I recently bought a Marshall JCM 2000 head upgraded by Voodoo amps and a 1960 angled cab for a fucking awesome deal and i cant really get the tone im looking for. Basically i cant get pinch harmonics on this amp with out the gain being overly high and shitty sounding. Where is my 20 watt Randall amp screams when doing pinch harmonics and the gains relatively low. Ive messed around with the Marshall a lot and i obviously dont know what im doing. So could any one give me some advice? because i hate spending the rare time i get to crank this amp up missing with sound.

maybe hotter pickups would help. I can do pinch harmonics with my invader, but not my JB.

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The thing is i have an EMG 60/81 set up in my jackson dinky. Pinch Harmonics come roaring out of the Randall with that guitar and on the Marshall it sounds like my dick popped out and muted the string when i wasnt looking. err

oh. I don't really know then. I personally can't even play through a marshall. I'm the only person on earth who likes Line 6 amps.

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Get higher gain preamp tubes for it. Most aftermarket tubes are way better than the stock ones. Try Sovtek 12AX7LPS. Do you have the EMG 81 in the bridge position? (just curious since you said 60/81 instead of 81/60)

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tubes could do it, but regardless, most marshalls will give loads of feedback with high gain, you can crank the gain, and get a noisegate? That could work. But i've never played that amp, so i can't give serious help

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Well if you don't use cleans very much get an OD and put it in front. Should tighten things up.

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yup the 81 is in the bridge position. could it be the voodoo mod? i mean my boss, who i bought the amp from, taste of music and mine are quite different.

Would i get the Sovtek 12AX7LPS Hi Gain version because theres a bunch of options on Tubes Depot?

I would suggest getting the normal one as it's already super high gain. I would also suggest getting one of the "low noise" Sovtek 12ax7lps's from ebay(the ones with a gray band around them) for the first position, as they're tested for super low noise and in the first position it's where it makes the biggest difference. You want the quietest tube in that place.

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It's tough to say exactly since it's modded. I have a stock JCM 2000 DSL-100 aswell as a stock JCM 800 2204S and even with my Fender USA Highway-1 Tele w/stock single coil in the bridge, I don't have problems with pinch harmonics. I never set the gain past 7 on either amp.

Are you using a noise gate? Do you know the age of the tubes, aswell as the brand(s)?

You might consider an overdrive/eq/boost pedal setup. I use my Maxon OD808 in front of my JCM 800 sometimes to get some super tight high gain. Which would probably help the harmonics out.

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With an amp like that and EMG pickups, I would say you need to work on technique. You should be able to get pinch harmonics on an acoustic so if you cant get them with that setup I wouldnt blame the equipment.

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well, while technically that's true, it SHOULD be significantly easier with a setup like that, it could be a problem with the gear itself. It's a lot easier than doing it on an acoustic, and although he should work on his technique, there has got to be something wrong with the gear

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Ive spent many hours trying to figure out whether my technique was to blame or i had the EQ options setup poorly and im positive my technique is not to blame. The current tubes in it are Groove Tubes 12AX7C, and im pretty sure it doesnt have a noise gate. I figure ill upgrade the Tubes since thats fairly cheep and then go from there if im still have problems.

Which jcm 2000 head do you own? I've been using a marshall DSL100 head now for about 3 years and I swear by it. This thing can do everything, I love it to death. One suggestion I have is to switch to the 'ultra lead 2nd channel', set the volume on 1 and the gain to max, then increase the volume as you decrease the gain. Has always worked for me, but then i ve never had a problem with gain on this amp.

One thing I find out about the DSL is that you can hear mistakes really easily, alot of my friends who have played it sound like ass, cos it doesn't hide sloppy playing.

Its sounds even better cranked, so get an attenuator if you cant crank it e.g hotplate, weber etc and get some typical marshall saturation. Also look into changing out ure tubes, I've got winged c's in the power and JJ's in the pre. Hope things turn out good

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I have the DSL50 i have no idea what i would do with another 50 watts this fuckers loud enough. I swapped the tubes out on if with the Sovtek 12ax7lps's and they definitely sound a lot better. I think the bottom line is i have to save up for a Hot Plate, because with this amp cranked i can get harmonics no problems with the advice Mordor gave me on gain and volume. Thanks Dudes!

I'd suggest getting the Weber Attenuator
https://taweber.powweb.com/weber/masslite.htm

I find it sounds slightly better than the Hotplate and its far cheaper

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