizer
that functions as bass, mid, treble, and presence controls.
I am firmly convinced that no matter how you post-filter it, the
symmetric diode distortion completely lacks in the proper harmonic
content, and, in addition, even though you can round the edges and
soften the clip transition, it still has none of the touch sensitivity
and feel that we find so appealing in a tube amp.
As a side note,

I'm using it live with these guitars:
PRS Singlecut with a '57 Classic Plus in the bridge
Gibson LP Standard
Gibson The Paul Firebrand

It suits my musical styles perfectly. My band plays half covers and half originals and our own style is in the vein of Smashing Pumpkins,Tool,Stone Temple Pilots with some Psychadelic rock mixed in.
My main tone is a lot like The Smashing Pumpkins album Mellon Collie & The Infinite Sadness tone.
I am running the JMP-1 into an Alesis 3630 compressor/gate,Mesa Strategy 500 and a Mesa Traditional 4x12 cab. I get VERY warm tones because of the Mesa 500 and when i want very bassy/fuzzy tones all i have to do is turn the bass shift on and crank the gain to 20. Amazing fuzzy guitar tones there. My advice to the JMP-1 haters is try it with an Alesis 3630 and a Mesa power amp. You would be amazed.
Last weekend the sound guy called me over and said i was sounding great and he was pumping me up. He is also a guitarist.
Here's a clip of my band playing Tool's Sober to give you an idea of my tone. The quality's not great but it is helpful.
Go here for the clip.

http://earthhall.musicpage.com

I also made a site dedicated to the JMP-1.
There are a few sound clips there recorded with a Shure SM-57 into my PC.
http://personal.ayrix.net/~russell/jmpenter.html

Without the Alesis 3630 i give the jmp-1 a 7 but with it i give it a 10. Huge improvment.

Plenty of features for a preamp. Easy midi control. Anyone that can't get a decent tone out of it: A. can't figure out how to push buttons or B. is running it into a solid state power amp.

Hasn't broken on me yet.

I've been playing for about 8 years. I also own a Marshall JCM 800 2203 head that i never use. The JMP-1>Alesis 3630>Mesa 500 is perfect for me as of right now. The only thing i could think of that would be better is a Diezel VH-4. Even if i got the Diezel i wouldn't get rid of the JMP-1 rig. If it sucks as bad as some people say then why am i getting so many tone compliments from so many people?

Not a problem programming it. Lots of editing patches, Yes, decent manual. Firmware ???. They are all the same.

This is where it gets bad, realy bad. I bought one used before really doing some reading up on it at HC,interent, and various tube and amp sites out there. I feel like a fool for buying the JMP-1 one because as a previous reviewer(my hats off to you) said it was a smoke show blow job. Ain't that the truth. It sounds like a big muff pedal in rack form. Way too much money for an effects pedal! I got ripped off big time. Lucky for me I sold it right away.

http://peaveyrockmaster.tripod.com/rockmaster/id2.html

This site gets past all the hype. I wish I would've saw it before I bought the dumb thing.

I got rid of it, so I don't know.

Yes a little. They kept telling me the chip was just used for reference. Yeah right?! This thing is solid state not tube. The tubes warm up the signal and that's it. http://peaveyrockmaster.tripod.com/rockmaster/id2.html


The distortion(really nasty) comes from the transistor bridge. I no electrical engineer, but I do know enough not to be made an assclown.

I play classic rock all the way up to new metal, but this can't help me at all. I am very dissappointed in it. I am also dissappointed in myself for falling for the Marshall Smoke Show HYPE. I feel I;ve been sold a bottle of snake oil for $450. link to site about peavey rockmaster.

http://peaveyrockmaster.tripod.com

I think I'll try the rockmaster next. At least it's a true valve preamplifier. How can Marshall fit all the Marshalls in one pre-amp? They can't but they'd sure like you to believe they can.

