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!