Quote:
Originally Posted by oldGNRfan
Yeah, ppl contradict themselves that way w/o really even knowing that. A JCM 900 is like a JCM 800 with a pedal, right? I don't use anything other than a wah pedal because everything else, od, distortion, eq(OBVIOUSLY!), will change tone. I don't know if I am a tube snob but pure tube is ORGASMIC  |
Well, not really - A JCM900 is not like a JCM800 2204/2203 + pedal . A pedal in front of a tube input gain stage is not the same thing as a pedal in front of an IC or transistor gain stage.
With a pedal, you can slam those input 12AX7s with a higher signal, pushing it into creamy overdrive. If you look at a Jubilee, a JMP-1 or the JCM 800 2205/2210, the first thing you hit on the input jack is a tube based input gain stage.
Some of the JCM900 amps have an IC as the first buffer/gain stage. Putting a pedal in front of an amp like that does not yield the same result as hitting a tube input gain stage. You'll notice that the IC input gain stages sound like crap when you push them.
Moreover, looking at the Jubilee or JMP-1 circuit, the clipping happens before the cathode follower stage. That will change the effect of the solid state clipping and it seems to be a sweet spot for putting diodes in a tube circuit.