JMP-1 PREAMP = VALVESTATE with a Couple of Tubes instead of One.
People; look at ANY MODERN Marshall All Tube 100-watt Head. How many preamp tubes do we see? That's right, at least FOUR. Those tubes are the CRUCIAL component in getting a TRUE "all-valve" Preamp SOUND. Still think I'm full o'sh*t?
Ok then, look at ANY Tube Preamp made by Other Companies that are known for making High-Quality, Great Sounding Gear. You WILL see the same thing, over and over and OVER AGAIN!!!
My GRIPE with the JMP-1 is that Marshall advertises it as a "Valve Midi Preamp" and PRICES it as such, when the role of the tubes in this thing is CLEARLY that of a "Signal Warmer" as opposed to a Tone-Producer!!! The result is the same as say, taking a SansAmp PS1, and placing an ART MP in front of it, and then running ANOTHER MP after the PS1 into your Power Amp! Marshall should be ASHAMED of themselves for misleading players like this!

Anyway, if you're into the sound of the Marshall Valvestate( and it's not a bad sound ), and want that sound in a switchable MIDI Preamp, then GO FOR IT! But DO NOT expect or think that you are buying a copy of Marshalls' ALL-TUBE Preamp section made famous in amps like the JCM-800, 900, or DSL/TSL series because folks; that AIN'T it!

Clean 1 is a warm, VERY clean mode, which can often sound a little muddy, but after taking some time tweaking it, you'll find some good tones. Clean 2, is modelled after the JTM-45 clean, and has more top end. This is what I predominantly use for my cleans. It's more crisper with more presence. Again, it will take some time dialing it in, but it can be done. The OD 1 can range from a plexi lead all te way to a hot-rodded JCM800 with the bass shift on and gain maxed out. The OD 2 is primarily voiced differently, with more emphasis on the mids, AND with an extra kick of sustain and gain. There's more gain on this mode than any other Marshall, and arguably any other amp out there. It's pretty wild. Think more like a JCM TSL or DSL, but better. Once again, it does Marshall very well, but ONLY Marshall. Don't expect it to do anything else. Think Marshall tone with more gain than previously seen. I would suggest against maxing the gain to 20, because the sound will most likely turn to mush, unless you playing an unltra searing lead, etc. Also, if you're gonna go with this unit, couple it with a good tube power amp. It will sound like it's meant to sound. I'm playing either an Ibanez RG-270 with EMG's or an ESP Lynch Custom with Duncans into a Boss SD-1, Crybaby Wah-wah, into the JMP-1 - Rocktron Hush IICX - TC electronic G-Major - BBE 362 Sonic Maximizer - Mesa 50/50 driving a Marshall 1936 2X12. If you're expecting to this unit to single handedly provide you with great tone, like putting it with a power amp into a cab alone, then you're likely gonna be disappointed. It's merely a preamp. It will provide great tone, BUT will really shine with an FX processor in series, or at least a parametric EQ. You're tone shouldn't rely too much on one piece of equipment. It's the system as a whole which gives me my tone, and I couldn't imagine it without any one item or unit.

This is the Marshall JMP-1 MIDI preamp. If your'e a Marshall kind of person, than this IS your preamp. If you aren't a Marshall kind of person, you will probably NOT like this preamp. I, however, AM a Marshall kind of guy, and I love it. It can do almost every kind of Marshall tone every created, but hat's it. Don't expect it to do Mesa, Fender, etc. It does Marshall. It's only a preamp, with volume, gain, tone, presence, effect level, etc. All your basic preamp functions. Four modes and an optional "bass shift" which significantly adds extra low end to your tone. The FX loop is my only real issue. It's NOT that good. After about 7, it sounds extremely wet, and below 6 or so, it sounds really dry. Do yourself a favor and avoid the FX loop and put everything else in series. The FX loop works, it's just not great. If you avoid the FX loop, the FX level will act as an extra volume boost, which can be nice, especially for those clean patches which aren't the easiest to dial in. I play metal, and 80's type hard rock, and this preamp is ideal for my style.

