Original 1965 JTM45
To get our ears accustomed to the JTM45
sound, we began by firing up our ’65 head
with a Les Paul. Normally, this head has EL34s
in it, but we borrowed the Genelex KT66s
from the Mojave and biased the amp to
accommodate them. It made sense to us to
use KT66s, because they were what the amp
was designed for. With everything looking
good, we flipped it from standby and beheld
the beauty of this vintage masterpiece. It’s no
wonder players and collectors are paying big
bucks for these amps; everything we played
through it sounded incredible.
What was amazing was how much of a rock ‘n’
roll amp this really is. Considering how long
it’s been since it was conceived, the amp’s
sound remains surprisingly current. The distortion
is organic, full-bodied and earthy, and
it allowed the personality of the guitar and
player to shine through. While it was very easy
to play, this is an amp that still requires a level
of discipline and control to fully harness its
capabilities. It makes sense that players who
want to be heard would play on this style of
amp, because like it or not, whatever you play
through the amp is… well, amplified. It just
comes out better.
We played through it for a good long time,
switching guitars and speaker cabinets to hear
it in as many different configurations as possible.
Whether it was a Strat, a Les Paul, a 2x12
or a 4x12, the sound was always remarkable—
perhaps the very definition of great tone.
Subjective? Yes. Brilliant? Absolutely. Rolling
back the volume on the guitars exposed a
beautiful clean tone that was harmonically rich
and defined, never muddy or dull. Even with
the guitar’s volume knob all the way up, the
dynamic response of the amp, and the way it
musically fed back, was awe-inspiring.
Once we had established a base tone for comparison’s
sake, it was time to play and listen
to the other amps. Before I break down each
individual amp and builder, I must observe
that each and every one of the amps had ridiculously
good tone, and they all sounded like
JTM45s, but each had its own unique voice.
Aside from the reissue Marshall, all of the
amps are hand-wired. The reissue Marshall was
of PCB-construction, and used the standard
parts and components that Marshall was building
their amps with during that era. I spoke
with Mitch Colby from Korg USA (Marshall’s
US distributor), who told me that the reissues
have not undergone any significant changes
since their reintroduction 20 years ago. While
they are using the components that Marshall
builds with today, they should yield very similar
tones to the earlier reissue amps.
