gbradtke

Hi guys, this is my first post on this forum.
I'va always been a fan of Marshall amps but I only play at home and frankly they are just too loud.
I am only interested in valve amps and currently play through a Fender Hot Rod. I'm more than happy with the tone but it is unusable at low volumes.

A JTM 30 has caught my fancy on ebay and I'd love to hear your opinions on thier worth for producing a decent tone at a low volume.
Thanks, Graham.

woemoejack

I own a jtm30, its great at low volume..actually its great all over.

I would suggest playing on one if you can. Just so you can be sure. Usually you can get a good tone at any volume when an amp has a master voume along with a seperate channel volume, that way you can crank up the preamp, roll off the master, and get all the gain you want without killing yourself. Class A amps run the tubes hot all the time, where class a/b tubes get hotter the more you push them, the jtm30 is class A, so you can get the maximum tone at all volumes. Its a great amp, good stock speaker too. I run it with a tubescreamer, and it kills. it crushes baby chickens.

RachelMorgan

IMO Tube amps sound like crapola at low volumes. I have a Hot Rod Deville 212 and made this little black box that goes in the FX loop. I can crank that amp and dial it back to about 86 to 90 db at 6 ft. I use the same set up on a Marshall Vintage Modern.

My advice to people who need to play at low volume like at bedroom level is to go solid state. Peavey Bandits come to mind. I almost bought one myself.

stryker59

get an attenuator! crank your amp! sane volumes! sweeet!!

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uloozer

I've had one for about a month now... I love the tone but I was using it during a jam session and after about 4 hours it started to fad in and out.. I'm sure it got over heated.... Decided to change the tubes since I bought it used but haven't used it much since... just haven't had time.... But yea it will work great for home use or a jam session, it kept up with a 5 pc. drum kit pretty well

wolf1419

I've used my JTM30 at home in a condo for a few months and it sounds pretty sweet. The clean channel sounds very nice at low levels - nice lively tone, and the distortion can work at low levels, but you have to play around a bit to get your preamp and output tubes tweaked in. I found that if you turn your master volume to halfway first, then dial in your individual channels for a comfortable clean volume, then experiment with your gain channel(gain & volume) you can get some great sounds, then you can turn your master up or down, with headroom to spare, have better sound and control of the total amp at whatever you consider to be your "reasonable starting volume" at halfway on the master. I think this gets all your tubes working a bit. This is just one approach for bedroom playing channel-switching and taking control of the amp. "Easy" to quiet down to 2,3,4 or up to 6,7,8 on your master when the neighbors are away without losing your input gain stages. "Individual preferences" and situations will always override this approach, but it's working for me and I'm in a condo, where I have to keep the peace.
Oh yeah, just remembered - always clean your fx loop send/return jacks as they are a source of a lot of the cutting in/out and volume changes that people have. It was the same with my Ashdown amp until I figured it was a simple connection that gets funky from non-use. You can plug your cable in/out a few times every once in a while to keep it clean, or use contact cleaner if it's really dirty or corroded. If you're unsure just plug a short cable from send to return to complete the loop and see if that's the problem. One guy I knows just keeps the jumper plugged all the time to avoid cleaning. I like to just keep it clean. Your preference!