I recommend it if you're planning on using a good TUBE power amp, Mesa, Peavey, etc. and either a parametric EQ and/or an FX processor. My TC G-Major really works great with the JMP-1. It does a great job for me personally. Don't expect it to sound great on it's own though, without any effects. And don't expect it to do anything other than Marshall. Otherwise get something else.

Well, I`ve played for 20 years now, and I demand the best from my equipment, as I`ve done som sessionwork, studio etc. I use only pro cables etc.
My setup consist mostly of: Two Carvin electrics. A Bolt-t strat-type with wilkinson trem and a DiMarzio FRED humbucker in bridge pos. single coils are carvins excellent AP-11`s. The other one is a Dc-200c "superstrat" with active electronics, M-22T/N humbuckers and Floyd trem. These goes into a Crybaby wah->Marshall ED-1 compressorpedal->Ernie ball volume pedal before going into the JMP-1.
In the loop is a TC-electronics G-Major eff.proc. and occationally a Digitech IPS33b harmonizer. I run the output of the Marshall into a silverfaced Mesa/Boogie 20/20 EL-84 driven poweramp which i magnificent in tone and dynamics. This is all run thru a Marshall 1936 2x12" cab loaded with celestions G12M-25w-greenbacks in a stereo configuration.
I`d like to comment those people who are neglecting this product as a real tube preamp: You are full of crap! I`ve played everything there is, from Matchless to boogie, Fender to Bad-cat and THD. But ONE thing some of you guys is forgetting, and this IS important, and that is that you need GOOD tubes in there to give you the tone you want! I`ve believed in this product from Marshall, but the chinese tubes that originally was there, wasn`t good enough to really make this unit shine!
I`ve put the best tubes there is in my JMP-1, Mullards Ecc83, and Guess what? Fenderish cleans with sparcle and dynamics do die for, and The best Distortions I`ve ever heard from a tube-pre ever.! I can play a full chod, and the notes just jumps out fully separated and kicks me over! And the leads, well, its full, rich, harmonics, sustain forever.. And it lies in the heart of the amp. The tubes!
The effects is perfectly "blended" is it never "interfers" with the rich tones from the Mullards. This gives me a large soundscape, with tones to die fro which I`ve only heard from amps like class A Matchless and Vox. Maybe because of my EL-84 output stage.
The tone controls reacts much more now, the differences in amount of gain makes a huge matter. It`s very sensitive to small changes. Not like The chinese which made almost no differences.
People who cannot get the Mullards could try out the East German RTF Ecc83 as those have similar caracteristics...
Summary: The four channels are enough to make every sound you want if you`ve got the right tubes..

It`s time to enter my votes for this pre as I bought mine back in `94. And I still use it every day without ANY complications!!
It is very versatile, as I play averything from gospel to country-rock,and pop to prog-rock.
I think most of it is covered, and I don`t miss anything, the loop can be dialed in from series to parallell in a push of a button. Wonderful! Headphone jack, nice to finetune effects in stereo as the band is doing something else.

Well..Had it for ten years! No problem, ever!!

Have no experience with the dealers..

I chose this pre-amp as it was perfect for my kind of playing: Vast music styles, from jazzy cleans to Prog-rock full gain leads. All intant there thru my MIDI controlled setup.
I`ve tried a lot of stuff, and pre`s. And everything depends on onr thing..The heart and soul in a tube amp... The tubes!
The most critical tonestage in an amp is the first tubes the signal meets in the preamp. Get balanced phase-inverters and drivers in you poweramp and you`re set.
I don`t miss a thing, It`s all there, from Brian May to Eric Clapton and John Scofield to Joe Satriani...all with the musical feedback. The note just jumps out towards you, in which demands that you cannot cheat your skills away, everthing is heard..So if you are a good player, you`re set!